Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of vasculitis associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody against myeloperoxidase (MPO-ANCA),and to investigate preliminarily the relationship between MPO-ANCA and the clinical damages.Methods One hundred and thirty-two patients with primary antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis,which were diagnosed for the first time,were involved into this prospective study.All the patients had positive laboratory tests for peri-nuclear ANCA (p-ANCA) and MPO-ANCA.The characteristics of their clinical presentations were analyzed.The levels of p-ANCA and MPO-ANCA in the peripheral blood were detected and the relationship between the levels and the damages were explored.T-test and Spearman rank correlation analysis were used for statistical analysis.Results Of the 132 patients from 8 different clinical departments,128 (97.0％) were microscopic polyangiitis (MPA),3 (2.3％) were granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA),and 1 (0.7％) was eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA).The mean age was (62±15) years old.The average time between onset of the disease and diagnosis was (10 ±18) months,and only 14 (10.6％) were diagnosed within one month.Among the major organ involvements,the occurrence of renal,lung,joint,heart,peripheral nerve,skin,and central nerve involvement was 72.0％(95 cases),67.4％(89 cases),26.5％(35 cases),19.7％ (26 cases),17.4％(23 cases),10.6％(14 cases) and 9.8％(13 cases),respectively.Lung was more susceptible to be involved among the aged in their early course [(66±11) years,(55±19) years,t=-3.478,P＜0.01; (6±10) months,(18±27) months,t=2.920,P＜0.01],and joint involvement was more common in the younger [(57±18) years vs (64±13) years,t=2.335,P＜0.05] patients.p-ANCA had no relationship with the disease activity or the range of organ involvements(r=0.013,P＞0.05; r=0.087,P＞0.05).MPO-ANCA had a positive association with disease activity but had no significant correlation with the range of organ involvements(r=0.258,P＜0.01; r=0.022,P＞0.05).Conclusion The MPO-ANCA associated vasculitis is not rare in our country.MPA is the most common vasculitis which mainly affects the aged population,and its diagnosis is often delayed due to the lack of characteristic clinical presentations.It is possible that MPO-ANCA may play a pathogenic role in vasculitis,and the various clinical manifestations might be related with the specificities of MPO-ANCA.

Objective: To explored the bio-compatibility and cartilage regeneration of the rabbits genipin cross-linked decellularized scaffold, to provide experimental and theoretical support for the clinical application of genipin cross-linked decellularized scaffold. Methods: Detergent-enzyme method was used to prepare decellularized tracheal scaffolds. Cellular content of native trachea and decellularized trachea were compared by 4′, 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole(DAPI) staining. Masson trichrome staining was used to compare the histological structure of the progenitor tube, decellularized trachea, and genipin cross-linked decellularized trachea. Nine adult New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into autologous tracheal transplantation group (negative control group), allogeneic tracheal transplantation group (positive control group), and genipin cross-linked decellularized tracheal transplantation group (experimental group). Autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were implanted on the surface of trachea in each group. The blood cells and type II collagen were detected to compare the inflammatory response and chondrocyte regeneration after tracheal orthotopic transplantation in the three groups. Results: After DAPI staining and light microscope observation (×200), the cell content of the acellular 7-cycle trachea [(143.0 ± 71.1) cells/field] was significantly lower than that of the native trachea [(853.5 ± 149.6) cells/field], and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). Masson′s trichrome staining showed that the tissue structure of genipin cross-linked decellularized trachea was more complete. Blood cell analysis and type II collagen test results showed that genipin cross-linked decellularized trachea transplanted with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells after transplantation in situ has little rejection and can be converted into chondrocytes by the action of related growth factors in vivo. Conclusions Genipin cross-linked decellularized tracheal scaffold combined with stem cell transplantation can successfully construct a tracheal in situ replacement model. This study provides a strong support for the research of tissue engineering trachea.

BACKGROUND: Different decellularization methods can affect the integrity and the biomechanical and biocompatible properties of the tracheal matrix. Natural cross-linking with genipin can be applied to improve those properties. The goals of this study were to evaluate the effects of different decellularization methods on the properties of genipin-cross-linked decellularized tracheal matrices in rabbits. METHODS: The tracheas of New Zealand rabbits were decellularized by the Triton-X 100-processed method (TPM) and the detergent-enzymatic method (DEM) and were then cross-linked with genipin. Mechanical tests, haematoxylin-eosin staining, Masson trichrome staining, Safranin O staining, DAPI staining, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), and biocompatibility tests were used to evaluate the treatment. The bioengineered trachea and control trachea were then implanted into allogeneic rabbits for 30 days. The structural and functional analyses were performed after transplantation. RESULTS: The biomechanical tests demonstrated that the biomechanical properties of the decellularized tracheas decreased and that genipin improved them (p < 0.05). The histological staining results revealed that most of the mucosal epithelial cells were removed and that the decellularized trachea had lower immunogenicity than the control group. The analysis of SEM revealed that the decellularized trachea retained the micro- and ultra-structural architectures of the trachea and that the matrices cross-linked with genipin were denser. The biocompatibility evaluation and in vivo implantation experiments showed that the decellularized trachea treated with the DEM had better biocompatibility than that treated with the TPM and that immunogenicity in the cross-linked tissues was lower than that in the uncross-linked tissues (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared with the trachea treated with the TPM, the rabbit trachea processed by the DEM had better biocompatibility and lower immunogenicity, and its structural and mechanical characteristics were effectively improved after the genipin treatment, which is suitable for engineering replacement tracheal tissue.
Epithelial Cells ; Methods ; Microscopy ; Rabbits ; Tissue Engineering ; Trachea

Objective To examine the distribution,volume and glucose-uptake activity of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adults and investigate their correlations with metabolic indicators.Methods 18F-flurodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT was used to analyze the distribution,volume and glucose-uptake activity of BAT.The clinical and metabolic differences between BAT positive group (n =121) and BAT negative group (n=257) were compared.The influences of metabolic indicators (fast blood glucose (FBG),triglyceride (TG),total cholesterol (TC),high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C),low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C),uric acid (UA)) on the distribution,volume and activity of BAT were investigated.Logistic regression analysis,two-sample t test,x2 test and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data.Results The distribution,volume and glucose-uptake activity of BAT were found to be significantly higher in subjects being tested in colder seasons than those who were tested in warmer seasons:2.91％ (87/2 991) vs 1.68％(34/2018),(433±402) vs (329±298) ml,(212±183) vs (169±145) g (x2=7.66,t values:3.36 and 2.98,all P＜0.05).The female proportion was significantly higher in BAT positive group than that in BAT negative group:68.60％ (83/121) vs 31.91％ (82/257) (x2 =16.10,P＜0.01).The average levels of age,body mass index (BMI),FBG,TG,TC,LDL-C and UA in BAT positive group were significantly low-er than those in BAT negative group:(41.30±10.90) vs (48.70±9.60) years,(21.30±2.40) vs (24.50± 3.10) kg/m2,(4.56±0.74) vs (5.34±1.33) mmol/L,(0.94±0.36) vs (2.06±1.64) mmol/L,(4.42± 0.79) vs (4.88±0.87) mmol/L,(1.99±0.58) vs (3.10±0.77) mmol/L,(285.11±70.00) vs (347.70± 101.10) μmol/L (t values:from-6.25 to-2.94,all P＜0.01).Logistic regression analysis revealed that season,gender,age,BMI,FBG,TG and LDL-C levels were all independent influencing factors of BAT distribution in adults (odds ratios:5.36,2.06,0.95,0.79,0.49,0.23,0.02;P＜0.01 or P＜0.05).Among BAT positive adults,gender and FBG levels were found to be strongly affected by the volume and glucose-uptake activity of BAT (β values:0.28,-0.21,both P＜0.05).Conclusions The distribution,volume and glucose-uptake activity of BAT in adults are associated with multiple metabolic indicators including BMI,levels of glucose,lipid and UA.The distribution of BAT is affected by gender,age,season,BMI,blood glucose,and blood lipids.

The monitoring of pregnant women is very important. It plays an important role in reducing fetal mortality, ensuring the safety of perinatal mother and fetus, preventing premature delivery and pregnancy accidents. At present, regular examination is the mainstream method for pregnant women's monitoring, but the means of examination out of hospital is scarce, and the equipment of hospital monitoring is expensive and the operation is complex. Using intelligent information technology (such as machine learning algorithm) can analyze the physiological signals of pregnant women, so as to realize the early detection and accident warning for mother and fetus, and achieve the purpose of high-quality monitoring out of hospital. However, at present, there are not enough public research reports related to the intelligent processing methods of out-of-hospital monitoring for pregnant women, so this paper takes the out-of-hospital monitoring for pregnant women as the research background, summarizes the public research reports of intelligent processing methods, analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the existing research methods, points out the possible problems, and expounds the future development trend, which could provide reference for future related researches.
Female ; Fetus ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women

Stroma surrounding the tumor cells plays crucial roles for tumor progression. However, little is known about the factors that maintain the symbiosis between stroma and tumor cells. In this study, we found that the transcriptional regulator-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) was frequently activated in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which was a potent facilitator of tumor malignancy, and formed forward feedback loop with platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR) both in CAFs and tumor cells. Importantly, PAFR/Stat3 axis connected intercellular signaling crosstalk between CAFs and cancer cells and drove mutual transcriptional programming of these two types of cells. Two central Stat3-related cytokine signaling molecules-interleukin 6 (IL-6) and IL-11 played the critical role in the process of PAFR/Stat3 axis-mediated communication between tumor and CAFs. Pharmacological inhibition of PAFR and Stat3 activities effectively reduced tumor progression using CAFs/tumor co-culture xenograft model. Our study reveals that PAFR/Stat3 axis enhances the interaction between tumor and its associated stroma and suggests that targeting this axis can be an effective therapeutic strategy against tumor malignancy.