18F-FDG PET or PET/CT plays an important role in the differential diagnosis of rheumatic disease.By imaging evaluation of glucose metabolism,18F-FDG PET or PET/CT can identify disease activity and distribution.It can also evaluate treatment response of rheumatic disease based on the change of glucose metabolism between baseline and follow-up studies.This article reviews the clinical application of 18F-FDG PET or PET/CT in rheumatoid arthritis (RA),seronegative spondylarthropathy (SpA),large vessel vasculitis (LVV),polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and adult onset Still's disease (AOSD).

PurposeCurrent conventional imaging methods X-ray, CT, MRI and ultrasound for rheumatic diseases are mostly local site imaging, rather than systemic display, thus is difficult to show the whole picture of the diseases, this study aims to explore the18F-FDG PET/CT findings of rheumatic diseases and its preliminary clinical value. Materials and Methods18F-FDG PET/CT imaging findings and clinical data of 18 patients with rheumatic diseases confirmed by clinical diagnosis were retrospectively analyzed, and 18F-FDG uptake of lesions was observed.Results Among all the 18 patients with rheumatic diseases: four cases were with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 5 cases with takayasu arteritis (TA), 2 cases with adult onset Still’s disease (AOSD), 1 case with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and 6 cases with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Findings of PET/CT: RA showed increased FDG uptake in multiple bigger joints such as shoulder joint, elbow, hip, wrist joint, and part palm finger joints, with no bone abnormalities in CT; TA displayed as diffusely increased uptake of FDG the aorta and its major branches vascular wall while CT showed multiple arterial wall irregular thickening with dot or strip calcification, and in one case, the vascular wall FDG uptake decreased obviously after one year treatment, the SUVmax of left clavicle dropped from 6.8 to 3.2; AOSD showed diffusely increased FDG uptake in spleen and bone marrow, while CT had no obvious spleen and bone abnormalities; PMR showed increased uptake of FDG in the atlantoaxial joint, shoulder joint, sternoclavicular joint, hip joint, pubic symphysis, ischial tuberosity and lesions around lumbar spinous process; only 1 case of 6 AS patients showed left acetabular articular surface hyperplasia and sclerosis with increased FDG uptake, while CT showed spinal multiple vertebral bone hyperplasia and sclerosis as bamboo change in all of 6 AS cases, with normal FDG metabolism. Conclusion18F-FDG PET/CT is helpful for the diagnosis of rheumatic diseases, because it can be used to display the lesion extent, reflect its activity, and also to evaluate the effect of the treatments.

Objective To investigate the characteristics of 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging in Takayasu arteritis (TA) and its clinical value.Methods Five male patients with TA in active phase (age range:65-82 years;mean age:(72.8±6.6) years) from November 2011 to August 2014 were retrospectively analyzed.All patients underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging,and one of them who was in stable phase after one year's treatment underwent follow-up PET/CT imaging.The characteristics of the abnormal 18F-FDG uptake and SUVmax of lesions were analyzed.Another 5 age-and gender-matched patients with slightly elevated tumor markers and normal results of 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging in the same period were selected as the control group.Arteries were divided into 18 segments,including the ascending aorta,the aortic arch,the descending aorta,the abdominal aorta,the brachiocephalic trunk,the left/right common carotid,the left/right subclavian,the left/right brachial,the superior mesenteric,the left/right common iliac,the left/right renal,and the left/right femoral,and their SUVmax were measured respectively.Paired t test was used to analyze the difference of SUVmax between TA group and the control group.Results (1) 18 F-FDG PET/CT imaging displayed diffused increase of radioactivity in the wall of aorta and its major branches in TA group,and CT showed multiple irregular thickening,punctate and banding calcification in arterial walls of those patients.The ascending aorta,the aortic arch,the descending aorta,the abdominal aorta,the brachiocephalic trunk,the left/right subclavian,the left/right common carotid,and the left/right common iliac artery were all involved in 5 patients;the left/right brachial and the left/right femoral artery were involved in 4 patients and the superior mesenteric artery was involved in 2 cases.The SUVmax range was 1.4-7.6,the highest SUVmax was in the left subclavian artery (n=2),the right subclavian artery (n=1) and the abdominal aorta artery (n=2).(2)The SUVmax of TA group and the control group were 3.96±1.35 and 2.13±0.53,respectively(t=10.40,P＜0.001).(3) As to the TA patient in stable phase after treatment,the FDG uptake of the wall of aorta and its major branches decreased obviously compared with that before treatment.The SUVmax of left subclavian artery decreased from 6.8 to 3.2.Conclusions 18F-FDG PET/CT is helpful in diagnosis of TA.It could accurately display the range of involved arteries,reflect the activity of the lesion and evaluate the therapeutic response.

In order to improve the yield of bacterial cellulose (BC), the fermentation medium of BC-producing strain J2 (Gluconobacter) was optimized, and BC ultra-micro-structure was observed. Initially, Plackett-Burman design was employed to evaluate eight variables which were relevant to BC production. Three statistically significant parameters including yeast extract, ZnSO4, ethanol were selected and other 5 variables were not significant (P > 0.05). The optimized levels of three variables were defined by Box-Behnken design and response surface methodology (RSM). BC ultra-micro-structure was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) with cotton cellulose as comparison. The results indicated that the BC yield under the optimum fermentation medium was 11.52 g/100 mL, which was as 1.35 times as that under the original fermentation medium. The SEM photos manifested that bacterial cellulose ribbon, with a diameter less than 0.1 microm, was less than cotton cellulose ribbon. The bacteria inside the cellulose net were eliminated after the NaOH treatment.
Cell Culture Techniques ; Cellulose ; biosynthesis ; ultrastructure ; Culture Media ; chemistry ; Fermentation ; Gluconobacter ; cytology ; metabolism

Objective: To study the biological effects of the HPV16Z-Hsp65-E6/E7 fusion protein vaccine on the tumor associated with HPV16 infection. Methods: We tested the cellular immune responsive intensity to the vaccine by the lymphocyte proliferation and CTL response, and studied the therapeutic effect of the vaccine on mouse TC-1 cell transplanted cancer in vivo and the influence on mouse lifetime. Results: The spleen lymphocytes from the C57BL/6 mouse immunized by the Hsp65-E6/E7 vaccine could proliferate obviously in the presence of the protein and TC-1 tumor cell could be lysed specifically by immune activated lymphocytes in vitro. This animal therapeutic experiment in vivo showed that the vaccine suppressed the growth of TC-1 cell transplanted tumor remarkably. Conclusion: The recombined vaccine can induce specific cellular immune response in vitro and suppress HPV16 positive TC-1 tumor cell growth obviously in vivo.

Objective: To develop a therapeutic adjuvantfree protein vaccine against HPV16 which is closely related to cervical cancer of China. Method: First the E6/E7 gene by PCR technology from HPV16z virus strain was isolated in the highrisk cervical cancer area of Shanxi province of China in1990s, and again got the gene segment of Hsp65 from BCG by the same method, mutated the transforming codes in sequences of HPV 16 E6/E7 genes and thus constructed the expression vector pET28aHsp65E6/E7, expressed the Hsp65E6/E7 fusion protein in E.coli BL21(DE3) strain and researched optimal protein purification procedures. Results: The expression vector pET28aHsp65E6/E7 was constructed successfully and E6/E7 gene was mutated correctly. Hsp65E6/E7 fusion protein was renatured and purified on the affinity chromatography column simultaneously. The protein purity achieved 95% after the anionic exchange chromatograph purification. conclusions: This research laid a foundation for further functional study of the therapeutic adjuvantfree protein vaccine——Hsp65E6/E7.

Objective To investigate the effect of acupuncture point injection and rehabilitation on the functional recovery of upper limbs and daily living ability of shoulder-hard syndrom (SHS) after cerebral hemorrhage. Methods A total of 96 patients SHS after cerebral hemorrhage were divided into the observation group (n=56) and the control group (n=40). Both groups recieved the routine treatment for cerebral hemorrhage and rehabilitation technique training. Besides, the control group was treated with intermediate frequency physiotherapy, and the observation group was treated with electroacupuncture and acupoint injection of Salvia miltiorrhiza and ligustrazine. After 1 months of treatment, the the upper limb movement function, daily living ability (ADL), shoulder joint pain, joint activity degree, and the degree of joint swelling were evaluated and compared. Results After treatment, the FMA (60.1 ± 6.4 vs. 41.8 ± 18.7, t=6.799), MBI (65.2 ± 3.5 vs. 50.6 ± 2.1, t=23.512) scores of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group. The VAS (2.7 ± 1.4 vs. 4.9 ± 1.3, t=7.817), edema volume (2.1 ± 2.1 cm3 vs. 2.1 ± 2.1 cm3, t=7.316) of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group ( P＜0.01). The anterior flexion (163.1 ± 6.7°vs. 56 ± 10.9°, t=59.516), extension (39.6 ± 5.8°vs. 23.2 ± 6.7°, t=12.799), abduction (168.1 ± 9.6°vs. 52.1 ± 8.9°, t=60.148), adduction (52.1 ± 3.6°vs. 29.8 ± 4.3°, t=27.580), external rotation (49.8 ± 7.6°vs. 23.2 ± 5.2°, t=19.151), internal rotation (107.0 ± 8.5°vs. 60.2 ± 6.1°, t=29.758) of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P＜0.01). The total effective rate of the observation group was 91.1% (52/56) and the control group was 70% (28/40), and the difference between the 2 groups was statistically significant (χ2=7.209, P＜0.01). Conclusions Acupuncture combined with acupoint injection and rehabilitation technology can relieve pain, eliminate edema and improve motor function and daily living ability of SHS patients after intracerebral hemorrhage.

Radioactive 125I seed implantation has definite curative effect in the treatment of local liver cancer. Currently, percutaneous implantation guided by CT, nuclear magnetism or ultrasound can be adopted, which is safe and minimally invasive. However, the images of some patients with metastatic liver cancer show isodensity or iso-echo imaging under CT or ultrasound, which is easy to miss diagnosis and treatment, seriously affecting the quality of life of patients. A case of terminal cholangiocarcinoma of the biliary tract with metastasis to the liver was admitted to China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University. Ultrasound image showed iso-echo, and radio 125I seed implantation was performed under the guidance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound. The operation was completed according to the preoperative treatment plan.

Objective: To analyze the imaging characteristics and diagnostic value of ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT in muscular inflammation in dermatomyositis (DM), as well as the relationship between maximum standardized uptake value (SUV_max) and activity of muscular inflammation. Methods: From July 2013 to November 2016, 17 hospitalized DM patients (8 males, 9 females, age range: 35-78 years) who underwent ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT were retrospectively reviewed, including 13 typical DM (TDM) and 4 amyopathic DM (ADM). Seventeen healthy volunteers (8 males, 9 females, age range: 35-78 years) in the same period were enrolled as the control group. The proximal limb muscles of whole body were divided into 7 areas, and the SUV_max of each was measured and recorded. Two-sample t test, one-way analysis of variance, Dunnett-t test and Spearman correlation analysis were used to analyze data. Results: Five TDM cases showed diffuse increased FDG uptake in global muscles; 8 TDM cases showed increased FDG uptake in local muscles, mainly in the shoulder and hip. The FDG uptake by muscles of 4 ADM patients was similar with that of controls. The SUV_max was lower and lower in the order of shoulder and back muscles, hip muscles, thoracic vertebra muscles, cervical vertebra muscles, biceps, proximal quadriceps and lumbar vertebra muscles in DM group. The muscle SUV_max of DM, TDM, ADM and the controls were 1.92±0.86, 2.14±0.85, 1.19±0.44 and 0.93±0.26, respectively (F=69.50, P<0.001). Muscle SUV_max of DM group was higher than that of controls, muscle SUV_max of TDM was higher than that of ADM, and muscle SUV_max of ADM was higher than that of controls (t values: 4.102-11.970, all P<0.05). Muscle SUV_max of 9 DM patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) was lower than that of patients without ILD (1.73±0.09 vs 2.13±0.13; t=5.857, P<0.001). Muscle SUV_max of DM was positive correlated with serum levels of creatine kinase (CK) and creatine kinase isoenzyme composed by M and B subunits (CK-MB) (r_s values: 0.814 and 0.751, both P<0.001). Conclusion ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT is helpful to detect muscular inflammation of DM and it can reflect the activity and severity with SUV_max, and meanwhile evaluate the condition of ILD associated with DM.