Purpose: The main goal of this study is to measure the needle insertion force/torque (F/T), velocity/ acceleration (V/A), and tissue/organ deformation during actual brachytherapy procedures in the operating room (OR). These in vivo data will guide the design of a Robot‐Assisted Platform for Intratumoral Delivery (RAPID) system. Method and Materials: We have acquired F/T and V/A data from actual patients and a single surgeon placing brachytherapy needles in the OR using a hand‐held adapter equipped with a 6 degree‐of‐freedom (DOF) F/T sensor (Nano25™). During this in vivo measurement, the needle progression into the soft tissue was registered using ultrasound (US) imaging technique. A 6 DOF electromagnetic (EM)‐based position sensor (miniBIRD®) was attached to the hand‐held adapter to measure 3D position and orientation of the hand‐held adapter. Results: The in vivo data reveals that maximum needle insertion force is about 18N, velocity is about 72cm/s, and acceleration is about 3000cm/s2. This relatively high acceleration may have some implications on the inertia force, which may help the surgeon in needle insertion. We observed significant transverse force (about 1.7N). From in vitro data it was observed that the force and torque during robotic needle insertion in animal soft tissues were significantly smaller as compared to that for humans. Conclusion: Additional in vivo data are being collected from different patients to study the effects of patient specific criteria such as age, height, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI), prostate specific agent (PSA) value, special anatomy, previous treatment, etc. on needle insertion force/torque and tissue deformation. Since frequent in vivo data collection and experimentation are impractical, we will use these data to determine the soft animal tissues and soft materials which have close resemblance to human tissues.
Background Numerous researches have demonstrated the essential functions of microRNAs (miRNAs) in cardiovascular disease. Herein, we want to probe into the roles of miR-126 and miR-223 in the prediction of plaque stability of carotid atherosclerosis (CA). Methods First, miRNA microarray was performed to analyze the differentially expressed miRNA in serum of normal controls and CA patients. Next, the differential expression of miR-223 and miR-126 in CA was verified and the correlations of their expression levels with plaque stability-related factors were analyzed. Then, the predictive efficacy of miR-223 and miR-126 on plaque stability was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic curve, then the targeting relationships of miR-223 and miR-126 with COX2 were verified by online prediction and luciferase activity assay. Finally, the relationship between COX2 expression and CA plaque stability was analyzed. Results Expression levels of miR-223 and miR-126 were decreased in the serum of CA patients and they had good diagnostic efficacy for CA. Additionally, we found that the expression levels of miR-223 and miR-126 in the serum of CA patients with unstable plaque were lower than those with stable plaque. miR-223 and miR-126 were negatively correlated with plaque instability-related indicators, while COX2, a direct target gene of miR-223 and miR-126, was positively related to plaque instability-related indicators. Conclusion This study indicates that miR-223 and miR-126 are lowly expressed in serum of CA patients, which can be used as a clinical indicator for predicting the plaque stability in CA patients.
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