Concentration-Dependent Diversification Effects of Free Cholesterol Loading on Macrophage Viability and Polarization

Background/Aims: The accumulation of free cholesterol in atherosclerotic lesions has been well documented in both animals and humans. In studying the relevance of free cholesterol buildup in atherosclerosis, contradictory results have been generated, indicating that free cholesterol produces both pro- and anti-atherosclerosis effects in macrophages. This inconsistency might stem from the examination of only select concentrations of free cholesterol. In the present study, we sought to investigate the implication of excess free cholesterol loading in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis across a broad concentration range from (in µg/ml) 0 to 60. Methods:Macrophage viability was determined by measuring formazan formation and flow cytometry viable cell counting. The polarization of M1 and M2 macrophages was differentiated by FACS (Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting) assay. The secretion of IL-1β in macrophage culture medium was measured by ELISA kit. Macrophage apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry using a TUNEL kit. Results: Macrophage viability was increased at the treatment of lower concentrations of free cholesterol from (in µg/ml) 0 to 20, but gradually decreased at higher concentrations from 20 to 60. Lower free cholesterol loading induced anti-inflammatory M2 macrophage polarization. The activation of the PPARγ (Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma) nuclear factor underscored the stimulation of this M2 phenotype. Nevertheless, higher levels of free cholesterol resulted in pro-inflammatory M1 activation. Moreover, with the application of higher free cholesterol concentrations, macrophage apoptosis and secretion of the inflammatory cytokine IL-1β increased significantly. Conclusion: These results for the first time demonstrate that free cholesterol could render concentration-dependent diversification effects on macrophage viability, polarization, apoptosis and inflammatory cytokine secretions, thereby reconciling the pros and cons of free cholesterol buildup in macrophages to the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis

Image Inpainting Based on Structural Constraint and Multi-Scale Feature Fusion

When repairing masked images based on deep learning, there is usually insufficient representation of multi-level information and inadequate utilization of long distance features. To solve the problems, this paper proposes a second-order generative image inpainting model based on Structural Constraints and Multi-scale Feature Fusion (SCMFF). The SCMFF model consists of two parts: edge repair network and image inpainting network. The edge repair network combines the auto-encoder with the Dilated Residual Feature Pyramid Fusion (DRFPF) module, which improves the representation of multi-level semantic information and structural details of images, thus achieves better edge repair. Then, the image inpainting network embeds the Dilated Multi-scale Attention Fusion (DMAF) module in the auto-encoder for texture synthesis with the real edge as the prior condition, and achieves fine-grained inpainting under the edge constraint by aggregating the long-distance features of different dimensions. Finally, the edge repair results are used to replace the real edge, and the two networks are fused and trained to achieve end-to-end repair from the masked image to the complete image. The model is compared with the advanced methods on datasets including Celeba, Facade and Places2. The quantitative results show that the four metrics of LPIPS, MAE, PSNR and SSIM are improved by 0.0124-0.0211, 3.787-6.829, 2.934dB-5.730dB and 0.034-0.132, respectively. The qualitative results show that the edge distribution in the center of the hole reconstructed by the SCMFF model is more uniform, and the texture synthesis effect is more in line with human visual perception

Flight dynamics modeling of a small ducted fan aerial vehicle based on parameter identification

AbstractThis paper presents a simple and useful modeling method to acquire a dynamics model of an aerial vehicle containing unknown parameters using mechanism modeling, and then to design different identification experiments to identify the parameters based on the sources and features of its unknown parameters. Based on the mathematical model of the aerial vehicle acquired by modeling and identification, a design for the structural parameters of the attitude control system is carried out, and the results of the attitude control flaps are verified by simulation experiments and flight tests of the aerial vehicle. Results of the mathematical simulation and flight tests show that the mathematical model acquired using parameter identification is comparatively accurate and of clear mechanics, and can be used as the reference and basis for the structural design

Joint Target Tracking, Recognition and Segmentation for Infrared Imagery Using a Shape Manifold-Based Level Set

We propose a new integrated target tracking, recognition and segmentation algorithm, called ATR-Seg, for infrared imagery. ATR-Seg is formulated in a probabilistic shape-aware level set framework that incorporates a joint view-identity manifold (JVIM) for target shape modeling. As a shape generative model, JVIM features a unified manifold structure in the latent space that is embedded with one view-independent identity manifold and infinite identity-dependent view manifolds. In the ATR-Seg algorithm, the ATR problem formulated as a sequential level-set optimization process over the latent space of JVIM, so that tracking and recognition can be jointly optimized via implicit shape matching where target segmentation is achieved as a by-product without any pre-processing or feature extraction. Experimental results on the recently released SENSIAC ATR database demonstrate the advantages and effectiveness of ATR-Seg over two recent ATR algorithms that involve explicit shape matching

Stem Cell Conditioned Culture Media Attenuated Albumin-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Renal Tubular Cells

Background: Proteinuria-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays an important role in progressive renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis in chronic renal disease. Stem cell therapy has been used for different diseases. Stem cell conditioned culture media (SCM) exhibits similar beneficial effects as stem cell therapy. The present study tested the hypothesis that SCM inhibits albumin-induced EMT in cultured renal tubular cells. Methods: Rat renal tubular cells were treated with/without albumin (20 µmg/ml) plus SCM or control cell media (CCM). EMT markers and inflammatory factors were measured by Western blot and fluorescent images. Results: Albumin induced EMT as shown by significant decreases in levels of epithelial marker E-cadherin, increases in mesenchymal markers fibroblast-specific protein 1 and a-smooth muscle actin, and elevations in collagen I. SCM inhibited all these changes. Meanwhile, albumin induced NF-κB translocation from cytosol into nucleus and that SCM blocked the nuclear translocation of NF-κB. Albumin also increased the levels of pro-inflammatory factor monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP)-1 by nearly 30 fold compared with control. SCM almost abolished albumin-induced increase of MCP-1. Conclusion: These results suggest that SCM attenuated albumin-induced EMT in renal tubular cells via inhibiting activation of inflammatory factors, which may serve as a new therapeutic approach for chronic kidney diseases

Concentration-Dependent Diversifcation Effects of Free Cholesterol Loading on Macrophage Viability and Polarization

Background/Aims: The accumulation of free cholesterol in atherosclerotic lesions has been well documented in both animals and humans. In studying the relevance of free cholesterol buildup in atherosclerosis, contradictory results have been generated, indicating that free cholesterol produces both pro- and anti-atherosclerosis effects in macrophages. This inconsistency might stem from the examination of only select concentrations of free cholesterol. In the present study, we sought to investigate the implication of excess free cholesterol loading in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis across a broad concentration range from (in µg/ml) 0 to 60. Methods: Macrophage viability was determined by measuring formazan formation and flow cytometry viable cell counting. The polarization of M1 and M2 macrophages was differentiated by FACS (Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting) assay. The secretion of IL-1β in macrophage culture medium was measured by ELISA kit. Macrophage apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry using a TUNEL kit. Results: Macrophage viability was increased at the treatment of lower concentrations of free cholesterol from (in µg/ml) 0 to 20, but gradually decreased at higher concentrations from 20 to 60. Lower free cholesterol loading induced anti-inflammatory M2 macrophage polarization. The activation of the PPARγ (Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma) nuclear factor underscored the stimulation of this M2 phenotype. Nevertheless, higher levels of free cholesterol resulted in pro-inflammatory M1 activation. Moreover, with the application of higher free cholesterol concentrations, macrophage apoptosis and secretion of the inflammatory cytokine IL-1β increased significantly. Conclusion: These results for the first time demonstrate that free cholesterol could render concentration-dependent diversification effects on macrophage viability, polarization, apoptosis and inflammatory cytokine secretions, thereby reconciling the pros and cons of free cholesterol buildup in macrophages to the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis