Clinical Value of Mixed Reality-Assisted Puncture Navigation for Percutaneous Nephrolithotripsy.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical value of mixed reality-assisted puncture navigation (MRAPN) in percutaneous nephrolithotripsy (PCNL).

Methods: Two hundred patients undergoing PCN were enrolled, all of whom had kidney stones to be subjected to lithotripsy by PCNL and grouped according to surgical procedure into the MRAPN (n = 100) and non-mixed reality-assisted puncture (non-MRAPN) (n = 100) groups. CT data in DICOM format for all patients in the MRAPN group were imported into 3D reconstruction and mixed reality (MR) post-processing workstations, and holographic 3D visualization modelling.

c-Src-dependent EGF receptor transactivation contributes to ET-1-induced COX-2 expression in brain microvascular endothelial cells.

Background: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is elevated and participates in the regulation of several brain inflammatory disorders. The deleterious effects of ET-1 on endothelial cells may aggravate brain inflammation mediated through the upregulation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) gene expression. However, the signaling mechanisms underlying ET-1-induced COX-2 expression in brain microvascular endothelial cells remain unclear.

Japanese encephalitis virus induces matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression via a ROS/c-Src/PDGFR/PI3K/Akt/MAPKs-dependent AP-1 pathway in rat brain astrocytes.

Background: Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection is a major cause of acute encephalopathy in children, which destroys central nervous system (CNS) cells, including astrocytes and neurons. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 has been shown to degrade components of the basal lamina, leading to disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and to contribute to neuroinflammatory responses in many neurological diseases. However, the detailed mechanisms of JEV-induced MMP-9 expression in rat brain astrocytes (RBA-1 cells) are largely unclear.