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1.
World Neurosurg ; 2024 Jun 25.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38936609

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: For symptomatic stenosis in the middle cerebral artery (MCA), intracranial angioplasty and stenting are frequently employed. However, limited data exist regarding their long-term impact. Our study demonstrates the long-term advantages in preventing ischemic events through a 5-year follow-up period. METHODS: A set of 41 individuals with symptomatic stenosis in the central cerebral artery (MCA) who underwent angioplasty or stenting procedures between October 2004 and April 2018 at various hospitals in Southwest China were prospectively enrolled in the study. The rates of successful revascularization, complications, imaging observations, and clinical outcomes were systematically assessed. RESULTS: A total of 41 individuals successfully underwent stenting , respectively. After stenting, the extent of stenosis was decreased from 71.8 percent (56 -87.8%) to 24.9 percent (0-45 percent). The mean of follow period is 36.9 ± 13.68 months (range , 11-67 months). There was no deterioration of neurological function or a new ischemic event. A DSA or CTA was conducted after the procedure and demonstrated no in-stent restenosis. No patient experienced restenosis below 50% during the mean follow-up period. The morbidity and mortality rates of the case series were 7.3% and 2.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION: In the treatment of symptomatic MCA atherosclerotic stenoses, intracranial angioplasty & stenting are demonstrated to be technically feasible and safe. Its early & long-term efficacy on ischemic event prevention is acceptable, with a reduced level of restenosis, although the representative sample is tiny.

2.
Appl Microbiol Biotechnol ; 108(1): 40, 2024 Dec.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38175236

ABSTRACT

Folic acid deficiency is common worldwide and is linked to an imbalance in gut microbiota. However, based on model animals used to study the utilization of folic acid by gut microbes, there are challenges of reproducibility and individual differences. In this study, an in vitro fecal slurry culture model of folic acid deficiency was established to investigate the effects of supplementation with 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (MTHF) and non-reduced folic acid (FA) on the modulation of gut microbiota. 16S rRNA sequencing results revealed that both FA (29.7%) and MTHF (27.9%) supplementation significantly reduced the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes compared with control case (34.3%). MTHF supplementation significantly improved the relative abundance of Firmicutes by 4.49%. Notably, compared with the control case, FA and MTHF supplementation promoted an increase in fecal levels of Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Pediococcus. Short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) analysis showed that folic acid supplementation decreased acetate levels and increased fermentative production of isobutyric acid. The in vitro fecal slurry culture model developed in this study can be utilized as a model of folic acid deficiency in humans to study the gut microbiota and demonstrate that exogenous folic acid affects the composition of the gut microbiota and the level of SCFAs. KEY POINTS: • Establishment of folic acid deficiency in an in vitro culture model. • Folic acid supplementation regulates intestinal microbes and SCFAs. • Connections between microbes and SCFAs after adding folic acid are built.


Subject(s)
Folic Acid Deficiency , Gastrointestinal Microbiome , Animals , Humans , Folic Acid , Fermentation , RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics , Reproducibility of Results , Fatty Acids, Volatile
3.
Environ Sci Technol ; 57(40): 15184-15192, 2023 Oct 10.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37723101

ABSTRACT

Anthropogenic activities release large quantities of heavy metals into the atmosphere. In China, the input of these heavy metals through local and trans-boundary atmospheric deposition is poorly understood. To assess this issue, herein, we use Pb and Zn isotopes to constrain the sources of Pb and Zn in a 210Pb-dated sediment core collected from the enclosed lake in South China. We observed a progressive shift toward higher 208Pb/206Pb and Pb fluxes (0.79-4.02 µg·cm-2·a-1) from 1850 to 1950 and a consistent decrease in δ66ZnIRMM (as low as -0.097 ± 0.030‰) coupled with an increase in Pb (1.74-3.36 µg·cm-2·a-1) and Zn (8.07-10.44 µg·cm-2·a-1) fluxes after 1980. These distinguished isotopic signals and flux variations reveal the presence of trans-boundary Pb since 1900, with the addition of local industrial Pb and Zn pollution after 1980. Up to 72.3% of Pb deposited at our site can be attributed to long-distance transportation from previously industrialized countries, resulting in a noteworthy legacy of Pb in China since 1900. Despite the phasing out of leaded gasoline, Chinese gasoline still contributes an average of 20.9%. The contribution of China's mining and smelting activities to Pb has increased steadily since 1980 and remained stable at an average of 25.1% since 2000.

4.
J Sci Food Agric ; 103(15): 7694-7701, 2023 Dec.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37439279

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Folic acid is a class of B vitamins that have the function of improving intestinal microbiota. RESULT: Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LZ227, which is a highly folate-producing strain, was used as the research object, and the folic acid produced by LZ227 was further identified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and the structural diversity, community composition, abundance difference, and short-chain fatty acids content in fermentation broth were studied by the manure slurry fermentation model. The results showed that the folic acid produced by LZ227 was 5-methyltetrahydrofolate. CONCLUSION: LZ227 can increase the intestinal microbial diversity in the folate-free state, regulate the intestinal flora, increase the abundance of Firmicutes in the intestinal flora, and inhibit the abundance of Bacteroidetes. LZ227 can inhibit the growth of Alistipes, Parabacteroides, and Bacteroides in the intestine. LZ227 significantly reduced the acetic acid content and significantly increased the butyric acid content in the folate-free case. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.


Subject(s)
Gastrointestinal Microbiome , Vitamin B Complex , Folic Acid , Intestines , Firmicutes , Bacteroidetes
5.
Water Res ; 242: 120213, 2023 Aug 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37354841

ABSTRACT

As an important freshwater resource in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, glacial lakes are being immensely affected by global warming. Due to the lack of long-term monitoring data, the processes and driving mechanisms of the water ecology of these glacial lakes in a rapidly changing climate are poorly understood. This study, for the first time, reconstructed changes in water temperature and photosynthetic microbial communities over the past 200 years in Lake Basomtso, a glacial lake on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Temperatures were reconstructed using a paleotemperature proxy based on branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs), the cell membrane lipids of some bacteria, and photosynthetic microbial communities were determined by high-throughput DNA sequencing. The reconstructed mean annual air temperature (MAAT) at Lake Basomtso varied between 6.9 and 8.3 °C over the past 200 years, with a rapid warming rate of 0.25 °C /10 yrs after 1950s. Carbon isotope of sediment and n-alkane analyses indicate that ≥95% of the organic matter in Lake Basomtso is derived from a mixture of terrestrial C3 plants and endogenous organic matter inputs, and the proportion of endogenous organic matter in the sediments has gradually increased since the 1960s. The sedimentary DNA analyses of the sediment core reveal that Chloracea is the most dominant prokaryotic photosynthetic microbial group (84.5%) over the past 200 years. However, the relative abundance of Cyanobacteria has increased from ≤6.8% before the 1960s to 15.5% nowadays, suggesting that warmer temperatures favor the growth of Cyanobacteria in glacial lakes. Among eukaryotic photosynthetic microorganisms, the Chlorophyceae have been gradually replaced by Dinoflagellata and Diatomacae since the 1980s, although the Chlorophyceae still had the highest average relative abundance overall (30-40%). The Pb isotopic composition, together with the total phosphorous concentration, implies that human activity exerted a minimal impact on Lake Basomtso over the past 200 yrs. However, the synchronous fluctuations of total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), and metal elements in sediments suggest that temperature appears to have a strong influence on nutrient input to Lake Basomtso by controlling glacial erosion. Global warming and the concurrent increase in glacial meltwater are two main factors driving changes in nutrient inputs from terrestrial sources which, in turn, increases the lake productivity, and changes microbial community composition. Our findings demonstrate the sensitive response of glacial lake ecology to global warming. It is necessary to strengthen the monitoring and research of glacial lake ecology on the Tibetan plateau, so as to more scientifically and accurately understand the response process and mechanism of the glacial lake ecosystem under global warming.


Subject(s)
Cyanobacteria , Microbiota , Humans , Lakes/microbiology , Tibet , Global Warming , Glycerol , Water
6.
Front Psychol ; 14: 1128616, 2023.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37359873

ABSTRACT

Mandarin Chinese is claimed to be a scope-rigid language, as its doubly-quantified simple transitive sentences are unambiguous with surface scope only and no inverse scope available. However, it has been debated whether Mandarin Chinese allows inverse scope in some syntactic environments other than simple transitives. This paper investigates whether scope rigidity as a property of the grammar of Mandarin prevents scope ambiguity in different syntactic environments and what factors influence scope interpretations. Using a Truth-Value Judgment task, we tested the judgments of 98 Mandarin Chinese native speakers on transitive sentences containing both a subject and object quantifier under adverbial clauses. The results show that inverse scope reading is considered available for doubly-quantified transitives under adverbial clauses, although there are intra-participant variances. The results challenge the well-established approaches to quantifier scope in Mandarin and call for rethinking the long-standing dichotomy view of quantifier scope in languages. We also found bimodal distribution on the acceptance of inverse scope readings, suggesting that there may be two different populations of native speakers with two different grammars. In addition, we also observed other factors that may affect scope behaviors, including clause type, presence of aspect marker, verb type, and numbers.

7.
Environ Pollut ; 318: 120929, 2023 Feb 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36566918

ABSTRACT

Historical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) pollution was explored through the sedimentary records of three lakes: Huguangyan Maar Lake (HGY) in South China, Mayinghai Lake (MYH) in North China, and Sihailongwan Lake (SHLW) in Northeast China. In these three lakes, the PAH concentrations in sediments are still rising, showing the different trend to lakes in developed countries. PAH pollution in South China occurred from 1850, much earlier than the increases since 1980 observed in North and Northeast China. The temporal trends of PAH concentrations in lake sediments are highly correlated with local economic development. Spatially, although the region where HGY is located has the highest gross domestic product, higher fluxes of PAHs were found in MYH sediments, indicating that atmospheric PAH pollution in North China might be more serious, and that PAH pollution is not fully correlated with economic development. Source analysis suggested that the PAHs in lake sediments are mainly derived from oil leaks, coal and biomass combustion, vehicle emissions, and diagenesis. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) model revealed that the contribution of vehicle emissions and coal combustion to PAHs has increased significantly in the past 40 years. Benzo(a)pyrene equivalent (BaPE) in the surface sediments of MYH and SHLW were similar and higher than in HGY. In HGY, vehicle emissions posed the highest toxic risk, followed by coal combustion. However, in MYH, the toxicity risk of vehicle emissions was close to that of coal and biomass combustion due to the highly developed coal industry in Shanxi Province. In SHLW, the contribution of fossil fuel combustion to BaPE was significantly higher than that of biomass combustion. This study provides important information for understanding PAH pollution affected by anthropogenic activities in the Anthropocene and provides a scientific basis for formulating PAH pollution control strategies.


Subject(s)
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons , Water Pollutants, Chemical , Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons/analysis , Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis , Economic Development , Lakes/chemistry , Vehicle Emissions/analysis , Geologic Sediments/chemistry , Environmental Monitoring , China , Coal/analysis
8.
Front Nutr ; 9: 877948, 2022.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35845772

ABSTRACT

The gut microbiota is engaged in multiple interactions affecting host health. Bacteriocins showed the ability of impeding the growth of intestinal pathogenic bacteria and modulating gut microbiota in animals. Few studies have also discovered their regulation on human intestinal flora using an in vitro simulated system. However, little is known about their effect on gut microbiota of different enterotypes of human. This work evaluated the modification of the gut microbiota of two enterotypes (ET B and ET P) by the class IIb bacteriocin plantaricin NC8 (PLNC8) by using an in vitro fermentation model of the intestine. Gas chromatography results revealed that PLNC8 had no influence on the gut microbiota's production of short-chain fatty acids in the subjects' samples. PLNC8 lowered the Shannon index of ET B' gut microbiota and the Simpson index of ET P' gut microbiota, according to 16S rDNA sequencing. In ET B, PLNC8 enhanced the abundance of Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, Megamonas, Escherichia-Shigella, Parabacteroides, and Lactobacillus while decreasing the abundance of Streptococcus. Prevotella_9, Bifidobacterium, Escherichia-Shigella, Mitsuokella, and Collinsella were found more abundant in ET P. The current study adds to our understanding of the impact of PLNC8 on the human gut microbiota and lays the groundwork for future research into PLNC8's effects on human intestinal disease.

9.
Sci Total Environ ; 831: 154829, 2022 Jul 20.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35346700

ABSTRACT

The historical atmospheric heavy metal pollution of southern China over the past 200 years was explored by analyzing radiometric dating, heavy metals, and Pb isotopes from a sediment core in Huguangyan Maar Lake. Zn, Cd, Sb, Tl, and Pb in the lake are closely related to anthropogenic activities, while Cr and Ni are mainly derived from the weathering of basalt surrounding the lake. Atmospheric Zn, Cd, Sb, and Tl increased rapidly after 1980, consistent with the local industrial development. The increase of atmospheric Pb in southern China occurred earlier than in other regions of China, with the increase after 1850. War and the use of leaded gasoline were the main causes for the rapid increase in atmospheric Pb during 1910-1950. From 1950 to 2000, the input of Pb from anthropogenic activities decreased gradually due to the stable social environment. After 2000, atmospheric Pb continued to rise due to continued industrial development. The three-end-member model of Pb isotopes indicates that coal combustion is the main source of current atmospheric Pb. The proportion of Pb derived from vehicle exhaust emissions reached a peak in the 1960s, then gradually decreased and further reduced with the ban on leaded gasoline after 2000. These results are important in identifying the sources of atmospheric heavy metal pollution and in formulating pollution control strategies.


Subject(s)
Metals, Heavy , Water Pollutants, Chemical , Cadmium , China , Environmental Monitoring/methods , Gasoline , Geologic Sediments , Isotopes , Lakes , Lead , Metals, Heavy/analysis , Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis
10.
Foods ; 11(2)2022 Jan 16.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35053965

ABSTRACT

Folate is a B-vitamin required for DNA synthesis, methylation, and cellular division, whose deficiencies are associated with various disorders and diseases. Currently, most folic acid used for fortification is synthesized chemically, causing undesirable side effects. However, using folate-producing probiotics is a viable option, which fortify folate in situ and regulate intestinal microbiota. In this study, the folate production potential of newly isolated strains from raw milk was analyzed by microbiological assay. Latilactobacillus sakei LZ217 showed the highest folate production in Folic Acid Assay Broth, 239.70 ± 0.03 ng/µL. The folate produced by LZ217 was identified as 5-methyltetrahydrofolate. LZ217 was tolerant to environmental stresses (temperature, pH, NaCl, and ethanol), and was resistant to gastrointestinal juices. Additionally, the in vitro effects of LZ217 on human gut microbiota were investigated by fecal slurry cultures. 16S rDNA gene sequencing indicated that fermented samples containing LZ217 significantly increased the abundance of phylum Firmicutes and genus Lactobacillus, Faecalibacterium, Ruminococcus 2, Butyricicoccus compared to not containing. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) analysis revealed that LZ217 also increased the production of butyric acid by fermentation. Together, L. sakei LZ217 could be considered as a probiotic candidate to fortify folate and regulate intestinal microecology.

11.
Cell Mol Neurobiol ; 42(6): 1983-1994, 2022 Aug.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33779883

ABSTRACT

Excessive mitophagy plays a role in neuronal death in spinal cord injury (SCI), its molecular regulation remains largely unknown. The present study aims to determine the role of NIX, a member of a unique subfamily of death-inducing mitochondrial proteins, in the regulation of mitophagy in SCI. Here we show that NIX is highly upregulated in SCI and hypoxia, and localized to mitochondria. The mitochondria-bound NIX interacts with autophagosome-localized LC3 (Microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3) to form a mitochondria-NIX-LC3-autophagosome complex, resulting in excessive mitophagy in SCI. Downregulation of NIX by RNA interference restores the function of mitochondria in spinal cord neurons under hypoxia. Importantly, inhibition of NIX improves recovery of locomotor function in rats after SCI. The present study demonstrates that NIX interacts with LC3 to activate excessive mitophagy in SCI. Inhibition of NIX is therefore likely a neuroprotective strategy.


Subject(s)
Membrane Proteins , Mitochondrial Proteins , Mitophagy , Proto-Oncogene Proteins , Spinal Cord Injuries , Animals , Hypoxia , Membrane Proteins/metabolism , Microtubule-Associated Proteins/metabolism , Mitochondrial Proteins/metabolism , Proto-Oncogene Proteins/metabolism , Rats , Spinal Cord Injuries/metabolism
12.
Front Microbiol ; 13: 1111200, 2022.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36713175

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Eriocitrin, found in lemon fruit, has shown a wide range of biological properties. Herein, we investigated the intestinal metabolic profile of eriocitrin in colon, and the regulation of dietary intervention of eriocitrin on gut microbiota. Methods: We performed ultra performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS/MS), 16S rDNA gene sequencing and gas chromatography-mass (GC-MS) on colon contents from the eriocitrin group (n=6), and compared them with control participants (n=6). Results: A total of 136 flavonoids were found in colon contents, including eriocitrin and its six metabolites (eriodictyol, homoeriodictyol, hesperetin, eriodictyol-3'-O-glucoside, hesperetin-7-O-glucoside and eriodictyol-7-O-(6″-O-galloyl) glucoside). Moreover, dietary intervention of eriocitrin significantly alters the beta diversity of the gut microbiota, the probiotics such as Lachnospiraceae_UCG_006 were significantly enriched, and the production of butyrate, valerate and hexanoate in the colon pool of short-chain fatty acids were significant increased. The spearman's association analysis performed some intestinal bacteria may be involved in the metabolism of eriocitrin. Discussion: Collectively, our results preliminarily suggest the metabolism of eriocitrin in the gut, demonstrating alterations of eriocitrin in gut microbiota, which warrants further investigation to determine its potential use in food and biomedical applications.

13.
Rev Environ Contam Toxicol ; 258: 1-25, 2021.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34625836

ABSTRACT

Endemic fluorosis in Guizhou Province, Southwest China was firstly reported by Lyth in 1946 and was extensively concerned since the early 1980s. Initially, the pathological cause of endemic fluorosis in Guizhou Province was instinctively ascribed to the drinking water. However, increasing evidences pointed that the major exposure route of fluorine for the local residents is via the roasted foodstuffs, especially the roasted pepper and corn. Source of fluorine in roasted foodstuffs was once blamed on the local coal and subsequently imputed to clay mixed in the coal. In fact, both are probably the source. Geogenic fluorine concentration in soil and clay is indeed high in Guizhou Province, but is not likely to be the direct cause for endemic fluorosis. The real culprit for endemic fluorosis in Guizhou Province is the unhealthy lifestyle of the local residents, who usually roasted their foodstuffs using local coal or briquettes (a mixture of coal and clay), resulting in the elevated fluorine in roasted foodstuffs. Nowadays, endemic fluorosis in Guizhou Province has substantially mitigated. Nevertheless, millions of confirmed cases of dental fluorosis remain left. In addition to endemic fluorosis, other health problems associated with domestic coal burning may also exist, because of the enrichment of toxic/harmful elements in the local coal. It is necessary to determine how serious the situation is and find out the possible solution. As people in other developing countries may suffer from similar health issues, same health issues around the world deserve more attention.


Subject(s)
Fluoride Poisoning , Fluorosis, Dental , China/epidemiology , Coal/toxicity , Fluorides/analysis , Fluorosis, Dental/epidemiology , Humans
14.
Aging (Albany NY) ; 12(22): 22859-22868, 2020 11 05.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33159016

ABSTRACT

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive loss of motor neurons. More than 30 genes have been linked to ALS to date, including FUS and TARDBP, which exhibit similar roles in RNA metabolism. This study explored the use of high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis to screen for FUS and TARDBP mutation hotspot regions in 146 Chinese ALS patients, which achieved 100% detection. Two FUS mutations were observed in two different familial ALS probands, a missense mutation (p.R521H) and a novel splicing mutation (c.1541+1G>A). Five TARDBP mutations were identified in six ALS patients, including a novel 3'UTR mutation (c.*731A>G) and four missense mutations (p.G294V, p.M337V, p.G348V, and p.I383V). We found that FUS mutations were present in 1.4% of Chinese ALS patients, whereas TARDBP mutations were responsible for 4.1% of Chinese ALS cases. Here, we describe the accuracy of using highly sensitive HRM analysis to identify two novel FUS and TARDBP mutations in Chinese sporadic and familial ALS cases. Our study contributes to the further understanding of the genetic and phenotypic diversity of ALS.


Subject(s)
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/genetics , DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics , RNA-Binding Protein FUS/genetics , Adult , Asian People/genetics , China , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Mutation , Pedigree , Young Adult
15.
Sensors (Basel) ; 18(12)2018 Dec 11.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30544965

ABSTRACT

Privacy intrusion has become a major bottleneck for current trust-aware social sensing, since online social media allows anybody to largely disclose their personal information due to the proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT). State-of-the-art social sensing still suffers from severe privacy threats since it collects users' personal data and disclosure behaviors, which could raise user privacy concerns due to data integration for personalization. In this paper, we propose a trust-aware model, called the User and Item Similarity Model with Trust in Diverse Kinds (UISTD), to enhance the personalization of social sensing while reducing users' privacy concerns. UISTD utilizes user-to-user similarities and item-to-item similarities to generate multiple kinds of personalized items with common tags. UISTD also applies a modified k-means clustering algorithm to select the core users among trust relationships, and the core users' preferences and disclosure behaviors will be regarded as the predicted disclosure pattern. The experimental results on three real-world data sets demonstrate that target users are more likely to: (1) follow the core users' interests on diverse kinds of items and disclosure behaviors, thereby outperforming the compared methods; and (2) disclose more information with lower intrusion awareness and privacy concern.

16.
Int J Anal Chem ; 2017: 6953864, 2017.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28751914

ABSTRACT

Biomarker compounds that derived from early living organisms play an important role in oil and gas geochemistry and exploration since they can record the diagenetic evolution of the parent materials of crude oil and reflect the organic geochemical characteristics of crude oil and source rocks. To offer scientific basis for oil exploration and exploitation for study area, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method is applied to study the biomarker compounds of crude oil in Southwestern Yishan Slope of Ordos Basin, through qualitatively and quantitatively analyzing separated materials. The crude oil of Yanchang Formation and the source rocks of Yan'an and Yanchang Formation were collected in order to systematically analyze the characteristics of the biomarker compounds in saturated hydrocarbon fractions and clarify the organic geochemical characteristics of crude oil. The distribution and composition of various types of hydrocarbon biomarker compounds in crude oil suggest that the parent materials of crude oil are composed of hydrobiont and terrigenous plants, and the crude oil is mature oil which is formed in the weak reducing fresh water environment. Oil source correlation results show that the crude oil of Yanchang Formation in Yishan Slope is sourced from the source rocks of Chang 7 subformation.

17.
Int J Clin Exp Pathol ; 10(7): 7375-7383, 2017.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31966579

ABSTRACT

Vascular restenosis after stenting is known to be largely mediated by proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells. Recently, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) has been implicated as a regulator of cellular inflammatory responses, and the PPAR-γ agonist rosiglitazone (ROSI) has been shown to attenuate atherosclerosis formation. However, whether ROSI can inhibit neointimal formation by regulating the inflammatory response and inhibiting vascular smooth muscle hyperplasia after stenting-induced injury remains to be clarified. Accordingly, in this study, 10 minipigs were randomly divided into two groups: the stenting group (n = 5) and the ROSI group (n = 5). Morphometric analysis was conducted for the stented arteries. The protein expressions of PPAR-γ and smooth muscle 22-alpha (SM22α) were analyzed by immunohistochemistry and western blotting, and the serum interferon-γ and interleukin-10 levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Three months after implantation, morphometric analysis revealed that administration of ROSI (0.5 mg/kg/d, continuous administration for 90 days) resulted in significant reductions of luminal stenosis, the neointimal area, and neointimal thickness, as compared to the stenting groups. The expression of PPAR-γ and the PPAR-γ/SM22α ratio in the ROSI group were higher than in the stenting group. Furthermore, the serum interferon-γ and interleukin-10 levels were found to be increased and to reach peak levels at 4 h and 7 days after stenting, respectively, after which both declined. However, ROSI treatment resulted in decreased interferon-γ and increased interleukin-10 levels after stenting. In both groups, the cytokine levels returned to the baseline levels on day 56 after stenting. Taken together, these results suggest that ROSI can reduce neointimal formation after stenting by inhibiting the local and systemic inflammatory responses as well as vascular smooth muscle hyperplasia.

18.
PLoS One ; 11(3): e0151002, 2016.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-26950064

ABSTRACT

The rapid growth of social network data has given rise to high security awareness among users, especially when they exchange and share their personal information. However, because users have different feelings about sharing their information, they are often puzzled about who their partners for exchanging information can be and what information they can share. Is it possible to assist users in forming a partnership network in which they can exchange and share information with little worry? We propose a modified information sharing behavior prediction (ISBP) model that can help in understanding the underlying rules by which users share their information with partners in light of three common aspects: what types of items users are likely to share, what characteristics of users make them likely to share information, and what features of users' sharing behavior are easy to predict. This model is applied with machine learning techniques in WEKA to predict users' decisions pertaining to information sharing behavior and form them into trustable partnership networks by learning their features. In the experiment section, by using two real-life datasets consisting of citizens' sharing behavior, we identify the effect of highly sensitive requests on sharing behavior adjacent to individual variables: the younger participants' partners are more difficult to predict than those of the older participants, whereas the partners of people who are not computer majors are easier to predict than those of people who are computer majors. Based on these findings, we believe that it is necessary and feasible to offer users personalized suggestions on information sharing decisions, and this is pioneering work that could benefit college researchers focusing on user-centric strategies and website owners who want to collect more user information without raising their privacy awareness or losing their trustworthiness.


Subject(s)
Computer Security , Information Dissemination , Models, Theoretical , Social Behavior , Social Networking , Humans
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