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Infections by malaria parasites can lead to very different clinical outcomes, ranging from mild symptoms to death. Differences in the ability of the spleen to deal with the infected red blood cells (iRBCs) are linked to differences in virulence. Using virulent and avirulent strains of the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium yoelii, we investigated how parasite virulence modulates overall spleen function. Following parasite invasion, a difference in parasite virulence was observed in association with different levels of spleen morphology and iRBC rigidity, both of which contributed to enhanced parasite clearance. Moreover, iRBC rigidity as modulated by the spleen was demonstrated to correlate with disease outcome and thus can be used as a robust indicator of virulence. The data indicate that alterations in the biomechanical properties of iRBCs are the result of the complex interaction between host and parasite. Furthermore, we confirmed that early spleen responses are a key factor in directing the clinical outcome of an infection. IMPORTANCE The spleen and its response to parasite infection are important in eliminating parasites in malaria. By comparing P. yoelii parasite lines with different disease outcomes in mice that had either intact spleens or had had their spleens removed, we showed that upon parasite infection, the spleen exhibits dramatic changes that can affect parasite clearance. The spleen itself directly impacts RBC deformability independently of parasite genetics. The data indicated that the changes in the biomechanical properties of malaria parasite-infected RBCs are the result of the complex interaction between host and parasite, and RBC deformability itself can serve as a novel predictor of clinical outcome. The results also suggest that early responses in the spleen are a key factor directing the clinical outcome of an infection.

Positron emission tomography (PET) image quantification is a challenging problem due to limited spatial resolution of acquired data and the resulting partial volume effects (PVE), which depend on the size of the structure studied in relation to the spatial resolution and which may lead to over or underestimation of the true tissue tracer concentration. In addition, it is usually necessary to perform image smoothing either during image reconstruction or afterwards to achieve a reasonable signal-to-noise ratio. Typically, an isotropic Gaussian filtering (GF) is used for this purpose. However, the noise suppression is at the cost of deteriorating spatial resolution. As hybrid imaging devices such as PET/MRI have become available, the complementary information derived from high definition morphologic images could be used to improve the quality of PET images. In this study, first of all, we propose an MRI-guided PET filtering method by adapting a recently proposed local linear model and then incorporate PVE into the model to get a new partial volume correction (PVC) method without parcellation of MRI. In addition, both the new filtering and PVC are voxel-wise non-iterative methods. The performance of the proposed methods were investigated with simulated dynamic FDG brain dataset and (18)F-FDG brain data of a cervical cancer patient acquired with a simultaneous hybrid PET/MR scanner. The initial simulation results demonstrated that MRI-guided PET image filtering can produce less noisy images than traditional GF and bias and coefficient of variation can be further reduced by MRI-guided PET PVC. Moreover, structures can be much better delineated in MRI-guided PET PVC for real brain data.

The success of periodontal regeneration depends on the coordination of early cell proliferation and late cell differentiation. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the proliferation or differentiation stage predominantly promotes the initiation of periodontal regeneration. Critical-sized periodontal defects were surgically created on rat maxillae and filled with poly-(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide)-poly-d,l-lactide hybrid microspheres encapsulating platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF, a promoter of mitogenesis), simvastatin (a promoter of osteogenic differentiation), or bovine serum albumin (a control). The encapsulation efficiency and in vitro release profiles of the microspheres were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The maxillae were harvested after 10 or 14 days and assessed by micro-computed tomography, histology, and immunohistochemistry for regeneration efficacy and cell viability. The rapid release of PDGF was observed within the first week, whereas a slow release profile was noted for simvastatin. The PDGF-treated specimens demonstrated a significantly higher bone volume fraction compared with bovine serum albumin- (p < 0.05) or simvastatin-treated (p < 0.05) specimens at day 14. Histologically, active bone formation originating from the defect borders was noted in both the PDGF- and the simvastatin-treated specimens, and functionally aligned periodontal ligament fiber insertion was only observed in the PDGF-treated specimens. The significant promotion of mitogenesis by PDGF treatment was also noted at day 14 (p < 0.05). In conclusion, increased mitogenesis or osteogenic differentiation may stimulate osteogenesis, and the upregulation of mitogenesis by PDGF appears to play a role in the initiation of periodontal regeneration.