Objective:To explore the molecular mechanisms of isoliquiritigenin in stabilizing atherosclerotic plaques by activating PPAR-γsignal pathway to regulate ox-LDL metabolism.Methods:The ApoE-/-mice AS carotid plaque mod...Objective:To explore the molecular mechanisms of isoliquiritigenin in stabilizing atherosclerotic plaques by activating PPAR-γsignal pathway to regulate ox-LDL metabolism.Methods:The ApoE-/-mice AS carotid plaque model was prepared by using high fat diet and right perivascular carotid collar placement(PCCP).ApoE-/-mice were randomly divided into the model group and the isoliquiritigenin group after PCCP.C57BL/6J mice were used for the control group.High fat diet continued feeding for 8 weeks after PCCP to establish the AS model.Automatic biochemical analyzer was used to test levels of total cholesterol(TC),triacylglyceride(TG),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C).ELISA was used to measure oxidized low-density lipoprotein(ox-LDL)in serum.Hematoxylin-eosin(HE)staining was used to observe the pathological pattern of the carotid artery,and then calculated the carotid parameters.Oil red O staining was used for lipid determination,Masson staining was used to determine collagen content,MOMA-2 andα-SMA immunohistochemical staining were used to determine macrophages and smooth muscle cells,and to calculate the vulnerability index.Western blot was used to detected the expression of PPAR-γ,LXR-α,FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 in mice arteries.Results:Compared with the normal group,TC、TG、LDL-C、HDL-C and ox-LDL were increased in the model group.Compared with the model group,TC、TG、LDL-C and ox-LDL were reduced,and there was no significant change in HDL-C of the isoliquiritigenin group.Compared with the normal group,intima thickness(IT),intima/media thickness(IT/MT),plaque area(PA),and plaque area/lumen area(PA/LA)of carotid arteries were increased,the content of lipid and MOMA-2 in plaques was increased,collagen andα-SMA content decreased,and the vulnerability index was higher in the model group.The expression of PPAR-γand LXR-αwere reduced and the expression of FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 were increased in the model group.Compared with the model group,carotid IT,IT/MT,PA,and PA/LA were reduced,the content of lipid and MOMA-2 in plaques was decreased,collagen andα-SMA content were increased,and the vulnerability index was decreased in the isoliquiritigenin group.PPAR-γand LXR-αexpression were increased,FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression were decreased significantly in the isoliquiritigenin group.Conclusion:Isoliquiritigenin can exert anti-AS effects by activating PPAR-γ,up-regulating LXR-α,reducing FABP-4 expression,reducing ox-LDL,reducing the protein expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9,decreasing plaque vulnerability index,and increasing plaque stability.展开更多
Background/Aims: Determining the levels of oral health and the quality of dental care are fundamental to building concepts of oral health. This study aims to assess toothbrushing techniques using a technical and physi...Background/Aims: Determining the levels of oral health and the quality of dental care are fundamental to building concepts of oral health. This study aims to assess toothbrushing techniques using a technical and physical model, clarifying how children and pre-adults learn to brush their teeth. Materials and Methods: Data were recorded from 23 participants, both male and female of various ages, using a proposed electronic toothbrush equipped with X-Y-Z axes pathways. The data, collected before and after training experiments, were processed with MATLAB to generate plots for the three axes. Results: The study revealed that most parameter values, such as Mean Difference Between Amplitudes (MAV, 6.00), Wilson Amplitude (WAMP, 179.419), and Average Amplitude Coupling (AAC, 1.270), decreased from before to after the experiments. Furthermore, the average overall epoch lengths (AVG) showed a 75% reduction in movement amplitude between the two experiments. Conclusion: Dentist observations indicated which brushing methods were acceptable or not. Analytical values suggest that individuals learn the toothbrushing technique effectively, and medical observations clearly demonstrate the success of the proposed method.展开更多
Objective Compare the morphology of atherosclerotic plaquesmgiographically and histopathologically in acute myocardialmfarction m order to accumulate experience in recognizing plaquerupture and thrombus by angiogrames...Objective Compare the morphology of atherosclerotic plaquesmgiographically and histopathologically in acute myocardialmfarction m order to accumulate experience in recognizing plaquerupture and thrombus by angiogrames.Material and methods 16postmortem cases of acute myocardial infarction were studied.The coronary arteries were romoved en block,filled with barium the lumen and ridiographed.Then the arteries wereontinuously insetted and routin HE sections were made.Results 16 cases had plaque ruptures and thrombi.Among the total98 blocks,21 had plaque ruptures on which 20 thrombiccur(95.23%).while the other 777 unrupured blocks had only 2hrombi(0.25%).The difference was significant(p【0.001).Therupture mostly occur on unstable plaques.The ruptured plaqueswith thrombi had different angiographical morphology withunruptured plaques.The former had irregular borders andunraluminal lucencies;while the Iatter had smooth borders and nointraluminal lucencies.Conclusions Plaque ruprure withthrumbus was the major cause of acute myocardial infarction andthe ruptured plaques with thrombus had different angiographicalapperances with unruptured plaques.展开更多
AIM:To assess neovascularization within human ca-rotid atherosclerotic soft plaques in patients with isch-emic stroke.METHODS:Eighty-one patients with ischemic stroke and 95 patients without stroke who had soft athero...AIM:To assess neovascularization within human ca-rotid atherosclerotic soft plaques in patients with isch-emic stroke.METHODS:Eighty-one patients with ischemic stroke and 95 patients without stroke who had soft athero-sclerotic plaques in the internal carotid artery were studied.The thickest soft plaque in each patient was examined using contrast-enhanced ultrasound.Time-intensity curves were collected from 5 s to 3 min after contrast injection.The neovascularization within the plaques in the internal carotid artery was evaluated using the ACQ software built into the scanner by 2 of the experienced investigators who were blinded to the clinical history of the patients.RESULTS:Ischemic stroke was present in 7 of 33 patients(21%) with grade Ⅰ plaque,in 14 of 51 pa-tients(28%) with grade Ⅱ plaque,in 26 of 43 patients(61%) with grade Ⅲ plaque,and in 34 of 49 patients(69%) with grade Ⅳ plaque(P < 0.001 comparing grade Ⅳ plaque with grade I plaque and with grade Ⅱ plaque and P = 0.001 comparing grade Ⅲ plaque with grade Ⅰ plaque and with grade Ⅱ plaque).Analysis of the time intensity curves revealed that patients with ischemic stroke had a significantly higher intensity of enhancement(IE) than those without ischemic stroke(P < 0.01).The wash-in time(WT) of plaque was signifi-cantly shorter in stroke patients(P < 0.05).The sensi-tivity and specificity for IE in the plaque were 82% and 80%,respectively,and for WT were 68% and 74%,respectively.There was no significant difference in the peak intensity or time to peak between the 2 groups.CONCLUSION:This study shows that the higher the grade of plaque enhancement,the higher the risk of ischemic stroke.The data suggest that the presence of neovascularization is a marker for unstable plaque.展开更多
BACKGROUND Unstable carotid atherosclerotic plaques are prone to cause ischemic stroke.Contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) is the primary method of assessing plaque stability, but CEUS cannot be a method for screening ...BACKGROUND Unstable carotid atherosclerotic plaques are prone to cause ischemic stroke.Contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) is the primary method of assessing plaque stability, but CEUS cannot be a method for screening for unstable plaque. The emergence of superb micro-vascular imaging(SMI) offers the possibility of clinically screening for unstable plaque AIM To investigate the value of SMI in predicting ischemic stroke in patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques.METHODS Patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques(luminal stenosis of 50%-70%) were enrolled into the present study. All patients received conservative medication.The patient's clinical baseline data, serological data, CEUS and SMI data were analyzed. All patients underwent a 3-year follow-up. The follow-up endpoint was the occurrence of ischemic stroke and patients were divided into stroke group and non-stroke group according to whether the prognosis occurred or not.Subsequently, the difference in clinical data was compared, the correlation of SMI and CEUS was analyzed, and multiple Cox regression and receiver operating characteristic curve were applied to investigate the value of SMI and CEUS in predicting cerebral arterial thrombosis in three years.RESULTS In this study, 43 patients were enrolled in the stroke group and 82 patients were enrolled in the non-stroke group. Cox regression revealed that SMI level(P =0.013) and enhancement intensity(P = 0.032) were the independent factors influencing ischemic stroke. There was a positive correlation between SMI level and enhancement intensity(r = 0.737, P = 0.000). The area under curve of SMI level predicting ischemic stroke was 0.878. The best diagnostic point was ≥ level Ⅱ, and its sensitivity and specificity was 86.05% and 79.27%. The area under curve of enhancement intensity predicting ischemic stroke was 0.890. The best diagnostic point was 9.92 db, and its sensitivity and specificity was 88.37% and89.02%. As the SMI level gradually increased, the incidence of ischemic stroke increased gradually(X^2 = 108.931, P = 0.000).CONCLUSION SMI can be used as a non-invasive method of screening for unstable plaques and may help prevent ischemic stroke.展开更多
Objective: To compare oral hygiene practices, education and social background, food intake and oral malodor of Algerian adults suffering from dental caries with normal controls, and to determine and compare the bacter...Objective: To compare oral hygiene practices, education and social background, food intake and oral malodor of Algerian adults suffering from dental caries with normal controls, and to determine and compare the bacterial composition of the supragingival plaques from the above-mentioned groups.Methods: Participants completed a questionnaire and were clinically examined for dental caries using decayed, missing and filled teeth index according to the criteria laid down by the World Health Organization. Supragingival plaque samples were collected from 50 caries-free adults(CF) and 50 caries-active adults(CA). Standard procedures of culture and identification of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria were used. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test.Results: A total of 117 bacterial strains were isolated from supragingival plaques in CF group subjects, 76(64.96%) of them belonged to 9 aerobic genera, and 41(35.04%) to 9anaerobic genera(P < 0.05). While in the second group, 199 strains were isolated, 119(59.80%) of the strains belonged to 10 aerobic genera and 80(40.20%) to 10 anaerobic bacteria(P < 0.05). Streptococcus mutans, Enterococcus faecium, Aerococcus viridans,Actinomyces meyeri, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Eubacterium limosum showed a significantly higher prevalence in the CA group(P < 0.05). The findings revealed that CA group had a high sugar intake(80%). A significantly higher frequency of tooth brushing(P < 0.000) and a significantly less self-reported oral malodor(P < 0.000) and tooth pain(P < 0.000) were found in CF group, while there was no association of socioeconomic levels and intake of meal snacks with dental caries.Conclusions: This study confirms the association of some aciduric bacteria with caries formation, and a direct association of sugar intake and cultural level with dental caries.Furthermore, oral hygiene practices minimize the prevalence of tooth decay.展开更多
Objective To evaluate senile plaque formation and compare the sensitivity of three differentβ-amyloid(Aβ)labeling methods(antibody staining,Gallyas silver staining,and thioflavin-S staining)to detect Aβdeposition.M...Objective To evaluate senile plaque formation and compare the sensitivity of three differentβ-amyloid(Aβ)labeling methods(antibody staining,Gallyas silver staining,and thioflavin-S staining)to detect Aβdeposition.Methods APPswe/PSEN1dE9 transgenic mice(APP/PS1)of different ages were used to examine spatiotemporal changes in Aβplaque deposition.Antibody staining,Gallyas silver staining,and thioflavin-S staining were used to detect Aβplaque deposition in the same brain region of adjacent slices from model mice,and the results were compared.Results With aging,Aβplaques first appeared in the cortex and then the deposition increased throughout the whole brain.Significantly greater plaque deposition was detected by 6E10 antibody than that analyzed with Gallyas silver staining or thioflavin-S staining(P<0.05).Plaque deposition did not show significant difference between the APP/PS1 mice brains assayed with Gallyas silver staining and ones with thioflavin-S staining(P=0.0033).Conclusions The APP/PS1 mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease could mimick the progress of Aβplaques occurred in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.Antibody detection of Aβdeposition may be more sensitive than chemical staining methods.展开更多
This study was undertaken to investigate the correlation of the enhancement degree on contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) with the histopathology of carotid plaques and the serum high sensitive C-reactive protein(hs-CR...This study was undertaken to investigate the correlation of the enhancement degree on contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) with the histopathology of carotid plaques and the serum high sensitive C-reactive protein(hs-CRP) levels in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy(CEA). Carotid CEUS was performed preoperatively in 115 patients who would undergo CEA, and the enhancement degree of the carotid plaques was evaluated by both the visual semiquantitative analysis and the quantitative time-intensity curve analysis. Serum hs-CRP levels were detected using the particle-enhanced immunoturbidimetric assay also before the operation. Additionally, the carotid plaque samples were subjected to histopathological examination postoperatively. The density of neovessels and the number of macrophages in the plaques were assessed by immunohistochemistry. The results showed that among the 115 patients, grade 0 plaque contrast enhancement was noted in 35 patients, grade 1 in 48 patients and grade 2 in 32 patients. The degree of plaque enhancement, the density of neovessels, the number of macrophages, and the hs-CRP levels were highest in the grade 2 patients. Correlation analysis showed that the enhancement degree of the carotid plaques was closely related to the immunohistochemical parameters of the plaques and the serum hs-CRP levels. It was suggested that the carotid plaque enhancement on CEUS can be used to evaluate the vulnerability of carotid plaques.展开更多
Background Coronary artery calcification is a well-known marker of atherosclerotic plaque burden.High-resolution intravascular optical coherence tomography(OCT)imaging has shown the potential to characterize the detai...Background Coronary artery calcification is a well-known marker of atherosclerotic plaque burden.High-resolution intravascular optical coherence tomography(OCT)imaging has shown the potential to characterize the details of coronary calcification in vivo.In routine clinical practice,it is a time-consuming and laborious task for clinicians to review the over 250 images in a single pullback.Besides,the imbalance label distribution within the entire pullbacks is another problem,which could lead to the failure of the classifier model.Given the success of deep learning methods with other imaging modalities,a thorough understanding of calcified plaque detection using Convolutional Neural Networks(CNNs)within pullbacks for future clinical decision was required.Methods All 33 IVOCT clinical pullbacks of 33 patients were taken from Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital,Nanjing University between December 2017 and December 2018.For ground-truth annotation,three trained experts determined the type of plaque that was present in a B-Scan.The experts assigned the labels'no calcified plaque','calcified plaque'for each OCT image.All experts were provided the all images for labeling.The final label was determined based on consensus between the experts,different opinions on the plaque type were resolved by asking the experts for a repetition of their evaluation.Before the implement of algorithm,all OCT images was resized to a resolution of 300×300,which matched the range used with standard architectures in the natural image domain.In the study,we randomly selected 26 pullbacks for training,the remaining data were testing.While,imbalance label distribution within entire pullbacks was great challenge for various CNNs architecture.In order to resolve the problem,we designed the following experiment.First,we fine-tuned twenty different CNNs architecture,including customize CNN architectures and pretrained CNN architectures.Considering the nature of OCT images,customize CNN architectures were designed that the layers were fewer than 25 layers.Then,three with good performance were selected and further deep fine-tuned to train three different models.The difference of CNNs was mainly in the model architecture,such as depth-based residual networks,width-based inception networks.Finally,the three CNN models were used to majority voting,the predicted labels were from the most voting.Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC AUC)were used as the evaluation metric for the imbalance label distribution.Results The imbalance label distribution within pullbacks affected both convergence during the training phase and generalization of a CNN model.Different labels of OCT images could be classified with excellent performance by fine tuning parameters of CNN architectures.Overall,we find that our final result performed best with an accuracy of 90%of'calcified plaque'class,which the numbers were less than'no calcified plaque'class in one pullback.Conclusions The obtained results showed that the method is fast and effective to classify calcific plaques with imbalance label distribution in each pullback.The results suggest that the proposed method could be facilitating our understanding of coronary artery calcification in the process of atherosclerosis andhelping guide complex interventional strategies in coronary arteries with superficial calcification.展开更多
It is very common that increased carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) and carotid plaque coexist in a single subject in elderly patients with white matter lesions (WMLs). In this study we inves- tigated whether t...It is very common that increased carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) and carotid plaque coexist in a single subject in elderly patients with white matter lesions (WMLs). In this study we inves- tigated whether the coexistence of increased CIMT and carotid plaque is more strongly associated with the presence and extent of WMLs than either alone. All patients were classified into 1 of the following 4 groups: without either increased CIMT (I) or carotid plaque (P): I(-)P(-); with only increased CIMT: I(+)P(-); with only carotid plaque: I(-)P(+); and with both increased CIMT and carotid plaque: I(+)P(+) The presence and severity of periventricular WMLs (PWMLs) and deep WMLs (DWMLs) were as- sessed and the prevalence of MRI findings by the Cochran-Armitage trend test was calculated. The characteristics of subjects showed that the percentages of patients with increased CIMT and carotid plaque in the DWMLs group and the PWMLs group were significantly higher than those without WMLs group. Both DWMLs and PWMLs were strongly associated with age, carotid plaque and CIMT. Furthermore, the Cochran-Armitage trend test indicated that the prevalence of MRI findings of PWMLs and DWMLs increased in the order of I(-)P(-)〈 I(+)P(-)〈 I(-)P(+)〈 I(+)P(+) (P〈0.0001). For the pa- tients with DWMLs, the grades of both I(+)P(-) and I(+)P(+) were increased significantly compared to I(-)P(-) (P〈0.0025, P〈0.05, respectively) without such a difference found in patients with PWMLs. Our results suggested that the coexistence of increased CIMT and carotid plaque is most closely associated with WMLs, and that increased CIMT is associated with the severity of DWMLs, whereas carotid plaque is related to the presence of WMLs.展开更多
BACKGROUND Discontinued application of statins may be related to adverse cardiovascular events.However,it is unclear whether different statins administration methods have effects on coronary artery plaques.AIM To eval...BACKGROUND Discontinued application of statins may be related to adverse cardiovascular events.However,it is unclear whether different statins administration methods have effects on coronary artery plaques.AIM To evaluate the effects of different statins application methods on plaques in patients with coronary atherosclerosis.METHODS A total of 100 patients diagnosed with atherosclerotic plaque by coronary artery computed tomography were continuously selected and divided into three groups according to different statins administration methods(discontinued application group,n=32;intermittent application group,n=39;sustained application group,n=29).The effects of the different statins application methods on coronary atherosclerotic plaque were assessed.RESULTS The volume change and rate of change of the most severe plaques were significantly reduced in the sustained application group(P≤0.001).The volume change of the most severe plaques correlated positively with low-density lipoprotein(LDL-C)levels only in the sustained application group(R=0.362,P=0.013).There were no changes in plaques or LDL-C levels in the intermittent and discontinued application groups.CONCLUSION Continuous application of statins is effective for controlling plaque progression,whereas discontinued or intermittent administration of statins is not conducive to controlling plaques.Only with continuous statins administration can a reduction in LDL-C levels result in plaque volume shrinkage.展开更多
Neurodegenerative brain disorders are a major burden in our society,such as Alzheimer´s disease.In order to repair or prevent such diseases,drugs are designed which enter the brain,but the blood-brain barrier lim...Neurodegenerative brain disorders are a major burden in our society,such as Alzheimer´s disease.In order to repair or prevent such diseases,drugs are designed which enter the brain,but the blood-brain barrier limits their entry and the search for alternative pathways is important.Recently,we reported that intranasal delivery of the amyloid-beta degrading enzyme neprilysin eliminated amyloid-beta plaques in transgenic Alzheimer´s disease mice.This review describes the anatomical structure of the intranasal pathway,explains the intranasal delivery of pure neprilysin,cell-loaded neprilysin(platelets)and collagen-embedded neprilysin to destruct amyloid-beta plaques in Alzheimer´s disease in transgenic APP_SweDI mice and hypothesizes why this may cause compensation and why the amyloid-beta cascade hypothesis may fail.展开更多
AIM:To compare genotype of Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori) isolated from saliva,dental plaques,gastric biopsy,and stool of each patient in order to evaluate the mode of transmission of H.pylori infection.METHODS:This cr...AIM:To compare genotype of Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori) isolated from saliva,dental plaques,gastric biopsy,and stool of each patient in order to evaluate the mode of transmission of H.pylori infection.METHODS:This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 300 antral gastric biopsy,saliva,dental plaque and stool samples which were obtained from patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy referred to endoscopy centre of Hajar hospital of Shahrekord,Iran from March 2010 to February 2011.Initially,H.pylori strains were identified by rapid urease test(RUT) and polymerase chain reaction(PCR) were applied to determine the presence of H.pylori(ureC) and for genotyping of voculating cytotoxin gene A(vacA) and cytotoxin associated gene A(cagA) genesin each specimen.Finally the data were analyzed by using statistical formulas such as Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests to find any significant relationship between these genes and patient's diseases.P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant,RESULTS:Of 300 gastric biopsy samples,77.66% were confirmed to be H.pylori positive by PCR assay while this bacterium were detected in 10.72% of saliva,71.67% of stool samples.We were not able to find it in dental plaque specimens.The prevalence of H.pylori was 90.47% among patients with peptic ulcer disease(PUD),80% among patients with gastric cancer,and 74.13% among patients with none ulcer dyspepsia(NUD) by PCR assay.The evaluation of vacA and cagA genes showed 6 differences between gastric biopsy and saliva specimens and 11 differences between gastric and stool specimens.94.42% of H.pylori positive specimens were cagA positive and all samples had amplified band both for vacA s and m regions.There was significant relationship between vacA s1a/m1a and PUD diseases(P = 0.04),s2/m2 genotype and NUD diseases(P = 0.05).No statically significant relationship was found between cagA status with clinical outcomes and vacA genotypes(P = 0.65).The evaluation of vacA and cagA genes showed 6 differences between gastric biopsy and saliva specimens and 11 differences between gastric and stool specimens,CONCLUSION:Regard to high similarity in genotype of H.pylori isolates from saliva,stomach and stool,this study support the idea which fecal-oral is the main route of H.pylori transmission and oral cavity may serve as a reservoir for H.pylori,however,remarkable genotype diversity among stomach,saliva and stool samples showed that more than one H.pylori genotype may exist in a same patient.展开更多
<strong>Background:</strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients have considerably high atherosclerotic changes which predict cardiovascular events</...<strong>Background:</strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients have considerably high atherosclerotic changes which predict cardiovascular events</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">;</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">hence</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">,</span><span style="font-family:;" "=""><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> this study evaluated the prevalence of carotid atherosclerotic plaques in pre-dialysis CKD patients at a tertiary institution in south-east, Nigeria. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Materials</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">and</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Method: </span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">107 pre-dialysis CKD patients were consecutively recruited for the study. 81 subjects who were screened and had no kidney disease served as control. The control group was sex and age matched with the CKD patients. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to all participants and physical examination was done. Presence of atheromatous plaques was assessed using doppler ultrasound at 3 sites—distal common carotid artery (CCA), the internal carotid artery (ICA) and the carotid bulb by a single skilled radiologist specialized in doppler ultrasound. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Results:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Atheromatous plaques were significantly increased in CKD patients. 14.2% of CKD patients had atheromatous plaques versus 2.5% in the control group (p value < 0.05). Commonest site of occurrence was at the common carotid artery (CCA-7.5% versus ICA-4.7% versus bulb 1.8%). </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Conclusions:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Atheromatous plaques are prevalent in CKD patients. It is recommended that carotid doppler ultrasound should be done in CKD patients to identify patients for possible intervention.</span></span>展开更多
<div style="text-align:justify;"> <span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong>Objectives: </strong>To study relationship between carotid artery plaques characteristics and ha...<div style="text-align:justify;"> <span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong>Objectives: </strong>To study relationship between carotid artery plaques characteristics and haemodynamic changes after carotid stenting. <strong>Patients and Methods: </strong>This observational prospective (pilot) study included 20 patients—who underwent CAS. The study was carried out in Ain shams university hospitals—Railway hospital (ERMED) and Suez insurance hospital from December 2018 to February 2020. Inclusion criteria, Symptomatic (defined as amaurosis fugax, TIA, Minor stroke or Major stroke) stenosis > 70%. Asymptomatic stenosis > 80% (accidentally discovered during pre-operative assessment for CABG and during full assessment for irrelevant stroke). <strong>Results:</strong> Regarding to plaque character for degree of stenosis, calcification and ulceration revealed significantly higher degree of stenosis in hemodynamic events group (P = 0.024). On the other hand, that there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups as regard calcification, ulceration and lesion location. <strong>Conclusion: </strong>The study revealed that HI is a common occurrence following CAS procedures and significantly higher degree of stenosis in hemodynamic events group. Plaque shape, ulcerations hardly affect haeodynamic instability after carotid stenting.</span> </div>展开更多
Objective TanshinoneⅡ-A(Tan),a bioactive diterpene isolated fromSalvia miltiorrhiza Bunge(Danshen),possesses anti-oxidant and anti-in-flammatory activities.The present study investigated whether Tan can reduce and st...Objective TanshinoneⅡ-A(Tan),a bioactive diterpene isolated fromSalvia miltiorrhiza Bunge(Danshen),possesses anti-oxidant and anti-in-flammatory activities.The present study investigated whether Tan can reduce and stabilize atherosclerotic plaques in Apolipoprotein E knockout(ApoE-/-) mice maintained on a high cholesterol diet(HCD).Methods and Results Six week-old mice challenged with HCD were ran-domly assigned to 4 groups: C57BL/6J,ApoE-/-,ApoE-/-+30 mg/kg.d Tan and ApoE-/-+10 mg/kg.d Tan.After 16 weeks of inter-vention,Tan treated mice showed decreased atherosclerotic lesion size in the aortic sinus and face aorta.Furthermore,immunohistochemical a-nalysis revealed that Tan rendered the lesion composition a more stable phenotype as evidenced by reduced necrotic cores,decreased macrophageinfiltration,increased smooth muscle cell and collagen content.Tan also significantly reduced in situ superoxide anion production,aortic expres-sion of NF-κB,and matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9).In vitro treatment of RAW264.7 macrophages with Tan significantly suppressed oxi-dized LDL-induced reactive oxygen species production,pro-inflammatory cytokine(IL-6,TNF-α,MCP-1) expression,and MMP-9 activity.Conclusions Tan attenuates the development of atherosclerotic lesions and promotes plaque stability in ApoE-/-mice by reducing vascular oxi-dative stress and inflammatory responses.Our findings highlightTan as a potential therapeutic agentto preventatherosclerotic cardiovascular dis-eases.展开更多
Familial hypercholesterolemia(FH)is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder,which resulted in severe elevations in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)and a markedly increased risk of early-onset coronary disease...Familial hypercholesterolemia(FH)is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder,which resulted in severe elevations in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)and a markedly increased risk of early-onset coronary disease.[1]t is most frequently caused by loss-of-function mutations in genes affecting the LDL receptor,which clears LDL particles from plasma.展开更多
Objective:To study the correlation between plasma lipopolysaccharide and coronary atherosclerotic heart disease risk factors and plaque stability.Methods:136 patients with unstable angina pectoris who underwent corona...Objective:To study the correlation between plasma lipopolysaccharide and coronary atherosclerotic heart disease risk factors and plaque stability.Methods:136 patients with unstable angina pectoris who underwent coronary angiography and intravascular ultrasound were selected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.According to the results of IVUS,they were divided into stable plaques(stable plaques,SP)group of 72 patients With 64 cases in the Unstable plaques(UP)group,venous blood was drawn from the two groups of patients for blood lipid and lipopolysaccharide index detection,and the general baseline data of the two groups were recorded;the structural characteristics of the intravascular ultrasound plaques in the two groups were analyzed.To study the influencing factors of unstable plaques,the correlation between lipopolysaccharide and plaque structural characteristics,and the diagnostic efficacy of unstable plaques.Results:The expression levels of cholesterol,low-density lipoprotein,and LPS in the UP group were higher than those in the SP group(P<0.05),and the high-density lipoprotein expression levels were lower than those in the SP group(P=0.035);and the intravascular ultrasound structure of the plaque was UP The lipid pool area,the ratio of lipid pool to plaque area,the plaque eccentricity index,and the maximum plaque thickness of the group were higher than those of the SP group(P<0.05),and the minimum plaque thickness was smaller than that of the SP group and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05);LPS was positively correlated with cholesterol,low-density lipoprotein,lipid pool area,ratio of lipid pool to plaque area,plaque eccentricity index,and maximum plaque thickness by Pearson correlation test(P<0.05),Is negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein(P=0.021);LPS is a risk factor for coronary plaque stability,and HDL is a protective factor for coronary plaque stability by binary logistic regression test.The difference is statistically significant Scientific significance(P=0.049,P=0.002);LPS diagnosis of coronary atherosclerotic plaque stability ROC area under the curve(AUC)is 0.889,95%CI is(0.805,0.974),the best diagnosis point is 57.485 mg/L,the sensitivity is 80.60%,and the specificity is 73.70%.Conclusion:Plasma lipopolysaccharide is a risk factor of unstable plaque,which has certain diagnostic value for coronary artery plaque,and can be used as a quantitative diagnostic index of plaque vulnerability.展开更多
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.82274488,81874446)。
文摘Objective:To explore the molecular mechanisms of isoliquiritigenin in stabilizing atherosclerotic plaques by activating PPAR-γsignal pathway to regulate ox-LDL metabolism.Methods:The ApoE-/-mice AS carotid plaque model was prepared by using high fat diet and right perivascular carotid collar placement(PCCP).ApoE-/-mice were randomly divided into the model group and the isoliquiritigenin group after PCCP.C57BL/6J mice were used for the control group.High fat diet continued feeding for 8 weeks after PCCP to establish the AS model.Automatic biochemical analyzer was used to test levels of total cholesterol(TC),triacylglyceride(TG),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C).ELISA was used to measure oxidized low-density lipoprotein(ox-LDL)in serum.Hematoxylin-eosin(HE)staining was used to observe the pathological pattern of the carotid artery,and then calculated the carotid parameters.Oil red O staining was used for lipid determination,Masson staining was used to determine collagen content,MOMA-2 andα-SMA immunohistochemical staining were used to determine macrophages and smooth muscle cells,and to calculate the vulnerability index.Western blot was used to detected the expression of PPAR-γ,LXR-α,FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 in mice arteries.Results:Compared with the normal group,TC、TG、LDL-C、HDL-C and ox-LDL were increased in the model group.Compared with the model group,TC、TG、LDL-C and ox-LDL were reduced,and there was no significant change in HDL-C of the isoliquiritigenin group.Compared with the normal group,intima thickness(IT),intima/media thickness(IT/MT),plaque area(PA),and plaque area/lumen area(PA/LA)of carotid arteries were increased,the content of lipid and MOMA-2 in plaques was increased,collagen andα-SMA content decreased,and the vulnerability index was higher in the model group.The expression of PPAR-γand LXR-αwere reduced and the expression of FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 were increased in the model group.Compared with the model group,carotid IT,IT/MT,PA,and PA/LA were reduced,the content of lipid and MOMA-2 in plaques was decreased,collagen andα-SMA content were increased,and the vulnerability index was decreased in the isoliquiritigenin group.PPAR-γand LXR-αexpression were increased,FABP-4,MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression were decreased significantly in the isoliquiritigenin group.Conclusion:Isoliquiritigenin can exert anti-AS effects by activating PPAR-γ,up-regulating LXR-α,reducing FABP-4 expression,reducing ox-LDL,reducing the protein expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9,decreasing plaque vulnerability index,and increasing plaque stability.
文摘Background/Aims: Determining the levels of oral health and the quality of dental care are fundamental to building concepts of oral health. This study aims to assess toothbrushing techniques using a technical and physical model, clarifying how children and pre-adults learn to brush their teeth. Materials and Methods: Data were recorded from 23 participants, both male and female of various ages, using a proposed electronic toothbrush equipped with X-Y-Z axes pathways. The data, collected before and after training experiments, were processed with MATLAB to generate plots for the three axes. Results: The study revealed that most parameter values, such as Mean Difference Between Amplitudes (MAV, 6.00), Wilson Amplitude (WAMP, 179.419), and Average Amplitude Coupling (AAC, 1.270), decreased from before to after the experiments. Furthermore, the average overall epoch lengths (AVG) showed a 75% reduction in movement amplitude between the two experiments. Conclusion: Dentist observations indicated which brushing methods were acceptable or not. Analytical values suggest that individuals learn the toothbrushing technique effectively, and medical observations clearly demonstrate the success of the proposed method.
文摘Objective Compare the morphology of atherosclerotic plaquesmgiographically and histopathologically in acute myocardialmfarction m order to accumulate experience in recognizing plaquerupture and thrombus by angiogrames.Material and methods 16postmortem cases of acute myocardial infarction were studied.The coronary arteries were romoved en block,filled with barium the lumen and ridiographed.Then the arteries wereontinuously insetted and routin HE sections were made.Results 16 cases had plaque ruptures and thrombi.Among the total98 blocks,21 had plaque ruptures on which 20 thrombiccur(95.23%).while the other 777 unrupured blocks had only 2hrombi(0.25%).The difference was significant(p【0.001).Therupture mostly occur on unstable plaques.The ruptured plaqueswith thrombi had different angiographical morphology withunruptured plaques.The former had irregular borders andunraluminal lucencies;while the Iatter had smooth borders and nointraluminal lucencies.Conclusions Plaque ruprure withthrumbus was the major cause of acute myocardial infarction andthe ruptured plaques with thrombus had different angiographicalapperances with unruptured plaques.
基金Supported by The Science and Technology Department of Zhejiang Province,No.2008C33012Zhejiang Nature Science Foundation,No.Y2080718
文摘AIM:To assess neovascularization within human ca-rotid atherosclerotic soft plaques in patients with isch-emic stroke.METHODS:Eighty-one patients with ischemic stroke and 95 patients without stroke who had soft athero-sclerotic plaques in the internal carotid artery were studied.The thickest soft plaque in each patient was examined using contrast-enhanced ultrasound.Time-intensity curves were collected from 5 s to 3 min after contrast injection.The neovascularization within the plaques in the internal carotid artery was evaluated using the ACQ software built into the scanner by 2 of the experienced investigators who were blinded to the clinical history of the patients.RESULTS:Ischemic stroke was present in 7 of 33 patients(21%) with grade Ⅰ plaque,in 14 of 51 pa-tients(28%) with grade Ⅱ plaque,in 26 of 43 patients(61%) with grade Ⅲ plaque,and in 34 of 49 patients(69%) with grade Ⅳ plaque(P < 0.001 comparing grade Ⅳ plaque with grade I plaque and with grade Ⅱ plaque and P = 0.001 comparing grade Ⅲ plaque with grade Ⅰ plaque and with grade Ⅱ plaque).Analysis of the time intensity curves revealed that patients with ischemic stroke had a significantly higher intensity of enhancement(IE) than those without ischemic stroke(P < 0.01).The wash-in time(WT) of plaque was signifi-cantly shorter in stroke patients(P < 0.05).The sensi-tivity and specificity for IE in the plaque were 82% and 80%,respectively,and for WT were 68% and 74%,respectively.There was no significant difference in the peak intensity or time to peak between the 2 groups.CONCLUSION:This study shows that the higher the grade of plaque enhancement,the higher the risk of ischemic stroke.The data suggest that the presence of neovascularization is a marker for unstable plaque.
基金Supported by Shanghai Jiading District Health and Family Planning Commission Health Planning Commission Scientific Research Project,No.KYXM,2015-KY-02
文摘BACKGROUND Unstable carotid atherosclerotic plaques are prone to cause ischemic stroke.Contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) is the primary method of assessing plaque stability, but CEUS cannot be a method for screening for unstable plaque. The emergence of superb micro-vascular imaging(SMI) offers the possibility of clinically screening for unstable plaque AIM To investigate the value of SMI in predicting ischemic stroke in patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques.METHODS Patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques(luminal stenosis of 50%-70%) were enrolled into the present study. All patients received conservative medication.The patient's clinical baseline data, serological data, CEUS and SMI data were analyzed. All patients underwent a 3-year follow-up. The follow-up endpoint was the occurrence of ischemic stroke and patients were divided into stroke group and non-stroke group according to whether the prognosis occurred or not.Subsequently, the difference in clinical data was compared, the correlation of SMI and CEUS was analyzed, and multiple Cox regression and receiver operating characteristic curve were applied to investigate the value of SMI and CEUS in predicting cerebral arterial thrombosis in three years.RESULTS In this study, 43 patients were enrolled in the stroke group and 82 patients were enrolled in the non-stroke group. Cox regression revealed that SMI level(P =0.013) and enhancement intensity(P = 0.032) were the independent factors influencing ischemic stroke. There was a positive correlation between SMI level and enhancement intensity(r = 0.737, P = 0.000). The area under curve of SMI level predicting ischemic stroke was 0.878. The best diagnostic point was ≥ level Ⅱ, and its sensitivity and specificity was 86.05% and 79.27%. The area under curve of enhancement intensity predicting ischemic stroke was 0.890. The best diagnostic point was 9.92 db, and its sensitivity and specificity was 88.37% and89.02%. As the SMI level gradually increased, the incidence of ischemic stroke increased gradually(X^2 = 108.931, P = 0.000).CONCLUSION SMI can be used as a non-invasive method of screening for unstable plaques and may help prevent ischemic stroke.
基金Supported by the National Committee of Research Program and Assessment(Cnepru-code I02020130110)
文摘Objective: To compare oral hygiene practices, education and social background, food intake and oral malodor of Algerian adults suffering from dental caries with normal controls, and to determine and compare the bacterial composition of the supragingival plaques from the above-mentioned groups.Methods: Participants completed a questionnaire and were clinically examined for dental caries using decayed, missing and filled teeth index according to the criteria laid down by the World Health Organization. Supragingival plaque samples were collected from 50 caries-free adults(CF) and 50 caries-active adults(CA). Standard procedures of culture and identification of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria were used. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test.Results: A total of 117 bacterial strains were isolated from supragingival plaques in CF group subjects, 76(64.96%) of them belonged to 9 aerobic genera, and 41(35.04%) to 9anaerobic genera(P < 0.05). While in the second group, 199 strains were isolated, 119(59.80%) of the strains belonged to 10 aerobic genera and 80(40.20%) to 10 anaerobic bacteria(P < 0.05). Streptococcus mutans, Enterococcus faecium, Aerococcus viridans,Actinomyces meyeri, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Eubacterium limosum showed a significantly higher prevalence in the CA group(P < 0.05). The findings revealed that CA group had a high sugar intake(80%). A significantly higher frequency of tooth brushing(P < 0.000) and a significantly less self-reported oral malodor(P < 0.000) and tooth pain(P < 0.000) were found in CF group, while there was no association of socioeconomic levels and intake of meal snacks with dental caries.Conclusions: This study confirms the association of some aciduric bacteria with caries formation, and a direct association of sugar intake and cultural level with dental caries.Furthermore, oral hygiene practices minimize the prevalence of tooth decay.
基金Supported by the 2016 Major Collaborative Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences(2016-I2M-1004)
文摘Objective To evaluate senile plaque formation and compare the sensitivity of three differentβ-amyloid(Aβ)labeling methods(antibody staining,Gallyas silver staining,and thioflavin-S staining)to detect Aβdeposition.Methods APPswe/PSEN1dE9 transgenic mice(APP/PS1)of different ages were used to examine spatiotemporal changes in Aβplaque deposition.Antibody staining,Gallyas silver staining,and thioflavin-S staining were used to detect Aβplaque deposition in the same brain region of adjacent slices from model mice,and the results were compared.Results With aging,Aβplaques first appeared in the cortex and then the deposition increased throughout the whole brain.Significantly greater plaque deposition was detected by 6E10 antibody than that analyzed with Gallyas silver staining or thioflavin-S staining(P<0.05).Plaque deposition did not show significant difference between the APP/PS1 mice brains assayed with Gallyas silver staining and ones with thioflavin-S staining(P=0.0033).Conclusions The APP/PS1 mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease could mimick the progress of Aβplaques occurred in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.Antibody detection of Aβdeposition may be more sensitive than chemical staining methods.
基金supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province,China(No.LY13H180007)
文摘This study was undertaken to investigate the correlation of the enhancement degree on contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) with the histopathology of carotid plaques and the serum high sensitive C-reactive protein(hs-CRP) levels in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy(CEA). Carotid CEUS was performed preoperatively in 115 patients who would undergo CEA, and the enhancement degree of the carotid plaques was evaluated by both the visual semiquantitative analysis and the quantitative time-intensity curve analysis. Serum hs-CRP levels were detected using the particle-enhanced immunoturbidimetric assay also before the operation. Additionally, the carotid plaque samples were subjected to histopathological examination postoperatively. The density of neovessels and the number of macrophages in the plaques were assessed by immunohistochemistry. The results showed that among the 115 patients, grade 0 plaque contrast enhancement was noted in 35 patients, grade 1 in 48 patients and grade 2 in 32 patients. The degree of plaque enhancement, the density of neovessels, the number of macrophages, and the hs-CRP levels were highest in the grade 2 patients. Correlation analysis showed that the enhancement degree of the carotid plaques was closely related to the immunohistochemical parameters of the plaques and the serum hs-CRP levels. It was suggested that the carotid plaque enhancement on CEUS can be used to evaluate the vulnerability of carotid plaques.
基金supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( NSFC ) ( 11772093)ARC ( FT140101152)
文摘Background Coronary artery calcification is a well-known marker of atherosclerotic plaque burden.High-resolution intravascular optical coherence tomography(OCT)imaging has shown the potential to characterize the details of coronary calcification in vivo.In routine clinical practice,it is a time-consuming and laborious task for clinicians to review the over 250 images in a single pullback.Besides,the imbalance label distribution within the entire pullbacks is another problem,which could lead to the failure of the classifier model.Given the success of deep learning methods with other imaging modalities,a thorough understanding of calcified plaque detection using Convolutional Neural Networks(CNNs)within pullbacks for future clinical decision was required.Methods All 33 IVOCT clinical pullbacks of 33 patients were taken from Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital,Nanjing University between December 2017 and December 2018.For ground-truth annotation,three trained experts determined the type of plaque that was present in a B-Scan.The experts assigned the labels'no calcified plaque','calcified plaque'for each OCT image.All experts were provided the all images for labeling.The final label was determined based on consensus between the experts,different opinions on the plaque type were resolved by asking the experts for a repetition of their evaluation.Before the implement of algorithm,all OCT images was resized to a resolution of 300×300,which matched the range used with standard architectures in the natural image domain.In the study,we randomly selected 26 pullbacks for training,the remaining data were testing.While,imbalance label distribution within entire pullbacks was great challenge for various CNNs architecture.In order to resolve the problem,we designed the following experiment.First,we fine-tuned twenty different CNNs architecture,including customize CNN architectures and pretrained CNN architectures.Considering the nature of OCT images,customize CNN architectures were designed that the layers were fewer than 25 layers.Then,three with good performance were selected and further deep fine-tuned to train three different models.The difference of CNNs was mainly in the model architecture,such as depth-based residual networks,width-based inception networks.Finally,the three CNN models were used to majority voting,the predicted labels were from the most voting.Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC AUC)were used as the evaluation metric for the imbalance label distribution.Results The imbalance label distribution within pullbacks affected both convergence during the training phase and generalization of a CNN model.Different labels of OCT images could be classified with excellent performance by fine tuning parameters of CNN architectures.Overall,we find that our final result performed best with an accuracy of 90%of'calcified plaque'class,which the numbers were less than'no calcified plaque'class in one pullback.Conclusions The obtained results showed that the method is fast and effective to classify calcific plaques with imbalance label distribution in each pullback.The results suggest that the proposed method could be facilitating our understanding of coronary artery calcification in the process of atherosclerosis andhelping guide complex interventional strategies in coronary arteries with superficial calcification.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30970962)
文摘It is very common that increased carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) and carotid plaque coexist in a single subject in elderly patients with white matter lesions (WMLs). In this study we inves- tigated whether the coexistence of increased CIMT and carotid plaque is more strongly associated with the presence and extent of WMLs than either alone. All patients were classified into 1 of the following 4 groups: without either increased CIMT (I) or carotid plaque (P): I(-)P(-); with only increased CIMT: I(+)P(-); with only carotid plaque: I(-)P(+); and with both increased CIMT and carotid plaque: I(+)P(+) The presence and severity of periventricular WMLs (PWMLs) and deep WMLs (DWMLs) were as- sessed and the prevalence of MRI findings by the Cochran-Armitage trend test was calculated. The characteristics of subjects showed that the percentages of patients with increased CIMT and carotid plaque in the DWMLs group and the PWMLs group were significantly higher than those without WMLs group. Both DWMLs and PWMLs were strongly associated with age, carotid plaque and CIMT. Furthermore, the Cochran-Armitage trend test indicated that the prevalence of MRI findings of PWMLs and DWMLs increased in the order of I(-)P(-)〈 I(+)P(-)〈 I(-)P(+)〈 I(+)P(+) (P〈0.0001). For the pa- tients with DWMLs, the grades of both I(+)P(-) and I(+)P(+) were increased significantly compared to I(-)P(-) (P〈0.0025, P〈0.05, respectively) without such a difference found in patients with PWMLs. Our results suggested that the coexistence of increased CIMT and carotid plaque is most closely associated with WMLs, and that increased CIMT is associated with the severity of DWMLs, whereas carotid plaque is related to the presence of WMLs.
文摘BACKGROUND Discontinued application of statins may be related to adverse cardiovascular events.However,it is unclear whether different statins administration methods have effects on coronary artery plaques.AIM To evaluate the effects of different statins application methods on plaques in patients with coronary atherosclerosis.METHODS A total of 100 patients diagnosed with atherosclerotic plaque by coronary artery computed tomography were continuously selected and divided into three groups according to different statins administration methods(discontinued application group,n=32;intermittent application group,n=39;sustained application group,n=29).The effects of the different statins application methods on coronary atherosclerotic plaque were assessed.RESULTS The volume change and rate of change of the most severe plaques were significantly reduced in the sustained application group(P≤0.001).The volume change of the most severe plaques correlated positively with low-density lipoprotein(LDL-C)levels only in the sustained application group(R=0.362,P=0.013).There were no changes in plaques or LDL-C levels in the intermittent and discontinued application groups.CONCLUSION Continuous application of statins is effective for controlling plaque progression,whereas discontinued or intermittent administration of statins is not conducive to controlling plaques.Only with continuous statins administration can a reduction in LDL-C levels result in plaque volume shrinkage.
文摘Neurodegenerative brain disorders are a major burden in our society,such as Alzheimer´s disease.In order to repair or prevent such diseases,drugs are designed which enter the brain,but the blood-brain barrier limits their entry and the search for alternative pathways is important.Recently,we reported that intranasal delivery of the amyloid-beta degrading enzyme neprilysin eliminated amyloid-beta plaques in transgenic Alzheimer´s disease mice.This review describes the anatomical structure of the intranasal pathway,explains the intranasal delivery of pure neprilysin,cell-loaded neprilysin(platelets)and collagen-embedded neprilysin to destruct amyloid-beta plaques in Alzheimer´s disease in transgenic APP_SweDI mice and hypothesizes why this may cause compensation and why the amyloid-beta cascade hypothesis may fail.
基金Supported by The Islamic Azad University,Shahre Kord Branch-Iran grant 89/8761
文摘AIM:To compare genotype of Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori) isolated from saliva,dental plaques,gastric biopsy,and stool of each patient in order to evaluate the mode of transmission of H.pylori infection.METHODS:This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 300 antral gastric biopsy,saliva,dental plaque and stool samples which were obtained from patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy referred to endoscopy centre of Hajar hospital of Shahrekord,Iran from March 2010 to February 2011.Initially,H.pylori strains were identified by rapid urease test(RUT) and polymerase chain reaction(PCR) were applied to determine the presence of H.pylori(ureC) and for genotyping of voculating cytotoxin gene A(vacA) and cytotoxin associated gene A(cagA) genesin each specimen.Finally the data were analyzed by using statistical formulas such as Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests to find any significant relationship between these genes and patient's diseases.P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant,RESULTS:Of 300 gastric biopsy samples,77.66% were confirmed to be H.pylori positive by PCR assay while this bacterium were detected in 10.72% of saliva,71.67% of stool samples.We were not able to find it in dental plaque specimens.The prevalence of H.pylori was 90.47% among patients with peptic ulcer disease(PUD),80% among patients with gastric cancer,and 74.13% among patients with none ulcer dyspepsia(NUD) by PCR assay.The evaluation of vacA and cagA genes showed 6 differences between gastric biopsy and saliva specimens and 11 differences between gastric and stool specimens.94.42% of H.pylori positive specimens were cagA positive and all samples had amplified band both for vacA s and m regions.There was significant relationship between vacA s1a/m1a and PUD diseases(P = 0.04),s2/m2 genotype and NUD diseases(P = 0.05).No statically significant relationship was found between cagA status with clinical outcomes and vacA genotypes(P = 0.65).The evaluation of vacA and cagA genes showed 6 differences between gastric biopsy and saliva specimens and 11 differences between gastric and stool specimens,CONCLUSION:Regard to high similarity in genotype of H.pylori isolates from saliva,stomach and stool,this study support the idea which fecal-oral is the main route of H.pylori transmission and oral cavity may serve as a reservoir for H.pylori,however,remarkable genotype diversity among stomach,saliva and stool samples showed that more than one H.pylori genotype may exist in a same patient.
文摘<strong>Background:</strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients have considerably high atherosclerotic changes which predict cardiovascular events</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">;</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">hence</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">,</span><span style="font-family:;" "=""><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> this study evaluated the prevalence of carotid atherosclerotic plaques in pre-dialysis CKD patients at a tertiary institution in south-east, Nigeria. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Materials</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">and</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Method: </span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">107 pre-dialysis CKD patients were consecutively recruited for the study. 81 subjects who were screened and had no kidney disease served as control. The control group was sex and age matched with the CKD patients. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to all participants and physical examination was done. Presence of atheromatous plaques was assessed using doppler ultrasound at 3 sites—distal common carotid artery (CCA), the internal carotid artery (ICA) and the carotid bulb by a single skilled radiologist specialized in doppler ultrasound. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Results:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Atheromatous plaques were significantly increased in CKD patients. 14.2% of CKD patients had atheromatous plaques versus 2.5% in the control group (p value < 0.05). Commonest site of occurrence was at the common carotid artery (CCA-7.5% versus ICA-4.7% versus bulb 1.8%). </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Conclusions:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Atheromatous plaques are prevalent in CKD patients. It is recommended that carotid doppler ultrasound should be done in CKD patients to identify patients for possible intervention.</span></span>
文摘<div style="text-align:justify;"> <span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong>Objectives: </strong>To study relationship between carotid artery plaques characteristics and haemodynamic changes after carotid stenting. <strong>Patients and Methods: </strong>This observational prospective (pilot) study included 20 patients—who underwent CAS. The study was carried out in Ain shams university hospitals—Railway hospital (ERMED) and Suez insurance hospital from December 2018 to February 2020. Inclusion criteria, Symptomatic (defined as amaurosis fugax, TIA, Minor stroke or Major stroke) stenosis > 70%. Asymptomatic stenosis > 80% (accidentally discovered during pre-operative assessment for CABG and during full assessment for irrelevant stroke). <strong>Results:</strong> Regarding to plaque character for degree of stenosis, calcification and ulceration revealed significantly higher degree of stenosis in hemodynamic events group (P = 0.024). On the other hand, that there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups as regard calcification, ulceration and lesion location. <strong>Conclusion: </strong>The study revealed that HI is a common occurrence following CAS procedures and significantly higher degree of stenosis in hemodynamic events group. Plaque shape, ulcerations hardly affect haeodynamic instability after carotid stenting.</span> </div>
文摘Objective TanshinoneⅡ-A(Tan),a bioactive diterpene isolated fromSalvia miltiorrhiza Bunge(Danshen),possesses anti-oxidant and anti-in-flammatory activities.The present study investigated whether Tan can reduce and stabilize atherosclerotic plaques in Apolipoprotein E knockout(ApoE-/-) mice maintained on a high cholesterol diet(HCD).Methods and Results Six week-old mice challenged with HCD were ran-domly assigned to 4 groups: C57BL/6J,ApoE-/-,ApoE-/-+30 mg/kg.d Tan and ApoE-/-+10 mg/kg.d Tan.After 16 weeks of inter-vention,Tan treated mice showed decreased atherosclerotic lesion size in the aortic sinus and face aorta.Furthermore,immunohistochemical a-nalysis revealed that Tan rendered the lesion composition a more stable phenotype as evidenced by reduced necrotic cores,decreased macrophageinfiltration,increased smooth muscle cell and collagen content.Tan also significantly reduced in situ superoxide anion production,aortic expres-sion of NF-κB,and matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9).In vitro treatment of RAW264.7 macrophages with Tan significantly suppressed oxi-dized LDL-induced reactive oxygen species production,pro-inflammatory cytokine(IL-6,TNF-α,MCP-1) expression,and MMP-9 activity.Conclusions Tan attenuates the development of atherosclerotic lesions and promotes plaque stability in ApoE-/-mice by reducing vascular oxi-dative stress and inflammatory responses.Our findings highlightTan as a potential therapeutic agentto preventatherosclerotic cardiovascular dis-eases.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.81370443&No.81170793).
文摘Familial hypercholesterolemia(FH)is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder,which resulted in severe elevations in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)and a markedly increased risk of early-onset coronary disease.[1]t is most frequently caused by loss-of-function mutations in genes affecting the LDL receptor,which clears LDL particles from plasma.
基金Regional Fund Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.81960861,81460712)Guangxi Scientific Key Research&Development Plan(No.Guike AB19110006)Guangxi Graduate Education InnovationProgram(No.YCXJ2021052)。
文摘Objective:To study the correlation between plasma lipopolysaccharide and coronary atherosclerotic heart disease risk factors and plaque stability.Methods:136 patients with unstable angina pectoris who underwent coronary angiography and intravascular ultrasound were selected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.According to the results of IVUS,they were divided into stable plaques(stable plaques,SP)group of 72 patients With 64 cases in the Unstable plaques(UP)group,venous blood was drawn from the two groups of patients for blood lipid and lipopolysaccharide index detection,and the general baseline data of the two groups were recorded;the structural characteristics of the intravascular ultrasound plaques in the two groups were analyzed.To study the influencing factors of unstable plaques,the correlation between lipopolysaccharide and plaque structural characteristics,and the diagnostic efficacy of unstable plaques.Results:The expression levels of cholesterol,low-density lipoprotein,and LPS in the UP group were higher than those in the SP group(P<0.05),and the high-density lipoprotein expression levels were lower than those in the SP group(P=0.035);and the intravascular ultrasound structure of the plaque was UP The lipid pool area,the ratio of lipid pool to plaque area,the plaque eccentricity index,and the maximum plaque thickness of the group were higher than those of the SP group(P<0.05),and the minimum plaque thickness was smaller than that of the SP group and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05);LPS was positively correlated with cholesterol,low-density lipoprotein,lipid pool area,ratio of lipid pool to plaque area,plaque eccentricity index,and maximum plaque thickness by Pearson correlation test(P<0.05),Is negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein(P=0.021);LPS is a risk factor for coronary plaque stability,and HDL is a protective factor for coronary plaque stability by binary logistic regression test.The difference is statistically significant Scientific significance(P=0.049,P=0.002);LPS diagnosis of coronary atherosclerotic plaque stability ROC area under the curve(AUC)is 0.889,95%CI is(0.805,0.974),the best diagnosis point is 57.485 mg/L,the sensitivity is 80.60%,and the specificity is 73.70%.Conclusion:Plasma lipopolysaccharide is a risk factor of unstable plaque,which has certain diagnostic value for coronary artery plaque,and can be used as a quantitative diagnostic index of plaque vulnerability.