Objective To summarize MR manifestations of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), and to evaluate the accuracy of MR angiography in determining cerebral AVMs’ aspects. Methods Thirty-six cases of cerebral AVMs were analyzed comparatively between MRA and DSA in sizes, feeding arteries and draining veins. Results Cerebral AVMs were appeared in every part of brain. MRI showed honeycombed and linear flow-void low intensity signal in lesion area, showed flow-void signal of expanded thickening vessels, and showed cerebral atrophy or fraction surrounding the lesions. MRA showed that the sizes of most AVMs were 2～5 cm, that the feeding arteries originate from the expansion of original feeding arteries of these areas, that the draining veins drain from the lesions into the surrounding veins or sinuses. The numbers of these vessels were related positively to the sizes of lesions. The differences in showing AVMs between MRA and DSA were that the sizes of lesions on MRA were more than those on DSA, and the numbers of draining veins on MRA were more than those on DSA. Conclusion MRA may show all signs of AVMs, and is not less than, or superior to DSA in their diagnosis. MRI may play important roles in the examination and the diagnosis of cerebral AVMs.

Objective To investigate the role of MRI in diagnosis of primary intracranial teratoma.Methods Nine cases of primary intracranial teratoma proved by operation and pathology were examined by MRI before operation.MRI features were analysed retrospectively.Results The localized and qualitative rates were 100% and 88.8% respectively.The characteristic MRI appearances of primary intracranial teratoma were as follows:(1)The tumor was lobular in shape with clear margin;(2)The tumor had heterogeneous signal intensity ;(3)Inhomogeneous Gd-DTPA enhancement in most of the tumors.Conclusion Multiplanar imaging and Gd-DTPA enhancement in MRI are helpful in diagnosis and differential diagnosis of teratoma.

Objective To evaluate the capacity of consecutive three-dimensional time of flight(3D-TOF)MRA and velocity-encoding(Venc)three-dimensional phase-contrast MRA(3D-PC MRA)in determining cerebral arteries.Methods 15 persons being normal on MR images,consecutive 3D-TOF and 3D-PC MR angiograms were selected prospectively to evaluate the difference between two MRA techniques in determining cerebral arteries.The 38 normal sides of 43 cerebral arteriographic cases undergone MRA and DSA were selected retrospectively to evaluate the capacity of MRA technique in determining cerebral arteries with DSA criterion.Results The branch grades of ACA,MCA or PCA demonstrated by 3D-TOF technique were not respectively different from that by 3D-PC.But the former imaging quality was much better than that of the later.The branch grades of ACA,MCA or PCA shown by MRA were respectively different from those by DSA.These grades of ACA,MCA shown by MRA were one less than those by DSA,and that of PCA shown by MRA was a few different from that by DSA.Conclusion The capacity of consecutive 3D-TOF MRA in demonstrating cerebral arteries is less than that of DSA,but it is enough to most cerebral vascular diseases.

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography(MRCP)using half-Fourier acquisition single-shot fast spin-echo(HASTE)sequence in the diagnosis of biliary obstructions.Methods Forty-five patients with pancreaticobiliary duct diseases underwent MRCP on 1.5 T scanner,a heavily T 2-weighted HASTE was used during a breath-hold.The source images were three-dimensional reconstructed postprocessed on workstation.The findings of MRCP images were analyzed and compared with US,CT,ERCP or PTC.Results The diagnostic accuracy of MRCP was 94%,the same as ERCP(92%),but it was superior to US and CT(?

Objective To study the MRI features and its ultrastructural pathology basis in different myocardial injury areas after acute infarction.Methods 10 rabbits were given ligation of left anterior descending branch 24 hours to make pathologic models.All animals underwent conventional MRI,contrast media dynamic enhancement MRI,cine-MRI and dobutamine stress test.Myocardial blood flow was measured with radioactive micropheres to define risk regions.Ischemic and infarcted regions were defined as Even's blue and 2,3,5triphenyltetrazolium chloride(TTC)negative regions respectively,and made electron microscopy specimens to observe the changes of mitochondria and myofibril.The myocardial ultrastructural injury was scored and graded.Results There were no significant change on T 1WI,but the signal intensity on T 2WI increased significantly after AMI.The diseased myocardium became thinning were seen in 40% cases,and the abnormal flowing high signal were seen in 60% cases.The dynamic enhancement time-signal intensity curves were different in normal,ischemic and infarcted regions.Cine-MRI showed the cardiac wall movement impairing and the wall thick thinning,but the wall movement reinforcing and the wall thick thickening after dobutamine stress.The water content of ischemic and infracted myocardium were marked higher than normal myocardium.The myocardial blood flow in diseased regions were decreased significantly than that in normal regions.The volume density and numerical density of mitochondria in different injury regions showed significant differences.Conclusion MRI appearances of AMI were associated with the injury degree of myocardial ultrastructure and the residual myocardial blood flow.

14 years) in female. ICA-C4: (4.3?0.6) mm in male, (3.9?0.6) mm in female. A1 segment of anterior cerebral artery (ACA-A1): (2.1?0.4) mm in male, (2.1?0.4) mm in female. Anterior communicating artery (ACoA): (1.4?0.4) mm in male, (1.3?0.4) mm in female. M1 segment of middle cerebral artery (MCA-M1): (2.7?0.4) mm in male, (2.6?0.4) mm in female. Basilar artery (BA): (2.9?0.5) mm in male, (2.8?0.4) mm in female. P1 segment of posterior cerebral artery (PCA-P1): (2.1?0.5) mm on the left and (2.0?0.5) mm on the right in male, (2.0?0.3) mm on the left and (1.9?0.3) mm on the right in female. PCA-P2: (1.8?0.4) mm in male, (1.7?0.3) mm in female. Posterior communicating artery (PCoA): (1.1?0.3) mm in male, (1.2?0.4) mm in female. Among various diameters, only PCA-P1 had significant difference between the left and the right (P=0.003); only MCA-M1 (P=0.048), PCA-P1 (P=0.012), ICA-C2 (P=0.000) and C4 segments (P=0.000) had significant differences in gender, respectively; and only ICA-C2 had significant difference in age (P=0.001). Of these significantly different diameters, the diameters in male were larger than those in female. There were significant correlation between PCA-P1 and PCA-P2 (r=0.652,P=0.000), and between ICA-C2 and ICA-C4 in female group (r=0.550,P=0.000), respectively. Conclusions The normal values of diameter of cerebral arteries on MR angiograms may play a reference role in diagnosing cerebral vascular diseases.

Angioplasty ; Humans ; Pacemaker, Artificial ; Pericardium ; Vascular Diseases

BACKGROUNDExcessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) may lead to a number of reproductive diseases such as polycystic ovary syndrome. This study aimed to establish an animal model of ovarian oxidative stress and to assess the protective effect of curcumin against oxidative injury.

METHODSOvarian oxidative stress was induced in female Kunming mice (n = 40) with intraperitoneal injection of 8 mg/kg sodium arsenite (As) once every other day for 16 days; meanwhile, they were, respectively, treated by intragastric administration of 0, 100, 150, or 200 mg/kg (n = 10/group) curcumin once per day for 21 days. Ten normal mice were used as control. Then, the mice were injected intraperitoneally with BrdU and sacrificed; the right ovaries were collected for hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and BrdU immunohistochemistry, and the left ovaries for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blotting analyses.

RESULTSThe ELISA results showed that ROS (11.74 ± 0.65 IU/mg in 8 mg/kg AS + 0 mg/kg curcumin group vs. 10.71 ± 0.91 IU/mg in control group, P= 0.021) and malondialdehyde (MDA) (0.32 ± 0.02 nmol/g in 8 mg/kg AS + 0 mg/kg curcumin group vs. 0.27 ± 0.02 nmol/g in control group, P= 0.048) increased while superoxide dismutase (SOD) (3.96 ± 0.36 U/mg in 8 mg/kg AS + 0 mg/kg curcumin group vs. 4.51 ± 0.70 U/mg in control group, P= 0.012) and glutathione peroxidase (17.36 ± 1.63 U/g in 8 mg/kg AS + 0 mg/kg curcumin group vs. 18.92 ± 1.80 U/g in control group, P= 0.045) decreased in the ovary after injection of As, indicating successful modeling of oxidative stress. Curcumin treatment could considerably increase SOD (4.57 ± 0.68, 4.49 ± 0.27, and 4.56 ± 0.25 U/mg in 100 mg/kg, 150 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg curcumin group, respectively, allP < 0.05) while significantly reduce ROS (10.64 ± 1.38, 10.73 ± 0.71, and 10.67 ± 1.38 IU/mg in 100 mg/kg, 150 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg curcumin group, respectively, allP < 0.05) and MDA (0.28 ± 0.02, 0.25 ± 0.03, and 0.27 ± 0.04 nmol/g in 100 mg/kg, 150 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg curcumin group, respectively; bothP < 0.05) in the ovary. HE staining and BrdU immunohistochemistry of the ovarian tissues indicated the increased amount of atretic follicles (5.67 ± 0.81, 5.84 ± 0.98, and 5.72 ± 0.84 in 100 mg/kg, 150 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg curcumin group, respectively, all P < 0.05), and the inhibited proliferation of granular cells under oxidative stress would be reversed by curcumin. Furthermore, the Western blotting of ovarian tissues showed that the p66Shc expression upregulated under oxidative stress would be lowered by curcumin.

CONCLUSIONCurcumin could alleviate arsenic-induced ovarian oxidative injury to a certain extent.

Animals ; Arsenites ; toxicity ; Curcumin ; therapeutic use ; Disease Models, Animal ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Immunohistochemistry ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Mice ; Ovary ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Sodium Compounds ; toxicity ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo observe the meridian reaction in patients with hypertension, to explore the significance of meridian diagnosis.

METHODSSixty-six patients with hypertension received two different methods of meridian detection. Kang Wei Human Body Meridian Analysis and Diagnosis System was applied to detect the volt-ampere characteristic curve on the Yuan (source) point of the 12 meridians. Five minutes after the first examination, the traditional method of meridian detection was used to examine the meridian reactions, such as pressing pain, tuber and cord-like reactants along the 12 meridians at forearms, lower limb, head and back.

RESULTSThere were sixty-five cases of abnormal volt-ampere characteristic curve among sixty-six patients with hypertension. The number of cases about Kidney Meridian of Foot-Shaoyin and Bladder Meridian of Foot-Taiyang were both 28 with the highest abnormal rate being 43.1%; Using traditional method of meridian detection, there were 41 cases of abnormal meridian reactions, about 28 cases of Governor Vessel, with the highest abnormal rate being 68.3%.

CONCLUSIONThe abnormal meridian reactions exist in Governor Vessel, Kidney Meridian and Bladder Meridian in patients with hypertension. Therefore, this finding provides clinical evidence in meridian diagnosis.

Acupuncture Points ; Aged ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; diagnosis ; Male ; Meridians ; Middle Aged

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of Radix Paeoniae Rubra (RPR) on the expression of heme oxygenase (HO-1) and induced nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in endotoxin-induced acute lung injury in rats and its protective mechanism.

METHODSForty Wistar rats were divided randomly into 5 groups with 8 rats in each group: saline control group (NS group), lipopolysaccharide group (LPS group), RPR-treatment group, RPR-prevention group and Hemin group. The effect of RPR on protein content, the ratio of neutrophiles in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the lung and the activity of serum NO were observed. Arterial blood was drawn for blood-gas analysis. The expression of HO-1 and iNOS in lung tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry and morphometry computer image analysis. The histological changes of the lung were observed under light microscope.

RESULTSCompared with that in NS group, the expression of HO-1 and iNOS was markedly increased in LPS group (P<0.01). In RPR-treatment, RPR-prevention, and Hemin groups, the expression of iNOS was significantly lower, while the expression of HO-1 was higher than that in LPS group (P<0.05). The protein content, the ratio of neutrophiles in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, the content of MDA and the activity of serum NO in LPS group were significantly higher than those in NS group (P<0.01). There was a significant decrease in the level of arterial bicarbonate and partial pressure of oxygen in the LPS group (P<0.01); these parameters of lung injury however, were significantly lower in RPR-treatment, RPR-prevention, and Hemin groups than LPS group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The pathologic changes of lung tissues were substantially attenuated in RPR-treatment, RPR-prevention, and Hemin groups than LPS group.

CONCLUSIONSThe high expression of HO-1 reflects an important protective function of the body during lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury. The protective effect of RPR on lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury is related to the inhibition of iNOS expression and the induction of HO-1 expression.

Analysis of Variance ; Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Endotoxins ; Heme Oxygenase-1 ; biosynthesis ; Lung Diseases ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; enzymology ; Male ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; biosynthesis ; Paeonia ; Phytotherapy ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar