Objective To uncover the possible factors of rapid increasing incidence of syphilis. Methods The clinical data of 100 patients firstly diagnosed as syphilis and their spouses were analyzed. Results There were 65 couples (130 cases) both were infected with syphilis, accounting for 65%. Among these cases, 25 males firstly diagnosed, 15 of them were primary syphilis; and 40 females firstly diagnosed as syphilis, 32 of them were secondary syphilis. Among 65 syphilis couples, 48 spouses were quickly diagnosed as syphilis through contact tracing, but the other 17 spouses were not diagnosed as syphilis until 1~3 months later, and most of them were latent syphilis, accounting for 83.2%(54/65). Chancre, which may be noticed by the patients themselves, was not so common in this group of patients, accounted for only 28.5%(37/130), and mainly in males. Conclusions The infections rate of syphilis between spoused is high, especially latent syphilis, and chancre is low, which might be one of the factors for the rapid spreading of the disease.

Objective To explore the accuracy and security of introcavitary-ECG guiding peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) tip positioning.Methods The observation group was defined as the 50 preterm infants who was cathetered PICC between June 2014 to May 2015 while the control group as the other 50 cases was cathetered between August 2012 to May 2014 to review.The latter group was cathetered traditionally and positioned by X-ray while the former was cathered by ECG-monitoring and positioned by the change of P wave on ECG-Ⅱ.X-ray was also used to confirm the PICC tip positioning when the cathere was fixed in the control group.Results The success rate of first puncture in control group was 74％(37/50),significatly lower than the observation group,which was 94％(47/50) (x2=7.440,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The technology of ECG makes benefits in increasing the success rate of first puncture,reducing cathetering time,improving work efficiency,reducing the risk of nursing operation and garanteeing security of nurses and patients.

In this paper, we propose a new active contour algorithm, i. e. hierarchical contextual active contour (HCAC), and apply it to automatic liver segmentation from three-dimensional CT (3D-CT) images. HCAC is a learning-based method and can be divided into two stages. At the first stage, i.e. the training stage, given a set of abdominal 3D-CT training images and the corresponding manual liver labels, we tried to establish a mapping between automatic segmentations (in each round) and manual reference segmentations via context features, and obtained a series of self-correcting classifiers. At the second stage, i.e. the segmentation stage, we firstly used the basic active contour to segment the image and subsequently used the contextual active contour (CAC) iteratively, which combines the image information and the current shape model, to improve the segmentation result. The current shape model is produced by the corresponding self-correcting classifier (the input is the previous automatic segmentation result). The proposed method was evaluated on the datasets of MICCAI 2007 liver segmentation challenge. The experimental results showed that we would get more and more accurate segmentation results by the iterative steps and the satisfied results would be obtained after about six rounds of iterations.
Algorithms ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Liver ; diagnostic imaging ; Models, Theoretical ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Sphingolipids as an important regulator play a critical role in the cell biological functions. Among them, ceramide (Cer) and sphingosine (Sph) induce apoptosis and inhibit cell proliferation; on the contrary sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) promotes cell survival and proliferation. The balance between ceramide/sphingosine and S1P forms a so-called "sphingolipid-rheostat", which decides the cell fate. Sphingosine kinases, which catalyze the phosphorylation of sphingosine to S1P, are critical regulators of this balance. Here, we review the role of sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) in regulating fundamental biological processes and tumorigenesis and the potential of SphK1 as a new target for cancer therapeutics.

Backgroud Numerous studies have confirmed the effectiveness of slowing the progression of atherosclerosis by blood pressure (Bp)control in patients with hypertension and several studies also showed the efficacy of intensive glycemic control in decreasing progression of carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. However, few studies have compared the relative importance of glycemic vs. Bp control in patients with diabetes and hypertension. We aimed to investigate the association between Bp and glycemic control and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis in older patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Methods In a cross-sectional study, B-mode high-resolution ultrasonography of the carotid artery was performed in 670 subjects (508 males and 162 females) aged 60 years or over who had self-reported hypertension and diabetes but no history of coronary heart disease or stroke. Subjects were categorized by their systolic blood pressure: tight control, < 130 mmHg; usual control, 130-139 mmHg; or uncontrolled, > 140 mmHg, and by their hemoglobin Alc (HbAlc) level: tight control, < 6.5%; usual control, 6.5%-7.5%; or uncontrolled, > 7.5%, respectively. Results The mean CIMT was 8.20±0.11 mm, and carotid plaque was found in 52.5% (352/670) subjects. Overall, 62.1% of the subjects had subclinical carotid atherosclerosis, defined as having either carotid plaque or elevated CIMT (≥ 1.1 mm). The mean CIMT was significantly different between Bp control categories (7.60 ± 0.09 mm, 7.90 ± 0.08 mm, and 8.60±0.12 nun, respectively, P = 0.03) but not between glycemic control categories (8.20 ± 0.10 ram, 8.1 ± 0.08 mm, and 8.40 ± 0.14 mm, respectively, P = 0.13) using ANCOVA analysis. Multivariable logistic regression adjusting for potential confounding factors showed that usual or uncontrolled Bp control were associated with having carotid plaque (OR = 1.08 and OR = 1.42, respectively), or elevated CIMT [Odd ratio (OR) = 1.17, 95% confidence interval (CI)1.04-2.24, and OR = 1.54, 95% CI 1.36-2.96, respectively compared to tight Bp control; but did not show glycemic control as independent predictor of either having carotid plaque or elevated CIMT. Conclusions In older patients with hypertension and diabetes, blood pressure control, but not glycemic control is associated with subclinical carotid atherosclerosis.

Liver fibrosis is a pathological process of the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix, especially collagen al (I) in liver. Ultimately, hepatic fibrosis leads to cirrhosis or hepatic failure. Liver fibrosis and early cirrhosis can be reversed, thus control of the development of liver fibrosis is very important for preventive treatment of cirrhosis and hepatic failure. This is a review of potential targets for anti-hepatic fibrosis based on plenty of publications, including TGF-β1 and integrin α(v) and so on, aimed at providing novel therapeutic targets in liver fibrosis.

Objective To discuss the diagnosis and surgical treatment of multiple endocrine neoplasia 1 (MEN1). Methods The clinical data of MEN1 from 1974 to 2005 were retrospectively analyzed. Results There were 17 cases of MEN1 in our group. Among them, 11 cases were from 4 families. MEN1 gene mutation was detected in 14 cases admitted after 1997. There were 11 cases of pHPT, 6 cases of insulinoma, 8 cases of pituitary adenoma, 6 cases of adrenal adenoma, 2 cases of thymic carcinoid and 2 cases of collagenoma. Two patients had respectively 4 glands involved, 3 patients had 3, 7 patients had 2 kinds of gland involved respectively. Four patients had only one kind of gland involved. A 12 year old girl had no clinical symptom and biochemical change. Six patients presented with nephrolithasis, 6 patients had impaired pancreatic endocrine function. Subtotal parathyroidectomy was performed in 4 patients of pHPT, and one patient received parathyroid adenoma enucleation. Insulinomas were enucleated in 4 patients. Two patients underwent thymus tumor extirpation. Conclusions MEN1 varies in symptoms, even those from the same family. Cermline mutation test helps establish diagnosis. Operations should be aiming at tumor resection as well as the improvement of life quality.

Objective To discuss the diagnosis and surgical treatment of multiple endocrine neoplasia 2 (MEN2). Methods The clinical data of 28 MEN2 cases from Jun 1997 to Jun 2006 were retrospectively analyzed. Results There were 25 cases of MEN2a and 3 cases of MEN2b. Among the patients of MEN2a, 23 patients were from 7 families with mutation of codon 634, exon 11 of RET, 3 patients of MEN2b had mutation of codon 918, exon 16 of RET and no family history. Twenty-two cases of MEN2a had thyroid masses with elevated calcitonin level, in which 17 were pathologically diagnosed as medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) ,12 patients had pheochromocytomas. Among them, 5 were of multiple foci and 2 were malignant. Five patients presented hyperparathyroidism and 3 patients were asymptomatic without biochemical alterations. Three MEN2b patients had MTC and mucosal ganglioneuromatosis with Marfanoid, one patient had bilateral pheochromocytoma. Total thyroidectomy with bilateral dissection of regional lymph nodes was performed in 12 patients of MEN2a, and nodule enucleations was done in other 5 patients followed by persistent elevated calcitonin level. Nine MEN2a patients underwent pheochromocytoma enucleation including bilateral adrenal resection in 3 cases. Three MEN2b patients underwent total thyroidectomy with bilateral lymph node dissection. Conclusions MTC is the most often complications of MEN2. Germline mutation test helps to make early diagnosis. Radical total thyroidectomy in young patients may prevent MTC.

Objective To study the clinical characteristics of thyroid carcinoma in young females,in order to improve the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.Methods The clinical data of 74 consecutive young female patients with thyroid carcinoma treated in our hospital in the recent ten years were analysed.In most of the cases,there was no firm texture or fixation of the thyroid nodules to surrounding structures on physical examination before operation.Ultrasonography was performed in all patients and multiple thyroid nodules were found in 61 cases(82.43%).Thyroid scintiscans were performed in 43 cases,and thyroid nodules were found in 41 cases.The cold,cool and warm nodules were found in 14,18 and 9 cases,respectively,by scintiscans.Fine needle aspiration biopsy(FNAB) was performed in 11 cases,and in 2 cases were negative,1 case showed abnormal cell,3 cases were suspicious of carcinoma,and 5 cases were confirmed papillary carcinoma.Results Papillary carcinoma was found in 70 cases,follicular carcinoma in 3 cases and medullary carcinoma in 1 case by histological examination,and benign disease was also accompanied in most cases.Lymph node metastases was found in 28 cases(37.84%),and the rate of metastases was significantly different than that of older female patients(16.46%) at the same time.There were 2 cases who died 3 years after operation because of metastases.Conclusions The lymph node metastases were prevalent in young female patients with thyroid carcinoma.The texture and mobility of the nodules cannot be used to differentiate benign from malignant nodules.We should carefully analyze every nodule found on ultrasonography.For the solid nodules with diameter larger than 1.0cm,we suggest operation;for the non-solid nodules with diameter larger than 2.0cm,we prefer scintiscans and FNAB for diagnosis.