Objectives To study the characteristics of VEGFR-3, podoplanin or CD34 positive vessels in colorectal cancer (CRC) and their correlation with metastasis. Methods The characteristics of VEGFR-3, podoplanin or CD34 positive vessels in 96 cases with CRC and normal mucosa were evaluated by single-labeling or double-labeling immunohistochemistry with anti-human VEGFR-3, podoplanin or CD34 antibody respectively, and their relationship with metastasis of the cancer was analyzed. Results The density of VEGFR-3, podoplanin or CD34 positive vessels at the peripheral region of CRC was significantly higher than that of other regions of CRC or that in normal mucosa (P

Intensity-modulated radiotherapy planning for nasopharyngeal carcinoma is very complex. The quality of plan is often closely linked to the experience of the treatment planner. In this study, 10 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients at different stages were enrolled. Based on the scripting of Pinnacle 9. 2 treatment planning system, the computer program was used to set the basic parameters and objective parameters of the plans. At last, the nasopharyngeal carcinoma intensity-modulated radiotherapy plans were completed automatically. Then, the automatical and manual intensity-modulated radiotherapy plans were statistically compared and clinically evaluated. The results showed that there were no significant differences between those two kinds of plans with respect to the dosimetry parameters of most targets and organs at risk. The automatical nasopharyngeal carcinoma intensity-modulated radiotherapy plans can meet the requirements of clinical radiotherapy, significantly reduce planning time, and avoid the influence of human factors such as lack of experience to the quality of plan.
Carcinoma ; Feasibility Studies ; Humans ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; radiotherapy ; Radiometry ; Radiotherapy Dosage ; Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted ; Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated

OBJECTIVE:To study the ex vivo adsorption of montmorillonite powder to ofloxacin.METHODS:Different dosages of ofloxacin and montmorillonite powder were mixed with artificial gastric juice and artificial intestinal juice,respec?tively,which were filtrated after warmed at(37?0.5)℃in water bath for1hour,the content changes of ofloxacin were de?termined by ultraviolet spectrometry.RESULTS:The adsorption rates of montmorillonite powder to ofloxacin in artificial gastric juice and in artificial intestinal juice were(99.76?0.01)%and(99.55?0.02)%,respectively.CONCLUSIONS:Montmorillonite powder has strong adsorption to ofloxacin in both artificial gastric juice and artificial intestinal juice,there?fore,which should not be administered simultaneously in the clinic.

Assessing dry weight accurately is crucial in providing effective and safe haemodialysis. Biases towards dry weight assessment may bring a series of dialysis complications. This study introduces an online detection technique of relative blood volume (RBV) based on ultrasound, which analyzes the correlation between changes in blood density and sound speed. By measuring the attenuation in sound velocity, this method was employed to calculate RBV, and then to evaluate the dry weight of patients on dialysis. TDC-GP2 time measurement chip and MSP430 Single-chip Microcontroller (SCM) were used in the system to measure the ultrasonic travel time. In the clinical trials, RBV values range between 71.3% and 108.1%, showing consistent result with Fresenius 4008S blood volume monitor (BVM). This detection method possesses several advantages, such as real time, convenient, reproducible, non-invasive, and etc.
Blood Volume ; Body Weight ; Humans ; Monitoring, Physiologic ; Renal Dialysis ; Ultrasonics

Objective To develop methods of extracting DNA from malaria parasites on Giemsa-stained blood smears. Methods Improved Na2HPO4 method and Chelex-100 ion-exchange technique were used to extract DNA from Giemsa-stained or unstained blood smears. Nested PCR was employed for amplification and identification of allelotypes in the Plasmodium vivax merozoite surface protein-1(PvMSP-1). Results Target DNA bands appeared in all samples of unstained thick blood smears, while no DNA bands were visible in the fixed and stained thin smears. Both methods identified PvMSP-1 alleles from smears with parasitemia of ≥0.01%. Conclusion It is feasible to identify PvMSP-1 alleles from Giemsa-stained blood smear.

Objective To evaluate the characteristics and clinical suitability of the ArcCHECK diode array for volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) verification.Methods The intrinsic sensitivity,short and long term reproducibility,dose and dose rate dependence,dose per pulsed dependence,field sizes dependence and directional response of the diodes were measured.The results of the diodes were compared with the measurement results of an ionization chamber and calculated results of treatment planning system.Gamma index was used to analyze the dose difference between the calculation and measurement for random selected 211 verified VMAT plans.Results The ArcCHECK performed well for all tests except directional dependence,which varies from a minimum of-3.9％ (seen only when the beam was incident on the diode at 180°) to a maximum of 7.7％ (approximately at 255°).Average gamma analysis passing rates with 3 mm/3％ for 113 nasopharyngeal cancer,48 cervical cancer and 50 rectal cancer patients VMAT plans were 93.5％,95.7％ and 97.5％,respectively,statistical significance has been found between either two of the groups (t=-12.69-4.88,all P＜ 0.01).Conclusions With proposed calibration method,the ArcCHECK diode array is very suitable for VMAT pretreatment verification,the complexity of VMAT plan is the main factor affecting the passing rate.

Objective To verify the daily delivery accuracy of volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and achieve the process quality control (PQC) of linac using statistical process control (SPC)technology.Methods The log files of all treatments were taken out from the linac system.An in-house software which created by Matlab 7.14 was used to analyze the daily parameters accuracy and the mechanism and dose delivery accuracy of the linac for each VMAT,and an daily evaluation report was automatically created for the linac.The stability of the linac and the deviation of the delivery accuracy for various cancer sites were also analyzed.To achieve the process quality control of hnac using SPC technology,the control limit of each parameter was calculated by Johnson alternation and the single value control charts were drawn.Results 76 patients mainly with nasopharyngeal carcinoma,cervical carcinoma,rectal cancer and laryngeal cancer,got the treatment daily with VMAT technology,and a total of 2 446 arcs were delivered by the linac in continuous 16 days.The gantry angle error,y and x collimator position error,MLC leaf position error and dose delivery error were 0.49°,0.09 mm,0.38 mm,0.31 mm,0.05 MU,respectively.Compare to the nasopharynx,uteri,rectal and larynx cancer,it can be seen that the variation factors of dose delivery and gantry angle errors for various cancer sites were higher,which was 8.10％ and 4.54％,respectively.Through the process quality control of the linac,it was found that all the parameters were in control.While some abnormal points arose (the error was greater than UCL),and the ratio of the gantry angle which was out of control (0.45％) was the highest in all parameters.Conclusions linac delivery accuracy could be monitored and verified during the whole VMAT treatment for each patient,and the daily running condition of linac could be monitored.Through the introduction of SPC technology and the control charts,the process quality control of linac in VMAT could be achieved.It is a financial and valid method for the daily quality assurance of linac.

Objective To study the effect of caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) on the expression of ?-catenin in the cultured colorectal cancer cell lines. Methods HCT116 and W480 cells were treated with CAPE at serial concentrations of 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/L. ?-catenin protein expression was assayed by Western blot analysis. ?-catenin localization was detected by indirect immunofluorescence. Results CAPE treatment was associated with decreased total ?-catenin protein expression. The expression of ?-catenin at the cell nucleus and cytoplasm was downregulated, but at the cell-cell linked site the ?-catenin protein expression was upregulated. Conclusion CAPE can downregulate the expression of ?-catenin and inhibit the translocation of ?-catenin to nucleus, which may play an important role in the anticancer activity of CAPE.

Hot spots and cold spots always appear in the matched region of electron-photon fields. The degree of this kind of dose heterogeneity depends on the physical characteristic of a treatment unit and the energy of electrons. In this paper, a set of dosimetric parameters have been measured on electron rays and x rays for the Elekta Precise treatment unit and the Elekta Synergy treatment unit, respectively. The hot spots and cold spots in the region of perpendicular electron-photon matching fields have been analysed quantitatively. The method to extend penumbra for photon beam profiles was proposed for improving the dose uniformity in the matched regions. And the dose profiles in the matched regions for different treatment units were compared. The results showed that there were stronger hot spots and cold spots for treatment unit with smaller penumbra for photon beams either under the condition of unmodified photon beam profile or the condition of modified photon beam profile.
Computer Simulation ; Electrons ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; radiotherapy ; Humans ; Models, Theoretical ; Photons ; Radiotherapy Dosage ; Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Radiotherapy, High-Energy

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of an in-room automated volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) planning engine based on dose volume histogram (DVH) prediction model in RayStation treatment planning system.Methods A total of 4,0 VMAT plans of cervix cancer,planned by experts,were chosen to build DVH estimation model by principal component regression analytic method.An in-room automated VMAT planning program based on IroPython scripting language combined with DVH prediction model was performed in RayStation treatment planning system.The DVH estimation model was applied to Another 10 testing cases of cervical cancer and the feasibility was evaluated by comparing the automatic plans with manual plans.Results The predicted DVH of organs at risk showed a good fit with real DVH in the ten testing cases.There were no statistically significant differences between manual and automatic plans in PTV conformal index (CI) and homogeneity index (HI) (P ＞ O.05).V40 and V50 of bladder were significantly decreased by 4.3％ and 1.6％ in automatic plans (t =2.75,5.26,P ＜ 0.05).V30,V40 and Vs0 of rectum were also decreased by 6.8％,5.8 ％ and 2.1％ (t =2.26,3.55,5.19,P ＜ 0.05).Both left and right femoral heads were better spared in automatic plans with average doses decreased by 380 and 322 cGy(t =5.55,7.25,P ＜ 0.05).The time of creating a treatment plan was 36 min for automatic plan and 53 min for manual plan.Conclusions The fully automated VMAT treatment plan program can create a VMAT plan of cervix cancer with high efficiency and good quality.