Nerve growth factor (NGF) has been the focus in area of angiogenesis.In differential,survival,development of nerves,NGF plays a crucial role.In addition,NGF activates migration,differential of endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells,and stimulate the activation of the endothelial progenitor cells in angiogenesis.Crosstalk between vascular endothelial growth factor and NGF is also critical in the development of vessels.The function of NGF in angiogenesis blazes a trail in therapy of ischemia diseases.

Objective To explore the correlation of left ventricular systolic function calculated by automated cardiac motion quantification (aCMQ) and three-dimensional quantitative analysis (3DQA). Methods According to LVEF by 3DQA,patients were divided into abnormal cardiac function group(LVEF<50%)and normal cardiac function group(LVEF≥50%).Dynamic images from two chamber view(AP2), four chamber view(AP4)and three chamber view(AP3)of left ventricular long axis were acquired from 32 patients with abnormal cardiac function and 119 normal subjects.AP2 longitudinal strain (AP2LS),AP4 longitudinal strain (AP4LS) and AP3 longitudinal strain (AP3LS) as well as the left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LVGLS) were measured by aCMQ. While left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDV),left ventricular end systolic volume (LVESV) and LVEF were derived through aCMQ automatically calculated region of interest (ROI) driven automation.The correlation of left ventricular systolic function indexes obtained by aCMQ and 3DQA were compared.Results No significant differences were found between the two groups in gender,body mass index(BMI) and age (P > 0.05).LVEF in abnormal group by 3QDA and aCMQ were much lower than those in normal group (P < 0.01).The absolute values of AP2LS,AP4LS,AP3LS and LVGLS in abnormal group were significantly lower than those in normal group (P < 0.01).LVEF by aCMQ in abnormal group was positively correlated with LVEF by 3QDA methods(r =0.91 ,P <0.01);LVEF by aCMQ in normal group was positively correlated with LVEF by 3QDA (r = 0.73,P < 0.01).The left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LVGLS) measured by aCMQ was negatively correlated with LVEF by 3QDA(r = -0.815,P < 0.01).LVEF measured by aCMQ and 3DQA showed high inter-observer and intra-observer agreements in Bland-Altman charts.Conclusions aCMQ has preferable repeatability.Comparing with the traditional measurement method,LVEF measured by aCMQ has higher correlation with that measured by 3QDA.aCMQ can be a new and relatively accurate method to evaluate the left ventricular systolic function.

Objective To assess the prospect of integrated biphasic silk fibroin scaffold made by annulus fibrosus-nu?cleus pulposus tissue engineering in application as integrated intervertebral disc(IVD). Methods An integrated annulus fi brosus-nucleus pulposus(AF-NP)biphasic scaffold was made by silk fi broin using two different uncomplicated methods which were paraffin spheres-leaching method(outer AF phase)and phase separation method(inner NP phase). The scaf?fold was investigated by general observation, stereomicroscope and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). Its pore size, poros?ity, and compressive elastic modulus were determined. AF and NP cells were isolated from rabbit IVD and seeded into the corresponding phase of the scaffold respectively. The cell-scaffold complex was cultured for 48 hours. The biocompatibility of the scaffold was evaluated by SEM, live/dead staining while CCK-8 assay was used to assess cell proliferation. Results Stereomicroscope and SEM showed that AF phase and NP phase integrated perfectly without cross-linking. Both phases pos?sessed highly interconnected porous structure [pore size of AF and NP phase were(220.0±23.1)μm and(90.0±17.8)μm, re?spectively] and highly porosity(AF and NP phase were respectively 91%and 93%). In addition, this silk biphasic scaffold had impressive mechanical properties(150.7 ± 6.8)kPa. SEM revealed that disc cells attached to regions of pore walls, dis?tributed uniformly and secreted extracellular matrix. Live/Dead staining and cell count kit-8(CCK-8)analysis showed that the silk composite scaffold was non-cytotoxic to disc cells. Conclusion This silk biphasic AF-NP scaffold has satisfied pore size, porosity, biomechanical properties and biocompatibility, so it is ideal candidate for IVD tissue engineering.

Objective:To evaluate the diagnostic value of urine proteomics in interstitial lung disease.Methods:A case control study was conducted. 10 patients (age 56.70±14.78 years) with interstitial lung disease, 9 patients (age 51.30±23.26 years) with pulmonary infection and 10 healthy controls (age 50.20±6.07 years) from the physical examination center were selected from China-Japan Friendship Hospital from March 12 to April 15, 2023. The urine proteomics of three groups of people were studied using Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry proteomics technology. Based on Data-Independent Acquisition mass spectrometry quantitative technology, three groups of people were compared, and t-test was performed between groups and relevant functional analysis was conducted.Results:A total of 2 730 proteins were identified. Three groups of people can be clearly distinguished by urine proteome using partial least squares discriminant analysis based on orthogonal signal correction. Quantitative comparison of proteins was conducted by the screening criteria for differential proteins with P<0.05 and protein abundance fold changes of>3/2 or<2/3. 49 proteins between interstitial lung disease patients and healthy people, as well as 57 proteins between interstitial lung disease patients and infectious diseases patients, were significantly changed. ECM receptor interaction and complement-coagulation cascade pathways were enriched by GO enrichment and KEGG analysis on differentially expressed proteins. Conclusions:Urinary proteomics can effectively distinguish patients with interstitial lung disease from those with pulmonary infections and the normal population. The differential proteins identified in this experiment have certain diagnostic performance (AUC value 0.68-1.00) and can be used as potential disease markers for the diagnosis of interstitial lung disease.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the correlation of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] with the clinical stability and severity of coronary artery stenosis in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: A total of 531 patients undergoing coronary angiography in Nanfang Hospital between January, 2013 and December, 2016 were enrolled in this study. At the cutoff Lp(a) concentration of 300 mg/L, the patients were divided into high Lp(a) group (=191) and low Lp(a) group (=340). In each group, the patients with an established diagnosis of CAD based on coronary angiography findings were further divided into stable angina pectoris (SAP) group and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) group. The correlation between the severity of coronary artery stenosis and Lp(a) was evaluated. RESULTS: The patients in high and low Lp(a) groups showed no significant differences in age, gender, body mass index, smoking status, hypertension, or diabetes (>0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that age, gender, and serum levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and Lp(a) were independent risk factors for CAD in these patients. A high Lp(a) level was associated with an increased risk of CAD (OR=2.443, 95%CI: 1.205-4.951, =0.013). The patients with a high Lp(a) level were at a significantly higher risk of CAD than those with a low Lp(a) level irrespective of a low or high level of LDL-C (=0.006 and 0.020). In the patients with CAD, the ACS group had a significantly higher Lp(a) level than the SAP group ( < 0.001); the proportion of the patients with high Gensini scores was significantly greater in high Lp(a) group than in low Lp(a) group (17.3% vs 5.6%, =0.026), and a linear relationship was found between Lp(a) level and Gensini score (R=0.130, =0.006). CONCLUSIONS Serum level of Lp(a) is an independent risk factor for CAD, and an increased Lp(a) is the residual risk for CAD. In patients with CAD, a high Lp(a) level is associated with the clinical instability and severity of coronary artery stenosis.
Acute Coronary Syndrome ; blood ; Angina Pectoris ; blood ; Cholesterol, LDL ; blood ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; blood ; classification ; Coronary Stenosis ; blood ; pathology ; Humans ; Lipoprotein(a) ; blood ; Regression Analysis ; Risk Factors ; Severity of Illness Index

Objective:To propose automatic measurement of global and local tessellation density on color fundus images based on a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) method.Methods:An applied study. An artificial intelligence (AI) database was constructed, which contained 1 005 color fundus images captured from 1 024 eyes of 514 myopic patients in the Northern Hospital of Qingdao Eye Hospital from May to July, 2021. The images were preprocessed by using RGB color channel re-calibration method (CCR algorithm), CLAHE algorithm based on Lab color space, Retinex algorithm for multiple iterative illumination estimation, and multi-scale Retinex algorithm. The effects on the segmentation of tessellation by adopting the abovemetioned image enhancement methods and utilizing the Dice, Edge Overlap Rate and clDice loss were compared and observed. The tessellation segmentation model for extracting the tessellated region in the full fundus image as well as the tissue detection model for locating the optic disc and macular fovea were built up. Then, the fundus tessellation density (FTD), macular tessellation density (MTD) and peripapillary tessellation density (PTD) were calculated automatically.Results:When applying CCR algorithm for image preprocessing and the training losses combination strategy, the Dice coefficient, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and Jordan index for fundus tessellation segmentation were 0.723 4, 94.25%, 74.03%, 96.00% and 70.03%, respectively. Compared with the manual annotations, the mean absolute errors and root mean square errors of FTD, MTD, PTD automatically measured by the model were 0.014 3, 0.020 7, 0.026 7 and 0.017 8, 0.032 3, 0.036 5, respectively.Conclusion:The DCNN-based segmentation and detection method can automatically measure the tessellation density in the global and local regions of the fundus of myopia patients, which can more accurately assist clinical monitoring and evaluation of the impact of fundus tessellation changes on the development of myopia.

BACKGROUNDTherapeutic angiogenesis has been shown to promote blood vessel growth and improve tissue perfusion. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in angiogenesis. However, it has side effects that limit its therapeutic utility in vivo, especially at high concentrations. This study aimed to investigate whether an intramuscular injection of a genetically engineered zinc finger VEGF-activating transcription factor modulates the endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) and promotes therapeutic angiogenesis in a hindlimb ischemia model with type 1 diabetes.

METHODSAlloxan (intravenous injection) was used to induce type I diabetes in C57BL/6 mice (n = 58). The ischemic limb received ZFP-VEGF (125 µg ZFP-VEGF plasmid in 1% poloxamer) or placebo (1% poloxamer) intramuscularly. Mice were sacrificed 3, 5, 10, or 20 days post-injection. Limb blood flow was monitored using laser Doppler perfusion imaging. VEGF mRNA and protein expression were examined using real-time PCR and ELISA, respectively. Capillary density, proliferation, and apoptosis were examined using immunohistochemistry techniques. Flow cytometry was used to detect the EPC population in bone marrow. Two-tailed Student's paired t test and repeated-measures analysis of variance were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTSZFP-VEGF increased VEGF mRNA and protein expression at 3 and 10 days post-injection, and increased EPC in bone marrow at day 5 and 20 post-injection compared with controls (P < 0.05). ZFP-VEGF treatment resulted in better perfusion recovery, a higher capillary density and proliferation, and less apoptosis compared with controls (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSIntramuscular ZFP-VEGF injection promotes therapeutic angiogenesis in an ischemic hindlimb model with type 1 diabetes. This might be due to the effects of VEGF on cell survival and EPC recruitment.

Animals ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 ; metabolism ; Endothelial Progenitor Cells ; metabolism ; Flow Cytometry ; Hindlimb ; pathology ; Ischemia ; metabolism ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; genetics ; metabolism