86 results about "Vascular calcification" patented technology

Methods and devices are provided for at least reducing the mineral content of a vascular calcified lesion, i.e. a calcified lesion present on the vascular tissue of a host. In the subject methods, the local environment of the lesion is maintained at a subphysiologic pH for a period of time sufficient for the mineral content of the lesion to be reduced, e.g. by flushing the lesion with a fluid capable of locally increasing the proton concentration in the region of the lesion. Also provided are systems and kits for practicing the subject methods. The subject methods and devices find particular use in the treatment of vascular diseases associated with the presence of calcified lesions on vascular tissue.

Vitamin K is effective in counteracting cardiovascular disorders such as the reduction in arterial elasticity normally associated with the aging process. A pharmaceutical composition or nutritional formulation comprising vitamin K can be used to combat age-related stiffening of the arteries, and the consequences thereof, namely pulmonary congestion, hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, congestive (right sided) heart failure, left sided or left ventricular failure, chronic cardiac failure, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, Mönckeberg's sclerosis and stroke. In various embodiments, vitamin K can also be used to reduce or reverse calcification of a blood vessel in pre-existing cardiovascular disorders such as arteriosclerosis.

Provided herein are methods for the treatment of bone disorders that are associated with kidney disease wherein the methods comprise administration of Activin-ActRIIA inhibitors to a subject in need of the treatment. Also provided herein are methods and compositions for the treatment of low turnover bone disorders wherein the methods comprise administration of Activin-ActRIIA inhibitors to a subject in need of the treatment. Further provided herein are compositions for the treatment of bone disorders that are associated with kidney disease and compositions for the treatment of low turnover bone disorders and vascular calcification.

A method for computer-aided detection of microcalcification clusters obtains digital mammography data for a single view image and normalizes and filters the image data to reduce noise. A first mask is generated and applied to the image data for defining the breast structure, forming a first cropped image. A second mask is generated and applied to the image data for defining muscle structure, forming a second cropped image. An artifact mask corresponding to vascular calcifications and known imaging artifacts is generated and applied to the first and second cropped images, defining first and second artifact-masked cropped images. In a repeated sequence, portions of each artifact-masked cropped image are processed using an enhancement algorithm and reducing edge effects to obtain a set of microcalcification cluster candidates and suspected microcalcification clusters. Image processing algorithms remove false positives from the listing of microcalcification clusters and classify candidate microcalcification clusters to identify true positives.

The present invention relates to methods of treating vascular calcification in subjects using calcimimetics.

Phosphate depletion, a physiological condition commonly seen in certain patient populations, including alcoholics, malnourished, acutely ill patients, patients receiving parenteral nutrition, patients being re-fed after prolonged fasting, and dialysis patients, requires intravenous supplementation when oral repletion is not feasible. This invention provides a method and pharmaceutical composition for therapeutic administration of pyrophosphate, instead of phosphate, for phosphate or pyrophosphate repletion. During hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis significant removal of phosphate and pyrophosphate occurs. Pyrophosphate depletion predisposes patients to vascular calcification. This invention further provides a method and pharmaceutical composition for therapeutic administration of pyrophosphate for phosphate or pyrophosphate repletion by addition of pyrophosphate to hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis solutions.

The present invention relates to the application of ferric citrate in preparing medicine for preventing and treating calcification of blood vessel. The present invention has determined curative effect. Experiment proves that ferric citrate can intervene calcification of blood vessel and inhibit calcification effectively, and may reverse calcification of blood vessel.

The present invention relates to methods and compositions comprising small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to identify nucleotides encoding proteins involved in the co-transport of inorganic phosphate in vascular tissues. Specifically, it relates to the identification of Pit-1 and Pit-2 as key proteins involved in vascular calcification, the deposition of calcium phosphate, in blood vessels. The nucleic acids encoding specific siRNAs and vectors encoding these siRNAs are useful as tools to specifically inhibit the expression of Pit-1, Pit-2, or related proteins in various primary and stably-transformed cell lines, and as tools to explore the roles and functional relationships of these proteins involved in vascular calcification. In addition, they may be useful directly as therapeutic agents in humans delivered to sites of vascular calcification.

The invention provides a chemotactic leucocyte and an FAM19A5 secretory protein of amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 of tumor, a polynucleotide coding the protein, and a polynucleotide-containing genetic engineering carrier. The invention further relates to a drug composite, the protein or polynucleotide-containing genetic engineering carrier and/or host cell, and a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, carrier or excipient. The invention further relates to a method for detecting the expression level change of the protein or the polynucleotide in vitro. Furthermore, the protein or the polynucleotide can be used for preventing and/or curing the virus infection, the allergic diseases, the inflammatory response, the transplant rejection, the cerebral disease, the autoimmunity disease, the tumor metastasis, the immune adjustment, the proliferation and differentiation of stem cells, the osteoporosis, the obesity, the insulin resistance and the cardiovascular disease such as the arteriosclerosis, the angiosteosis and the like, and can be used for commercialized agent to research the symptoms. The protein or the polynucleotide can be further taken as a target to develop the compound, the antibody, the polypeptide drug and the commercialized reagent.

A method of deriving a quantitative measure of a degree of calcification of a blood vessel such as an aorta by processing an image such as an X-ray image of at least a part of the blood vessel containing said calcification comprises: taking a starting set of digital data representative of an image of at least part of a blood vessel containing a calcification set against a background; estimating the boundary of the calcification; using inpainting to replace digital data in said starting set representing the calcification with data extrapolating the boundary of the background to extend over the area of calcification, and so generating an inpainted set of digital data; and computing the difference between the starting set of digital data and the inpainted set of digital data to obtain a quantitative measure of the degree of calcification of the blood vessel.

The invention discloses an ultrasound balloon catheter assembly and catheter system, and a usage method. The ultrasound balloon catheter assembly includes a catheter and a balloon that can expand andis disposed on the catheter, the catheter passes through an inner cavity of the balloon in the axial direction and is used for introducing fluid into the inner cavity of the balloon, sealing is arranged between a peripheral portion of the balloon and the catheter, the catheter assembly further comprises an ultrasonic generation element that can emit ultrasonic waves, and the ultrasonic generationelement is disposed on the catheter and located in the inner cavity of the balloon. When the ultrasound balloon catheter assembly is applied to remove intravascular calcified plaque, it is only necessary to introduce the fluid to make the balloon full and then the ultrasonic generation element is started, so that the ultrasonic waves can be emitted and directly pass through the fluid and the balloon to directly act on the intravascular calcified plaque, thereby achieving the purpose of removing the intravascular calcified plaque. The transmittance is good, removal of calcified plaque is more direct, and safety is good.

A method that allows the quantification of the true mass of a calcium fragment located along a vessel is provided. The method is independent of the level of arterial contrast enhancement, does not require protocol-specific or scanner-specific calibration scans, and allows a detailed analysis of calcium distribution patterns. For each identified calcium fragment, the average intensity and volume is determined as a function of a plurality of intensity thresholds. Using these determined values brightness volume products are calculated for each of the plurality of intensity thresholds. The mass of a calcium segment is subsequently obtained from the calculated brightness volume products extrapolated at zero intensity and reference calcium parameters. The mass and volume of the calcium fragments could be visualized with respect to a vessel in a computer display.

Aortic valve stenosis (AS) is a chronic process related to a progressive mineralization of the aortic root and valve cusps. We found in human AS valves a high level of expression and enzymatic activity of ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-1 (ENPP-1), which correlated to the degree of mineralization. In vitro, inhibition of ENPP activity with ARL 67156 significantly reduced calcification of isolated valve interstitial cells. In a rat model of cardiovascular calcification, ARL 67156 significantly reduced calcification of the aortic root and valve cusps. This is the first study to demonstrate that increased expression and activity of ENPP-1 promotes the mineralization process in AS valves. Hence, inhibition of ectonucleotidase may represent a novel target of therapy for this frequent and serious cardiovascular disease.

Compositions, systems, and methods of treating conditions such as vascular calcification conditions are disclosed. A representative method includes administering to an individual in need of treatment an effective amount of at least one effector agent. Another method includes prophylactically treating vascular calcification or vascular calcification-related conditions by administering to an individual in need of treatment an effective amount of at least one effector agent. Still another method includes treating vascular calcification by administering an effective amount of at least one effector agent to an individual in need of treatment via hemodialysis.

The invention discloses an indented balloon for vascular calcification plaques, which comprises a balloon body used for expanding a vascular wall; a indentation structure which is mounted on the outer surface of the balloon body, wherein the indentation structure comprises at least one indentation filament body, and the at least one indentation filament body is spirally arranged on the balloon body in a sleeving mode in the axial direction of the balloon body; in the radial direction of the balloon body, the free end of at least one indented filament body is spine-shaped; and in an expansion state, the free end of the indentation filament body is in contact with the calcified plaque. When the balloon body is conveyed to a calcified plaque lesion position, the spiral indented filament bodies can form a sliding effect, and the balloon body is promoted to smoothly pass through the calcified lesion position. The indented filaments on the outer surface of the balloon body are spiral, so that overhigh tension cannot be locally formed, the risk of complications such as vascular interlayer and vascular perforation is reduced, and the safety is improved. In addition, the free ends of the indentation filament bodies can generate impact force on the calcified plaque, so that the calcified plaque forms cracks and is separated from the blood vessel wall, and therefore, the treatment effect of the calcified plaque is improved.

A computer-implemented method of processing an image of at least part of a blood vessel to derive a measure indicative of the instability of calcific deposits in the blood vessel, said blood vessel containing at least one calcific deposit, comprises locating and annotating one or more calcific deposits. Using information derived from the annotation of said calcific deposits, the method further comprises calculating a measure reflecting either one or both of a) the aggregate of the deviations from roundness of individual calcific deposits, and b) up to at least a threshold value, the extent to which the separate calcific deposits are spaced from one another.

The invention encompasses compositions and methods for effectively interfering, reducing and preventing conversion of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and circulating stem cells to osteoblastic bone-like cells, thereby reducing and/or preventing vascular calcification (VC) or calcium mineral (hydroxyapatite) deposition in the vasculature. The severity and extent of calcification in the major arteries reflect atherosclerotic plaque burden and strongly predict cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The present inventive compositions used for administration to human and other mammalian subjects comprise select actives that inhibit, interfere or regulate the biochemical processes leading to such calcification and include (1) at least one agent that modulates expression and/or activity of peroxisome activated protein receptor gamma (PPAR-γ); (2) at least one agent that inhibits expression and/or suppresses activity of one or more of the osteogenic transcription factors (Cbfα1/Runx2, Osterix, Msx2) and β-catenin signaling; (3) at least one agent that inhibits expression and/or suppresses activity of one or more of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs: BMP 2 and 4), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and osteocalcin; (4) at least one agent that inhibits the activity of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS); and (5) at least one agent that suppresses one or more of inflammatory mediators including interleukins IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, NF-κB, TNF-α, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). The compositions may further comprise at least one agent that promotes expression and/or carboxylation of matrix Gla protein (MGP). Advantageously, these select actives include materials such as phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals that have been broadly used in food and drink products and are safe for human and pet/animal consumption. Compositions with such combinations have the ability to prevent, treat and reverse VC not only in coronary arteries but also in other tissues capable of undergoing undesirable calcification. In addition the present compositions are effective against associated conditions or contributory factors/inducers to VC, including diabetes, obesity, hypertension, inflammation, oxidative stress, osteoporosis and arthritis.

The invention discloses a clustering algorithm-based lower limb vascular calcification index multi-parameter accumulation calculation method, comprising the steps: firstly carrying out the superpixelsegmentation of a CT image, and enabling calcified spots in the CT image to be segmented in each superpixel region; after the super-pixel segmentation is finished, extracting a brightness characteristic value of a superpixel region where the calcified spots are located by using a Lab color space, and performing edge detection and contour extraction on the calcified spots in the image; and after edge detection and contour extraction, fitting the calcified spots in the image by using a segmented ellipse, and extracting the area of the calcified spots after optimizing an ellipse contour. According to the clustering algorithm-based lower limb vascular calcification index multi-parameter accumulation calculation method, the judgment value of the calcification degree in the CT image is obtainedbased on multiple parameters such as the brightness characteristic value, the area of the calcified spot and the cumulative correction coefficient, and the CT image of the lower limb blood vessel is directly processed, so that the error of experience judgment is effectively reduced.

The invention provides a blood vessel calcification image segmentation method and system and a readable storage medium, and the method comprises the steps: firstly segmenting a to-be-segmented blood vessel image through employing a pre-trained neural network model, and obtaining an initial blood vessel segmentation image which only comprises a blood flowing region in a blood vessel and does not comprise a blood vessel calcification region; performing morphological dilation on the initial blood vessel segmentation image to obtain a blood vessel region mask image, expanding a blood vessel wall region on the periphery of a blood flowing region in a blood vessel, and performing multiplication operation on the blood vessel region mask image and the to-be-segmented blood vessel image to obtain a blood vessel segmentation image, wherein the blood vessel segmentation image contains a blood vessel calcification region at the moment; and determining a calcification threshold value according to the blood vessel segmentation image, and determining the blood vessel calcification region in the blood vessel segmentation image according to the calcification threshold value to obtain a blood vessel calcification segmentation image. The method not only can improve the precision of the whole segmentation algorithm, but also can effectively reduce the tedious operation of man-machine interaction.

The present invention discloses a new medical use of a growth hormone release hormone (GHRH) agonist, particularly applications of a growth hormone release hormone agonist in preparation of anti-vascular calcification drugs. According to the present invention, GHRH-A can increase the cAMP level and the protein kinase A (PKA) activity in smooth muscle cells, can decrease the expression and the activity of NAPDH oxidase in smooth muscle cells, can decrease the ROS level in smooth muscle cells, can decrease the expression and the activity of Runx2 in smooth muscle cells, can decrease the expression and the activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in cells, and can decrease the inorganic phosphorus content in blood so as to reduce the calcium deposition and the phosphorus deposition in aorta, reduce the activity of ALP in aorta, and achieve the purposes of treatment or prevention of vascular calcification and arteriosclerosis.

The present invention relates to prevention and treatment of vascular sclerosis, vascular calcification (VC) and neointimal hyperplasia using a morphogen.

The invention discloses a plasma marker, a primer pair and a kit for a diagnosis of vascular calcification and an application. The invention discloses a plasma miRNA marker miR-32-5p used for the diagnosis of the vascular calcification. The marker and primers thereof can be used for preparing a diagnostic kit which is used for the clinical diagnosis, prevention and detection of the vascular calcification.