Objective To understand the latest research developments of the formation mechanism of psammoma body in human tumors and related issues. Methods Related domestic and foreign literatures were widely referred, analyzed, and reviewed. Results Psammoma body is unique pathological calcification in some tumors, which is arranged in concentric, laminar circles microscopically. Psammoma body is commonly seen in thyroid papillary carcinoma, meningiomas, ovarian serous papillary carcinoma, and so on. Conclusions Although arranged in concentric, laminar circles microscopically in tumor, the formation process of psammoma body is not entirely the same in different tumors. A comprehensive and objective understanding of psammoma body would be useful in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
In order to overcome the shortcomings of high false positive rate and poor generalization in the detection of microcalcification clusters regions, this paper proposes a method combining discriminative deep belief networks (DDBNs) to automatically and quickly locate the regions of microcalcification clusters in mammograms. Firstly, the breast region was extracted and enhanced, and the enhanced breast region was segmented to overlapped sub-blocks. Then the sub-block was subjected to wavelet filtering. After that, DDBNs model for breast sub-block feature extraction and classification was constructed, and the pre-trained DDBNs was converted to deep neural networks (DNN) using a softmax classifier, and the network is fine-tuned by back propagation. Finally, the undetected mammogram was inputted to complete the location of suspicious lesions. By experimentally verifying 105 mammograms with microcalcifications from the Digital Database for Screening Mammography (DDSM), the method obtained a true positive rate of 99.45% and a false positive rate of 1.89%, and it only took about 16 s to detect a 2 888 × 4 680 image. The experimental results showed that the algorithm of this paper effectively reduced the false positive rate while ensuring a high positive rate. The detection of calcification clusters was highly consistent with expert marks, which provides a new research idea for the automatic detection of microcalcification clusters area in mammograms.
Soft tissue opacities are often found by chance during radiographic examinations, especially in panoramic radiography. Because of the diversity of locations and causes, it is easily overlooked by dentists and even radiologists. Even if abnormal calcification is detected, it is difficult to identify its category and clinical relevance. For some soft tissue opacities associated with high-risk diseases, misdiagnosis is likely to delay treatment. Through reviewing the literature and screening the panoramic images from the disease database of West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, this review summarizes and classifies the soft tissue opacities appearing in panoramic images, and discusses the clinical correlation to provide the reference for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of related diseases.
Abstract: Objective To summarize the 17-year clinical experience of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Methods From April 1987 to May 2004, total 253 patients with coronary artery disease underwent CABG. The operation were performed in 217 patients under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with moderate hypothermia, because of calcified ascending aorta, partial replacement of ascending aorta wall with apiece of Gore-Tex graft for the proximal anastomosis were done in 10 patients. Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) were performed in 30 patients. The operation under CPB with heart beating were performed in 6 patients. Cardiac valvular operations were performed in 15patients. Left atrium myxoma operation was performed in 1 patient. Left ventricular aneurysm plasty operation were performed in 10 patients. Results Total mortality rate was 7.9% (20/253). There was significant difference between the mortality rate of the first 10 years (16.0%,8/50) and that of the last 7 years (5.9%,12/203; χ2=5.62，Plt;0.05). The causes of death were: 3 patients died on table because of low cardiac output after valvular replacement though emergent CABG were conducted, 2 patients died of multiple organ failure after valvular replacement and emergent CABG had undergone, 3 patients died of ventricular fibrillation during closing the sternum, 6 patients died of multiple organ failure caused of severe lung infection, 2 patients died of ventricular fibrillation after operation, and 4 patients died of acute renal failure. One hundred and fiftyseven patients (67.4%, 157/233) were followed up, follow-up time was 6 months to 15 years. Three of them died of unknown causes, most of them have improved life quality. There were 87 patients in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class Ⅰ, 49 patients in NYHA class Ⅱ, 16 patients in NYHA classⅢ, and 2 patients in NYHA classⅣ. Conclusion When the experience of surgery and postoperative care is matured, CABG is a safe method for treatment of coronary artery disease. Partial replacement of ascending aorta wall with GoreTex graft for proximal anastomosis of the graft is acandidate method for the treatment of patients with calcified ascending aorta.
ObjectiveExtracting the endothelial cells or all endothelial cells and interstitial cells from the cryopreserved homograft valves (HV), to evaluate the immunogenicity of this two kinds of decellular HV. MethodsFor extracting the endothelial cells, the leaflet and wall of the HV were decellularized by a 4-step detergent-enzymatic extraction method involving the 1% triton in combination with RNase (1μg/ml) and DNase (10μg/ml). For extracting the endothelial cells and interstitial cells, the leaflet and wall of the HV were decellularized by a 3-step detergent-enzymatic extraction method involving the 1% deoxycholic acid (DOA) in combination with RNase (20μg/ml) and DNase (200μg/ml). HLA-DR antigen expression was detected by using immunohistochemical techniques. The valve and wall of the HV were transplanted subcutaneously in the mice for 8 weeks, and the histology, calcium assay and calcium content were examined. ResultsFor the staining of the HLA-DR antigens, the immunogenic potential of the HV with extracting all endothelial cells and interstitial cells or only the endothelial cells was lower than cryopreserved HV, but it more obviously decreased for the HV with extracting all endothelial cells and interstitial cells. After 8 weeks embedded in the mice, the histological signs of the inflammatory reactions and the calcification extent to the cryopreserved HV and the HV with only extracting endothelial cells were stronger than the HV with extracting all endothelial cells and interstitial cells predominantly. And calcification extent or the inflammatory reactions to the wall of the HV were more severe than those of the leaflet. ConclusionsThe immunogenicity of the HV with extracting all endothelial cells and interstitial cells is much less than HV with only extracting endothelial cells. The histological signs of the inflammatory reactions and the calcification extent in vivo experiments is obviously decreased. For the HV with only extracting endothelial cells, though the histological signs of the inflammatory reactions slightly decrease, the calcification extent in vivo experiments is more severe, especially for the wall. The interstitial cells may be the important factor for the donor-reactive immune responses that is related to the graft calcification or destruction after implantation.
Aortic valve calcification (AVC) is one of the major causes of aortic stenosis (AS), and its pathogenesis is related to inflammation infiltration, lipid deposition, endothelial damage, calcification osteogenesis and angiogenesis. Previous studies have shown that AVC is associated with the severity of AS, the incidence of cardiovascular events, mortality, and surgical outcomes. The quantitative analysis of AVC using imaging methods not only has diagnostic value for AS, but also has guiding significance for the selection of surgical timing, assessment of surgical risk, and prognosis prediction. This article comprehensively elaborates on the methods and values of evaluating AVC using echocardiography, CT, and positron emission tomography.
Vascular calcification is an active, adjustable and complex biological process. It is an independent hazard factor for cardiovascular events and there is a lack of effective treatment. As a newly discovered regulated cell death, ferroptosis is closely related to iron metabolism, lipid metabolism, glutathione metabolism and so on. In recent years, studies have shown that ferroptosis may be implicated in the occurrence and progression of vascular calcification. Based on the introduction of ferroptosis, this review will discuss the close relationship between ferroptosis and vascular calcification from intimal calcification, medial calcification and heart valve calcification, in order to provide new ideas for the prevention and treatment of vascular calcification.