Objective To explore the value of improved elasticity scores in differentiating malignant and benign breast lesions. Methods A prospective study was done in 394 patients with 508 breast lesions confirmed by pathology and the elastographic images of the lesions were evaluated by using old and improved elasticity scores respectively. Results The elastographic images of the lesions could be evaluated and classified in all patients by improved elasticity scores but could not be evaluated and classified in 82 lesions by old elasticity scores. The accuracy of ultrasonic elastography for diagnosing benign and malignant breast lesions was 88.8% and 78.1%, respectively by old elasticity scores and improved elasticity scores. Conclusions The elastographic images of breast lesions were accurately evaluated by using improved elasticity scores, and the use of improved elasticity scores is helpful to reduce the biopsy which is not necessary.

Objective To explore the application of contrast-enhanced scoring system in the diagnosis of breast tumor.Methods 249 patients with 260 lesions were examined by elastography and contrastenhanced ultrasound before surgery.All the lesions were scored according to the two different methods.Pathological results were made the golden criteria.The diagnosis accuracy of the two methods were compared.Results There were 145 benign and 115 malignant tumors.The diagnosis accuracy,specificity and sensibility of elastography were 85.0％,88.3％,80.1 ％ respectively.The critical value of contrastenhanced ultrasound was between 3 and 4.The diagnosis accuracy,specificity and sensibility of contrastenhanced ultrasound were 88.9％,87.6％,90.4％ respectively.Area under ROC curve of the two methods were 0.901 and 0.910,the difference was not statistically significant.Conclusions Contrast-enhanced ultrasound 5-point scoring system was an initial quantitative criterion for breast tumor diagnosis.The diagnosis accuracy was parallel to that of elastography.

Objective To evaluate the application of the binary Logistic regression model to analyze ultrasonographie indexes of the solid breast tumors. Methods The indexes of two dimensional gray scale ultrasonography,two dimensional color Doppler flow imaging,three dimensional gray scale ultrasonography, three dimensional color Doppler flow imaging and ultrasonic elastography were evaluated in 151 breast lesions confirmed by surgical pathology. A Logistic regression model for predicting breast rnalignaney on the basis of ultrasonographic indexes was obtained. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess the performance of the Logistic regression model. Results Six ultrasonic indexes were finally entering the Logistic regression model. They were elasticity score, shape,internal echo, RI, enhancement of posterior acoustic alteration and the converging pattern in the coronal plane. The area under the ROC curve was 0. 996. The percentage correct of prediction was 97.35 %. Conclusions The multivariate analysis model of binary Logistic regression can describe and analyze the process of differential diagnosis of malignant and benign solid breast tumors by ultrasonography and can select out the valuable indexes of differential diagnosis.

Objective To analyze the value of color Doppler ultrasound in the diagnosis of lower extremity arterial disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.Methods A total of 800 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus underwent color Doppler ultrasonography to examine anterior tibial artery (ATA),dorsalis pedis artery (DPA) and posterior tibial artery (PTA).Ultrasonic findings including vascular diameter,stenosis ratio and hemodynamics of lower extremity arterial disease were analyzed retrospectively.Results ATA and DPA had more plaques and stenosis than PTA.There was no statistical difference of vascular diameter,stenosis ratio and hemodynamics between left and right lower extremity artery in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus including diabetic foot.Conclusion Color Doppler ultrasound is a useful method in the diagnosis of lower extremity arterial disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus,providing information of stenosis ratio and hemodynamics of lower extremity artery,so as contributing to the clinical therapy of this disease.

Objective To compare the diagnostic value of sound velocity(SV) and real-time ultrasonic elastography in differentiating benign or malignant of breast lesions.Methods 75 patients with 99 lesions were examined with the zone speed index technique and real-time ultrasonic elastography respectively.Then the SVs of the lesions were calculated and elastography of the lesions were scored with 5-scoring method.The ROC curves were constructed with histology as the golden standard.Results There was significant difference between the SVs of benign and malignant breast lesions(P =0.0001).1561 m/s was the best cufoff point.And the areas under the curves (AUC) of SV and real-time ultrasonic elastography were 0.842 and 0.968,respectively.There was significant difference between the two methods of AUC (P =0.023).The sensitivity,specificity and accuracy for SV were 81.5％,91.7％,88.9％,respectively.There was no significant difference between sensitivity,specificity and accuracy of the two methods(P =1.0,P =0.125,P =0.146).Conclusions Both SV method and real-time ultrasonic elastography are helpful in the evaluation of benign or malignant of breast lesions.

Objective To investigate the mechanisms involved in cucurmosin-induced apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cell SW1990.Methods The expression of EGFR,PI3K,Akt,Bad,Caspase -9,mTOR,P70S6K-α,and 4E BP1 at the protein level were detected by western blot analysis,and RTPCR was used to determine EGFR mRNA expression.Results An increased concentration of cucurmosin showed a subsequent decrease in the expression of EGFR,PI3K,Akt,mTOR,P70S6Kα,and 4E -BP1,whereasthe expression of Bad and Caspase-9 were elevated.However,the mRNA expression of EGFR was unchanged.Conclusion Cucurmosin is shown to induce the apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cell SW1990 by down regulating the expression of EGFR and thus inactivating the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.

Objective To investigate the effects of tissue specific cytosine deaminase/5-fluorocytosine (CD/5-FC) thermotherapy on hepatic metastasis of colonic carcinoma in nude mice. Methods Forty-five nude mice were randomly divided into control group, 5-FC group and 5-FC thermotherapy group according to the random number table (15 mice in each group). Mice models of hepatic metastasis of colonic carcinoma were established by portal vein injection of LoVo/CEACD cells. The hepatic metastasis rate and number of metastatic nodules of the 3 groups were compared by ehi-square test and one-way ANOVA. The pathological changes in tumor tissues and apoptotic index of tumor cells were observed. The expression of the CD gene in tumor tissues was detected by fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot. Results The number of metastatic nodules and liver metas-tasis rate were 4.6±1.3 and 100.0% in control group, 2.2±1.0 and 60.0% in 5-FC group, 0.5±0.8 and 13.3% in 5-FC thermotherapy group, with statistical difference among the 3 groups (F=25.898, χ2=5.208, 19.548, 5.168, P<0.05). The mean apoptotic indexes of tumor cells of the 3 groups were 4.6%, 9.9% and 17.4%, respectively. Vacuolar degeneration, cell necrosis, cytolysis and apoptotic bodies were mostly observed in the 5-FC thermotherapy group. The expression of CD gene in tumor tissue was detected in all the groups. Conclusion Tissue specific CD/5-FC thermotherapy has inhibitory effects on the hepatic metastasis of LoVo cells transfected with CD gene.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of strain ratio for differentiation breast benign and malignant solid lesions. Methods Two hundred and sixty-nine patients with 377 lesions (278 benign, 99 malignant) were included in the study. Ultrasonography found the lesions, then ultrasonic elastography got the strain images. By the strain ratio measure method equipped with the ultrasonic machine, strain ratio of the lesion was calculated. Compared with the pathologic diagnosis, the cut-off point of strain ratio was determined with receiver operating characteristic curve. Results There was significant difference between the strain ratio of benign and malignant lesions( P <0. 05). The cut off point of strain ratio was determined as 3. 08, Youden's index was 0. 88,sensitivity was 97. 38% ,and specificity was 91. 33%. Conclusions Strain ratio could be used to differentiate benign and malignant lesions in breast and would be a new diagnostic standard in future.

Signal analysis of the auditory evoked potential (AEP) has been the interesting field in biomedicine and signal processing for a long time. Recent advances in the analytic method of AEP are summed up in this paper. Seven methods, including spectral analysis, adaptive filtering, wavelet transform, chaos theory, artificial neutral network, regularization, and independent component analysis are mainly introduced. All of them are promising for extracting the signal with less stimulation and adequate quality, and for displaying their efficient application in the analysis of AEP.
Electroencephalography ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory ; physiology ; Fourier Analysis ; Humans ; Neural Networks (Computer) ; Nonlinear Dynamics ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted