LINC01393, a Novel Long Non-Coding RNA, Promotes the Cell Proliferation, Migration and Invasion through MiR-128-3p/NUSAP1 Axis in Glioblastoma.

Nucleolar and spindle-associated protein 1 (NUSAP1) is a potential molecular marker and intervention target for glioblastoma (GBM). In this study, we aim to investigate upstream regulatory lncRNAs and miRNAs of NUSAP1 through both experimental and bioinformatic methods. We screened upstream lncRNAs and miRNAs of NUSAP1 through multiple databases based on ceRNA theory. Then, in vitro and in vivo experiments were performed to elucidate the relevant biological significance and regulatory mechanism among them. Finally, the potential downstream mechanism was discussed. LINC01393 and miR-128-3p were screened as upstream regulatory molecules of NUSAP1 by TCGA and ENCORI databases. The negative correlations among them were confirmed in clinical specimens. Biochemical studies revealed that overexpression or knockdown of LINC01393 respectively enhanced or inhibited malignant phenotype of GBM cells. MiR-128-3p inhibitor reversed LINC01393 knockdown-mediated impacts on GBM cells. Then, dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation assay were conducted to validate LINC01393/miR-128-3p/NUSAP1 interactions. In vivo, LINC01393-knockdown decreased tumor growth and improved mice survival, while restoration of NUSAP1 partially reversed these effects. Additionally, enrichment analysis and western blot revealed that the roles of LINC01393 and NUSAP1 in GBM progression were associated with NF-κB activation. Our findings showed that LINC01393 sponged miR-128-3p to upregulate NUSAP1, thereby promoting GBM development and progression via activating NF-κB pathway. This work deepens understanding of GBM mechanisms and provides potential novel therapeutic targets for GBM.

The clinical application of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT and regulating mechanism of PSMA expression in patients with brain metastases of lung cancer.

Brain metastases (BMs) of lung cancer are common malignant intracranial tumours associated with severe neurological symptoms and an abysmal prognosis. Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) has been reported to express significantly in a variety of solid tumours. However, the clinical applications of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT and the mechanism of PSMA expression in patients with BMs of lung cancer have rarely been reported. Experiments with 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT and immunohistochemical staining were conducted to evaluate the expression of PSMA from seven patients with BMs of lung cancer who accepted surgical treatment in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center between October 2020 and October 2021. The mechanism of PSMA expression in BMs of lung cancer was explored by using single-cell RNA sequencing. The median maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) in BMs was higher than that in primary lung cancer (8.6 ± 2.8 vs. 3.6 ± 1.3, P < 0.01). The mean SUVmax in BMs was 1.76-fold higher than that in the liver, which indicated the potential of PSMA radioligand therapy (PSMA-RLT) for BMs. BMs showed intense PSMA staining, while normal lung tissue had no PSMA staining and there was only faint primary lung cancer staining by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis found that PSMA was mainly expressed in oligodendrocytes of BMs, whereas it was expressed at lower levels in solid cells of lung cancer. PSMA expression in oligodendrocytes might be regulated by the factors ATF3 and NR4A1, which were associated with ER stress.

Prognosis and Immunological Characteristics of PGK1 in Lung Adenocarcinoma: A Systematic Analysis.

Background: Aerobic glycolysis plays a key role in tumor metabolic reprogramming to reshape the immune microenvironment. The phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) gene codes a glycolytic enzyme that converts 1,3-diphosphoglycerate to 3-phosphoglycerate. However, in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), the role of PGK1 in altering the tumor microenvironment (TME) has not yet been determined. Methods: Raw data, including bulk DNA and mRNA-seq data, methylation modification data, single-cell RNA-seq data, proteomics data, clinical case characteristics survival, immunotherapy data, and so on, were obtained from multiple independent public data sets. These data were reanalyzed to uncover the prognosis and immunological characteristics of PGK1 in LUAD. Results: We found that PGK1 mRNA and protein were considerably over-expressed in LUAD compared to normal tissue and that high PGK1 expression is associated with poorer prognostic outcomes in LUAD. The enrichment analysis of PGK1 co-expressed genes in lung adenocarcinoma revealed that PGK1 may be involved in hypoxia, metabolism, DNA synthesis, cell cycle, PI3K/AKT, and various immune and inflammatory signaling pathways. Furthermore, PGK1 is also linked to the recruitment of numerous immune cells, including aDC (dendritic cells), macrophages, and neutrophils. More importantly, PGK1 was highly expressed in immunosuppressive cells, including M2 macrophages, Tregs, and exhausted T cells, among others. Finally, higher PGK1 expression indicated significant correlations to immune checkpoints, TMB (tumor mutation burden), and high response to immunotherapy. Conclusions: The presented findings imply that PGK1, as a glycolysis core gene, may be important for the modification of the immune microenvironment by interacting with the tumor metabolism. The results of this study provide clues for a potential immunometabolic combination therapy strategy in LUAD, for which more experimental and clinical translational research is needed.

Secreted phosphoprotein 1 promotes angiogenesis of glioblastoma through upregulating PSMA expression via transcription factor HIF1α.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly vascularized malignant brain tumor. Our previous study showed that prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) promotes angiogenesis of GBM. However, the specific mechanism underlying GBM-induced PSMA upregulation remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that the GBM-secreted cytokine phosphoprotein 1 (SPP1) can regulate the expression of PSMA in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Our mechanistic study further reveals that SPP1 regulates the expression of PSMA through the transcription factor HIF1α. Moreover, SPP1 promotes HUVEC migration and tube formation. In addition, HIF1α knockdown reduces the expression of PSMA in HUVECs and blocks the ability of SPP1 to promote HUVEC migration and tube formation. We further confirm that SPP1 is abundantly expressed in GBM, is associated with poor prognosis, and has high clinical diagnostic value with considerable sensitivity and specificity. Collectively, our findings identify that the GBM-secreted cytokine SPP1 upregulates PSMA expression in endothelial cells via the transcription factor HIF1α, providing insight into the angiogenic process and promising candidates for targeted GBM therapy.

An integrated pan-cancer analysis of PSAT1: A potential biomarker for survival and immunotherapy.

Phosphoserine aminotransferase 1 (PSAT1) may be an oncogene that plays an important role in various cancer types. However, there are still many gaps in the expression of PSAT1 gene and its biological impact in different types of tumors. Here, we performed an integrated pan-cancer analysis to explore the potential molecular mechanisms of PSAT1 in cancers. We found that most human tumors express higher levels of PSAT1 than normal tissues, and that higher PSAT1 expression is associated with worse prognosis in Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), Pan-kidney cohort (KIPAN) and breast invasive carcinoma (BRCA), etc. In BRCA cases, the prognosis of patients with altered PSAT1 was worse than that of patients without alteration. In addition, PSAT1 hypermethylation is associated with T cell dysfunction and shortened survival time in BRCA. The Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) analysis showed that PSAT1 can be enriched into the classic signaling pathways of cancer such as mTORC1 signaling, MYC targets and JAK STAT3. Further analysis demonstrated that PSAT1 was enriched in immune related signaling pathways in LUAD and BRCA. The results of immunoassay showed that PSAT1 was associated with immune cell infiltration in multiple cancer species. Furthermore, expression of PSAT1 was correlated with both tumor mutational burden (TMB) and microsatellite instability (MSI) in BRCA. Additionally, a remarkable correlation was found between PSAT1 expression and TMB in LUAD, and the expression of PSAT1 was negatively correlated with the Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE) value, suggesting a good effect of immunotherapy. Together, these data suggest that PSAT1 expression is associated with the clinical prognosis, DNA methylation, gene mutations, and immune cell infiltration, contributing to clarify the role of PSAT1 in tumorigenesis from a variety of perspectives. What's more, PSAT1 may be a new biomarker for survival and predicting the efficacy of immunotherapy for LUAD and BRCA.

Preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (preNLR) for the assessment of tumor characteristics in lung adenocarcinoma patients with brain metastasis.

OBJECTIVES: Brain metastases from lung adenocarcinoma cause significant patient mortality. This study aims to evaluate the role of preoperative Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte ratio (preNLR) in predicting the survival and prognosis of Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients with brain metastasis (BM) and provide more references for predicting peritumoral edema. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 125 LUAD-BM patients who had undergone surgical resection from December 2015 to December 2020. The clinical characteristic, demographic, MRI data, and preNLR within 24-48 h before craniotomy were collected. Patients were divided into two groups based on preNLR (high NLR and low NLR), with cutoff values determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Association between preoperative NLR and clinical features was determined by using Pearson chi-squared tests. Uni- and multivariate analyzes were performed to compare the overall survival (OS) of clinical features. RESULTS: The patients were divided into NLR-low (64 patients) and NLR-high (61 patients) groups based on receiver operating characteristic analysis of NLR area. According to correlation analysis, a high preNLR (NLR≥2.8) is associated with the both supra- and infratentorial location involved (P = 0.017) and a greater incidence of severe peritumoral edema (P = 0.038). By multivariable analysis, age ≥ 65 years (P = 0.011), KPS < 70 (P = 0.043), elevated preNLR (P = 0.013), extracerebral metastases (P = 0.003), EGFR/ALK+ (P = 0.037), postoperative radiotherapy (P = 0.017) and targeted therapy (P = 0.007) were independent prognostic factors. OS nomogram was constructed based on cox model and model performance was examined (AUC = 0.935). CONCLUSIONS: PreNLR may serve as a prognosis indicator in LUAD patients with brain metastasis, and high preNLR tends to be positively associate with multiple locations and severe peritumoral edema.

Systematic Analysis Uncovers Associations of PGK1 with Prognosis and Immunological Characteristics in Breast Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) is an essential enzyme in the process of glycolysis and mitochondrial metabolism. Herein, we conducted a systematic analysis to uncover the clinical implication of PGK1 deregulation in breast cancer. METHODS: Expression pattern and prognostic significance of PGK1 were comprehensively assessed across pan-cancer based on RNA-seq profiles from the TCGA project. Associations of PGK1 with immunological features in the tumor microenvironment (immune checkpoints, immune response predictors (tumor mutation burden (TMB) and microsatellite instability (MSI)), and tumor-infiltrating immune cells) were systematically analyzed. The role of PGK1 in the prediction of breast cancer prognosis was also evaluated. GSEA was presented for investigating biological pathways involved in PGK1. RESULTS: PGK1 was specifically overexpressed in most of cancer types, including breast cancer. High PGK1 expression was indicative of undesirable overall survival, progression-free interval, disease-specific survival, and disease-free interval for various cancers. Furthermore, high PGK1 levels exhibited prominent correlations to immune checkpoints and high response to immunotherapy across pan-cancer. Notably, ROC curves confirmed that PGK1 can robustly predict breast cancer prognosis. Furthermore, PGK1 might shape an inflamed tumor microenvironment following the evidence that PGK1 was positively correlated to the abundance levels of tumor-infiltrating immune cells such as CD8+ T cell and NK cell in breast cancer. GSEA results revealed that PGK1 participated in metabolism and carcinogenic pathways. CONCLUSION: Collectively, PGK1 was capable of robustly predicting the prognosis and response to cancer immunotherapy in breast cancer.

Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) Promotes Angiogenesis of Glioblastoma Through Interacting With ITGB4 and Regulating NF-κB Signaling Pathway.

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common primary malignant tumor in the central nervous system (CNS), causing the extremely poor prognosis. Combining the role of angiogenesis in tumor progression and the role of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) in angiogenesis, this study aims to explore the functions of PSMA in GBM. METHODS: Clinical GBM specimens were collected from 60 patients who accepted surgical treatment in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center between January 2018 and June 2019. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect PSMA and CD31 expression in GBM tissues. Prognostic significance of PSMA was evaluated by bioinformatics. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) transfected with PSMA overexpression plasmids or cultured with conditioned medium collected based on GBM cells, were used for CCK8, Transwell and tube formation assays. High-throughput sequencing and immunoprecipitation were used to explore the underlying mechanism. Furthermore, the in vivo experiment had been also conducted. RESULTS: We demonstrated that PSMA was abundantly expressed in endothelium of vessels of GBM tissues but not in vessels of normal tissues, which was significantly correlated with poor prognosis. Overexpression of PSMA could promotes proliferation, invasion and tube formation ability of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Moreover, U87 or U251 conditioned medium could upregulated PSMA expression and induce similar effects on phenotypes of HUVECs, all of which could be partially attenuated by 2-PMPA treatment. The mechanistic study revealed that PSMA might promote angiogenesis of GBM through interacting with Integrin ß4 (ITGB4) and activating NF-κB signaling pathway. The in vivo growth of GBM could be alleviated by the treatment of 2-PMPA. CONCLUSION: This study identified PSMA as a critical regulator in angiogenesis and progression of GBM, which might be a promising therapeutic target for GBM treatment.

Exonuclease 1 (EXO1) is a Potential Prognostic Biomarker and Correlates with Immune Infiltrates in Lung Adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Exonuclease 1 (EXO1) has been identified to be highly expressed in different human malignancies, but its expression and prognostic role in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remain unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two independent cohorts extracted from public databases and one cohort from our center were analyzed in this study. Expression levels of EXO1 in LUAD tissues and paired para-cancer tissues were detected. The prognostic value of EXO1 in LUAD patients was evaluated in the three cohorts. Enrichment analyses were performed to explore the possible underlying biological pathways. Moreover, we also explored the correlations between EXO1 and tumor-infiltrating immune cells and evaluated the impact of EXO1 knock-down on the migration of lung cancer cells. RESULTS: In this study, we found that EXO1 was highly expressed in LUAD tissues compared with para-cancerous tissues in public databases (p < 0.01), which was consistent with our data (p < 0.01). Survival analysis indicated that high expression of EXO1 was associated with poor prognosis in LUAD (p < 0.01). Enrichment analyses indicated that biological pathways like cell cycle regulation, DNA damage and repair, immune response, neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, may be associated with EXO1 aberrant expression. Moreover, high expression of EXO1 was correlated with decreased infiltrating B cells (p < 0.01) and CD4+ T cells (p < 0.01) levels, and low infiltrating levels of B cells (p < 0.01) and dendritic cells (DCs) (p < 0.05) indicated poor overall survival (OS) in LUAD. Additionally, in vitro experiments suggested that knockdown of EXO1 may inhibit the migratory ability of lung cancer cells. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, EXO1 is a potential prognostic biomarker in LUAD, and correlates with infiltrating levels of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. Further prospective validation of EXO1 in lung cancer is warranted.

Rescue permanent LVIS stenting with post-stenting angioplasty after failed mechanical thrombectomy for refractory internal carotid artery occlusion at the paraclinoid segment: two-case report.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies indicated the effectiveness of permanent stenting when dealing with retriever-failed refractory large vascular occlusion (LVO). Variety types of stents were implanted permanently to achieve recanalization. Low-profile visualized intraluminal support (LVIS) is generally used as a supportive device for embolization of intracranial aneurysm. Its specific structural and functional characteristics contribute to its potential of treating LVO. CASES PRESENTATION: A 51-year-old male was transferred to our stroke center because of conscious disturbance with the weakness of the left upper limb. The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was 24; the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was 10. Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) showed that his paraclinoid segment of R-ICA was occluded due to hard clot embolization. Thrombectomy was performed 6 times, but the occlusion remained. Finally, LVIS was implanted permanently and post-dilation was performed, which successfully recanalized the artery (eTICI 2c). The post-operative NIHSS and GCS were 20 and 11, respectively, which were 10 and 14 when discharged. Another patient was a 71-year-old male who suffered weakness of left limbs. NIHSS was 15; GCS was 11. DSA confirmed that the paraclinoid segment of his R-ICA was occluded due to hard clot embolization. Totally 6 times of mechanical thrombectomy, angioplasty, and tirofiban infusion were performed, which failed to recanalize the artery. In the end, LVIS implantation with post-dilation was performed, and full recanalization was achieved (mTICI 3). The post-operative NIHSS and GCS were 9 and 15, respectively, which were 3 and 15 when discharged. CONCLUSIONS: These 2 cases invited LVIS into the treatment of refractory occlusion due to hard clot embolization at the paraclinoid segment, and the outcomes were preferable because of the higher visibility, higher flexibility, and lower cell size of LVIS.

Differences in Safety and Efficacy of Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke : A Propensity Score Analysis of Intracranial Atherosclerosis-Related Occlusion versus Embolism.

PURPOSE: The prognosis after endovascular treatment (EVT) of acute arterial occlusions due to intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) may differ from those due to embolism. The aim was to evaluate whether safety and efficacy of EVT differ among patients with middle cerebral artery (MCA) M1 occlusion from ICAD or embolism. METHODS: A database review was conducted to identify EVT patients with acute MCA M1 occlusion from November 2013 to December 2018.The patients were divided into the ICAD group and embolic group according to the etiology of occlusion. Using propensity score analysis, patients with ICAD-related occlusion and embolism underwent 1:1 matching. Angiographic results, complications, and clinical outcomes were compared. RESULTS: A total of 217 patients (ICAD: 51; embolism: 166) were identified. After propensity score matching, 45 patients with ICAD-related occlusion and 45 with embolism were matched. All baseline covariates except atrial fibrillation were statistically indistinguishable. The rate of successful reperfusion (modified Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction [mTICI] 2b-3) was similar between the two groups, while the rate of mTICI 3 in the ICAD group was higher. No statistical difference was observed in the rate of postprocedural intracranial hemorrhage. The rate of favorable outcome (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] ≤2) and mortality at 90 days was comparable. CONCLUSION: This propensity score analysis demonstrated that the EVT patients with acute ICAD-related MCA M1 occlusion had similar angiographic and clinical outcomes compared to those with M1 embolism on a similar baseline condition.

Relation Graph Network for 3D Object Detection in Point Clouds.

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have emerged as a powerful tool for object detection in 2D images. However, their power has not been fully realised for detecting 3D objects directly in point clouds without conversion to regular grids. Moreover, existing state-of-the-art 3D object detection methods aim to recognize objects individually without exploiting their relationships during learning or inference. In this article, we first propose a strategy that associates the predictions of direction vectors with pseudo geometric centers, leading to a win-win solution for 3D bounding box candidates regression. Secondly, we propose point attention pooling to extract uniform appearance features for each 3D object proposal, benefiting from the learned direction features, semantic features and spatial coordinates of the object points. Finally, the appearance features are used together with the position features to build 3D object-object relationship graphs for all proposals to model their co-existence. We explore the effect of relation graphs on proposals' appearance feature enhancement under supervised and unsupervised settings. The proposed relation graph network comprises a 3D object proposal generation module and a 3D relation module, making it an end-to-end trainable network for detecting 3D objects in point clouds. Experiments on challenging benchmark point cloud datasets (SunRGB-D, ScanNet and KITTI) show that our algorithm performs better than existing state-of-the-art.

Self-Supervised Learning to Detect Key Frames in Videos.

Detecting key frames in videos is a common problem in many applications such as video classification, action recognition and video summarization. These tasks can be performed more efficiently using only a handful of key frames rather than the full video. Existing key frame detection approaches are mostly designed for supervised learning and require manual labelling of key frames in a large corpus of training data to train the models. Labelling requires human annotators from different backgrounds to annotate key frames in videos which is not only expensive and time consuming but also prone to subjective errors and inconsistencies between the labelers. To overcome these problems, we propose an automatic self-supervised method for detecting key frames in a video. Our method comprises a two-stream ConvNet and a novel automatic annotation architecture able to reliably annotate key frames in a video for self-supervised learning of the ConvNet. The proposed ConvNet learns deep appearance and motion features to detect frames that are unique. The trained network is then able to detect key frames in test videos. Extensive experiments on UCF101 human action and video summarization VSUMM datasets demonstrates the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Small Object Augmentation of Urban Scenes for Real-Time Semantic Segmentation.

Semantic segmentation is a key step in scene understanding for autonomous driving. Although deep learning has significantly improved the segmentation accuracy, current highquality models such as PSPNet and DeepLabV3 are inefficient given their complex architectures and reliance on multi-scale inputs. Thus, it is difficult to apply them to real-time or practical applications. On the other hand, existing real-time methods cannot yet produce satisfactory results on small objects such as traffic lights, which are imperative to safe autonomous driving. In this paper, we improve the performance of real-time semantic segmentation from two perspectives, methodology and data. Specifically, we propose a real-time segmentation model coined Narrow Deep Network (NDNet) and build a synthetic dataset by inserting additional small objects into the training images. The proposed method achieves 65.7% mean intersection over union (mIoU) on the Cityscapes test set with only 8.4G floatingpoint operations (FLOPs) on 1024×2048 inputs. Furthermore, by re-training the existing PSPNet and DeepLabV3 models on our synthetic dataset, we obtained an average 2% mIoU improvement on small objects.

Calcifying fibrous pseudotumor in the pelvic cavity: A case report and review of the literature.

Calcifying fibrous pseudotumors (CFPs) are rare benign lesions mostly occurring in the limbs, necks and gastrointestinal tracts of young adults. In the present study, we report the first known case of a pelvic CFP in China in a 67-year-old male patient. The solitary tumor had an extremely regular shape and was in the vicinity of the sigmoid colon. Surgical resection was performed and the tumor was histologically diagnosed as CFP. We reviewed 64 cases of CFPs and discussed the clinical features of this disease in China and other countries. We found that the CFPs were most common in patients aged 18-60 and often had no obvious symptoms. They were immunoreactive for vimentin and factor XIIIa, while negative for CD117 and S100. In China, CFPs were mostly identified in the stomach, possibly associated with Chinese eating. The pathogenesis of this disease remains unclear. More research is needed to confirm the present results.

Tumor-associated macrophage-derived exosomal microRNA-155-5p stimulates intracranial aneurysm formation and macrophage infiltration.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play a regulatory role in inflammation and cancer. Exosomes derived from macrophages carrying microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are of great value for cancer therapy. Gremlin 1 (GREM1), a member of the antagonists of secreted bone morphogenetic protein, has been implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple diseases or cancers. Based on the predictions of miRNA-mRNA interaction, GREM1 was found to be a target gene of miR-155-5p. Here, the present study aims to explore the role of TAM-derived exosomal miR-155-5p by regulating GREM1 in intracranial aneurysm (IA). The collected results showed that GREM1 was down-regulated in IA, while miR-155-5p was up-regulated in TAM-derived exosomes. Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) were co-cultured with TAMs or exposed to exosomes derived from TAMs transfected with either miR-155-5p mimic or miR-155-5p inhibitor for exploring their roles in proliferation and migration of SMCs in vitro. Accordingly, in vitro experiments showed that TAM-derived exosomal miR-155-5p could promote proliferation and migration of SMCs by targeting GREM1. The effects of TAM-derived exosomal miR-155-5p on IA formation and TAM activation and infiltration by regulation of GREM1 in vivo were measured in IA rats injected with exosomes or those from TAMs transfected with miR-155-5p inhibitor. In vivo experimental results consistently confirmed that TAM-derived exosomes carrying miR-155-5p promoted IA formation and TAM activation and infiltration. In conclusion, TAM-derived exosomal miR-155-5p promotes IA formation via GREM1, which points to miR-155-5p as a possible therapeutic target for IA.

Stent Angioplasty for Acute Intracranial Atherosclerotic Occlusion After Failed Thrombectomy: A Single-Institution Series of 55 Patients.

INTRODUCTION: Analysis of safety and effectiveness of stent angioplasty for failure of thrombectomy in patients with acute intracranial atherosclerotic occlusion. METHODS: Retrospective continuous analysis of the clinical data of 458 patients with acute stroke undergoing endovascular artery thrombectomy in Changhai Hospital of Second Military Medical University from May 2013 to February 2018. Patients with acute intracranial atherosclerotic occlusion treating with stent implantation were included and the safety and effectiveness of stent angioplasty was evaluated. RESULTS: There was successful stent release in 55 patients. There were 36 cases (65.5%) with occlusion located in the anterior circulation and 19 cases (34.5%) in the posterior circulation. Twenty patients underwent intravenous thrombolysis before surgery, and the time of admission to intravenous thrombolysis was (39.9 ± 13.2) minutes. Fifty-four patients (98.2%) achieved modified thrombolysis in cerebral infarction 2b-3 recanalization. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score 2.0 (0.0,6.0) 7 days after surgery was significantly improved compared with the preoperative National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score 12.5 (6.0-20.0) (Z = -4.073, P < 0.05). Intracranial hemorrhage occurred in 7 patients (12.7%) after surgery, among them, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage occurred in 2 cases (3.6%). CTP examination of the skull 3-5 days after operation showed: Among 39 cases (70.9%): 33 cases (84.6%) were patency, 4 cases (10.3%) were occlusion, 2 cases (5.1%) were moderate stenosis, and 16 cases (29.1%) were not examined by computed tomography perfusion. Ninety-day follow-up showed that a total of 43 cases were followed up, and 12 cases were lost to follow-up. Thirty-four patients (79.1%) had a good prognosis 90 days after surgery (modified Rankin scale score 0-2) and 9 patients died (20.9%). CONCLUSION: When thrombectomy in patients with acute intracranial atherosclerotic occlusion fails, stent angioplasty is safe and effective; however, short-term stent reocclusion after surgery cannot be ignored. Because of the small sample size, larger multicenter clinical studies are needed to confirm this result.

Benchmark Data Set and Method for Depth Estimation from Light Field Images.

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) have performed extremely well for many image analysis tasks. However, supervised training of deep CNN architectures requires huge amounts of labelled data which is unavailable for light field images. In this paper, we leverage on synthetic light field images and propose a two stream CNN network that learns to estimate the disparities of multiple correlated neighbourhood pixels from their Epipolar Plane Images (EPI). Since the EPIs are unrelated except at their intersection, a two stream network is proposed to learn convolution weights individually for the EPIs and then combine the outputs of the two streams for disparity estimation. The CNN estimated disparity map is then refined using the central RGB light field image as a prior in a variational technique. We also propose a new real world dataset comprising light field images of 19 objects captured with the Lytro Illum camera in outdoor scenes and their corresponding 3D pointclouds, as ground truth, captured with the 3dMD scanner. This dataset will be made public to allow more precise 3D pointcloud level comparison of algorithms in the future which is currently not possible. Experiments on the synthetic and real world datasets show that our algorithm outperforms existing state-of-the-art for depth estimation from light field images.

Endovascular Embolization of Intracranial Aneurysms: To Use Stent(s) or Not? Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to review the literature concerning stent-assisted coiling (SAC) in comparison with coiling without stents for treating intracranial aneurysms and to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of SAC by conducting a meta-analysis of published studies. METHODS: According to the methods and guidelines for meta-analysis, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Database were searched. All articles that compared SAC and coiling without stent were reviewed. The data extracted were the rates of immediate occlusion, progressive thrombosis, angiographic occlusion, angiographic recurrence, overall complications, ischemic stroke, and hemorrhagic stroke. RESULTS: Sixteen studies with 4294 aneurysms were analyzed. SAC was performed for 1466 aneurysms; and coiling without stent was performed for 2828 aneurysms. No significant difference in immediate occlusion rate was found between the 2 groups (odds ratio [OR] = 1.01; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73-1.39, P = 0.96). However, SAC had an advantage in terms of angiographic occlusion rate during follow-up (OR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.16-2.26, P < 0.01), progressive thrombosis rate (OR = 2.54, 95% CI: 2.00-3.24, P < 0.01), and reduction in recurrence rate (OR = 0.46; 95% CI, 0.35-0.59, P < 0.01). No significant differences were shown in overall complication rate (OR = 1.30, 95% CI: 086-1.96, P = 0.21) and hemorrhagic stroke rate (OR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.43-1.20, P = 0.21). Ischemic strokes were more common in the SAC patients than in the non-stent-assisted patients (OR = 1.66; 95% CI: 1.05-2.63, P = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Compared with coiling without stent, stent-assisted coiling of intracranial aneurysms achieved satisfactory results, with higher long-term angiographic occlusion rate and lower recurrence rate. However, ischemic stroke remains a problem that cannot be ignored.