0.05). After operation, in the pedicle screw fixation group the indexes were restored, but the restoration was lost gradually at later follow- up stage. Their superior- inferior endplate angle before operation averaged 19.5? , but 8.6? after operation, and 20.0? at the latest follow- up. Their wedged angle before operation averaged 20.7? , but 9.1? after operation, and 15.9? at the latest follow- up. In the non- pedicle- screw fixation group, the indexes decreased gradually at the later follow- up. Their average superior- inferior endplate angle before operation was 16.6? , 14.6? after operation, and 23.0? at the latest follow- up. Their average wedged angle before operation was 15.6? , 16.6? after operation, and 22? at the latest follow- ups. Conclusions The height of the fractured vertebra may be lost and the wedged vertebra may occur again after surgery but conditions may become stable in 2 years. The spinal kyphosis deformity, however, may go on. Its possible causes are structural changes of the vertebra after surgery, the early degenerative changes of the adjacent intervertebral discs, and osteoporosis.

We studied the influence of electrode array parameters on temperature distribution to the retina during the use of retinal prosthesis in order to avoid thermal damage to retina caused by long-term electrical stimulation. Based on real epiretinal prosthesis, a three-dimensional model of electrical stimulation for retina with 4 X 4 microelectrode array had been established using the finite element software (COMSOL Multiphysics). The steady-state temperature field of electrical stimulation of the retina was calculated, and the effects of the electrode parameters such as the distance between the electrode contacts, the materials and area of the electrode contact on temperature field were considered. The maximum increase in the retina steady temperature was about 0. 004 degrees C with practical stimulation current. When the distance between the electrode contacts was changed from 130 microm to 520 microm, the temperature was reduced by about 0.006 microC. When the contact radius was doubled from 130 microm to 260 microm, the temperature decrease was about 0.005 degrees C. It was shown that there were little temperature changes in the retina with a 4 x 4 epiretinal microelectrode array, reflecting the safety of electrical stimulation. It was also shown that the maximum temperature in the retina decreased with increasing the distance between the electrode contacts, as well as increasing the area of electrode contact. However, the change of the maximum temperature was very small when the distance became larger than the diameter of electrode contact. There was no significant difference in the effects of temperature increase among the different electrode materials. Rational selection of the distance between the electrode contacts and their area in electrode design can reduce the temperature rise induced by electrical stimulation.
Electric Stimulation ; Finite Element Analysis ; Microelectrodes ; Models, Theoretical ; Retina ; physiology ; Software ; Temperature ; Visual Prosthesis

Disability Evaluation ; Femur/diagnostic imaging* ; Humans ; Lower Extremity

Objective To explore the early diagnosis and risk factors for judging prognosis of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS),and to provide references for clinical intervention.Methods Using the method for prospective cohort study,clinical data were collected from 64 ARDS and 66 high-risk ARDS patients in Department of Respiratory Diseases of Xinqiao Hospital from January 2013 to March 2016.They included patients' demographic data,Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation system Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ) score,oxygenation index,blood routine test,coagulation function and inflammatory markers (procalcitonin,C-reaction protein,tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-6) within 24h and the state of survival or death of the 24th day.Risk factors for predicting progression of the high-risk ARDS patients into ARDS patients and influencing the prognosis of the ARDS patients were analyzed by using logistic regression.Results Univariate logistic regression analysis found that the independent risk factors for progression of ARDS were APACHE Ⅱ score (OR=6.764,P=0.001),hypoproteinemia (OR=10.54,P=0.002),white blood cell count (OR=3.912,P=0.012),fibrinogen (OR=9.953,P=0.064),and D-dimer (OR=4.239,P=0.029).The mortality rate was 43.75％ (36/64) in ARDS group,and the oxygenation index (OR=6.573,P=0.014),platelet count (OR=9.376,P=0.003),hypoproteinemia (OR=10.738,P=0.056) were the independent risk factors of death in ARDS patients.Multivariate logistic regression showed that combination of multiple indicators for predicting ARDS improved the specificity,but reduce the sensitivity.APACHE Ⅱ and hypoproteinemia (sensitivity 62.50％,specificity 92.42％) and APACHE Ⅱ and D dimmer (sensitivity 62.07％,specificity 93.33％) had better specificity and sensitivity.The specificity and sensitivity of combining hypoproteinemia and platelet count to predict the risk of death in these patients were 77.78％ and 60.71％.Conclusions In high-risk ARDS patients,combining hypoproteinemia or APACHE Ⅱ score with D-dimer to judge the development of ARDS has good specificity but poor sensitivity.For ARDS patients,low oxygenation index,thrombocytopenia and hypoproteinemia indicate a poor prognosis.

Objective To assess the efficiency and reliability of clinical genetic diagnosis of methylmalonic acidemia(MMA) using new generation sequencing platform (HiSeq2000).Methods 1.Nine patients diagnosed with clinical signs of MMA were recruited.DNA library from the patients were mixed with designed gene capture probe.The whole exons region of 48 genes related to organic acid metabolism were screened using the gene capture combined with high-throughput sequencing.2.The joints were removed and the low quality data were filtered,the data were analyzed by means of SNP and InDel.To avoid the false positive,the abnormal sites were verified using the Sanger sequencing method.3.The detection of the organic acid in the urine was performed through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and other auxiliary examinations.Results 1.Gene mutation:7 gene mutations of MMACHC were identified in 7 patients.Seven mutations:c.482G ＞ A,c.567_568insT,c.609G ＞ A,c.440_441del,c.80A ＞ G,c.315C ＞ G,c.90G ＞ Awere screened.The mutation c.440_441del had not been reported before,and others were all related to the disease.Two gene mutations of mutase apoenzyme(MUT) were identified in 1 case,all of which were introns:.c.754-1G ＞ C,c.1677-1G ＞ A.The novel mutation was c.754-1G ＞ C.No gene mutation was identified in 1 patient.2.Clinical manifestation:all of the patients were development delay,but the degrees were different;3 patients with convulsion; 1 patient with headache and central facial paralysis;1 patient with repeated intractable metabolic acidosis;1 patient with repeated hemolysis.Electroencephalogram of the all patients were abnormal;the result of cranial MRI of the 8 patients were abnormal;In all patients,urine level of methylmalonic acid significantly increased (273.4-146 022.8 times).Blood homo cysteine of 8 patients were significantly increased(27.13-396.84 μmol/L,normal ＜ 20 μmol/L).3.Sanger sequencing:there were no false positive exists.Conclusions 1.There were not a correlation between the clinical manifestation and gene mutation of the patients with MMA.The c.609G ＞ A was the hotspot mutation of MMACHC gene in Chinese patients with MMA and homocysteinemia.2.The mutations c.440_441del and c.754-1G ＞ C were presumed to be novel mutations.3.Gene capture technology combined with next-generation sequencing technology could be used to interrogate the wealth of data available in the human genome and lay the foundations for counseling of gene.This platform can be readily and timely adopted by clinical molecular diagnosis of MMA and represents a high throughput,high sensitivity,high efficiency and other characteristics approach for screening common genetic diseases.

Objective To explore the effect of postnatal infection on SOX10 expression in cerebral white matter in immature rats. Methods A total of 96 newborn SD rats were randomly divided into hypoxia group, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) group, and control group. At day 3 and 6 after birth, the rats in LPS group and hypoxia group were intraperitoneally injected with 0.25 mg/kg of LPS while the rats in control group were injected with normal saline. Meanwhile the rats in hypoxia group were maintained in a hypoxic tank under atmospheric pressure and thermostatic water bath at 37℃for 2 hours of ventilation with mixed gas con-taining 8%O2 and 92%N2 at a rate of 2 L/min starting 3 days after birth. At day 7, 10, 14, 21 after birth, eight rats in each groups were sacriifced and the cerebral white matter was extracted. HE staining was performed to observe the pathological changes of cerebral white matter by light microscopy. The expression of SOX10 in cerebral white matter was determined by immunohisto-chemical and Western blotting analysis. The expression of TLR-4 was determined by Western blotting. Results In LPS group and hypoxia group, the SOX10 positive cells and expressions of SOX 10 and TLR-4 were increased at day 7, reached the peak at day 10, and then gradually declined. There were signiifcant differences between any two time points (P<0.05). In control group, there were a few positive cells and limited expressions of SOX 10 and TLR-4 and there were no differences between any two time points (P>0.05). At each time point, the difference in the SOX10 positive cells and the expressions of SOX 10 and TLR-4 were statistically signiifcant among three groups (P<0.05) in the order of hypoxia group>LPS group>control group and there were signiifcantly differences between each groups (P<0.05). Conclusions Postnatal infections can lead to cerebral white mat-ter lesions in immature rats. The existence of both hypoxia and infection can aggravate the brain injury. The high expression of SOX 10 may have the protective effect.

Background and purpose:In recent years, the studies indicated that postoperatively induced myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) were qualified with potent proangiogenic and tumor-promotive ability. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) significantly inhibited the induction and proliferation of MDSCs. However, the relationship of MDSCs and tumor metastasis during perioperative period, and whether BMSCs could prevent tumor metastasis through inhibiting MDSCs are not clariifed. This study aimed to investigate the change of MDSCs during perioperative period and its correlation with tumor metastasis after surgery, and the inlfuence of BMSCs on the induction of MDSCs and the development of postoperative tumor metastasis.Methods:LLC cells were injected intravenously into C57BL/6 mice. Two hours later, these mice were divided into 4 groups: controls (C group); mice given anesthesia (A group); mice given anesthesia and laparotomy (AL group) and mice given anesthesia, laparotomy, and hepatic lobectomy (ALH group). The AL mice were divided into 2 groups after surgical operation: the AL mice without treatment (ALL group) and the AL mice treated with syngeneic BMSCs (ALB group). The percentage of Gr-1+CD11b+ cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was detected by flow cytometry. The numbers of metastases on the lung surface were counted on the 14th day after LLC infusion. BMSCs were also co-culturedin vitro with myeloid cells in order to illustrate the effects of BMSCs on the generation of MDSCs.Results:The numbers of lung metastases in AL and ALH group signiifcantly increased as compared with C and A group (P<0.01). The number of lung metastases in ALH group signiifcantly increased as compared with AL group (P<0.05). The percentage of Gr-1+CD11b+ cells in PBMCs during postoperative period signiifcantly increased in AL and ALH group as compared with C and A group, and the percentage of Gr-1+CD11b+ cells in ALH group also signiifcantly increased as compared with AL group. The numbers of lung metastases in AL and ALB group were (38.00±9.57) and (6.54±1.49), the difference was statistically signiifcant (P<0.01) on day 14 after LLC infusion. Meanwhile, the percentage of Gr-1+CD11b+ cells in ALB group signiifcantly decreased as compared with AL1 group. This study also demonstrated that BMSCs inhibited the induction and proliferation of MDSCs from myeloid cells in vitro.Conclusion:Surgery stress induces MDSCs and promotes tumor metastasis. Syngeneic BMSCs could inhibit the generation of MDSCs and further suppress tumor metastasis after surgery.

Objective:By comparing the expression levels of retinoic acid-related orphan nuclear receptorγt( RORγt) and in-terleukin-17 ( IL-17 ) in newborn rats′spleen tissue with cytomegalovirus infection with normal newborn to provide experimental evidence for the pathogenesis of CMV infection.Methods:Forty-eight newborn BALB/c mice were randomly divided into control group and MCMV group.Mice in virus group was given intraperitoneal injection of MCMV virus suspension,while the control group were given the same dose of normal saline as controls.Eight mice in the two groups were killed at day 3,7 and 14.The animal were sacrificed at day 3,7 and 14( n=8 for each interval) and spleens were obtained from the two groups.MCMV DNA,RORγt mRNA,IL-17 mRNA and protein of RORγwere detected by using RT-PCR and Western blot between the two groups.Results:Expression of MCMV DNA was in-creased in the MCMV group but absent in the control group.RORγt mRNA, IL-17 mRNA and protein expression of RORγt were significantly higher than the normal control group,with the extension of the infection time gradually increased( P<0.05 ) .Conclusion:The IL-17 and RORγt in spleen tissue may take part in the inflammatory response induced by MCMV, and may be involved in the pathogeneses of MCMV injury.

To investigate the exon mutation of vitamin K-dependent gamma-glutamyl carboxylase (GGCX or VKDC) in patients with calcium oxalate urolithasis, renal cortex and peripheral blood samples were obtained from severe hydronephrosis patients (with or without calculi), and renal tumor patients undergoing nephrectomy. GGCX mutations in all 15 exons were examined in 44 patients with calcium oxalate urolithiasis (COU) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and denatured high pressure liquid chromatography (DHPLC), and confirmed by sequencing. Mutation was not found in all COU samples compared to the controls. These data demonstrated that functional GGCX mutations in all 15 exons do not occur in most COU patients. It was suggested that there may be no significant association between the low activity and mutation of GGCX in COU.

Airway Remodeling ; physiology ; Animals ; Asthma ; metabolism ; Disease Models, Animal ; PPAR gamma ; biosynthesis ; Rats