Biomechanical models and numerical studies of atherosclerotic plaque / 生物医学工程学杂志

Atherosclerosis is a complex and multi-factorial pathophysiological process. Researches over the past decades have shown that the development of atherosclerotic vulnerable plaque is closely related to its components, morphology, and stress status. Biomechanical models have been developed by combining with medical imaging, biological experiments, and mechanical analysis, to study and analyze the biomechanical factors related to plaque vulnerability. Numerical simulation could quantify the dynamic changes of the microenvironment within the plaque, providing a method to represent the distribution of cellular and acellular components within the plaque microenvironment and to explore the interaction of lipid deposition, inflammation, angiogenesis, and other processes. Studying the pathological mechanism of plaque development would improve our understanding of cardiovascular disease and assist non-invasive inspection and early diagnosis of vulnerable plaques. The biomechanical models and numerical methods may serve as a theoretical support for designing and optimizing treatment strategies for vulnerable atherosclerosis.

Abnormal Functional Connectivity of Insular in Primary Insomnia Based on Resting-state fMRI Study / 中山大学学报(医学科学版)

[Objective] To explore the activity aberration of primary insomnia (PI) patients with resting-state fMRI.[Methods]Resting-state fMRI datasets of 60 PI and 60 healthy controls were acquired.We investigated the cortical connectivity patterns of the insula in PI and independent-sample t-test were used to compare the brain activity abnormalities between two groups.[Results] In PI,we found enhanced connectivity between left insular with the left middle cingulate cortex,the Frontal_Sup_Media and right Parietal_Inf,as well as decreased connectivity with the left precentral gyrusand the right fusiformgyrus (P ＜ 0.05).The right insular show increased FC with the right middle cingulate cortex,the right fusiform gyrus and the right middle frontal gyrus,as well as decreased FC with the right precentral gyrus and the right middle temporal gyrus (P ＜ 0.05).[Conclusion] This study provides additional evidence of brain functional integration alterations in PI.Those may help us understand the possible neural mechanisms of PI.