Objective To compare the clinical results of photodynamic therapy(PDT) and transpupillary thermotherapy (TTT) for patients with choroidal neovascularization caused by exudative age-related macular degeneration. Methods Seventy cases (82 eyes) with exudative AMD were divided into PDT and TTT groups. Thirty-five cases (42 eyes) were treated with PDT. Nineteen eyes had occult or predominantly occult CNV. Twenty-three eyes had classic or predominantly classic CNV. Thirty-five cases (40 eyes) were treated with TTT. Twenty-five eyes had occult or predominantly occult CNV. Fifteen eyes had classic or predominantly classic CNV. Visual acuity, FFA, ICGA and OCT were evaluated before and after treatment. All cases were subfoveal or juxtafoveal CNV. The follow-up was (3-6 months.) Results Visual acuity in 3 eyes (15.8%) of PDT group and 1 eye (4.0%) in TTT group increased at least 2 lines. The difference was no significant(P=0.1778), FFA showed cessation or reduction of fluorescein leakage from CNV in 15 eyes(78.9%) in PDT group and 13 eyes(52.0%) in TTT group. The difference was not significant (P=0.0657). Three months after treatment, The visual acuity of 2 eyes(10.5%) in PDT group and 2 eyes (8.0%) in TTT group increased at least 2 lines. The difference was not significant (P=0.7728). FFA showed cessation or reduction of fluorescein leakage from CNV in 8 eyes(42.1%) in PDT group and 21 eyes(84.0%) in TTT group. The difference was significant (P=0.0037). Conclusion For classic CNV, the short-term effect of PDT is better than TTT concerning visual acuity. The effect of PDT is apparently better than TTT in cessation or reduction of fluorescein leakage one month after treatment. But there was no significant difference between PDT and TTT in cessation or reduction of fluorescein leakage three month after treatment. For occult CNV, there is no significant short-term difference between PDT and TTT concerning visual acuity. There was no significant difference between PDT and TTT in cessatin or reduction of fluorescein leakage one month after treatment. But three month after treatment TTT is apparently better than PDT in cessation or reduction of fluorescein leakage. We need more cases and longer follow -up to evaluate these two kinds of treatments in treating exudative age-related macular degeneration.

Recently, the incidence of both diabetes mellitus and diabetic foot has been increasing.Ischemia, neuropathy, and infection are major causes of diabetic foot ulcer. In addition to other conventional treatments, hyperbaric oxygen is an effective adjunctive therapy with less side-effects. Hyperbaric oxygen may play a role through different mechanisms in improving the prognosis of diabetic foot.

When the tracheotomy and tracheal intubation patients were treated in hyperbaric oxygen chamber,not ordi-nary facemask but specially made therapeutic facilities should be used.To select a more reasonable therapeutic facility for patients treatment in HBO chamber,all kinds of hyperbaric oxygen therapeutic facilities for the tracheotomy and tracheal intubation patients of our country in recent years are introduced from the aspects of material,facility,impermeability,ther-apeutic efficiency,influences on oxygen concentration in chamber,the advantages and disadvantages of each kind were demonstrated.

Aiming at the problem of high-quality image reconstruction from projection data at sparse angular views, we proposed an improved fast iterative reconstruction algorithm based on the minimization of selective image total variation (TV). The new reconstruction scheme consists of two components. Firstly, the algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) algorithm was adopted to reconstruct image that met the identity and non-negativity of projection data, and then, secondly, the selective TV minimization was used to modify the above image. Two phases were alternated until it met the convergence criteria. In order to further speed up the convergence of the algorithm, we applied a fast convergence technology in the iterative process. Experiments on simulated Shepp-Logan phantom were carried out. The results demonstrated that the new method not only improved image reconstruction quality and protected the edge of the image characteristics, but also improved the convergence speed of the iterative reconstruction significantly.
Algorithms ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Phantoms, Imaging ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Quality control and standardization of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) is the key to its globalization. Generally, there is a common practice to select one or more compounds as chemical markers for the purpose of qual-ity assessment. However, how to select chemical markers and how to set the range of effective concentrations are still the bottleneck. The authors proposed a bioactive equivalent combinatorial components (BECCs) as defined labeled amount of active constituents oriented quality control strategy of TCMs based on years of research work. Focusing on the relationship between chemical components efficacy and quality of TCMs, this strategy provides a new perspective and methods to improve quality control of TCMs.

Objective To explore the significance of the expression of p53 and bcl- 2 in different cutaneous tumors. Methods The expression of p53 and bcl- 2 were quantitatively detected by Flow Cytometry(FCM) and immunofluorescence in 10 cases of normal skin, 20 cases of squamous cell carcinoma(SCC), 22 cases of basal cell carcinoma(BCC), 18 cases of malignant melanoma(MM) and 18 cases of pigmented nevus (PN). Fluorescence Index(FI) was defined as the expression index of bcl- 2 and p53 protein. Results The FI for bcl- 2 in SCC and BCC was higher than that in normal skin tissues(P

Objective To determine the plasma concentration of cytarabine(Ara-C) in children with leukemia and obtain dynamics parameters, and investigate the relationship between the parameters and clinical effect in order to provide the basis for optimization of Ara-C application. Methods Using highperformance liquid chromatogram (HPLC) to determine the plasma concentration of Ara-C, its metabolite Ara-U and infusion rate in 37 children with acute leukemia, their therapeutic reaction, remission, treatment-related infection, side-effect and long-term treatment effect were analyzed in statistic. Results Ara-C by 1～2 g/m2 intravenous drop infusion for 2 hours, the peak plasma concentration time was 2 h and peak concentration were (14.37-84.44)μmol/L, and the median was (41.42±22.80)μmol/L. The median infusion rate was 869.57at 30 minutes after Ara-C drip completion, its average level was (253.40±81.49) μmol/L, over six-times than Ara-C peak concentration. The median continuous complete remission time in 37 children was 29.8 months (5.0～53.1 months), 3y-DFS was (90.63±5.15)%. The therapy-related infection rate was 56.8 %(21/37),including three children (8.1 %) suffered from severe infection, but there was no therapy-related death and no children were off the protocol due to poor tolerance. Conclusion As post-remission treatment, high-dose Ara-C would not cause cumulation in vivo in children with acute leukemia and side-effect were slight. Ara-C could improve the long-term continuous complete remission rate and clinical cure rate for children with leukemia. Therefore, it was worth to apply in clinical.

Objective To investigate the application and administration of hyperbaric oxygen chambers in Beijing.Methods Forty-eight hospitals with hyperbaric oxygen chambers in Beijing were investigated by field investigation,letter investigation or telephone investigation.The investigation includes grades of hospital,personnel,equipment,therapy of severe cases,time of therapy and treatment plans in questionnaire.Results Hyperbaric oxygen was popular in Beijing,which ensured emergency treatments.But the scale was little relatively and the number of full-time technicians was less,besides,the therapeutic system and plans were diversified,which should be standardized.Conclusions Something must be done to improve the conditions of hyperbaric oxygen medicine in Beijing,such as cultivating personnel,standardizing therapeutic system,standardizing treatment plans,realizing computer control and so on.

OBJECTIVE To understand what role of the L-type calcium channels play in the mechanism of salicylate-induced tinnitus. METHODS The effects of salicylate on L-type calcium channels in freshly dissociated inferior colliculus neurons of rats were studied using the whole-cell voltage clamp method. RESULTS Salicylate blocked L-type calcium channel current (ICa,L) in concentration-dependent manner. The half-blocking concentration of salicylate was 1.99 mmol/L. Salicylate did not affect the conductance-voltage curve and the steady-state activation curve of ICa,L, shifted the steady-state inactivation curve of ICa,L by about 8 mV in the hyperpolarizing direction, and delayed the recovery from inactivation of ICa,L. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that salicylate’s blocking of L-type calcium channels may contribute to salicylate-induced tinnitus by decreasing the release of ?-aminobutyric acid in the inferior colliculus.

PurposeTo study the possibility of transferring decorin gene to rat glomerular mesangial cell. Methods Amplification of the rat decorin (DCN) eDNA by RT-PCR for constructing the plasmid pcDNA3.1A-DCN and lipofectin method for transfecting DCN gene into MsC; G418 scanning, Western blot and RT-PCR analysis for detecting DCN protein and mRNA in D-A6 cell clone.Results The recombinant eukaryotic expression plasmid, pcDNA3.1A-DCN was successfully constructed and 2 cell clones positively expressing DCN were selected. ConclusionsThese cell clones positively expressing DCN is valuable for providing favorable experimental bases of gene therapy to model with glomerular diseases.