OBJECTIVETo investigate the characteristics of the spontaneous isolated superior mesenteric artery dissection (SISMAD) on computed tomography angiography (CTA).

METHODSTwenty-five patients with unexplained acute abdominal pain received CTA.

RESULTSFour cases with the SISMAD were found and all were male with a mean age of (45.3±6.7) years. Two patients had hypertension history. CT showed enlarged diameter of the superior mesenteric artery with dissection in 4 cases, intimal flap and visible false lumen in 2 cases, ulcer-like laceration in 1 case, and intramural hematoma in 1 case. The proximal lacerations or entries were all at the proximal segment of the superior mesenteric artery. CTA classifications were type Ia (n=2), IIb (n=1), and III (n=1). Two patients underwent repeated CTA when discharged, and progressive changes were discovered.

CONCLUSIONCTA can clearly show the characteristics of the superior mesenteric artery dissection, confirm the diagnosis, and provide an important basis for the classification and follow-up observation.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Aneurysm, Dissecting ; diagnostic imaging ; Angiography ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mesenteric Artery, Superior ; diagnostic imaging ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo examine the recent incidences and trends of childhood malignant solid tumors in Shanghai.

METHODData from the population-based Shanghai Cancer Registry and related retrospective survey were used to analyze the patterns of incidence and trends of malignant solid tumors diagnosed between 2002 and 2010 in children aged 0-14 years. The distributions of incidences were described according to gender, age and cancer types which were classified according to International Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC). Annual age-standardized rates (ASRs) were adjusted by the world standard population. Approximate confidence intervals for standardized rate ratios (SRR) based Poisson distribution test-based methods were used to assess changes in incidence over the period 2002 - 2006 and 2007 - 2010.

RESULT(1)A total of 868 cases of childhood malignant solid tumors were diagnosed in Shanghai during 2002 - 2010, accounting for 65.8% of all childhood cancers. The ASR of 2002 - 2010 was 80.2 per million for all solid tumors. (2) The ASR was higher in boys (86.3 per million) than in girls (73.8 per million) with SRR 1.2 (95%CI 1.0 - 1.3). Incidence rate was the highest in the first five years of life with 93.4 per million. The age-specific incidence rates in 5 - 9 and 10 - 14 age groups were 65.2 and 79.3 per million, respectively. (3) CNS tumors, lymphomas, germ cell tumors, neuroblastoma, and soft tissue sarcomas were the top 5 most common solid tumors in children, with the incidence rate of 23.8, 11.0, 7.8, 7.7 and 6.8 per million, respectively. The patterns of subgroups varied in different age groups. Blastomas, such as neuroblastoma, retinoblastoma, were more common in the children aged 0 - 4 years, whereas epithelial carcinomas and bone tumors developed more frequently in elder children aged 10 - 14 years. (4) Compared with the ASR in 2002 - 2006, the ASR for both genders in 2007 - 2010 had no substantial changes (78.7 per million in 2002 - 2006 and 82.9 per million in 2007 - 2010). However, among boys, the incidence rate in 2007 - 2010 was significantly higher than that in 2002 - 2006 with SRR 1.2 (95%CI: 1.0 - 1.4). For specific subgroups of cancer, there were no substantial changes. Some cautions should be taken when interpreting results involving a small number of cases per year and those with wide 95% confidence intervals.

CONCLUSIONThe incidence rate of pediatric malignant solid tumors among males was higher than females during 2002 - 2010, and it differed among different age groups with the highest in the first five years of life. CNS tumor was the most common type of solid tumors in children. This was a unique characteristics comparing with adult reflected in disease spectrum and age of onset. The patterns of incidence and its trends for childhood malignant solid tumors in Shanghai could provide a basis for etiologic research and preventive interventions. The findings also suggest an urgent need for longer population-based surveillance to verify the pattern and changing trends.

Adolescent ; Age Distribution ; Central Nervous System Neoplasms ; epidemiology ; pathology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Germinoma ; epidemiology ; pathology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Lymphoma ; epidemiology ; pathology ; Male ; Neoplasm Staging ; Neoplasms ; classification ; epidemiology ; pathology ; Registries ; Risk Factors ; Sex Distribution ; Time Factors ; Urban Population

OBJECTIVETo determine the safety and efficacy of local administration of lentivirus-mediated small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in murine air pouch model.

METHODSFrom May 2007 to April 2008 a siRNA targeting TNF-alpha and a missense siRNA were designed, and recombine lentivirus which coexpressed the green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a marker gene was constructed. Air pouches were established and stimulated by Ti-6Al-4V particles. Pouches were divided into 3 groups randomly. Lentivirus-mediated siRNA targeting TNF-alpha (TNF-alpha group) or lentivirus-mediated missense siRNA (MS group), or virus-free saline (control group) were injected into pouches respectively. Pouch membrane, peripheral blood, heart, liver, spleen, kidney, lung and brain were harvested at 28 d after transfection, and assayed for markers of inflammation using histological, molecular, immunological techniques and Xenogen in vivo imaging system (IVIS) 50 vivo bioluminescent assay system.

RESULTSXenogen IVIS 50 vivo image revealed strong expression of GFP localized in pouch areas and no expression in other parts of mice both in TNF-alpha group and MS group at 4 weeks after transfection, while no expression of GFP was found in control group. By RT-PCR and ELISA, the mRNA and protein levels of TNF-alpha in TNF-alpha group decreased by 81.6% and 82.6% respectively compared to control group (P < 0.01), and decreased by 78.9% and 84.0% respectively compared to MS group (P < 0.01), whereas TNF-alpha level in peripheral blood, heart, liver, spleen, kidney, lung and brain remained invariant (P > 0.05). Less inflammatory responses (thinner pouch membrane and decreased cellular infiltration) were observed in TNF-alpha group.

CONCLUSIONEfficient local delivery of lentivirus-mediated siRNA targeting TNF-alpha into modified murine air pouch can inhibit debris-induced inflammation effectively, with no systemic adverse effects.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Genetic Therapy ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Inflammation ; therapy ; Lentivirus ; genetics ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Random Allocation ; Transfection ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; genetics

Aim To investigate the protective effects of supercritical CO2 fluid extract(SFE)of Notoginseng a-gainst glutamate-induced PC12 cells damage and the underlying mechanism. Methods PC12 cells were dealt with glutamate to establish cell models. MTT as-say,LDH method,Hoschst 33342 staining,Fluo-3 /AM fluorescence staining and Western blot were used to observe the changes of cell viability,intracellular Ca2 + concentration and the expression of protein that interacted with C kinase l(PICK1)and glutamate re-ceptors 2 (GluR2),respectively. Results Glutamate was cytotoxic to PC12 cells with an inhibitory concen-tration 50(IC 50 )of 25 mmol·L - 1 . Pretreatment with SFE(25,50,100 mg·L-1)and FSC231(100 μmol ·L-1 )and SFE(100 mg·L-1 )+FSC231(100μmol ·L-1 )remarkablely improved cell viability,reduced LDH leakage,decreased apoptosis rate,debased intra-cellular calcium concentration,decreased the expres-sion of PICK1 ,and increased the expression of GluR2 . Conclusions SFE of Notoginseng shows protective effects against glutamate-induced PC12 cell damage, and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of PICK1 and the increase of GluR2 protein expression.

Virtual surgery provides important assistance in preoperative planning of brain surgeries. A virtual surgery system essentially consists of visualization and modeling of the medical data and deformation simulation of human organs (mainly soft tissues). We used the hybrid level set theory, threshold segmentation, and morphological methods to segment the human head MRI volumetric data into five parts, namely the outline of the head, gray matter, white matter, cerebrospinal fluid and ventricles. The iso2mesh toolkit based on Delaunay algorithm was then employed to generate the tetrahedral mesh and mark the five parts. We further studied the soft tissue deformation, and established a mechanic model based on Tensor-Mass system to simulate the point-touch and ball-touch models for soft tissue deformation. This approach can help to improve the positioning accuracy of a virtual brain surgery and represent the process of brain tissue deformation.
Algorithms ; Brain ; surgery ; Computer Simulation ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; methods ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Models, Biological ; Phantoms, Imaging ; Surgery, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; User-Computer Interface

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety profile of Reduning injection combined with cefoperazone sodium and sulbactam sodium injection in the treatment of pulmonary infection in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD).Methods A total of 68 patients with COPD were divided into control group (34 cases) and treatment group (34 cases).Both groups were given routine treatment.The control group was given moxifloxacin hydrochloride sodium chloride injection 250 mL,intravenous drip,qd;cefoperazone sodium and sulbactam sodium 1.0 g,intravenous drip,bid.The treatment group received Reduning injection 20 mL,intravenous drip,qd.Both groups were treated for 10 days.The clinical efficacy and adverse drug reactions were compared between the two groups.Results After treatment,the total effective rates of the treatment group and the control group were respectively 94.12％ (32/34 cases),70.59％ (24/32 cases),the difference was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).The main adverse drug reactions of treatment group were headache,gastrointestinal reaction and rash,while those of the control group were headache,slight increase of liver enzymes,gastrointestinal reaction and rash,and the incidences of adverse drug reaction were 8.82％ (3/34 cases) and 14.71％ (5/34 cases) respectively,without statistically significant difference (P ＞0.05).Conclusion Reduning injection combined with cefoperazone sodium and sulbactam sodium injection in the treatment of COPD was effective with a favourable safety profile.

Animals ; Gene Expression ; Genes, p53 ; Liver ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Liver Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Microcystins ; toxicity ; Mutation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

With the deepening of research, proteomics has developed into a science covering the study of all the structural and functional characteristics of proteins and the dynamic change rules. The essence of various biological activities is revealed from the perspectives of the biological structure, functional activity and corresponding regulatory mechanism of proteins by proteomics. Among them, phospholipid-binding protein is one of the hotspots of proteomics, especially annexin A1, which is widely present in various tissues and cells of the body. It has the capability of binding to phospholipid membranes reversibly in a calcium ion dependent manner. In order to provide possible research ideas for researchers, who are interested in this protein, the biological effects of annexin A1, such as inflammatory regulation, cell signal transduction, cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis are described in this paper.

OBJECTIVETo explore the etiopathogenisis, diagnosis and early treatment of postoperative pyogenic infection in patients with lumbar disc diseases.

METHODSFrom March 2009 to March 2012,7 patients with postoperative pyogenic infection were retrospectivly analyzed. There were 6 males and 1 female,ranging in age from 42 to 62 years old,with an average of 46.5 years old. Among 7 cases,outside the spinal canal suppurative infection occurred in 6 cases and inside the spinal canal infection in 1 case and with temporary paralysis. All the patients were treated with continuous saline lavage-drainage of low pressure impulse during operation. Unitive sensitive antibiotics were applied for 4-6 weeks after operation until CRP and ESR completely normal or the biochemistry and routine examination of the cerebrospinal fluid completely normal for the patients with intracranial pyogenic infection.

RESULTSAll the 7 cases obtained recovery and the length of stay was for 2-3 months. No remnant symptoms of nervous system were found at the leave hospital.

CONCLUSIONPostoperative pyogenic infection in patients with lumbar disc diseases is an emergency,and easily results in misdiagnosis in clinic. So the early diagnosis is very important. Early debridement is the only measure to retrieve the life of patient,continuous saline lavage-drainage of low pressure impulse may remove the remnant focus of the deep soft tissue space,and removel of the internal fixation can ensure the postoperative pyogenic infection completely control.

Adult ; Bacterial Infections ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Debridement ; Early Intervention (Education) ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration ; surgery ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; surgery ; Length of Stay ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo develop a new high-performance liquid chromatographic (HLPC) method for determination of propofol in human serum.

METHODSHuman serum samples were precipitated with 20% perchloric acid and centrifuged to obtain 50 microl of the supernatant for analysis by HPLC coupled with fluorescence detection. The analysis was performed with a C(18) reversed-phase column using a acetonitrile-water (90:10) phase delivered at 1.0 ml/min, with the excitation wavelength of 276 nm and emission wavelength of 310 nm.

RESULTSThe calibration curves were linear (r=0.997 5) within the concentration range of 0.05-10 microg/ml, the limit of propofol quantification was 50 ng/ml and the intra- and inter-day precisions were between -/+15%.

CONCLUSIONSThe method is accurate, sensitive and simple for propofol determination in clinical anesthesia.

Anesthetics, Intravenous ; blood ; chemistry ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; Propofol ; blood ; chemistry ; Reproducibility of Results ; Spectrometry, Fluorescence ; methods