Wei, Lihua. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-196). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Zhang, Yang. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-201). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Myocardial infarction is a prominent medical problem in the world today. Current treatments are limited and do not strive to regenerate the myocardial tissue that is lost post-infarction. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have been shown to improve cardiac function when implanted post-infarction. The effectiveness of stem cell therapy largely depends on the delivery method. Current delivery methods are insufficient due to their low cell engraftment rate and inability to target the endocardium, where most myocardial infarctions occur. Biological microthreads are a promising new local cell delivery method that may improve upon these current limitations. We hypothesize that biological microthreads will increase efficiency of hMSC delivery to the beating rat heart compared to intramyocardial injection. To test our hypothesis we seeded biological microthreads in vitro with 100 ìL of cell suspension (100,000 hMSCs). After one day, an average of 11,806 ± 3,932 hMSCs were counted on the biological microthreads. The biological microthreads were attached to suture needles to allow targeted delivery to the rat heart (in the left ventricular wall). Human mesenchymal stem cells were loaded with quantum dots prior to seeding the biological microthread bundles or delivery to the rat heart via injection. For intramyocardial injection, a cell suspension containing 10,000 hMSCs (35 ìL) was injected into the myocardial wall using a 100 ìL syringe. The delivery efficiency of each method was determined by sectioning the heart into 8 µm thick sections and analyzing three sections every sixty sections (24 µm every 480 µm) for quantum dot loaded hMSCs. These sections were stained with Hoechst dye and quantum dot loaded cells in the heart sections were manually counted. The delivery efficiency of each biological microthread implantation was calculated by dividing the number of counted quantum dot loaded hMSCs in the heart wall by the average number of hMSCs on the biological microthread bundles (normalized to the length that was implanted in the heart wall) after 24 hours. The delivery efficiency of intramyocardial injection was calculated by dividing the number of counted quantum dot loaded hMSCs in the heart wall by 10,000 (the number of cells injected). Biological microthread mediated hMSC delivery had a significantly higher delivery efficiency (66.6 ± 11.1%) compared to intramyocardial injection (11.8 ± 6.25%) after 1 hour (p < 0.05). Biological microthread implantation tracking illustrated that we were able to deliver hMSCs to the myocardium and endocardium of the left ventricular wall for hMSC delivery. This study illustrates that biological microthreads can serve as an efficient means of delivering hMSCs to the infarcted heart. Unlike the currently utilized delivery methods, biological microthreads can target the infarcted layer of the left ventricular wall and maximize hMSC engraftment to that layer.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

La cardiomyopathie associée à la DMD est une atteinte pour laquelle il n’existe pas actuellement de traitement. Les cellules souches embryonnaires humaines (hES), par leurs propriétés d’autorenouvellement et de différenciation, sont envisagées comme outil thérapeutique. Pour une recherche sur l’implantation de cellules, il n’existait pas de modèle in vitro au long cours. Nous avons ainsi développé un modèle de culture organotypique de tranches de cœur dans lequel nous avons, plusieurs mois après transplantation, retrouvé les cellules hES greffées, différenciées en cardiomyocytes. Par ailleurs, nous avons optimisé la différenciation cardiaque pour améliorer le rendement en cardiomyocytes, en induisant la différenciation cardiaque et en cultivant les cellules hES en bioréacteur. Le modèle d’étude au long terme permettant le suivi des cellules greffées dérivées de cellules hES nous permettra de valider les premières étapes précédant les études in vivo dans des modèles pathologiques. / Cardiomyopathy associated with DMD is a frequent occurrence with no treatment. Human embryonic stem cells (hESC), because of their self-renew differentiation properties are the best candidates to cardiac cellular therapy. To investigate cells implantation, there was no long term in vitro model. Thus, we have developed an organotypic model of heart slices in which we have, several months after transplantation, found grafted hES cells with evidence of cardiac differentiation. In addition, we have optimised cardiac differentiation to improve cardiac yield, inducing cardiac differentiation and cultivating hES cells in bioreactors. During long term culture model allows the study of grafted hES cells, combines to hESC-derived cells in reasonable number and purity, will constitute validation of the first steps before in vivo studies in pathological models.

Heart burial is a funerary practice that has been performed since the early medieval period. However, relatively little scholarship has been published on it in English. Heart burial began as a pragmatic way to preserve a body, but it became a meaningful tradition in Western Europe during the medieval and early modern periods. In an anthropological context, the ritual served the needs of elites and the societies they governed. Elites used heart burial not only to preserve their bodies, but to express devotion, stabilize the social order and advocate legitimacy, and even gain heaven. Heart burial assisted in the elite Christian, his or her family, and society pass through the liminal period of death. Over the centuries, heart burial evolved to remain relevant. The practice is extant to the present day, though the motivations behind it are very different from those of the medieval and early modern periods.

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Conotruncal anomalies are the leading causes of cyanotic congenital heart disease. We attempted to use live xPlane imaging of ductal arch view and in-plane view of IVS to screen the fetal conotruncal anomalies in 200 fetuses. There were 152 normal cases, 25 conotruncal anomalies and 23 other types of fetal CHDs were involved in this study. The visualization rate of the normal ductal arch view and in-plane view of IVS with live xPlane imaging was 100% (152/152), 100% (152/152) in normal cases, 8% (2/25), 12% (3/25) in conotruncal anomalies and 69.7% (16/23), 73.9% (17/23) in non-conotruncal CHDs, respectively. The visualization rate of abnormal ductal arch and in-plane view in conotruncal anomalies was much higher than that in non-conotruncal anomalies (P&lt;0.001). Therefore, it may be a useful tool for the assessment and diagnosis of fetal conotruncal anomalies. / In conclusion, real-time 3DE is a novel and promising technique to perform the prenatal examination, both the fetal heart and other system. It represents the future of 3D ultrasound and will become a useful tool for prenatal screening and diagnosis. / This thesis summarized real-time 3D ultrasound in obstetric application. With the introduction of matrix transducer, 3D scanning the fetus in real time became available. / We attempted to use real-time 3D ultrasound in obstetrics outside the fetal heart. We evaluated the feasibility of using real-time 3D ultrasound to assist in obtaining a true midsagittal view in first trimester. Eight sonographers, including FMF-certified and non FMF-certified operators, were asked to perform ultrasound examinations on five patients and forty patients were examined in total. It showed that the deviation from true midsagittal view was reduced greatly with the guidance of live xPlane imaging. Real-time 3D ultrasound can improve the accuracy of acquisition of a defined sonographic plane, and reduce the difference in performance between operators who are formally certified or not. / We demonstrated a novel method to visualize the aortic and ductal arch with live xPlane imaging. The visualization rate is 100%. Ductal arch view can be visualized by placing the reference line through pulmonary artery and descending aorta and aortic arch view can be acquired by putting the reference line along the transverse view of aortic arch and descending aorta on the 3VT view with live xPlane imaging. Therefore, live xPlane imaging is an easy and feasible method for real-time imaging of the ductal and aortic arch. / We explored the feasibility to perform the fetal heart screening using real-time 3DE with live xPlane imaging. We developed and reported the methodology of acquiring and examining the screening planes of the fetal heart with live xPlane imaging. The procedure was simple and straight. When performing the fetal heart screening with live xPlane imaging, we just need display the apical four-chamber view and mid-sagittal view of fetal upper thorax and other thing could be done by moving the reference line. The overall detection of four cardiac screen planes can reach 100%. / We explored to evaluate the entire fetal IVS with both live xPlane imaging and live 3D imaging. We can successfully assess the entire IVS in most fetuses (153/154). We also compared the images acquired by real-time 3DE and STIC in this thesis. It showed that less motion artifact encounters with real-time 3DE and the image quality of real-time 3DE is similar to STIC volume acquired from the sagittal view (P>0.05) and superior to STIC volume from the four-chamber view (P&lt;0.05). Therefore, real-time 3DE can be used to display the lateral view of the fetal IVS, and potentially may be a useful tool for the assessment and diagnosis of fetal VSDs. / Xiong, Yi. / Adviser: Tzekin Lau. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-02, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-138). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.