With the changes in the social structure of China, medical aid to the poor has become a hot issue in our society. The authors analyze the current state of medical aid to the poor in China, disenss the difficulties in providing medical aid to the poor at present, and put forward the idea of providing medical aid to the poor through specifying aid funds, conducting fundraising in every way, establishing foundations, adopting a variety of aid patterns, obtaining the active cooperation of local hospitals, and coordinating aid organizations.

Objective To explore the possible pathological essence of HIZ in lumbar intervertebral disc by means of CT,MRI and histomorphology analysis.Methods All of 41 patients of low back pain with the HIZ in the lumbar disc on MRI were identified.There is 23 males and 18 females with mean age of 38 years (range 33-50 years).All the patients were divided into 2 groups according to the characteristics of HIZ on MRI:group A,29 patients with high intensity on MRI T2WI and low intensity on MRI T1WI; group B,12 patients with high intensity both on T2WI and T1WI.All these patients underwent X-rays and CT scan on the targeted level.26 patients in group A were performed discography and pain provocative test.15 patients in group A and 7 patients in group B underwent operation and those samples of HIZ region were excised for HE staining and immunohistochemical analysis.Results All the patients in group A were proved intervertebral disc degeneration on CT and MRI.21 patients in 26 who underwent discography and pain provocative test were proved positive and 15 of them underwent operation(Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion or posterior lumbar interbody fusion).Histomorphology examination showed annular tear combined with granulation tissue in the samples of HIZ region which were excised in operation.Neoformative blood capillary could be seen through CD34 staining.Macrophage could be found in CD68 staining,but the regions off the HIZ were less stained.In group B,all those targeted discs showed calcified or ossified lesion on the posterior annular on CT scan,HE staining showed calcification or ossification of the posterior annulus fibrosus with frontier line.Conclusion The HIZ on MRI T2WI with low intensity zone on T1WI possibly refers to annular tear combined with granulation in-growth.But the HIZ both on MRI T2WI and T1WI might be calcification or ossification.The conventional concept of HIZ might be modified as HIZ on MRI T2WI,but low intensity zone on MRI T1WI.In addition,CT scan might be helpful in the distinguished diagnosis.

Objective To explore the promoting effects of bio-polymer composite film as a micro-skin auto-graft covering on wound healing. Methods The full thickness skin defect models were made on both sides of 30 experimental rabbits. Then, the rabbits were randomly divided into experimental group and control group. In the for-mer group, the side was covered with chitosan/glucomannan composite membrane and in the latter, the side cov-ered with acelluar porcine skin after micro-skin autograft. We obtained wound tissues at week 1 , 2, 3, 4 and 5 af-ter operation. The conditions of wound healing were observed, the rate of wound healing was calculated, HE stain-ing was made, and PCNA and CD31 were detected by immunohistochemistry. Results (1) During 2~4 weeks af-ter operation, the rate of wound healing in the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control wound (P<0.01). (2) The amount of neutrophil in experimental group was less than that of the control after oper-ation. (3) During 1 ~ 2 weeks after operation, the expression of PCNA in the experimental group was higher than that of the control group (P < 0.01), but lower than the control wounds during 1 ~ 2 weeks after operation (P <0.01). (4) During 1 ~ 5 weeks after operation, the expression of CD31 in the experimental group was higher than that of the control group (P < 0.01). Conclusion Chitosan/glucan-mannan composite membrane as a micro-skin autograft covering may promote wound healing.

Objective To assess incidence rate of different types of cement leakage in percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) with or without intravertebral clefts and to determine whether basivertebral foramen could be connected with intravertebral cleft.Methods 270 vertebrae in 224 consecutive patients who underwent percutaneous kyphoplasty for treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures were classified into two groups on preoperative radiographs,computed tomography scans,and/or magnetic resonance images of the treated levels:Cleft group with an intravertebral cleft in vertebral body and trabecular group without intravertebral clefts.On direct postoperative images,the patterns of cement leakage were classified as 5 types:through a cortical defect into paraspinal soft tissues (type A),through the basivertebral foramen (type B),via the needle channel (type C),through a cortical defect into the disc space (type D),via the paravertebral vein (type E).The incidence of different types of cement leakage between two groups was analyzed.Results In 72 of 270 vertebrae,an intravertebral cleft was confirmed on preoperative images.Leaks through basivertebral foramen as type B (42,15.5％) and through cortical defects into the disc space as type D leaks (21,7.8％) were more common than other types.The incidence of type B leakage in the cleft group (23.6％) was higher than the incidence in the trabecular group (12.6％),which made a statistical significance (P=0.028).There was no statistical difference between the trabecular pattern and the cleft pattern on other types of leaks.Conclusion Type B leaks were more common in vertebrae with the presence of an intravertebral cleft,which support the presence of the connection between an intravertebral cleft and the basivertebral foramen.Thus,care must be taken when PKP was performed in these patients to avoid cement leakage into spinal canal through basivertebral foramen directly.

Objective To investigate the feasibility of enhancing therapeutic effects on goats' liver in vivo treated by high intensity focused ultrasound(HIFU)combined with microbubble contrast agent SonoVue.Methods Fifteen Nanjiang goats were adopted,own control was adopted in this study.One group received purely HIFU therapy(control group),another one was radiated with HIFU combined with SonoVue contrast agent(SonoVue group).The HIFU irradiating mode was dotted with 30 mm focal length and 150 W,250 W,350 W acoustic power respectively,and the exposure time was 15 s.Animals were sacrificed and dissected 24h later,and the sizes of necrotic region were measured.Specimens were collected for histological inspection.Results Under the same parameter of exposure,the maximum length,width,depth,and the mean volume of the tissue coagulated by HIFU in the SonoVue group were all significantly greater than those in control group(P＜0.05),the change of volume coagulated tissue was much more significant with the increase of the acoustic power.The energy effciency factor (EEF)of SonoVue group was significantly smaller than that of control group(P＜0.05).The demarcation line between the necrosis and normal region was clear and the necrosis was complete,no living cell.The boundary exist amount of bubbles.Conclusions The therapy of HIFU combined with microbubble eontrast agent can substantially enhance the biological effects of the treatment and improve the efficiency of HIFU therapy on goats liver.

Natural polymeric materials and their derivatives are organic macromolecular compounds which exist in plants, animals, and micro-organisms. They have been widely used in the preparation of scaffolds for skin tissue engineering recently because of their good histocompatibility and degradability, and low immunogenicity. With the improvement of the preparation technics, composite materials are more commonly used to make scaffolds for dermal tissue engineering. This article summarizes the classification and research status of the commonly used natural polymer materials, their derivatives, and composite scaffold materials, as well as makes a prospect of the research trends of dermal scaffold in the future.
Biocompatible Materials ; chemistry ; Humans ; Polymers ; chemistry ; Skin ; growth & development ; Tissue Engineering ; Tissue Scaffolds ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) on tumor metastasis in mouse model bearing melanoma xenograft.

METHODSMice bearing murine melanoma B16-F10 cell xenograft were randomized for sham-HIFU or HIFU exposure when the tumors grew to a maximum diameter of 7-10 mm, and the tumor size was measured every 3 days. The cumulative survival rate of the mice and tumor metastasis rate were calculated, and the circulating melanoma cells were detected using qRT-PCR. At 14 days after HIFU treatment, B16-F10 cells were retransplanted via the tail vein and the pulmonary metastatic nodules were counted.

RESULTSThe median survival time of the mice was 19.00 days (95% CI 17.14-20.86 days) in the sham group and 26.00 days (95%CI 24.76-27.25 days) in HIFU group. The cumulative survival rate in the HIFU group was significantly higher than that in sham-HIFU group (P<0.01), and the tumor size was significantly smaller in HIFU group at 20, 23, and 26 days after HIFU treatment (P<0.05). Compared with the sham-HIFU group, HIFU group had significantly lower levels of MAGE-A3, MART1 and PAX3 at 7 days after HIFU (P<0.05) with still lower MAGE-A3 level at 14 days (P<0.05). HIFU group showed a significantly smaller number of pulmonary metastatic nodules following tumor cell retransplantation than in sham-HIFU group (P<0.01) with a metastasis inhibition rate of 42.4%.

CONCLUSIONHIFU treatment can inhibit tumor metastasis in melanoma-bearing mice possibly by reducing tumor cell detachment from the primary tumor site and suppressing colonization of the circulating melanoma cells.

Animals ; High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Ablation ; Melanoma, Experimental ; therapy ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; prevention & control ; Survival Rate

Objective To prepare multi-modality melanin-based lipid nanobubbles (MNBs) contrast agents,and to investigate their manifestations of ultrasound (US),photoacoustic (PA) and MRI in vitro.Methods MNBs and lipid nanobubbles (NBs) were prepared with the method of CHCl3-injection,freeze-drying and C3F8-inflation.The characteristics (shape,grain diameter,loading capacity of melanin and stability) of MNBs were obseved.US,PA and MRI were detected in vitro and the images were quantitatively analyzed.Results MNBs presented with homogenized size distribution,and transmission electron microscope (TEM) images demonstrated that the melanin particles were successfully entrapped into nanobubbles.Meanwhile,the loading capacity of melanin was 90.53 μg/mg.US signal increased in vitro with the rise of MNBs and NBs concentration.The ultrasonic manifestations of MNBs and NBs were the same,and the relative signal enhancement had no significant difference (P＞0.05).With the increased concentration of MNBs,the PA and MRI signals were stronger,but NBs showed no evident enhancement.Conclusion Multi-modality MNBs contrast agents are prepared successfully,which can enhance US,PA and MR imaging.