Objective To research the clinical characteristics of neonates with non-immune hydrops fetalis.Methods The clinical data of eleven non-immune hydrops fetalis who admitted from January 2015 to November 2016 were retrospectively studied.Imaging manifestations,cause analysis and outcomes were explored and analyzed with descriptive statistical methods.Results The most common abnormal images in this study were hydrothorax,seroperitoneum and subcutaneous edema.Of all the cases,cardiac anomalies were in 2 cases,chylothorax in 3 cases,chromosome abnormality in 1 case,meconium peritonitis in 1 case,bladder rupture in 1 case and unknown reasons in 3 cases.Of all the cases,3 cases were terminated pregnancy before 28 weeks,2 cases were fetal intrauterine death,and 6 cases were live births,among whom 2 cases died within 48 h of newborn and 3 cases survived.Placental pathologic conditions of 8 cases were edematous placentas.Conclusions The mortality of non-immune hydrops fetalis is high.Its etiology,pathogenesis and the timing of pregnancy termination need to be explored.

ObjectiveToexploretheeffectof ceremideonprocess of peritoneal mesothelial cells(PMCs) apoptosis induced by peritoneal dialysis solution(PDS).Methods PMCs were cultured with normal DMEM,1.5％ PDS and 4.25％ PDS.4.25％ mannitol was used as high osmotic pressure control.Ceremide were detected by LC-MS-MS.Flow cytometry was used in apoptosis analysis.Bax,p53 and bcl-2 protein expressions were detected by Western blotting.Results (1) PDS caused the increase of intracellular ceremide in PMCs,and normal and high osmotic pressure controls had no such effect.As the acidic sphigomyelinase inhibitor,desipramine significantly inhibited the production of ceramide induced by 4.25％ PDS [(56.08±12.24) μg/L vs (91.25:t:15.89) μg/L,P＜0.01]. (2) Compared with 1.5％ PDS,4.25％ PDS stimulated PMCs apoptosis (26.65％±6.21％ vs 4.04％±1.86％,P＜0.01),up-regulated bax and p53 proteins expression (P＜0.01),and down-regulated bcl-2 protein exprssion(P＜0.05).Desipramine obviously inhibited the apoptosis induced by 4.25％ PDS,decreased bax and p53 proteins expression,increased bcl-2 protein expression(P＜0.05).Exogenous C2-ceremide reversed the effect of desipramine(P＜0.05).Conclusion The increase of intracellular ceremide may play an important role in the PMCs apoptosis induced by high glucose PDS.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of glioma microenvironment and COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib on the phenotypes and function of dendritic cell (DC).MethodsThe expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production were detected in glioma C6 cells treated with different concentration of celecoxib.Monocytes were isolated from human peripheral blood and cultured with 200 ng/ml rhGM-CSF and 50 ng/ml rhIL-4,either C6 tumor cells supernatant (TSN) or TSN from C6 cells treated with celecoxib to generate DCs.Cell morphology was observed.Cell phenotype including CD1a,CD80,CD83 and D86 were analyzed on a FACScan.Production of IL-12 in DC supernatant and the potential to stmiulate allogeneic T cell proliferation were detected.ResultsThe expression of COX-2 and PGE2 production in C6 cells decreased after treated with celecoxib in a concentration dependant manner.Typical DCs were induced in all groups and the expression of CD1a ((75.56±2.40)％,(75.09±3.67)％,(76.03 ±3.43)％),CD83((72.04±3.45)％,(71.44±3.78)％,( 73.63 ± 3.31 ) ％ ) had no difference (P ＞ 0.05 ).Expression of CD80 ( ( 58.41 ± 3.85 ) ％ ),CD86 ( ( 58.22 ±3.25)％ ) in DC with TSN obviously decreased compared with normal group( (70.36 ± 2.91 )％,(69.31 ±4.29 ) ％,P ＜ 0.01 ) as well as the IL-12 production ( ( 137.88 ± 5.33 ) pg/ml,( 186.04 ± 4.76 ) pg/ml) and the potential to stmiulate allogeneic T cell proliferation ( P ＜ 0.01 ).Celecoxib increased the expression of CD80,CD86 (66.83 ± 2.51,63.51 ± 5.47,P＜ 0.01 ) in DC and the same as IL-12 production( ( 170.31 ± 3.46) pg/ml,P ＜ 0.01 ) and the potential to stmiulate allogeneic T cell proliferation ( P ＜ 0.01 ),which were lower than the normal level.ConclusionGlioma microenvironment may induce the celecoxib can inhibit the expression of COX-2 and PGE2 in gliomas cells and improve the phenotypes and function defect of DCs.

In cell image sequences, due to the nonlinear and nonGaussian motion characteristics of active cells, the accurate prediction and tracking is still an unsolved problem. We applied extended Kalman particle filter (EKF-PF) here in our study, attempting to solve the problem. Firstly we confirmed the existence and positions of the active cells. Then we established a motion model and improved it via adding motion angle estimation. Next we predicted motion parameters, such as displacement, velocity, accelerated velocity and motion angle, in region centers of the cells being tracked. Finally we obtained the motion traces of active cells. There were fourteen active cells in three image sequences which have been tracked. The errors were less than 2.5 pixels when the prediction values were compared with actual values. It showed that the presented algorithm may basically reach the solution of accurate predition and tracking of the active cells.
Algorithms ; Artificial Intelligence ; Cell Movement ; Cell Tracking ; methods ; Forecasting ; Image Enhancement ; methods ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Models, Theoretical

Objective To investigate the chnical effect of modified transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) on the treatment of lumbar degenerative disease. Methods Sixty-two patients with lumbar degenerative disease were treated by the modified TLIF from June 2007 to May 2009. The preoperative diagnosis was lumbar intervertebral disc herniation with spinal instability (28 cases), lumbar intervertebral disc herniation with lumbar stenosis (27 cases ), degenerative spondylohsthesis (7 cases ). Forty-eight cases were single-level and 14 cases were two-level. The patients were evaluated by observing the fusion rate and comparing the visual analog score( VAS ) and Japanese orthopaedics association (JOA) score of preoperation with those of postoperation. Results All the patients were followed up from 15 to 30 (22.77 ± 3.82)months,no nerve injury,leakage of cerebralspinal,infection,the broken of pedical screws and other complications. The fusion rate of segment was 96.8% at the follow-up after 1 year postoperatively. Judgement by JOA score,the rate of improvement was 93.5%(58/62),excellent in 34 cases,good in 24 cases,fair in 4 cases. The postoperative value of V AS and JOA score were higher than those of preoperation (P ＜ 0.05 ), the values when follow-up of 3 months was performed had no statistic al difference with those of final follow-up (P＞0.05). Conclusion The modified TLIF with fully decompression while reducing the accessing spinal canal complications have good clinical efficacy in treating lumbar degenerative disease.

ObjectiveTo explore the clinical outcomes of posterior lumbar interbody fusion using BTwin expandable spinal spacer with microendoscopic discectomy (MED) for lumbar disc herniation accompanying degenerative instability.MethodsFrom March 2006 to May 2010,87 patients with lumbar disc heniation (only one level) accompanying degenerative instability were managed with posterior lumbar interbody fusion using B-Twin with MED,includeing 49 males and 38 females with an average of 47.6 years(range,37-65).Objective level located in L3,4 in 2 cases,L4,5 in 43,and L5S1 in 41.The patients were treated with single BTwin(Single group,n=51) and double B-Twin(Double group,n=36).Clinical outcomes were evaluated with surgical time,blood loss,visual analogue scale (VAS) scores,Oswestry disability questionnaire (ODI),and the pre- and post-operative disk space heights.ResultsThe patients were followed up for an average of 35.8months (range,12-46).All the patients felt the low back pain and radiation pain disappeared or relieved apparently.The mean preoperative ODI and VAS scores decreased from 78％±3％ to 18％±3％,and (8.70±11.3)to (0.65±10.48) at the final follow-up respectively.Disc space increased from a pre-operative height of (8.76±1.3) mm to a post-operative of (11.8±0.6) mm.ODI,VAS and the disk space heights in all patient showed statistical significance,which revealed no statistical significance between the two groups.However,the operation time,blood loss were statistical difference between the two groups.All the patients achieved solid union or probable union at a mean time of 5.6 months (range,3.9-8.6).ConclusionPosterior lumbar interbody fusion using B-Twin with MED can obtain satisfactory outcomes in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation accompanying degenerative instability.Single B-Twin can get similar clinical outcomes,but shorter surgical time,less blood loss,and less medical costs.

BACKGROUND: Most of the patients suffered from degenerative lumbar instability are treated by exposure both sides and bilateral pedicle screw fixation,which bring highly operative risk,large blood loss and great medical expenditure to patients.OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical efficacy of single cage plus unilateral pedicle screw placement for treating lumbar degenerative instability.METHODS: Totally 51 cases with lumbar degenerative instability underwent single cage plus unilateral pedicle screw placement were selected,including 32 males and 19 females,aged ranging from 41 to 72 years.47 cases had single segment involved and 4cases had two segments involved.All cases experienced unilateral laminectomy and transforamenal lumbar interbody fusion.The therapeutic effect was assessed by Japanese Orthopaedic Association(JOA)score system.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The blood loss was 90-430 mL.The surgical time was 100 minutes(85-120 minutes)for single segment and 150 minutes(120-170 minutes)for double segments.The patients were allowed to early ambulation at 2-3 days after operation.Two cases did not get improvement on back-leg pain,but there was no abnormality from CT and MRI recheck,one case felt pain relieved after anti-symptom treatment for 3 months while the other did not relieve.The average JOA scores at pre-operation and 1 year follow-up was 11(7-13 scores)and 25(18-27 scores),respectively.The total improvement rate of JOA was larger than 50%.44 cases were evaluated as fusion and 7 cases as possible fusion.The average fusion time was 5.4 months(4.3-7.1 months).Postoperative X-ray showed no evidence of pedicle screw loosening,broken,or cage displacement.Single cage plus unilateral pedicle screw placement is characterized by simple operation,small blood loss,short operation and few interference to spine,which is a better method for treating lumbar degenerative instability.

To study the cleavage of neuron stem cells in time lapse image sequences and realize their features abstraction, identification and tracking, a precise segmentation algorithm that can preserve the shape of division cells is presented in this paper. The fuzzy threshold segmentation is based on Zadth's maximum entropy. The optimal parameters of the maximum fuzzy entropy are decided by genetic algorithm. Region merging and splitting of the under-segmentation objects of the result of fuzzy segmentation are realized by weighted distance transform, region labeling and some operations on morphology. By comparison with some results of fuzzy and hard segmentation, this algorithm can implement the precise segmentation that is necessary for some specified objects in automatic identification and tracking of neuron stem cells.
Algorithms ; Cell Culture Techniques ; methods ; Cell Division ; Computer Simulation ; Entropy ; Fuzzy Logic ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Microscopy, Video ; methods ; Models, Biological ; Neurons ; cytology ; Stem Cells ; cytology

Analysis of neural stem cells' movements is one of the important parts in the fields of cellular and biological research. The main difficulty existing in cells' movement study is whether the cells tracking system can simultaneously track and analyze thousands of neural stem cells (NSCs) automatically. We present a novel cells' tracking algorithm which is based on segmentation and data association in this paper, aiming to improve the tracking accuracy further in high density NSCs' image. Firstly, we adopted different methods of segmentation base on the characteristics of the two cell image sequences in our experiment. Then we formed a data association and constituted a coefficient matrix by all cells between two adjacent frames according to topological constraints. Finally we applied The Hungarian algorithm to implement inter-cells matching optimally. Cells' tracking can be achieved according to this model from the second frame to the last one in a sequence. Experimental results showed that this approaching method has higher accuracy compared with that using the topological constraints tracking alone. The final tracking accuracies of average of sequence I and sequence II have been improved 10.17% and 4%, respectively.
Algorithms ; Animals ; Cell Count ; Cell Movement ; Cell Tracking ; statistics & numerical data ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Microscopy, Fluorescence ; Models, Theoretical ; Neural Stem Cells ; cytology

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic variation of a Chinese family affected with congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis and albinism. METHODS: Whole exome sequencing (WES) was carried out to screen potential variants within genomic DNA extracted from the proband and his parents. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was applied when variants were not found completely. Suspected variants were validated by Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: WES has identified a heterozygous c.1729G>C (p.G577R) variant of NTRK1 gene and two heterozygous variants of OCA2 gene, namely c.1363A>G (p.R455G) and c.1182+1G>A. WGS has identified two additional heterozygous variants c.(851-798C>T; 851-794C>G) in deep intronic regions of the NTRK1 gene. CONCLUSION The compound heterozygous variants of the NTRK1 gene probably underlay the congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. And the compound heterozygous variants of the OCA2 gene probably underlay the albinism in the proband. In the case where no variant is detected by WES in the coding region, WGS should be considered to screen potential variants in the whole genome.
Albinism ; Child ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathies/genetics* ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; Membrane Transport Proteins ; Mutation ; Pedigree