Objective To assess the efficacy and safety of efalizumab in the treatment of psoriasis. Methods Randomized controlled trials (RCT) on efalizumab in the treatment of psoriasis were identified from The Cochrane Library ( issue 1, 2006) , specialized trials registered in Cochrane Skin Group (2006), MEDLINE (1966 - 2006) and EMBASE (1974 - 2006). The quality of the trials was assessed by two reviewers independently. RevMan 4.2.7 software provided by the Cochrane Collaboration was used for statistical analysis. Results Three RCTs involving 1 651 patients were included, all of which were of high methodological quality. All the patients were diagnosed as chronic moderate to severe plaque psoriasis with the age of 18-75 years. Meta-analysis indicated that at week 12, significantly more patients in both 1mg/kg/w and 2 mg/kg/w efalizumab subcutaneous groups achieved PASI50, PASI75, PASI90 improvement compared to the placebo group (Plt;0.0001), while there was no significant difference in PASI50, PASI75 and PASI90 responses between 1mg and 2mg efalizumab groups (P gt;0.05). No serious adverse effects were identified. Extended treatment for another 12w may contribute to further efficacy without increasing toxicty. Conclusions Efalizumab 12w therapy is safe and effective for treating adult patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. More RCTs are required to assess the efficacy of the extended treatment.
Objective To construct a radiomics model for identifying clinical high-risk carotid plaques. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients with carotid artery stenosis in China-Japan Friendship Hospital from December 2016 to June 2022. The patients were classified as a clinical high-risk carotid plaque group and a clinical low-risk carotid plaque group according to the occurrence of stroke, transient ischemic attack and other cerebrovascular clinical symptoms within six months. Six machine learning models including eXtreme Gradient Boosting, support vector machine, Gaussian Naive Bayesian, logical regression, K-nearest neighbors and artificial neural network were established. We also constructed a joint predictive model combined with logistic regression analysis of clinical risk factors. ResultsFinally 652 patients were collected, including 427 males and 225 females, with an average age of 68.2 years. The results showed that the prediction ability of eXtreme Gradient Boosting was the best among the six machine learning models, and the area under the curve (AUC) in validation dataset was 0.751. At the same time, the AUC of eXtreme Gradient Boosting joint prediction model established by clinical data and carotid artery imaging data validation dataset was 0.823. Conclusion Radiomics features combined with clinical feature model can effectively identify clinical high-risk carotid plaques.
Objective To assess efficacy of a mouthwash containing 0.1% cetylpiridinium on gingivitis and plaque and its safety. Methods Multi-center randomized double-blind trial with positive control and split-mouth comparison was designed. Scaling on teeth of left side were conducted at do then on those of right side at D8. The cases rinsed five times a day in same way with assigned agents. Efficacy was measured using before-after differences of clinical and microbial variables. Re-examinations were scheduled at D4 and D8. Brushing was refrained between D0 and D4, resumed between D4 and D8. Results There were 144 patients with gingivitis included, 4 lost follow up. Data of 69 cases in test group and 71 in control group could be analyzed. Baseline data analysis showed that distributions of sex, age and values of clinical and microbial variables in both groups were well comparable. At D4 plaque accumulations of the scaled side in both groups were in same level, and Gingival index (GI), sulcus bleeding index (SBI) and VAS for halitosis were significantly reduced. At D8 the measurements of plaque index (PI), GI, SBI and VAS of halitosis decreased significantly more than those of D4. More than half of the suspected pathogenic strains were eliminated and log value of its CFU/ml decreased significantly but at same level in both groups. The balance of intra-oral bacterial flora was not disturbed. Seventeen cases in test group (24.6%) had minor and transient adverse reactions related to the mouthwash. Antimicrobial tests in vitro confirmed that the test agent could kill or inhibit growth of the pathogenic bacteria involving with oropharyngeal infection, gingivitis, periodontal diseases and caries. Conclusion The mouthwash containing cetylpiridinium could inhibit plaque, reduce severity of gingivitis and halitosis, with acceptable minor adverse reactions, similar to those of the marketed cetylpiridinum solution.
ObjectiveTo study the characteristics of carotid atherosclerotic plaque and investigate the relationship between visfatin and plaque stabilization. Methodsfifty-six patients with carotid stenosis were divided into symptomatic group (n=31) and asymptomatic group (n=25) based on the clinical manifestation and onset time.All plaque specimens were stained with HE and Masson trichrome staining and studied pathologically.The plaques were grouped into stable and unstable plaques based on thickness of the fibrous cap and the area of lipid-rich core in the plaques.The expression of visfatin was detected by immunohistochemistry staining. Results①The proportion of unstable plaques were significantly higher in symptomatic group than in asymptomatic group (67.74% vs 36.00%, P < 0.05).②Compared with stable plaques, unstable plaques had thinner fibrous cap, larger lipid necrotic core, and higher proportion of hemorrhage: (49.87±8.75)μm vs (74.54±6.80)μm (P < 0.001), (65.63±12.97)% vs (31.81±5.13)% (P < 0.001), and 63.33% vs 30.77% (P < 0.05).③The integral optical density value of expressed visfatin in unstable plaques was significantly more than in stable plaques (84 165.47±9 183.12 vs 55 694.08±4 818.57, P < 0.001). ConclusionsThe plaque destabilization is closely related to the clinical symptoms of atherosclerosis.The thickness of fibrous cap, area of lipid-rich core, and hemorrhage play an important role in the plaque stabilization.The visfatin is related to atherogenesis and plaque destabilization.
A method of ultrasonic simulation based on the FIELD II software platform for carotid artery plaque was proposed according to the analysis for geometrical shape, tissue characteristics and acoustic properties of carotid artery plaques in clinic, and then a simulation system was developed by using the MATLAB graphical user interface (GUI). In the simulation and development, a three-dimensional geometric model of blood vessel with plaques was set up by using the metaball implicit surface technique, and a tissue model was established based on the scatterers with spatial position of gamma random distribution. Comparison of the statistical and geometrical characteristics from simulated ultrasound B-mode images with those based on clinical ones and preset values, the results fully demonstrated the effectiveness of the simulation methods and system.
The segmentation of the intracoronary optical coherence tomography (OCT) images is the basis of the plaque recognition, and it is important to the following plaque feature analysis, vulnerable plaque recognition and further coronary disease aided diagnosis. This paper proposes an algorithm about multi region plaque segmentation based on kernel graph cuts model that realizes accurate segmentation of fibrous, calcium and lipid pool plaques in coronary OCT image, while boundary information has been well reserved. We segmented 20 coronary images with typical plaques in our experiment, and compared the plaque regions segmented by this algorithm to the plaque regions obtained by doctor's manual segmentation. The results showed that our algorithm is accurate to segment the plaque regions. This work has demonstrated that it can be used for reducing doctors' working time on segmenting plaque significantly, reduce subjectivity and differences between different doctors, assist clinician's diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease.
Objective To observe the different clinical response patterns of uveal melanoma (UM) patients after external scleral plaque radiotherapy (PRT), and to investigate the risk factors of secondary enucleation after treatment failure. MethodsA single-centre retrospective study. Demographic baseline characteristics and clinical data were collected from 465 UM patients treated with 125I external scleral PRT at Beijing Tongren Hospital from March 2011 to September 2017. Among them, 217 were male and 248 were female, tumor all occurred monocularly. The mean age of subjects was 46.7±12.1 years. Reasons for secondary enucleation included local tumor treatment failure, glaucoma, scleral necrosis and patient request. Tumor grading was based on the grading standards established by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC). The pattern of tumor response after PRT was classified as degenerated type, growth type, stable type or other types according to literature criteria. The median follow-up time after PRT was 59 months to observe tumor changes. Complete follow-up records of 3 or more color doppler ultrasound imaging (CDI) was available in 245 cases. A t-test was performed to compare the patient's age, intraocular pressure, best corrected visual acuity, tumor thickness and maximum basal diameter before treatment; a chi-square test was performed to compare the patient's gender, AJCC T classification of the tumor, whether the ciliary body was involved, presence of subretinal fluid, optic disc invasion and vitreous hemorrhage, tumor shape and location. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to estimate the cumulative probability of secondary enucleation after extra-scleral PRT. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between tumor characteristics and secondary enucleation after extra-scleral PRT. ResultsAmong 465 patients, eecondary enucleation was performed on 78 (16.8%, 78/465) patients during the follow-up period. The 1, 3 and 5 year secondary enucleation rates were 5.4%, 9.3% and 17.1%, respectively. Eye preservation was successful in 387 cases (83.2%, 387/465). Patients treated by secondary enucleation had a larger maximum basal diameter of tumor, a higher proportion of irregular and diffuse morphology, a cumulative macular involved and a higher AJCC T classification, the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). There were 115, 76, 27, and 27 cases of degenerated type, stable type, growth type, and other type, respectively. The tumor thickness of the growth type and other types was significantly smaller than that of the degenerated type and the stable type, and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). Univariate Cox analysis showed that the maximum basal diameter of the tumor (HR=1.19), tumor thickness (HR=1.08), AJCC T classification (HR=1.90), growth type response pattern (relative to degenerated type response pattern) (HR=4.20) was associated with failure of eye preservation (P＜0.05). In the multivariate Cox analysis, the largest tumor basal diameter (HR=1.24) and the growth type response pattern (relative to the degenerated type response pattern) (HR=4.59) were still associated with failure of eye preservation (P＜0.05). ConclusionsThe tumor thickness of UM patients with growing and other response patterns after PRT is smaller before treatment; the maximum basal diameter of the tumor and the growing response pattern are independent risk factors for secondary enucleation.
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.
The present paper intends to discuss the antioxidant and tyrosinase inhibition effect of solanesol from three aspects of ultraviolet radiation and free radical scavenging. The paper makes a survey on diurnal variation rule of the minimum ultraviolet transmittance and ultraviolet transmittance of solanesol, hydroxyl (·OH) free radical scavenging method of Smirnoff reaction system model, superoxide anion O2-· free radical scavenging method of pyrogallol autoxidation, and the inhibitory effect of solanesol on tyrosinase activity by enzyme kinetic method. The experiment results showed that solanesol could effectively scavenge lipid radicals to block lipid peroxidation, and inhibit effects on tyrosinase. Solanesol is a natural extract which could be used to prevent senile atrophy of human skin and senile plaque.
Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is widely used in coronary artery examination. Ultrasonic elastography combined with IVUS is very conspicuous in identifying plaque component and in detecting plaque vulnerability degree. In this study, a simulation model of the blood vessel based on finite element analysis (FEA) was established. The vessel walls generally have radial changes caused by different intravascular pressure. The signals at lower pressures were used as the pre-deformation data and the signals at higher pressure were used as the post-deformation data. Displacement distribution was constructed using the time-domain cross-correlation method, and then strain images. By comparison of elastograms under different pressures, we obtained the optimal pressure step. Furthermore, on the basis of the obtained optimize pressure step, the simulation results showed that this method could effectively distinguish characteristics between different component plaques, and could guide the later experiments and clinical applications.