Integrative Medicine ; Professional Competence

Objective To evaluate the applied value of percutaneous oxygen-ozone injection in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation under open 0.23 T MRI guidance.Methods Mounted with ipath 200 optical tracking system,MR-guided injection of oxygen-ozone were performed via a medial border of the articular processes approach in 73 patients with clinically diagnosed LDH.MR compatible 19.5G or 21.0 G biopsy needle was used. Discography was performed in order to select indication before injection oxygen- ozone into nucleus pulposus in 26 patients.Sixty-four patients were injected to three sites:(1)Six to 10 ml oxygen-ozone was injected into discs centers,injected and suctioned alternately in order to make nucleus pulposus oxidation thoroughly.(2)The needle was withdrawn according to the scale of biopsy needle and optical tracking.Then,10 ml oxygen-ozone was injected into disc herniation. (3)After that,needle was withdrawn further about 1.0—1.5 cm to outside of annulus fibrosus.Fifteen to 20 ml oxygen-ozone was injected into intervertebral foramina around nerve roots.The oxygen-ozone concentration was 35—45?g/ml. Nine patients were only performed injection of oxygen-ozone into around nerve root,while not injection oxygen-ozone to nucleus pulposus for considering bad curative effect after discography.Results All of 73 patients were successfully local targeted and treated under MRI guidance without serious complications, such as nerve root injury.After 3—6 months follow-up,total overall efficacy was 91.3% with the excellent in 28,good in 39,and poor in 6,respectively.Conclusion Open MR-guided injection of oxygen-ozone, mounted with optical tracking system,is a safe and effective minimally invasive therapy for treating LDH.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics ofposttraumatic epilepsy, the correlation between epileptogenic foci and encephalomalacia, and the therapeutic effects of surgical intervention. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed among 13 patients with refractory post-traumatic epilepsy who received surgical intervention between February, 2003 and April, 2006. Results The first seizure attack occurred 0.5-13 years (mean 5.3 years) after craniocerebral injury in these patients. The epileptogenic loci were located around the encephalomalacia (ranging from 2 to 7 cm) in 8 patients, in the temporal lobe in 5 patients, in the medial temporal lobe in 4 patients (3 of whom sustained the injuries at 1.5-5 years of age with hippocampal glial proliferation shown by postoperative pathological examination), and in the neocortex of the temporal lobe in 1 case. All the patients underwent the operations under close monitoring of the cortical electroencephalogram, and 4 also received cranioplasty. The total effective rate of the surgery was 92.3% with an excellent outcome rate of 84.6% in the follow-up for 2-5 years. Conclusion The epileptogenic loci of posttraumatic epilpsy are usually adjacent to the encephalomalacia, and hippocampal sclerosis can be likely in patients with severe cerebral injury below 5 years of age. gefractory posttraumatic epilepsy often has favorable surgical outcome, and prompt surgery is suggested after the diagnosis.

Microarray imaging is considered as an important tool for large scale analysis of gene expression. The accuracy of the gene expression depends on the experiment itself and further image processing. It's well known that the image analysis introduced during the experiment will greatly affect the accuracy of the gene expression. Microarray image analysis plays a potentially-arge impact on the gene detecting subsequent analysis (image segmentation, spot intensity and spot intensity extraction). In this paper, based on the characters of microarray images, the methods of microarray images' denoising and automatic-identification of the spot are reviewed.
Gene Expression Profiling ; methods ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; methods ; Pattern Recognition, Automated ; methods

OBJECTIVETo study composition, distribution and causes of acute occupational hand injuries in Beijing Jishuitan Hospital.

METHODSFrom April 1st 2005 to September 30th 2005, all patients with acute hand injuries were investigated by questionnaire focusing on all related epidemiological elements.

RESULTSTwo thousand six hundred fifty eight cases with acute hand injuries were about 17.3 % of patients with acute orthopedic injuries. Their mean age was (30.4 +/- 10.8) years old. The radio of males to females in cases with acute hand injuries was 57:1. The cutting and crushing injuries were the main causes of acute hand injuries. Most of cases with acute hand injuries were engaged in work related to machines. The acute hand injuries were mainly involved in index and middle figures of both hands, 94.9 % of acute hand injuries were opening, and 87.6% of acute hand injuries were involved in the deep tissues.

CONCLUSIONAcute hand injuries are the common occupational severe injuries for young male workers. The acute hand injuries occur in patients engaged in work related to machines. The prevention of acute hand injuries should be emphasized.

Adolescent ; Adult ; China ; epidemiology ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Hand Injuries ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Injuries ; epidemiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo develop a follicular unit-like construct with allogeneic hair, evaluate its histocompatibility and long-term stability after transplantation, and explore the possibility of its clinical application.

METHODSHuman hair and medical polypropylene was processed according to the structure of follicular units and prepared into hair prostheses for transplantation. The histocompatibility of polypropylene and human hair in New Zealand rabbits was observed by HE staining and scanning electron microscope, and the loss rate of the hair was recorded to evaluate the long-term result of transplantation.

RESULTSMild inflammatory cell infiltration around polypropylene and human hair was observed early after the transplantation, accompanied with local epithelial cell proliferation. The prosthesis mimicking the follicular units still showed good histocompatibility one year after the transplantation without degradation of the hair. The loss rate of the hair was averaged (4.1∓4.0)% at one year after the transplantation, and the total appearance of the prosthesis remained satisfactory.

CONCLUSIONAllogeneic human hair and polypropylene in the hair prosthesis show good histocompatibility in rabbits. The prosthesis allows good cosmetic effect after transplantation with low rate of hair loss, demonstrating its potential in clinical application.

Animals ; Biocompatible Materials ; Female ; Hair ; transplantation ; Hair Follicle ; transplantation ; Humans ; Materials Testing ; Polypropylenes ; Rabbits

BACKGROUNDHelical tomotherapy (HT) is a new image-guided intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in the target volume and organs at risk (OARs) of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) during helical tomotherapy.

METHODSForty-three patients with NPC and treated via HT from March 2008 to January 2010 were reviewed retrospectively. Repeated CT scanning and plan adaptation were conducted at the 20th fraction during radiotherapy. The volumetric differences between the two scans were evaluated for nasopharyngeal tumor and retro-pharyngeal lymph nodes (GTVnx), neck lymph nodes (GTVnd), and parotid glands, as well as the axial diameter of the head.

RESULTSThe median interval between the two scans was 25 days (23 - 28 days). The volumetric decrease in GTVnx was 30.1% (median, 29.8%) and in GTVnd 41.6% (median, 45.9%). The variation in the GTVnd volume was correlated with the weight loss of the patient. The volume of the left parotid gland decreased by 35.5% (median, 33.4%) and of the right parotid glands decreased by 36.8% (median, 33.5%). The axial diameter of the head decreased by 9.39% (median, 9.1%).

CONCLUSIONSThe target volume and OARs of patients with NPC varied considerably during HT. These changes may have potential dosimetric effects on the target volume and/or OARs and influence the clinical outcome. Repeated CT scanning and replanning during the HT for NPC patients with a large target volume or an obvious weight loss are recommended.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Carcinoma ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; radiotherapy ; Organs at Risk ; Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Solitary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a subgroup of HCCs. We aimed to establish nomograms for predicting the survival of solitary HCC patients after hepatectomy. METHODS: A total of 538 solitary HCC patients were randomly classified into training and validation sets. A Cox model was used to identify predictors of overall survival (OS) in the training set. A nomogram was generated based on these predictors and was validated using the validation set. RESULTS: Tumor size, microvascular invasion, and major vascular invasion were significantly associated with OS in the training set. Nomograms were developed based on these predictors in the multivariate analysis. The C-index was 0.75 for the OS nomogram and 0.72 for the recurrence-free survival nomogram. Compared to the index of conventional staging systems for predicting survival (0.71 for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer, 0.66 for the seventh American Joint Committee on Cancer, 0.68 for Cancer of the Liver Italian Program, and 0.70 for Hong Kong Liver Cancer), the index of the OS nomogram was significantly higher. Moreover, the calibration curve fitted well between the predicted and observed survival rate. Similarly, in the validation set, the nomogram discrimination was superior to those of the four staging systems (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The nomograms demonstrated good discrimination performance in predicting 3- and 5-year survival rates for solitary HCCs after hepatectomy.
Calibration ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Hepatectomy* ; Hong Kong ; Humans ; Joints ; Liver ; Liver Neoplasms ; Multivariate Analysis ; Nomograms* ; Prognosis ; Survival Rate

AIMTo extend the analysis of the proteome of human spermatozoa and establish a 2-D gel electrophoresis (2-DE) reference map of human spermatozoal proteins in a pH range of 3.5-9.0.

METHODSIn order to reveal more protein spots, immobilized pH gradient strips (24 cm) of broad range of pH 3-10 and the narrower range of pH 6-9, as well as different overlapping narrow range pH immobilized pH gradient (IPG) strips, including 3.5-4.5, 4.0-5.0, 4.5-5.5, 5.0-6.0 and 5.5-6.7, were used. After 2-DE, several visually identical spots between the different pH range 2-D gel pairs were cut from the gels and confirmed by mass spectrometry and used as landmarks for computer analysis.

RESULTSThe 2-D reference map with pH value from 3.5 to 9.0 was synthesized by using the ImageMaster analysis software. The overlapping spots were excluded, so that every spot was counted only once. A total of 3872 different protein spots were identified from the reference map, an approximately 3-fold increase compared to the broad range pH 3-10 IPG strip (1306 spots).

CONCLUSIONThe present 2-D pattern is a high resolution 2-D reference map for human fertile spermatozoal protein spots. A comprehensive knowledge of the protein composition of human spermatozoa is very meaningful in studying dysregulation of male fertility.

Adult ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; methods ; Fertility ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Proteins ; analysis ; Proteome ; Proteomics ; methods ; Reference Values ; Semen ; chemistry ; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization ; Sperm Banks ; Spermatozoa ; chemistry ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Tissue Donors

OBJECTIVETo analyze the effectiveness of Chinese medicine and integrated Chinese and Western medicine for influenza A (H1N1) in the fever clinics and its relevant expenditure.

METHODSA prospective survey on the clinical epidemic observation and follow-up was conducted from July 2009 to October 2009 with a self-developed questionnaire whose contents including the clinical data of the confirmed 149 H1N1 cases and their relevant therapeutic expenditure. The patients were assigned to the Chinese medicine group (22 cases treated by Chinese medicine alone) and integrative medicine group (124 cases treated by both Chinese medicine and Western medicine). The data were processed with descriptive analysis, t test and χ (2), and sum-rank test.

RESULTSThe proportion of clinical recovery of Chinese medicine group (81.8%) was higher than that of integrative medicine group (54.8%) with statistical significance (P=0.02). The average fever durations in both groups were 3.5 to 4 days, showing no significant difference (P=0.86). In the comparisons of average cost of Chinese herbs, drugs, therapies, and total cost, those of the Chinese medicine group were lower than those in the integrative group (P=0.01, P=0.00, P=0.00, P=0.00).

CONCLUSIONSThe H1N1 patients in the fever clinic who received Chinese medicine treatment had a higher clinical recovery proportion than those who received integrated Chinese and Western medicine treatment with lower medical cost. However, due to small sample size of the Chinese medicine group in the study, the conclusion needs further confirmation by studies with large sample size.

Adult ; Costs and Cost Analysis ; Female ; Fever ; economics ; therapy ; virology ; Health Expenditures ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype ; physiology ; Influenza, Human ; economics ; therapy ; virology ; Integrative Medicine ; economics ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; economics ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome