Aging changes of somatostatin (SS) mRNA-positive neurons in the dorsal hippocampus of old rats were studied by in situ hybridization histochemistry and image analysis. In the young rats,SS mRNA-positive cell bodies were mainly located in the pyramidal and polymorphic cell layers of the CA1 and CA2 regions, and in the strata radiatum and polymorphic cell layer of the CA3 region, and in the polymorphic cell layer of dentate gyrus. In the old rats,SS mRNA-positive cell bodies were concentrated in the polymorphic cell layer and denate gyrus. A marked decrease of number of SS mRNA-positive cell bodies and a significant increase of gray value of SS mRNA-positive cell bodies were found in the dorsal hippocampus and dentate gyrus of the old rats as compared with the young rats. No significant age difference in the sectional area of SS mRNA-positive cell bodies was observed in the dorsal hippocampus. The results showed that there were apparent changes with aging of the SS mRNA-positive cell bodies in the dorsal hippocampus of the rats. The significance of the changes remains to be studied further.

AIM:To observe the effects of adipose differentiation-related protein ( adipophilin) on the expres-sion of inflammatory factors in RAW264.7 macrophage and to clarify the related mechanism.METHODS:The cell models with high expression and low expression of adipophilin were constructed by transfecting PA317 packaging cells with stable high or low expression adipophilin retroviral vectors into the RAW264.7 cells.The concentrations of IL-6, MCP-1 and TNF-αin the cell culture medium were detected by ELISA.The protein levels of AP-1, p-AP-1, ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 were measured by Western blot.The protein levels of adipophilin, p-ERK1/2 and p-AP-1 and the releases of the inflamma-tory factors in the RAW264.7 cells treated with or without ERK1/2 inhibitor PD98059 or AP-1 inhibitor curcumin were de-termined.RESULTS:The RAW264.7 cells with high expression of adipophilin had higher levels of IL-6, MCP-1 and TNF-α, and higher protein levels of p-AP-1 and p-ERK1/2 than those in the cells with low expression of adipophilin. ERK1/2 inhibitor had no significant effect on the expression of adipophilin, but the protein expression of ERK1/2 and AP-1 was significantly inhibited (P<0.05).The administration of AP-1 inhibitor curcumin had no significant effect on the protein expression of adipophilin and ERK1/2, but the protein expression of AP-1 was significantly inhibited (P<0.05). At the same time, the releases of inflammatory factors IL-6, MCP-1 and TNF-αwere significantly decreased.CONCLU-SION:Adipophilin may regulate the expression of inflammatory factors through ERK1/2-AP-1 pathway in RAW264.7 mac-rophages.

Objective:To explore the differences in the spatial distributions of brain metastases (BMs) from adenocarcinoma and non-adenocarcinoma among non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLS), aiming to provide a reference for developing optimal treatment protocols.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on data from 283 patients with NSCLC who underwent radiotherapy at the Zhejiang Cancer Hospital from January 2020 to July 2023. These patients included 191 adenocarcinoma cases with an average age of 62.04 years and 92 non-adenocarcinoma cases with an average age of 63.85 years. CT images with detected BMs of these patients were synchronously deformed and registered into a standard brain template to determine the distribution of BMs in the template. The Dice coefficient was employed to analyze the similarity in the distribution of BMs from adenocarcinoma and non-adenocarcinoma, and two-sample t-test was performed respectively using SPM and Dpabi software to ensure the consistency of the result. For brain regions with the number of BMs greater than or equal to 4, the voxels with a size 2 mm × 2 mm × 2 mm were counted. Results:Non-adenocarcinoma tended to invade the posterior lobe of the cerebellum, precuneus, anterior lobe of the cerebellum, cuneus, middle occipital gyrus, and middle temporal gyrus, with corresponding voxel counts of 2 577, 2 291, 1 947, 1 550, 1 200, and 600, respectively. In contrast, adenocarcinoma was more commonly metastasized to the inferior parietal lobule, posterior lobe of the cerebellum, central frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and precuneus, with the corresponding voxel counts of 211, 201, 194, 186, 137, and 84, respectively.Conclusion:Brain metastases exhibit different distributions between adenocarcinoma and non-adenocarcinoma, and both subtypes prefer to invade specific brain regions.

Objective:Utilizing multi-criterion optimization (MCO) technology to improve plan design quality based on knowledge-based planning (KBP) model.Methods:Fifty-five patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who had completed radiotherapy were selected, and fixed-field intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) technology was used in each case. Among them, 40 cases were randomly selected as training set 1. Then, IMRT plans in training set 1 were preprocessed by MCO technology to construct a new training set 2. With the initial training set 1 and the processed training set 2 as training samples, the traditional KBP model and the MCO-KBP model refined by MCO technology were trained, respectively. Among the remaining 15 cases, 5 cases were randomly selected as the validation set, and the remaining 10 cases were used as the test set. After verification, the test set was used to statistically analyze the plan quality of the initial manual plan and the automatic plan generated by the traditional KBP model and the MCO-KBP model.Results:The target dose (D 95%) of plans generated by the traditional KBP model and the MCO-KBP model met the clinical requirements. Conformity index (CI) and homogeneity index (HI) were almost the same ( P>0.05), and the doses of organ at risk (OAR) of the automatic plans generated by the MCO-KBP model were lower than those of the traditional KBP model. For example, compared with the traditional KBP model, the average D max of the brainstem in the automatic plans generated by the MCO-KBP model was lower by 2.13 Gy, the average D mean of the left parotid gland was lower by 1.39 Gy, the average D mean of the right parotid gland was lower by 1.59 Gy, and the average D max of the left optic nerve was lower by 1.42 Gy, the average D max of the right optic nerve was lower by 1.16 Gy, and the average D max of the pituitary gland was lower by 1.88 Gy. All of the above-mentioned dosimetry indexes were statistically significant. Conclusion:Compared with the traditional KBP model, the IMRT plans designed by the refined MCO-KBP model have obvious advantages in the protection of OAR, which proves the feasibility of utilizing MCO technology to improve the plan design quality of the KBP model.

Objective:To discuss the influence of different computed tomography (CT) value assignment methods on dose calculation of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plan which designed for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and the value assignment methods of IMRT plan for NPC based on magnetic resonance (MR) images.Methods:Simulation CT and MR image of 32 NPC patients in Shandong Cancer Hospital from March 2018 to November 2018 were selected for this study. Populate CT values were obtained by contouring and analyzing the simulation CT of patients′ tissue, including bone, air, brain, eyeball, optic-nerve, lens, parotid, masseter, skin. Pseudo-CT were generated by different CT value assignment methods: CT1: CT value of all tissues was set to 0HU; CT2: CT value of air cavity was set to populate CT value based on CT1; CT3: CT value of Bone was set to populate CT value based on CT2; CT4: CT value of each soft tissue were set to populate CT value based on CT3. The IMRT plan for NPC as Plan0 was designed base on simulation CT. Then Plan0 was transplanted to four pseudo-CT to recalculate the dose and obtain Plan1, Plan2, Plan3 and Plan4, the differences of dosimetric parameters were compared with Plan0. NPC-IMRT plan was designed base on MR images by using the assignment method with CT value of each tissue were set to populate CT value.Results:In the head and neck CT images, the average populate CT values of bone and cavity were 621 HU and -720 HU, respectively. The populate CT values of other soft tissue ranges from -20 HU to 70 HU. The differences of dosimetric indexes of Plan1, Plan2, Plan3, Plan4 decreased sequentially compare to Plan0, the difference of the dosimetry parameters of Plan4 and Plan0 was the smallest. The differences of PTV D 99, PTV D 95, isocenter dose, D mean of all tissues, D max of bilateral eye balls, D max of bilateral lens, D max of bilateral optic nerves, D mean of bilateral parotid, V 20 of bilateral parotid, D 50 of bilateral parotid, D max of spinal cord, D max of brainstem, D 5 of brainstem between Plan4 and Plan0 were all less than 1%. The difference of V 30 in bilateral parotid between Plan4 and Plan0 was less than 1.5%. In the comparison of the pixel dose distribution, the regions of dose distribution difference greater than 1% mainly distributed in the air cavity, bone periphery and the skin. The target area of the IMRT plan for NPC based on MR images met 95% of the prescribed dose, and the dose of each organ at risk was within the dose limit. Conclusions:The assignment method of each tissue and organs set to populate CT value compared with other methods has the least influence on the dose calculation of NPC-IMRT plan, which could meet the clinical requirements. Therefore, it should be the first choice of assignment method when designing NPC-IMRT plan based on MR image.

Objective:To discuss the influence of different computed tomography (CT) value assignment methods on dose calculation of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plan which designed for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and the value assignment methods of IMRT plan for NPC based on magnetic resonance (MR) images.Methods:Simulation CT and MR image of 32 NPC patients in Shandong Cancer Hospital from March 2018 to November 2018 were selected for this study. Populate CT values were obtained by contouring and analyzing the simulation CT of patients′ tissue, including bone, air, brain, eyeball, optic-nerve, lens, parotid, masseter, skin. Pseudo-CT were generated by different CT value assignment methods: CT1: CT value of all tissues was set to 0HU; CT2: CT value of air cavity was set to populate CT value based on CT1; CT3: CT value of Bone was set to populate CT value based on CT2; CT4: CT value of each soft tissue were set to populate CT value based on CT3. The IMRT plan for NPC as Plan0 was designed base on simulation CT. Then Plan0 was transplanted to four pseudo-CT to recalculate the dose and obtain Plan1, Plan2, Plan3 and Plan4, the differences of dosimetric parameters were compared with Plan0. NPC-IMRT plan was designed base on MR images by using the assignment method with CT value of each tissue were set to populate CT value.Results:In the head and neck CT images, the average populate CT values of bone and cavity were 621 HU and -720 HU, respectively. The populate CT values of other soft tissue ranges from -20 HU to 70 HU. The differences of dosimetric indexes of Plan1, Plan2, Plan3, Plan4 decreased sequentially compare to Plan0, the difference of the dosimetry parameters of Plan4 and Plan0 was the smallest. The differences of PTV D 99, PTV D 95, isocenter dose, D mean of all tissues, D max of bilateral eye balls, D max of bilateral lens, D max of bilateral optic nerves, D mean of bilateral parotid, V 20 of bilateral parotid, D 50 of bilateral parotid, D max of spinal cord, D max of brainstem, D 5 of brainstem between Plan4 and Plan0 were all less than 1%. The difference of V 30 in bilateral parotid between Plan4 and Plan0 was less than 1.5%. In the comparison of the pixel dose distribution, the regions of dose distribution difference greater than 1% mainly distributed in the air cavity, bone periphery and the skin. The target area of the IMRT plan for NPC based on MR images met 95% of the prescribed dose, and the dose of each organ at risk was within the dose limit. Conclusions:The assignment method of each tissue and organs set to populate CT value compared with other methods has the least influence on the dose calculation of NPC-IMRT plan, which could meet the clinical requirements. Therefore, it should be the first choice of assignment method when designing NPC-IMRT plan based on MR image.

Pancreas arises from dorsal and ventral anlagens on an embryological basis,with a difference in histocytology.Immunohistochemical staining for an anti-pancreatic polypeptide can be performed to discriminate between the dorsal and ventral pancreas because of the difference in the amount of pancreatic polypeptide contained by the dorsal and ventral pancreas.Differences of survival in patients were approved due to the difference in histocytology between the dorsal and ventral pancreas,including the ability of local invasion,lymph node metastases,and nerve plexus invasion.

Speaking lesson is an effective way and teaching skill to prepare lessons for the teaching of anatomy. Taking the speaking lesson design of lecture teaching of the neck as an example, this article shows the teaching of topographic anatomy for "5+3" integrated clinical medical students. Adhering to the teaching concept of "student-centered", we have launched the theoretical teaching of "problem-centered discussion" and the experimental teaching of "operator responsibility system" in groups, with the "thanksgiving" humanistic education running through the whole process of theoretical and experimental courses. The teaching is a good way to cultivate the students' gratitude consciousness and humanistic quality, self-learning ability, critical thinking ability, communication and expression ability, hands-on operation ability and teamwork spirit, which has laid a solid foundation for training medical professionals in the new era.