A Cyclical Magneto-Responsive Massage Dressing for Wound Healing.

Tissue development is mediated by a combination of mechanical and biological signals. Currently, there are many reports on biological signals regulating repair. However, insufficient attention is paid to the process of mechanical regulation, especially the active mechanical regulation in vivo, which has not been realized. Herein, a novel dynamically regulated repair system for both in vitro and in vivo applications is developed, which utilizes magnetic nanoparticles as non-contact actuators to activate hydrogels. The magnetic hydrogel can be periodically activated and deformed to different amplitudes by a dynamic magnetic system. An in vitro skin model is used to explore the impact of different dynamic stimuli on cellular mechano-transduction signal activation and cell differentiation. Specifically, the effect of mechanical stimulation on the phenotypic transition of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts is investigated. Furthermore, in vivo results verify that dynamic massage can simulate and enhance the traction effect in skin defects, thereby accelerating the wound healing process by promoting re-epithelialization and mediating dermal contraction.

Discrepancy of coordinate system selection in backscattering Mueller matrix polarimetry: exploring photon coordinate system transformation invariants.

In biomedical studies, Mueller matrix polarimetry is gaining increasing attention because it can comprehensively characterize polarization-related vectorial properties of the sample, which are crucial for microstructural identification and evaluation. For backscattering Mueller matrix polarimetry, there are two photon coordinate selection conventions, which can affect the following Mueller matrix parameters calculation and information acquisition quantitatively. In this study, we systematically analyze the influence of photon coordinate system selection on the backscattering Mueller matrix polarimetry. We compare the Mueller matrix elements in the right-handed-nonunitary and non-right-handed-unitary coordinate systems, and specifically deduce the changes of Mueller matrix polar decomposition, Mueller matrix Cloude decomposition and Mueller matrix transformation parameters widely used in backscattering Mueller matrix imaging as the photon coordinate system varied. Based on the theoretical analysis and phantom experiments, we provide a group of photon coordinate system transformation invariants for backscattering Mueller matrix polarimetry. The findings presented in this study give a crucial criterion of parameters selection for backscattering Mueller matrix imaging under different photon coordinate systems.

Polarization feature fusion and calculation of birefringence dynamics in complex anisotropic media.

As a complex anisotropic medium, variation in birefringence within biological tissues is closely associated with numerous physiological behaviors and phenomena. In this Letter, we propose a polarization feature fusion method and corresponding polarimetric parameters, which exhibit excellent performance of capturing the birefringence dynamic variation process in complex anisotropic media. By employing the feature fusion method, we combine and transform polarization basis parameters (PBPs) to derive fused polarization feature parameters (FPPs) with explicit expressions. Subsequently, we conduct Monte Carlo (MC) simulation to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed FPPs from two variation dimensions of birefringence direction θ and modulus Δn. Leveraging mathematical modeling and linear transformations, we investigate and abstract their response patterns concerning θ and Δn. Finally, the experiments confirm that the FPPs show superior adaptability and interpretability in characterizing the birefringence dynamic process of turbid media. The findings presented in this study provide new, to the best of our knowledge, methodological insights of information extraction for computational polarimetry in biomedical research.

Polarization enhancement mechanism from tissue staining in multispectral Mueller matrix microscopy.

Mueller matrix microscopy can provide comprehensive polarization-related optical and structural information of biomedical samples label-freely. Thus, it is regarded as an emerging powerful tool for pathological diagnosis. However, the staining dyes have different optical properties and staining mechanisms, which can put influence on Mueller matrix microscopic measurement. In this Letter, we quantitatively analyze the polarization enhancement mechanism from hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining in multispectral Mueller matrix microscopy. We examine the influence of hematoxylin and eosin dyes on Mueller matrix-derived polarization characteristics of fibrous tissue structures. Combined with Monte Carlo simulations, we explain how the dyes enhance diattenuation and linear retardance as the illumination wavelength changed. In addition, it is demonstrated that by choosing an appropriate incident wavelength, more visual Mueller matrix polarimetric information can be observed of the H&E stained tissue sample. The findings can lay the foundation for the future Mueller matrix-assisted digital pathology.

Long-term follow-up of the cognitive function in children after intravitreal ranibizumab for retinopathy of prematurity.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the long-term cognitive function in children treated with intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) for retinopathy of prematurity(ROP), and the impact of IVR on the growth and ocular development. METHODS: In this retrospective study, the premature children aged 4 to 9 years who received monotherapy of IVR (IVR group, n = 25) or monotherapy of laser photocoagulation (LP) (LP group, n = 33) for ROP, and the same age premature children with no ROP (Control group, n = 26) were enrolled from 2020 to 2022 in the pediatric fundus clinic of Shenzhen Eye Hospital. Main outcome measures were full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) and index score using the Chinese version of the Wechsler intelligence scale for children-fourth edition (WISC-IV) and Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence-fourth edition (WPPSI-IV). All children were examined and analyzed for growth and ocular development by recording the height, weight, head circumference, spherical equivalent (SE), best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and axial length (AL). RESULTS: There were 17 children in IVR group, 17 in LP group, and 11 in Control group who received the WISC-IV assessment. There were no significant differences in FSIQ, verbal comprehension index, perceptual reasoning index, working memory index, processing speed index, general ability index and cognitive efficiency index among the three groups. There were 8 children in IVR group, 16 in LP group, and 15 in Control group who received the WPPSI-IV assessment. There were no significant differences in FSIQ, verbal comprehension index, visuospatial index, fluid reasoning index, working memory index, non-verbal index, general ability index and cognitive efficiency index among the three groups. There was no significant difference in BCVA among the three groups (P = 0.74), however, there is an increase for AL in IVR group when compared with LP group (22.60 ± 0.58 vs. 22.13 ± 0.84, P = 0.003), and the ROP patients of IVR group have a significant increase in the AL compared to the Control group(22.60 ± 0.58 vs. 22.03 ± 0.71, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Children with a history of IVR have a similar cognitive function outcomes compared to those with a history of LP or were premature without ROP. ROP children with a history of IVR has longer AL than those treated with LP.

Analysis and optimization of aberration induced by oblique incidence for in-vivo tissue polarimetry.

For in-vivo polarimetry such as Mueller matrix endoscopy of human internal organ cavities, the complicated undulating tissue surfaces deliver an inescapable occurrence of oblique incidence, which induce a prominent aberration to backscattering tissue polarimetry. In this Letter, we quantitatively analyze such polarimetric aberration on polarization basic parameters derived from the Mueller matrix. A correlation heatmap is obtained as applicable criteria to select an appropriate incident angle for different polarization basic parameters. Based on the analyzing results, we propose two aberration optimization strategies of parameter selection and azimuth rotation, which are suitable for tissue samples with randomly and well-aligned fiber textures, respectively. Both strategies are demonstrated to be effective in the ex-vivo human gastric muscularis tissue experiment. The findings presented in this Letter can be useful to provide accurate polarization imaging results, widely applied on in-vivo polarimetric endoscopy for tissues with complicated surface topography.

Regioselective Deuteration of Arenes Enabled by Simple Heterogeneous Palladium Catalysis.

A heterogeneous redox-neutral palladium-catalytic platform was reported for the preparation of deuterated (hetero) arenes from (hetero) arenes mediated by regioselective C(sp2)-H thianthrenation utilizing commercially available and recyclable Pd/C catalyst. A wide range of deuterated compounds could be obtained in high yields with excellent levels of deuterium incorporation under these simple heterogeneous catalytic conditions with the requirement of stable and easily handled DCOONa as a deuterium source. The late-stage deuteration of pharmaceuticals and bioactive molecules was also achieved by this approach.

A Dual-Modality Imaging Method Based on Polarimetry and Second Harmonic Generation for Characterization and Evaluation of Skin Tissue Structures.

The characterization and evaluation of skin tissue structures are crucial for dermatological applications. Recently, Mueller matrix polarimetry and second harmonic generation microscopy have been widely used in skin tissue imaging due to their unique advantages. However, the features of layered skin tissue structures are too complicated to use a single imaging modality for achieving a comprehensive evaluation. In this study, we propose a dual-modality imaging method combining Mueller matrix polarimetry and second harmonic generation microscopy for quantitative characterization of skin tissue structures. It is demonstrated that the dual-modality method can well divide the mouse tail skin tissue specimens' images into three layers of stratum corneum, epidermis, and dermis. Then, to quantitatively analyze the structural features of different skin layers, the gray level co-occurrence matrix is adopted to provide various evaluating parameters after the image segmentations. Finally, to quantitatively measure the structural differences between damaged and normal skin areas, an index named Q-Health is defined based on cosine similarity and the gray-level co-occurrence matrix parameters of imaging results. The experiments confirm the effectiveness of the dual-modality imaging parameters for skin tissue structure discrimination and assessment. It shows the potential of the proposed method for dermatological practices and lays the foundation for further, in-depth evaluation of the health status of human skin.

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Tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome in which tumor-induced osteochondrosis is a metabolic bone disease caused by increased renal excretion of phosphorus due to excessive secretion of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) by tumor tissue. We report here a rare case of TIO in which the tumor was found in the hyoid body and the patient had tertiary hyperparathyroidism. The patient's symptoms did not improve after removal of the tumor from the hyoid body, and the patient's hypophosphatemia was gradually improved after subsequent removal of the left parathyroid gland. TIO derived from the tongue tumor is very rare, and also subsequent tertiary hyperparathyroidism is even rarer. This report helps to improve the understanding of TIO and provides reference in the diagnosis and treatment of TIO.

Self-registration of constant-step rotating Mueller matrix polarimeters.

Time-division framework is commonly used in Mueller matrix polarimeters (MPs), which takes extra numbers of images at the same position in an acquisition sequence. In this Letter, we utilize measurement redundancy to raise a unique loss function which can reflect and evaluate the degree of mis-registration of Mueller matrix (MM) polarimetric images. Further, we demonstrate that the constant-step rotating MPs have a self-registration loss function free from systematic errors. Based on this property, we propose a self-registration framework, which is able to apply efficient sub-pixel registration skipping the calibration procedure of MPs. It is demonstrated that the self-registration framework performs well for tissue MM images. By combining with other powerful vectorized super-resolution methods, the framework proposed in this Letter has the potential to handle more complicated registration problems.

Clinical and genetic characteristics for 4 patients with Type Ib pseudohypoparathyroidism. / 4例Ibåž‹å‡æ€§ç”²çŠ¶æ—è ºåŠŸèƒ½å‡é€€ç—‡çš„ä¸´åºŠå’Œé—ä¼ å­¦ç‰¹å¾.

Pseudohypoparayhyroidism (PHP) is a rare autosomal dominant or recessive genetic disorder characterized by low calcium, high phosphorus, and target organ resistance to parathyroid. The clinical characteristics and genetic features in 4 patients with Type Ib PHP in the Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, have been reviewed. All 4 patients had low calcium, high phosphorus, and parathyroid resistance. Among them, 2 patients had slightly elevated thyroid stimulating hormone and mild features of Albright's hereditary osteodystrophy, and one patient had hypokalemia. No guanine nucleotide-binding protein alpha-stimulating activity polypeptide 1 (GNAS) and gene variant associated with hypokalemia were identified using the whole exome sequencing. The results of the methylation-specific multiple ligation-dependent probe amplification showed that there were abnormal methylation of the upstream differentially methylated regions of GNAS in the 4 patients. There were phenotype overlap among the various subtypes of PHP. Detection of GNAS gene methylation in patients with clinical suspicion of Type Ib PHP is helpful for the diagnosis and treatment of PHP.

Transmission Mueller matrix imaging with spatial filtering.

In this Letter, we report a study on the effects of spatial filtering for a transmission Mueller matrix imaging system. A spatial filter (SF) is placed on the back Fourier plane of the imaging lens in a dual-rotating-retarders Mueller matrix imaging system to select photons within a certain scattering angle. The system is then applied to three types of human cancerous tissues. When imaging with a small-aperture SF, some polarimetry basis parameters show sharp changes in contrast in the cancerous regions. Monte Carlo simulations using a simple sphere-cylinder scattering model also show that spatial filtering of the scattered photons provides extra information on the size and shape of the scattering particles. The results indicate that spatial filtering enhances the capability of polarization imaging as a powerful tool for biomedical diagnosis.

Comparison of different calibration methods for Mueller matrix microscopy of cells.

Mueller matrix (MM) imaging has demonstrated its potential application in much research, especially in probing delicate and complex biomedical specimens. Qualities of MM images are important for further quantitative characterization. In this paper, we compare the performance and imaging qualities of three calibration methods. Air, waveplate and cell specimen are selected as standard samples for comparison. In addition, we also propose two general MM imaging quality indices that can be used as quantitative evaluations for MM imaging systems and calculation processes based on real samples. The numerical calibration method turns out to give the best accuracy and precision, as well as the best image qualities.

Characteristic Mueller matrices for direct assessment of the breaking of symmetries.

Mueller polarimetry is a powerful optical technique in the analysis of micro-structural properties of optical samples. However, there is no explicit relationship between individual Mueller matrix elements and the physical properties of the sample. Several matrix decomposition algorithms corresponding to specific optical models have been proposed, which extract the physical information from measured Mueller matrices. Nevertheless, we still need a prior assessment method to decide which model is more suitable for the experimental data. In this Letter, we propose a set of characteristic Mueller matrices that allows us to obtain information about the breaking of rotation, mirror, and reciprocal symmetry properties in the sample by direct inspection of several elements of the Mueller matrix. By further analyzing the possible origin of symmetry breaking, we can learn the type and mixing status of anisotropies in the measured sample. We have verified our theory with Monte Carlo simulations of polarized light scattering in an isotropic or anisotropic medium containing different configurations of spherical and cylindrical scatterers. This study may help experimenters choose more suitable Mueller matrix decomposition methods.

Identification of two novel mutations in three Chinese families with Kallmann syndrome using whole exome sequencing.

Kallmann syndrome (KS) is a rare developmental disorder that manifests as congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism with anosmia. More than 19 genes have been found to be associated with KS. However, approximately 70% of the causes of KS remain unclear. Here, we studied seven KS patients, from three families, who had delayed puberty and olfactory bulb dysplasia. However, the families of these patients showed a range of other unique clinical features, including hearing loss, anosmia (to varying degrees) and unilateral renal agenesis. We performed whole exome sequencing and copy number variation (CNV) sequencing on samples acquired from these patients. We identified two novel mutations (c.844delC in ANOS1, c.475C>T in SOX10) and a novel trigenic pattern, PROKR2/CHD7/FEZF1 (c.337T>C in PROKR2, c.748C>G in FEZF1, c.8773G>A in CHD7). The c.844delC mutation in the ANOS1 gene was predicted to generate a truncated form of the anosmin-1 protein. SIFT and PolyPhen-2 predicted that the c.475C>T mutation in SOX10 had a damaging effect. The PROKR2 mutation (c.337T>C) was previously reported as harmful. No pathogenic copy number alterations were detected. Our study expands the genotypic and phenotypic spectrum of KS, a disease that shows considerable clinical and genetic heterogeneity. The application of whole exome sequencing could facilitate our understanding of the pathogenesis of KS.

Purity-depolarization relations and the components of purity of a Mueller matrix.

A comprehensive physically realizable space, namely, the overall purity index-components of purity (PI4D-CP) space is proposed for the characterization of the depolarization caused by random (or deterministic) media. The overall purity index (PI4D)is obtained via indices of polarimetric purity which are incurred by the eigenvalues of the covariance matrix, whereas the components of purity (CP) are the functions of the elements of a Mueller matrix. On the one hand, the proposed space is useful in studying the depolarization caused by material media and on the other hand, it provides information on the diattenuation-polarizance properties of a Mueller matrix. Thus, it gives a remarkable physical insight of the depolarization problem.

Study on polarization scattering applied in aerosol recognition in the air.

In this work, we present an in situ online aerosol recognition scheme by synchronized parallel polarization scattering analysis. By theoretical simulations, we select the feasible scattering angles and evaluate the potential of Stokes parameters to identify aerosols. Correspondingly, we develop a measurement system based on multi-angle optical scattering and multidimensional polarization analyzing technique. We construct two index groups based on non-normalized and normalized polarization parameters respectively, and employ their frequency distribution histograms instead of the simple average values to identify and classify different types of aerosols. The experimental verification confirms a future way of a multi-dimensional polarization parameter group applied in a fast and effective air pollutants monitoring.

Functional characterization of a matrix metalloproteinase 2 gene in Litopenaeus vannamei.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) contribute to both normal and pathological tissue remodeling. They act as regulatory molecules by working in enzyme cascades as well as processing matrix proteins, cytokines, growth factors and adhesion molecules to generate fragments with biological effects. So MMPs could play distrinct roles in the process of pathogen infection. In present study, we cloned a MMP-2 (LvMMP-2) gene from Litopenaeus vannamei. LvMMP-2, highly expressed in epidermis, located to endoplasmic reticulum in S2 cells. Results of real-time RT-PCR assay showed that LvMMP-2 was induced in shrimp hemocytes upon unfolded protein response or oxidative stress, but not via heat shock treatment. It is proved that the promoter activity of LvMMP-2 was enhanced by NF-E2-related factor 2 and AP-1 factor c-Jun. Further research showed that down-regulated LvMMP-2 contributing to oxidative stress injury, could reduce the cumulative mortality of shrimps under oxidative stress. Besides, our study also indicated that LvMMP-2 was accelerated by lipopolysaccharides injection. LvMMP-2 in S2 could increase the promoter activity of several antimicrobial peptide genes, and knocked-down expression of LvMMP-2 depressed the expression of penaeidin2 and ß-Defensin. Moreover, we showed that down-regulated LvMMP-2 suppressed the cumulative mortality of shrimp infected with white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) or with Vibrio alginolyticus. Collecting results suggested that LvMMP-2 involves in shrimp innate immune response, and also contributes to tissue injury caused by WSSV infection.

Functional characterization of an ER-stress responding Crustin gene in Litopenaeus vannamei.

Shrimp in culture ponds are challenged by various pathogens as well as harsh water environment. The innate immune system and environmental stress response system of shrimp paly an important role in shrimp survival and growth. For remission the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-stress caused by environmental stress, unfolded protein response (UPR) may reduce the synthesis of most proteins, including great mass of immune factors, which could weaken the immune function of shrimp. Therefore, how cells keep appropriate amount of immune factor synthesis under such a situation is critical important for shrimp health and growth. In this study, we cloned a new Crustin gene (LvCruU) from Litopenaeus vannamei. We showed that LvCruU has antibacterial activity, and reducing its expression would increase the cumulative mortality of L. vannamei upon the Vibrio parahemolyticus infection. In addition, we found that promoter activity of LvCruU was enhanced not only by the deformed epidermal autoregulatory factor-1 (Deaf1), but also by activating transcription factor 3 (LvATF3) of shrimp UPR. Real-time RT-PCR showed that LvCruU and LvATF3 both were induced upon UPR activation. And moreover, in Thapsigargin plus dsLvCruU injection test, we showed that down-regulation of LvCruU increased the cumulative mortality of V. parahemolyticus-infected shrimp under ER-stress. These results suggest that LvCruU work as a downstream effector of UPR, and contribute to antimicrobic immune response upon ER-stress in L. vannamei.

Identification and functional characterization of a C-type lectin gene from Litopenaeus vannamei that is associated with ER-stress response.

C-type lectins (CTLs), which bind carbohydrates in a Ca2+-dependent manner, are involved in many cellular activities, especially immunity. CTLs play important roles in both the antibacterial and the antiviral immune response and are also associated with autoimmunity. Several CTLs have been investigated in crustaceans, primarily with respect to their function in the immune response. In this study, we cloned a novel CTL gene (LvCTLU) from Litopenaeus vannamei. LvCTLU is involved in microbe agglutination and phagocytosis. Downregulating LvCTLU increased the cumulative mortality of L. vannamei after Vibrio parahemolyticus infection. Similar to other reported CTLs, LvCTLU also had antiviral properties. Downregulation of LvCTLU also increased the cumulative mortality of L. vannamei after infection with white spot syndrome virus. More importantly, LvCTLU expression was induced by the unfolded protein response (UPR), which is the key pathway in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-stress response of eukaryotic organism. Our results suggested that this protein might be involved in the shrimp ER-stress response. Reporter gene assay indicated that LvCTLU was regulated by X-box-binding protein 1, which is the key transcription factor in the UPR. Our study thus revealed that LvCTLU plays vital roles in both the anti-pathogen immune response and the ER-stress response.