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Biomedical subjects

S Q Liu

Publications and source records attributed to S Q Liu.

125 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

Serological markers of hepatitis B infection in Niue children.

Hepatitis B infection is hyperendemic in the adult population of Niue. In order to determine the age at which infection is acquired and the contribution of vertical and horizontal transmission, the sera from 1055 children were tested for markers of hepatitis B infection. Eleven percent (11.0%) were found to be carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and a further 33.6% had antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs). While less than 15% of the population were infected before the age of two years, these children had the greatest risk of becoming chronic carriers. The simplest method of controlling hepatitis B infection in Niue would be to immunise all newborn babies.

Adolescent↗

Changes in the organization of the smooth muscle cells in rat vein grafts.

Mechanical tensile stress in vein grafts increases suddenly under the influence of arterial blood pressure. In this study, we examined the influence of increased tensile stress on the organization of the smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in the neointima and media of the rat vein grafts. An autogenous jugular vein was grafted into the abdominal aorta of the rat, and changes in the organization of the vein graft SMCs were studied by observing the distribution of SMC actin filaments and nuclei at 3 min and 1, 5, 10, and 30 days after surgery. In a normal jugular vein, the average wall circumferential tensile stress was approximately 3 kPa at an internal pressure of 3 mm Hg. The SMCs, that contained long, slender actin filamentous bundles, were oriented mainly in the circumferential direction of the vessel, and constituted a 2- to 3-cell-thick medial layer underneath the endothelium. In a vein graft, the wall circumferential tensile stress suddenly increased by approximately 140 times compared with the control level. In response to this suddenly increased stress, the SMC layer was stretched into a structure with scattered pores and disrupted SMC actin filamentous bundles within 3 min. This initial change was followed by a rapid reduction in the density of the SMC nuclei and actin filaments within 1 day and progressive SMC proliferation, that was associated with medial thickening and a change in the SMC orientation from 5 to 30 days. Further studies showed that a local inflation of normal jugular veins to 120 mm Hg for 3 min induced a similar change as found in the vein grafts, whereas the organization of the SMCs was not significantly changed in vein-vein grafts, that did not experience a change in tensile stress. These results suggested that increased tensile stress contributed to the initial damage of the SMCs and played a role in the regulation of medial SMC remodeling in vein grafts.

Actins↗

Changes in the rheological properties of blood vessel tissue remodeling in the course of development of diabetes.

Rheological properties of blood vessels are expected to change in disease process if the structure of the vessel wall changes. This is illustrated in diabetes, which can be induced in rat by a single injection of Streptozocin. One of the rheological properties of the blood vessel is the stress-strain relationship. The nonlinear stress-strain relationship of arteries is best expressed as derivations of a strain-energy function. In this paper, the stress-strain relations are measured and the coefficients in the strain energy function of arteries are determined for diabetic and control rats. The meaning of these coefficients are explained. The influence of diabetes on the elastic property of the arteries is expressed by the changes of these coefficients. A point of departure of the present paper from all other blood vessel papers published so far is that all strains used here are referred to the zero-stress state of the arteries, whereas all other papers refer strains to the no-load state. The existence of a large difference between the zero-stress state and no-load state of arteries is one of our recent findings. We have explained that the use of zero-stress state as a basis of strain measurements reveals that the in vivo circumferential stress distribution is quite uniform in the vessel wall at the homeostatic condition. It also makes the strain energy function much more accurate than those in which the residual stress is ignored. Using these new results, the stress and strain distribution in normal and diabetic arteries are presented.

Animals↗