Angiogenic effects of cell therapy within a biomaterial scaffold in a rat hind limb ischemia model.

Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is a life- and limb-threatening condition affecting 1-10% of humans worldwide with peripheral arterial disease. Cellular therapies, such as bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been used for the treatment of CLI. However, little information is available regarding the angiogenic potency of MSCs and mast cells (MC) in angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of MCs and MSCs to induce angiogenesis in a rat model of ischemic hind limb injury on a background of a tissue engineered hydrogel scaffold. Thirty rats were randomly divided into six control and experimental groups as follows: (a) Control healthy (b) Ischemic positive control with right femoral artery transection, (c) ischemia with hydrogel scaffold, (d) ischemia with hydrogel plus MSC, (e) ischemia with hydrogel plus MC and (f) ischemia with hydrogel plus MSC and MCs. 106 of each cell type, isolated from bone marrow stroma, was injected into the transected artery used to induce hind limb ischemia. The other hind limb served as a non-ischemic control. After 14 days, capillary density, vascular diameter, histomorphometry and immunohistochemistry at the transected location and in gastrocnemius muscles were evaluated. Capillary density and number of blood vessels in the region of the femoral artery transection in animals receiving MSCs and MCs was increased compared to control groups (P < 0.05). Generally the effect of MCs and MSCs was similar although the combined MC/MSC therapy resulted in a reduced, rather than enhanced, effect. In the gastrocnemius muscle, immunohistochemical and histomorphometric observation showed a great ratio of capillaries to muscle fibers in all the cell-receiving groups (P < 0.05). The data indicates that the combination of hydrogel and cell therapy generates a greater angiogenic potential at the ischemic site than cell therapy or hydrogels alone.

Evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of 2D and color Doppler sonography in the detection of placenta accreta in pregnant women.

INTRODUCTION: Placenta accreta is the most common cause of bleeding leading to peripartum hysterectomy, and therefore, due to the importance of accreta in the mortality and morbidity of pregnant women, the correct diagnosis of the patient's final outcome is important. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of sonography diagnosis in the evaluation of placenta accreta by examining the two-dimensional (2D) and color Doppler sonography findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sonography was done for detection of accreta from pregnant women who were suspicious of placenta accreta in the third trimester of pregnancy. They were evaluated to confirm placenta histology for accreta and clinical examination after cesarean surgery at Maternity Ward, Ahvaz Imam Khomeini Hospital. Then they were evaluated as an overview and for the lack of accreta sonography findings. The data collected were analyzed by SPSS V 24. RESULTS: About 58 patients (55.8%) of 103 pregnant mothers suspected of accreta with anterior placenta with an average age of 32.9 years after cesarean section were clinically extraordinarily positive and 45 patients (43.3%) were negative. The overall sensitivity and specificity of sonography for the detection of accreta placenta were 97.7% and 86.2%, respectively, which were most sensitive to diffuse and focal lacunar flow (100%) and the least sensitivity (33.3%) was observed for bladder wall interruption. Accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of sonography for the diagnosis of accreta placenta with at least one diagnostic criteria were 91.2%, 84.6%, and 98.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Sonography, as an affordable and inexpensive diagnostic method, can be worthy by examining placenta for the detection of accreta, which can increase the diagnostic accuracy when combining 2D criteria with color Doppler.

Developing Rat Bone Marrow Derived Mast Cells by the Splenic Cells Culture Supernatant of Rat and Mouse.

BACKGROUND: Mast cells play a critical role in the pathogenesis of various immunological and non-immunological diseases. It is now accepted that culturing primary mast cells considered as a tool for investigation role of mast cells in diseases. Development of various animal primary mast cells and their function could be used for the translational studies in the pathogenesis of human diseases. The aim of the study was to develop simple and cost-efficient method for differentiation and culture of rat mast cells from bone marrow by using rat and mouse spleen supernatant. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bone marrow cells from 10 to15-weeks-old male rats was obtained and cultured for three weeks on cell culture medium. After that, purity of cells was approved by FCɛRI and CD117 antibodies, toluidine blue and Immunohistochemistry (IHC). RESULTS: After 3 weeks continuous culturing, high purity of cells was found. CD117, CD34 expression and tryptase were 80.1, 76.89 and 87.9%, respectively by rat splenic supernatant, whereas 85.4, 83.07 and 82.1%, respectively with mouse splenic supernatants. Besides, rat spleen supernatant developed 91.4% and mouse splenocyte supernatant developed 89.7% mast cells based on surface markers. CONCLUSION: The data presented in this study indicated equal maturation and differentiation of bone marrow derived rat mast cells by using both spleen supernatants.

All-optical tunable multilevel amplitude regeneration based on coherent wave mixing using a polarizer.

We describe and demonstrate an all-optical tunable phase- preserving scheme for multilevel amplitude regeneration based on coherent optical wave mixing using a polarizer for optical star 8-quadrature-amplitude modulation (star-8QAM) and star-16QAM signals with a power ratio of 1:5. Amplitude noise can be efficiently suppressed on both amplitude levels. A regeneration factor of nearly 5 for the higher-amplitude level of star-8QAM and 3 for lower-amplitude level are achieved. The system robustness against nonlinear phase noise originating from the Gordon-Mollenauer effect in a 150 km transmission line is investigated using the proposed amplitude regenerator.

Demonstration of reconfigurable optical generation of higher-order modulation formats up to 64 QAM using optical nonlinearity.

We demonstrate a reconfigurable optical transmitter of higher-order modulation formats including pulse-amplitude-modulation (PAM) signals and quadrature-amplitude-modulation (QAM) signals. We generated six different modulation formats by multiplexing 10 Gbit/s on-off-keying (OOK) signals (10 Gbaud binary phase-shift keying, 4-PAM, 8-PAM quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), 16-QAM and 16-star-QAM with error-vector magnitudes (EVMs) of 8.1%, 7.5%, 7.8%, 8.2%, 7.2%, and 6.9%, respectively) and 80 Gbit/s 16-QAM with an EVM of 8.5%, as well as 120 Gbit/s 64-QAM with an EVM of 7.1%, using two or three 40 Gbit/s QPSK signals, respectively. We also successfully transmitted the generated 16-QAM signals through a 100 km transmission line with negligible power penalty.

10 Gbit/s tributary channel exchange of 160 Gbit/ssignals using periodically poled lithium niobate.

We propose and demonstrate data exchange in both the wavelength and time domains at a fine granularity, i.e., low-speed tributary channel exchange of wavelength-division multiplexed high-speed optical time-division multiplexed signals. Using the parametric depletion effect of cascaded second-order nonlinear interactions in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide, we experimentally implement 10 Gbit/s tributary channel exchange between two 160 Gbit/s signals with a power penalty of less than 4 dB at a bit-error rate of 10(-9). Moreover, taking into account the waveguide propagation loss, we derive analytical solutions to investigate the signal depletion (SD) and extinction ratio (ER) performance of the PPLN-based data exchange. The theoretical analyses indicate that low waveguide propagation loss benefits large achievable SD and ER.

640 Gbits/s photonic logic gates.

We demonstrate 640 Gbits/s all-optical A AND B, and A AND B logic functions using pump depletion in a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide. Bit-error-rate measurements show the effectiveness of the scheme, with a penalty of <2 dB.

Phase-transparent optical data exchange of 40 Gbit/s differential phase-shift keying signals.

We report the phase-transparent optical data exchange of differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) signals by exploiting the parametric depletion of nondegenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) in a highly nonlinear fiber. Theoretical analyses of nondegenerate FWM involving two signals and two pumps are presented. Analytical solutions are derived, indicating the exchange condition and the feasibility of phase-transparent data exchange. Optical data exchange between 10.7 Gbit/s non-return-to-zero DPSK (NRZ-DPSK) and return-to-zero DPSK signals is implemented with a power penalty of approximately 1.5 dB at a bit-error rate (BER) of 10(-9). Moreover, we demonstrate phase-transparent optical data exchange between two 40 Gbit/s NRZ-DPSK signals with a power penalty of approximately 4.5 dB at a BER of 10(-9).