Objective To study the relationship between polymorphic (CAG)n repeats of androgen receptor(AR) gene and occurrence of prostate cancer (PC). Methods (CAG)n repeats of both malignant cells and adjacent nonmalignant cells from 34 paraffin embedded PCs, and that of peripheral blood cells from 2 PC patients were assessed using dsDNA cycle sequencing. Results The number of (CAG)n repeats in malignant cells was equal to that in adjacent nonmalignant cells from the same paraffin embedded PC; the mean of (CAG)n repeats in the 36 PC patients was 20.06 which was significantly smaller than that of normal men ( P 0.05). Conclusions Shortening of (CAG)n repeats within AR gene may be associated with the occurrence of PC.

Objective To investigate the effect of the dihydroartemisinin (DHA) on the human low-differentiated lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 and to explore its mechanism. Methods The A549 cells at logarithmic growth phase were divided into control group and DHA group. The cells in the control group were incubated with conventional reagent, and the cells in DHA group were incubated with 500 nmol/L of DHA. After incubation for 72 hours, methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay was used to examine the proliferation of A549 cells in the two groups. Gene expression of p85, Akt, Bax and Bcl-2 was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) . The protein expression of p85, Akt, p-p85, p-Akt, Bax and Bcl-2 was detected by Western blotting method. The activity of Caspase3 was measured by Caspase3 colorimetric assay kit. Results Compared with the control group, the proliferation rate of A549 cells in DHA group was significantly decreased ( P<0.01) . The RT-PCR results showed that the mRNA expression levels of p85 and AKT had no obvious difference between the two groups, but the mRNA expressien level of Bax was increased ( P<0.001), and the mRNA expressien level of Bcl-2 was decreased ( P<0.05) . The Western blotting results showed that there was no significant changes of p85 and Akt proteins between the two groups (P>0.05), but p-p85, p-Akt and Bcl-2 protein expression levels were significantly decreased ( P<0.01) , and Bax protein expression was increased ( P<0.01). Moreover, the activity of Caspase3 was also enhanced ( P<0.001). Conclusion DHA can reduce the proliferation of A549 cells and increase the apoptosis of A549 cells, and its mechanism probably has relationship with the inhibition of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

The genotypes of PPAR? 2 gene were determined by PCR RFLP in 232 Chinese individuals. In obese group (130 cases), “Ala” allele was associated with increased body mass index (BMI), hip circumference and serum uric acid level, and this gene polymorphism was independently associated with BMI, suggesting that this gene polymorphism is associated with overweight and obesity in Chinese population.

Objective To explore the potential predominance and value of percutaneous hepatocholangiostomy (PCH) in treatment of recurrence hepatobiliary stones (RHS). Methods Seventeen cases with RHS were treated by PCH from February 2001 to October 2005, which was an improved technology of percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy (PTCS) and made reference to the methods of percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN). Results Seventeen cases were successfully treated. The average blood loss was 40 ml (ranging from 15 to 100 ml), and stones were removed completely in 88.2% (15/17). The average hospital stay was 14 (ranging from 10 to 59) days. No one required postoperative analgesic. No postoperative bleeding and biliary leakage were found. Conclusions PCH has significant advantages of minimal invasion, little blood loss, less pain, less complications and quick recovery in the treatment of RHS.

AIM and METHODS: To learn more about the mechanism of prostate cancer (PC) development and progression to androgen independence, the exons B～H of the androgen receptor (AR) gene of forty-five patients with prostate cancer, six puncture tissues and thirty-nine slide tissues, were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation technique (PCR-SSCP). RESULTS: Seven abnormal mobility shifts were found in five patients by PCR-SSCP. Combining the method with direct DNA cycle sequencing, two distinct missense (Glu872Gln, Met886Ile) point mutations were identified in puncture tissues from two patients of advanced prostate cancer with distant metastasis. These two point mutations represented two novel mutations. CONCLUSION: AR gene mutations might play an important role in the development and progression of prostate cancer.

Limited by the imaging principle of whole body bone SPECT image, the gray value of bladder area is quite high, which affects the image's brightness, contrast and readability. In the meantime, the similarity between bladder area and focus makes it difficult for some images to be segmented automatically. In this paper, an improved Snake model, GVF Snake, is adopted to automatically segment bladder area, preparing for further processing of whole body bone SPECT images.
Algorithms ; Bone and Bones ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Models, Anatomic ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon ; methods ; Urinary Bladder

Based on the characteristic of the PET-CT multimodal image series, a novel image registration and fusion method is proposed, in which the cubic spline interpolation method is applied to realize the interpolation of PET-CT image series, then registration is carried out by using mutual information algorithm and finally the improved principal component analysis method is used for the fusion of PET-CT multimodal images to enhance the visual effect of PET image, thus satisfied registration and fusion results are obtained. The cubic spline interpolation method is used for reconstruction to restore the missed information between image slices, which can compensate for the shortage of previous registration methods, improve the accuracy of the registration, and make the fused multimodal images more similar to the real image. Finally, the cubic spline interpolation method has been successfully applied in developing 3D-CRT (3D Conformal Radiation Therapy) system.
Algorithms ; Artificial Intelligence ; Diagnostic Imaging ; methods ; Humans ; Image Enhancement ; instrumentation ; methods ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; instrumentation ; methods ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; instrumentation ; methods ; Pattern Recognition, Automated ; methods ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; instrumentation ; methods ; Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted ; instrumentation ; methods ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; instrumentation ; methods

OBJECTIVETo develop a brief version scale with good validity and reliability to evaluate self-management knowledge, attitude and behavior (KAB) of diabetes patients in a shorter time.

METHODS20 authority experts who specialized in the field of diabetes clinical and non-communicable disease self-management, and familiar with the relevant content of diabetes self-management were selected. Face to face and Email consultation methods were applied in two rounds delphi expert consultations to choose items from the Diabetes Self-management Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior Assessment Scale (DSKAB, total scale, 98 items). In the first round of expert consultation, experts were asked to select the core items from every dimension and score the extent of familiarity and basis of judgment. In the second round of expert consultation, the significance of the core items which were selected by experts in first round, were graded. The items which entered into the brief scale were determined by harmonious condition of expert opinions.

RESULTSTwo rounds of consultation reclaimed 16 and 15 responses respectively, Positive coefficients of experts were 80% and 94% respectively, and both authoritative coefficients were 0.90. In the first round of consultation, experts selected 44.3 ± 6.2 items on average, 42 items were selected according to the integrity of the scale for measuring dimension and content at last. In the second round of consultation, experts thought that the 42 items could measure the important contents of each dimension comprehensive and representative, the item importance scores of knowledge, attitude, and behavior subscale were 8.42 ± 1.17, 8.61 ± 1.24, 8.61 ± 1.02 respectively, and the coordination coefficients of the three subscale were 0.36, 0.20, 0.49 (χ(2) were 89.74, 11.13, 96.03, P<0.05). The total coordination coefficient was 0.38 (χ(2) =199.36, P<0.001), which indicated the concentration of experts(')opinion was acceptable, showed the brief scale with good face validity and content validity.

CONCLUSIONThe brief scale could evaluate Diabetes Self-management KAB Scale rapidly and relatively comprehensive in groups or individuals diabetes with good face validity and content validity.

In this paper, BP neural network is used to segment whole body bone SPECT image so that the lesion area can be recognized automatically. For the uncertain characteristics of SPECT images, it is hard to achieve good segmentation result if only the BP neural network is employed. Therefore, the segmentation process is divided into three steps: first, the optimal gray threshold segmentation method is employed for preprocessing, then BP neural network is used to roughly identify the lesions, and finally template match method and symmetry-removing program are adopted to delete the wrongly recognized areas.
Algorithms ; Bone and Bones ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Neural Networks (Computer) ; Pattern Recognition, Automated ; methods ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon ; Whole Body Imaging

Amino Acid Sequence ; Genes, Bacterial ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; pharmacology ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation ; genetics ; Mycobacterium ; drug effects ; genetics ; growth & development ; Peptides ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Stress, Physiological ; drug effects