Therapeutic Effect of Human Bone Marrow- and Adipose-Derived Stem Cells on Intervertebral Disc Degeneration: A Comparative Study on Rats.

Background: Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVD) is a pain-inflicting disorder, posing a serious threat to the elderly, and new therapies are urgently needed. In this study, we examined the potential therapeutic effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation on IVD.

Methods: Both human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) and human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) provided by a volunteer were non-contact co-cultured with the human nucleus pulposus cells (hNPCs) to determine the efficacy of hNPCs-oriented differentiation.

Therapeutic silencing of lncRNA RMST alleviates cardiac fibrosis and improves heart function after myocardial infarction in mice and swine.

Cardiac fibrosis is an adverse consequence of aberrant fibroblast activation and extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition following myocardial infarction (MI). Recently, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to participate in multiple cardiac diseases. However, the biological functions of lncRNA rhabdomyosarcoma 2-associated transcript (RMST) in cardiac fibrosis remain largely unknown.

tsRNA-04002 alleviates intervertebral disk degeneration by targeting PRKCA to inhibit apoptosis of nucleus pulposus cells.

Background: Intervertebral disk degeneration (IDD) is a degenerative disease that underlies various musculoskeletal and spinal disorders and is positively correlated with age. tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNA), as a new small noncoding RNAs, its function in IDD is unclear. Herein, our goal was to find the key tsRNA that affects IDD independently of age and explore the underlying mechanisms.

Therapeutic delivery of microRNA-125a-5p oligonucleotides improves recovery from myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in mice and swine.

Clinical application of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and MSC-derived exosomes (MSC-Exos) to alleviate myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is compromised by the low cell engraftment rate and uncontrolled exosomal content. As one of their active ingredients, single-component microRNA therapy may have more inherent advantages. We sought to find an ideal microRNA candidate and determine whether it could reproduce the cardioprotective effects of MSCs and MSC-Exos.

Comparison of lung image quality between CT Ark and Brilliance 64 CT during COVID-19.

Aim: This study is to compare the lung image quality between shelter hospital CT (CT Ark) and ordinary CT scans (Brilliance 64) scans.

Methods: The patients who received scans with CT Ark or Brilliance 64 CT were enrolled. Their lung images were divided into two groups according to the scanner.

Does vessel length impact transluminal attenuation gradient in 320-slice coronary CT angiography? Correlation with invasive angiography.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the influence of vessel length on transluminal attenuation gradient (TAG) and establish a new index, VLN-TAG (VLN-TAG (HU/100 mm) = TAG (HU/10 mm)/vessel length (10 mm)), to estimate the diagnostic value using 320-slice computed tomography (CT).

Methods: A total of 150 coronary arteries from 52 patients who underwent single-beat scanning using 320-slice CT and invasive coronary angiography (ICA) within 2 weeks were retrospectively enrolled. TAG was obtained from the major three epicardial vessels, and its interrelation with the measured length of the vessels was evaluated by Pearson correlation and regression analyses.

Patient-related factors that influence coronary artery density in CCTA: a retrospective clinical study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between various patient-related factors (physical and cardiac hemodynamic parameters) and the coronary artery density on coronary CT angiography (CCTA).

Methods: A total of 64 patients (female: male ratio, 24:40; age, 58.2 years±9.

Multifunctional nanocomposite based on graphene oxide for in vitro hepatocarcinoma diagnosis and treatment.

Because of its unique chemical and physical properties, graphene oxide (GO) has attracted a large number of researchers to explore its biomedical applications in the past few years. Here, we synthesized a novel multifunctional nanocomposite based on GO and systemically investigated its applications for in vitro hepatocarcinoma diagnosis and treatment. This multifunctional nanocomposite named GO-PEG-FA/Gd/DOX was obtained as the following procedures: gadolinium-diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid-poly(diallyl dimethylammonium) chloride (Gd-DTPA-PDDA) as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) probe was applied to modify GO by simple physical sorption with a loading efficiency of Gd(3+) up to 0.