To investigate the change of cardiac function during 21 d head-down tilt (HDT) bed rest and the effect of lower body negative pressure (LBNP) in the last week in human.
12 healthy male served as ...subjects which were randomly divided into control and LBNP groups, with 6 in each group. All of them were exposed to -6 degrees HDT for 21 d. The LBNP group received -4.0 kPa LBNP training 1 h/d in the last week of the test. The cardiac pump function and cardiac systole function were measured before, during and after HDT.
Cardiac output, cardiac index and stroke volume decreased significantly, whereas total peripheral resistance, pre-ejection period (PEP), isovolumetric contraction time/left ventricular ejection time (LVET) and PEP/LVET increased significantly during HDT in both control and LBNP groups, compared to pre-HDT values, and they returned to normal level on day 2 post HDT. PEP and PEP/LVET in LBNP group were significantly higher than those in control group on day 21 of HDT and day 2 post HDT.
The reduction o
Recent progress in chimeric antigen receptor-modified T-cell (CAR-T cell) technology in cancer therapy is extremely promising, especially in the treatment of patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic ...leukemia. In contrast, due to the hostile immunosuppressive microenvironment of a solid tumor, CAR T-cell accessibility and survival continue to pose a considerable challenge, which leads to their limited therapeutic efficacy. In this study, we constructed two anti-MUC1 CAR-T cell lines. One set of CAR-T cells contained SM3 single chain variable fragment (scFv) sequence specifically targeting the MUC1 antigen and co-expressing interleukin (IL) 12 (named SM3-CAR). The other CAR-T cell line carried the SM3 scFv sequence modified to improve its binding to MUC1 antigen (named pSM3-CAR) but did not co-express IL-12. When those two types of CAR-T cells were injected intratumorally into two independent metastatic lesions of the same MUC1
+
seminal vesicle cancer patient as part of an interventional treatment strategy, the initial results indicated no side-effects of the MUC1 targeting CAR-T cell approach, and patient serum cytokines responses were positive. Further evaluation showed that pSM3-CAR effectively caused tumor necrosis, providing new options for improved CAR-T therapy in solid tumors.
Tendon adhesion is one of the most common causes of disability following tendon surgery. Therefore, prevention of peritendinous adhesion after surgical repair of tendon is a major challenge. The aim ...of this study was to explore the possible application of a collagen membrane for the prevention or attenuation of peritendinous adhesions.
Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat Achilles tendon was cut and sutured by a modified Kessler's technique with or without the collagen membrane wrapped. Macroscopic, morphological and biomechanical evaluations were applied to examine the recovery of the injured tendon at 4 and 8 weeks after surgery.
The surgery group wrapped by collagen membranes had a better outcome than the group with surgery repair only. In the collagen membrane-treated group, less adhesion appeared, stronger tensile strength was detected, and more tendon fibers and collagen I expression were observed morphologically.
Wrapping the tendon with a collagen membrane may be an efficient approach for tendon repair and preventing tendon adhesion after its ruptures.
Exposure to actual or simulated weightlessness is known to induce orthostatic intolerance in humans. Many different methods have been suggested to counteract orthostatic hypotension. The repetitive ...or prolonged application of lower body negative pressure (LBNP) has shown beneficial effects to counter orthostatic intolerance, but devoting so much time to countermeasures is not compatible with space mission objectives or costs. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of brief LBNP sessions against orthostatic intolerance during a 21-d head-down tilt (HDT) bed rest.
There were 12 healthy male volunteers who were exposed to -6 degrees HDT bed rest for 21 d. Six subjects received -30 mm Hg LBNP sessions for 1 h x d(-1) from day 15 to day 21 of the HDT, and six others served as control. Orthostatic tolerance was assessed by means of standard tilt test.
Before HDT, all the subjects in the two groups completed the tilt tests. After 21 d of HDT, five subjects of the control group and one subject of the LBNP group could not complete the tilt test due to presyncopal or syncopal symptoms. The mean upright time in the control group 13.0 +/- 4.0 min) was significantly shorter (p < 0.05) than that in the LBNP group (19.0 +/- 2.2 min). Body weight decreased significantly in the control group during HDT, while increasing significantly on day 21 of HDT in the LBNP group. Urine volume increased on days 15-21 of HDT in the control group, but remained unchanged throughout HDT in the LBNP group. A significant decrease in cardiac output and cardiac index, and a significant increase in total peripheral resistance, pre-ejection period, plasma renin activity, aldosterone, and prostaglandin 12 were observed during HDT in both groups. There were no significant differences in these parameters between the two groups.
Brief daily LBNP sessions were effective in preventing orthostatic intolerance induced by 21 d HDT bed rest. However, it did not improve cardiac pump and systolic functions and did not preserve volume regulating hormones.
Based on analysis of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) BART microRNA expression profiles, we previously reported that EBV-encoded miR-BART13 is upregulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) plasma specimens. ...However, the effects and molecular mechanisms of miR-BART13 in NPC remain largely unknown. We found that miR-BART13 was significantly upregulated in NPC tissue specimens. Ectopic expression of miR-BART13 promoted NPC cell proliferation, epithelial mesenchymal transition, and metastasis in vitro, and facilitated xenograft tumor growth and lung metastasis in vivo. Molecularly, NF-κB inhibitor interacting Ras-like 2 (NKIRAS2), a negative regulator of the NF-κB signaling, was identified to be a direct target of miR-BART13 in NPC cells, and NKIRAS2 mRNA and protein expression was inversely correlated with miR-BART13 in NPC tissues, respecitvely. Furthermore, the NF-κB signaling pathway was activated by miR-BART13. By rescued experiments, reconstitution of NKIRAS2 expression abrogated all the phenotypes upregulated by miR-BART13, and attenuated activity of NF-κB signaling pathway activated by miR-BART13 in NPC cells. Our findings indicated the newly identified miR-BART13/NKIRAS2/NF-κB signaling axis may provide further insights into better understanding of NPC initiation and development, and targeting of this pathway could be further studied as a therapeutic strategy for NPC patients.
•miR-BART13 promotes NPC cell growth and metastasis in vitro and in vivo.•NKIRAS2 is downregulated in NPC tissues and is inversely correlated with miR-BART13.•miR-BART13 activates the NF-κB signaling by directly targeting NKIRAS2 in NPC cells.
Background
Computed tomography (CT) is essential for pulmonary nodule detection in diagnosing lung cancer. As deep learning algorithms have recently been regarded as a promising technique in medical ...fields, we attempt to integrate a well‐trained deep learning algorithm to detect and classify pulmonary nodules derived from clinical CT images.
Materials and Methods
Open‐source data sets and multicenter data sets have been used in this study. A three‐dimensional convolutional neural network (CNN) was designed to detect pulmonary nodules and classify them into malignant or benign diseases based on pathologically and laboratory proven results.
Results
The sensitivity and specificity of this well‐trained model were found to be 84.4% (95% confidence interval CI, 80.5%–88.3%) and 83.0% (95% CI, 79.5%–86.5%), respectively. Subgroup analysis of smaller nodules (<10 mm) have demonstrated remarkable sensitivity and specificity, similar to that of larger nodules (10–30 mm). Additional model validation was implemented by comparing manual assessments done by different ranks of doctors with those performed by three‐dimensional CNN. The results show that the performance of the CNN model was superior to manual assessment.
Conclusion
Under the companion diagnostics, the three‐dimensional CNN with a deep learning algorithm may assist radiologists in the future by providing accurate and timely information for diagnosing pulmonary nodules in regular clinical practices.
Implications for Practice
The three‐dimensional convolutional neural network described in this article demonstrated both high sensitivity and high specificity in classifying pulmonary nodules regardless of diameters as well as superiority compared with manual assessment. Although it still warrants further improvement and validation in larger screening cohorts, its clinical application could definitely facilitate and assist doctors in clinical practice.
摘要
背景。在肺癌的诊断中，计算机断层扫描 (CT) 对于肺结节的检测必不可少。近几年，随着医学领域逐渐认识到深度学习算法这种技术的价值，本研究试图集成一种训练有素的深度学习算法，对临床 CT 图像中的肺结节进行检测和分类。
材料和方法。本研究使用了开源数据集和多中心数据集。本文设计了一种三维卷积神经网络 (CNN) 来检测肺结节，然后根据病理和实验室证实的结果，判断为恶性或良性结节。
结果。这种训练有素的模型敏感性和特异性分别为 84.4% 95% 可信区间 (CI)， 80.5%‐88.3%和83.0%(95% CI，79.5%‐86.5%)。小结节 (< 10mm) 亚组分析显示的敏感性和特异性显著，与大结节 (10‐30mm) 相似。对比不同级别医生的人工评估结果与三维 CNN 的评估结果，进行了额外的模型验证。结果表明，CNN 模型的表现优于人工评估。
结论。通过伴随诊断可知，加入深度学习算法的三维 CNN 能够提供准确、及时的信息，有助于放射科医生在常规临床实践中的肺结节诊断工作。
实践意义:在对各种直径的肺结节分类中，本文所述的三维卷积神经网络具有较高的敏感性和特异性，与人工评估结果相比具有优越性。虽然仍需在更大的筛选队列中进行进一步改进和验证，但可以肯定的是，临床应用三维卷积神经网络可以促进和协助医生的临床实践工作。
Interest in deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) is growing because of demonstrated accuracy with less manual intervention in computer vision tasks. This article describes efforts to use a pre‐trained CNN model integrating with multi‐centers datasets for detection and classification of pulmonary nodules.
The atomic gravimeter has advantages of high accuracy and long-term stability, which is suitable for high-resolution absolute sea-surface and deep-sea gravity measurements. The absolute gravity data ...measured by the atomic gravimeter are affected by rough sea conditions, with significant non-smooth and non-linear noise signals, which reduce the accuracy of gravity measurements. To eliminate the noises in measured gravity data, this paper analyzed the noise sources and innovatively introduced the Variational Modal Decomposition algorithm according to the noise characteristics. Since the filtering result of Variational Modal Decomposition algorithm is limited by the selection of parameters like modal number K and penalty factor α, a Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm and envelope entropy were introduced to adaptively determine the parameters K and α, obtaining the optimal decomposition solution. To verify the reliability of the method, we processed the ocean gravity data, which were dynamically measured by atomic gravimeter (ZAG-M), by using the Empirical Mode Decomposition algorithm, the Complete Ensemble EMD with Adaptive Noise algorithm, and the PSO-VMD algorithm, respectively. The evaluated external coincidence accuracy acquired by comparing the ZAG-M with the ocean relative gravimeter (KSS-32) deployed on the same ship are 0. 71 mGal, 0.54 mGal and 0.48 mGal, respectively, confirming that the PSO-VMD filtering algorithm has a better filtering performance. Finally, the PSO-VMD was applied to all the lines of this ocean measurement experiment with an internal coincidence accuracy of 0.62mGal, verifying the stability of the ZAG-M atomic absolute gravimeter in ocean dynamic measurements and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
The present study compared the effectiveness and toxicity of two treatment modalities, namely radiotherapy combined with nimotuzumab (N) and chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with locally recurrent ...nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LR-NPC).
Patients with LR-NPC who were treated with radiotherapy were retrospectively enrolled from January 2015 to December 2018. The treatment included radiotherapy combined with N or platinum-based induction chemotherapy and/or concurrent chemotherapy. The comparison of survival and toxicity between the two treatment modalities was evaluated using the log-rank and chi-squared tests. Overall survival (OS) was the primary endpoint.
A total of 87 patients were included, of whom 32 and 55 were divided into the N group and the CRT group, respectively. No significant differences were noted in the survival rate between the N and the CRT groups (4-year OS rates, 37.1% vs. 40.7%, respectively; P = 0.735). Mild to moderate acute complications were common during the radiation period and mainly included mucositis and xerostomia. The majority of the acute toxic reactions were tolerated well. A total of 48 patients (55.2%) demonstrated late radiation injuries of grade ≥ 3, including 12 patients (37.5%) in the N group and 36 patients (66.5%) in the CRT group. The CRT group exhibited significantly higher incidence of severe late radiation injuries compared with that of the N group (P = 0.011).
Radiotherapy combined with N did not appear to enhance treatment efficacy compared with CRT in patients with LR-NPC. However, radiotherapy combined with N may be superior to CRT due to its lower incidence of acute and late toxicities. Further studies are required to confirm the current findings.
ε-Iron carbide has been predicted to be promising for low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (LTFTS) targeting liquid fuel production. However, directional carbidation of metallic iron to ε-iron ...carbide is challenging due to kinetic hindrance. Here we show how rapidly quenched skeletal iron featuring nanocrystalline dimensions, low coordination number and an expanded lattice may solve this problem. We find that the carbidation of rapidly quenched skeletal iron occurs readily in situ during LTFTS at 423-473 K, giving an ε-iron carbide-dominant catalyst that exhibits superior activity to literature iron and cobalt catalysts, and comparable to more expensive noble ruthenium catalyst, coupled with high selectivity to liquid fuels and robustness without the aid of electronic or structural promoters. This finding may permit the development of an advanced energy-efficient and clean fuel-oriented FTS process on the basis of a cost-effective iron catalyst.
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