Objective To analyze MRI features of peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (pPNET) in comparison with pathological findings. Methods The clinical manifestation, pathological features and the MRI appearances of 7 patients with pathologically proved pPNET were analyzed retrospectively. Results Among 7 patients, 2 patients located in intracalvarium, 2 in lower extremities, 1 in vertebral canal and extended outside of vertebral canal, 1 in cavitas pelvis and involved sacrum, and the rest 1 in the retroperitoneal space. The lesions in soft tissue manifested as iso-intensity on T1WI, slight hyper-intensity on T2WI with cystic degeneration and hemorrhage. Pseudo-capsule was seen in 1 patient. The solid parts of pPNET enhanced markedly after the contrast agent was injected. The adjacent bones were usually involved. pPNET in bone presented as osteolytic destruction of bone with large soft tissue mass. Immunohistochemical examination showed CD99 expression in all 7 patients, synaptophysin (Syn) expression in 4, Chromogranin (CgA) expression in 3, neuron specific enolase (NSE) expression in 2, vimentin (Vim) expression in 2 and EMA in 1 patient. Conclusion MRI has important reference value in diagnosis of pPNET, but final diagnosis still depends on the pathological and immunohistochemical examination.

Objective: To investigate the effect of alendronate on serum total alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and bone specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP) in the elderly female patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis and explore their correlations.Methods: A retrospective study was performed.Totally 286 elderly female patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis were divided into two groups(according to AKP levels before the treatment of alendronate): the normal AKP group (n=245) and the elevated AKP group (n=41).Raised AKP of all the patients in the elevated AKP group was not associated with hepatobiliary problems.The changes of AKP and BAP levels were analyzed after the treatment of alendronate.The correlations between BAP and AKP levels before and after the treatment of alendronate were analyzed, as well as between the changes in AKP (ΔAKP) and BAP (ΔBAP) levels.Results: AKP and BAP tended to be higher in elderly patients.BAP levels in the normal AKP group were higher than those in the elevated AKP group (P＜0.05).BAP was signicantly correlated with AKP both before and after the treatment (P＜0.05), as well as the correlation between ΔAKP and ΔBAP (P＜0.05).Conclusion: AKP and BAP both tend to increase with age.In elderly female patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis and elevated AKP associated with non-hepatobiliary problems, alendronate treatment can lower AKP levels, and the decrease is strongly correlated with the decrease in BAP.

Objective To study the effects of butylphthalide (NBP) on memory and apoptosis related protein as well as neuronal pathology in hippocampus of vascular dementia (VD) rats. Methods VD model was generated by the permanent occlusion of bilateral common carotid arteries in SD rats to produce the forebran ischemia. Male SD rats were randomly allocated into sham-operation group, VD model group, NBP treatment group and nimodipine treatment group. The function of memory was tested by the Morris water maze. The neuronal pathological changes and the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins in the hippocampus were observed with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and immunohistochemical staining, respectively. Results The impaired memory of VD rats was proved by the lengthened mean escape latency [(78.79±21.93)vs.(16.96±7.44),P＜0.05] and the neuron in hippocampus was severely damaged. The decveased ratio of Bcl-2/Bax resulted from the overexpression of Bax proteins in VD model group versus the sham-operation group [(43.00±6.72)vs.(6.00±1.29),P＜0.05]. The treatment of NBP notably improved the memory function of VD rats and reduced the hippocampus pathological injury (P＜0.05). The expression of Bcl-2 protein raised [(33.14±8.05)vs.(21.81±4.97),P＜0.05] along with reduced expression of Bax protein [(32.93±4.99)vs.(43.00±6.72),P＜0.05] after NBP treatment. However, there was no significant difference in the treatment effects between nimodipine and NBP group (P＞0.05). Conclusions NBP treatment could improve memory of VD rats and reduce the hippocampus pathological lesion by inhibiting the apoptosis related protein.

Objective To investigate the value of renal CT volumetric texture analysis with machine learning radiomics in assessment of pathological grade of clear cell renal cell carcinoma(ccRCC). Methods Thirty-four biopsy-confirmed ccRCC subjects who had four-phase CT scanning (NC:non-contrast, CM: Corticomedullary, N: Nephrographic, E: Excretory) were collected retrospectively from June 2013 to October 2017 for the study.Non-rigid registration was performed on multi-phase CT images in reference to CM-phase.Each lesion was segmented on CM-phase CT images using our in-house volumetric image analysis platform,"3DQI".A set of fifty-nine volumetric textures,including histogram,gradient,gray level co-occurrence matrix(GLCM),run-length(RL),moments,and shape,was calculated for each segment lesion in each phase as parameters for the training/testing of Random Forest (RF) classifier. Four groups according to pathological Fuhrman grade on a scaleⅠtoⅣ,these tumors were then divided into low(Ⅰ+Ⅱ) and high grade ( Ⅲ + Ⅳ) groups. Feature selection was performed by Boruta algorithm. A 10-fold cross-validation method was applied to validate the RF performance by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves analysis to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the model. Results Subjects were divided into four groups by Fuhrman grade on a scaleⅠtoⅣ:3 cases gradeⅠ,19 cases gradeⅡ,8 cases gradeⅢand 4 cases gradeⅣ.In CM-phase,kurtosis and long-run-emphasis(RLE)were selected the most important textures for ccRCC staging among 59 features. The area under curve (AUC) of ROC was 0.88 (79% sensitivity and 82% specificity)by using kurtosis and RLE textures.The mean values of kurtosis and RLE were(-20.00±22.00)×10-2and(3.00±0.40)×10-2for low group,whereas(31.00±32.00)×10-2and(5.00± 0.02)×10-2for high group.Within the mean±SD range of statistics,radiomics can distinguish between low and high grade tumors.In multi-phase analysis,three most important features were selected among 236(59× 4) textures: kurtosis (CM-phase), GLCM homogeneity I (HOMO 1) (E-phase), and GLCM homogeneity 2 (HOMO2)(E-phase).The mean values of HOMO 1(E-phase)and HOMO 2(E-phase)were(19.00±0.03)× 10-2and(11.00±0.02)×10-2for low group,whereas(22.00±0.03)×10-2and(14.00±0.02)×10-2for high group. The AUC was 0.92(93% sensitivity and 87% specificity)by using these three textures. Conclusion This study has demonstrated that renal CT volumetric texture analysis with machine learning radiomics could preoperative accurately perform cancer staging for ccRCC.

ObjectiveTo observe the effects of Aurantii Fructus Immaturus， Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma， and their combination on slow transit constipation via PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 （PINK1）/Parkin pathway-mediated mitophagy. MethodFifty-six male SD rats were randomly assigned into normal group， model group， natural recovery group， Aurantii Fructus Immaturus group， Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma group， Aurantii Fructus Immaturus combined with Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma group， and mosapride group， with 8 rats in each group. Slow transit constipation model was established by gavage with loperamide （3 mg·kg^-1·d^-1） for 14 days in other groups except the normal group. After successful modeling， except that the model group was continuously induced by loperamide， the normal group and the natural recovery group were administrated with 0.9% normal saline by gavage， and the rats in the Aurantii Fructus Immaturus （1.35 g·kg^-1·d^-1） group， the Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma （2.7 g·kg^-1·d^-1） group， the Aurantii Fructus Immaturus combined with Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma （4.05 g·kg^-1·d^-1） group， and the mosapride （1.56 mg·kg^-1·d^-1） group were administrated with corresponding drugs by gavage for 7 days. The amount of feces， fecal water content， and intestinal propulsion rate of rats were determined. The pathological changes of the colon were evaluated by hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining and Alcian blue-periodic acid-Schiff （AB-PAS） staining. The activity of respiratory chain complex and the ultrastructure of the colon tissue were determined by ultraviolet spectrophotometry and observed by transmission electron microscopy， respectively. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction（Real-time PCR） was employed to determine the mRNA levels of PINK1， Parkin， and p62， and Western blot to determine the protein levels of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 （LC3）， PINK1， and Parkin. ResultCompared with the normal group， the model group and the natural recovery group showed decreases in the amount of feces， fecal water content， intestinal propulsion rate （P<0.05，P<0.01）， and activities of mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes Ⅱ， Ⅲ， and Ⅳ in the colon tissue （P<0.05，P<0.01）. Further， the mRNA levels of PINK1 and Parkin and the protein levels of PINK1， Parkin， and LC3 were up-regulated （P<0.01） and the mRNA level of p62 was down-regulated in the model group （P<0.05） and the natural recovery group. Compared with the model group and the natural recovery group， the Aurantii Fructus Immaturus combined with Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma group showed increased amount of feces， fecal water content， intestinal propulsion rate， and activities of mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes Ⅱ， Ⅲ， and Ⅳ （P<0.05，P<0.01）. Moreover， the combination meliorated the degree of mitochondrial swelling in the colon tissue， down-regulated the mRNA levels of PINK1 and Parkin and the protein levels of PINK1， Parkin， and LC3 （P<0.05，P<0.01）， and up-regulated the mRNA level of p62 （P<0.05）. ConclusionAurantii Fructus Immaturus and Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma， and their combination may remedy the colonic motility disorders in rats with slow transit constipation by blocking PINK1/Parkin signaling pathway to inhibit the excessive mitophagy in interstitial cells of Cajal in the colon tissue.