狭窄流道中Fahraeus效应研究进展

本文详细论述了毛细管和二维狭缝中流过血液时的Fahraeus效应研究历史及现状,给出了迄今为止得到的全部结论,并报道了笔者对狭缝缝隙中Fahraeus效应研究的最新进展。本文所涉及的内容对于微循环的理论与应用以至有关流变学仪器的设计优化都有重要意义。     

Retrospectively gated cardiac cine imaging with temporal and spatial acceleration

Parallel imaging methods are routinely used to accelerate the image acquisition process in cardiac cine imaging. The addition of a temporal acceleration method, whereby k-space is sampled differently for different time frames, has been shown in prior work to improve image quality as compared to parallel imaging by itself. However, such temporal acceleration strategies prove difficult to combine with retrospectively gated cine imaging. The only currently published method to feature such combination, by Hansen et al. [Magn Reson Med 55 (2006) 85-91] tends to be associated with prohibitively long reconstruction times. The goal of the present work was to develop a retrospectively gated cardiac cine method that features both parallel imaging and temporal acceleration, capable of achieving significant acceleration factors on commonly available hardware and associated with reconstruction times short enough for practical use in a clinical context.Seven cardiac patients and a healthy volunteer were recruited and imaged, with acceleration factors of 3.5 or 4.5, using an eight-channel product cardiac array on a 1.5-T system. The prescribed FOV value proved slightly too small in three patients, and one of the patients had a bigemini condition. Despite these additional challenges, good-quality results were obtained for all slices and all patients, with a reconstruction time of 0.98±0.07 s per frame, or about 20 s for a 20-frame slice, using a single processor on a single PC. As compared to using parallel imaging by itself, the addition of a temporal acceleration strategy provided much resistance to artifacts.     

Dietary Flavonoids: Cardioprotective Potential with Antioxidant Effects and Their Pharmacokinetic,Toxicological and Therapeutic Concerns

Flavonoids comprise a large group of structurally diverse polyphenolic compounds of plant origin and are abundantly found in human diet such as fruits, vegetables, grains, tea, dairy products, red wine, etc. Major classes of flavonoids include flavonols, flavones, flavanones, flavanols, anthocyanidins, isoflavones, and chalcones. Owing to their potential health benefits and medicinal significance, flavonoids are now considered as an indispensable component in a variety of medicinal, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and cosmetic preparations. Moreover, flavonoids play a significant role in preventing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), which could be mainly due to their antioxidant, antiatherogenic, and antithrombotic effects. Epidemiological and in vitro/in vivo evidence of antioxidant effects supports the cardioprotective function of dietary flavonoids. Further, the inhibition of LDL oxidation and platelet aggregation following regular consumption of food containing flavonoids and moderate consumption of red wine might protect against atherosclerosis and thrombosis. One study suggests that daily intake of 100 mg of flavonoids through the diet may reduce the risk of developing morbidity and mortality due to coronary heart disease (CHD) by approximately 10%. This review summarizes dietary flavonoids with their sources and potential health implications in CVDs including various redox-active cardioprotective (molecular) mechanisms with antioxidant effects. Pharmacokinetic (oral bioavailability, drug metabolism), toxicological, and therapeutic aspects of dietary flavonoids are also addressed herein with future directions for the discovery and development of useful drug candidates/therapeutic molecules.     

Semaphorins and their receptors: Novel features of neural guidance molecules

Semaphorins were originally identified as axon guidance cues involved in the development of the nervous system. In recent years, it is emerging that they also participate in various biological systems, including physiological and pathological processes. In this review, we primarily focus on our cumulative findings for the role of semaphorins and their receptors in the regulation of the immune system, while also summarizing recent progress in the context of cardiovascular system.     

Bio-energetic impairment in human calf muscle in thyroid disorders: a P MRS study

Mitochondrial metabolism particularly oxidative phosphorylation is greatly influenced by thyroid hormones. Earlier studies have described neuromuscular symptoms as well as impaired muscle metabolism in hypothyroid and hyperthyroid patients. In this study, we intend to look in to the muscle bioenergetics including phosphocreatine recovery kinetics based oxidative metabolism in thyroid dysfunction using in vivo ³¹P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). ³¹P MRS was carried out at resting state on 32 hypothyroid, 10 hyperthyroid patients and 25 control subjects. Nine out of 32 hypothyroid patients and 17 out of 25 control subjects under went exercise protocol for oxidative metabolism study and performed plantar flexion exercise while lying supine in 1.5 T magnetic resonance scanner using custom built exercise device. MRS measurements of inorganic phosphate (Pi), phosphocreatine (PCr), phosphodiesters (PDE) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) of the calf muscle were acquired during rest, exercise and recovery phase. PCr recovery rate constant (k_PCr) and oxidative capacity were calculated by monoexponential fit of PCr versus time (t) at the beginning of recovery. During resting condition in hypothyroid patients, PCr/Pi ratio was reduced whereas PDE/ATP and Pi/ATP were increased. However, in case of hyperthyroidism, an increased PCr/Pi ratio and reduced PDE/ATP and Pi/ATP were observed. The results confirmed differential energy status of the muscle due to increased or decreased levels of thyroid hormone. Our results also demonstrate reduced oxidative metabolism in hypothyroid patients based on PCr recovery kinetics. PCr recovery kinetics study after exercise revealed decreased PCr recovery rate constant (k_PCr) in hypothyroid patients compared to controls that resulted in decrease in oxidative capacity of muscle by 50% in hypothyroids. These findings are consistent with a defect of high energy phosphate mitochondrial metabolism in thyroid dysfunction.     

选择性双向顺序压缩感知重建动态磁共振成像

压缩感知是一种新兴技术,该技术能够用远低于奈奎斯特采样频率采集的信号恢复出原始信号. 压缩感知成像方法大大提高了心脏磁共振成像的采集速度,已有的方法主要利用动态图像时间相关及心脏的周期性运动特征,如采用在时间维做傅立叶变换或求解每帧数据跟参考帧数据的差异获取稀疏数据,满足压缩感知重建的要求. 该文提出了选择性双向顺序压缩感知重建算法,利用相邻帧的差异更小的特点,获取更加稀疏的差异数据,同时利用动态图像的周期性,以目标函数积分为判据,在时间顺序和时间逆序两个方向选择效果更好的方向进行数据重建,降低图像伪影和噪声. 该选择算法,可以在不增加重建时间的情况下,选择双向顺序重建中最佳的结果. 该文对心脏磁共振图像数据进行了数据处理实验,并且跟传统压缩感知算法、参考帧差异方法及匙孔成像方法进行了比较. 结果表明：该方法无论从视觉效果还是从统计结果上,都有很大的改善.     

High resolution dynamic cardiac MRI using partial separability of spatiotemporal signals with a novel sampling scheme

The partial separability (PS) of spatiotemporal signals has been exploited to accelerate dynamic cardiac MRI by sampling two datasets (training and imaging datasets) without breath-holding or ECG triggering. According to the theory of partially separable functions, the wider the range of spatial frequency components covered by the training dataset, the more accurate the temporal constraint imposed by the PS model. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new sampling scheme for the PS model in order to cover a wider range of spatial frequency components. In this paper, we propose the use of radial sampling trajectories for collecting the training dataset and Cartesian sampling trajectories for collecting the imaging dataset. In vivo high resolution cardiac MRI experiments demonstrate that the proposed data sampling scheme can significantly improve the image quality. The image quality using the PS model with the proposed sampling scheme is comparable to that of a commercial method using retrospective cardiac gating and breath-holding. The success of this study demonstrates great potential for high-quality, high resolution dynamic cardiac MRI without ECG gating or breath-holding through use of the PS model and the novel data sampling scheme.     

Endoscopic and stroboscopic description of adults with paradoxical vocal fold dysfunction

The purpose of this study was to determine if endoscopic and stroboscopic parameters of voice were normal between attacks of paradoxical vocal fold dysfunction (PVFD). Fifty adults (38 females, 12 males) and 54 adult controls (40 females, 14 males) were examined via endoscopy with and without stroboscopy. Endoscopy indicated paradoxical adduction of the folds during the respiratory cycle of all 50 participants with PVFD, although they were asymptomatic. Atypical laryngeal configurations were observed including abnormality of the anterior-posterior dimension and ventricular fold medialization in both groups of subjects. Stroboscopy demonstrated abnormalities including unstable zero phase, decreased amplitude of vibration, decreased mucosal waves, and phase asymmetry primarily for the PVFD subjects alone. Results indicate that persons with PVFD demonstrate subtle laryngeal abnormality endoscopically and stroboscopically when dyspnea is not reported. This supports the hypothesis that PVFD is not episodic but exists as a continuum of laryngeal instability that may, due to various precipitating factors, be exacerbated to breathing attacks.     

Fabrication of graphene‐silver/polyurethane nanofibrous scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering

The graphene‐based nanocomposites are considered as great candidates for enhancing electrical and mechanical properties of nonconductive scaffolds in cardiac tissue engineering. In this study, reduced graphene oxide‐silver (rGO‐Ag) nanocomposites (1 and 2 wt%) were synthesized and incorporated into polyurethane (PU) nanofibers via electrospinning technique. Next, the human cardiac progenitor cells (hCPCs) were seed on these scaffolds for in vitro studies. The rGO‐Ag nanocomposites were studied by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscope (TEM). After incorporation of rGO‐Ag into PU nanofibers, the related characterizations were carried out including scanning electron microscope (SEM), TEM, water contact angle, and mechanical properties. Furthermore, PU and PU/nanocomposites scaffolds were used for in vitro studies, wherein hCPCs showed good cytocompatibility via 3‐(4, 5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and considerable attachment on the scaffold using SEM studies. Real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunostaining studies confirmed the upregulation of cardiac specific genes including GATA‐4, T‐box 18 (TBX 18), cardiac troponin T (cTnT), and alpha‐myosin heavy chain (α‐MHC) in the PU/rGO‐Ag scaffolds in comparison with neat PU ones. Therefore, these nanofibrous rGO‐Ag–reinforced PU scaffolds can be considered as suitable candidates in cardiac tissue engineering.     

Interfacial Nanoprecipitation toward Stable and Responsive Microbubbles and Their Use as a Resuscitative Fluid

A new approach has been developed to prepare stable microbubbles (MBs) by interfacial nanoprecipitation of bioabsorbable polymers at air/liquid interfaces. This facile method offers robust control over the morphology and chemophysical properties of MBs by simple chemical modifications. This approach is amenable to large‐scale manufacturing, and is useful to develop functional MBs for advanced biomedical applications. To demonstrate this, a MB‐based intravenous oxygen carrier was created that undergoes pH‐triggered self‐elimination. Intravenous injection of previous MBs increased the risk of pulmonary vascular obstruction. However, we show, for the first time, that our current design is superior, as they 1) yielded no evidence of acute risks in rodents, and 2) improved the survival in a disease model of asphyxial cardiac arrest (from 0 to 100 %), a condition that affects more than 100 000 in‐hospital patients, and carries a mortality of about 90 %.