China ; Education, Medical ; Occupational Health

OBJECTIVETo summarize and analyze the compatibility laws for acupoint selection of acupuncture in treating diabetic gastroparasis (DGP) in modern literatures of clinical researches.

METHODSRetrieved were literatures related to treating DGP by acupuncture or acupuncture combined other therapies from PubMed, CNKI, and WF from 1982 to 2014. Analyzed were frequency of acupoint use, meridians selected acupoints belonged to, regions selected, association laws of selected compatible acupoints.

RESULTSRetrieved were 35 with compatibility frequencies more than 15 listed as follows: compatibility frequency of Zusanli (ST36) and Zhongwan (CV12) was 33 (94.29%); compatibility frequency of Zusanli (ST36) and Neiguan (PC6) was 23 (65.71%), compatibility frequency of Zhongwan (CV12) and Neiguan (PC6) was 22 (62.86%), compatibility frequency of Zusanli (ST36), Zhongwan (CV12), and Neiguan (PC6) was 22 (62.86%); compatibility frequency of Zusanli (ST36) and Sanyinjiao (SP6) was 16 (45.71%); compatibility frequency of Zhongwan (CV12) and Sanyinjiao (SP6) was 16 (45.71%); compatibility frequency of Zusanli (ST36), Zhongwan (CV12), and Sanyinjiao (SP6) was 15 (42.86%). Meridians selected acupoints belonged to were sequenced as Foot Yangming Stomach channel, Ren channel, Foot Taiyang Bladder channel, and so on. Acupoints selected were mainly in lower limbs, chest and abdomen, waist and back. The compatibility of Zusanli (ST36) and Zhongwan (CV12) was the most often used with the highest frequency.

CONCLUSIONSThe compatibility laws for acupoint selection of acupuncture in treating DGP were mainly dominated as upper-lower selection, three regions selection, local selection, anterior-posterior selection. The compatibility laws for acupoint selection of acupuncture along meridians were mainly dominated as the convergence points and exterior-interior meridian points.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Diabetes Complications ; drug therapy ; Diabetes Mellitus ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Meridians ; Stomach ; physiopathology ; Stomach Diseases ; drug therapy

OBJECTIVETo discuss application of structural equation model (SEM) approach in epidemiological research.

METHODSA brief overview on major components of SEM, statistical assumptions underlying the use of SEM, and current software available to users and how SEM can be used were discussed through a practical epidemiological research project.

RESULTSAdvantages of SEM comparing with conventional epidemiological approach were shown. SEM, having the nature of comprehensive thinking and analytic approach, not only exploring the association between factors and diseases but also among factors. It also served a confirmatory, rather than exploratory approach on data modeling, as well as having the capability of correcting estimates by separating measurement error from the equations, to provide modeling the latent variables.

CONCLUSIONSEM approach could be used in epidemiological research as having some advantages comparing with conventional epidemiological approaches.

Epidemiologic Methods ; Epidemiology ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Humans ; Models, Biological ; Research Design

Ultrasound image has a lot of speckle noise, which brings great difficulties to the feature extraction, recognition and analysis. Especially in the edge extraction, the conventional extraction algorithms are difficult to achieve the desired results because of the speckle noise. To solve this problem, an algorithm based on the anisotropic diffusion equation is presented. The new algorithm combines the robust estimation and considers the characteristic of the speckle noise, so it can suppress the speckle noise effectively and be more robust, thus the edge details of the ultrasound image can be preserved even enhanced, which can provide effective safeguard for the following edge extraction. Furthermore, the paper proposes a new method to compute speckle scale coefficients automatically, which reduces the influence of the human beings, and enhances the stability of the algorithm.
Algorithms ; Artifacts ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; Ultrasonography ; methods

Animals ; Apoptosis ; Concanavalin A ; toxicity ; Liver ; drug effects ; pathology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; NF-kappa B ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide ; biosynthesis ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; biosynthesis

A filtering algorithm is proposed to deal with the medical ultrasonic image series in video format, which uses the relativity in spatial domain, gray value domain and temporal domain simultaneously. For each frame image, the relativity in spatial domain and gray value domain is utilized to construct the adaptive neighborhood first. Then the spatial weighted and gray value weighted filtering is performed in this neighborhood. Finally, the temporal relativity between the adjacent frames is used to perform the temporal weighted filtering. All the weighted filtering in the three domains uses Gaussian kernel, thus the filtering sensitivity resulting from the threshold selection is reduced, and the stability of the algorithm is enhanced. As it can be seen from the experimental results, the three-domains filtering algorithm can suppress the noise effectively, and the edge details can be reserved well. So it is useful for the feature extraction, recognition and analysis.
Algorithms ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Ultrasonography ; methods

This paper proposes an algorithm of evaluating the compression depth, and then to extract four normalized mammary elasticity characteristic parameters with respect to the compression depth. The classification experiments show that these elasticity parameters have a good capability in determining whether the tumor is benign or malignant, and if combined with morphological parameters, the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity can be improved and increased to 95.19%, 98.82% and 92.16%, respectively.
Algorithms ; Breast Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; Elasticity Imaging Techniques ; Female ; Humans ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Ultrasonography, Mammary ; methods

This paper proposes an improved C-V model, which can avoid the step of re-initialization and simplify the formation of the initial level set function, thus the speed of segmentation can be accelerated greatly. Furthermore, based on the grayscale distribution characteristics of the breast tumor ultrasound images and on the hypothesis of piecewise constant in the C-V model, a semiautomatic segmentation flow has been presented, in which the rough contour is sketched first, and then a subimage would be obtained for the refined segmentation algorithm. This flow has improved not only the accuracy, but also the efficiency of the segmentation algorithm. The experiments show that the proposed algorithm could extract the contour of the breast tumor from the ultrasound images efficiently and accurately, which is fundamentally important for the following target feature extraction and analysis.
Algorithms ; Breast Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; Female ; Humans ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Ultrasonography, Mammary ; methods

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the most common cardiovascular system disorders. Cellular senescence is a key mechanism associated with dysfunction of aged vascular endothelium. Hyaluronic acid and proteoglycan link protein 1 (HAPLN1) has been known to non-covalently link hyaluronic acid (HA) and proteoglycans (PGs), and forms and stabilizes HAPLN1-containing aggregates as a major component of extracellular matrix. Our previous study showed that serum levels of HAPLN1 decrease with aging. Here, we found that the HAPLN1 gene expression was reduced in senescent human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Moreover, a recombinant human HAPLN1 (rhHAPLN1) decreased the activity of senescence-associated β-gal and inhibited the production of senescence-associated secretory phenotypes, including IL-1β, CCL2, and IL-6. rhHAPLN1 also downregulated IL-17A levels, which is known to play a key role in vascular endothelial senescence. In addition, rhHAPLN1 protected senescent HUVECs from oxidative stress by reducing cellular reactive oxygen species levels, thus promoting the function and survival of HUVECs and leading to cellular proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis. We also found that rhHAPLN1 not only increases the sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) levels, but also reduces the cellular senescence markers levels, such as p53, p21, and p16. Taken together, our data indicate that rhHAPLN1 delays or inhibits the endothelial senescence induced by various aging factors, such as replicative, IL-17A, and oxidative stress-induced senescence, thus suggesting that rhHAPLN1 may be a promising therapeutic for CVD and atherosclerosis.

PURPOSE: To determine the viability of human chondrocytes within refrigerated articular cartilage stored under conditions currently used clinically. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Osteochondral sections of human ankle taluses were stored at 4 degrees C in DMEM media for 1 to 42 days. Articular cartilage was harvested and evaluated for histologic changes and proteoglycan synthesis. RESULTS: By day 7, markedly decreased proteoglycan synthesis was observed. After 21 days, synthetic activity was virtually undetectable. Histologic specimens demonstrated chondrocyte death of a half of the cells from the superficial layer at day 7. Within 21 days, significant chondrocyte death was seen. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that proteoglycan synthetic activity and chondrocyte viability are markedly decreased in articular cartilage after cold storage for longer than 7 days.
Ankle ; Cartilage, Articular* ; Chondrocytes ; Humans* ; Proteoglycans ; Refrigeration ; Talus