Objective To measure 222Rn and 220Rn concentrations in the underground non-uranium mines in Shandong Province,and to estimate the annual effective dose to the miners.Methods Concentrations of 222Rn and 220Rn in selected gold,iron,coal and clay mines were determined by passive time-integrating detectors with CR-39.Activity concentrations of 226Ra,232Th and 40K were determined using gamma spectrometry equipped with HPGe detector.Results The average concentrations of 220Rn in the gold,iron,coal and clay mines were estimated to be 1200,280,120 and 40 Bq/m3,respectively.The activity concentrations of 226Ra,232Th,40K in the ores for gold,iron,coal and clay mines ranged the same as the soil in China.The annual effective dose due to radon exposure in gold and iron mine was 7.70 mSv and 1.74 mSv,respectively.The annual doses received by miners in the coal and clay mines were lower than 1 mSv.Conclusions Underground miners in some gold and iron mines should be treated as workers occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation.The measurement such as increasing ventilation should be implemented to reduce underground radon concentration in these mines.

Objective To study the clinical features and CT findings of pulmonary fungal infection(PFI) secondary to malignant tumor.Methods The clinical features and CT findings of PFI secondary to malignant tumor proved clinically and pathologically were analyzed retrospectively.Results In pulmonary fungal infection,pulmonary candidiasis was most common seen,which were found in 34 (68%) of 50 cases.CT findings of PFI usually consist of a mixture of patterns,ground-glass attenuation(n=31,62%)and air-space consolidation (n=29,58%) were most common CT findings. Other CT findings included nodule(n=20,40%), air cresceut sign (n=2,4%), thickening of bronchovascular bundles (n=7,14%), mass (n=1,2%),tree-in-bud appearance(n=5,10%),cavity(n=3,6%).Conclusion CT findings of PFI secondary to malignant tumor were nonspecific,which can’t distinguish from other pneumonia,to pay more attentions on it is necessary.

Objective To evaluate the effect of the bladder scanner upon maintaining the consistency of bladder filling in cervical cancer patients during the intensity-modulated radiotherapy.Methods The bladder volume change of 20 patients diagnosed with cervical cancer throughout radiotherapy were retrospectively analyzed to determine the timing of introducing the bladder scanner. Ten patients undergoing cervical cancer radiotherapy were selected to analyze the consistency between the bladder volume measured by bladder scanner and cone-beam CT (CBCT).The changes of bladder volume before and after the intervention of bladder scanner were statistically compared. Results In total,100 CBCT images of 20 patients were retrospectively analyzed. Nonparametric test demonstrated that the bladder volume significantly differed compared with the planning volume ( P< 0. 05). Bland-Altman plot illustrated high consistency between the bladder volume measured by the bladder scanner and CBCT images with a mean difference of-6. 66 cm3 (95％CI: - 53. 1-39. 83 cm3 ). Paired-t test showed there was statistical difference between the bladder volume before intervention and the planning bladder volume (P= 0. 000).The bladder volume after intervention did not significantly differ from the planning bladder volume (P= 0. 745). Conclusions The bladder volume significantly varies throughout the treatment process. Bladder scanner should be utilized prior to treatment. The bladder volume measured by the portable bladder scanner is consistent with the planning bladder volume.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between long-, short-term systolic blood pressure variability (SBPV) and renal damage in elder population. Methods: Our research was conducted in the 3rd physical examination of healthy population from Kailuan group by cohort study. Cluster sampling was used by 25% ratio in subjects≥60 years of age to monitor their 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure and finally, 2464/3064 participants with inclusion criteria were recruited. SBPV indexes as standard deviation of systolic blood pressure (SSD), variability independent of the mean (VIM), maximum-minimum difference (MMD) and average real variability (ARV) were examined; renal damage indexes as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and microalbuminuria (ALBU) were detected. Relationships between different long-term, short-term SBPV indexes and eGFR, ALBU were studied by multi-liner regression analysis. Results:①The mean age of 2464 participants was (67.41 ± 6.05) years including 1667 (67.7%) male and 797 (32.3%) female.②Multi-liner regression analysis indicated that different long-term SBPV indexes were not related to eGFR and ALBU; 24h SBPV in all 4 indexes and day-time SSD, MMD, ARV were negatively related to eGFR; 24h ARV and day-time MMD, ARV were positively related to ALBU; night-time SBPV indexes were not related to eGFR and ALBU.Conclusion: Different short-term SBPV indexes were, at certain point related to eGFR and ALBU

Objective: To assess intravoxel incoherent motion(IVIM) in evaluating and predicting response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy(NAC) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC). Methods: Forty-seven patients with ESCC diagnosed by pathological findings on biopsy from September 2015 to March 2017 were prospectively collected. All patients were examined before and after NAC using routine MRI scan and IVIM. The standard apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC_standard), diffusion coefficient (D), perfusion coefficient (D^*) and perfusion score (f) were measured. The patients were divided into complete response (CR), partial response (PR), stable disease (SD) and progressive disease (PD) according to the 1.1 version of the response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST). Thirty-one patients underwent surgery after NAC, and the patients were divided into TRG 0-3 according to tumor regression grade (TRG). The differences of parameter values before and after NAC between different groups were analyzed using Student's t test (normal distribution) and Wilcoxon rank sum tests (non-normal distribution). The parameters with statistical significance were evaluated by the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves. Results: The ADC_standard values before and after NAC were (1.97±0.51) ×10^-3, (2.42±0.52)×10^-3 mm²/s. The D values before and after NAC were (1.30±0.30)×10^-3, (1.63±0.35)×10^-3 mm²/s. The ADC_standard and D values after NAC were significantly higher than those before NAC, and the differences were statistically significant (t=-6.35, -5.25 respectively, both P<0.01). There were no statistical differences on D^* and f between before and after NAC (P>0.05). The patients were divided into PR group (29 cases) and SD group (18 cases) after NAC, without CR and PD patients. The ADC_standard, D and f values of PR group were significantly lower than those of the SD group before NAC (t=-3.11, -2.53 and -2.10 respectively, all P<0.05). The ADC_standard, D, D^* and f values after NAC revealed no significant difference between PR and SD groups. Thirty-one patients received operation after NAC, which were divided into TRG 2 group (14 cases) and TRG 3 group (17 cases) according to TRG standard, without TRG 0 and TRG 1 patients. All the parameter values before NAC revealed no significant difference between TRG 2 and TRG 3 groups. The D values after NAC in TRG 2 and TRG 3 groups were (1.81±0.31)×10^-3, (1.46±0.39)×10^-3 mm²/s respectively, and the significant difference was found between two groups (t=2.76, P<0.05). The efficiency of efficacy evaluation for NAC was the highest at D value of 1.68×10^-3 mm²/s, with sensitivity and specificity being 85.7% and 70.6%, respectively. Conclusion IVIM can be used as a new imaging method to evaluate and predict the efficacy of NAC for ESCC, among which the parameter D was the most valuable.

Objective:To investigate the application value of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging in preoperative evaluating perineural invasion (PNI) of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods:The prospective study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 63 ESCC patients who underwent IVIM imaging before surgery in the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University & Henan Cancer Hospital from January 2016 to April 2019 were selected. Patients underwent routine magnetic resonance imaging scan and IVIM sequence examination. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), true diffusion coefficient (D), pseudodiffusion coefficient (D*) and pseudodiffusion fraction (f) values were measured. Observation indicators: (1) situations of enrolled patients; (2) IVIM examination of PNI of ESCC and its diagnostic efficiency. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean± SD, and comparison between groups was analyzed using the independent sample t test. Measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M( Q1, Q3) or M(range), and comparison between groups was analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Count data were described as absolute numbers, and comparison between groups was analyzed using the chi-square test. The interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to evaluate cosistency of results. The receiver operating characrteristic curve was used to evaluate diagnostic efficiency. Results:(1) Situations of enrolled patients. A total of 63 patients were selected for eligibility. There were 41 males and 22 females, aged 60(range, 43?74)years. Of the 63 ESCC patients, 17 cases had PNI and 46 cases had no PNI. Cases with well differentiated tumor, moderate differentiated tumor or low differentiated tumor, cases in stage T1, T2, T3, T4 of infiltra-tion depth, cases with or without lymph node metastasis were 0, 6, 11, 0, 3, 13, 1, 15, 2 in patients with PNI, versus 6, 24, 16, 1, 22, 23, 0, 12, 34 in patients without PNI, showing significant differences between them ( Z=?2.32, ?2.49, χ2=19.58, P<0.05). (2) IVIM examination of PNI of ESCC and its diagnostic efficiency. The ADC, D, D*, f values were (2.21±0.33)×10 ?3 mm 2/s, (1.46±0.31)×10 ?3 mm 2/s, 32.50 (15.55,46.75)×10 ?3 mm 2/s, (0.34±0.09)×10 ?3 mm 2/s in patients with PNI, versus (2.45±0.45)×10 ?3 mm 2/s, (1.72±0.38)×10 ?3 mm 2/s, 34.85(23.43,51.20)×10 ?3 mm 2/s, (0.42±0.13)×10 ?3 mm 2/s in patients without PNI, showing significant differences in the ADC, D and f values between them ( t=?2.03, ?2.52, ?2.34, P<0.05) and no significant difference in the D* value between them ( Z=?0.84, P>0.05). The cosistency of ADC, D, D* and f values in the 63 ESCC patients measured by 2 radiologists was good, with the ICC as 0.96, 0.92, 0.89 and 0.95. The receiver operating characrteristic curve demons-trated the best cut-off value of ADC, D and f values were 2.50×10 ?3 mm 2/s, 1.68×10 ?3 mm 2/s and 0.41, with the areas under the curve as 0.67 (95% confidence interval as 0.54?0.79), 0.70 (95% confidence interval as 0.58?0.81) and 0.69 (95% confidence interval as 0.57?0.80), respectively. The combina-tion of D and f value for diagnosing PNI of ESCC had the area under the curve as 0.74 (95% confidence interval as 0.62?0.84), with the cut-off value as 0.20, sensitivity and specificity as 94.1% and 56.5%. Conclusions:IVIM parameters D and f values can evaluate and predict the PNI of ESCC preopera-tively. The combination of D and f values can further improve the diagnostic efficiency.

Objective:To explore the value of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) DWI in preoperative prediction of angiolymphatic invasion in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods:From April 2016 to April 2019, 63 ESCC patients who planned to undergo resection of esophageal cancer were prospectively collected at Henan Cancer Hospital.According to the postoperative pathological results, 63 patients were divided into angiolymphatic invasion group (30 cases) and no angiolymphatic invasion group (33 cases). All patients underwent IVIM sequence and routine MRI examination before operation. The ADC, true diffusion coefficient (D), pseudodiffusion coefficient (D *) and pseudodiffusion fraction (f) were measured. The differences of parameter values between ESCC with and without angiolymphatic invasion were analyzed using Student′s t test or Wilcoxon rank sum test.The logistic regression was used to analyze the significance of various parameters. For the parameters with statistical significance, the ROC curves were performed to evaluatethe diagnostic performance of parameters for identifying angiolymphatic invasion.The Z test was used to compare the area under the ROC curves(AUC) of parameters. Results:The difference of ADC, D and f values between angiolymphatic invasion group and no angiolymphatic invasion group were statistically signi?cant ( t=4.476, 5.033 and 5.712 respectively, all P<0.001). The D * values showed no statistically signi?cant di?erence ( Z=0.184, P=0.854). The logistic regression analysis showed that D (OR=9.042) and f (OR=26.221) were in correlation with angiolymphatic invasion. The ROC analyses demonstrated that the AUCs of ADC, D and f values in predicting angiolymphatic invasion of ESCC were 0.787, 0.822 and 0.853, respectively. D combined with f had highest AUC (0.917) in predicting the angiolymphatic invasion of ESCC, sensitivity and specificity were 93.3% and 75.8%. D combined with f showed better diagnostic performance than the D and the f value, and the difference were statistically significant ( Z=2.403, 2.289, P=0.016, 0.022). Conclusions:IVIM can be used as an effective functional imaging modality for preoperative evaluation and prediction of the angiolymphatic invasion of ESCC. D value combined with f value can further improve prediction performance of angiolymphatic invasion.

Objective To explore the predictive value of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging for the pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods The prospective study was conducted.The clinicopathological data of 33 patients with locally advanced ESCC who were admitted to Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from September 2015 to October 2017 were collected.Patients received magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and IVIM imaging examination before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Two radiologists read the imaging together,manually delineated the region of interest in the diffusion-weighted imaging,and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC),diffusion coefficient (D),perfusion coefficient (D*),and perfusion score of the tumor (f) were automatically measured.Patients underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy with paclitaxel plus cisplatin,and underwent radical surgery for esophageal cancer after 2 cycles of chemotherapy.Observation indicators:(1) comparison of IVIM imaging parameters before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with ESCC;(2) comparison of change value and change rate of IVIM imaging parameters before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with different tumor regression grade (TRG);(3) predictive efficacy of change value and change rate of IVIM imaging parameters before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for TRG.Measurement data with normal distribution were presented as Mean±SD,and comparison before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy was done using the paired t test,and comparison between different TRG patients was done using the t test.Measurement data with skewed distribution were presented as M(P25,P75),and comparison before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and between different TRG patients were done using the Wilcoxon rank sum test.The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate predictive value of IVIM imaging parameters.Results Thirty-three patients were screened for eligibility,including 26 males and 7 females,aged from 44 to 74 years,with an average age of 60 years.All the 33 patients were diagnosed as ESCC by pathological examination.(1) Comparison of IVIM parameters before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with ESCC:33 patients with ESCC showed a significant difference in the ADC,D,and f value after neoadjuvant chemotherapy [ADC:(1.95±0.56) × 10-3 mm2/s vs.(2.54±0.50) × 10-3 mm2/s,t=-6.98;D:(1.26×10-3 mm2/s (0.81×10-3 mm2/s,2.44×10-3 mm2/s) vs.1.68×10-3 mm2/s (0.83×10-3 mm2/s,2.27×10-3 mm2/s),Z=-3.96;f:0.33％±0.14％ vs.0.42％±0.15％,t=-3.13,P＜ 0.05].(2) Comparison of change value and change rate of IVIM imaging parameters before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in different TRG patients:of 33 patients,15 were in TRG 2 and 18 were in TRG 3.The ADC change value,ADC change rate,D change value,D change rate were (0.85±0.52)× 10-3 mm2/s,52.91％± 32.51％,0.64× 10-3 mm2/s (0.05× 10-3 mm2/s,1.41 × 10-3 mm2/s),48.20％ (3.03％,16.95％) of TRG 2 patients,and (0.38±0.35)×10-3 mm2/s,21.94％±19.08％,0.26×10-3 mm2/s (-1.43×10-3 mm2/s,0.81× 10-3 mm2/s),20.18％ (-58.61％,77.14％) of TRG 3 patients,respectively,with significant differences between two groups (t=3.09,3.41,Z=-3.04,-2.93,P＜0.05).(3) Predictive efficacy of change value and change rate of IVIM imaging parameters before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for TRG:ROC curve analysis showed that ADC change value exhibited an area under curve (AUC) of 0.798,a sensitivity of 66.7％ and a specificity of 94.4％ in predicting TRG,when 0.86× 10-3 mm2/s was used as the cut-off value.With 43.3％ as the cut-off value,ADC change rate had an AUC of 0.793,a sensitivity of 66.7％ and a specificity of 88.9％ in predicting TRG.With 0.35× 10-3 mm2/s as the cut-off value,D change value had an AUC of 0.809,a sensitivity of 73.3％ and a specificity of 77.8％ in predicting TRG.With 25.9％ as the cut-off value,D change rate had an AUC of 0.800,a sensitivity of 80.0％ and a specificity of 72.2％ in predicting TRG.Conclusions The change value and change rate of ADC and D values before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy are potential predictors of pathologic response in ESCC.The significantly increased ADC and D values after neoadjuvant chemotherapy are prone to good pathologic response.The change value and change rate of D values show a better predictive value for pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in ESCC compared with those of ADC values.

BACKGROUND: Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based cell transplantation is an effective means of treating chronic liver injury, fibrosis and end-stage liver disease. However, extensive studies have found that only a small number of transplanted cells migrate to the site of injury or lesion, and repair efficacy is very limited. METHODS: Bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) were generated that overexpressed the erythropoietin (EPO) gene using a lentivirus. Cell Counting Kit-8 was used to detect the viability of BM-MSCs after overexpressing EPO. Cell migration and apoptosis were verified using Boyden chamber and flow cytometry, respectively. Finally, the anti-fibrosis efficacy of EPO-MSCs was evaluated in vivo using immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: EPO overexpression promoted cell viability and migration of BM-MSCs without inducing apoptosis, and EPO-MSC treatment significantly alleviated liver fibrosis in a carbon tetrachloride (CCl4 ) induced mouse liver fibrosis model. CONCLUSION EPO-MSCs enhance anti-fibrotic efficacy, with higher cell viability and stronger migration ability compared with treatment with BM-MSCs only. These findings support improving the efficiency of MSCs transplantation as a potential therapeutic strategy for liver fibrosis.

BACKGROUND: Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based cell transplantation is an effective means of treating chronic liver injury, fibrosis and end-stage liver disease. However, extensive studies have found that only a small number of transplanted cells migrate to the site of injury or lesion, and repair efficacy is very limited. METHODS: Bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) were generated that overexpressed the erythropoietin (EPO) gene using a lentivirus. Cell Counting Kit-8 was used to detect the viability of BM-MSCs after overexpressing EPO. Cell migration and apoptosis were verified using Boyden chamber and flow cytometry, respectively. Finally, the anti-fibrosis efficacy of EPO-MSCs was evaluated in vivo using immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: EPO overexpression promoted cell viability and migration of BM-MSCs without inducing apoptosis, and EPO-MSC treatment significantly alleviated liver fibrosis in a carbon tetrachloride (CCl4 ) induced mouse liver fibrosis model. CONCLUSION EPO-MSCs enhance anti-fibrotic efficacy, with higher cell viability and stronger migration ability compared with treatment with BM-MSCs only. These findings support improving the efficiency of MSCs transplantation as a potential therapeutic strategy for liver fibrosis.