The role of purinergic signaling in acupuncture-mediated relief of neuropathic and inflammatory pain.

Acupuncture is a traditional medicinal practice in China that has been increasingly recognized in other countries in recent decades. Notably, several reports have demonstrated that acupuncture can effectively aid in pain management. However, the analgesic mechanisms through which acupuncture provides such benefits remain poorly understood. Purinergic signaling, which is mediated by purine nucleotides and purinergic receptors, has been proposed to play a central role in acupuncture analgesia. On the one hand, acupuncture affects the transmission of nociception by increasing adenosine triphosphate dephosphorylation and thereby decreasing downstream P2X3, P2X4, and P2X7 receptors signaling activity, regulating the levels of inflammatory factors, neurotrophic factors, and synapsin I. On the other hand, acupuncture exerts analgesic effects by promoting the production of adenosine, enhancing the expression of downstream adenosine A1 and A2A receptors, and regulating downstream inflammatory factors or synaptic plasticity. Together, this systematic overview of the field provides a sound, evidence-based foundation for future research focused on the application of acupuncture as a means of relieving pain.

Strengthening-Durable Trade-Off and Self-Healing, Recyclable Shape Memory Polyurethanes Enabled by Dynamic Boron-Urethane Bonds.

Addressing the demand for integrating strength and durability reinforcement in shape memory polyurethane (SMPU) for diverse applications remains a significant challenge. Here a series of SMPUs with ultra-high strength, self-healing and recyclability, and excellent shape memory properties through introducing dynamic boron-urethane bonds are synthesized. The introducing of boric acid (BA) to polyurethane leading to the formation of dynamic covalent bonds (DCB) boron-urethane, that confer a robust cross-linking structure on the SMPUs led to the formation of ordered stable hydrogen-bonding network within the SMPUs. The flexible crosslinking with DCB represents a novel strategy for balancing the trade-off between strength and durability, with their strengths reaching up to 82.2 MPa while also addressing the issue of durability in prolonged usage through the provision of self-healing and recyclability. The self-healing and recyclability of SMPU are demonstrated through rapid dynamic exchange reaction of boron-urethane bonds, systematically investigated by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). This study sheds light on the essential role of such PU with self-healing and recyclability, contributing to the extension of the PU's service life. The findings of this work provide a general strategy for overcoming traditional trade-offs in preparing SMPUs with both high strength and good durability.

Preliminary study on AI-assisted diagnosis of bone remodeling in chronic maxillary sinusitis.

OBJECTIVE: To construct the deep learning convolution neural network (CNN) model and machine learning support vector machine (SVM) model of bone remodeling of chronic maxillary sinusitis (CMS) based on CT image data to improve the accuracy of image diagnosis. METHODS: Maxillary sinus CT data of 1000 samples in 500 patients from January 2018 to December 2021 in our hospital was collected. The first part is the establishment and testing of chronic maxillary sinusitis detection model by 461 images. The second part is the establishment and testing of the detection model of chronic maxillary sinusitis with bone remodeling by 802 images. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy and area under the curve (AUC) value of the test set were recorded, respectively. RESULTS: Preliminary application results of CT based AI in the diagnosis of chronic maxillary sinusitis and bone remodeling. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the test set of 93 samples of CMS, were 0.9796, 0.8636 and 0.9247, respectively. Simultaneously, the value of AUC was 0.94. And the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the test set of 161 samples of CMS with bone remodeling were 0.7353, 0.9685 and 0.9193, respectively. Simultaneously, the value of AUC was 0.89. CONCLUSION: It is feasible to use artificial intelligence research methods such as deep learning and machine learning to automatically identify CMS and bone remodeling in MSCT images of paranasal sinuses, which is helpful to standardize imaging diagnosis and meet the needs of clinical application.

Mechanisms of acupuncture-electroacupuncture on inflammatory pain.

Acupuncture, as a traditional treatment, has been extensively used in China for thousands of years. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), acupuncture is recommended for the treatment of 77 diseases. And 16 of these diseases are related to inflammatory pain. As a combination of traditional acupuncture and modern electrotherapy, electroacupuncture (EA) has satisfactory analgesic effects on various acute and chronic pain. Because of its good analgesic effects and no side effects, acupuncture has been widely accepted all over the world. Despite the increase in the number of studies, the mechanisms via which acupuncture exerts its analgesic effects have not been conclusively established. A literature review of related research is of great significance to elaborate on its mechanisms and to inform on further research directions. We elucidated on its mechanisms of action on inflammatory pain from two levels: peripheral and central. It includes the mechanisms of acupuncture in the periphery (immune cells and neurons, purinergic pathway, nociceptive ion channel, cannabinoid receptor and endogenous opioid peptide system) and central nervous system (TPRV1, glutamate and its receptors, glial cells, GABAergic interneurons and signaling molecules). In this review, we collected relevant recent studies to systematically explain the mechanisms of acupuncture in treating inflammatory pain, with a view to providing direction for future applications of acupuncture in inflammatory pain and promoting clinical development.

Tembusu Virus Nonstructural Protein 2B Antagonizes Type I Interferon Production by Targeting MAVS for Degradation.

Tembusu virus (TMUV) is a newly emerged avian flavivirus that has caused severe egg-drop syndrome and fatal encephalitis in domestic ducks. It has spread widely throughout the main duck-producing areas in Asia, resulting in substantial economic losses to the duck industry. Previous studies have reported that TMUV has evolved several strategies to counteract the duck's innate immune responses to successfully establish infection in its host cells. However, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon have not been elucidated. Here, we discovered that TMUV-encoded NS2B is a negative regulator of poly(I:C)-induced duck interferon-ß (IFN-ß) expression. Mechanistically, TMUV NS2B was found to interact specifically with the mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein (duMAVS). Consequently, duMAVS was degraded through the K48-linked ubiquitination and proteasomal pathway, leading to the interruption of the RIG-I-like receptor (RLR) signaling. Further analyses also identified K321, K354, K398, and K411 as crucial residues for NS2B-mediated ubiquitination and degradation of duMAVS. Additionally, we demonstrated that NS2B functions by recruiting the E3 ubiquitin ligase duck membrane-associated RING-CH-type finger 5 (duMARCH5) to modify duMAVS via polyubiquitination, blocking the duMAVS-mediated innate immune response and promoting TMUV replication. Taken together, our findings revealed a novel mechanism by which TMUV evades the duck's antiviral innate immune responses. IMPORTANCE Tembusu virus (TMUV), an emerging pathogenic flavivirus, has spread to most duck farming areas in Asia since 2010, causing significant economic losses to the duck industry. Recently, TMUV has expanded its host range and may pose a potential threat to mammals, including humans. Understanding the interaction between TMUV and its host is essential for the development of effective vaccines and therapeutics. Here, we show that NS2B encoded by TMUV inhibits IFN production by interacting with duck MAVS (duMAVS) to mediate ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. Further studies suggest that the E3 ubiquitin ligase duck membrane-associated RING-CH-type finger 5 (duMARCH5) is recruited by NS2B to mediate proteasomal degradation of duMAVS. As a result, the innate immune response triggered by the RIG-I-like receptor (RLR) is disrupted, facilitating viral replication. Overall, our results reveal a novel mechanism by which TMUV evades host innate immunity and provide new therapeutic strategies to prevent TMUV infection.

A randomized cross-over study of cryopreserved platelets in prophylactic transfusions of thrombocytopenic patients.

BACKGROUND: The short shelf-life of liquid-stored platelets (LP) at 20-24°C poses shortage and wastage challenges. Cryopreserved platelets have significantly extended shelf-life, and were safe and efficacious for therapeutic transfusions of bleeding patients in the Afghanistan conflict and phase 2 randomized studies. Although hematology patients account for half of platelets demand, there is no randomized study on prophylactic cryopreserved platelet transfusions in them. METHODS: We performed a phase 1b/2a randomized cross-over study comparing the safety and efficacy of cryopreserved buffy coat-derived pooled platelets (CP) to LP in the prophylactic transfusions of thrombocytopenic hematology patients. RESULTS: A total of 18 adults were randomly assigned 1:1 to CP and LP for their first thrombocytopenic period (TP) of up to 28-days. A total of 14 crossed over to the other platelet-arm for the second TP. Overall, 17 subjects received 51 CP and 15 received 52 LP. CP-arm had more treatment emergent adverse event (29.4% vs. 13.3% of subjects, 9.8% vs. 3.8% of transfusions) than LP-arm but all were mild. No thromboembolism was observed. Both arms had similar bleeding rates (23.5% vs. 26.7% of subjects) which were all mild. Subjects in CP-arm had lower average corrected count increments than LP-arm (mean [SD] 5.6 [4.20] vs. 22.6 [9.68] ×109 /L at 1-4 h, p < .001; 5.3 [4.84] vs. 18.2 [9.52] ×109 /L at 18-30 h, p < .001). All TEG parameters at 1-4 h and maximum amplitude (MA) at 18-30 h improved from baseline post-CP transfusion (p < .05) though improvements in K-time and MA were lower than LP (p < .05). DISCUSSION: During shortages, CP may supplement LP in prophylactic transfusions of thrombocytopenic patients.

Protocatechuic Aldehyde Alleviates d -Galactose-Induced Cardiomyocyte Senescence by Regulating the TCF3/ATG5 Axis.

ABSTRACT: Cardiomyocyte senescence is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Protocatechuic aldehyde (PCA) is a natural chemical in the Chinese medicinal herb Salvia miltiorrhiza . PCA could protect against oxidative stress and inflammation in the cardiovascular system. In present study, we treated H9C2 cells with d -galactose to establish an in vitro model of cardiomyocyte senescence and investigated the role and underlying mechanisms of PCA in myocardial cell senescence. It was found that d -galactose induced transcription factor 3 (TCF3) expression and decreased autophagy-related genes 5 (ATG5) expression. Meanwhile, inflammation and senescence were exacerbated by d -galactose. TCF3 transcriptionally inhibited ATG5 expression. TCF3 knockdown abolished the effects of d -galactose on H9C2 by activating ATG5-mediated autophagy. PCA hindered TCF3 and inflammation to alleviate the d -galactose-induced senescence of H9C2 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Whereas, the anti-inflammation and anti-senescence effects of PCA were reversed by TCF3 knockdown. Furthermore, absence of ATG5 partially eliminated the impacts of PCA on H9C2 cells treated with d -galactose. Conclusively, PCA alleviated d -galactose-induced senescence by downregulating TCF3, promoting ATG5-mediated autophagy, and inhibiting inflammation in H9C2 cells. These results elucidated the potential mechanism by which PCA alleviated cardiomyocyte senescence and enabled its application in treating cardiomyocyte senescence.

Enumeration and molecular characterization of circulating tumor cell using an in vivo capture system in squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck.

OBJECTIVE: Detection rate and isolation yield of circulating tumor cell (CTC) are low in squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (SCCHN) with in vitro approaches due to limited sample volumes. In this study, we applied the CellCollector to capture CTC in vivo from peripheral blood. METHODS: In total, the study included 22 cases with 37 times of detection. All of the patients were newly diagnosed with locally advanced or metastatic SCCHN, including laryngocarcinoma (40.9%, 9/22) and hypopharyngeal carcinoma (59.1%, 13/22). All patients received CTC analysis before treatment. Three patients received induction chemotherapy. Sixteen patients received surgical therapy, of which 13 patients received postoperative detection. Two patients received both induction chemotherapy and surgery treatment. Patients underwent two successive CellCollector applications 24 h before and 7 d after surgical therapy. Nine healthy volunteers were enrolled as the control group. Epidermal growth factor receptor variant type III (EGFRVIII) expression was analyzed with fluorescent dye labeled antibody. RESULTS: With CellCollector isolation, 72.7% (16/22) of the patients were positive for ≥1 CTC (CTC; range, 1-17 cells) before treatments and 46.7% (7/15) of patients were CTC positive for ≥1 CTC (CTC; range, 1-29 cells) after surgical therapy. Moreover, the detection rate of CellCollector (82.4%, 14/17; CTC count range, 0-17) in advanced SCCHN (stage III-IV) was much higher than that in early stages (stage I-II, 40.0%, 2/5; CTC count range, 0-2) (P<0.05). EGFRVIII expression of CTC was also analyzed with fluorescence staining. One CTCEGFRVIII-positive patient was detected from six CTC-positive patients, and the positive expression of EGFRVIII was also found in the tumor tissue of this patient. CONCLUSIONS: In vivo detection of CTCs had high sensitivity in SCCHN, which might improve CTC application in clinic.

Exogenous interleukin-10 attenuates hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury in mice.

NEW FINDINGS: What is the central question of this study? It is not known whether treatment with interleukin-10 (IL-10) attenuates hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury in mice. What is the main finding and its importance? Our results showed that exogenous IL-10 treatment alleviated hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury in mice, possibly by regulating neutrophil recruitment and the subsequent generation of cytokines, nitric oxide and matrix metalloproteinases. Lung injury caused by breathing air enriched with oxygen continues to be a major problem in clinical medicine. Here, we investigated the therapeutic role of interleukin-10 (IL-10) in hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury in mice. In the first experiment, mice were exposed to room air or 95% O2 and treated with IL-10 simultaneously. In the second experiment, wild-type mice and IL-10(-/-) mice were exposed to room air or 95% O2 . Exogenous IL-10 treatment attenuated hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury, evidenced by a reduced ratio of lung weight to body weight, ratio of lung wet weight to dry weight, cell numbers and protein content in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and cell death. Interleukin-10 treatment markedly prolonged the survival of mice during oxygen exposure. Interleukin-10 treatment reduced the activity of myeloperoxidase and mRNA levels of interleukin-6, tumour necrosis factor-α and macrophage inflammatory protein 2, suppressed nuclear factor-κB activation and decreased inducible nitric oxide synthnase expression and nitric oxide formation in lungs of mice exposed to hyperoxia. Interleukin-10 treatment suppressed activities of matrix metalloproteinase 2 and matrix metalloproteinase 9 and reduced lung permeability in mice during oxygen exposure. Furthermore, absence of IL-10 aggravated hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury and reduced the duration of survival of mice during oxygen exposure, which was attenuated by treatment with IL-10. In conclusion, our results show that exogenous IL-10 treatment alleviates hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury in mice, possibly by regulating neutrophil recruitment and the subsequent generation of cytokines, nitric oxide and matrix metalloproteinases. This suggests that IL-10 treatment may be a promising therapeutic strategy to reduce lung injury in patients exposed to hyperoxia.

Treatment with hydrogen molecules prevents RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation associated with inhibition of ROS formation and inactivation of MAPK, AKT and NF-kappa B pathways in murine RAW264.7 cells.

The bone protective effects of the hydrogen molecule (H2) have been demonstrated in several osteoporosis models while the underlying molecular mechanism has remained unclear. Osteoclast differentiation is an important factor related to the pathogenesis of bone-loss related diseases. In this work, we evaluated the effects of incubation with H2 on receptor activator of NFκB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclast differentiation. We found that treatment with H2 prevented RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation in RAW264.7 cells and BMMs. Treatment with H2 inhibits the ability to form resorption pits of BMMs stimulated by RANKL. Treatment with H2 reduced mRNA levels of osteoclast-specific markers including tartrate resistant acid phosphatase, calcitonin receptor, cathepsin K, metalloproteinase-9, carbonic anhydrase typeII, and vacuolar-type H(+)-ATPase. Treatment with H2 decreased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, suppressed NADPH oxidase activity, down-regulated Rac1 activity and Nox1 expression, reduced mitochondrial ROS formation, and enhanced nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 nuclear translocation and heme oxygenase-1 activity. In addition, treatment with H2 suppressed RANKL-induced expression of nuclear factor of activated T cells c1 and c-Fos. Furthermore, treatment with H2 suppressed NF-κB activation and reduced phosphorylation of p38, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, c-Jun-N-terminal kinase, and protein kinases B (AKT) stimulated with RANKL. In conclusion, hydrogen molecules prevented RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation associated with inhibition of reactive oxygen species formation and inactivation of NF-κB, mitogen-activated protein kinase and AKT pathways.

Molecular cloning and functional characterization of pigeon IKKε.

Inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase ε (IKKε), a member of the non-canonical IκB kinase family, plays a critical role in connecting various signaling pathways associated with the initiation of type I interferon (IFN) production. Although the importance of IKKε in innate immunity has been well established in mammals and fish, its characterization and function in pigeons have remained largely unexplored. In this study, we successfully cloned pigeon IKKε (piIKKε) from pigeon embryo fibroblasts (PEFs) for the first time. This gene encodes 722 amino acids and shares high amino acid similarity with its duck and goose counterparts. piIKKε showed a diffuse cytoplasmic distribution and broad expression in all tissues examined. Overexpression of piIKKε in PEFs significantly activated the IFN-ß promoter, with both the kinase and CC domains of piIKKε playing key roles in initiating IFN-ß expression. Knockdown of piIKKε using small interfering RNA significantly reduced the levels of IFN-ß induced by NDV, AIV, poly (I:C), or SeV. Furthermore, the presence of piIKKε resulted in a remarkable reduction in the replication of both avian influenza virus (AIV) H9N2 and Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in PEFs. Our results demonstrate that piIKKε plays a critical role in mediating antiviral innate immunity in pigeons.

Rationally design a novel Zn-MOF for fluorescent detection of nitrofuran antibiotics: The synthesis, structure and sensing applications.

Nitrofuran antibiotics (NFAs) residues in waterare a persistent concern for the public due to the potential threats they pose to human health and the environment. Therefore, efficient probes that are capable of detecting trace amounts of antibiotics in real water environments have become a top priority. Herein, a novel fluorescent Zn-MOF probe (MOF-1) was revealed for the highly selective and sensitive sensing of NFAs. MOF-1 was rationally constructed with Zn(NO3)2·6H2O, 5,5'-(anthracene-9,10-diyl) diisophthalic acid (H4ADIP) and 1,3-bis(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)-benzene (mbib) by using the solvothermal method. Fluorescence sensing experiments demonstrate that MOF-1 can function as a fluorescent sensor for selective, sensitive, and rapid detection of NFAs among 15 antibiotics including ciprofloxacin (CPFX), chloramphenicol (CAP), sulfonamides and NFAs. Fluorescence titration experiments indicated that MOF-1 exhibited remarkably low detection limits of 0.19 µM, 0.26 µM, and 0.34 µM for furazolidone (FZD), furaltadone (FDH) and nitrofurazone (NFZ), respectively. Meanwhile, MOF-1 was successfully employed for NFAs detection in real samples with the recoveries of 98.7 % - 104.1 %, and a relative standard deviation below 5.1 %. Moreover, the sensing mechanism could be ascribed to the synergistic effect between the internal filtering effect and photoinduced electron transfer according to the experiment results and DFT calculations. Additionally, test strips were prepared based on MOF-1 for point of care testing of NFAs.

[Research progress in biosensors for adiponectin].

Adiponectin, a cytokine associated with adipose tissue, is a recently defined adipocytokine involved in insulin, glucose, and adipocyte metabolism. Reduced adiponectin levels can increase the risk of developing metabolic syndrome (MS). Adiponectin is considered an important target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and MS due to its anti-atherosclerotic and insulin-sensitizing effects. Therefore, the accurate determination of adiponectin concentrations in human plasma is necessary for the management of both T2DM and MS. A variety of biosensors have been developed for the detection of biomarkers such as adiponectin. This paper reviews the applications of electrochemical sensors, surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensors, and microfluidic chip-based chemiluminescence sensors in the detection of adiponectin and the recent research progress in the sensors for the detection of adiponectin, aiming to provide a reference for the research and application of sensors for adiponectin in the medical field.

Disulfidptosis-Related LncRNA Signatures for Prognostic Prediction in Kidney Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma.

INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND: Disulfidptosis is a prevalent apoptotic mechanism, intrinsically linked to cancer prognosis. However, the specific involvement of disulfidptosis-related long non-coding RNA (DRLncRNAs) in Kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) remains incompletely understood. This study aims to elucidate the potential prognostic significance of disulfidptosis-related LncRNAs in KIRC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Expression profiles and clinical data of KIRC patients were retrieved from the TCGA database to discern differentially expressed DRLncRNAs correlated with overall survival. Cox univariate analysis, Lasso Regression, and Cox multivariate analysis were used to construct a clinical prediction model. RESULTS: Six signatures, namely FAM83C.AS1, AC136475.2, AC121338.2, AC026401.3, AC254562.3, and AC000050.2, were established to evaluate overall survival (OS) in the context of Kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) in this study. Survival analysis and ROC curves demonstrated the strong predictive performance of the associated signature. The nomogram exhibited accurate prognostic predictions for overall patient survival, offering substantial clinical utility. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that risk signals were enriched in various immune-related pathways. Furthermore, the risk features exhibited significant correlations with immune cells, immune function, immune cell infiltration, and immune checkpoints. CONCLUSION: This study has unveiled, for the first time, six disulfdptosis-related LncRNA signatures, laying a solid foundation for enhanced and precise prognostic predictions in KIRC.

Water bridges as the trigger in an amino functionalized Zn-MOF for highly selective and sensitive fluorescent sensing of water.

Water is a fundamental element for life. The highly selective and sensitive sensing of water is always attractive for mankind in activities such as physiological processes study and extraterrestrial life exploration. Fluorescent MOFs with precise channels and functional groups might specifically recognize water molecules with hydrogen-bond interaction or coordination effects and work as water sensors. As a proof of concept, herein, an amino functionalized Zn-MOF (named as complex 1) with pores that just right for water molecules to form hydrogen bond bridges is revealed for highly selective and sensitive fluorescent sensing of water. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis indicates that the 3D framework of complex 1 is functionalized with free amino groups in the channels. Hydrogen bonds formed in the channel along b-axis as water bridges to connect two adjacent NH2bdc ligands and result in the restriction of intramolecular motions (RIM) which could responsible for the selective turn-on fluorescence response to water. Complex 1 exhibits high sensitive to trace amount of water in organic solvents and could be used for water detection in a wide range water contents. Take advantages of complex 1, portable sensors (complex 1@PMMA) were prepared and used in the highly sensitive water sensing.

Treatment with exogenous hydrogen sulfide attenuates hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury in mice.

The aim of this work was to test the effect of treatment with hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury in mice. Mice were exposed to room air or 95 % O2, and treated with NaHS (intraperitoneal injection of 0.1 ml/kg/day of 0.56 mol/l NaHS). Treatment with H2S partly restored the reduced H2S levels in plasma and lungs of mice exposed to hyperoxia. Treatment with H2S attenuated hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury marked by reduced ratio of lung weight to body weight, ratio of lung wet weight to dry weight, and cell numbers and protein content in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and decreased apoptosis. Treatment with H2S markedly prolonged the survival of mice under oxygen exposure. Treatment with H2S abated hyperoxia-induced oxidative stress marked by reduced malondialdehyde and peroxynitrite formation, reduced NADPH oxidase activity, enhanced translocation of nuclear factor E2-related factor (Nrf2) into nucleus and increased activity of HO-1. Treatment with H2S decreased IL-1ß, MCP-1, and MIP-2, and increased IL-10 expression in lungs of mice exposed to hyperoxia. Treatment with H2S decreased NFκB activity and iNOS expression in lungs, and reduced NOx content in BAL of mice exposed to hyperoxia. Treatment with H2S reduced lung permeability and suppressed VEGF release and VEGFR2 expression in lungs of mice under oxygen exposure. Treatment with exogenous H2S attenuated hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury through abating oxidative stress, suppressing inflammation, and reducing lung permeability in mice.

How to enhance the ability of mesenchymal stem cells to alleviate intervertebral disc degeneration.

Intervertebral disc (ID) degeneration (IDD) is one of the main causes of chronic low back pain, and degenerative lesions are usually caused by an imbalance between catabolic and anabolic processes in the ID. The environment in which the ID is located is harsh, with almost no vascular distribution within the disc, and the nutrient supply relies mainly on the diffusion of oxygen and nutrients from the blood vessels located under the endplate. The stability of its internal environment also plays an important role in preventing IDD. The main feature of disc degeneration is a decrease in the number of cells. Mesenchymal stem cells have been used in the treatment of disc lesions due to their ability to differentiate into nucleus pulposus cells in a nonspecific anti-inflammatory manner. The main purpose is to promote their regeneration. The current aim of stem cell therapy is to replace the aged and metamorphosed cells in the ID and to increase the content of the extracellular matrix. The treatment of disc degeneration with stem cells has achieved good efficacy, and the current challenge is how to improve this efficacy. Here, we reviewed current treatments for disc degeneration and summarize studies on stem cell vesicles, enhancement of therapeutic effects when stem cells are mixed with related substances, and improvements in the efficacy of stem cell therapy by adjuvants under adverse conditions. We reviewed the new approaches and ideas for stem cell treatment of disc degeneration in order to contribute to the development of new therapeutic approaches to meet current challenges.

Online view enhancement for exploration inside medical volumetric data using virtual reality.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Medical image visualization is an essential tool for conveying anatomical information. Ray-casting-based volume rendering is commonly used for generating visualizations of raw medical images. However, exposing a target area inside the skin often requires manual tuning of transfer functions or segmentation of original images, as preset parameters in volume rendering may not work well for arbitrary scanned data. This process is tedious and unnatural. To address this issue, we propose a volume visualization system that enhances the view inside the skin, enabling flexible exploration of medical volumetric data using virtual reality. METHODS: In our proposed system, we design a virtual reality interface that allows users to walk inside the data. We introduce a view-dependent occlusion weakening method based on geodesic distance transform to support this interaction. By combining these methods, we develop a virtual reality system with intuitive interactions, facilitating online view enhancement for medical data exploration and annotation inside the volume. RESULTS: Our rendering results demonstrate that the proposed occlusion weakening method effectively weakens obstacles while preserving the target area. Furthermore, comparative analysis with other alternative solutions highlights the advantages of our method in virtual reality. We conducted user studies to evaluate our system, including area annotation and line drawing tasks. The results showed that our method with enhanced views achieved 47.73% and 35.29% higher accuracy compared to the group with traditional volume rendering. Additionally, subjective feedback from medical experts further supported the effectiveness of the designed interactions in virtual reality. CONCLUSIONS: We successfully address the occlusion problems in the exploration of medical volumetric data within a virtual reality environment. Our system allows for flexible integration of scanned medical volumes without requiring extensive manual preprocessing. The results of our user studies demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of walk-in interaction for medical data exploration.

Full Transformer Framework for Robust Point Cloud Registration With Deep Information Interaction.

Point cloud registration is an essential technology in computer vision and robotics. Recently, transformer-based methods have achieved advanced performance in point cloud registration by utilizing the advantages of the transformer in order-invariance and modeling dependencies to aggregate information. However, they still suffer from indistinct feature extraction, sensitivity to noise, and outliers, owing to three major limitations: 1) the adoption of CNNs fails to model global relations due to their local receptive fields, resulting in extracted features susceptible to noise; 2) the shallow-wide architecture of transformers and the lack of positional information lead to indistinct feature extraction due to inefficient information interaction; and 3) the insufficient consideration of geometrical compatibility leads to the ambiguous identification of incorrect correspondences. To address the above-mentioned limitations, a novel full transformer network for point cloud registration is proposed, named the deep interaction transformer (DIT), which incorporates: 1) a point cloud structure extractor (PSE) to retrieve structural information and model global relations with the local feature integrator (LFI) and transformer encoders; 2) a deep-narrow point feature transformer (PFT) to facilitate deep information interaction across a pair of point clouds with positional information, such that transformers establish comprehensive associations and directly learn the relative position between points; and 3) a geometric matching-based correspondence confidence evaluation (GMCCE) method to measure spatial consistency and estimate correspondence confidence by the designed triangulated descriptor. Extensive experiments on the ModelNet40, ScanObjectNN, and 3DMatch datasets demonstrate that our method is capable of precisely aligning point clouds, consequently, achieving superior performance compared with state-of-the-art methods. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/CGuangyan-BIT/DIT.

FGF/FGFR system in the central nervous system demyelinating disease: Recent progress and implications for multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND: With millions of victims worldwide, multiple sclerosis is the second most common cause of disability among young adults. Although formidable advancements have been made in understanding the disease, the neurodegeneration associated with multiple sclerosis is only partially counteracted by current treatments, and effective therapy for progressive multiple sclerosis remains an unmet need. Therefore, new approaches are required to delay demyelination and the resulting disability and to restore neural function by promoting remyelination and neuronal repair. AIMS: The article reviews the latest literature in this field. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling pathway is a promising target in progressive multiple sclerosis. DISCUSSION: FGF signal transduction contributes to establishing the oligodendrocyte lineage, neural stem cell proliferation and differentiation, and myelination of the central nervous system. Furthermore, FGF signaling is implicated in the control of neuroinflammation. In recent years, interventions targeting FGF, and its receptor (FGFR) have been shown to ameliorate autoimmune encephalomyelitis symptoms in multiple sclerosis animal models moderately. CONCLUSION: Here, we summarize the recent findings and investigate the role of FGF/FGFR signaling in the onset and progression, discuss the potential therapeutic advances, and offer fresh insights into managing multiple sclerosis.