Evidence for prehistoric cardiovascular disease of syphilitic origin on the Northern Plains

The identification of the treponemas among prehistoric Amerindian populations is problematic. This paper presents the evidence for the presence of cardiovascular disease of syphilitic origin on the Plains of North America during prehistoric times. Comparative data from modern populations is used to arrive at a diagnosis.     

Aortic aneurysm in a Cebus apella monkey with experimentally induced atherosclerosis

The sudden death of a Cebus apella female (>19 years old) on an experimental hyperlipidic diet during three years is described. The gross lesions were hemothorax, atherosclerotic plaques in the aortic curve, and an aneurysm in the ascending aorta. Histologically, an enlargement of the intima in the ascending aorta with hyalinization and a thrombus were observed. The media was thinned and showed sclerosis and hemorrhage extending to the tunica adventicia.     

阿司匹林通过调节Hippo途径抑制大鼠颅内动脉瘤的形成和机制

摘要 目的：探讨阿司匹林通过调节Hippo途径抑制大鼠颅内动脉瘤形成的机制。方法：选择40只健康SD大鼠分为对照组（不做任何处理）、假手术组（暴露双侧肾动脉后支和左颈总动脉,但不结扎）、动脉瘤组（结扎双侧肾动脉后支和左颈总动脉后生理盐水灌胃）和阿司匹林组（动脉结扎后阿司匹林灌胃）,各10只。灌胃12周后检测血清炎性因子[肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）、单核细胞趋化蛋白-1（MCP-1）、白细胞介素-6（IL-6）、IL-10]、血管内皮损伤标志物[一氧化氮（NO）、内皮素-1（ET-1）、血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）]。处死大鼠后,检测动脉瘤大小、壁厚比、内腔面积和中膜变薄长度,检测动脉瘤血管组织中Yes相关蛋白（YAP）表达情况。结果：（1）动脉瘤组和阿司匹林组大鼠Willis环上有明显凸起,且阿司匹林组大鼠凸起明显小于动脉瘤组。阿司匹林组大鼠动脉瘤大小、内腔面积和中膜变薄长度均显著小于动脉瘤组,壁厚比显著大于动脉瘤组（P＜0.05）。（2）动脉瘤组和阿司匹林组大鼠血清TNF-α、MCP-1、IL-6水平显著高于对照组和假手术组,IL-10水平显著低于对照组和假手术组（P<0.05）;阿司匹林组大鼠血清TNF-α、MCP-1、IL-6水平显著低于动脉瘤组,IL-10水平显著高于动脉瘤组（P<0.05）。（3）动脉瘤组和阿司匹林组大鼠血清NO水平显著低于对照组和假手术组,ET-1和VEGF水平显著高于对照组和假手术组（P<0.05）;阿司匹林组大鼠血清NO水平显著高于动脉瘤组,ET-1和VEGF水平显著低于动脉瘤组（P<0.05）。（4）动脉瘤组和阿司匹林组大鼠YAP蛋白表达相对吸光值显著高于对照组和假手术组（P<0.05）;阿司匹林组大鼠YAP蛋白表达相对吸光值显著低于动脉瘤组（P<0.05）。结论：阿司匹林能够显著减轻颅内动脉瘤大鼠炎性反应,改善血管内皮功能,抑制颅内动脉瘤形成,这可能与阿司匹林调控Hippo信号通路有关。     

七氟醚联合瑞芬太尼维持麻醉对介入治疗颅内动脉瘤患者神经功能、认知功能、炎性因子的影响

摘要 目的：探讨七氟醚联合瑞芬太尼维持麻醉对介入治疗颅内动脉瘤（IA）患者神经功能、认知功能及炎性因子的影响。方法：选入2020年1月~2022年6月在我院接受介入手术治疗的IA患者80例,根据麻醉方式不同分为A组（七氟醚联合瑞芬太尼）和B组（丙泊酚联合瑞芬太尼）,每组40例。评价两组患者的神经功能、认知功能、炎症因子水平等指标,并进行统计比较。结果：A组T1~T3时心率（HR）和平均动脉压（MAP）明显优于B组（P＜0.05）;A组术后24 h和术后7 d美国国立卫生研究院卒中量表（NIHSS）评分明显低于B组（P＜0.05）,易智能精神状态检查量表（MMSE）评分显著高于B组（P＜0.05）;A组术后24 h、术后3 d血清肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）、C反应蛋白（CRP）和白细胞介素-6（IL-6）水平均明显低于B组（P＜0.05）;A组术后自主呼吸恢复时间、苏醒时间、拔管时间及拔管后躁动发生率较B组低（P<0.05）;不良反应无差异（P＞0.05）。结论：将七氟醚联合瑞芬太尼维持麻醉应用于介入治疗IA患者,可平稳血流动力学,改善术后神经功能及认知功能,降低炎症反应,提高麻醉苏醒质量。     

AT2R agonist NP‐6A4 mitigates aortic stiffness and proteolytic activity in mouse model of aneurysm

Clinical and experimental studies show that angiotensin II (AngII) promotes vascular pathology via activation of AngII type 1 receptors (AT1Rs). We recently reported that NP‐6A4, a selective peptide agonist for AngII type 2 receptor (AT2R), exerts protective effects on human vascular cells subjected to serum starvation or doxorubicin exposure. In this study, we investigated whether NP‐6A4–induced AT2R activation could mitigate AngII‐induced abdominal aortic aneurism (AAA) using AngII‐treated Apoe^?/? mice. Male Apoe^?/? mice were infused with AngII (1 µg/kg/min) by implanting osmotic pumps subcutaneously for 28 days. A subset of mice was pre‐treated subcutaneously with NP‐6A4 (2.5 mg/kg/day) or vehicle for 14 days prior to AngII, and treatments were continued for 28 days. NP‐6A4 significantly reduced aortic stiffness of the abdominal aorta induced by AngII as determined by ultrasound functional analyses and histochemical analyses. NP‐6A4 also increased nitric oxide bioavailability in aortic tissues and suppressed AngII‐induced increases in monocyte chemotactic protein‐1, osteopontin and proteolytic activity of the aorta. However, NP‐6A4 did not affect maximal intraluminal aortic diameter or AAA incidences significantly. These data suggest that the effects of AT2R agonist on vascular pathologies are selective, affecting the aortic stiffness and proteolytic activity without affecting the size of AAA.     

颅内动脉瘤夹闭术、血管内栓塞术治疗颅内动脉瘤的疗效及安全性研究

目的:探讨颅内动脉瘤夹闭术、血管内栓塞术治疗颅内动脉瘤的疗效及安全性。方法:回顾性分析2016年9月-2019年1月接受手术治疗的76例颅内动脉瘤患者的临床资料,根据手术方式的不同分为接受颅内动脉瘤夹闭术治疗的A组40例和接受血管内栓塞术治疗的B组36例。对比两组患者的动脉瘤完全闭合率、住院费用及血清炎性因子[C反应蛋白(CRP)、白介素-1β(IL-1β)、白介素-6(IL-6)、肿瘤坏死因子-α(TNF-α)]、脑氧饱和度水平及日常生活能力量表(ADL)评分值,记录并发症发生情况。结果:两组患者的动脉瘤完全闭合率比较差异无统计学意义(x~2=0.515,P=0.473)。A组患者的住院费用低于B组患者(t=17.732,P=0.000);A组患者术后血清中CRP、IL-1β、IL-6、TNF-α的水平高于B组(t=10.580、12.904、9.355、19.176,P均=0.000);A组患者术后脑氧饱和度水平低于B组(t=2.113,P=0.019),两组ADL评分值的差异无统计学意义(t=1.211,P=0.115);A组术中再破裂、脑血管痉挛发生率高于B组患者(x~2=4.817、5.383,P=0.028、0.020)。结论:颅内动脉瘤夹闭术应用于颅内动脉瘤患者,动脉瘤完全闭合率与血管内栓塞术无明显差异,住院费用更低,但对目标血管的刺激较大,可能存在术中再破裂、脑血管痉挛等风险。     

Computational haemodynamics in two idealised cerebral wide-necked aneurysms after stent placement

Endovascular stents are being commonly used to treat cerebral wide-necked aneurysms recently. The effect of a stent placed in the parent artery is not only to protect the parent artery from occlusion, due to extension of coils and thrombosis, but also to act as flow diverter to vary the haemodynamics in the aneurysm. In this article, two idealised cerebral wide-necked aneurysms were created, one was sidewall aneurysm with curved parent vessel and the other was terminal aneurysm with the bifurcated parent vessel. The plexiglass models of the two aneurysms were ‘treated’ with commercial porous intravascular stents. The stented physical models were scanned by Micro-CT and the numerical models of the two idealised cerebral wide-necked aneurysms after stent placement were constructed from the scanned image files. The pulsatile flow of non-Newtonian fluid inside the models was simulated by using computational fluid dynamics package. From the simulated flow dynamics, various haemodynamic characteristics such as velocity contours, wall shear stress and oscillatory shear index (OSI) were computed. The velocity of the jet entering the sacs reduced after stent was deployed across the necks of both sidewall and terminal aneurysms; the wall shear stress on the distal neck of sidewall aneurysm reduced, the wall shear stress on the dome of the terminal aneurysm increased and the OSI on the dome of the terminal aneurysm reduced. Therefore, stent placement not only promotes thrombus formation in both aneurysm models but also reduces the regrowth risk of the sidewall aneurysm and the rupture risk of the terminal aneurysm.     

Hemodynamic investigation of a patient-specific abdominal aortic aneurysm with iliac artery tortuosity

Abstract

This paper describes a systematic investigation on the hemodynamic environment in a patient-specific AAA with tortuous common iliac artery(CIA) and external iliac artery (EIA). 3D reconstructions from CT scans and subsequent computational simulation are carried out. It is found out that the Newtonian and non-Newtonian models have very similar flow field and WSS distribution. More importantly, it is revealed that the torturous CIA maintained its helical flow. It is concluded that the assumption of Newtonian blood is adequate in capturing the intra-aneurysmal hemodynamics. Moreover, it is speculated that the physiological spiral flow protects the twisted CIA from the thrombosis formation.     

Influence of inlet boundary conditions on the local haemodynamics of intracranial aneurysms

Haemodynamics is believed to play an important role in the initiation, growth and rupture of intracranial aneurysms. In this context, computational haemodynamics has been extensively used in an effort to establish correlations between flow variables and clinical outcome. It is common practice in the application of Dirichlet boundary conditions at domain inlets to specify transient velocities as either a flat (plug) profile or a spatially developed profile based on Womersley's analytical solution. This paper provides comparative haemodynamics measures for three typical cerebral aneurysms.

Three dimentional rotational angiography images of aneurysms at three common locations, viz. basilar artery tip, internal carotid artery and middle cerebral artery were obtained. The computational tools being developed in the European project @neurIST were used to reconstruct the fluid domains and solve the unsteady Navier–Stokes equations, using in turn Womersley and plug-flow inlet velocity profiles. The effects of these assumptions were analysed and compared in terms of relevant haemodynamic variables within the aneurismal sac. For the aneurysm at the basilar tip geometries with different extensions of the afferent vasculature were considered to study the plausibility of a fully-developed axial flow at the inlet boundaries.

The study shows that assumptions made on the velocity profile while specifying inlet boundary conditions have little influence on the local haemodynamics in the aneurysm, provided that a sufficient extension of the afferent vasculature is considered and that geometry is the primary determinant of the flow field within the aneurismal sac. For real geometries the Womersley profile is at best an unnecessary over-complication, and may even be worse than the plug profile in some anatomical locations (e.g. basilar confluence).