Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture plus Chinese medicine iontophoresis in treating dry eye syndrome.Method Sixty-two patients with dry eye syndrome were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 31 cases in each group. The treatment group was intervened by acupuncture plus Chinese medicine iontophoresis, while the control group was intervened by artificial tears. After 4-week treatment, the changes of tear secretion, tear film break-up time (BUT) and symptoms score were observed, and the clinical efficacies were compared.Result The total effective rate was 87.1% in the treatment group versus 61.3% in the control group, and the between-group difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The total symptoms score, tear secretion and BUT were significantly changed after the treatment in both groups (P<0.05). After the treatment, the total symptoms score, tear secretion and BUT in the treatment group were significantly different from those in the control group (P<0.05).Conclusion Acupuncture plus Chinese medicine iontophoresis is an effective method in treating dry eye syndrome.

BACKGROUND:Different races, genders, heredity, geographical environment can cause different bone ages. Therefore, an assessment of hand-wrist bone age has been done in the Han and Uygur adolescents and children in Xinjiang region.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the actual conditions of hand-wrist bone age in Han and Uygur adolescents and children in Urumqi.
METHODS: 760 children and adolescents (aged 4.0-4.0 years) of Uighur and Han nationalities were enroled in this study. Two years acted as an age group. The hand-wrist bone age was estimated by hand-wrist X-ray using theChinese Wrist Skeletal Development Standard CHN Method. The correlation between bone age and chronological age was analyzed statisticaly as wel as difference in the bone age and chronological age between two ethnic groups.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) A close correlation was found between hand-wrist bone age and chronological age for two ethnic groups (P < 0.05). (2) Thirteen age group showed higher bone ages than chronological ages, including four age groups of Han nationality girls aged 4.0-11.9 years, three age groups of Han nationality boys aged 4.0-9.9 years, three age groups of Uygur girls aged 4.0-9.9 years, and three age groups of Uygur boys aged 4.0-9.9 years. (3) The bone and chronological ages were higher in the Han girls aged 10-11.9 year than the Uygur girls aged 10-11.9 years as wel as in the Han boys aged 12-13.9 years than the Uygur boys aged 12-13.9 years. Results show that the two ethnic groups of children and adolescents exhibit the early mature trend of skeletal development in multiple age groups; and there is a difference in skeletal and chronological age between Han and Uygur adolescents in some age groups.

In this paper, we propose an image-based key frame gating method to reduce motion artifacts in intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) longitudinal cuts. The artifacts are mainly caused by the periodic relative displacement between blood vessels and the IVUS catheter due to cardiac motion. The method is achieved in four steps as following. Firstly, we convert IVUS image sequences to polar coordinates to cut down the amount of calculation. Secondly, we extracted a one-dimensional signal cluster reflecting cardiac motion by spectral analysis and filtering techniques. Thirdly, we designed a Butterworth band-pass filter for filtering the one-dimensional signal clusters. Fourthly, we retrieved the extremes of the filtered signal clusters to seek key frames to compose key-frames gated sequences. Experimental results showed that our algorithm was fast and the average frame processing time was 17ms. Observing the longitudinal viewpictures, we found that comparing to the original ones, the gated sequences had similar trend, less saw tooth shape, and good continuity. We selected 12 groups of clinical IVUS sequences [images (876 +/- 65 frames), coronary segments length (14.61 +/- 1.08 mm)] to calculate vessel volume, lumen volume, mean plaque burden of the original and gated sequences. Statistical results showed that, on one hand, both vessel volume and lumen volume measured of the gated sequences were significantly smaller than those of the original ones, and there was no significant difference on mean plaque burden between original and gated sequences, which met the need of the clinical diagnosis and treatment. On the other hand, variances of vessel area and lumen area of the gated sequences were significantly smaller than those of the original sequences, indicating that the gated sequences would be more stable than the original ones.
Algorithms ; Artifacts ; Heart ; Humans ; Motion ; Ultrasonography, Interventional

ObjectiveDiabetes is an independent risk factor for coronary artery bypasss grafting(CABG). Off pump coronary artery bypasss (OPCAB) experience in 251 cases was reviewed to determine whether diabetes wou ld be applicable in OPCAB procedures.MethodsConsecutive 251 patients underwent OPCAB over 12 month period. This study included 71 diebetic patients (DM group) and 180 nondiabetic patients (NDM group). Preoperative v ariables were compared between the two groups by univariate analysis.R esultsNo differences were found regarding the length of stay in cardio intensive care unit [DM group(2.4?0.3)d; NDM group (2.4?0.3) d;P=0. 386], and sternal complication (DM group: 5.7%;NDM group: 3.9%;P=0.511) . In hospital complications were as follows: death rate(DM group: 2.8%; NDM gr oup: 1.1%; P=0.680); stroke (DM group: 2 8%; NDM group: 1 7%; P=0 623 ); hemofiltratioin renal failure (DM group: 2.8%; NDM group: 0.5%; P=0.194); myocardial infarction(DM group: 0%; NDM group: 0.5%;P=1.000); blood using were more frequent in DM group comparied with NDM group (P=0.111). ConclusionOPCAB in diabetic patients is as safe as in non diabetic patients.

Objective:To investigate the expression and clinical significance of PD-L1 in colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods:A total of 210 CRC patients who accepted radical surgery in our hospital from January 2015 to January 2016 were divided into three groups, namely, high-frequency microsatellite instability (MSI-H), low-frequency microsatellite instability (MSI-L), and microsatellite stable (MSS). The expression of PD-L1 was detected by immunohistochemistry, and the expression characteristics of PD-L1 in different types of CRC were analyzed. Results:CRC cases with low differentiation had a higher expression of PD-L1 than CRC patients with high differ-entiation (P<0.05). PD-L1 had a positive rate of 75.8%in the MSI-H group and a rate of 9.3%in the MSI-L and MSS groups, wherein the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion:PD-L1 was positively expressed in some CRC tu-mor tissues, and its positive rate was significantly higher in MSI-H than in MSI-L and MSS. The therapeutic effect of a PD-L1 blocker for patients with MSI-H CRC might be preferable.

Liquid-assisted surface desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (LA-DAPCI-MS)was used directly for the analysis of healthy rat liver (normal control group);acute alcoholic injury rat liver(alcohol model group)and Zhizi Dahuang decoction-treated rat liver (ZZDHD group)sections with the mass spectrometry images obtained simultaneously.Principal component analysis (PCA)was employed for the differentiation of livers of the groups;and 3 phospholipids;PC (34 ∶2);PC(36 ∶4)and PC(38 ∶4);were found to be the main factors.LA-DAPCI mass spectrometry images showed that the 3 phospholipids were evenly distrib-uted in liver under the spatial resolution of 0.01 mm2.Contents of 3 PCs in the model group were decreased in alcohol model group compared to the normal control group and the ZZDHD group;which revealed the relationship between acute alcoholic liver injury and intrahepatic phospholipid variation.The results showed that ZZDHD had protective effect on acute alcoholic liver injury-induced intrahepatic phospholipid variations at the molecular level.

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of warm needling in treating chronic prostatitis due to kidney-yang deficiency.Method Seventy-eight patients with chronic prostatitis due to kidney-yang deficiency were randomized into a treatment group of 40 cases and a control group of 38 cases. The treatment group was intervened by warm needling, while the control group was by oral administration of Terazosin hydrochloride tablets. The National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI) and white blood cell (WBC) count in prostatic fluid were observed before and after treatment, and the clinical efficacies were compared.Result The total effective rate was 92.5% in the treatment group versus 76.3% in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The NIH-CPSI scores and WBC counts were significantly changed in both groups after treatment (P<0.05). After treatment, the NIH-CPSI score of the treatment group was significantly different from that of the control group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in comparing the WBC count between the two groups after treatment (P>0.05).Conclusion Warm needling is an effective approach in treating chronic prostatitis due to kidney-yang deficiency.

Dendrobium officinale is a kind of precious Chinese herbal medicine, which has good effects on the anti-aging, antineoplastic, and blood glucose reducing treatment. It has been listed in the top of “Nine Magic Herbs”, with significant cultural features of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Planting, processing, and cultural base construction of Dendrobium officinale in Hunan Province have obtained great achievements. Further combination of Dendrobium officinale with TCM culture will develop a series portable and convenient tourism products with the features of wide taking habits and large intended population. The planting of Dendrobium officinale should be integrated with ecofallow organically; the construction of science museums about Dendrobium officinale should be improved; the modern view on health maintenance “Health maintenance should focus on Yin nourishment” should be included in TCM cultural tourism in Hunan Province. All of these can improve the potential of tourism product development, meet the living requirements of modern people, and drive the development of tourist industry in Hunan Province.

Objective To elucidate the role of renal progenitor-like tubular cells in the repair process after acute tubular necrosis(ATN)induced by ischemia. Methods Rat ATN was developed by clamping left kidney artery for 60 minutes,and bromodeoxyuridine(BrdU),a cell division and proliferation marker,was administrated one hour before rats were sacrificed.Kidneys were isolated at 1,3,5,7,14,21,28 days after injury.The proliferative and apoptotic cells were determined by immunostaining using anti-BrdU,Pax2(an embryonic renal marker),vimentin(an immature mesenchymal cell marker),and activated caspase-3(a cell apoptosis marker). Results Cell death was found in tubules at day 1 after ischemia and reperfusion injury.BrdU-positive cells were dramatically increased and reached peak at day 3 after injury.In addition,the number of BrdU positive cells in the contralateral kidney was significantly increased compared to sham operated group.Double immunostaining showed that BrdU-positive cells co-expressed Pax2 or vimentin,but not activated caspase-3. Conclusions Renal progenitor-like tubular cells may play a predominant role in repair process following ATN in rats.They may dedifferentiate,proliferate,and then redifferentiate into mature tubular cells.Growth factors may regulate the repair process.

Objective To investigate the association of hepatitis B virus(HBV) S gene quasispecies with the outcome of HBV infection.Methods Serum samples were collected from three chronic HBV carriers, three chronic hepatitis B and three chronic severe hepatitis B patients.All subjects were male and with HBV genotype C.HBV S gene was amplified, and 20 clones of HBV fragment were randomly selected and sequenced from each sample.SPSS 15.0 software was adopted for analysis.Results Quasispecies complexity of HBV S gene in chronic HBV carriers and chronic hepatitis B tended lower than that of the severe chronic hepatitis B, but the difference was not of statistical significance (P＞0.05).In T cell epitope 45, 47, 85 amino acid sites of the HBV S gene, the constitution of quasispecies in the chronic hepatitis B was more complex than that of the HBV carriers (P=0.01), but compared with the severe chronic hepatitis, the difference was not significant (P=0.06).The computer model showed that both the dominant clones and the non dominant clones could effectively bind to the receptors of cytotoxic T lymphocytes.Conclusion Quasispecies in some T cell epitopes of HBV S gene may be related with the clinical outcome of hepatitis B.