Abstract: To study the protective effect of asiaticoside(AS) on Isoproterenol Hydrochloride(ISO)-induced myocardial injury in mice. Methods: Sixty male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into blank control(CON) group, model group [ISO,ISO 10/(kg·d)], Low dose group [ISO+AS-L,ISO 10 mg/(kg·d)+AS 5 mg/(kg·d)], Medium dose group [ISO+AS-M, ISO 10 mg/(kg·d)+AS 10 mg/(kg·d)], High dose group [ISO+AS-H, ISO 10 mg/(kg·d)+AS 20 mg/(kg·d)]. Heart mass ratio was counted; changes were observed in electrocardiogram; Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was used to detect the levels of interleukin(IL)-1β and cardiac troponin T(cTn-T) in serum; Masson staining was used to observe the fibrosis of mouse myocardial tissue; Western blot was used to detect the ratio of Bax and Bcl-2 protein expression levels(Bax/Bcl-2) and the expression levels of Caspase-3 and NLRP3 proteins in myocardial tissue; real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qPCR) was used to detect the mRNA expression levels ofANP,BNP,β-MHC,TNF-α, IL-6, Type Ⅰ collagen(COLⅠ), and Type Ⅲ collagen(COLⅢ). Results: Compared with the CON group, the ISO group had an elevated heart-to-mass ratio(P<0.01), a lower heart rate(P<0.05), a prolonged QT interval(P<0.05), elevated expression of myocardial injury markers cTn-T,ANP,BNP, andβ-MHC(P<0.01); increased expression of IL-1β in the serum(P<0.01), increased expression ofTNF-αin the cardiac tissue and increasedIL-6expression(P<0.001), and NLRP3 protein expression was elevated(P<0.05); myocardium showed a large number of collagen fibers bluish staining(P<0.001),COLⅠ,COLⅢmRNA expression levels increased(P<0.001), and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio(P<0.001) and Caspase-3 expression were significantly elevated(P<0.05). Compared with ISO group, heart-to-mass ratio of mice in ISO+AS-L and ISO+AS-M groups decreased(P<0.05), heart rate increased, QT interval was shortened, cTn-T, ANP, BNP and β-MHC decreased(P<0.001), myocardial collagen fiber blue-staining decreased(P<0.01). The mRNA expression levels ofCOLⅠandCOLⅢdecreased(P<0.05). The expression levels of IL-1β and TNF-α decreased(P<0.01). NLRP3, Caspase-3 protein expression and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio decreased(P<0.05). The expression level ofIL-6in ISO+AS-M group decreased(P<0.01). The expression levels ofANP,BNP, andTNF-αmRNA expression were reduced in the ISO+AS-H group(P<0.001); the degree of myocardial fibrosis was improved(P<0.05), and the expression levels ofCOLⅠandCOLⅢmRNA were reduced(P<0.05). Conclusion AS has a protective effect against ISO-induced myocardial injury in mice by ameliorating cardiac fibrosis, inhibiting cardiomyocyte apoptosis and attenuating myocardial tissue inflammatory response.

Objective:To investigate the protection effect of a new 360-degree radiation protection and position fixation device on the pelvic cavity during chest CT examination.Methods:Three shielding methods were applied to the pelvic cavity of the standard simu-lated human model,i.e.,no shielding(group A),traditional 180-degree front protection with a lead square towel(group B),and 360-degree protection with a new protection device(group C).Philips IQon Spectral CT was used to perform chest CT scan at a tube voltage of 80 kVp,100 kVp,and 120 kVp,respectively,and the cumulative radiation doses from the front,side,and back of the pelvic cavity were measured and analyzed statistically.Results:Compared with groups A and B,group C had significantly lower cumulative radiation doses of the front,side,and back of the pelvic cavity in the simulated human model(all P<0.05);at the tube voltages of 80,100,and 120 kVp,the cumulative dose of the pelvic cavity in group C was reduced by 85%,84%,and 67%,respectively,compared with that in group B,and was reduced by 88%,87%,and 76%,respectively,compared with that in group A.Compared with group A,group B had significant reductions in the radiation doses of the side and back of the pelvic cavity(P<0.05)and a significantly higher radiation dose of the front of the pelvic cavity,which was increased by 19%,23%,and 10%,respectively,at the tube voltages of 80,100,and 120 kVp,and there were significant differences in all tube voltage conditions(P<0.05)except under the tube voltage condition of 120 kVp(P=0.190).In addition,after the application of the device for protection,the reduction rate of pelvic radiation dose under the tube voltages of 80 and 100 kVp was higher than that under the tube voltage of 120 kVp.Conclusion:The new 360-degree radiation protection and position fixation device can significantly reduce the cumulative radiation dose of pelvic organs during chest CT scan,and it holds promise for clinical application due to its characteristics of conve-nient wearing and fixed patient position.

Objective To observe the value of CT radiomics for differentiating spinal bone islands(BI)and osteoblastic metastases(OBM).Methods Data of 109 BI lesions in 98 patients and 282 OBM lesions in 158 patients(including 103 OBM in 48 lung cancer cases,86 OBM in 52 breast cancer cases and 93 OBM in 58 prostate cancer cases)from 3 medical institutions were retrospectively analyzed.Data obtained from institution 1 were used as the internal dataset and divided into internal training set and internal validation set at a ratio of 7∶3,from institution 2 and 3 were used as external dataset.All datasets were divided into female data subset(including OBM of female lung cancer and breast cancer)and male data subset(including OBM of male lung cancer and prostate cancer).Radiomics features were extracted and screened to construct 3 different support vector machine(SVM)models,including model1 for distinguishing BI and OBM,model2 for differentiating OBM of female lung cancer and breast cancer,and model3 for differentiating OBM of male lung cancer and prostate cancer.Diagnostic efficacy of model1,CT value alone and 3 physicians(A,B,C)for distinguishing BI and OBM were assessed,as well as differentiating efficacy for different OBM of model2 and model3.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were drawn,and area under the curves(AUC)were calculated and compared.The differential diagnostic efficacy of model2 and model3 were also assessed with ROC analysis and AUC.Results AUC of model1 for distinguishing spinal OBM from BI in internal training set,internal validation set and external dataset was 0.99,0.98 and 0.86,respectively.In internal training set,model1 had higher AUC for distinguishing BI and OBM than that of physician A(AUC=0.78),B(AUC=0.87)and C(AUC=0.93)as well as that of mean CT value(AUC=0.78,all P＜0.05).AUC in internal training set,internal validation set and external dataset of model2 for identifying female lung cancer and breast cancer OBM was 0.79,0.75 and 0.73,respectively,of model3 for discriminating male lung cancer from prostate cancer OBM was 0.77,0.74 and 0.77,respectively.Conclusion CT radiomics SVM model might reliablely distinguish OBM and BI.