Variable solitary fibrous tumor locations: CT and MR imaging features

The aim of the study is to describe the radiological imaging features of different solitary fibrous tumors (SFTs) locations and present histopathological correlations. From 2007 to 2013, 20 cases of histologically confirmed that SFTs were retrospectively analyzed with computed tomography (CT; 9/20), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI; 5/20), or both CT and MRI (6/20). All 20 SFTs were well defined, lobular, soft-tissue masses, and 60% were located outside of the pleura. One pleural case invaded to the 10th thoracic vertebra and had lung metastases. Images revealed 11 heterogeneous lesions that exceeded 3.0 ± 0.203 cm along the greatest axis with patchy necrotic foci, and 9 homogeneous lesions 3.0 ± 0.203 cm along the greatest axis appeared to be mixed patterns, whereas SFTs < 3.0 ± 0.203 cm had isodense appearances. SFTs cells were CD34 immunopositive and surgery was a first-line treatment choice.status: publishe

Research on Human Lung Impedance Tomography Based on Soft Thresholding Image Segmentation and Reduced-Order Tikhonov Regularization

The lung is one of the most vital organs in the human body, and its condition is closely correlated with overall health. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT), as a biomedical imaging technique, often produces low-quality reconstructed images due to its inherent ill-posedness in solving the inverse problem. To address this issue, this paper proposes a soft-threshold region segmentation algorithm with a relaxation factor. This algorithm segments the reconstructed lung images into internal regions, edge regions, and background regions, resulting in clearer boundaries in the reconstructed images. This facilitates the intuitive identification of regions of interest by healthcare professionals. Additionally, this segmentation algorithm is suitably combined with a dimension-reduced Tikhonov regularization algorithm. By utilizing the joint capabilities of these algorithms, the partition points belonging to the background region can be excluded from the sought grayscale vector, thereby improving the ill-posedness of the image reconstruction process and enhancing the quality of image reconstruction. Finally, a 16-electrode human lung EIT simulation model is established for the thoracic region and verified through simulation. Experimental validation is conducted using a human lung tank simulation platform to further demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method

Conversion of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in Wharton's jelly to dopamine neurons mediated by the Lmx1a and neurturin in vitro: potential therapeutic application for Parkinson's disease in a rhesus monkey model.

hUC-MSCs hold great promise in vitro neuronal differentiation and therapy for neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson's disease. Recent studies provided that Lmx1α play an important role in the midbrain dopamine cells differentiation. Neurturin is desired candidate gene for providing a neuroprotective to DA neurons. In this study, we investigated a novel neuronal differentiation strategy in vitro with Lmx1α and NTN. We transferred these two genes to hUC-MSCs by recombinant adenovirus combined with Lmx1α regulatory factor and other inductor to improve the efficiency of inducing. Then those induced cells were implanted into the striatum and substantia nigra of MPTP lesioned hemi-parkinsonian rhesus monkeys. Monkeys were monitored by using behavioral test for six months after implantation. The result showed that cells isolated from the umbilical cord were negative for CD45, CD34 and HLA-DR, but were positive for CD44, CD49d, CD29. After those cells were infected with recombinant adenovirus, RT-PCR result shows that both Lmx1α and NTN genes were transcribed in hUC-MSCs. We also observed that the exogenous were highly expressed in hUC-MSCs from immunofluorescence and western blot. Experiments in vitro have proved that secretion NTN could maintain the survival of rat fetal midbrain dopaminergic neurons. After hUC-MSCs were induced with endogenous and exogenous factors, the mature neurons specific gene TH, Pitx3 was transcripted and the neurons specific protein TH, β-tubulinIII, NSE, Nestin, MAP-2 was expressed in those differentiated cells. In addition, the PD monkeys, transplanted with the induced cells demonstrated the animals' symptoms amelioration by the behavioral measures. Further more, pathological and immunohistochemistry data showed that there were neuronal-like cells survived in the right brain of those PD monkeys, which may play a role as dopaminergic neurons. The findings from this study may help us to better understand the inside mechanisms of PD pathogenesis and may also help developing effective therapy for Parkinson's disease

Different microRNA alterations contribute to diverse outcomes following EV71 and CA16 infections: Insights from high-throughput sequencing in rhesus monkey peripheral blood mononuclear cells

AbstractEnterovirus 71 (EV71) and Coxsackievirus A16 (CA16) are the predominant pathogens of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD). Although these viruses exhibit genetic homology, the clinical manifestations caused by the two viruses have some discrepancies. In addition, the underlying mechanisms leading to these differences remain unclear. microRNAs (miRNAs) participate in numerous biological or pathological processes, including host responses to viral infections. Here, we focused on differences in miRNA expression patterns in rhesus monkey peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) infected with EV71 and CA16 at various time points using high-throughput sequencing. The results demonstrated that 106 known and 13 novel miRNAs exhibited significant differences, and 32 key miRNAs among them for target prediction presented opposite trends in the EV71- and CA16-infected samples. GO and pathway analysis of the predicted targets showed enrichment in 14 biological processes, 10 molecular functions, 8 cellular components and 104 pathways. Subsequently, regulatory networks of miRNA-transcription factors, miRNA-predicted targets, miRNA-GOs and miRNA-pathways were constructed to reveal the complex regulatory mechanisms of miRNAs during the infection phase. Ultimately, we analysed hierarchical GO categories of the predicted targets involved in immune system processes, which indicated that the innate and adaptive immunity following EV71 and CA16 infections may be remarkably distinct. In conclusion, this report is the first describing miRNA expression profiles in PBMCs with EV71 and CA16 infections using high-throughput sequencing. Our findings could provide a valuable basis for further studies on the regulatory roles of miRNAs related to the different immune responses caused by EV71 and CA16 infections