BACKGROUND & AIMS: OBJECTIVES:This prospective study was designed to assess the sensitivity and specificity of Doppler ultrasound parameters in the diagnosis of cirrhosis and portal hypertension. METHODS:Portal and hepatic arterial Doppler ultrasound was performed on 76 patients with cirrhosis and esophageal varices and on 73 age- and sex-matched controls. The parameters evaluated were portal venous velocity and hepatic arterial pulsatility index. The liver vascular index was calculated as the ratio of portal venous velocity to hepatic arterial pulsatility index. RESULTS:Portal venous velocity was significantly lower (11.0 +/- 2.4 vs 15.9 +/- 2.8 cm/s, p < 0.001) and hepatic arterial pulsatility index was significantly higher (1.28 +/- 0.18 vs 0.95 +/- 0.17,p < 0.001) in patients than in controls. Thus, the liver vascular index was significantly lower in patients than in controls (8.7 +/- 2.1 vs 17.2 +/- 4.3 cm/s, p < 0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of these parameters in the detection of cirrhosis and portal hypertension was then analyzed with the receiver operating characteristic curve. The best cut-off values were considered to be 13 cm/se of portal venous velocity and 1.1 of hepatic arterial pulsatility index, showing a sensitivity and specificity of 83, 85, 84, and 81%, respectively. The best cut-off value of the liver vascular index was 12 cm/s with a sensitivity and specificity of 97 and 93%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:The liver vascular index is a high sensitive and specific Doppler ultrasound parameter in the diagnosis of cirrhosis and portal hypertension.

背景与目标：

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :Isolated cleft mitral valve (ICMV) is a rare entity not known to be related to pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect (PA-VSD). This report describes the use of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging to diagnose ICMV in a patient with repaired PA-VSD who presented with incidental severe mitral regurgitation (MR) on follow-up echocardiography. An associated pulmonary varix secondary to the severe MR also was shown by CMR.

背景与目标： : 孤立的二尖瓣裂 (ICMV) 是一种罕见的实体，与肺动脉闭锁伴室间隔缺损 (pa-vsd) 无关。本报告描述了使用心血管磁共振 (CMR) 成像诊断经修复的PA-VSD患者的ICMV，该患者在后续超声心动图检查中出现了严重的二尖瓣反流 (MR)。CMR还显示了继发于严重MR的相关肺静脉曲张。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :Thrombosis is the main cause of failure of small-diameter synthetic vascular grafts when used for by-pass procedures. The development of bioresorbable vascular scaffolds with localized and sustained intra-luminal antithrombotic drug release could be considered a desirable improvement towards a valuable solution for this relevant clinical need. For this aim, we present the fabrication and characterization of aspirin-loaded electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone) tubular scaffolds as a vascular drug-delivery graft. Three different drug concentrations were considered (i.e., 1, 5 or 10 % w/w). Although a fibrous structure was clearly observed for all the collected scaffolds, aspirin content was directly implied in the final microstructure leading to a bimodal fiber diameter distribution and fused fibers at crossing-points (5 or 10 % w/w). Mechanical response highlighted a direct relationship for modulus and stress at break with the aspirin content, while the elongation at break was not remarkably different for the investigated cases. The temporal drug release was strongly dependent from the amount of loaded aspirin, reaching a steady state release after about 50 h. Finally, the adhesion assay confirmed the capability of the electrospun scaffolds to reduce platelet adhesion/aggregation onto aspirin loaded polymeric fibers. Aspirin-loaded electrospun tubular scaffold could represent a feasible candidate to develop a novel bioresorbable drug-releasing graft for small-diameter vessel replacements.

背景与目标： : 血栓形成是用于旁路手术时小直径合成血管移植物失败的主要原因。开发具有局部和持续的腔内抗血栓药物释放的生物可吸收血管支架可被认为是针对此相关临床需求的有价值解决方案的理想改进。为此，我们介绍了负载阿司匹林的电纺聚 (ε-己内酯) 管状支架作为血管药物递送移植物的制备和表征。考虑三种不同的药物浓度 (即1、5或10% w/w)。尽管对于所有收集的支架都清楚地观察到纤维结构，但在最终微结构中直接隐含阿司匹林含量，导致双峰纤维直径分布和在交叉点处的融合纤维 (5或10% w/w)。机械响应强调了模量和断裂应力与阿司匹林含量的直接关系，而断裂伸长率在所研究的情况下没有显着差异。暂时的药物释放强烈依赖于阿司匹林的载量，约50小时后达到稳定状态释放。最后，粘附试验证实了电纺支架减少血小板粘附/聚集在阿司匹林负载的聚合物纤维上的能力。阿司匹林负载的电纺管状支架可能是开发用于小直径血管置换的新型生物可吸收药物释放移植物的可行候选者。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :Leiomyosarcoma of the innominate vein is a rare but usually lethal disease. We report the case of a 50-year-old woman, undergoing a curative resection of the tumor. She is alive and free of disease at 88-month follow-up. Surgical excision remains the current optimal treatment able to provide a chance of cure. KEY WORDS: Late survival, Venous leiomyosarcoma.

背景与目标： : 无名静脉平滑肌肉瘤是一种罕见但通常致命的疾病。我们报告了一名50岁的女性，正在接受肿瘤的根治性切除。在88个月的随访中，她还活着并且没有疾病。手术切除仍然是目前能够提供治愈机会的最佳治疗方法。关键词: 晚期生存，静脉平滑肌肉瘤。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: OBJECTIVE:Provoked deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is precipitated by a specific event. This paper compares the characteristics of provoked DVT in patients with transient risk (TR) factors and patients with continuous risk (CR) factors. METHODS:A retrospective review of records of all consecutive patients diagnosed with DVT between January 2013 and August 2014 was performed. Patients with provoked DVT were included in the TR group if the provoking event resolved in 2 weeks and they did not have ongoing risk of thrombosis. Patients in the CR group had a provoked DVT with ongoing risk of thrombosis due to individual factors deemed to be ongoing risks of thrombosis, such as cancer, hypercoagulable disorder, and prolonged immobilization. Demographics, risk factors, association with pulmonary embolism (PE) and its severity, risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE), and mortality were compared between the two groups. RESULTS:A total of 838 patients were diagnosed with DVT, and 50.7% (425) were provoked. There were 127 (29.9%) patients with TR and 298 (70.1%) with CR. TR patients were younger (60.4 ± 16.3 vs 65.9 ± 16.0; P = .001). TR was more likely to be provoked by surgery (70.9% vs 55.4%; P = .003), whereas CR was more likely to be provoked by immobilization (21.5% vs 12.6%; P = .032). CR patients were affected by cancer (48.7%) and hypercoagulable disorders (4.4%). TR patients were more likely to have calf DVTs (36.2% vs 26.2%; P = .047). There was a trend toward lower association with PE on presentation in TR (17.3% vs 21.1%; P = .072), but that did not reach statistical significance. However, TR factors were more likely to be associated with low-risk PE compared with CR factors (30.2% vs 54.6%; P = .040). After mean follow-up of 7.2 months, CR had higher risk of recurrent VTE (14.0% vs 6.8%; P = .045) and mortality (23.5% vs 7.1%; P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS:Provoked DVT with CR factors affects older patients and is associated with high recurrence of VTE and mortality compared with provoked DVT with TR factors.

背景与目标：

BACKGROUND & AIMS: PURPOSE:The purpose of this study was to describe a new modification for big-bubble deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) using pneumatic pressure to detach Descemet membrane (DM) via air injection followed by ophthalmic viscoelastic device (OVD) injection. METHODS:After failure of big-bubble formation after air injection, OVD was injected from a different site other than the previous air injection using a 27-gauge cannula to detach DM, called air-visco bubble (AVB) DALK technique. The technique was used in 7 human corneoscleral rims that were investigated with anterior segment optical coherence tomography and histopathology and in 69 eyes that underwent DALK surgeries. RESULTS:Big-bubble formation was noted in 4 of 7 of the donor corneoscleral rims. The anterior segment optical coherence tomography showed big-bubble formations together with intrastromal OVD accumulation. The histology of the donor corneas showed microdetachments at the DM in the periphery, deep intrastromal separation, and big-bubble formation filled with OVD. One hundred forty-one of 210 eyes (67%) underwent successful DALK with only air injection, and 69 of 210 eyes (33%) underwent AVB technique when a big bubble was not achieved with only air injection. All the corneas showed a clear interface with good wound healing when DM was bared with the AVB DALK technique. CONCLUSIONS:Additional OVD injection to detach DM may be useful in cases where air injection fails. Also, creating small DM detachments with air injection may facilitate the formation of a big bubble with further OVD injection.

背景与目标：

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :A 51-year-old human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive male patient (CDC stage 3C) had had a painful nodule on his external ankle joint for 10 months. A biopsy suggested bacillary angiomatosis, but Kaposi's sarcoma could not be excluded. Rods were detectable in lesional skin by a Warthin-Starry stain. A 298 base pair (bp) gene fragment specific for Bartonella species was amplified from lesional skin and direct nucleotide sequence analysis of the amplification product clearly identified Bartonella quintana. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus specific DNA was not amplifiable by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in our patient, suggesting that the lesion represented bacillary angiomatosis alone, despite clinical and histopathological features which suggested the coexistence of bacillary angiomatosis and Kaposi's sarcoma. The lesion regressed after erythromycin was prescribed. However, 4 and 9 weeks after initiation of therapy, PCR still yielded a positive result in material obtained by a swab. After complete healing, following 12 weeks of antibiotic therapy, PCR became consistently negative. The optimal length of antibiotic treatment in HIV-positive patients with bacillary angiomatosis is not yet known and inadequate therapy may be followed by disseminated disease and a fatal outcome. PCR-based monitoring of the success of treatment is valuable for determining the duration of treatment resulting in a cure.

背景与目标： : 一名51岁的人类免疫缺陷病毒 (HIV) 阳性男性患者 (CDC阶段3C) 的外踝关节结节疼痛10个月。活检提示细菌性血管瘤病，但不能排除卡波西氏肉瘤。通过Warthin-Starry染色在病变皮肤中可检测到杆。从病变皮肤扩增出针对巴尔通体物种的298碱基对 (bp) 基因片段，并对扩增产物的直接核苷酸序列分析清楚地鉴定出了巴尔通体。在我们的患者中，与卡波西氏肉瘤相关的疱疹病毒特异性DNA无法通过聚合酶链反应 (PCR) 扩增，这表明该病变仅代表细菌性血管瘤病，尽管临床和组织病理学特征表明细菌性血管瘤病和卡波西氏肉瘤并存。开药红霉素后病变消退。然而，在开始治疗后4周和9周，PCR仍在拭子获得的材料中产生阳性结果。完全愈合后，经过12周的抗生素治疗，PCR始终呈阴性。对于HIV阳性的细菌性血管瘤病患者，抗生素治疗的最佳时间尚不清楚，治疗不足可能会导致传播性疾病和致命后果。基于PCR的治疗成功监测对于确定导致治愈的治疗持续时间很有价值。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: BACKGROUND:The relative importance of previous diagnosis and hereditary prothrombotic risk factors for cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) in children in determining risk of a second cerebral or systemic venous thrombosis (VT), compared with other clinical, neuroimaging, and treatment variables, is unknown. METHODS:We followed up the survivors of 396 consecutively enrolled patients with CVT, aged newborn to 18 years (median 5.2 years) for a median of 36 months (maximum 85 months). In accordance with international treatment guidelines, 250 children (65%) received acute anticoagulation with unfractionated heparin or low-molecular weight heparin, followed by secondary anticoagulation prophylaxis with low-molecular weight heparin or warfarin in 165 (43%). RESULTS:Of 396 children enrolled, 12 died immediately and 22 (6%) had recurrent VT (13 cerebral; 3%) at a median of 6 months (range 0.1-85). Repeat venous imaging was available in 266 children. Recurrent VT only occurred in children whose first CVT was diagnosed after age 2 years; the underlying medical condition had no effect. In Cox regression analyses, non-administration of anticoagulant before relapse (hazard ratio [HR] 11.2 95% CI 3.4-37.0; p<0.0001), persistent occlusion on repeat venous imaging (4.1, 1.1-14.8; p=0.032), and heterozygosity for the G20210A mutation in factor II (4.3, 1.1-16.2; p=0.034) were independently associated with recurrent VT. Among patients who had recurrent VT, 70% (15) occurred within the 6 months after onset. CONCLUSION:Age at CVT onset, non-administration of anticoagulation, persistent venous occlusion, and presence of G20210A mutation in factor II predict recurrent VT in children. Secondary prophylactic anticoagulation should be given on a patient-to-patient basis in children with newly identified CVT and at high risk of recurrent VT. Factors that affect recanalisation need further research.

背景与目标：

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :The incidence of thromboembolism is higher in mitral regurgitation. Mean platelet volume (MPV), which is calculated automatically in the complete blood count tests, indicates platelet production, function and activation. Elevated MPV levels in cardiovascular diseases and some heart valve diseases have been shown before. We aimed to investigate the relationship between MPV and mitral regurgitation, and to evaluate the MPV levels according to the presence of atrial fibrillation or left atrial appendage thrombus in patients with mitral regurgitation for the first time. The study included 57 patients who had undergone transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography for the classic symptoms and diagnosed with primary (organic) mitral regurgitation. The control group was composed of 46 age, sex and BMI-matched healthy individuals who had undergone transthoracic echocardiography and obtained normal findings. Echocardiographic evaluation was performed according to the recommendations of the American Echocardiography Society. Mean MPV values in patients with mitral regurgitation were significantly higher than the control group (P < 0.001). MPV levels and the thrombus risk were correlated with the severity of the disease. When the patients with mitral regurgitation were classified according to the presence of atrial fibrillation and left atrial appendage thrombus, patients with atrial fibrillation had higher MPV levels compared to patients with normal sinus rhythm (P < 0.001). In addition, highest MPV levels were found in patients with both atrial fibrillation and thrombosis (P < 0.001). In conclusion, measurement of MPV may be considered as a quick and reliable guide in the assessment of mitral regurgitation and thrombus, without any cost or any advanced expensive technology.

背景与目标： : 二尖瓣反流中血栓栓塞的发生率较高。在整个血液计数测试中自动计算的平均血小板体积 (MPV) 表示血小板的产生，功能和激活。以前已显示心血管疾病和某些心脏瓣膜疾病中的MPV水平升高。本研究旨在探讨MPV与二尖瓣反流的关系，并根据首次发生二尖瓣反流的患者是否存在心房颤动或左心耳血栓来评估MPV水平。该研究包括57例经胸和经食管超声心动图检查经典症状并被诊断为原发性 (器质性) 二尖瓣反流的患者。对照组由46名年龄，性别和BMI相匹配的健康人组成，他们接受了经胸超声心动图检查并获得了正常的发现。根据美国超声心动图学会的建议进行超声心动图评估。二尖瓣反流患者的平均MPV值明显高于对照组 (p  <  0.001)。MPV水平和血栓风险与疾病的严重程度相关。根据是否存在心房颤动和左心耳血栓对二尖瓣关闭不全患者进行分类时，心房颤动患者的MPV水平高于窦性心律正常患者 (p  <  0.001)。此外，房颤和血栓形成患者的MPV水平最高 (p  <  0.001)。总之，MPV的测量可以被认为是评估二尖瓣反流和血栓的快速可靠的指南，而无需任何成本或任何先进的昂贵技术。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: PREMISE OF STUDY:The mechanisms by which plants tolerate water deficit are only just becoming clear. One key factor in drought tolerance is the ability to maintain the capacity to conduct water through the leaves in conditions of water stress. Recent work has shown that a simple feature of the leaf xylem cells, the cube of the thickness of cell walls divided by the lumen width (t/b)(3), is strongly correlated with this ability. METHODS:Using ecologically, phylogenetically, and anatomically diverse members of Proteaceae, we tested the relationships between (t/b)(3) and climate, leaf mass per unit area, leaf area, and vein density. To test relationships at high phylogenetic levels (mostly genus), we used phylogenetic and nonphylogenetic single and multiple regressions based on data from 50 species. We also used 14 within-genus species pairs to test for relationships at lower phylogenetic levels. KEY RESULTS:All analyses revealed that climate, especially mean annual precipitation, was the best predictor of (t/b)(3). The variation in (t/b)(3) was driven by variation in both lumen diameter and wall thickness, implying active control of these dimensions. Total vein density was weakly related to (t/b)(3) but unrelated to either leaf area or climate. CONCLUSIONS:We conclude that xylem reinforcement is a fundamental adaptation for water stress tolerance and, among evergreen woody plants, drives a strong association between rainfall and xylem anatomy. The strong association between (t/b)(3) and climate cannot be explained by autocorrelation with other aspects of leaf form and anatomy that vary along precipitation gradients.

背景与目标：

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :A strictly aerobic, Gram-stain positive, slightly halophilic strain, designated SCSIO 04524(T), was isolated from a deep sea sediment sample collected from the northern South China Sea at a depth of 3415 m. The isolate slightly embedded into the medium after 72 h incubation at 30 °C. Growth was found to occur on media with 0-10 % NaCl but extremely weak growth occurred without supplying NaCl. The predominant menaquinone was determined to be MK-7. The major cellular fatty acid identified was iso-C15:0. The diagnostic polar lipids were determined to be diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidyl methylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol. The genomic DNA G+C content was determined to be 38 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequences analysis showed that this strain had the highest similarities with Bacillus carboniphilus JCM 9731(T) (94.7 %) and Bacillus endophyticus 2DT(T) (94.3 %). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that strain SCSIO 04524(T) formed a distinct lineage with Bacillus chungangensis CAU 348(T) and B. carboniphilus JCM 9731(T). Physiological characteristics including utilization of sole nitrogen and carbon sources, and chemotaxonomic properties of cellular fatty acids and polar lipids could readily distinguish strain SCSIO 04524(T) from its most closely related species. Based on this polyphasic taxonomic data, a new species, Bacillus oceani sp. nov., is proposed, with the type strain SCSIO 04524(T) (=DSM 26213(T) = KCTC 33077(T)).

背景与目标： : 从从南海北部收集的深度为3415 m的深海沉积物样品中分离出严格需氧，革兰氏染色阳性，轻度嗜盐菌株，命名为SCSIO 04524(T)。在30 °C孵育72小时后，该分离物略微嵌入培养基中。发现在具有0-10% NaCl的培养基上发生生长，但是在不提供NaCl的情况下发生极弱的生长。主要的menaquinone被确定为MK-7。所鉴定的主要细胞脂肪酸为iso-C15:0。诊断极性脂质被确定为二磷脂酰甘油，磷脂酰甲基乙醇胺，磷脂酰乙醇胺和磷脂酰甘油。确定基因组DNA G C含量为38 mol %。16S rRNA基因序列分析表明，该菌株与碳酸芽孢杆菌JCM 9731(T) (94.7%) 和内生芽孢杆菌2DT(T) (94.3%) 具有最高的相似性。系统发育分析表明，菌株SCSIO 04524(T) 与重庆芽孢杆菌CAU 348(T) 和B. carboniphilus JCM 9731(T) 形成了独特的谱系。生理特性，包括唯一的氮和碳源的利用，以及细胞脂肪酸和极性脂质的化学分类特性，可以很容易地将SCSIO 04524(T) 菌株与其最密切相关的物种区分开。基于这一多相分类学数据，提出了一种新的物种，11月芽孢杆菌，其类型为SCSIO 04524(T) (= DSM 26213(T) = KCTC 33077(T))。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :We studied the involvement of deep cortical layer neurons in processing callosal information in the rat. We observed with electron microscopy that both parvalbumin (PV)-labeled profiles and unlabeled dendritic spines of deep cortical layer neurons receive synapses from the contralateral hemisphere. Stimulation of callosal fibers elicited monosynaptic excitatory postsynaptic currents in both layer VI pyramidal neurons and gamma-aminobutyric acidergic (GABAergic) interneurons immunopositive for the vesicular GABA transporter and PV. Pyramidal cells had intrinsic electrophysiological properties and synaptic responses with slow kinetics and a robust N-metyhl-D-aspartate (NMDA) component. In contrast, GABAergic interneurons had intrinsic membrane properties and synaptic responses with faster kinetics and a less pronounced NMDA component. Consistent with these results, the temporal integration of callosal input was effective over a significantly longer time window in pyramidal neurons compared with GABAergic interneurons. Interestingly, callosal stimulation did not evoke feedforward inhibition in all GABAergic interneurons and in the majority of pyramidal neurons tested. Furthermore, retrogradely labeled layer VI pyramidal neurons of the contralateral cortex responded monosynaptically to callosal stimulation, suggesting interconnectivity between callosally projecting neurons. The data show that pyramidal neurons and GABAergic interneurons of deep cortical layers receive interhemispheric information directly and have properties supporting their distinct roles.

背景与目标： : 我们研究了深皮质层神经元在处理大鼠call骨信息中的参与。我们用电子显微镜观察到，浅白蛋白 (PV) 标记的轮廓和深皮质层神经元的未标记的树突棘均从对侧半球接收突触。Call骨纤维的刺激在VI层锥体神经元和 γ-氨基丁酸 (GABA能) 中间神经元中均引起单突触兴奋性突触后电流，对囊泡GABA转运蛋白和PV免疫呈阳性。锥体细胞具有内在的电生理特性和突触反应，动力学缓慢，并且具有强大的N-metyhl-D-天冬氨酸 (NMDA) 成分。相反，gaba能中间神经元具有内在的膜特性和突触反应，其动力学更快，NMDA成分不那么明显。与这些结果一致，与gaba能中间神经元相比，在锥体神经元中，call骨输入的时间整合在明显更长的时间窗口内有效。有趣的是，在所有gaba能中间神经元和大多数测试的锥体神经元中，call刺激并未引起前馈抑制。此外，对侧皮层的逆行标记的第VI层锥体神经元对call骨刺激单突触反应，表明call骨投射神经元之间的相互连接。数据表明，皮层深层的锥体神经元和gaba能中间神经元直接接收半球间信息，并具有支持其独特作用的特性。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: OBJECTIVES:To describe the 15-year incidence of retinal vein occlusion (central retinal vein occlusion and branch retinal vein occlusion) and associated risk factors. METHODS:A population-based study where branch retinal vein occlusion and central retinal vein occlusion were detected at baseline (n = 4068, 1988-1990) and three 5-year follow-up examinations by grading 30 degrees color fundus photographs. RESULTS:The 15-year cumulative incidences of branch retinal vein occlusion and central retinal vein occlusion were 1.8% and 0.5%, respectively. Using a generalized estimating equation model, incident retinal vein occlusion was related to baseline age (odds ratio [OR] per 10 years, 1.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.36-2.12), history of barbiturate use (OR, 5.30; 95% CI, 2.28-12.31), focal retinal arteriolar narrowing (OR, 2.45; 95% CI, 1.29-4.66), glaucoma (OR, 3.17; 95% CI, 1.50-6.69), serum ionized calcium level (OR per 0.4 mg/dL, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.23-0.79), serum phosphorus level (OR per 0.3 mg/dL, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.01-1.30), and serum creatinine level (OR for > or = 1.4 vs < 1.4 mg/dL, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.00-2.59). Migraine headache history was associated with branch retinal vein occlusion (OR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.08-3.67). Diabetes history was associated with central retinal vein occlusion (OR, 6.35; 95% CI, 1.90-21.27). CONCLUSIONS:Incident retinal vein occlusion is not infrequent in the population, especially after age 65 years. The relationships of barbiturate use, serum creatinine level, serum ionized calcium level, and serum phosphorus level with incident retinal vein occlusion require further assessment in other large population-based studies.

背景与目标：

BACKGROUND & AIMS: OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of transorbital puncture for the retreatment of previously embolized cavernous sinus dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs) via a superior ophthalmic vein (SOV) approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS:During a 12-year period, 9 consecutive patients with previously embolized cavernous sinus DAVFs underwent retreatment via the transorbital SOV approach. RESULTS:All of the nine cases of previously embolized cavernous sinus DAVFs were successfully embolized. Clinical follow-ups were conducted in all nine cases at the duration of 17-141 months (61.22 ± 39.13 months). No recanalization occurred during the follow-up period. A subtle ptosis appeared in two patients and disappeared in one of the two cases after a 4-year follow-up. One patient suffered from paroxysmal positional vertigo and bruit for nearly 2 years after the treatment, but the follow-up angiography demonstrated no recurrence. One patient had persistent visual impairment caused by the initial venous stasis retinopathy. One patient with a history of a procedure-related transient decrease in visual acuity had it return to the normal level. The remaining four cases had clear improvement in the ocular symptoms and became completely asymptomatic during the follow-up period. No patient worsened or developed new symptoms. CONCLUSION:The approach of surgical cannulation of the SOV for the retreatment of previously embolized cavernous sinus DAVFs was proved feasible and efficient, especially when the transarterial and transfemoral venous approaches were inaccessible. However, if the SOV is not dilated enough or is located deeply in the orbit, transorbital venous puncture access may not be possible.

背景与目标：

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :Succinylation is a type of protein post-translational modification (PTM), which can play important roles in a variety of cellular processes. Due to an increasing number of site-specific succinylated peptides obtained from high-throughput mass spectrometry (MS), various tools have been developed for computationally identifying succinylated sites on proteins. However, most of these tools predict succinylation sites based on traditional machine learning methods. Hence, this work aimed to carry out the succinylation site prediction based on a deep learning model. The abundance of MS-verified succinylated peptides enabled the investigation of substrate site specificity of succinylation sites through sequence-based attributes, such as position-specific amino acid composition, the composition of k-spaced amino acid pairs (CKSAAP), and position-specific scoring matrix (PSSM). Additionally, the maximal dependence decomposition (MDD) was adopted to detect the substrate signatures of lysine succinylation sites by dividing all succinylated sequences into several groups with conserved substrate motifs. According to the results of ten-fold cross-validation, the deep learning model trained using PSSM and informative CKSAAP attributes can reach the best predictive performance and also perform better than traditional machine-learning methods. Moreover, an independent testing dataset that truly did not exist in the training dataset was used to compare the proposed method with six existing prediction tools. The testing dataset comprised of 218 positive and 2621 negative instances, and the proposed model could yield a promising performance with 84.40% sensitivity, 86.99% specificity, 86.79% accuracy, and an MCC value of 0.489. Finally, the proposed method has been implemented as a web-based prediction tool (CNN-SuccSite), which is now freely accessible at http://csb.cse.yzu.edu.tw/CNN-SuccSite/ .

背景与目标： : 琥珀酰化是蛋白质翻译后修饰 (PTM) 的一种，可以在多种细胞过程中发挥重要作用。由于从高通量质谱 (MS) 获得的位点特异性琥珀酰化肽的数量不断增加，因此已开发出各种工具来计算识别蛋白质上的琥珀酰化位点。但是，大多数这些工具都基于传统的机器学习方法来预测琥珀酰化位点。因此，这项工作旨在基于深度学习模型进行琥珀酰化位点预测。MS验证的琥珀酰化肽的丰度使得能够通过基于序列的属性 (例如位置特异性氨基酸组成，k间隔氨基酸对 (CKSAAP) 的组成和位置特异性评分矩阵 (PSSM)) 研究琥珀酰化位点的底物位点特异性。此外，通过将所有琥珀酰化序列分为几个具有保守的底物基序的组，采用最大依赖性分解 (MDD) 来检测赖氨酸琥珀酰化位点的底物特征。根据十倍交叉验证的结果，使用PSSM和信息性CKSAAP属性训练的深度学习模型可以达到最佳的预测性能，并且性能也优于传统的机器学习方法。此外，使用训练数据集中真正不存在的独立测试数据集将所提出的方法与六种现有的预测工具进行比较。测试数据集由218阳性和2621阴性实例组成，所提出的模型可以产生具有84.40% 灵敏度、86.99% 特异性、86.79% 准确性和0.489 MCC值的有希望的性能。最后，所提出的方法已实现为基于web的预测工具 (cnn-succsite)，现在可以在http://csb.cse.yzu.edu.tw/cnn-succsite/上自由访问。