Ultra-early myocardial calcification secondary to fulminant myocarditis with 4 years of follow-up: a case report.

Background: Early myocardial calcifications secondary to fulminant myocarditis (FM) are rare, and their natural evolution and effects on cardiac function are poorly understood. Here, we followed the patient for 4 years to observe the development of cardiac calcification and its impact on heart function.

Case Summary: A 16-year-old man was hospitalized with a fever and cough for 1 day.

Design of Digital and Intelligent Financial Decision Support System Based on Artificial Intelligence.

The quality of financial decision-making is very important to the future development of an enterprise, but it is often affected by the completeness of useful information for decision-making and the subjective factors of decision makers, and is often unstable. With the development of computer technology, the financial decision support system came into being, which improved the quality of financial decision to some extent. However, although the existing financial decision support system has achieved dataization to a certain extent, it still faces problems such as artificial leadership, insufficient intelligence, and poor decision-making efficiency, and cannot fully meet the needs of decision-makers.

A bioluminescence reporter mouse strain for in vivo imaging of CD8 T cell localization and function.

CD8 T cells play a critical role during adaptive immune response, which often change locations and expand or contract in numbers under different states. In the past, many attempts to develop CD8T cells that express luciferase in vivo have involved the use of viral transduction, which has drawbacks of hardly tracked via detection of luciferase signal in untouched natural states. Here, we generate a transgenic mouse model via CRISPR-mediated genome editing, C57BL/6-CD8a knock-in mice(CD8a-Aka mice), as a novel tool for non-invasive imaging of CD8 T cells, which expressed a highly sensitive luciferase-Akaluciferase.

Potential adverse effects of coronavirus disease 2019 on the cardiovascular system.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread, at an unprecedented speed and scale, into a global pandemic, infecting more than 29 million cases worldwide across 215 countries and territories and killing more than 930,000 individuals. There is evidence that preexisting cardiac disease can render individuals vulnerable. A large number of patients with COVID-19 present with preexisting cardiovascular disease or develop new-onset cardiac dysfunction during the course of the illness.

Gender Differences among Elderly Patients with Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Several epidemiological and clinical studies have shown that females with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) have a higher mortality than males following primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). Many analyses of sex-based differences following STEMI have revealed conflicting results. Currently, more and more elderly patients with STEMI have undergone emergency interventional therapy.

Dietary fructose in pregnancy induces hyperglycemia, hypertension, and pathologic kidney and liver changes in a rodent model.

Purpose: The incidence of pregnancies complicated by hyperglycemia and hypertension is increasing along with associated morbidities to mother and offspring. The high fructose diet is a well-studied model that induces hyperglycemia and hypertension in male rodents, but may not affect females. We hypothesized that the physiologic stress of pregnancy may alter metabolic responses to dietary fructose.

Recoding of the vesicular stomatitis virus L gene by computer-aided design provides a live, attenuated vaccine candidate.

Unlabelled: Codon pair bias (CPB), which has been observed in all organisms, is a neglected genomic phenomenon that affects gene expression. CPB results from synonymous codons that are paired more or less frequently in ORFeomes regardless of codon bias. The effect of an individual codon pair change is usually small, but when it is amplified by large-scale genome recoding, strikingly altered biological phenotypes are observed.

Renal fibromuscular dysplasia with malignant hypertension cured by balloon angioplasty with stenting.

We presented a 31-year-old female patient with a history of hypertension and severe pulsing headache for about 3 months. The patient had pulsing headaches over the past 3 months with increased very high blood pressure (BP = 220/130 mmHg), sometimes with blurred vision, nausea and vomiting, with no known pathological conditions in her medical history or family background. A digital subtraction angiography confirmed tight stenosis (90%) in the middle segment of the right renal artery.

Testosterone changes bladder and kidney structure in juvenile male rats.

Purpose: Testosterone affects male development, maturation and aging but limited data exist on testosterone effects on the juvenile genitourinary system. We hypothesized that testosterone has bladder and kidney developmental effects, and investigated this in juvenile male rats.

Materials And Methods: To examine the testosterone effect 21-day-old prepubertal male Wistar rats were divided into 3 groups of 12 each, including sham orchiectomy as controls, and bilateral orchiectomy with vehicle and bilateral orchiectomy with testosterone.

[Myocardial proliferation/regeneration in rats with experimental acute myocardial infarction].

Objective: To investigate the myocardial proliferation/regeneration capacities at different time points and at different parts of the heart post acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in rats.

Methods: A total of 64 adult Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into AMI group (left anterior descending coronary ligation, n = 44) and sham-operated group (n = 20). Rats were sacrificed on day 3, 5, 7, 14 and 60 respectively post operation (n = 5-9 at each time point) and ventricular tissues were harvested.

Proliferative capacity of stem/progenitor-like cells in the kidney may associate with the outcome of patients with acute tubular necrosis.

Animal studies indicate that adult renal stem/progenitor cells can undergo rapid proliferation in response to renal injury, but whether the same is true in humans is largely unknown. To examine the profile of renal stem/progenitor cells responsible for acute tubular necrosis in human kidney, double and triple immunostaining was performed using proliferative marker and stem/progenitor protein markers on sections from 10 kidneys with acute tubular necrosis and 4 normal adult kidneys. The immunopositive cells were recorded using 2-photon confocal laser scanning microscopy.

Cholinergic activation of hematopoietic stem cells: role in tobacco-related disease?

Tobacco use is associated with an increase in the white blood cell (WBC) count. This association has been attributed to bronchopulmonary inflammation and/or infection. It is not known if nicotine itself may play a role.

Evaluation of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI in detecting renal scarring in a rat injury model.

Purpose: To create a reliable rat model with small renal cortical scars and evaluate the accuracy and sensitivity of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI in detecting the kinds of lesions that are associated with reflux nephropathy.

Materials And Methods: In 16 rats, three unilateral renal cortical lesions were created using either electrocautery or pure alcohol with the contralateral kidney serving as control. MRI on a 1.

PhiC31 integrase interacts with TTRAP and inhibits NFkappaB activation.

Phage PhiC31 integrase-mediated gene delivery is believed to be safer than using retroviral vectors since the protein confines its insertion of the target gene to a limited number of sites in mammalian genomes. To evaluate its safety in human cells, it is important to understand the interactions between this integrase and cellular proteins. Here we show that PhiC31 integrase interacts with TTRAP as presented by yeast two-hybrid and co-immunoprecipitation assays.

TTRAP is a novel PML nuclear bodies-associated protein.

PML nuclear body (PML NB) is an important macromolecular nuclear structure that is involved in many essential aspects of cellular function. Tens of proteins have been found in PML NBs, and promyelocytic leukemia protein (PML) has been proven to be essential for the formation of this structure. Here, we showed that TRAF and TNF receptor-associated protein (TTRAP) was a novel PML NBs-associated protein.

Asymmetric dimethyl-arginine and coronary artery calcification in young adults entering middle age: the CARDIA Study.

Background: Normal endothelial function depends on nitric oxide (NO) release by endothelial cells. Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), by competing with L-arginine, inhibits NO production and may lead to endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerotic development. Our aim was to ascertain the association between ADMA and coronary artery calcification (CAC), a marker of atherosclerotic coronary disease burden.

NOx and ADMA changes with focal ischemia, amelioration with the chaperonin GroEL.

Both nitric oxide and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) play a critical role in the regulation of cerebral blood flow, though their neuroprotective and cytotoxic effects are still under investigation. In this study, we found that nitrate/nitrite (NOx) levels in plasma, ischemic brain tissue, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) increased significantly 24h after 2h transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats. ADMA levels were unchanged in plasma, but decreased significantly in CSF 24h following MCAO.

A central role for nicotinic cholinergic regulation of growth factor-induced endothelial cell migration.

Objective: An endothelial nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) participates in atherogenesis and tumorigenesis by promoting neovascularization. To date, the mechanisms of nAChR-mediated angiogenesis and their relationship to angiogenic factors, eg, VEGF and bFGF, are unknown.

Methods And Results: Nicotine induced dose-dependent human microvascular endothelial cell (HMVEC) migration, a key angiogenesis event, to an extent which was equivalent in magnitude to bFGF (10 ng/mL) but less than for VEGF (10 ng/mL).

Overexpression of dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase reduces tissue asymmetric dimethylarginine levels and enhances angiogenesis.

Background: This study was designed to determine whether overexpression of the enzyme dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH) could enhance angiogenesis by reducing levels of the endogenous nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA).

Methods And Results: In DDAH1 transgenic (TG) and wild-type mice (each n=42), the role of DDAH overexpression on angiogenesis was studied by use of the disk angiogenesis system and a murine model of hindlimb ischemia (each n=21). After surgery, animals were treated with either PBS or the NOS inhibitors ADMA or N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; each 250 micromol x kg(-1) x d(-1)) by use of osmotic minipumps (each n=7).

Structural changes in the bladder walls of pregnant and hormone-treated rats: correlation with bladder dynamics.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of oestrogen, progesterone and pregnancy on bladder dynamics, and assess the associated histological and structural changes in the bladder wall in a rat model.

Materials And Methods: Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into groups and treated as follows: nonpregnant controls (NC); pregnant (PG); oophorectomized and treated with oestrogen (ES); oophorectomized and treated with progesterone (PR); and oophorectomized controls (OO). Simultaneous and continuous renal pelvic and bladder pressures were recorded during bladder filling and emptying.

Dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase regulates nitric oxide synthesis: genetic and physiological evidence.

Background: NO is a major regulator of cardiovascular physiology that reduces vascular and cardiac contractility. Accumulating evidence indicates that endogenous inhibitors may regulate NOS. The NOS inhibitors asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and N-monomethylarginine are metabolized by the enzyme dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH).

Effect of urinary tract infection on ureteropelvic junction obstruction in a rat model.

Objectives: When a partially obstructed kidney becomes infected, more rapid and extreme renal parenchymal damage appears to occur than might result from either infection or obstruction alone. Previously, we showed that either bacteriuria or partial obstruction in congenital unilateral hydronephrosis causes elevated renal pelvic pressures in a rat model. In this same model, we examined the combined effects of partial upper tract obstruction and bacteriuria on renal pelvic and bladder pressures.