According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the basic sciences to support the human health are chemistry, physics and informatics. Chemistry is the base of pharmacy. Physics is the base of medical instruments and equipments (MIE). The diagnosis and therapy of diseases are relying on informatics. Therefore, as the fusion results of physics and medicine, medical physics is the creative source science of MIE. Among all diagnosis tools, medical imaging devices are the fastest-developed and the most-complicated MIE since Roentgen discovered X-ray which was quickly used in medical diagnosis in 1895. Among all treatment tools, the radiotherapeutical devices are the most-widely used and the most effective MIE for tumor treatments since Mrs. Courier found the nature radiation isotope Radium at the end of 19th century and began to use it in tumor therapy. Although the research and development (R&D) of so-complicated MIE need many subjects of science and engineering, the kernel science is medical physics. With the results of more than 50 years' development in developed countries, medical physics has defined its own field, which is the medical imaging physics and the radiotherapeutical physics. But, the definition has been expanded to be wider and wider. Therefore, we should pay more attention to the establishment of Medical Physics in China. In order to develop medical physics in china, the bases of R&D and clinical practice should be also built.
China ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Equipment and Supplies ; Health Physics ; Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Physics ; instrumentation

OBJECTIVETo study the methods and the clinical value of preserving intercostobrachial nerve during the axillary lymph nodes excision in breast cancer operations.

METHODSOne hundred and sixty-two cases of stages I, II, IIIa breast cancer patients were divided into experimental group and control group respectively. The intercostobrachial nerves were preserved in experimental group and not in control group. Both groups were treated following the practice guideline of breast cancer, and found no recurrence during 4 to 36 months following up.

RESULTSThe postoperative arm sensory disturbance was 22.2% in the experimental group, which was significantly different from that of the control group 73.3% (chi(2) = 41.80, P < 0.01), the incidence of pain is 12.5% in experimental group, which was also significantly different from that of control group 31.1% (chi(2) = 7.86, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONPreserving intercostobrachial nerves may significantly decrease the postoperative morbidity of arm sensory disturbance and pain during axillary excision of stage I, II, IIIa breast cancer patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Axilla ; innervation ; surgery ; Breast Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intercostal Nerves ; injuries ; Lymph Node Excision ; methods ; Mastectomy ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; prevention & control ; Sensation Disorders ; prevention & control

OBJECTIVETo observe the effects of neural stem cells (NSCs) transplantation on the brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) after the spinal cord injury (SCI) of rats, and to investigate the mechanism of repairing the SCI by NSCs transplantation.

METHODSNeural stem cells were cultured from the hippocampus of rats' embryo and identified by immunocytochemistry. Seven days after the operation of SCI, the NSCs were transplanted into the injured site. Sixty adult Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: SCI cured with NSCs transplantation (group A), SCI received DMEM solution (group B), control group (group C). Then the expression of BDNF of the lesion and neighbor areas were examined by reverse transcsription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry, so as to investigated the mechanism of repairing the SCI after NSCS transplantation.

RESULTSAccording the RT-PCR results analysis, the expression of BDNF mRNA of group A enhanced higher than that of group B on the 1st, 3rd, 5th day after transplantation of NSCs. According the immunohistochemistry results analysis, the expression of BDNF mRNA of group A enhanced higher than that of group B on the 7th, 14th, 28th day similarly.

CONCLUSIONThe transplantation of NSCs can change the tiny-entironment by upregulating the expression of BDNF. It maybe one of the mechanism of repairing the SCI by NSCs transplantation.

Animals ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cells, Cultured ; Disease Models, Animal ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Male ; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation ; Neurons ; metabolism ; transplantation ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; genetics ; metabolism ; surgery ; therapy ; Up-Regulation