Histone modification of endothelial-mesenchymal transition in cardiovascular diseases

Endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) is a differentiation process in which endothelial cells lose their own characteristics and acquire mesenchymal-like characteristics, which contributes to the formation and development of atherosclerotic plaques. Until now, there is still a lack of effective measures to treat atherosclerosis (AS), so there is an urgent need to understand the underlying mechanisms of AS. In addition, although various studies have shown that EndMT is involved in the pathological stages of cardiovascular diseases, such as myocardial fibrosis, myocardial hypertrophy, and hypertension, the specific molecular mechanisms driving EndMT are still in the exploratory stage. In this review, we review the role of histone modifications (methylation, demethylation and acetylation, deacetylation) on EndMT in cardiovascular disease, aiming to target histone-modifying enzymes to guide cardiovascular disease therapy.

Effects of different doses of Savda Munziq on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats with abnormal Savda syndrome

To investigate the effects of different doses of abnormal Savda Munziq on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MI/RI) in rats with the abnormal Savda syndrome, 50 abnormal Savda animal models were randomly divided into a control group, a model group, a high-dose group, a middle-dose group, and a low-dose group, with each group containing 10 rats. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the serum myocardial enzyme and troponin levels, and hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used to observe changes of the myocardial tissues in the different groups. Results showed that in the Munziq intervention groups, the serum creatine kinase and troponin levels were significantly lower than those in the model group, and the middle-dose group showed the lowest levels. The HE staining of myocardial tissue showed that the myocardial edema and muscle fiber proliferation levels were significantly higher in the Munziq intervention groups than in the model group, and the middle-dose group showed the least cardiac tissue damage. Therefore, intervention with an intermediate Munziq dose could significantly reduce MI/RI in rats with abnormal Savda syndrome.

The representation of visual depth perception based on the plenoptic function in the retina and its neural computation in visual cortex V1

BACKGROUND

How it is possible to "faithfully" represent a three-dimensional stereoscopic scene using Cartesian coordinates on a plane, and how three-dimensional perceptions differ between an actual scene and an image of the same scene are questions that have not yet been explored in depth. They seem like commonplace phenomena, but in fact, they are important and difficult issues for visual information processing, neural computation, physics, psychology, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience.

RESULTS

The results of this study show that the use of plenoptic (or all-optical) functions and their dual plane parameterizations can not only explain the nature of information processing from the retina to the primary visual cortex and, in particular, the characteristics of the visual pathway's optical system and its affine transformation, but they can also clarify the reason why the vanishing point and line exist in a visual image. In addition, they can better explain the reasons why a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system can be introduced into the two-dimensional plane to express a real three-dimensional scene.

CONCLUSIONS

1. We introduce two different mathematical expressions of the plenoptic functions, Pw and Pv that can describe the objective world. We also analyze the differences between these two functions when describing visual depth perception, that is, the difference between how these two functions obtain the depth information of an external scene.2. The main results include a basic method for introducing a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system into a two-dimensional plane to express the depth of a scene, its constraints, and algorithmic implementation. In particular, we include a method to separate the plenoptic function and proceed with the corresponding transformation in the retina and visual cortex.3. We propose that size constancy, the vanishing point, and vanishing line form the basis of visual perception of the outside world, and that the introduction of a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system into a two dimensional plane reveals a corresponding mapping between a retinal image and the vanishing point and line.

[An adenocarcinoma arising from the urinary bladder 37 years after bladder augmentation using the ileum]

A 57-year-old man had undergone right nephrectomy at 10 years of age and bladder augmentation using the ileum at 20 years for treatment of urinary tract tuberculosis. He also had undergone intermittent catheterization after a traffic accident at 49 years of age. He presented at another hospital with a complaint of asymptomatic macroscopic hematuria. Cystoscopy revealed a lobulated tumor in the bladder. Transurethral resection of bladder tumor was performed, but complete resection was difficult. Histopathological examination of the specimen revealed a well differentiated adenocarcinoma. He was referred to our hospital for total cystectomy and percutaneous left nephrostomy. The tumor arose from the bladder wall near the anastomotic site between the bladder and the ileal segment. Histopathological examination revealed a well differentiated adenocarcinoma infiltrating into the muscle layer (pT2a). Postoperatively, he has been free of recurrence for one year. This is the 19th case of adenocarcinoma following bladder augmentation using the ileum reported in the Japanese literature.

[Influence of blood cells in urine samples on results of screening for urothelial carcinoma with NMP22 bladder chek]

We compared the sensitivity of Bladder Chek NMP22 with that of urine cytology in bladder cancer patients. Further, we evaluated the usefulness of Bladder Chek NMP22 in patients with benign diseases such as cystitis, urolithiasis, and benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and examined how blood cells in urine samples affect the results of Bladder Chek NMP22. Patients with macroscopic hematuria were excluded from this study. Of 77 bladder cancer patients, Bladder Chek NMP22 showed positive in 46.8%, while urine cytology in 33.8% (p = 0.16). Bladder Chek NMP22 and urine cytology showed positive in 31.8 and 0.0% in G1 (p = 0.004), 51.2 and 46.3% in G2 (p = 0.66) and 57.1 and 50% in G3 (p = 0.71); 44.4 and 88.9% in Tis (p = 0.052), 25.6 and 15.4% in Ta (p = 0.27), 72.2 and 33.3% in T1 (p = 0.02) and 81.8 and 54.5% in T2 or higher (p = 0.18), respectively. In bladder cancer patients with microscopic hematuria or pyuria, the positive rates of Bladder Chek NMP22 were 82.1 and 73.1%, respectively, whereas they were 26.5% (p < 0.001) and 33.3% (p = 0.002), respectively, in those without hematuria or pyuria. In 36 cystitis, 20 urolithiasis, and 19 BPH patients, the positive rates of Bladder Chek NMP22 were 58.3, 25.0 and 5.5%, respectively. Bladder Chek NMP22 showed higher sensitivity for detection of bladder cancer, especially in low-grade and low-stage cancers than urine cytology, but the result was likely affected by blood cells in urine samples. Thus, although Bladder Chek NMP22 may be less useful as the first device for screening of urothelial cancer in patients with hematuria or pyuria, it may show results of high quality when used in patients with negative urine cytology after excluding benign diseases.