Objective To compare the efficacy between thoracoscopic and open cardiac surgery in the treatment of congenital heart diseases. Methods A total of 62 patients with congenital heart diseases were divided into two groups according to patients’ preference. There were 24 patients in the Thoracoscopic Group. The thoracoscopic operations were performed under extracorporeal circulation, including atrial septal defect repair in 8 patients and ventricular septal defect repair in 16 patients. The Open Group consisted of 38 patients, including atrial septal defect repair in 14 patients and ventricular repair in 24 patients. Results Fatal cases happened in neither of groups. There were no significant differences between the two groups in the bypass time (74?28 min vs 71?24 min; t=0.449, P=0.655), the ascending aorta cross-clamping time (29?13 min vs 28?12 min; t=0.309, P=0.758), and the postoperative mechanical ventilation time (3.2?1.1 h vs 3.3?1.1 h;t=-0.349, P=0.729), respectively. No significant variation in incidence of postoperative complications was observed between the two groups (?~2=2.646,P=0.104). As compared with the Open Group, the Thoracoscopic Group had a significantly less chest drainage volume (32?18 ml vs 66?28 ml;t=-5.290,P=0.000) and a significantly shorter postoperative hospital day (6.1?1.2 d vs 7.6?2.2 d;t=-3.059,P=0.003). Conclusions Thoracoscopic cardiac surgery for congenital heart diseases is a safe and effective technique with little invasion, quick recovery and good cosmetic results.

Objective To search an approach based on Support Vector Machine (SVM) for detection of different abnormalities including micro-calcifications and masses from digital mammograms. Methods Such detections were formulated as supervised-learning problems and SVM was applied to the detection algorithm. After the regions of interest were pre-processed by specific rectangular windows, three kinds of parameters were extracted, including the direct pixel value parameter, the parameters from Spatial Grey Level Dependency (SGLD) matrices and from Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). At first, each kind of parameter was taken as the input of SVM to train and test the machine respectively. Then all the parameters were incorporated into the input of SVM. Results the classification accuracy is 92.28%, 90.35% and 91.12% respectively when only one parameter input. The classification accuracy reaches 99.23% when all the parameter incorporated. Conclusion The parameters extracted from the regions of interest in digital mammograms can reflect the characteristics of different regions and SVM is a powerful tool for the detection of abnormalities from digital mammograms.

Objective To summarize the diagnosis and surgical treatment of 61 cases with infective endocarditis.Methods From January 1995 to April 2008,61 cases with infective endocarditis underwent operation in our hospital.The outcomes of these patients were summarized.Results There were 4 eases of early-death.Early mortality after heart operations was 6.6%.Fifty-seven patients were followed-up for 6 months to 13 years.Five were dead.Others'cardiac function(NYHA)was as follows:classⅡin 43 cases,class Ⅲ in 9 cases.Condusion Early diagnosis,optimal surgical timing,combined internal medicine and surgical treatment are the critical factors treatment of cases with infective endocarditis.

In order to study event-related desynchronization (ERD) related to voluntary movement, we designed two experiments. In the first experiment, untrained subjects were required to imagine the action of typing with left or right index finger for about 1 second before real action, whereas they were required to type instantly after instruction in the second experiment. By analyzing spontaneous EEG signals between the instruction and the action, we predicted which finger was used. The prediction accuracy in the first experiment fell from 85% to 71% with the progress of experiment, the average accuracy being 78%, whereas the prediction result was almost random guess in the second experiment. The results demonstrate that (1) ERD patterns are significantly affected by the effective duration of motion imagination, (2) unconscious reduction of this duration can decrease the prediction accuracy. Therefore, when designing subsequent BCI experiments, we should devote our attention to the question of how to keep the effective duration of motion imagination.
Brain ; physiology ; Cortical Synchronization ; Electroencephalography ; Humans ; Man-Machine Systems ; Task Performance and Analysis ; User-Computer Interface

AIM: To investigate the effect of Shexiang Baoxin Pill(SXBXP) on endothelial in stable angina pectoris patients and its underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Sixty-eight stable angina pectoris patients were randomly divided into two groups,the conventional group(34cases),SXBXP treatment group(34cases).The conventional group was treated with standard treatment,and SXBXP group was treated with standard treatment and SXBXP.FMD,NO,ET,TXB_2,6-Keto-PGF-1a were determined before and after three months treatment. RESULTS: FMD,NO,6-Keto-PGF-1a of SXBXP group were (9.35%?0.78%)、(77.25?6.36)?mmol/L、(93.87?(10.28))?/(ng/L) after treatment,ET、TXB_2 were(81.15?5.43) pg/mL、(43.02?4.19)?/(ng/L).There were significant improvement as compared with in SXBXP group before treatment and in conventional group after treatment(P

Objective To discuss the value of detection of small liver tumor with Galactose-Bovine-serum-albumin containing superparamagetic(Gal-BSA-SPIO) in rabbits primarily.Methods Gal-BSA-SPIO was obtained by stabilizing small superparamagnetic iron with galactose-bovine-serum-albumin,and its size was measured.Models of liver tumor(diameter＜1.5 cm) in rabbits were founded.The animals were randomly divided into groups of SPIO (n=10) and group of Gal-BSA-SPIO (n=10).Each group was further subdivided as 5 μmol Fe/kg group (n=5) and 10 μmol Fe/kg group (n=5),respectively.All animals were performed magnetic resonance imaging before and after administration of agents according to groups.SE T2WI,FSE T2WI and GRE T2WI sequences were used.Then signal of noise(SNR) of liver and contrast-noise ratio(CNR) of tumor-liver were measured and compared statistically.The histopathology study was performed for liver and tumor specimens after MR imaging.Results The mean value for the volume size was 34.4 nm,and the core particle size was 14.8 nm.The differences of liver SNR between before and after enhancement for 5 μmol Fe/kg SPIO,5 μmol Fe/kg Gal-BSA-SPIO,10 μmol Fe/kg SPIO and 10 μmol Fe/kg Gal-BSA-SPIO group were (1.92±0.42),(3.75±0.51),(3.25±0.72) and (4.73±0.34) on SE sequence,respectively;(1.56±0.18),(3.56±0.64),(3.33±0.16) and (4.83±0.16) on FSE sequence,respectively;(5.55±0.91),(9.58±0.66),(9.20±0.29) and (10.63±0.32) on GRE sequence,respectively.There were significant differences between all groups for difierent doses and agents and within all different sequences (P＜0.01).The differences of tumor-liver CNR between before and after enhancement of these 4 groups were(2.22±0.68),(5.27±0.22),(4.25±0.51) and (6.97±0.63) on SE sequence,respectively;(1.73±0.41),(4.46±0.54),(3.73±0.49)and (5.39±0.39) on FSE sequence,respectively;(5.98±0.71),(11.79±0.57),(9.57±0.54)and(14.64±1.35)on GRE sequence,respectively.The differences between all groups of different doses and agents and within all sequences showed significant (P＜0.01). Histopathological study revealed that Gal-BSA-SPIO was mainly distributed in hepatocytes while SPIO mainly in Kupffer cells.Conclusion Gal-BSA-SPIO is a agent with good negative enhancement effect in liver.It may be helpful for detecting small tumor of liver.

The simulation of excitation propagation's process in human heart is one of the main aspects of ECG forward problem. The simulation results not only are the criterion of the simulation model's precision and reliability, but also have great value in researches and diagnoses. We performed the simulation of QRST waves of complete left bundle branch block (LBBB) and right bundle branch block (RBBB) in virtue of a vector propagation algorithm (VPA), which is accurate, efficient and applicable to anisotropic computer heart models. The simulation results accord with the actual QRST wave in clinical practice.
Algorithms ; Bundle-Branch Block ; pathology ; Computer Simulation ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Models, Cardiovascular ; Reproducibility of Results

Primary pigmented nodular adrenal disease (PPNAD) is a kind of autosomal dominant inherited disease. Patient in the study presented with Cushing's syndrome, and clinical and pathological diagnosis of PPNAD was confirmed. It is now confirmed that there are two relevant genes and their mutations may lead to PPNAD. This study showed no mutations in the patient, surpecting if there would be an alternative mechanism or a new gene in playing the role.

Objective Comparison of the levator ani muscles in three-dimensional (3D) MRI-based models in women with and without pelvic organ prolapse at rest to analyze the morphological characteristics of levator ani muscles in women with POP. Methods Twenty-five women with POP and 22 women with normal pelvic support were selected from Nanfang Hospital of Southern Medical University. Axial, sagittal, and coronal T2-weighted pelvic magnetic resonance scans were obtained with the women in the supine position.The 3D models were reconstructed from the source images. Morphological changes was compared within the two groups of levator ani muscles, and the 3D models were measured to determine the levator ani muscle volume (LVOL), levator plate angle (LPA), levator hiatus width (LH-W) and length (LH-L), distance between symphysis and levator sling muscle (LSG). Results There were no puborectalis avulsions in control, in POP, 3 cases of avulsions just in left, 3 cases of avulsions just in right, 7 cases in bilateral. The shape of iliococcygeus were all dome-shaped in control, 11 cases were U-shaped and 14 cases were dome-shaped in POP. The shape of levator hiatus were 7 cases of U-shape, 12 cases of V-shape, 3 cases of irregular in control; 5 cases of U-shape, 4 cases of V-shape, 16 cases of irregular in POP. POP versus control: LH-L: (68.0 ± 8.9) versus (61.6 ± 7.2) mm (P<0.05); LH-W: (41.4 ± 3.9) versus (38.0 ± 3.2) mm (P<0.05); LSG-L: (29.6 ± 7.4) versus (24.6 ± 3.7) mm (P<0.05); LSG-R: (28.4 ± 6.8) versus (23.9 ± 3.2) mm (P<0.05); LPA: (51.0 ± 11.3)° versus (40.6 ± 6.3)° (P<0.05); LVOL: (23.7 ± 5.8) versus (24.6 ± 5.0) cm3 (P>0.05). Conclusions It is possible to assess the morphologic changes of levator ani by using 3D MRI models objectively, our 3D data demonstrate larger in LVOL, LPA, LH-W, LH-L, LSG, and the changes in shape. It is helpful to diagnose and assess the specific situation of patients POP in clinic.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals of different mental tasks were preprocessed using Independent Component Analysis (ICA). Auto-Regressive (AR) model was used to extract the feature, and Back-Propagation (BP) network as the classifier. When features were extracted from 20-100 Hz high frequency range, the classification accuracy was the same as that taken from the whole frequency range and was more higher than the result of 2-35 Hz normal EEG rhythm. The explanation of this phenomenon is: brain displays different rhythm assimilation during different mental task under the effect of 60 Hz power frequency, so the high frequency components of EEG include more mental modulated information which is useful for improving the classification accuracy. The result presents a new evidence for the brain rhythm assimilation phenomenon and gives a novel feature extraction method for realizing high accuracy real-time BCI based on mental task.
Brain ; physiology ; Electroencephalography ; methods ; Evoked Potentials ; physiology ; Humans ; Principal Component Analysis ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Thinking ; physiology