Multi?modality medical image processing has become a hot topic for research in the field of image processing and plays an important role in clinical diagnosis and treatment. Images with different modalities provide different information on patients. Anatomical images ( such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging ) provide information on anatomical morphology and the structure of human body, and functional images ( such as single?photon emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography) provide the functional information on the distribution of radioactive concentration within human body. Such information needs to be fused to obtain comprehensive fusion images, and the images with different modalities need to be registered to obtain useful fusion images. This article reviews several image registration and fusion techniques used in the medical field, points out their advantages and shortcomings, and introduces the application of various processing techniques in clinical practice.

ObjectiveTo study the effect of prevention and treatment on osteoporosis in climacteric women by sport therapy. Methods 120 climacteric women were separated into rehabilitation group(n = 60)and control group(n = 60). Rehabilitation group accepted the oxygensport therapy, calcium, adjusted food. Control group was given calcium and adjusted food.The changs in densify of lumbar vertebradensify ofwere observed two yeats after treatment. ResultsDensify of lumbar vertebra in the rehabititation groupincreased( but there was no sta-tistical significance) and decreased remarkably in control group( P ＜ 0. 05) . Densify of lumbar vertebra lumbar in rehabititation group in-creased than that of the control group( P ＜ 0. 05) . Conclusion Exercise therapy was effective in preventing and treating osteoporosis in cli-macteric worrn.

Objective To study the prevalence of atopic dermatitis (AD) in China. Method School children aged 6～ 20 were surveyed with questionnaire in different areas in our country. Results This survey was carried out in 22 cities and rural areas, distributed in 11 provinces. There were 548 AD patients（ 347 males and 201 females） in a total population of 78 586. The total standardized prevalence (SP) was 0.69％ . The SPs of the males and the females were 0.84％ and 0.51％ , respectively, the difference being statistically significant(P

Objective To know the effects of air pollution on the activity of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) in the placenta tissue of women in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Methods The decrement of BaP after the metabolic procedure was used as the indicator of AHH activity. 151 lying-in women were selected and the AHH activity in the placenta was determined by fluorescence spectrophotometer, the precooling EDTA was added in the determination to inactivate AHH and to stop the reaction completely in order to get more stable result. Results The AHH activity in the placenta tissue increased as the atmospheric particle concentration and the BaP concentration in the particles increased. Conclusion The air pollution may induce the AHH activity increase in the placenta tissue of pregnant women in Taiyuan. The AHH activity can be used as the biological monitoring indicator in the PAHs polluted areas.

Ultraviolet (UV) is a kind of important environmental factor that can cause dermatitis,photoaging and skin cancerization.The UV-induced production of inflammatory factors by epidermal keratinocytes has been deemed an important molecular event in occurrence of the above diseases.Various receptors,intracellular signal transduction-related regulatory molecules and nuclear transcription factors are involved in UV-induced inflammatory responses in keratinocytes,which mainly include epidermal growth factor receptor,aryl hydrocarbon receptor,peroxisome proliferatoractivated receptor,protein kinase C family,protein kinase B,mitogen-activated protein kinase family,nuclear factor-κB and transcription factor activator protein-l,etc,and constitute a complex inflammatory signal transduction network.

Objective To investigate the mRNA expressions of IFN-gamma receptor and TNF-alpha receptor in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with psoriasis vulgaris and their role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Methods Fifty patients with psoriasis vulgaris (37 cases of active psoriasis and 13 cases of stable psoriasis) and 24 healthy human controls were included in this study. PBMCs were isolated from blood samples obtained from all patients and controls. The mRNA expressions of IFN-gamma receptor and TNF-aipha receptor in PBMCs were detected by RT-PCR. The disease severity in patients was evaluated by psoriasis area and severity index (PASI). Results The mRNA expressions of IFN-gamma receptor and TNF-alpha receptor were observed in the PBMCs of all subjects. The mRNA expression levels of IFN-gamma receptor were 0.72 ± 0.17 in healthy controls, 1.11 ± 0.55 in all patients with psoriasis, 1.13 ±0.57 in patients with active psoriasis and 1.03 ± 0.52 in patients with stable psoriasis, respectively. A signifi-cant increase was observed in the expression levels of IFN-gamma receptor mRNA in all psoriatic patients and in patients with active psoriasis compared with those in healthy controls (both P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between the healthy controls and patients with stable psoriasis (P ＞ 0.05). The expres-sion levels of TNF-alpha receptor mRNA were 2.05 ± 1.34 in healthy controls, 2.70 ± 3.80 in all psoriatic patients, 2.90 ± 4.40 in patients with active psoriasis, 2.14 ± 1.05 in patients with stable psoriasis, respectively;there was no significant difference between psoriatic patients and healthy controls (P ＞ 0.05). However, no correlation was found between the mRNA expression of IFN-gamma receptor, that of TNF-alpha receptor,and disease severity in psoriatic patients. Conclusions The mRNA expression of IFN-gamma receptor in PBMCs is up-regulated in patients with psoriasis vulgaris, which is unrelated to the activity of psoriasis.

Objective:To evaluate the effect of resveratrol on apoptosis and cell cycle of human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKs) after ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation.Methods:After 12-hour treatment with 0 (control group) , 25, 50, 100, 150 and 200 μmol/L resveratrol, cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) assay, bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) assay and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay were performed to evaluate the effect of resveratrol on proliferative activity and death of HEKs. Some HEKs were divided into 4 groups: normal control group receiving no treatment, resveratrol group treated with 100 μmol/L resveratrol, UVB group irradiated with 50 mJ/cm 2 UVB, and UVB+resveratrol group irradiated with 50 mJ/cm 2 UVB followed by 12-hour treatment with 100 μmol/L resveratrol. Western blot analysis was conducted to determine the expression of apoptosis-related proteins poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and caspase-3, as well as cell cycle-related proteins cyclin B1 and cyclin E1, and flow cytometry to detect the apoptosis and determine cell cycle distribution. One-way analysis of variance was used for comparisons among multiple groups, and least significant difference- t test for multiple comparisons. Results:The proliferative activity of HEKs significantly differed among the 25-, 50-, 100-, 150-, 200-μmol/L resveratrol groups and control group ( F=46.52, P < 0.001) , and was significantly lower in these resveratrol groups than in the control group (all P < 0.001) ; the DNA synthesis activity of HEKs was significantly lower in the 100-μmol/L resveratrol group (0.761 ± 0.141) than in the control group (2.226 ± 0.141, t=17.92, P < 0.001) ; there was no significant difference in cell death rate among the 25-, 50-, 100- and 200-μmol/L resveratrol groups ( F=1.938, P > 0.05) . After treatment with or without UVB and/or resveratrol, there were significant differences in the apoptosis rate, proportion of cells at G1, G2 and S phases, expression of PARP, caspase-3, cyclin B1 and cyclin E1 among the 4 groups (all P < 0.05) . The UVB group showed significantly increased apoptosis rates (24.69% ± 3.54%) and cleavage levels of PARP and caspase-3 (2.190 ± 0.349, 0.090 ± 0.016, respectively) compared with the normal control group and UVB+resveratrol group (4.00% ± 0.81%, 0.926 ± 0.040, 0.024 ± 0.019, respectively, all P < 0.05) ; the UVB group showed significantly decreased protein expression of cyclin E1 and cyclin B1 (0.116 ± 0.017, 0.775 ± 0.080, respectively) compared with the normal control group, and the UVB+resveratrol group showed significantly increased expression of cyclin E1 (0.287 ± 0.047) , but decreased expression of cyclin B1 (0.504 ± 0.009) compared with the UVB group (all P < 0.05) ; the UVB group showed significantly decreased proportion of S-phase cells, but increased proportion of G1- and G2-phase cells compared with the UVB+resveratrol group (all P < 0.05) . Conclusion:Resveratrol can decrease the proliferative activity of HEKs, inhibit apoptosis induced by UVB radiation, and regulate cell cycle progression.

Objective To determine the normal range of minimal erythema dose (MED) of normal skin to ultraviolet A (UVA) and B (UVB). Methods The definition of MED is the dose of UVA required to induce a just perceptible erythema on an individual′s skin 24 hours after irradiation. One hundred and eighteen subjects including healthy volunteers and patients with noninflammatory skin disorders were enrolled and studied with SUV1000 type UV simulator in March 2002. Results The average MED value for UVA was 55 J/cm2 (range: 18 - 95 J/cm2) in the males, and 40 J/cm2 (range: 15 - 100 J/cm2) in the females. The average MED value for UVB was 31 mJ/cm2 (range: 12 - 95 mJ/cm2) in the males and 29 mJ/cm2 (range: 8 - 95 mJ/cm2) in the females. The MED value for UVA in the males was significantly higher than that in the females (P 0.05). The MED values for UVA as well as UVB in skin type Ⅲ were significantly lower than those in skin type Ⅳ (UVA-MED: P

Objective To observe the expression changes of CD34 and M30 in skin homogenate from a mouse model of scleroderma after irradiation with different doses of UVA1, and to investigate the effect of UVA1 phototherapy on vascular endothelial cell function in scleroderma. Methods The experimental mouse models of scleroderma were established by the injection with bleomycin and randomly divided into model control group (n = 10), UVA1 irradiation group (n = 30) and unirradiated group (n = 10). The UVA1 irradiation group was further equally divided into 3 groups, HD-UVA1 group irradiated with UVA1 at 100 J/cm2, MD-UVA1group with UVA1 at 60 J/cm2, and LD-UVA1 group with UVA1 at 20 J/cm2; phototherapy was performed thrice weekly for 10 weeks followed by the sacrifice of mice. The mice in model control group were killed immediately after the establishment of models, and the mice in unirradiated group received no irradiation after the establishment of models and were maintained till the killing of mice in UVA1 irradiation groups. Skin specimens were obtained from the bleomycin-induced scleroderma lesions of mice and separated into two parts, one was subjected to histopathological examination, and the other one was used to prepare skin homogenate for the detection of CD34 and M30 content with ELISA assay. Results After 30 sessions of treatment with UVA1,the softening and thinning of sclerotic skin were seen by the naked eye, with the most obvious changes in HDUVA1 group; pathological examination revealed a reduction in dermal thickness and the presence of hair follicular structures in subcutaneous fat tissue with no obvious proliferation of collagen in these mice. Compared with the mice in model control group and unirradiated group, there was an increase in CD34 and decrease in M30 content in skin homogenate from UVA 1-irradiated mice, with the most marked changes in mice irradiated with UVA1 at 100 J/cm2. The concentration of CD34 and M30 in skin homogenate from unirradiated group and model control group was significantly different from that in HD-UVA1 group (22.25 ± 8.91 μg/L and 31.97 ±17.97 μg/L vs. 72.39 ± 13.04 μg/L, 162.41 ± 58.00 U/L and 195.71 ± 71.09 U/L vs. 38.06 ± 19.89 U/L, all P ＜ 0.01 ). Additionally, significant differences were observed between the three UVA1 groups in the concentration of CD34 and M30 (F = 21.23, 15.32, respectively, both P ＜ 0.01 ). Conclusions UVA1 phototherapy could up-regulate the expression of CD34 but down-regulate that of M30 in skin homogenate from the mouse model of scleroderma, and the effect is correlated with the intensity and cumulative dose of irradiation.

Objective To investigate the role of infiltrating inflammatory cells in photoaging process by comparing the type and number of these cells in sun-exposed and-unexposed skin.Methods The expression of CD3,CD45RO and CD68 were detected by immunohistochemieal staining in 46 paraffin-embeded skin samples from the extensor forearms(sun-exposed)and upper-inner arms(sun-unexposed) of 23 healthy female volunteers.The number of positive cells in sun-exposed and -unexposed sites was counted and statistically tested by paired samples t test,and Pearson correlation analysis was performed to assess the relationship between the number of positive cells and age of these volunteers.Results The number of cells positive for CD3,CD45RO and CD68 per square millimetre in sun-exposed skin was significantly higher than that in sun-unexposed skin(48.91±13.173 vs.40.61±11.571,46.83±12.915 vs.38.00±10.109,85.43±22.346 vs.73.48±16.208,respectively,P<0.01 or 0.05).The number of cells positive for CD3 and CD45RO increased significantly with age (r=0.557,0.555,respectively,both P<0.01) in the sun-exposed skin but not in sun-unexposed skin,and the number of CD68-positive cells was uncorrelated with age in either sunexposed or -unexposed skin.Conclusion T lymphocytes and macrophages may play a role in the process of photoaging.