We compared the efficacy of intravenous (IV) combination of low-dose tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and urokinase (UK) versus either classical IV tPA or UK alone for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) ...within 4.5 h of symptom onset. One-hundred fifty-three AIS patients were treated with 1 of 3 different IV thrombolytic therapies within a 4.5-h time window. Clinical data included age, gender, type of therapy, NIHSS score, time from onset to needle, ASPECTS, mRS at 90 days, and medical history. The outcomes were ΔNIHSS-a (the difference between NIHSS scores at admission and 24 h); ΔNIHSS-b (difference between NIHSS scores at admission and 7 days), and mRS at 90 days. Multivariate logistic regression (MLR) was used to determine if treatments or other variables could predict these outcomes. Of 153 patients, 60.1% had a good outcome and 39.9% had a poor outcome. The most important predictors of 90-day mRS were AF history (p < 0.001) and NIHSS score at admission (p = 0.001). Age (p = 0.004) and treatment type (p = 0.043) that were also significantly associated with 90-day mRS. IV tPA yielded the best outcome, compared to low-dose tPA/UK (OR = 1.17) and UK alone (OR = 1.42). Low-dose tPA/UK also resulted in better outcome than UK alone did (OR = 1.12). We conclude that low-dose IV tPA with UK administered within a 4.5-h time window was effective and likely comparable to classical IV tPA thrombolysis.
Purpose
To determine the optimal combination of low b‑values to generate perfusion information from intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) considering the ...time constraints for these patients.
Methods
A retrospective cohort study of AIS patients with IVIM MRI was performed. A two-step voxel-by-voxel postprocessing was used to derive IVIM perfusion fraction maps with different combinations of b values. Signal values within regions of ischemic core, non-infarcted ischemic hemisphere, and contralateral hemisphere were measured on IVIM (
f
, D
*
,
f
D
*
, D) parameter maps. Bland-Altman analysis and the Dice similarity coefficient were used to determine quantitative and spatial agreements between the reference standard IVIM (IVIM with 6 b values of 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 1000 s/mm
2
) and other combinations of b values. Significance level was set at
p
< 0.05.
Results
There were 58 patients (36 males, 61.3%; mean age 70.2 ± 13.4 years) included. Considering all IVIM parameters, the combination of b values of 0, 50, 200, 1000 was the most consistent with our reference standard on Bland-Altman analysis. The best voxel-based overlaps of ischemic regions were on IVIM D, while there were good voxel-based overlaps on IVIM
f.
Conclusion
The IVIM with these four b values collects diffusion and perfusion information from a single short MRI sequence, which may have important implications for the imaging of AIS patients.
Dendritic cells (DCs) play an important role in controlling T cell-mediated adaptive immunity in atherogenesis. However, the role of the basic leucine zipper transcription factor, ATF-like 3 ...(Batf3)-dependent CD8α+ DC subset in atherogenesis remains unclear. Here we show that Batf3−/−Apoe−/− mice, lacking CD8α+ DCs, exhibited a significant reduction in atherogenesis and T help 1 (Th1) cells compared with Apoe−/− controls. Then, we found that CD8α+ DCs preferentially induce Th1 cells via secreting interleukin-12 (IL-12), and that the expression of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ)or chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 5 (CCL5) in aorta were significantly decreased in Batf3−/−Apoe−/− mice. We further demonstrated that macrophages were the major CCL5-expressing cells in the plaque, which was significantly reduced in Batf3−/−Apoe−/− mice. Furthermore, we found CCL5 expression in macrophages was promoted by IFN-γ. Finally, we showed that Batf3−/−Apoe−/− mice displayed decreased infiltration of leukocytes in the plaque. Thus, CD8α+ DCs aggravated atherosclerosis, likely by inducing Th1 cell response, which promoted CCL5 expression in macrophages and increased infiltration of leukocytes and lesion inflammation.
•Ablation of CD8α+DCs in Batf3−/−Apoe−/− mice alleviated atherosclerosis, reduced Th1 cells and CCL5 expression.•Th1 cell cytokine IFN-γ promoted CCL5 expression in macrophages.•Reduction of Th1 cells and CCL5 expression helps to explain decreased aortic accumulation of inflammatory leukocytes.
Dendritic cells (DCs) play an important role in controlling T cell-mediated adaptive immunity in atherogenesis. However, the role of Batf3-dependent CD8α+DC subset in atherogenesis remains unclear. Here we found that ablation of CD8α+DCs in Batf3−/−Apoe−/− mice alleviated atherosclerosis. Our data suggested that Batf3-dependent CD8α+DCs from western diet-treated mice preferentially induce Th1 cell polarization via secreting IL-12. Th1 cells promoted CCL5 expression on macrophages via IFN-γ secretion. Lack of CD8α+DCs-dependent enhancement of Th1 cells and CCL5 expression might explain decreased aortic accumulation of inflammatory leukocytes.
A type of thermal-induced shape memory polymer was fabricated using a new epoxy resin-polybutadiene epoxy (PBEP) and bisphenol A-type cyanate ester in different mass ratios. Mechanical performance, ...thermal properties, and shape memory behaviors were investigated systematically. This polymer system presented good shape memory properties. The deformation recovery speed increased with the increase in the amount of PBEP. The maximum deformation recovery speed was 0.0128 s
−1
, and the minimum value was 0.0073 s
−1
. The deformation recovery rate was almost 100 %.
Lung cancer is a life-threatening disease and its diagnosis is of great significance. Data scarcity and unavailability of datasets is a major bottleneck in lung cancer research. In this paper, we ...introduce a dataset of pulmonary lesions for designing the computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems. The dataset has fine contour annotations and nine attribute annotations. We define the structure of the dataset in detail, and then discuss the relationship of the attributes and pathology, and the correlation between the nine attributes with the chi-square test. To demonstrate the contribution of our dataset to computer-aided system design, we define four tasks that can be developed using our dataset. Then, we use our dataset to model multi-attribute classification tasks. We discuss the performance in 2D, 2.5D, and 3D input modes of the classification model. To improve performance, we introduce two attention mechanisms and verify the principles of the attention mechanisms through visualization. Experimental results show the relationship between different models and different levels of attributes.
Microglia are considered to be potential antigen-presenting cells and have the ability to present antigen under pathological conditions. Nevertheless, whether and how microglia are involved in immune ...regulation are largely unknown. Here, we investigated the suppressive activity of microglia during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) induced by myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, with the goal of understanding their role in regulating the T cell reaction. Using flow cytometric analysis, we found that microglia were characterized by increased cell number and up-regulated programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) at the peak phase of EAE. Meanwhile, both the CD4
+
T cells and microglia that infiltrated the central nervous system expressed higher levels of PD1, the receptor for PD-L1, accompanied by a decline of Th1 cells. In an
ex vivo
co-culture system, microglia from EAE mice inhibited the proliferation of antigen-specific CD4
+
T cells and the differentiation of Th1 cells, and this was significantly inhibited by PD-L1 blockade. Further, microglia suppressed Th1 cells
via
nitric oxide (NO), the production of which was dependent on PD-L1. Thus, these data suggest a scenario in which microglia are involved in the regulation of EAE by suppressing Th1-cell differentiation
via
the PD-L1-NO pathway.
The resin matrix and CF fibers itself of CF/PEEK composites exhibit surface inertness, resulting in poor interface bonding between CF and PEEK matrix. This phenomenon seriously affects the mechanical ...properties of CF/PEEK composites especially the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS). In order to improve the interfacial properties of CF/PEEK composites, a novel sizing agent of CF fibers namely PPS‐NH2 was synthesized, and its influence on the fibers–matrix interface interaction and properties of CF/PEEK composites was investigated by using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, atomic force microscopy. The results showed that the interface of CF/PEEK composite was improved by coating PPS‐NH2 sizing agent on the surface of CF. When the amination degree of PPS‐NH2 reaches 31.25%, the ILSS, flexural strength and modulus of CF/PEEK Composites reach 73.9 MPa (119%), 671.4 MPa (63%) and 32.8GPa (51%) and, respectively. At the same time, the main failure mechanism of CF/PEEK composites changes from fibers–matrix debonding into interface layer deformation and resin fracture. This method can effectively improve the interface defects between CF/PEEK composites.
We propose to introduce the PPS‐NH2 sizing agent on the CF surface to improve the interface interaction of CF/PEEK composites. Results show that PPS‐NH2 as sizing agent is an effective method to improve the comprehensive properties of CF/PEEK composites.
Cerebral hemorrhage is a serious potential complication of stroke revascularization, especially in patients receiving intra-arterial tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) therapy. We investigated ...the optimal pre-intervention delay time (DT) of computed tomography perfusion (CTP) measurement to predict cerebral parenchymal hematoma (PH) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients after intra-arterial tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) treatment.
The study population consisted of a series of patients with AIS who received intra-arterial tPA treatment and had CTP and follow-up computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (CT/MRI) to identify hemorrhagic transformation. The association of increasing DT thresholds (>2, >4, >6, >8, and >10 s) with PH was examined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and logistic regression.
Of 94 patients, 23 developed PH on follow-up imaging. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that the greatest area under the curve for predicting PH occurred at DT > 4 s (area under the curve, 0.66). At this threshold of > 4 s, DT lesion volume ≥ 30.85 mL optimally predicted PH with 70% sensitivity and 59% specificity. DT > 4 s volume was independently predictive of PH in a multivariate logistic regression model (
< 0.05).
DT > 4 s was the parameter most strongly associated with PH. The volume of moderate, not severe, hypo-perfusion on DT is more strongly associated and may allow better prediction of PH after intra-arterial tPA thrombolysis.
The effects of sulfonated polyether sulfone (s‐PSF) with different sulfonation degrees on the interfacial properties of carbon fiber (CF)/poly(ether‐ether‐ketone) (PEEK) composites were investigated ...systematically. The performance of the modified CF and the corresponding CF/PEEK composites and was tested and characterized. Test results show that the CF surface polarity increases, the surface contact angle decreases, and the surface free energy increases with the increase in the s‐PSF sulfonation degree. Scanning electron microscopy analysis shows that the increase in the sulfonation degree of s‐PSF is beneficial to improve the interface between CF and PEEK. This condition can be ascribed to the hydrogen bonding force between the s‐PSF sulfonic acid group and the polar functional group on the surface of the modified CF and the compatibility between s‐PSF and PEEK. In terms of physical properties, the thermal and mechanical properties of CF/PEEK composite are improved with the increase in s‐PSF sulfonation degree. The interlaminar shear strength, flexural strength, and modulus of CF/PEEK composites increase by 60.16%, 30.27%, and 19.30%, respectively.
In this paper, sulfonated poly(ether‐ether‐ketone) (s‐PSF) with different degree of sulfonation was introduced as sizing agent on the fiber surface. The interface performance of CF/PEEK composites was improved. CF/PEEK composites with excellent mechanical properties were obtained by improving the interface properties of composites. In the figure, we describe the interaction between carbon fiber and s‐PSF sizing layer, and the mechanism of improving CF/PEEK interface properties through s‐PSF sizing layer.
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