1.Limitations and artifacts in shear-wave elastography of the liver.
Matthew BRUCE ; Orpheus KOLOKYTHAS ; Giovanna FERRAIOLI ; Carlo FILICE ; Matthew O'DONNELL
Biomedical Engineering Letters 2017;7(2):81-89
Recent studies have shown that real-time, two-dimensional shear-wave elastography (2D-SWE) can monitor liver fibrosis by measuring tissue elasticity (i.e., elastic modulus). Two clinical studies of 2D-SWE in the liver have shown that there are several practical issues that can compromise quantitation of liver tissue elasticity. Both general ultrasound (US) limitations and limitations in the 2D-SWE method itself resulted in significant variability in estimated liver elasticity. The most common US limitations were: poor acoustic window, limited penetration, and rib/lung shadows. The most common 2D-SWE limitations were: reverberations under the liver capsule, respiratory/cardiac motion, and vessel pulsation/loss of SWE signal. Based on these studies, scan protocols have been optimized to minimize the influence of these limitations on liver elasticity quantification. These refined protocols should move non-invasive SWE closer to becoming the preferred tool to diagnose and manage many chronic diseases of the liver.
Acoustics
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Artifacts*
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Chronic Disease
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Elasticity
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Elasticity Imaging Techniques*
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Fibrosis
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Liver Cirrhosis
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Liver*
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Methods
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Ultrasonography
2.Proteomic Analysis of Human Adipose Derived Stem Cells during Small Molecule Chemical Stimulated Pre-neuronal Differentiation.
Jerran SANTOS ; Bruce K MILTHORPE ; Benjamin R HERBERT ; Matthew P PADULA
International Journal of Stem Cells 2017;10(2):193-217
BACKGROUND: Adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs) are acquired from abdominal liposuction yielding a thousand fold more stem cells per millilitre than those from bone marrow. A large research void exists as to whether ADSCs are capable of transdermal differentiation toward neuronal phenotypes. Previous studies have investigated the use of chemical cocktails with varying inconclusive results. METHODS: Human ADSCs were treated with a chemical stimulant, beta-mercaptoethanol, to direct them toward a neuronal-like lineage within 24 hours. Quantitative proteomics using iTRAQ was then performed to ascertain protein abundance differences between ADSCs, beta-mercaptoethanol treated ADSCs and a glioblastoma cell line. RESULTS: The soluble proteome of ADSCs differentiated for 12 hours and 24 hours was significantly different from basal ADSCs and control cells, expressing a number of remodeling, neuroprotective and neuroproliferative proteins. However toward the later time point presented stress and shock related proteins were observed to be up regulated with a large down regulation of structural proteins. Cytokine profiles support a large cellular remodeling shift as well indicating cellular distress. CONCLUSION: The earlier time point indicates an initiation of differentiation. At the latter time point there is a vast loss of cell population during treatment. At 24 hours drastically decreased cytokine profiles and overexpression of stress proteins reveal that exposure to beta-mercaptoethanol beyond 24 hours may not be suitable for clinical application as our results indicate that the cells are in trauma whilst producing neuronal-like morphologies. The shorter treatment time is promising, indicating a reducing agent has fast acting potential to initiate neuronal differentiation of ADSCs.
Adult Stem Cells
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Bone Marrow
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Cell Line
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Cytokines
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Down-Regulation
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Glioblastoma
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Heat-Shock Proteins
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Humans*
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Lipectomy
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Neurons
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Phenotype
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Proteome
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Proteomics
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Shock
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Stem Cells*