Catadioptric freeform optical system design for LED off-axis road illumination applications.

The aim of this paper is to develop a new composite structure of catadioptric optical system containing both freeform refractive surface and freeform total internal reflective (TIR) surface for LED road illumination applications. The role of freeform refractive part is to generate the shifted general rectangular illumination pattern to optimally match the shape of the road surface. The application of TIR mechanism is aimed to control the stray light in the sidewalk direction of the road luminaire and maximize the efficient energy efficiency. In this paper, we use the "double pole" ray mapping technique to design the refractive optical surface and the θ-φ coordinate ray mapping technique to derive the freeform TIR surface. The simulation shows that the novel catadioptric design has relatively high collection efficiency, thus high average illuminance level inside the effective illumination area. This lens also has good control of stray light on the backside of the road luminaire.

Serum Biomarker Identification by Mass Spectrometry in Acute Aortic Dissection.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Aortic dissection (AD) is also known as intramural hematoma. This study aimed to screen peripheral blood biomarkers of small molecule metabolites for AD using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). METHODS: Sera from 25 healthy subjects, 25 patients with well-established AD, and 25 patients with well-established hypertension were investigated by HPLC-MS to detect metabolites, screen differentially expressed metabolites, and analyze metabolic pathways. RESULTS: Twenty-six and four metabolites were significantly up- and down-regulated in the hypertensive patients compared with the healthy subjects; 165 metabolites were significantly up-regulated and 109 significantly down-regulated in the AD patients compared with the hypertensive patients. Of these metabolites, 35 were up-regulated and 105 down-regulated only in AD patients. The metabolites that were differentially expressed in AD are mainly involved in tryptophan, histidine, glycerophospholipid, ether lipid, and choline metabolic pathways. As AD alters the peripheral blood metabolome, analysis of peripheral blood metabolites can be used in auxiliary diagnosis of AD. CONCLUSION: Eight metabolites are potential biomarkers for AD, 3 of which were differentially expressed and can be used for auxiliary diagnosis of AD and evaluation of treatment effectiveness.

Effects of fluvastatin therapy on serum interleukin-18 and interleukin-10 levels in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: Experimental data demonstrate that inflammation plays an important role in the initiation, progression, and complications of atherosclerosis. Statins were shown to downregulate inflammatory cytokines.We conducted this study to investigate the effects of fluvastatin therapy on plasma interleukin-18 (IL-18) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) concentration in patients with acute coronary syndrome. METHODS AND RESULTS: Serum IL-18 and IL-10 levels were measured in 90 patients with acute coronary syndrome, 47 patients with stable angina pectoris, and 55 normal control subjects. Patients in the acute coronary syndrome group were randomly assigned to a fluvastatin group and a routine group.The fluvastatin group was given fluvastatin 40 mg/day and the routine group a placebo.After one month of follow-up, serum IL-18, IL-10 levels, and serum lipid concentration were measured again. Serum IL-18 levels were significantly higher in the acute coronary syndrome group than in the stable angina pectoris group and the control group. However, serum IL-10 levels were significantly lower than in the stable angina pectoris group and the control group.After one month of treatment, the serum IL-18 levels decreased significantly and the serum IL-10 levels increased significantly in all patients with acute coronary syndrome, but the changes of serum IL-18 and IL-10 levels were more pronounced in the fluvastatin group. No relationship was observed between the rate of decrease of serum IL-18 or the rate of increase of serum IL-10 and serum lipids levels. CONCLUSION: Inflammation plays an important role in the initiation of acute coronary syndromes. Fluvastatin possesses an anti-inflammatory effect, independent of its lipid-lowering action.

Downregulated lncRNA UCA1 accelerates proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells by epigenetic regulation of MMP9.

Function of long non-coding RNA urothelial carcinoma antigen 1 (lncRNA UCA1) in regulating the proliferative and migratory abilities of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) by mediating matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9) level were elucidated. After treatment with different concentrations of ox-LDL for different time points, lncRNA UCA1 level in VSMCs was determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Subcellular distribution of UCA1 was analyzed. Proliferative and migratory abilities of VSMCs transfected with pcDNA-UCA1 were assessed. Protein level of MMP9 in HA-VSMCs treated with different concentrations of ox-LDL for different time points was also determined. The potential interaction between UCA1 and enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) was identified by RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay. Recruitment ability of EZH2 to MMP9 promoter region influenced by UCA1 was determined by Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay. Finally, the potential function of MMP9 in UCA1-mediated cellular behavior of VSMCs was explored. UCA1 was time-dependently and dose-dependently upregulated in VSMCs by ox-LDL treatment. Proliferative and migratory abilities of VSMCs were enhanced by treatment of 100 mg/l ox-LDL for 48 h, which were further reduced after transfection of pcDNA-UCA1. Subcellular distribution analysis showed that UCA1 was mainly distributed in the nucleus. Protein level of MMP9 was gradually elevated with the treatment of increased concentrations of ox-LDL in VSMCs. Its level was downregulated by transfection of pcDNA-UCA1 in VSMCs. The interaction between UCA1 and EZH2 was confirmed by RIP assay. Transfection of pcDNA-UCA1 stimulated the binding of EZH2 on MMP9 promoter region. Finally, overexpression of MMP9 reversed the decreased proliferative and migratory abilities in ox-LDL-treated VSMCs overexpressing UCA1. Downregulated UCA1 accelerates VSMCs to proliferate and migrate through negatively regulating MMP9 level.

[Effects of fluvastatin on blood levels of inflammatory cytokines in patients with unstable angina undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of fluvastatin on blood levels of c-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in patients with unstable angina undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS: Sixty patients who underwent PCI from July 2002 to April 2004 in our hospital were randomized into two groups: control group; fluvastatin group (40 mg/d). Serum levels of CRP, TNFalpha and cTnI were measured before and after two weeks treatment (in the early morning of the procedure) and at 24 hours after the procedure. RESULTS: The serum levels of CRP, TNFalpha and cTnI in fluvastatin group were distinctly lower than those in control group before (P < 0.01) and after the procedure (P < 0.01), respectively. CONCLUSION: The result suggested that PCI could lead to a detectable increase in serum levels of CRP, TNFalpha and cTnI in patients with coronary heart disease; Fluvastatin could significantly decrease the serum levels of CRP, TNFalpha and cTnI in patients with coronary heart disease; Fluvastatin could also decrease the serum levels of CRP, TNFalpha and cTnI in patients with PCI.

Promoter polymorphism of interleukin-18 in angiographically proven coronary artery disease.

Interleukin 18 (IL-18) is a pro-atherogenic cytokine associated with the occurrence of various cardiac complications. The IL-18 gene has a functional -137 G/C polymorphism (rs187238) in the promoter region. Using the ligase detection reaction-polymerase chain reaction, we genotyped a cohort of patients in Chinese Han population in Xiangfan region. Case patients of coronary artery disease and control patients were identified by coronary angiography. The plasma IL-18 concentrations were measured by ELISA. A significant increase of G allele or GG-genotype was observed in 241 case patients compared to 145 control individuals (frequency of G allele = 0.90 vs 0.83, p=0.004; frequency of GG-genotype = 0.81 vs 0.68, p = 0.005). In case patients, G allele carriers in multi-vessel disease patients had a higher occurrence rate when compared to single-vessel disease patients, but no significant difference was detected (frequency of G allele = 0.92 vs 0.88, p=0.107; frequency of GG-genotype = 0.84 vs 0.75, p = 0.089). IL-18 protein concentration of the -137GG genotype was much higher than concentration of the CG and CC genotype (case patients: 229.1+/-131.5 vs 122.7+/-73.6 pg/ml, P < 0.001; control patients: 65.9+/-31.6 vs 42.4+/-19.5 pg/ml, P < 0.001). To conclude, IL-18 promoter -137G/C polymorphism influences IL-18 levels and the occurrence of coronary artery disease, suggesting that IL-18 is causally involved in the development of atherosclerosis.