Objective To study the mechanism of heat transfer by simulating a complete freezing-thawing process of biological tissue.Methods A numerical model of phase change heat transfer in biological tissue was developed with consideration of the difference of thermophysical properties for normal biological tissue and tumor.The biological tissue was assumed as a porous media.The different thermophysical properties between tissue framework and tissue fluid(as water in tissue,etc) were considered.An apparent heat capacity method was applied to solve the phase change heat transfer problem.Results It was showed that the temperature of biological tissue decreased more quickly during the freezing process when the initial cryoprobe temperature was lower and the cooling-rate of cryoprobe was faster.The temperature of biological tissue increased more quickly with faster warming-rate of cryoprobe in the thawing process.It was also showed that the porosity,blood perfusion rate and metabolic heat generation of the biological tissue had effects on tissue freezing temperature in biological tissue.Conclusion To study the thermal process of biological tissue in cryosurgery will be very helpful for further application in cryosurgery.

Humans ; Proteomics ; methods ; Silicosis ; metabolism ; Specimen Handling ; methods

Objective To observe the serum estradiol level in newborns at different gestational age and the infants with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and explore the relationship between these changes and ROP. Methods A total of 178 newborns hospitalized in the Children's Hospital of Fudan University were enrolled in the study. They were divided into three groups based on the gestational age, ＜ 32 weeks group, 32-37 weeks group and term group. The three groups were further divided into non-oxygen and oxygen subgroups. Infants with birth weight less than 2000 g were evaluated for ROP and those diagnosed as ROP were under ROP group (n=6). Serum estradiol levels were measured every week from birth to discharge with radioimmunoassay. Results Serum estradiol levels of newborns quickly declined after birth. In the non-oxygen subgroups, serum estradiol levels in 32 ～ 37 weeks group were remarkably higher than those of term group in the first week [(3506±1376) pmol/L vs (1717±179) pmol/L,P＜0. 05] and the third week [(1431±92) pmol/L vs (996±102) pmol/L, P＜0. 05]; Serum estradiol levels in ＜32 weeks group was only remarkably higher than those of term group in the first week [(3173± 1369) pmol/L vs (1717± 179) pmol/L,P＜0. 05]; Serum estradiol level in the ＜32 week group was (560±355) pmol/L, lower than that in the 32-37 weeks group [( 1124 ± 128) pmol/L] (P＜0. 05). There was no difference of serum estradiol levels in the oxygen and non-oxygen subgroups of the same group. There was no significant difference of serum estradiol levels between the ROP group and ＜32 weeks group. Serum estradiol levels in ROP group was lower than that of premature group without ROP at 29 and 32-36 weeks of corrected gestational age, but no statistical difference was shown. Conclusions Very low serum estradiol level in premature infants may be related to the development of ROP, but further clinical studies are required.

The hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis modulates the inflammatory response during sepsis.Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a unique cytokine and critical mediator of host defenses in sepsis and septic shock.MIF counteracts the anti-inflammatory activity of glucocorticoid (GC).The interaction of GC and MIF might cause adrenal insufficiency.MIF could be a valuable clinical marker of adrenal insufficiency in sepsis.

Objective To explore the diagnosis value of ultrasound real-time elastography in thyroid diffuse diseases.Methods Eleven elastic quantitative parameters of 123 patients with thyroid diffuse diseases and 42 healthy volunteers obtained from the ultrasound real-time elastography were analyzed with principal components analysis to attain a comprehensive evaluation value which was named stiffness index(SI),reflecting the organization elastic information of different thyroid diffuse diseases.SI among each group was compared by ANOVA.Results Chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis SI was 86.37±20.45,subacute thyroiditis SI was 86.14±19.95,primary hyperthyroidism SI was 54.68±21.69,normal control group SI was 41.34±15.59,respectively.The SI between chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis,subacute thyroiditis,primary hyperthyroidism and normal controls had significant statistical differences (P<0.05),the SI between primary hyperthyroidism and chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis,subacute thyroiditis had significant statistical differences (P<0.05),the SI between chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis and subacute thyroiditis had no significant statistical difference (P>0.05).Conclusions Ultrasound real-time elastography could indirectly reflect the stiffness information of thyroid lension tissue and have a certain degree of diagnosis value in thyroid diffuse disease.

The use of optimal regulatory sequences for simultaneous expression of the transgenes might play a significant role in engineering plants with increased disease and insect resistance.The plant expression vector pOMS-GUS,which contained the GUS gene under the control of a chimeric promoter based upon the mannopine synthase(mas)promoter and the octopine synthase(ocs)enhancer,was constructed.Used as control,another vector pMAS-GUS,carried the GUS gene driven by only the mas promoter.The two vectors were introduced into tobacco plants by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.Fluorometric assays for GUS activity and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)analysis revealed that GUS gene expressed weakly with untreated transgenic tobacco while the level of GUS activity increased steadily after 1 h subjected to wounding.The expression of the mas and ocs/mas promoters was induced a further 1.8-fold and 5.7-fold,respectively.SA(1 mmol/L)or MJ(250 ?mol/L)treatment also caused a large induction of the ocs/mas chimeric promoter;And the application of SA in combination with MJ(1 mmol/LSA & 250 ?mol/L MJ)produced an additive effect that exceeded the wounding response.The results showed that the ocs/mas chimeric promoter is a strong inducible promoter that can be activated by various stresses.The chimeric promoter should have utility in development of disease and insect resistant transgenic crops.

0.05).There was a significant positive correlation between serum osteocalcin and ESR in female patients with RA aged less than 50 years (P

Objective To synthetically evaluate medical treatment outcomes of two operative methods on benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH),and to provide evidence for therapeutic regimen selection.Methods Prospective cohort study was applied.BPH patients were treated by two operative methods randomly,follow-up observations were carried out at 3 months,6 months,and 48 months after the treatment.IPSS and BPHQLS were adopted to evaluate prostate and quality of life of patients at different time.The weight coefficients of IPSS score,quality of life score and general hospitalization expense in the comprehensive evaluation were defined by the Delphi Method.Results The synthetic score of both groups showed ascending trend,comprehend evaluation of scores got after treatment for 3 months (OP group was 7.6±0.7,TURP group was 7.4±0.8),6 months(OP group was 6.9 ± 0.9,TURP group was 6.9 ± 1.1) showed no significant differences between two groups(P＞0.05),curative effect of OP group was better than TURP group at 48 moths(OP group was 8.3±0.9 score,TURP group was 7.6± 0.8 score) (P＜0.05).Conclusions The curative effect of OP group was better than TURP group at 48 months.

ObjectivesTo study the treatment timing and method of glucocorticoids in the treatment of abdominal type Henoch-Sch?nlein purpura (HSP).MethodsA total of 201 children with abdominal type HSP hospitalized from September 2009 to April 2013 received either conventional glucocorticoids treatment or rapid titration treatment of glucocorticoids based on the same basic therapy. According to the treatment timing and method of glucocorticoids, all patients were divided into 4 groups including early convention group (n=46), late convention group (n=44), early titration group (n=56) and late titration group (n=55). The duration from the appearance of gastrointestinal symptoms to using glucocorticoids less than or equal to three days was deifned as early treatment and more than three days was deifned as late treatment. The patients in two convention groups (early and late) were treated with methylprednisolone (2-6mg/kg per day).The patients in two titration groups (early and late) received rapid titration of methylprednisolone from an initial low dose of 2mg/kg per day to the ifnal target dose. The gastrointestinal symptoms were evaluated every 12 hours. If the gastrointestinal symptoms were not alleviated, an additional dosage of methyl-prednisolone was given. On the next day, the total dose of methylprednisolone in previous 24 hours was used as the initial dose. The dosage was increased in such a way till the gastrointestinal symptoms disappeared and this dosage was remained for 3 days. Then the dosage was gradually reduced to the maintenance dose and stopped. If the gastrointestinal symptoms were relapsed, the patients were treated again. A follow-up of 3-6 months was performed. The dosage, recurrence of symptoms and the side effects were compared among four groups.ResultsThe time of remission, target dose of glucocorticoids, total dose of glucocorticoids, recurrence rate, incidence of severe symptoms and Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis were signiifcantly different among four groups (P<0.05). The curative effect was best in early titration group and worst in late convention group.ConclusionsIn the treatment of abdominal type HSP, early titration treatment with glucocorticoids can signiifcantly relieve the gastrointestinal symp-toms and reduce the total dosage of glucocorticoids.