Objective To study the anatomy of the thoracic outlet and inlet,and to evaluate the CT diagnosis and differential diagnosis on abnormal conditions.Methods CT images of 117 pathologically and clinically proved cases in the zones were analyzed retrospectively.Control group contained 50 normal volunteers who were divided into 5 anatomic regions: region 1 (thyroid zone),region 2 (interior thyroid),region 3 (lateral thyroid),region 4 (posterior thyroid),and region 5 (anterior thyroid).Results Of the 117 cases,there were 11 cases (9.40%) in region 1,8 cases (6.84%) in region 2,72 cases (61.54%) in region 3,1 case (0.85%) in region 4,3 cases (2.56%) in region 5,15 cases (12.8%) in transregions (region 1,3,5),and 7 cases (5.98%) in transregions (region 1,2,3).The disorders were mainly distributed in region 3,in which lymphatic node abnormalities were the most common (55 cases).The 32 cases of abnormal thyroid gland were mainly located in region 1 and involved with other regions.Conclusion The 5 regions divided on CT anatomy of the thoracic outlet and inlet are very useful for the localization and definition in the diagnosis,which have important clinical value.

BACKGROUND: Gallium is a non-essential trace element in the human body. In vivo experiments have confirmed that gallium can directly inhibit bone osteelysis, prevent bone calcium release, increase bone calcium content, serves as a new drug treatment of metabolic bone disease, its anti-bone transformation mechanism remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of gallium nitrate on collagen and bone calcium protein in osteeporotic rat model. METHODS: Ninety female SD rats were divided into control group (n = 20) and osteoporosis group (n = 70) at random. Control group rats were sutured to close abdominal cavity after bilateral ovarian was exposed. Osteoporosis group rats received the bilateral ovariectomy to produce osteoporotic rat models, which then were assigned into 4 groups by random digits table: osteoporotic control group (n = 16) by intraperitoneal injection of saline, 3 times per week; Low-dose gallium salt group (n = 16) by intrapedtoneal injection of I mg/kg of galfium nitrate, 3 times per week; High-dose gallium salt group (n = 15) by intraperitoneal injection of 2 mg/kg ofgallium nitrate, 3 times per week; Estrogen group (n = 15) by intraperitoneal injection of estradiol, 3 times per week. After 12 weeks of the treatment, the bone collagen, osteocalcin protein and hydroxyproline levels in bone specimens were detected. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with control group, the content of collagen in osteoporosis control group was reduced (P < 0.05), the contents of aminohexose and hydroxyproline increased (P < 0.05), no significant differences were observed in the content of sulfate-base for both groups. Following gallium and estradiol treatment, the collagen contents enhanced (P < 0.05), while the contents of aminohexose and hydroxyproline reduced (P < 0.05). High-dose gallium salt group had a remarkable curative effect compared with low-dose gallium salt group (P < 0.05), and was similar to estradiol group (P > 0.05). it is indicated that gallium nitrate can improve bone metabolism status with osteoporosis through increasing the content of collagen and decreasing the content of hydroxyproline, 2 mg/kg gallium nitrate are similar to estrogen treatment.

BACKGROUND:At present, vertebroplasty and spinal canal decompression are common methods for treatment of metastatic spinal tumors. Iodine-125 (125 I) radioactive seed implantation has been shown to control the tumor. However, there were few clinical studies on combined therapy using above-mentioned methods. OBJECTIVE:To compare the differences of 125I radioactive seed implantation combined with vertebroplasty and titanium al oy nail-rod fixation and vertebroplasty combined with titanium al oy nail-rod fixation for treating thoracolumbar metastases on pain control, general performance and improvement of the spinal cord function, and to evaluate clinical value of 125 I radioactive seed implantation combined with therapeutic plans. METHODS:Thoracolumbar metastases patients undergoing titanium al oy nail-rod fixation were selected in the Department of Spinal Surgery, Shenzhen Municipal People’s Hospital in China from October 2009 to March 2013. They were assigned to experimental and control groups according to with or without 125 I radioactive seed implantation. Improvement in neurological function was observed before and 2 weeks, 1, 6, and 12 months after titanium al oy nail-rod fixation in both groups. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Al patients were fol owed up for 7 to 29 months, averagely 15.8 months. There was no loosening of titanium al oy nail-rod fixation and the position of bone cement was good. No seed migration or radioactive spinal cord injury was observed. No relapse or diffusion in the surgical site was observed during fol ow up. Visual Analogue Scale and Karnofsky Performance Status scores were higher in the experimental group than in the control group (P<0.05). Frankel level was obviously improved after fixation in both groups compared with preoperation. No significant difference in the improvement of neurological function was detected between the two groups (P>0.05). Results indicated that 125 I radioactive seed implantation combined with vertebroplasty and titanium al oy nail-rod fixation for treatment of metastatic spinal tumors showed obvious outcomes in relieving cancer pain.

Objective:It is difficult to separate intermediate-and advanced-stage renal carcinoma,and in some cases even harder to totally remove it.This study aimed to assess the effect of the renal artery infusion chemoembolization on intermediate-and advanced-stage renal carcinoma before surgery.Methods: Twenty-seven patients with intermediate-or advanced-stage renal carcinoma accepted the Sandwich mode of selective bronchial renal artery embolization 3-7 days before surgery.Then we analyzed both the methods of embolization and surgery after intervention therapy.Results: All the patients were successfully treated by transarterial embolization.During the operation,renal artery pulsatility significantly decreased or even disappeared,with obvious swelling of the surrounding renal tissues but very little bleeding.Conclusion: Preoperative chemoembolization for intermediate-and advanced-stage renal carcinoma can improve surgical conditions,shorten the operation time,decrease bleeding and elevate the success rate.

Objectives:To evaluate the use of needle catheter jejunostomy for early enteral nutrition in liver transplant recipients . Methods:Five liver transplant recipients who had indication were performed with needle catheter jejunostomy before abdominal wall closure.The Flocare jejunokath was inserted on the small bowel at the point 20 cm distal to the ligament of Treitz,continued to go ahead in the wall of the bowel for a distance of about 4～5 cm,and then pierced into bowel lumen.Enteral nutrition was given through jejunostic tube at postoperative 1st day. Results:The time for placing needle catheter jejunostomy during operation was (9.2?2.3)min.The jejunostic tube was used well and pulled out from 14 to 46 days after operation.One patient occurred with jejunostic tube obstruction, and the tube was reused after treatment.No other complication occurred associated with needle catheter jejunostomy. Conclusions:Needle catheter jejunostomy may become the preferable method for early enteral nutrition in indicated liver transplant recipients.

Abstract: Our previous work revealed berberine can significantly enhance the susceptibility of fluconazole against fluconazole-resistant Candida albicans, which suggested that berberine has synergistic antifungal activity with fluconazole. Preliminary SAR of berberine needs to be studied for the possibility of investigating its target and SAR, improving its drug-likeness, and exploring new scaffold. In this work, 13-substitutited benzyl berberine derivatives and N-benzyl isoquinoline analogues were synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR and MS. Their synergetic activity with fluconazole against fluconazole-resistant Candida albicans was evaluated in vitro. The 13-substitutited benzyl berberine derivatives 1a-1e exhibited comparable activity to berberine, which suggested that the introduction of functional groups to C-13 can maintain its activity. The N-benzyl isoquinolines, which were designed as analogues of berberine with its D ring opened, exhibited lower activity than berberine. However, compound 2b, 2c, and 4b showed moderate activity, which indicated that berberine may be deconstructed to new scaffold with synergistic antifungal activity with fluconazole. The results of our research may be helpful to the SAR studies on its other biological activities.

Objective To assess the dosimetric benefit,prognosis and toxicity of intensitymodulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for stage Ⅲ esophageal squamous cell cancer.Methods This was a retrospective analysis of 28 patients,aged between 45 and 83 years,with stage Ⅲ esophageal squamous cell cancer who had received radical IMRT.Of these patients,six received concurrent chemotherapy and eight received targeted therapy.The median radiotherapy dose was 67.1 Gy.Dosimetric parameters for the target volume and critical normal structures were evaluated by dose volume histogram.The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate overall survival (OS),progress free survival (PFS) and locoregional control (LRC).Results The mean conformity index (CI) and homogeneity index (HI) scores of the planning target volume (PTV) were 0.82 and 0.92,respectively,indicating very good coverage of the target volume.Three-year OS,PFS,and LRC were 48.0 ％,31.2％,and 62.0％,respectively.Acute toxicities were mild,only two patients developed acute esophagitis (grade ≥3),and three had acute pneumonitis (grade ≥2).Conclusions IMRT can provide excellent dose conformity and achieve favorable LRC and survival with only mild toxicities in patients with stage Ⅲ esophageal squamous cancer.

OBJECTIVEBenign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes (BECTs) is a common idiopathic partial epileptic syndrome in childhood, which often affect the pre-school and school-age children and a considerable proportion have comorbidity including lower academic achievement and cognitive impairment. Few studies involved the psychocognitive assessment in such a drug-treatable epileptic syndrome especially in the newly diagnosed and medications-naive group. This study aimed to investigate the cognitive characteristics of children with newly onset BECTs before treatment.

METHODForty-one outpatients with newly diagnosed BECTs who visited the Clinic during the periods from October 2012 to May 2014 before the medications against epilepsy and 41 healthy controls recruited from regular school in Beijing during the period from July 2013 to March 2014, who matched in age and gender underwent battery testing by computerized cognitive testing in epilepsy (CCTE). The BECTs group included 41 children, 20 boys and 21 girls, mean age (8.2 ± 1.7) years, the age of onset of epilepsy 4.5-11.5 years (the age of onset <8 years in 25 cases, ≥ 8 years in 16 cases). The cognitive characteristics and associated factors were analyzed. The primary data including correct answer numbers and reaction times were analyzed by independent sample t-test between the two groups of children with BECTs and healthy controls based on SPSS 18.0 statistical software.

RESULTRaw data of 9 tasks' scores collected from BECTs and healthy control children were continuous variables in accordance with normal distribution. BECTs children performed significantly worse than controls in choice reaction time ((618+158) vs. (524+254) ms), three-dimensional mental rotation (11 ± 10 vs. 18 ± 12) and visual tracing (10 ± 6 vs.15 ± 6), t=2.01, 3.03 and 3.47, P<0.05, <0.01 and <0.001, respectively.While other 6 tasks showed no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05 for all comparisons). BECTs boys performed significantly worse than girls on simple substraction tasks compared with standard nine score ((4.7 ± 1.5) vs. (5.6 ± 1.2), t=-2.24, P<0.05). Other 8 tasks showed no significant difference between boys and girls (P>0.05 for all comparisons). Other 9 tasks showed no significant differences between the two groups of BECTs children whose age of onset was before 8 years and those who started seizure ≥ 8 years (P all >0.05). The standard nine scores of simple substraction from the three BECTs groups of dominance sides of spikes and waves during NREM showed significant difference (P<0.05). BECTs children with bilateral discharges performed significantly worse than the other two groups dominantly right or left discharges (4.7 ± 1.2 vs. 6.0 ± 1.2 vs. 4.9 ± 1.4, P all <0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups with right and left side dominance discharges (P>0.05). Other 8 tasks showed no significant differences among the three groups (P>0.05 for all comparisons).

CONCLUSIONAlthough EEG discharges index below 50% during NREM period, while newly diagnosed BECTs children before treatment with medications against epilepsy performed poorer on tasks of choice reaction time, three-dimensional mental rotation, and visual tracing. The two factors of male and bilateral discharges during NREM period correlate with dysfunction of simple subtraction, the mechanism needs further study and the cognitive function of epilepsy children should be evaluated and followed up, in order to provide psychologic baseline data for persistent cognitive disturbance.

Beijing ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cognition ; Cognition Disorders ; diagnosis ; Comorbidity ; Epilepsy, Rolandic ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Reaction Time ; Seizures ; physiopathology

Objective To evaluate the therapeutic effect of computerized online cognitive training for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).Methods Fifteen children with ADHD recruited from Department of Neurology in the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics received computerized online cognitive training including attention training,visual spatial training and memory training.Cognitive neuropsychological test battery (choice reaction time,mental rotation,word semantic,simple subtraction,working memory and visual tracing) was used to assess the cognitive function in pre-training and post-training stages,such as basic response ability,reaction speed,visuo-spatial cognitive ability,semantic comprehension,calculation fluency,working memory and attention ability.Paired-samples t test was used to make comparison of the cognitive test results between pre-training condition and post-training condition.Results All the correction scores of cognitive tests were transformed to percentile scores.Paired-samples t test results showed that the ADHD children got higher scores in the post-training condition than in the pre-training condition in working memory test [(52.00 ± 20.77) ％ vs (39.73 ± 23.64) ％,t =2.72,P ＜ 0.05].There was no significant training effect in choice reaction time,mental rotation,sentence completion,simple subtraction and visual tracing(all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Computerized online cognitive training can significantly improve the working memory of children with ADHD,and has no side effects on other cognitive functions.It need to further expand the sample size and follow up the training effect for a long-term.

Objective To analyze the clinical value of transforaminal endoscopic minimally invasive surgery for the treatment of recurrent lumbar disc herniation.Methods Strictly included in the criteria,47 patients diagnosed with recurrent lumbar disc herniation who was treated unsuccessfully with conservative treatment were selected from our department from May 2011 to December 2015.There were 31 males and 16 females,with an average age of 43.45 ±3.37 years old (29-62 years old).There were L3,4 section in 4 cases,L4,5 section in 32 cases,and L5S1 section in 11 cases.The interval between the first operation and the reoperation was between 10 and 185 months,with an average of 49 months.In the first operation,there were 11 cases of posterior intervertebral disc endoscopy (MED) surgery,and 36 cases of decompression of vertebral disc nucleus pulposus surgery.Take a prone position under local anesthesia percutaneous puncture intervertebral foramen in the endoscopic minimally invasive surgery,intraoperative decompression of vertebral canal and nerve root canal,removal of intervertebral disc nucleus pulposus tissue,explore and release nerve root.The Oswestry disability index (ODI),visual analogue scale (VAS) and improved Macnab standard were used to assess the efficacy of the operation.Operation segments intervertebral height change,lumbar power X-ray slice of intervertebral Angle was measured according to preoperative and last follow-up of lumbar lateral X-ray observation,and lumbar spine motion (the range of motion,ROM) was calculated.Results All cases were successfully performed,no open surgery,and all cases were followed up.The average surgical blood volume was 10.3± 2.7 ml,the operation time was 63.5±11.6 min,no nerve root injury,dural injury,cerebrospinal fluid leakage,muscle strength decline,secondary obstruction,lumbar instability or other serious complications occurred.The follow-up time was from 18 to 52 months,with an average of 35.5±5.1 months.The preoperative ODI 51.35± 15.29 decreased to 3.31 ±2.17 at the last postoperative follow-up,the preoperative VAS score 8.11 ± 1.05 decreased to (1.03± 0.81) at the last postoperative follow-up,and the difference was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).As to the last follow-up evaluation of curative effect,according to the modified MacNab method,the fine rate was 87.2％;At the time of the last follow-up,surgery intervertebral disc height of front and rear section before and after surgery had no significant differences (P ＞ 0.05),the motion of operation segmental lumbar (the range of motion,ROM) had no significant difference (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Under the premise of strict control of surgical indications,the clinical efficacy of minimally invasive surgery for the treatment of recurrent lumbar disc herniation is reliable.The transforaminal approach does not affect the stability of the spine.The operation has the advantages of small trauma,fewer complications,and is safe and effective.