Objective To investigate the MR imaging findings of acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis(EAE) in correlation with pathology. Methods An EAE model was induced by intradermal inoculation with guinea pig CNS homogenate in 6 female Lewis rats.Another 6 rats served as control.The clinical presentation and body weight of the animals were recorded daily. Routine MRI,Gd-enhanced MRI were performed when EAE animals showed the initial symptoms. Uhrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide(USPIO) colloid solution was also administrated intravenously and MRI was performed again after 24 hours. The brain was removed instantly after the second MR imaging. The pathological exams including HE staining,myelin sheath staining and prussian staining were performed.The imaging findings were observed in correlation with pathological results. Results The EAE rats showed decrease of body weight on the 6th to 7th day after inoculation,and the clinical symptoms appeared on the 10th to 11th day after inoculation.Routine MRI did not show any definite abnormalities.The Gd-enhanced MRI found the diffuse thickening and enhancement of brain meninges.The USPIO-enhanced MRI showedareas of low signal intensity at white matter of medulla oblongata on T2WI,and high signal intensity was observed at the corresponding area on T1 WI. Gradient T2 * WI found more foci of low signal intensity in eerebellar white matter besides the lesions in the brain stem.The range of abnormal signal intensity was larger in animal with higher clinical scores than that with lower score.There were no abnormal findings in control animaL The pathological exam found "perivascular cuff" in the brain white matter in EAE animals,some accompanied with adjacent demyelinatian. The prussian staining found blue particles within the cytoplasm of the macrophages around the lesion,which corresponded to the area of low signal intensity on T2WI.Conclusion USPIO-enhanced MRI could reveal acute EAE lesions which were not capable of being shown on routine MRI and Gd-enhanced MRI.It can image the macrophages around the lesions in vivo.USPIO is important for future research and application in MS patients.

Objective To investigate the feasibility and accuracy of enhanced magnetic resonance pulmonary perfusion imaging(MRPP) in the diagnosis and follow-up of pulmonary embolism(PE). Methods Sixty patients suspected of PE underwent MRPP. Twenty-seven patients also underwent radionuclide perfusion imaging. 22 patients repeated MRPP examination after 3 day to 1 month anticoagulation or thrombolytic therapy. The feasibility and accuracy of MRPP in the diagnosis and follow-up of PE were evaluated according to the transformation rate of signal (TROS), time-signal curve and some parameters of main pulmonary artery(such as peak value of flow,mean flow velocity and flow rate). The t test and rank sum test were used for the statistics. Results MRPP showed a high agreement with radionuclide perfusion imaging. TROS was (2. 86 ± 2. 48 ) vs ( 6. 72 ± 2. 54) ( t = 3. 370, P ＜ 0. 01 ), the peak time was ( 13.98 ±5.60) vs ( 12. 33 ± 3.63 ) s ( t = 3. 930, P ＜ 0. 01 ), the peak value of main pulmonary blood flow was (60.39 ± 15. 17) vs (69.93±13.22) cm/s(t=2.930, P＜0. 01) and mean flow velocity (11.68±5.46) vs ( 13.54 ± 4. 18 ) cm/s ( t = 2. 380, P ＜ 0. 05 ) before and after anticoagulation or thrombolytic therapy. The flow rate per unit was (80. 57 ± 24. 87) vs ( 85.48 ± 11.81 ) ml/s ( t = 0. 86,P ＞ 0. 05 ) . Conclusion MRPP shows a high agreement with radionuclide perfusion imaging and is a useful method for the diagnosis and follow-up of PE.

Objective To explore the diagnosis, treatment strategies and clinical outcomes of spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage in elderly patients. Methods A total of 68 patients aged over 60 years presenting with spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage underwent cerebral angiography. And 72 intracranial aneurysms were detected in 60 patients, among whom 47 patients with 59 aneurysms underwent endovascular coil embolization, 6 aneurysms in 6 patients were clipped in microneurosurgery operation, and 7 patients chose conservative treatment. Results A total of 57 aneurysms (96.6%) were embolized successfully, among which 40 aneurysms (70.2%) reached dense occlusion and 17 aneurysms (29.8%) reached incomplete occlusion. Among 47 patients undergoing endovascular treatment, 39 patients (83.0%) were evaluated as good, 7 patients (14.9%) were moderately to seriously disabled according to Glasgow Outcome Scale when they were discharged, and one patient died. Conclusions Active treatment such as endovascular coil embolization can acquire good outcome in elderly patients with spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage, especially in elderly patients detected with aneurysms.

Objective To investigate the mechanism that BC047440 gene regulates nuclear fac-tor κB sigal passway and analyze the differential expression gene between HepG2 cells and HepG2 cells BC047440 gene silenced by RNAi using 35K Human Genome Array. Methods The differential expres-sion gene between HepG2 cells and HepG2 cells with BC047440 gene silenced was analyzed by 35K Human Genome Array, and the data were submitted to the database and MAS system of Capitalbio Corporation.Then TRAF6 was confirmed by RT-PCR test. Results Among the total 35000 probe sets, the expression of 59 genes was down-regulated for more than 50% and 130 genes were up-regulated more than 2 fold in the silencing group when compared with normal controls. TRAF6 mRNA was decreased for 29.5% in silicening HepG2 compared with that of wild HepG2 by RT-PCR, which is similar to human genome array(23.06%).Conclusion The high throughput and effective oligomicroarray can analyze the differential expression gene and BC047440 gene might regulate NF-κB signal pathway inderectly by TRAF6.

Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of rituximab in the treatment of anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis.Methods Three patients with anti-NMDAR antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid and serum hospitalized from May 2012 to July 2014 were retrospectively reviewed.The clinical syndrome,investigations,and therapeutic interventions by rituximab when first line immunotherapy failed were evaluated.Results All 3 patients were females with median age of 17 years (12,17,and 22 years).One patient had ovarian teratoma.All 3 patients presented with psychiatric symptoms and movement disorders,2 of which developed into a state of unresponsiveness.Brain magnetic resonance imaging of 2 patients was unremarkable,and 1 showed T2 and FLAIR hyperintensity among the areas of medulla,pons,caudex cerebri and callosum.Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose-PET showed variable multifocal cortical and subcortical abnormalities that changed during the course of the disease.Electroencephalograms were abnormal in all patients,showing non-specific,slow,and disorganised activity,1 showing extreme delta brush.The cerebrospinal fluid showed lymphocytic pleocytosis.All patients showed no response to treatment with first line immunotherapy (corticosteroids,intravenous immunoglobulin (400 mg · kg-1 · d-1 × 5 d,2-3 courses of treatment)).After the administration of rituximab,1 patient responded slower,whereas the other 2 patients who recovered dramatically (375 mg/m2 every week for 3-4 weeks) continued immunosuppression with mycophenolatemofetil for 1 year.Relapse occurred in 1 patient when the immunotherapies discontinued 6 months later.During the treatment of rituximab,2 patients had grade 3 infectious adverse events (hospitalization and intravenous administration of antibiotics).Conclusions Rituximab is effective for the patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis who fail to respond to the first line immunotherapy.However the utility of rituximab is still a challenge due to the risk of infectious complications and off-label use.

Objective To reduce the screening positive rate (SPR) and improve clinical efficiency of maternal serum screening for Down's syndrome.Methods Nine thousand and thirty-three cases of second trimester maternal serum screening for Down's syndrome were included from Apr.2013 to Apr.2014 in the present study.The screening results,all basic data and equation curves were analyzed retrospectively.Based on the data from the authors' laboratory,the important adjustment parameters were simulated.Combined with postnatal follow-up results,the quality and clinical performance of second trimester serum screening for Down's syndrome were evaluated.Results The SPR of second trimester serum screening for Down's syndrome was 6.69％(604/9033),the detection rate (DR) was 75％(3/4),and FPR was 6.65％(601/9033).The median multiple of median (MOM) of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was low and SPR was high,and MOM of free human chorionic gonadotropin β subunit (free hCGβ) were high and SPR was high,while MOM of unconjugated estriol (uE3) were a little bit low,and SPR was slightly high.Considering these three factors,it is believed that the screening positive rate is high.By the simulation adjustments of MOM value equations (AFP and free hCGβ) and weight correction equation,the SPR reduced to 4.11％(371/9033) after recalculating the risk,FPR declined to 4.07％(368/9033),and no more Down's syndrome fetus were missed compared with postnatal follow-up results.Conclusion Based on a localized setting depending on the local laboratory data,we suggest that the MOM value distributions(AFP,free hCGβ and uE3) and maternal weight should be regularly adjusted since it is a useful way to reduce the false-positive rate and improve clinical efficiency of maternal serum screening for Down's syndrome.

To facilitate noninvasive diagnosis of anemia, high-performance and portable near infrared (NIR) spectrometer for human blood constituents was designed and fabricated based on linear variable filter (LVF).Meanwhile, the performance of support vector regression (SVR) model for quantitative analysis of human hemoglobin (Hb) was investigated.Spectral data were collected noninvasively from 100 volunteers by self-designed LVF-NIR spectrometer, then divided into calibration set, validation set 1 and 2.To establish a robust SVR model, grid search method was applied to optimize the penalty parameter and kernel function parameter c=5.28, g=0.33.Then, Hb levels in the validation 1 and 2 sets were quantitatively analyzed.The results showed that the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) were 10.20 g/L and 10.85 g/L, respectively, and the relative RMSEP (R-RMSEP) were 6.85% and 7.48%, respectively.The results indicated that the SVR model had high prediction accuracy to Hb level and adaptability to different samples, and could satisfy the requirements of clinical measurement.Based on the SVR algorithm, the self-designed LVF-NIR spectrometer has a wide application prospect in the field of non-invasive anemia diagnosis.

Objective To study the BC047440 mRNA expression in human hepatocellular carcinoma tissues, and the role of BC047440 gene in the carcinogenesis and development of human hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods Specimens from 36 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma and their corresponding adjacent non-cancerous tissues were examined for BC047440 mRNA expression by polymerase chain reaction after reverse transcription(RT-PCR).Results(1)the BC047440 mRNA expression in specimens of 36 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma was higher than that in their adjacent non-cancerous tissues(0.2594?0.0928 and 0.0942?0.0443,respectively,P

Objective To investigate mutation patterns in core promoter(CP)region of hepatitis B virus(HBV).Methods HBV DNA was extracted from sera of patients with chronic HBV infection.The CP sequence was amplified by polymerase chain reaction(PCR)and cloned into pMD19 T vector.The positive clones were then sequenced.The sequences were compared with known HBV genome in GenBank to identify the mutation sites and patterns of patients with chronic HBV infection.Results There were 74 clones from 21 patients with chronic HBV infection which were sequenced.The sequence comparisons showed that there was a 234-nucleotide deletion in CP region of HBV genome in 54 clones and a 245-nucleotide deletion in one clone.These deletion regions included CP,HBeAg initiation codon and direct repeat sequence(DR)Ⅰ regions,which named CP deletion(CPD).A1585T replacement mutation was also found in HBV strain with CPD,which indicated that there was linkage between these two mutations.Conclusions A novel mechanism of HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis B is observed,which includes deletions of CP and HBeAg initiation codon.Meanwhile,a simple and useful PCR method is developed to detect CPD.