Disease ; genetics ; Humans ; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; Models, Biological

Objective: To analyze the clinical features and diagnosis of hepatic angiomyolipoma patients, and to investigate its treatment strategy. Methods: The clinical data of 79 patients with pathologically-confirmed hepatic angiomyolipoma, who were treated in the Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital during 1992-2006, were retrospectively reviewed. Results: The patients included 58 women and 21 men with a median age of (43±8.14) years old (ranging 17 to 69 years). None of the patients was found complicated with renal angiomyolipoma or tuberous sclerosis complex. Twenty-five patients were symptomatic on presentation. All the patients had a single hepatic lesion, with the tumor size ranging 1.0-25 cm and a median of (6.1±4.08) cm. Fifty-three tumors were located in the right lobe, 22 in the left lobe, and 4 in the caudate lobe. Preoperative diagnoses were correctly made in 41 (52%) patients. Spontaneous rupture of tumor occurred in 1 patient. All the patients underwent surgical treatment without operative mortality and serious morbidity. The patients were regularly followed-up for 3-13 years. Tumor recurrence occurred in one patient 6 years after the surgery, and the patient died 1 year later. Conclusion: Hepatic angiomyolipoma has no specific clinical signs and symptoms. Comprehensive imaging studies can help to make correct diagnosis, but the differential diagnosis is difficult, especially for small tumors with diameter less than 5 cm. The final diagnosis depends on pathologic examination and HMB-45 special staining. Surgical resection is safe and effective for the disease. Attention should be paid to the potential of malignant transformation and risk of rupture as a life-threatening complication. Early operation is needed once a diagnosis is made, and the patients should be followed up after operation.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 ; metabolism ; Humans ; Laryngeal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo study clinical value of shear wave elastography (SWE) in the evaluation of neck-shoulder myofascial pain syndrome.

METHODSFrom December 2013 to July 2014,30 patients diagnosed as neck-shoulder myofascial pain syndrome were in the treatment group,including 17 males and 13 females, with an average age of (44 ± 3) years old. Thirty healthy people were in the control group, including 22 males and 8 females, with a mean age of (37 ± 5) years old. The patients in the treatment group were treated with manipulation, once every other day, total 7 times. The SWE was used to detect tension part of trapezius muscle of patients in the treatment group before and after treatment, as well as to detect muscle belly at the descending part of trapezius muscle in the control group. The tissue elasticity and Yang's modulus value were recorded and compared.

RESULTSThe tissue elasticity chart of patients in the treatment group before treatment was mainly greenish blue with the score of 3.70 ± 1.53, and the Yang's modulus was (43.4 ± 15.6) kPa. The tissue elasticity figure after treatment was mainly blue with the score of 2.40 ± 0.87, and the Yang's modulus was (29.0 ± 5.9) kPa. Whereas in the control group, the tissue elasticity figure was mainly blue with the score of 1.60 ± 0.72, and the Yang's modulus was (24.0 ± 7.6) kPa. These were statistical differences between the two groups (P = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONSWE can be used as an evaluation method of manipulation treatment for neck-shoulder myofascial pain syndrome, which is an objective and sensitive detection method.

Adult ; Elasticity Imaging Techniques ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Musculoskeletal Manipulations ; Myofascial Pain Syndromes ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Neck ; Shoulder

ObjectiveTo study basic pattern of normal youth in gait analysis.Methods28 healthy young persons as experimental subjects were studied. The gait analysis system based on digital video and digital image processing was employed to obtain kinematic parameters.ResultsThe means and standard deviations of kinematic parameters of normal youth were obtained. The differences of gait patterns between males and females were compared. The correlations between gait parameters and height, weight were analyzed respectively.Conclusions It is recommended that the values of the gait parameters and the trends obtained can be used as a standard gait pattern of normal youth. Statistically significant differences exist between the males and the females for most of the gait parameters. Furthermore, the differences of the values of gait parameters between the males and the females are not led only by the difference of height except very few parameters.

OBJECTIVEThe mechanism of high pulmonary blood flow-induced pulmonary hypertension remains unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of proadrenomedullin N-terminal 20-peptide (PAMP) on pulmonary hypertension, through examining the alterations of pulmonary PAMP expression and plasma PAMP concentration in rats with pulmonary hypertension induced by high pulmonary blood flow.

METHODSSixteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control (n=8) and shunt groups (n=8). Aortocaval shunting was produced in the shunt group. After 11 weeks of shunting, systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP), diastolic pulmonary artery pressure (dPAP) and mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) were evaluated by using a right cardiac catheterization procedure. The ultrastructural changes in intra-acinar pulmonary arteries were observed. The concentration of plasma PAMP was measured by radioimmunoassay. The expression of PAMP in pulmonary arteries was detected by immunohistochemical assay.

RESULTSsPAP, dPAP and mPAP were significantly increased in shunt rats compared with controls (P < 0.01). Ultrastructural changes, such as hyperplasia and swelling of endothelial cells, irregularity of internal elastic laminar, and hypertrophy and increased number of synthetic phenotype of smooth muscle cells, were found in intra-acinar pulmonary muscularized arteries in the shunt group. Plasma PAMP concentration (616 +/- 195 pg /mL vs 427 +/- 90 pg /mL) and PAMP expression in endothelial cells (0.62 +/- 0.09 vs 0.38 +/- 0.12) and in smooth muscle cells (0.24 +/- 0.07 vs 0.14 +/- 0.05) of pulmonary arteries increased significantly in the shut group compared with controls.

CONCLUSIONSThe up-regulation of pulmonary and plasm PAMP expression might be involved in the development of high pulmonary blood flow-induced pulmonary hypertension.

Adrenomedullin ; blood ; genetics ; Animals ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; blood ; etiology ; pathology ; Male ; Pulmonary Artery ; ultrastructure ; Pulmonary Circulation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Objective To explore the relationship between dynamic changes in ultra-micro-structural of pulmonary arteries and endogenous hydrogen sulfide in rats with left-right shunt.Methods Rats in shunt group were subjected to an abdominal aorta-inferior vena cava shunt to create an animal model of pulmonary artery structural remodeling. After 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 4 weeks and 8 weeks of experiment, the ultra-micro-morphologic changes of pulmonary arteries of rats were observed under electronic microscope and H_2S concentration in serum was evaluated by modified sulfide electrode method.Results The changes of ultra-micro-structure of pulmonary arteries were progressively exacerbated, endothelial cells became swollen and large in size on 3 days, smooth muscular cells increased in size as well as the change of endothelial cells in 1 week, and they changed from contractile phenotype to synthetic phenotype in 4 weeks.Conclusions Shunt exhibited changes of ultra-micro-structure of pulmonary arteries are accompanied by the changes of endogenous H_2S. It is suggested that endogenous H_2S might play a protective role in changes of ultra-micro-structure of pulmonary artery.

Objective To discuss the effect of the calcaneocuboid joint arthrodesis on the weight- bearing area of subtalar joint and its clinical significance.Methods Twelve fresh-frozen cadaver foot specimens were used for determination of weight-bearing area of the subtalar joint on foot and ankle neutral position,dorsiflexion,plantoflexion,adduction,abduction,inversion and eversion motion by means of pressure sensitive film before and after calcaneocuboid joint arthrodesis under weight loading.Results Weight-bearing area of the subtalar joint averagely increased for (32.54?7.45)% in all positions after calcaneocuboid joint arthrodesis,with statistical significance (P＜0.05).Conclusion Weight-bear- ing area of the subtalar joint increases after calcaneocuboid joint arthrodesis,which contributes to decrea- sing the pressure and increasing the stability of the subtalar joint.

ObjectiveTo test the effect of human tremor detector in clinic based on the principle of photoelectrical transformation.MethodsFifty-five subjects including normal youth and elderly persons, patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), hyperthyroidism and cerebellor ataxia were tested with human tremor detector. The displacement, frequency spectrograph, velocity and acceleration of both hands in four kinds of postures and action were involved.ResultsThe physiological tremor and pathological tremor in different kinds of patients were significantly different (P<0.05). Especially in PD, both quantitive and qualitative data had a significant difference.ConclusionHuman tremor detector can provide the evidence for early diagnosis of PD.

Cryptosporidium spp., ubiquitous enteric parasitic protozoa of vertebrates, recently emerged as an important cause of economic loss and zoonosis. The present study aimed to determine the distribution and species of Cryptosporidium in post-weaned and adult pigs in Shaanxi province, northwestern China. A total of 1,337 fresh fecal samples of post-weaned and adult pigs were collected by sterile disposable gloves from 8 areas of Shaanxi province. The samples were examined by Sheather's sugar flotation technique and microscopy atx400 magnification for Cryptosporidium infection, and the species in positive samples was further identified by PCR amplification of the small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene. A total of 44 fecal samples were successfully amplified by the nested PCR of the partial SSU rRNA, with overall prevalence of 3.3%. The average prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in each pig farms ranged from 0 to 14.4%. Species identification by sequencing of SSU rRNA gene revealed that 42 (3.1%) samples were Cryptosporidium suis and 2 (0.15%) were Cryptosporidium scrofarum. C. suis had the highest prevalence (7.5%) in growers and the lowest in breeding pigs (0.97%). C. suis was the predominant species in pre-weaned and adult pigs, while C. scrofarum infected pigs older than 3 months only. A season-related difference of C. suis was observed in this study, with the highest prevalence in autumn (5.5%) and the lowest (1.7%) in winter. The present study provided basic information for control of Cryptosporidium infection in pigs and assessment of zoonotic transmission of pigs in Shaanxi province, China.
Animals ; China/epidemiology ; Cluster Analysis ; Cryptosporidiosis/*epidemiology/*parasitology ; Cryptosporidium/classification/genetics/*isolation & purification ; DNA, Protozoan/chemistry/genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal/chemistry/genetics ; Feces/parasitology ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence ; RNA, Ribosomal, 18S/genetics ; Seasons ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Swine ; Swine Diseases/*epidemiology/*parasitology