Objective To research some parameters' influence on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of MR. Methods Magphan phantom was used to do experiments on 1.5T, 0.5T and 0.23T MRI. Scan parameters such as NEX, scan matrix and slice thickness were altered.Evaluate whether the change of SNR varied with parameter to be in accordance with the SNR law.Results (1) When spin echo pulse applied and NEX changed, the results of high field device A and B weren't in accordance with SNR theory, and high filed device C and low field device F were in accordance with SNR theory. When fast spin echo pulse applied and NEX changed, the result of device B was in accordance with SNR theory. (2) When scan matrix changed, measured value was lower than ideal value for little matrix, and vice versa. (3) The measured value was very closely to ideal value for little slice thickness. When slice thickness exceed 5 mm, the difference between the measured value and ideal value was significance.Conclusion Based on the SNR theory, the user of MRI should consider the running characteristic of MR system to select scan parameters.

Objective To assess the single-exponential and dual-exponential fitting methods of MR T2-Map, and to get T2 value of each pixel. Methods Single and dual-exponential methods with linear fitting and non-linear regression fitting techniques were used for a series images with different TE; then T2-Map images were achieved. T2-Map software was realized on MATLAB and it had the function of compute, display, save and so on. Results T2-Map software with single-exponential and dual-exponential fitting methods was achieved, able to calculate T2 value of tissues everywhere and form the T2-Map image. Conclusion Single-exponential T2-Map method is convenient, having obvious merit-high speed, but can not show the area with obvious different contents very well. However, dual-exponential fitting method can deal with this question with providing different T2 values, thus is accurate with the sacrifice of costing too much time. Dual-exponential fitting method of T2-Map is a beneficial supplement to single-exponential method.

Objective To analyze the changes and characteristics of respiratory tract bacteria in Hebei 3A Hospital, and to provide new rationale for clinical diagnosis and treatment.Methods A single-center retrospective analysis was conducted. 7497 patients with respiratory tract infection admitted to Hebei Chest Hospital from January 2013 to December 2016 were enrolled. Deep sputum was collected, and the bacterial cultures and susceptibility analysis was conducted in sputum and upper respiratory secretions were collected by fiberoptic bronchoscopy.Results A total of 7497 patients with respiratory tract infection were enrolled in the study, and 11909 strains of 13 kinds of dominant pathogens were isolated. The dominant pathogens for respiratory tract infection wereMonilia albican (23.7%),Klebsiella pneumoniae (12.9%),Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11.6%),Escherichia coli (9.5%),Candida glabrata (9.1%),Acinetobacter baumanii (7.9%),Aspergillus (6.7%),Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (4.5%), coagulase negativeStaphylococcus(3.7%) and some species ofPseudomonas (3.7%),Staphylococcus aureus (3.0%),Aerobacter cloacae (1.9%), andCandida tropicalis (1.8%). A total of 6198 strains of 7 kinds of Gram negative (G-) bacilli infection dominant pathogens accounts for 52.0% of all infections,Klebsiella pneumonia (24.8%),Pseudomonas aeruginosa (22.3%),Escherichia coli (18.2%) andAcinetobacter baumanii (15.3%) were the main pathogens, and increased year by year. Susceptibility analysis showed that the preferred antibiotics for G- bacteria were carbapenems, followed by risperidone, sulbactam, cefepime, amikacin, and the third generation of cephalosporins. A total of 798 strains of 2 kinds of Gram positive (G+) bacilli infection dominant pathogens accounted for 6.7% of all infections, were coagulase negativeStaphylococcus(54.8%) and Staphylococcus aureus (45.2%), each had changed little by year. Susceptibility analysis showed that G+ bacteria were sensitive to glycopeptides, followed by cefoxitin, cotrimoxazole, the tetracyclines, quinolones, azithromycin, erythromycin and so on. The advantages of 4 species of fungi were 4913 strains, accounted for all of the 41.3% strains, with 57.5% of Candida albicans, and the trend was increasing year by year. Susceptibility analysis results showed that the antifungal susceptibility of dominant fungi were higher.Conclusions G- bacilli is still the main source of infection, and showed an upward trend year by year. Fungal infection rate cannot be ignored, and we must pay attention to fungal infection incentives. We should strengthen the rational use of antibiotics.

AIM The effects of GW501516, a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor β (PPARβ) agonist, in long term diet induced obesity (DIO, high fat and maltose diet for 4 months) mice were evaluated, and the efficacy of GW501516 against insulin resistance and the involved mechanism was investigated. METHODSMice were divided into 3 groups: normal control, DIO model and DIO model+GW501516. GW501516 (10 mg·kg-1·d-1) was administered by ig once a day for 14 d. During the treatment, body weight and food intake were monitored every other day. The oral glucose tolerance test, and the serum biochemical parameters including the serum triglyceride, total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were measured according to the specifications. To confirm the GW501516-mediated PPARβ activation, the mRNA levels of downstream genes related to glucose, lipid metabolism and energy expenditure was measured. RESULTS GW501516 treatment effectively improved the glucose intolerance, increased the area under the glucose curves[DIO model, (32.4±4.6) mmol·h·L-1 compared with DIO model+GW501516, (23.4±2.5) mmol·h·L-1, n=7-8, P<0.05], normalized the fasted blood glucose, and increased serum HDL-C level, besides, histological analysis revealed the decreased hepatic lipid accumulation and hypertrophy of hepatocyte in DIO mice. Moreover, RT-PCR results indicated that carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1b, uncoupling protein 2, uncoupling protein 3 and glucose transport protein 4 were all upregulated. CONCLUSIONGW501516 significantly ameliorates glucose intolerance, decreases fasted blood glucose and hepatic steatosis, which might be related to ① the enhancement of fatty acid oxidation and energy uncoupling in muscle, and ②the improvement of insulin-stimulated glucose transportation in skeletal muscle in the long term DIO mice.

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of community treatment and management mode in elderly patients with hypertension.Methods A total of 286 elderly patients with hypertension were treated with community therapy and management for 6 months.The improvements in life style and hypertension control were observed before and after the community treatment and management.Results There were significant differences in systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure in the elderly patients before and after the treatment and management [(158.4± 11.3) mm Hg vs.(131.3±5.9) mm Hg,(99.6±8.9) mm Hg vs.(81.5±5.6) mm Hg,respectively,both P＜0.05].Compared with pretreatment,the blood pressure control rate,the awareness rate of diagnostic criteria and the drug compliance were significantly increased after the treatment and management [38.5％ (110/286) vs.96.9％ (277/286),66.4％ (190/286) vs.100％ (286/286),49％ (140/286)vs.91.3％ (261/286),x2 =98.87,115.36,122.13,respectively,all P＜0.01].Conclusions The community treatment and management can increase the blood pressure control rate and improve the quality of life in elderly patients with hypertension.It is a feasible method to comprehensively prevent and control hypertension.

Objective To investigate the effects of moldavica total flavone on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) in ovalbumin-induced bronchial asthmatic rats, and explore its mechanism. Methods A total of 60 SD rats was randomly divided into control group, model group, dexamethasone (1 mg/kg) group and moldavica total flavone low (90 mg/kg), medium (180 mg/kg) and high (360 mg/kg) dose group. Rats asthma model was established by ovalbumin challenge methods except the control group. After modeling, rats in control and model groups were intragastrically given distilled water, rats in medicine groups were intragastrically given moldavica total flavone and dexamethasone for 30 d. VEGF in lung tissue and ICAM-1 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were detected respectively by ELISA. The content of ET-1 and NO in BALF were analyzed with radioimmunity method and nitric acid reductase method. Results The VEGF in lung tissue and ICAM-1, NO and ET-1 in BALF were decreased by moldavica total flavone at 180 and 360 mg/kg (P<0.05, P<0.01) in ovalbumin-induced bronchial asthmatic rats. Conclusion Moldavica total flavone is effective in adjusting abnormal increase of VEGF, ICAM-1, ET-1 and NO of bronchial asthma rats.

Kruppel-like factor 6 (KLF6) was reported as tumor suppressor in multiple cancers. However, loss of chromosomal locus spanning KLF6 is relatively infrequent in previous published studies. To explore the role of KLF6 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we examined the gene for expression change, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and mutation in 26 HCC samples. The expression levels of KLF6 were significantly down-regulated in HCCs, as detected by qRT-PCR. LOH occurred in 11 (52%) of 21 tumors, and all the samples with LOH showed KLF6 down-regulation. The mutational frequency was 24%, and sequence changes located in activation domain of KLF6. Furthermore, MTT assay showed a significant antiproliferative effect of the wt KLF6 transfected in HepG2 hepatoblastoma cells. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis revealed that KLF6 could induce apoptosis. These findings indicate that deregulation of KLF6, together with genetic abnormalities of allelic imbalance and mutations, may play a role in HCC pathogenesis.

Objective To observe the effect of moxibustion pretreatment on caspase-3 expression in cortex of rats with cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. Methods Twenty-one male SD rats were randomly divided into three groups, sham group (n=6), model group (n=8) and moxibustion pretreatment group (n=7). Focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury rat model was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) for 2 hours followed by reperfusion. Brain infarct was ex-amined by TTC staining. Brain morphology was shown by HE staining and the ultrastructure of cell was observed with elec-tron microscope. Caspase-3 expression in cortex was examined by immunofluorescence histochemistry. Results The per-centage of infarct volume [(24.9±4.7)%] in moxibustion pretreatment group was much smaller than that [(45.8±4.6)%] in mod-el group. Nerve cells in moxibustion pretreatment group experienced less morphological and structural changes than those in model group, and caspase-3 positive cells (39.17 ± 7.28) in moxibustion pretreatment group were less than those (58.17 ± 16.53) in model group. Conclusion Moxibustion pretreatment could attenuate cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, which might be through decreasing caspase-3 expression.

Objective To evaluate the effects of right ventricular pressure load on left ventricular ( LV) myocardial mechanics using speckle tracking technology ,and to detect the change of LV function in patients with pulmonary hypertension( PH) at a earlier stage ,in order to provide reference for early clinical intervention . Methods The study included 74 patients with PH and 40 healthy volunteers ,who had of similar age and sex distribution . According to the pulmonary artery systolic pressure ( PASP) ,patients with PH were divided into mild ,moderate and severe groups ,which were marked with A ,B ,C , respectively . All subjects underwent echocardiographic examination . Conventional echocardiographic parameters ,the systolic longitudinal ,radial and circumferential peak strain ( LS ,RS ,CS) in various segments of LV ,as well as basal and apical segment myocardial rotation angle peak and peak time were determined ,LV systolic global longitudinal ,radial and circumferential strain (GLS ,GRS ,GCS) ,free wall (LAT ,lateral wall+ posterior wall) and interventricular septum ( IVS ,anteroseptal+ posteroseptal) overall LS ,RS ,CS were calculated . Results ①LVejectionfraction(LVEF):groupA,B,Chadnosignificantreduction(P>0.05)thanthe control group . ②Overall LS ,RS ,CS of LAT of LV and IVS and GLS ,GRS ,GCS of LV :B ,C group were lower than the control group and group A and C were lower than group B ( P < 0 .05) . ③ The rotation angle in ventricular apical basal segments and segment :group B and C were lower than the control group and group A and C were lower than group B ( P <0 .05) . ④GLS ,GRS ,GCS and overall LS ,RS ,CS of LAT and IVS were similar between group A and the control group( P >0 .05) ,but LV base segment rotation of groupAwaslowerthanthatofthecontrolgroup(P<0.05).Conclusions ①Rightventricularpressure overload can lead to increased LV mechanical damage ,LV strain changes were earlier than the change of LVEF . ②LV strain with increased right ventricular pressure overload is gradually reduced . ③Compared with other strain parameters , LV basal segments rotation angle were able to detect changes of LV myocardiol mechanics in patients with PH more sensitively .

Objective To investigate the effect of moldavica total flavone on pulmonary function and collagen type Ⅲ in lung tissue of ovalbumin-induced bronchial asthmatic rats. Methods A total of 60 SD rats were randomly divided into control group, model group, dexamethasone group, and moldavica total flavone low, medium and high dose group. Rat asthma model was established by ovalbumin challenge methods except the control group. The control and model group were intragastrically given distilled water, medicine groups were intragastrically given moldavica total flavone and dexamethasone for 30 d, once per day. After the last administration, the pulmonary function and airway responsiveness including breathing frequency (F), minute ventilation (MVb), peak inspiratory flow (PIFb), peak expiratory flow (PEFb) and enhanced pause (Penh) were measured by using non-invasive measurement system (Penh system, Buxco, USA). The collagen type Ⅲ in lung tissue were detected by ELISA. Results The moldavica total flavone at 180 and 360 mg/kg decreased F and Penh (P<0.05, P<0.01), increased MVb, PIFb and PEFb (P<0.05), and decreased collagen type Ⅲ in lung tissue (P<0.05, P<0.01). Conclusion Moldavica total flavone can relieve the airway hyperresponsiveness and remodeling, improve respiratory function of ovalbumin-induced bronchial asthmatic rats.