The choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) and the molecular forms of acetyl-cholinesterase (ACHE) activites in various brain regions of 20-day-old hypothyroid and hyper-thyroid rats were measured. The results provided the following information: 1) CHAT and ACHE activities were directly interrelated with thyroid hormones. 2) In both hypothyroid and hyperthyroid rats the nonextractable ACHE activity was distinctly decreased in every brain region, suggesting that both conditions were affected in the critical period of cholinergic synaptic development. 3) The ratio of membrane-bound ACHE to soluble ACHE decreased;it showed that thyroid hormone deficiency might distrub development and maturation of cholinergic neurons. 4) In most regions of the central nervous system,the CHAT seemed to be more affected than ACHE by thyroid hormones.

ObjectiveTo observe the effects and safety of early high-loading-dose clopidogrel in treatment of patients with acute coronary syndrome.Methods178 patients with STEMI were divided into two groups randomly.96patients were treated with clopidogrel 600 mg immediately when they came to the hospital, and then were treated with clopidogrel 75mg daily for 1 year;82 patients were treated with clopidogrel 300mg immediately when they came to the hospital,and then were treated with clopidogrel 75mg daily for 1 year.The attacks of postinfarction angina pectoris,events of heart failure and the composite of death,reinfarction or stroke were observed.ResultsCompared with control group, the high-loading-dose group had obvious reduction in the attacks of postinfarction angina pectoris and the composite of death, reinfarction or stroke (all p ＜ O.05).There were no major and minor bleeding events in the two groups.ConclusionEarly treatment with high-loading-dose of clopidogrel in ACS could significantly improve its prognosis,and was safe and well tolerated.

Background Myocarditis is a common,potentially life-threatening disease that presents a wide rang of symptoms in children,as an important underlying etiology of other myocardial diseases such as dilated and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.The incidence of nonfatal myocarditis is probably greater than that of the one actually diagnosed,which is the result of the challenges of establishing the diagnosis in standard clinical settings.Currently,no single clinical or imaging finding confirms the diagnosis of myocarditis with absolute certainty.Historically,clinical exam,electrocardiogram (ECG),serology and echocardiography had an unsatisfactory diagnostic accuracy in myocarditis.Endomyocardial biopsy remains as a widely accepted standard,but may not be suitable for every patient,especially for those with less severe disease.Our aim was to find the changes in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging of children with myocarditis diagnosed by clinical criteria.Methods We studied 25 children (18 male,7 female; aged from 5-17 years) with diagnosed myocarditis by clinical criteria.CMR included function analyses,T2-weighted imaging,T1-weighted imaging before and after i.v.gadolinium injection (early gadolinium enhancement (EGE) and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE)).Results The T2 ratio was elevated in 21 children (84％,11 in anterolateral (44％),5 in inferolateral (20％),and 5 in septum (20％)),EGE was present in 9 children (36％,3 in anterolateral (12％),4 in inferolateral (20％),and 2 in septum (8％)),and LGE was present in 5 children (20％,2 in anterolateral (8％),1 in inferolateral (4％),1 in septum (4％),and 1 in midwall of left ventricular (LV) wall).In 9 children (36％),two (or more) out of three sequences (T2,EGE,LGE) were abnormal.Conclusions The CMR findings in children with clinically diagnosed myocarditis vary within the groups,including regional or global myocardial signal increase in T2-weighted images,EGE and LGE in T1-weighted images.The T2 ratio elevation is the most common CMR finding.Children with mild cardiac symptoms may also appear serious myocardial injuries.

OBJECTIVETo minimize of the radiation dose of cardiovascular CT angiography (CTA) imaging while preserving the image quality.

METHODSTo reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging, the normal-dose scan induced non-local means (ndiNLM) algorithm was adapted for low-mAs scanned CTA image restoration by using the previous scanned high-quality image.

RESULTSQualitative and quantitative evaluations were carried out on both simulated phantom and clinical CTA scans in terms of accuracy and resolution properties. Compared to the original NLM algorithm, the ndiNLM method could achieve noticeable gains in terms of noise-induced artifacts suppression and enhanced structure preservation.

CONCLUSIONThe ndiNLM algorithm is a potential useful technique to reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging.

Objective:To compare the expression of myeloid cell trigger receptor expressed on myoid cell 2 (TREM2) in different brain regions of tyrosine kinase binding protein(TYROBP) knockout mice and wild-type mice at different months of age, and to explore the relationship between TREM2, TYROBP and early onset Alzheimer's disease(EOAD).Methods:Healthy TYROBP gene knockout mice were divided into three groups according to the results of gene sequencing: the homozygous (TYROBP -/-) group, the heterozygous (TYROBP -/+ ) group, and the wild type (WT) group.Western blot and RT-qPCR were used to detect the expression of TREM2 in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of 2, 4 and 6 month old mice in the three groups and with 10 in each group at each time point. Results:(1) In the prefrontal cortex: Western blot and RT-qPCR results showed that compared with WT mice (2-month-old: (0.993±0.048), (1.654±0.033); 4-month-old: (0.503±0.019), (2.169±0.023); 6-month-old: (0.600±0.036), (1.468±0.057)), the levels of TREM2 protein and mRNA in 2-month-old TYROBP -/+ group ((0.746±0.062), (1.137±0.067)) and TYROBP -/- group ((0.661±0.028), (0.644±0.012)) were decreased.While in 4-month-old and 6-month-old TYROBP -/+ group (4-month-old: (1.140±0.006), (5.483±0.088); 6-month-old: (0.827±0.043), (3.020±0.082)) and TYROBP -/- group (4-month-old: (1.071±0.010), (3.012±0.150); 6-month-old: (0.627±0.026), (1.633±0.027)) were increased, especially in 4-month-old mice and the differences were statistically significant ( F=12.946, 134.445; 725.318, 289.202; 12.172, 202.791; all P<0.05). (2) In the hippocampus: Western blot results showed that compared with WT mice (2-month-old: (1.268±0.036); 4-month-old: (0.813±0.010); 6-month-old: (0.312±0.021)), the level of TREM2 protein in 2-month-old TYROBP -/+ group ((0.804±0.034)) and TYROBP -/- group ((0.534±0.020)) were decreased.While in 4-month-old and 6-month-old TYROBP -/+ group ((0.932±0.011); (0.769±0.031)) and TYROBP -/- group ((0.910±0.014); (0.609±0.018)) were increased, especially in 4-month-old mice and the differences were statistically significant ( F=142.807; 27.884; 94.067; all P<0.05). Conclusion:The expression level of TREM2 decreases in 2-month-old TYROBP gene knockout mice while increases in 4-month-old and 6-month-old TYROBP gene knockout mice.It is presumed that TREM2/TYROBP signal pathway participates in the pathological process of EOAD and plays different roles in different pathological stages of EOAD.

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a common cerebral small vessel disease, mainly caused by β-amyloid deposition on the small vessels less than 200 μm in diameter in cortex and leptomeninges. CAA is a major cause of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage in the elderly, especially lobar location. Early symptoms are insidious, and as the disease progress, they manifest as cerebral hemorrhage, cognitive decline, transient focal neurological episodes, cerebral infarction, epilepsy, headache, etc. MRI revealed that CAA is a disease in which bleeding and ischemia coexist, and even inflammation and immune responses are involved. MRI findings of CAA include cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral microbleeds, convexity subarachnoid hemorrhage and cortical superficial siderosis, cortical microinfarcts, CAA-associated inflammation, white matter hyperintensities, enlarged perivascular spaces, cerebral atrophy and lacune, etc. The same patient often has several of the above manifestations, and each manifestation has different specificity for the diagnosis of CAA. The rapid development of MRI technology has led to the improvement of the diagnostic level of CAA, and it is of great clinical significance to understand these imaging findings. This article reviews the MRI findings of sporadic CAA.

Objective To investigate the detection and clinical significance of Tp-e interval extension of sudden coro-nary death. Methods A total of 502 patients with coronary heart disease were selected, of which 46 patients with sud-den coronary death were assigned to the sudden death group and the other 456 patients were assigned to the survival group. The Tp-e, Tp-e/√RR , heart rate-corrected QT inverval (QTc) and left ventricular ejection fraction of the two groups were compared and the clinical significance of Tp-e interval extension for sudden coronary death was decided. Results Compared to the survival group, the sudden death group had significantly extended Tp-e, Tp-e/√RR and QTc(P<0.05);Compared to the survival group, the sudden death group had significantly reduced LVEF (P<0.05); Tp-e extension was positively correlated to sudden coronary death and QTc(P<0.05). Conclusion The Tp-e interval extended obviously in the patients with sudden coronary death and thus can serve as a predictive risk factor of sudden coronary death.

Objective To minimize of the radiation dose of cardiovascular CT angiography (CTA) imaging while preserving the image quality. Methods To reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging, the normal-dose scan induced non-local means (ndiNLM) algorithm was adapted for low-mAs scanned CTA image restoration by using the previous scanned high-quality image. Results Qualitative and quantitative evaluations were carried out on both simulated phantom and clinical CTA scans in terms of accuracy and resolution properties. Compared to the original NLM algorithm, the ndiNLM method could achieve noticeable gains in terms of noise-induced artifacts suppression and enhanced structure preservation. Conclusion The ndiNLM algorithm is a potential useful technique to reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging.

Objective To minimize of the radiation dose of cardiovascular CT angiography (CTA) imaging while preserving the image quality. Methods To reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging, the normal-dose scan induced non-local means (ndiNLM) algorithm was adapted for low-mAs scanned CTA image restoration by using the previous scanned high-quality image. Results Qualitative and quantitative evaluations were carried out on both simulated phantom and clinical CTA scans in terms of accuracy and resolution properties. Compared to the original NLM algorithm, the ndiNLM method could achieve noticeable gains in terms of noise-induced artifacts suppression and enhanced structure preservation. Conclusion The ndiNLM algorithm is a potential useful technique to reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging.

Evaluating toxicity and decoding the underlying mechanisms of active compounds are crucial for drug development.In this study,we present an innovative,integrated approach that combines air flow-assisted desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging(AFADESI-MSI),time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry(ToF-SIMS),and spatial metabolomics to comprehensively investi-gate the nephrotoxicity and underlying mechanisms of nitidine chloride(NC),a promising anti-tumor drug candidate.Our quantitive AFADESI-MSI analysis unveiled the region specific of accumulation of NC in the kidney,particularly within the inner cortex(IC)region,following single and repeated dose of NC.High spatial resolution ToF-SIMS analysis further allowed us to precisely map the localization of NC within the renal tubule.Employing spatial metabolomics based on AFADESI-MSI,we identified over 70 discriminating endogenous metabolites associated with chronic NC exposure.These findings suggest the renal tubule as the primary target of NC toxicity and implicate renal transporters(organic cation transporters,multidrug and toxin extrusion,and organic cation transporter 2(OCT2)),metabolic en-zymes(protein arginine N-methyltransferase(PRMT)and nitric oxide synthase),mitochondria,oxidative stress,and inflammation in NC-induced nephrotoxicity.This study offers novel insights into NC-induced renal damage,representing a crucial step towards devising strategies to mitigate renal damage caused by this compound.