A fully automated rib fracture detection system on chest CT images and its impact on radiologist performance.

Objective: To compare rib fracture detection and classification by radiologists using CT images with and without a deep learning model.

Materials And Methods: A total of 8529 chest CT images were collected from multiple hospitals for training the deep learning model. The test dataset included 300 chest CT images acquired using a single CT scanner.

Label propagation algorithm based on Roll-back detection and credibility assessment.

The traditional label propagation algorithm (LPA) iteratively propagates labels from a small number of labeled samples to many unlabeled ones based on the sample similarities. However, due to the randomness of label propagations, and LPA's weak ability to deal with uncertain points, the label error may be continuously expanded during the propagation process. In this paper, the algorithm label propagation based on roll-back detection and credibility assessment (LPRC) is proposed.

[Contribution of nutrient uptake and utilization on yield advantage in maize and potato intercropping under different nitrogen application rates].

Intercropping of maize and potato, as an important intercropping planting pattern, has a prominent advantage of resource utilization and yield. However, contribution of nutrient uptake and utilization to crop yield advantage and its response to N application rates remain unclear. Through a 2-year plot experiment, including maize monoculture, potato monoculture and maize intercropping with potato at 4 N-fertilized levels of N(0 kg·hm), N(125 kg·hm), N(250 kg·hm) and N(375 kg·hm), nutritional contribution of yield advantage of intercropping was studied.

Quantitative evaluation of knee cartilage and meniscus destruction in patients with rheumatoid arthritis using T1ρ and T2 mapping.

Objective: To calculate T1ρ and T2 values of articular cartilage and menisci in knee joints of patients with RA, and compare the values between RA patients and healthy volunteers, to gain insight into the pathogenesis of cartilage and meniscus degradation in patients with RA.

Materials And Methods: Nine patients with RA and knee joints symptoms were enrolled in the study, twenty healthy volunteers without knee joint diseases were included as controls. Sagittal fat-saturated T1ρ and T2 mapping images were obtained on a 3T MR scanner (GE750, GE Healthcare, Waukesha, WI), using a dedicated 8-channel knee coil.

Cardiovascular Adiponectin Resistance: The Critical Role of Adiponectin Receptor Modification.

For the past two decades, a great deal of research has been published concerning adiponectin (APN), an abundant protein responsible for regulating numerous biologic functions including antioxidative, antinitrative, anti-inflammatory, and cardioprotective effects. A review of APN and its two major receptors is timely because of new findings concerning the mechanisms by which APN signaling may be altered in pathologic processes such as diabetes and heart failure. In this review we elaborate on currently known information regarding the physiologic role of APN and the known mechanisms underlying pathologic APN resistance - namely, APN receptor downregulation and phosphorylation - and provide insight regarding the future directions of APN research including an assessment of the clinical applicability of preventing pathologic post-translational modification of the APN receptor.

Effective glycaemic control critically determines insulin cardioprotection against ischaemia/reperfusion injury in anaesthetized dogs.

Aims: Experimental evidence has shown significant cardioprotective effects of insulin, whereas clinical trials produced mixed results without valid explanations. This study was designed to examine the effect of hyperglycaemia on insulin cardioprotective action in a preclinical large animal model of myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion (MI/R).

Methods And Results: Anaesthetized dogs were subjected to MI/R (30 min/4 h) and randomized to normal plasma insulin/euglycaemia (NI/NG), normal-insulin/hyperglycaemia (NI/HG), high-insulin/euglycaemia (HI/NG), and high-insulin/hyperglycaemia (HI/HG) achieved by controlled glucose/insulin infusion.

Anterior versus posterior approach for treatment of thoracolumbar burst fractures: a meta-analysis.

Purpose: To critically review and summarize the literature comparing the results of surgery via an anterior approach and that via a posterior approach for the treatment of thoracolumbar burst fractures to identify the better approach.

Methods: In this meta-analysis, we conducted electronic searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and other databases using the search terms "thoracolumbar fractures", "anterior", "posterior", "controlled clinical trials". Relevant journals or conference proceedings were also searched manually.

Lymphotoxin-α is a novel adiponectin expression suppressor following myocardial ischemia/reperfusion.

Recent clinical observations demonstrate adiponectin (APN), an adipocytokine with potent cardioprotective actions, is significantly reduced following myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R). However, mechanisms responsible for MI/R-induced hypoadiponectinemia remain incompletely understood. Adult male mice were subjected to 30-min MI followed by varying reperfusion periods.

Regulation of Abro1/KIAA0157 during myocardial infarction and cell death reveals a novel cardioprotective mechanism for Lys63-specific deubiquitination.

Abro1 (also known as KIAA0157) is a scaffold protein that recruits polypeptides to assemble the BRISC (BRCC36-containing isopeptidase complex) deubiquitinating (DUB) enzyme. The four subunits of BRISC enzyme include Abro1, NBA1, BRE, and BRCC36 proteins. The DUB activity of the BRISC enzyme is exclusively directed against Lys63-linked polyubiquitin that does not have a proteolytic role but regulates protein function.

Systemic adiponectin malfunction as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Adiponectin (Ad) is an abundant protein hormone regulatory of numerous metabolic processes. The 30 kDa protein originates from adipose tissue, with full-length and globular domain circulatory forms. A collagenous domain within Ad leads to spontaneous self-assemblage into various oligomeric isoforms, including trimers, hexamers, and high-molecular-weight multimers.

Insulin says NO to cardiovascular disease.

It is well recognized that insulin resistance found in patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Since its discovery in the 1920s, insulin has been used as an essential therapeutic agent in diabetes for blood glucose management. Recent studies demonstrate that insulin signalling is essential for normal cardiovascular function, and lack of it (i.

A novel and efficient model of coronary artery ligation and myocardial infarction in the mouse.

Rationale: coronary artery ligation to induce myocardial infarction (MI) in mice is typically performed by an invasive and time-consuming approach that requires ventilation and chest opening (classic method), often resulting in extensive tissue damage and high mortality. We developed a novel and rapid surgical method to induce MI that does not require ventilation.

Objective: the purpose of this study was to develop and comprehensively describe this method and directly compare it to the classic method.

Adiponectin resistance and vascular dysfunction in the hyperlipidemic state.

Insulin plays an important role in the stimulation of vascular nitric oxide production, with both short term (vasomotility and anti-thrombotic effects) and long term (smooth muscle cell growth and migration inhibition) benefits. Impaired vasodilatory response to insulin, the hallmark of vascular insulin resistance (IR), has important implications for circulatory pathophysiology. An association between adipokines and IR has been observed in both diabetic and nondiabetic states.

Triage during the week of the Sichuan earthquake: a review of utilized patient triage, care, and disposition procedures.

Objectives: There exists no standard hospital emergency department (ED) triage procedure model for earthquake victims. This study provides an overview of the hospital triage procedure used for patients evaluated and treated at the West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu in the Sichuan province of China, following the May 12, 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.

Methods: Emergency triage and treatment teams were comprised of senior emergency medicine (EM) attending physician, junior EM attending physician, EM residents, and specialty surgeons.

Long-term active immunization with a synthetic peptide corresponding to the second extracellular loop of β1-adrenoceptor induces both morphological and functional cardiomyopathic changes in rats.

Background: β1-adrenoceptors (β1-ARs) are the predominant receptors in regulating heart functions. β1-ARs contain 7-transmembrane domains (7TM), 3 extracellular loops and 3 intracellular loops. Among these loops, the second extracellular loop of β1-AR (β1-AR-ECII) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of heart failure.

Adiponectin: an indispensable molecule in rosiglitazone cardioprotection following myocardial infarction.

Rationale: Patients treated with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma agonist manifest favorable metabolic profiles associated with increased plasma adiponectin (APN). However, whether increased APN production as a result of PPAR-gamma agonist treatment is an epiphenomenon or is causatively related to the cardioprotective actions of PPAR-gamma remains unknown.

Objective: To determine the role of APN in rosiglitazone (RSG) cardioprotection against ischemic heart injury.

The effects of autoantibodies against the second extracellular loop of alpha(1)-adrenoceptor on vasoconstriction.

Recent studies have demonstrated the presence of autoantibodies against alpha(1)-adrenoceptor (alpha(1)-AAB) in the serum of patients with primary hypertension, and that these autoantibodies exert adrenergic-agonist-like effects. However, their role in the development of hypertension remains unclear. The current study determined whether alpha(1)-AAB can cause vascular contraction, and further investigated the cellular receptors that mediate their vasoactivity.

Protective vascular and myocardial effects of adiponectin.

Adiponectin is an abundant plasma protein secreted from adipocytes that elicits protective effects in the vasculature and myocardium. In obesity and insulin-resistant states, adiponectin levels are reduced and loss of its protective effects might contribute to the excess cardiovascular risk observed in these conditions. Adiponectin ameliorates the progression of macrovascular disease in rodent models, consistent with its correlation with improved vascular outcomes in epidemiological studies.

Endothelial dysfunction in adiponectin deficiency and its mechanisms involved.

Endothelial dysfunction is the earliest pathologic alteration in diabetic vascular injury and plays a critical role in the development of atherosclerosis. Plasma levels of adiponectin (APN), a novel vasculoprotective adipocytokine, are significantly reduced in diabetic patients, but its relationship with endothelial dysfunction remains unclear. The present study aims to determine whether APN deficiency may cause endothelial dysfunction and to investigate the involved mechanisms.

Autoantibody against AT1 receptor from preeclamptic patients induces vasoconstriction through angiotensin receptor activation.

Preeclampsia is a serious pathologic complication during pregnancy, and its pathogenesis remains poorly understood. Recent studies have demonstrated that autoantibodies against angiotensin II type 1A receptor (AT1-AA) are present in women with preeclampsia. However, their role in the development of hypertension in preeclamptic patients has never been previously investigated.

Tonic beta-adrenergic drive provokes proinflammatory and proapoptotic changes in aging mouse heart.

Tonic activation of adrenergic drive has been found to be associated with aging, and its further activation is also seen in aging patients with major surgery or congestive heart failure. Nevertheless, its potential effect on the aging heart remains enigmatic. In the present study, at baseline, significant inflammatory and apoptotic changes were found in the aging mouse (20 months old), as evidenced by increases in inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression, myocardial apoptosis in the heart, and C-reactive protein (CRP) release in the circulation.

Adiponectin improves endothelial function in hyperlipidemic rats by reducing oxidative/nitrative stress and differential regulation of eNOS/iNOS activity.

Plasma adiponectin level is significantly reduced in patients with metabolic syndrome, and vascular dysfunction is an important pathological event in these patients. However, whether adiponectin may protect endothelial cells and attenuate endothelial dysfunction caused by metabolic disorders remains largely unknown. Adult rats were fed with a regular or a high-fat diet for 14 wk.