Elevated Plasma Levels but Decreased Platelet-Associated Expression of LIGHT in Patients with Acute Atherothrombotic Stroke

Background: As a member of the tumor necrosis factor superfamily (TNFSF), LIGHT (TNFSF14) is expressed by a variety of immune cells and exists in membrane-bound and soluble forms. Recently, LIGHT was found to be associated with platelets and released upon activation. Activation of endothelia cells by recombinant LIGHT protein results in pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic changes. Several studies have reported increased plasma levels of LIGHT in patients with stroke and cardiovascular diseases. However, the form-associated roles of LIGHT in ischemic atherosclerotic stroke remain unclear. Mater?als and Methods: In this study, the platelet LIGHT expression and soluble LIGHT protein were analyzed by flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in peripheral blood of patients with acute ischemic atherosclerotic stroke, asymptomatic carotid stenosis (ACS) and normal controls. RESULTS: During the initial 24 h after onset, the stroke patients had decreased LIGHT expression on their platelets (5.9% ± 4.9%) and increased plasma LIGHT levels (36.1 ± 21.0 pg/ml) as compared with normal controls (9.5% ± 3.0%, p p < 0.05). Moreover, the platelet LIGHT expression correlated with total plaque area in the stroke patients (r = 0.4572, p = 0.0247). Conclus?ons: The dysregulated LIGHT expression reflects a persistent chronic inflammatory response that may have been induced during early stages of ischemic atherosclerotic stroke. Our results strongly suggest distinctive roles of form-associated LIGHT in the disease pathogenesis: platelet-associated LIGHT may contribute to formation and development of carotid atherosclerotic plaque, probably involving plaque destabilization, while soluble LIGHT may predominantly functions as a pro-inflammatory cytokine in the inflammatory process.

Features of hyperintense white matter lesions and clinical relevance in systemic lupus erythematosus

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease characterized by complex and various clinical manifestations. The study aimed to analyze clinical features and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) changes of hyperintense white matter (WM) lesions in SLE patients.Methods: This was a retrospective study based on a consecutive cohort of 1191 SLE patients;273 patients for whom cerebral MRI data were available were enrolled to assess hyperintense WM lesions associated with SLE. Patients were assigned to two groups, ie, with or without hyperintense WM lesions. The MRI assessment showed that the hyperintense WM lesions could be classified into three categories: type A, periventricular hyperintense WM lesions;type B, subcortical hyperintense WM lesions;and type C, multiple discrete hyperintense WM lesions. The clinical and MRI characteristics were analyzed. Factors related to hyperintense WM lesions were identified by multivariate logistic regression analysis.Results: Among the 273 SLE patients with available cerebral MRI scans, 35.9% (98/273) had hyperintense WM lesions associated with SLE. The proportions of types A, B, and C were 54.1% (53/98), 11.2% (11/98), and 92.9% (91/98), respectively. Fifty-one percents of the patients showed an overlap of two or three types. Type C was the most common subgroup to be combined with other types. Compared with those without hyperintense WM lesions, the patients with hyperintense WM lesions were associated with neuropsychiatric SLE (NPSLE), lupus nephritis (LN), hypertension, and hyperuricemia (P = 0.002,P = 0.018,P = 0.045, andP = 0.036, respectively). Significantly higher rates of polyserous effusions and cardiac involvement were found in the patients with hyperintense WM lesions (P = 0.029 andP = 0.027, respectively), and these patients were more likely to present with disease damage (P < 0.001). In addition, the patients with hyperintense WM lesions exhibited a higher frequency of proteinuria (P = 0.009) and higher levels of CD8+ T cells (P = 0.005). In the multivariate logistic analysis, hyperuricemia and higher CD8+ T cells percentages were significantly correlated with hyperintense WM lesions in SLE patients (P= 0.019;OR 2.129, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.313-4.006 andP < 0.001;OR 1.056, 95% CI 1.023-1.098, respectively).Conclusions: Hyperintense WM lesions are common in SLE patients and significantly associated with systemic involvement, including NPSLE, LN, polyserous effusions, cardiac involvement, and disease damage. Hyperuricemia and a higher number of CD8+ T cells were independent factors associated with hyperintense WM lesions in SLE.

A micro-investigation on water bridge effects for unsaturated granular materials with constant water content by discrete element method

The most common state of surface soil is unsaturated.Changes in water content will substantially impact its strength,leading to geological and engineering catastrophes.This paper used LIGGGHTS software to simulate the water bridge effect of unsaturated granular materials with constant water content and verify the rationality of the simplification of the stress-force-fabric(SFF)relationship.The results showed that the capillary force was not isotropic,which was different from the previous study,thus it cannot be overlooked in the simplification of the SFF relationship.Moreover,the influence of water content on the macroscopic mechanical behavior of unsaturated granular materials was interpreted through the evolutions of coordination number,interparticle force,fabric and force anisotropy,and other microscopic parameters.Compared to the literature,we found that different water bridge models would not change the characteristics of the solid skeleton.