In this paper, we propose an image-based key frame gating method to reduce motion artifacts in intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) longitudinal cuts. The artifacts are mainly caused by the periodic relative displacement between blood vessels and the IVUS catheter due to cardiac motion. The method is achieved in four steps as following. Firstly, we convert IVUS image sequences to polar coordinates to cut down the amount of calculation. Secondly, we extracted a one-dimensional signal cluster reflecting cardiac motion by spectral analysis and filtering techniques. Thirdly, we designed a Butterworth band-pass filter for filtering the one-dimensional signal clusters. Fourthly, we retrieved the extremes of the filtered signal clusters to seek key frames to compose key-frames gated sequences. Experimental results showed that our algorithm was fast and the average frame processing time was 17ms. Observing the longitudinal viewpictures, we found that comparing to the original ones, the gated sequences had similar trend, less saw tooth shape, and good continuity. We selected 12 groups of clinical IVUS sequences[images (876±65 frames), coronary segments length (14.61±1.08 mm)] to calculate vessel volume, lumen volume, mean plaque burden of the original and gated sequences. Statistical results showed that, on one hand, both vessel volume and lumen volume measured of the gated sequences were significantly smaller than those of the original ones, and there was no significant difference on mean plaque burden between original and gated sequences, which met the need of the clinical diagnosis and treatment. On the other hand, variances of vessel area and lumen area of the gated sequences were significantly smaller than those of the original sequences, indicating that the gated sequences would be more stable than the original ones.
Abdominal imaging is one of the important clinical applications of magnetic resonance imagining, but image degradation due to respiratory motion remains a major problem. Retrospective respiratory navigator gating technique is an effective approach to alleviate such degradation but is subject to long scan time and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) efficiency. In this study, a modified retrospective navigator gating technique with variable over-sampling ratio acquisition and weighted average reconstruction algorithm is presented. Experiments in phantom and the imaging results of seven volunteers demonstrated that the proposed method provided an enhanced SNR and reduced ghost-to-image ratio compared to the conventional method. The proposed method can also be used to reduce imaging time while maintaining comparable image quality.
This paper explores the relationship between the cardiac volume and time, which is applied to control dynamic heart phantom. We selected 50 patients to collect their cardiac computed tomography angiography (CTA) images, which have 20 points in time series CTA images using retrospective electrocardiograph gating, and measure the volume of four chamber in 20-time points with cardiac function analysis software. Then we grouped patients by gender, age, weight, height, heartbeat, and utilize repeated measurement design to conduct statistical analyses. We proposed structured sparse learning to estimate the mathematic expression of cardiac volume variation. The research indicates that all patients’ groups are statistically significant in time factor (P = 0.000); there are interactive effects between time and gender groups in left ventricle (F = 8.597, P = 0.006) while no interactive effects in other chambers with the remaining groups; and the different weight groups’ volume is statistically significant in right ventricle (F = 9.004, P = 0.005) while no statistical significance in other chambers with remaining groups. The accuracy of cardiac volume and time relationship utilizing structured sparse learning is close to the least square method, but the former’s expression is more concise and more robust. The number of nonzero basic function of the structured sparse model is just 2.2 percent of that of least square model. Hence, the work provides more the accurate and concise expression of the cardiac for cardiac motion simulation.
ObjectiveTo explore the effects of silencing the expression of ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2T (UBE2T) gene on proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion abilities of A549 cells.MethodsA549 cells were cultured in vitro. Three sets of shRNA-UBE2T plasmid vectors (UBE2T-shRNA1 group, UBE2T-shRNA2 group, UBE2T-shRNA3 group) and shRNA-NC (shRNA-NC group) were constructed, respectively. A549 cells were transfected with lipofection transfection. The cells transfected with empty vector were enrolled as control (control group). The transfection efficiency was detected by RT-PCR. The effects of silencing the expression of UBE2T gene on biological behaviors (proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion) of lung cancer A549 cells were detected by clone formation assay, flow cytometry, Transwell assay and scratch test. The expression of proliferation and apoptosis related proteins, and expression of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway proteins were detected by Western blot. ResultsAfter transfection, expression level of UBE2T mRNA in UBE2T-shRNA1 group, UBE2T-shRNA2 group and UBE2T-shRNA3 group was significantly down-regulated (all P<0.05), whose down-regulation was the most significant in UBE2T-shRNA3 group (P<0.05). Compared with control group and shRNA-NC group, clone formation rate, number of invasion A549 cells, scratch healing rate, Ki67 expression, PCNA expression, p-PI3K/PI3K ratio and p-AKT/AKT ratio were significantly decreased in UBE2T-shRNA3 group (P<0.05), while A549 apoptosis rate, Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and cleaved caspase-3/caspase-3 ratio were significantly increased (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the above indexes between control group and shRNA-NC group (P>0.05). ConclusionsThe shRNA interfering with UBE2T is reliable to construct the model of A549 cells with stable low-expression UBE2T. Down-regulation of UBE2T expression can promote apoptosis of A549 cells, inhibit their proliferation, invasion and migration abilities. The mechanism may be related to inhibiting the activation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.
Objective To explore whether blood exosome carrying miR-140-3p can regulate the malignant progression of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) through targeting ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2C (UBE2C). MethodsThis study was consisted of bioinformatics analysis, clinical research, cell analysis, and animal experiments. We searched GEO database for data of SCLC related microRNA (miRNA) dataset GSE19945, mRNA dataset GSE40275, and GSE60052. T-test was used to detect the differential expression of miR-140-3p in normal tissues and SCLC tissues in the dataset, and the expression of miR-140-3p in different tissues and extracellular vesicles was analyzed through a database. SCLC tissue and paired cancerous tissues excised at Yongzhou Central Hospital were collected between December 2021 and December 2022, and healthy volunteers 7 days before the start of the study was selected. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the expression level distribution of miR-140-3p and UBE2C in tissue samples of SCLC patients and healthy volunteers. SCLC patients were divided into low expression and high expression groups based on the median expression level, and the correlation between the expression levels of miR-140-3p and UBE2C and patient pathological parameters was analyzed. 20 male nude mice was selected. The nude mice were randomly divided into 4 groups: miR-140-3p, UBE2C analog negative control group, and analog control group, with 5 mice in each group. Immunohistochemical detection system was used to detect tumor tissue sections in nude mice. Results A total of 45 patients and 30 healthy volunteers were included. SCLC malignant progression was significantly associated with the expression of miR-140-3p and UBE2C. The expression of miR-140-3p was low in blood-derived exosomes from SCLC patients. Overexpression of miR-140-3p inhibited the proliferation (47.33±2.52 vs. 107.67±10.69, P<0.05), migration [(11.63±2.62)% vs. (31.77±4.30)%, P<0.05] and invasion (44.33±3.06 vs. 102.67±8.50, P <0.05) and promoted their apoptosis [(14.48±1.20)% vs. (10.14±1.21)%, P<0.05]. Bioinformatics analysis yielded the target gene UBE2C of miR-140-3p. In vitro experiments further demonstrated that miR-140-3p directly targetd UBE2C to inhibit SCLC cell proliferation, migration, invasion, epithelial mesenchymal transition, and promote apoptosis. Mouse xenotransplantation experiments showed that miR-140-3p mimic significantly inhibited tumor growth. ConclusionTherefore, the miR-140-3p extracellular vesicle and the oncogenic gene UBE2C may be potential targets for inhibiting the malignant progression of SCLC.
Objective To observe the clinical effect of vitrectomy, inner limiting membrane (ILM) peeling, subretinal injection of compound electrolyte intraocular irrigation solution (CEIIS) and conbercept in the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME) with hard exudate (HE) (DME-HE). MethodsA prospective clinical study. Thirty-three patients with DME-HE diagnosed by examination in Weifang Eye Hospital from June 2020 to February 2022 were included in the study. Among them, there were 15 males (16 eyes) and 18 females (20 eyes), with the mean age of (62.00±6.54) years. All patients underwent the examinations of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), scanning laser ophthalmoscope, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and multifocal electroretinography (mf-ERG). Snellen visual acuity chart was used for BCVA examination, which was converted into logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) BCVA for statistic analysis. Macular foveal retinal thickness (CMT) and macular volume (MV) were measured by OCT. The 1 ring P1 wave amplitude density was measured by mf-ERG. The patients were randomly divided into group A and group B, with 17 patients (18 eyes) and 16 patients (18 eyes), respectively. There were no significant differences in age, logMAR BCVA, HE area, CMT, MV, and 1 ring P1 wave amplitude density between the two groups (t=0.403, 0.972, 0.291, 0.023, －0.268, －0.206; P＞0.05). Group A was treated with vitrectomy, ILM peeling, and subretinal injection of CEIIS and conbercept (combined therapy). Group B was treated with intravitreal injection of conbercept (IVC). Follow-up was 12 months after treatment. The changes of BCVA, HE area, CMT, MV, 1 ring P1 wave amplitude density were compared between groups and groups after treatment. The times of injection and complications after treatment were observed. Independent sample t test was used for comparison between the two groups. ResultsAt 12 months after treatment, compared to before treatment, there were significant differences in logMAR BCVA (F=14.837), HE area (χ2=94.522), CMT (χ2=199.212), MV (χ2=81.914) and 1 ring P1 wave amplitude density (F=8.933) in group A (P＜0.05); there were significant differences in CMT (F=5.540) and MV (F=7.836) in group B (P＜0.05). Compared between the two groups, logMAR BCVA: 1 week and 6 and 12 months after treatment, the difference was statistically significant (t=2.231, －2.122, －3.196; P＜0.05); HE area: except 1 week after treatment, there were statistically significant differences at other times after treatment (t=－2.422, －3.107, －3.540, －4.119; P＜0.05). CMT, MV, 1 ring P1 wave amplitude density: 12 months after treatment, the differences were statistically significant (t=－2.653, －2.455, 2.204; P＜0.05). During the follow-up period, the injection times of group A and group B were (3.06±1.89) and (5.56±2.04), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (t=－3.815, P＜0.05). Macular hole and vitreous hematoma were found in 1 eye in group A and 1 eye in group B. ConclusionVitrectomy, ILM peeling, subretinal injection of CEIIS and conbercept to treat DME-HE can effectively remove HE, alleviate macular edema, improve BCVA, and reduce CMT and MV. Combination therapy can reduce the number of IVC re-treatments.