Objective To assess the changes in normal-appearing white matter fiber tracts of the brainstem in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) quantitatively with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Methods Fifty patients with RRMS were recruited, and twenty five healthy volunteers with the same gender and age were selected as controls. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging and DTI was performed. Quantitative indexes as fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) values in the brainstem fiber tracts, including corticopontine tract/corticospinal tract (cpt/cst), superior cerebellar peduncle (scp), middle cerebellar peduncle (mcp), inferior cerebellar peduncle (icp), and medial lemniscus (ml) were measured and analyzed. Results In comparison with controls, decreasing FA values in cpt/cst (L:P=0.030; R:P=0.020), icp (L:P=0.030; R:P=0.037), scp (L:P=0.036; R:P=0.041) and ml (L:P=0.014; R:P=0.035), as well as increasing MD values in cpt/cst (L:P=0.004; R:P=0.046), icp (L:P=0.047; R:P=0.011), scp (L:P=0.021; R:P=0.011) and ml (L:P=0.002; R:P=0.044) were found in patients with RRMS. No significant difference of FA and MD values was found in mcp between patients with RRMS and controls (P＞0.05). None of the MD or FA values in fiber tracts of the brainstem in patients with RRMS was correlated with brain parenchymal fraction (BPF) or T2 lesion volume. Conclusion The relevant abnormalities which were found in normal-appearing white matter fiber tracts of the brainstem in RRMS patients by DTI scanning suggested pathological changes. It is presumed that the changes may be due to demyelination caused by hiding lesions.

Arsenic trioxide albumin microspheres (As2O3-BSA-NS) were prepared by using methods of chemical cross-linking. The desirability function (DF), calculated according to the size (<1 microm) distribution, drug loading and drug trapping efficiency, was introduced as a total index for the microspheres formulation. Four factors, inculding W/O ratio, decentralization speed, BSA concentration and stirring stabilization time, were selected and arranged in an orthogonal experimental table. The release characteristic was studied by the drug release experiment in vitro. The four factors affected DF differently. Decentralization speed behaved as the maximum (P<0.01), followed by BSA concentration (P<0.05) and the W/O ratio dose (P<0.05). Stirring stabilization time did not influence DF (P>0.05). The release experiment in vitro showed that As2O3 in As2O3-BSA-NS was released more slower than pure As2O3. It was concluded that regular As2O3-BSA-NS may be prepared by the methods of chemical cross-linking, which was optimized by orthogonal experimental analysis of different factors, and the microspheres can release As2O3 slowly.
Arsenicals/*chemistry ; Cross-Linking Reagents/pharmacology ; Delayed-Action Preparations ; Drug Carriers/*chemistry ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Microspheres ; Oxides/*chemistry ; Serum Albumin, Bovine/*chemistry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical

Objective To investigate the functional and structural changes of connectivity of default mode network (DMN) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) by functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and to study the relationship between them.Methods Twenty-seven RRMS patients(clinically diagnosed as RRMS)and 27 healthy volunteers (matched to the patients in age and gender) were selected to participate in this study.All the subjects underwent 3.0 T MR scanning.Softwares such as DPARSF,MICA,TrackVis were used for data post-processing.Medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex(PCC) of DMN were chosen as ROIs,and functional and structural changes of DMN and the relationship between them were analyzed.Values of r reflecting the functional connectivity and fractional anisotropy(FA) of two groups were obtained.Then statistical analysis was performed by using student t test and Pearson correlation analysis.Results The DMN space pattern of the RRMS patients was mostly identical to that of controls,but with specific difference in the connectivity strength with respect to that of controls.Particularly,the patient group showed increased DMN connectivity in the mPFC,but decreased connectivity in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and PCC.Compared with controls,the r value (0.695 ±0.151 vs.0.796±0.085),FA value(0.261 ±0.012 vs.0.285 ±0.017) between mPFC and PCC in RRMS patients were decreased (t =-3.020,-6.206,P ＜ 0.05).In addition,functional connectivity (r value) was found to correlate with structural connectivity(FA value) between the PCC and mPFC (r =0.704,0.735,P ＜ 0.01).The number of MS lesion,had no correlation with r value or FA value (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions The functional connectivity and structural connectivity of DMN change in RRMS patients.The functional connectivity and structural connectivity between mPFC and PCC are both decreased in RRMS patients compared with the controls.The injury of structural connectivity may be the structural basis of the decrease of functional connectivity.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of tube moxibustion plus point-toward-point needling method for refractory facial paralysis. Methods: A total of 100 patients with refractory facial paralysis who met the inclusion criteria were randomized into an observation group and a control group, with 50 cases in each group. Both groups were treated with acupuncture by point-toward-point needling method, mainly in the affected eye, cheek and mouth areas. The observation group was given additional tube moxibustion after receiving the point-toward-point needling method, which inserted a tube moxibustion device into the external acoustic meatus 1 cm on the affected side for 20 min. Both groups were treated once a day, 6 times a week, for 4 consecutive weeks. The House-Brackmann scale was scored before and after treatment, and the facial nerve electromyogram data were collected. Results: The total effective rate of the observation group was 93.6％, which was higher than 64.6％ of the control group, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). The proportion of new-onset facial paralysis complications (facial synkinesis, facial spasm, facial paralysis perversion, and crocodile tears) in the observation group was 6.4％, which was lower than 35.4％ in the control group. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). In the observation group, the numbers of cases after treatment with the ratio of action potential amplitude between the affected side and the healthy side increased by 10％-30％ and over 30％ were more than those in the control group. And the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Tube moxibustion plus point-toward-point needling method has a better effect in improving symptoms of refractory facial paralysis, decreasing the incidence of sequelae, and increasing clinical efficacy than the point-toward- point needling method alone.

BACKGROUND:How to effectively reduce al ogeneic blood transfusion volume after knee arthroplasty has become a new clinical problem, but predictors of perioperative blood loss and al ogenic blood transfusion after replacement have not been wel defined. OBJECTIVE:To establish the prediction model of al ogeneic transfusion volume after total knee arthroplasty by analyzing the preoperative and intraoperative related factors that influence the postoperative al ogeneic transfusion volume, so as to provide a theoretical basis for the clinical selective application of the autologous blood retransfusion device. METHODS:The materials of 120 postoperative al ogenic transfusion patients who treated with unilateral total knee arthroplasty at Baodi Clinical Col ege of Tianjin Medical University from January 2012 to December 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. Each patient’s gender, age, height, body weight, preoperative hemoglobin value, operation time, intraoperative blood loss volume and postoperative al ogeneic transfusion volume were recorded in detail, and accordingly a prediction model of al ogeneic transfusion volume was established after total knee arthroplasty. From January 2014 to December 2014, we applied this model in clinic. A total of 90 patients who predicted need for al ogeneic transfusion after unilateral total knee arthroplasty were randomly divided into two groups. Autologous blood retransfusion device was used in the observation group. Conventional drainage was used in the control group. The blood transfusion volume of patients in these two groups was analyzed, and the prediction accuracy of the prediction model in these two groups was detected. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Al patients completed the experimental observation. Pearson analysis showed that the patient’s age, height, body weight, preoperative hemoglobin values, operation time and intraoperative blood loss volume associated with postoperative al ogeneic transfusion volume (P<0.01). Multivariate regression analysis showed that the patient’s preoperative hemoglobin values, operation time and intraoperative blood loss volume associated with postoperative al ogeneic transfusion volume (P<0.01). Clinical application test results showed that the postoperative al ogeneic transfusion volume in observation and control groups was respectively (611.30±191.14) mL and (571.55±200.53) mL, prediction accuracy was respectively (71.50±22.20)%and (70.94±19.23)%, the difference was not significant (P>0.05). There were significant differences in al ogeneic transfusion volume and total blood transfusion volume (including autologous and allogeneic blood transfusion volume) of patients in these two group (P<0.01). The al ogeneic transfusion volume in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control group. These results suggest that the prediction model can successful y predict the al ogeneic transfusion volume after total knee arthroplasty. The application of autologous blood retransfusion device in those patients who predicted need for postoperative al ogenic transfusion after the replacement can effectively reduce the al ogenic transfusion volume.

Objective To assess the altered regional homogeneity (ReHo) of local intrinsic cerebral activity within sensorimotor network(SMN) in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) before or after spinal cord decompression using functional MRI (fMRI). Methods Twenty-one CSM patients who would decompress spinal canal, and 21 healthy volunteers (age, gender and level of education matched) were enrolled from June 2013 to April 2014. All the patients underwent rs-fMRI examination before and 3 months after spinal cord decompression. ReHo measurement was performed statistically within a SMN mask. A second-level random-effect 2-tailed Student's t test was applied to compare the ReHo results between pre-and post-operation CSM patients and healthy volunteers. A second-level paired 2-tailed Student's t test was applied to compare the ReHo results between pre-and post-operation CSM patients. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to assess the correlations between the altered ReHo and clinical evaluation. Results Compared with healthy volunteers, pre-operation patients showed significantly lower ReHo in the left postcentral gyrus/precentral gyrus, together with enhanced ReHo in the right superior parietal lobule (GRF correction, P<0.05). Post-operation CSM patients showed significantly lower ReHo in the right superior parietal lobule comparing with healthy volunteers, as well as enhanced ReHo in the left postcentral gyrus/precentral gyrus comparing with pre-operation (GRF correction, P<0.05). Abnormal ReHo areas in CSM patients demonstrated no significant correlation with clinical measurements (P>0.05) between pre-operation and post-operation. Conclusions Myelopathy in cervical cord may affect intrinsic cerebral activity, as patients with CSM show disrupted regional homogeneity within sensorimotor network. The change of ReHo following decompression suggests that central plasticity may influence functional recovery.

Objective To quantitative analyze the injury degree of cervical cord in cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) patients using fractional anisotropy (FA) entropy of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).Methods Twenty-four CSM patients and well-match healthy volunteers underwent cervical cord DTI scanning.FA value was measured at each segment of spinal cord (including grey matter and white matter) of spinal cord level and intervertebral disc level.Further Shannon entropy of FA value was calculated in each segment to observe the disorder degree of cervical cord structure in CSM patients.After the analysis of homogeneity of variance,two samples t test analysis was used to identify FC's differences of FA and Shannon entropy of FA value between the two groups.Result In CSM group,the average FA value of whole cervical cord was 0.644 ± 0.056,while it was 0.672 ± 0.035 in the healthy control group.There was significant difference of FA values between the two groups (t=-2.049,P=0.046).The FA entropy of CSM patients' cervical cord was 0.687±0.043,while it was 0.854±0.027 in the healthy control group.The FA entropy of CSM patients' cervical cord was lower than that of control group.There was significant difference of FA entropy between the two groups (t=-12.100,P＜0.001).The significant difference between the two groups was only found at C6 level for each level's FA value.The FA entropy of CSM patients' cervical cord was significantly lower than that of control group for every level.Conclusion This decreased FA entropy of cervical cord in CSM patients indicates that FA entropy can be used to detect the disorder of cervical cord structure in CSM patients.

Objective To investigate the small-world property of default mode network in relapsingremitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) compared with the (matched) healthy control subjects,using a graph theory for resting-state functional network analysis.Methods Twenty four patients with RRMS and 24 age-,and sexmatched healthy controls were exanined with resting-state functional MRI (R-fMRI) and 3D-T1WI on Trio 3.0 Tesla.The R-fMRI data were preprocessed,then 20 regions of interest (ROIs) was defined and extracted from the default mode network.The functional connectivity between a pair of regions was defined as the Pearson's correlation coefficient in the time courses.Graph theoretical analysis was implemented and compared with the property of binary functional network.Further,the relationships were examined between the topological property of functional networks and the clinical parameters.Results In this study,functional network in the default mode network was conducted,and the small-world characteristics were observed in both RRMS and healthy control group.In the range of densities (Dmin:0.01∶0.48 ;Dmin =0.42),compared with healthy control group,RRMS groups had a slightly smaller normalized clustering coefficient (P＞0.05),a slightly larger normalized path length (P＞0.05),and a slightly decrease small-world index (P＞0.05).The left posterior cingulated cortex showed a significantly larger clustering coefficient in RRMS group (P=0.031) on the network threshold at Dmin.The area under a curve (AUC) for clustering coefficient measure curves of the left posterior cingulated cortex (density range of 0.42:0.01:0.48) between two groups were compared.The AUC result was similar to the Dmin result (P=0.031).Negative correlation was observed between the clustering coefficient of left posterior cingulated cortex and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) in both the Dmin(P=0.023) and the AUC (P=0.020).Conclusion The default mode network has small-world property in RRMS group.The significantly increased clustering coefficience is observed in the left posterior cingulated cortex,which may be a side effect.

Objective To investigate the difference of cerebral inter-hemispheric functional connectivity between the patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( ALS) and healthy controls ( HC) by a newly developed voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity ( VMHC) method based on resting-state functional MRI ( rs-fMRI) , as well as its correlation to the structural imaging indices and clinical neurological scales .Methods Twenty patients with ALS ( ALS group ) and 20 age-, and sex-matched healthy controls ( HC group) were examined by rs-fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging ( DTI ) on 3.0 T MR imaging system ( Siemens Trio Tim ).The rs-fMRI data preprocessing were performed using data processing assistant for rs-fMRI ( DPARSF) based on Matlab 2009a, and the rs-fMRI data analysis toolkit ( REST) with an automated VMHC approach was utilized to calculate and compare the VMHC correlation coefficients between the ALS group and the HC group[P<0.05, corrected with false discovery rate (FDR)].Region of interest (ROIs) were prescribed on the regions which showed abnormal VMHC coefficients in ALS group , then the mean time series of the ROIs were extracted to examine the difference of the seed ( ROIs)-based functional connectivity between the ALS and HC groups.At last, linear correlations were performed to assess the relationships among the VMHC coefficients and clinical measures including the revised amyotrophic lateral sclerosis functional rating scale ( ALSFRS-r) score, disease duration , the rate of disease progression and fractional anisotropy ( FA) values of the corpus callosum ( CC).Results Compared with HC group , the patients with ALS showed lower VMHC coefficients in the precentral gyrus ( M1 ) , postcentral gyrus ( PCG ) , inferior parietal lobule (IPL), cuneus/precuneus (Cu/Pcu), and anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC).Higher VMHC coefficients were found in the supplementary motor area , superior frontal gyrus , and middle occipital gyrus (P<0.05,FDR corrected).Significant functional connectivity alterations were detected in motor cortex and frontal/temporal/occipital lobe between the ALS and HC groups using seed ( ROIs )-based functional connectivity based on the regions which showed abnormal VMHC coefficients in ALS group ( P <0.05, AlphaSim corrected, clusters≥228 voxels).Significant positive correlation was detected between the VMHC coefficients (0.311 ±0.108) of M1 and FA values (0.394 ±0.016) of CC III region (r=0.530, P=0.016), between the VMHC coefficients (0.767 ±0.043) of ACC and FA values (0.360 ±0.105) of CC I region (r=0.513, P=0.021), respectively.Significant positive correlation was observed between VMHC coefficients (0.311 ±0.108) of M1 and the ALSFRS-r score (35.4 ±2.5) in ALS patients(r=0.447, P=0.048).There was not significant correlation observed between the VMHC coefficients and disease duration , or the ratio of disease prognosis (P>0.05).Conclusions Abnormal VMHC coefficients were detected in ALS patients.The decreased VMHC in ACC and M1 are associated with the reduced micro-structure integrity of CC, meanwhile, and they may be related to disease severity.

Objective To examine brain regions with a functional connection to posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in a relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) group compared with matched control subjects,and to employ resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) to PCC connectivity gathered by investigating synchronic low frequency fMRI signal fluctuations of default mode network with seed-based correlation analysis (SCA).Methods Twenty-seven patients with RRMS (RRMS group) and 27 age-,and sexmatched healthy controls (HC group) were examined by resting-state fMRI,DTI and 3D-T1 on Siemens Trio Tim 3.0T.The fMRI data preprocessing and processing was performed using Data Processing Assistant for Resting-State fMRI Advanced Edition (DPARSFA) based on Matlab 2012a,and PCC (-5,-49,40)was selected as seed.An SCA approach was used to analyze the rs-fMRI data.We examined the differences in SCA-derived connectivity metrics in patients with RRMS and healthy controls,and analyzed correlations between connectivity correlation coefficient of the differences regions and MRI-derived metrics (brain parenchymal fraction,T2 lesion load),as well as clinical metrics (expanded disability status scale,paced auditory serial addition test,and disease duration) of the disease.Results The SCA via functional connectivity of PCC showed that the temporal correlation between the blood-oxygen-level-dependent signals of the default mode network was reliable spatial patterns of activation in patients with RRMS.The lower connectivity in right superior frontal gyrus within default mode network,and higher connectivity in right posterior lobe of cerebellum,right crus of cerebellum,right medial frontal gyrus,right medial occipital gyrus,left precuneus/cingulate gyrus,right angular gyrus and right cingulate gyrus were found in our study.Significant negative-related was observed between the paced auditory serial addition test and functional connectivity in right middle temporal gyrus (0.387 ± 0.216) of RRMS patients (r =-0.59,P =0.001).Significant negative correlation also was observed between the course of disease and functional connectivity in right superior frontal gyrus (0.039 ± 0.293) in patients (r =-0.39,P =0.041).There was no significant correlations between other regions with different functional connectivity and expanded disability status scale,disease duration,or brain atrophy.The connectivity in right superior frontal gyrus,left medial occipital gyrus,left precentral gyrus was decreased; and connectivity in right cerebellum anterior lobe (dentate),right frontal lobe white matter was significantly increased.Significant positive correlation was observed between the course of disease and functional connectivity in left precentral gyrus (-0.924 ± 0.253),right cerebellum anterior lobe (dentate ;0.217 ± 0.208) of RRMS patients (r =0.650,P =0.000;r =0.436,P =0.023),respectively.Conclusion These findings reveal the compensatory mechanism of the brain in response to structural damage,by means of increased activation or synchronization of default mode network,which seems to be finite.