TC-Net: A joint learning framework based on CNN and vision transformer for multi-lesion medical images segmentation.

Background: With the rapid advancement of medical imaging technology, the demand for accurate segmentation of medical images is increasing. However, most existing methods are unable to capture locality and long-range dependency information in integrated ways for medical images.

Method: In this paper, we propose an elegant segmentation framework for medical images named TC-Net, which can utilize both the locality-aware and long-range dependencies in the medical images.

Determination of partial denitrification kinetic model parameters based on batch tests and metagenomic sequencing.

In this study, a model was developed to investigate the partial denitrification(PD) process. The heterotrophic biomass (X) proportion in the sludge was determined to be 66.4% based on metagenomic sequencing.

Integrated Proteomics and Metabolomics Analyses of Serum in Chinese Patients with Severe and Active Graves' Orbitopathy: A Cross-sectional Study.

Objective: The present study aims to investigate the alterations of serum proteomic and metabolomic profiles in Chinese patients with severe and active Graves' Orbitopathy (GO).

Materials And Methods: Thirty patients with GO and 30 healthy volunteers were enrolled. The serum concentrations of FT3, FT4, T3, T4, and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were analyzed, after which TMT labeling-based proteomics and untargeted metabolomics were performed.

Diagnosing Diabetic Retinopathy in OCTA Images Based on Multilevel Information Fusion Using a Deep Learning Framework.

Objective: As an extension of optical coherence tomography (OCT), optical coherence tomographic angiography (OCTA) provides information on the blood flow status at the microlevel and is sensitive to changes in the fundus vessels. However, due to the distinct imaging mechanism of OCTA, existing models, which are primarily used for analyzing fundus images, do not work well on OCTA images. Effectively extracting and analyzing the information in OCTA images remains challenging.

Sn(101) Derived from Metal-Organic Frameworks for Efficient Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO.

The synthesis of a specific Sn plane as an efficient electrocatalyst for CO electrochemical reduction to generate fuels and chemicals is still a huge challenge. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations first reveal that the Sn(101) crystal plane is more advantageous for CO electroreduction. A metal-organic framework (MOF) precursor Sn-MOF has been carbonized and then etched to successfully fabricate Sn(101)/SnO/C composites with good control of the carbonization time and the concentration of hydrochloric acid.

Development of a sensitive and reliable ELISA kit of urinary haptoglobin to predict progress of diabetic kidney disease.

Aims: Urinary haptoglobin (UHp) is a potential biomarker for predicting progress of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) to remedy the defects of currently used urinary albumin. The clinical application of UHp is however limited, owing to the extremely low level in urine. This study aims to establish an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit specifically for detecting UHp in urine samples of patients with diabetes and DKD.

Heterozygous PAX6 mutations may lead to hyper-proinsulinaemia and glucose intolerance: A case-control study in families with congenital aniridia.

Aim: PAX6 is a transcription factor involved in embryonic development of many organs, including the eyes and the pancreas. Mutations of PAX6 gene is the main cause of a rare disease, congenital aniridia (CA). This case-control study aims to investigate the effects of PAX6 mutations on glucose metabolism and insulin secretion in families with CA.

Nifuroxazide ameliorates lipid and glucose metabolism in palmitate-induced HepG2 cells.

Inflammation constitutes an important component of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. STAT3 is a direct target of inflammatory cytokines, but also mediates glycolipid metabolism in the liver. As a potent inhibitor of STAT3, the effect of Nifuroxazide (Nifu) on glycolipid metabolism in liver has not been reported.

Plasma metabolomic profiling of proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Background: Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), a sight-threatening retinopathy, is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in adults. Despite strict control of systemic risk factors, a fraction of patients with diabetes develop PDR, suggesting the existence of other potential pathogenic factors underlying PDR. This study aimed to investigate the plasma metabotype of patients with PDR and to identify novel metabolite markers for PDR.

Prediction of Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy to Asymptomatic Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease in Chinese Type 2 Diabetes Individuals: An Exploratory Study.

Patients with type 2 diabetes are prone to the asymptomatic obstructive coronary artery disease (AO-CAD). The association of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) with AO-CAD is unknown. The aim of the study is to explore the specific relationship of PDR with AO-CAD.

Risk of silent myocardial ischemia detected by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) among asymptomatic Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes.

To explore the prevalence and risk factors of silent myocardial ischemia (SMI) detected by using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in Chinese asymptomatic patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D).In this hospital-based retrospective study, 821 T2D patients who were screened for SMI detected by stress myocardial perfusion imaging using SPECT between June 2014 and July 2016 were investigated. Clinical indicators were compared between the patients with SMI and controls without SMI.

From Hyper- to Hypoinsulinemia and Diabetes: Effect of KCNH6 on Insulin Secretion.

Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from islet β cells is mediated by K channels. However, the role of non-K K channels in insulin secretion is largely unknown. Here, we show that a non-K K channel, KCNH6, plays a key role in insulin secretion and glucose hemostasis in humans and mice.

Identification of Rfx6 target genes involved in pancreas development and insulin translation by ChIP-seq.

Regulatory Factor X-box binding transcriptional factor 6 (Rfx6) plays an important role in the differentiation and development of pancreas in mammals. However, the direct target genes of Rfx6 to regulate this process were largely unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the function of Rfx6 on regulating pancreatic differentiation and development in a physiologically-relevant context.

Could Intensive Blood Pressure Control Really Reduce Diabetic Retinopathy Outcomes? Evidence from Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis from Randomized Controlled Trials.

Introduction: To explore the accumulated evidence concerning the effect of intensive blood pressure control on the incidence and progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and macular edema (ME).

Methods: A number of electronic databases were searched including PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, conferences and proceedings. Randomized controlled trials comparing intensive blood pressure targets with conventional blood pressure targets in patients with type 2 diabetes were included.

Subclinical hypothyroidism and the risk of chronic kidney disease in T2D subjects: A case-control and dose-response analysis.

Evidence indicated a positive association between subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) and cardiovascular diseases. But the relationship between SCH and chronic kidney diseases (CKD) remains unclear. A case-control study was performed to ascertain this relationship followed by a meta-analysis.

Prediction of risk of diabetic retinopathy for all-cause mortality, stroke and heart failure: Evidence from epidemiological observational studies.

To examine and quantify the potential relation between diabetic retinopathy (DR) and risk of all-cause mortality, stroke and heart failure (HF).The resources of meta-analysis of epidemiological observational studies were from Pub-med, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, conference, and proceedings.Random/fixed effects models were used to calculate pooled subgroup analysis stratified by different grades of DR was performed to explore the potential source of heterogeneity.

Hypodermin A improves survival of skin allografts.

Background: Hypodermin A (HA) is a serine esterase that degrades complement, a key element of the innate immune system. Immunosuppressive properties of HA have previously been studied in vitro. However, such properties have not been fully demonstrated in vivo.

High Prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy in Diabetic Patients Concomitant with Metabolic Syndrome.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Research Design And Methods: We conducted a case-controlled study, with data obtained from 2,551 Chinese participants between 18-79 years of age (representing a population of 1,660,500 in a district of Beijing). 74 cases of DR were found following data assessment by two 45° digital retinal images.

Immunosuppressive Effect of Hypodermin C on Complement Component 3 In Vitro.

Hypodermins A (HA), B (HB) and C (HC) are the major proteases secreted by first-instar larvae of Hypoderma lineatum (Diptera: Oestridae). These proteases are involved in the larval migration in the tissue, and prevent the activation of the host immune response. We previously showed that the recombinant HA functions as an immunosuppressive agent which could inhibit the rejection of xenotransplants.

Heme oxygenase-2 suppress TNF-α and IL6 expression via TLR4/MyD88-dependent signaling pathway in mouse cerebral vascular endothelial cells.

Heme oxygenase (HO) represents an intrinsic antiinflammatory system based on its ability to inhibit expression of proinflammatory cytokines. The constitutive isoform heme oxygenase-2 (HO-2) has high expression and activity in cerebral microvascular endothelial cells (CMVEC). This study was undertaken to evaluate the role of HO-2 in regulation of TLR4/MyD88-dependent signaling and to study the effect of HO-2 on the expression and secretion of the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and Interleukin-6 (IL6) in CMVEC.

The immunosuppression mechanism of hypodermin A on complement.

Hypodermin A (HA), a serine protease secreted by first-instar larvae of Hypoderma lineatum (Diptera: Oestridae) is associated with inflammatory and the specific immune responses in cattle hosts. In the present study, the cDNA sequence of HA was synthesized, and found to have fifteen amino acids which differed from the sequence available in GenBank. We then examined the association between recombinant HA and guinea-pig complement component 3 (C3) through a co-immunoprecipitation assay.

The neuroprotective effect of overexpression of calbindin-D(28k) in an animal model of Parkinson's disease.

Overexpression of calbindin-D(28k) (CaBP-28 k) induces neurite outgrowth in dopaminergic neuronal cells and could provide some protection to dopaminergic neurons against the pathological process in Parkinson's disease. Transgenic mice CaBP-28 k overexpression and the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced mouse models were generated, and the effect of midbrain dopamine neurons in ethology was also assessed. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-immunoreactive neurons were counted, and the concentration of total protein and dopamine (DA) of striatum corpora was measured in four animal models.

Evaluation for fasting and 2-hour glucose and HbA1c for diagnosing diabetes based on prevalence of retinopathy in a Chinese population.

Background: The glycemic thresholds for diabetes diagnosis have long been at the forefront of discussion. However, no information about glycemic cutoff points has been made available for the Chinese population. The aim of the present study was to examine the association of fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 2-h plasma glucose (2-h PG) and HbA(1)c levels with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and determine the associated cutoff levels in a Chinese population.