This paper reported a new method of Armillaria mellea isolation-Gastrodia elata tissue isolating. Compared with normal isolating method-rhizomorph isolating method, it showed that the success rate of new method (78% ) was higher than the rhizomorph isolating method (16% ) , besides this, the new method was easier, and growth characteristic of obtained strain was superior to that obtained from rhizomorph isolating method.

Objective To explore the causal influences between activated regions in executive control network when participants were performing attention network test (ANT)under passive hyperthermia using Granger causality analysis.Methods Thirty male healthy participants which were randomly divided into control group (n=1 5)and experimental group (n=1 5)performed ANT task during two thermal conditions:hyperthermic condition (50℃)and normothermic condition (20℃)during functional magnetic reso-nance imaging.The data processing was performed using statistical parametric mapping 8 (SPM8).Granger causality analysis was performed on the resulted activated regions,as well as the correlations of the GC values with the reaction time in both groups.Results Between-group comparisons on Granger causality analysis revealed significantly enhanced influences of anterior cingulate gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule on dorsolateral prefrontal cortex,and bidirectional influences between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right superior parietal lobule,but decreased influence between right superior parietal lobule and right inferior parietal lobule.The correlation analysis showed significant correlation between GC value of right superior parietal lobule to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the reaction time in control group (r=-0.558,P =0.031),but yet there was no significant correlation in experimental group (r=0.355,P =0.257).Conclusion Heat stress affected the causal influences within the executive control network,which subse-quently disrupted the executive control performance during passive hyperthermia.

Objective To study the clinical efficacy of intra-operative implantation of I125 seeds to treat advanced pancreatic cancer.Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 28 patients who underwent intra-operative implantation of I125 between January 2009 and June 2010 to treat advanced pancreatic cancer.Patients who received conservative treatment (n =136) at the same period were used as the control group.Results The mean tumor diameter was (5.7 ± 1.7) cm.The average number of implanted seeds were 50.There were no patients who suffered from pancreatic fistula or post-operative bleeding,and no patient died from the treatment.Twenty-five patients were regularly followed up,and the follow-up rate was 85.7％.The survival rates at one month,half a year and one year were 100％,70.8％ and 26.9％,respectively.The average survival time was (9.9 ± 1.4) months.The survival data were significantly higher than that in the control group.Conclusion Intra-operative implantation of I125 seeds was an efficacious treatment for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

ObjectiveTo explore the clinical outcomes of posterior lumbar interbody fusion using BTwin expandable spinal spacer with microendoscopic discectomy (MED) for lumbar disc herniation accompanying degenerative instability.MethodsFrom March 2006 to May 2010,87 patients with lumbar disc heniation (only one level) accompanying degenerative instability were managed with posterior lumbar interbody fusion using B-Twin with MED,includeing 49 males and 38 females with an average of 47.6 years(range,37-65).Objective level located in L3,4 in 2 cases,L4,5 in 43,and L5S1 in 41.The patients were treated with single BTwin(Single group,n=51) and double B-Twin(Double group,n=36).Clinical outcomes were evaluated with surgical time,blood loss,visual analogue scale (VAS) scores,Oswestry disability questionnaire (ODI),and the pre- and post-operative disk space heights.ResultsThe patients were followed up for an average of 35.8months (range,12-46).All the patients felt the low back pain and radiation pain disappeared or relieved apparently.The mean preoperative ODI and VAS scores decreased from 78％±3％ to 18％±3％,and (8.70±11.3)to (0.65±10.48) at the final follow-up respectively.Disc space increased from a pre-operative height of (8.76±1.3) mm to a post-operative of (11.8±0.6) mm.ODI,VAS and the disk space heights in all patient showed statistical significance,which revealed no statistical significance between the two groups.However,the operation time,blood loss were statistical difference between the two groups.All the patients achieved solid union or probable union at a mean time of 5.6 months (range,3.9-8.6).ConclusionPosterior lumbar interbody fusion using B-Twin with MED can obtain satisfactory outcomes in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation accompanying degenerative instability.Single B-Twin can get similar clinical outcomes,but shorter surgical time,less blood loss,and less medical costs.

Objective To explore changes of brain function among patients with partial epilepsy in resting state by using the blood oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques.Methods fMRI scanning was performed in resting state among 60 patients with partial epilepsy and 60 gender,age and educational levels matched normal controls.The functional connectivity analysis was applied to calculate the default mode network ( DMN ) functional connectivity in resting-state fMRI.SPM5 was used to analyze differences in functional connectivity between the two groups( P ＜0.001,cluster ＞50).Results Left precuneus and adjacent posterior cingulate cortex ( Pcu/PCC),angular gyrus,and cingulate gyrus were involved in the DMN of epileptic patients.By contrast,the DMN of controls included left Pcu/PCC,right angular gyrus,bilateral medial frontal lobe and temporal lobe.Compared with normal controls,patients with partial epilepsy showed a significantly decrease in functional connectivity of DMN region such as left inferior parietal lobule,supramarginal gyrus,parahippocampa gyrus and superior temporal gyrus,and bilateral uncus,while no regions were found increased functional connectivity in patients group.Conclusions Patients with partial epilepsy show abnormal changes in functional connectivity of DMN in resting state by fMR],which may associate with the potential pathophysiological mechanisms of epilepsy.The findings demonstrate that the resting-state fMRI might detect the extensive changes of brain function in partial epilepsy with negative results of conventional MRI,suggestive of fMRI as an effective and non-invasive method to explore brain function in epilepsy.

Objective To assess the efficacy and safety of tacrolimus (TAC) combined with methotrexate (MTX) for the treatment of refractory rheumatoid arthritis (RA),and to compare it with cyclophosphamide (CTX) added to MTX for the treatment of refractory RA.Methods Thirty-six cases of refractory RA patients were divided into the observation group and the control group.TAC+MTX were used in the observation group,and CTX+MTX were used in the control group.We used repeated measures to analyze the variance and Fisher exact probability method to analyze the efficacy at 8 weeks and 24 weeks.Results The effective rate of the observation group in 8 weeks,24 weeks were 77.8％(14 cases) and 100％(18 cases) respectively,while those of the control group were 11.1％ (2 cases) and 44.4％(8 cases),it showed that both TAC+MTX and CTX+MTX in the treatment of refractory RA were effective,but the efficacy of TAC+MTX was better than CTX+MTX,the difference of C reactive protein (CRP) and disease activity score (DAS)28 was statistically significant (P＜0.05),and it could significantly improve the clinical symptoms and laboratory indexes.Conclusion TAC+MTX is effective and safe in treating refractory RA,and is worth of spreading.

Cerebral venous thrombosis, as a rare extraintestinal manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease, is often neglected in the course of clinical diagnosis and treatment. This article reviews the advances in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease related cerebral venous thrombosis.

A rapid analytical method was developed for the determination of N-methylcarbamoyl adduct in Hemoglobin of workers exposed to N,N-dimethylformamide by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry ( UPLC/MS/MS). About 0. 1 g of hemoglobin sample, 40 μmol/L of 3-methyl-5-isopropylhydantoin (MIH) as the internal standard and 4. 75 mL of HCl-acetic acid (2∶1, V/V) were added in the centrifuge tube, and mixed for 3 min. Then the tube was heated in boiling water bath for 1h. After cooling down, 200 μL of the mixture and 600 μL of formic acid-acetonitrile (1%) were added into 96-well extract plate. The vacuum pump pressure was controlled to make the sample collection elute within 2-4 min.The purified collection was transferred into the sample vial, and 3-methyl-5-isopropylhydantoin ( MVH ) as degration product of N-methylcarbamoyl adduct was quantified by UPLC/MS/MS in multiple reaction monitoring ( MRM ) by internal standard method. A good linear relationship was obtained in the MVH concentration range of 0 . 01-1 . 0 μmol/L with the correlation coefficient of 0 . 999 . The recovery of added MVH in the blank sample was 97 . 3% and the relative standard deviation was 1 . 7%. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0. 01 μmol/g. This method was proved to be fast and efficient.

This study was designed to investigate the impact of ultra-filtration extract mixture from Astragals mongholicus (UEMAM) o radiosensitivity of H22 ascitic tumor in mice to 12C6+ ions radiation. The H22 ascitic tumor model was established in mice by intraperitoneal injection of 0.2 mL H22 ascitic cells. The animals were subsequently divided into 4 groups randomly, treated with normal saline, UEMAM, heavy ion beam radiotherapy and UEMAM plus heavy ion beam radiotherapy, respectively. The body weights, abdomen circumference of the mice were measured and the mouse behavior was monitored every day; survival time was recorded to evaluate life extension effect; flow cytometry technique was used to detect H22 cell apoptosis and cell cycle; protein levels of p53, Bax, Bcl-2 and cleaved Caspase-3 were analyzed by Western blot; the single cell gel electrophoresis was used to detect the level of deoxyribonucleic acid damage (DNA damage). The results suggest that UEMAM significantly increased survival time, and decreased body weights and abdomen circumference over the saline control group. The treatment increased cell apoptosis, cycle arrest and DNA damage compared to the saline control group. UEMAM significantly enhanced the therapeutic effect of heavy ion beam radiation in survival time, and decreased body weights and abdomen circumference in the tumor-baring mice. The combination increased cell apoptosis, cycle arrest and DNA damage compared to the radiotherapy group. The results of Western blot suggest that the treatment significantly enhanced p53-induced apoptotic signals. The experiment discovered that UEMAM could improve radiosensitivity of H22 ascitic tumor through activation of p53-mediated apoptotic signal pathway.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Astragalus Plant ; chemistry ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Line, Tumor ; DNA Damage ; Ions ; Mice ; Neoplasms, Experimental ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Radiation Tolerance ; Signal Transduction

In 3D visualization of human skeleton, distinguishing bones from soft tissue in 2D CT slides is the first and most critical procedure. This article presents the methods for image pre-processing, segmentation and smoothing. 1733 CT images of human body from Visible Human Project provided by the American National Library of Medicine are treated in this paper. We use the technique of Chebyshev uniform approximation filtering for denoising and present a new simple adaptive threshold method in segmentation, which combines the similarity of consecutive slices with the region-growing method. In post-processing, we use the algorithms of mathematical morphology and multi-resolution filtering. The accuracy of segmentation is examined and certified by comparing the segmented images with the original one. The results also demonstrate a wide applicability of the method.
Algorithms ; Anatomy, Cross-Sectional ; Bone and Bones ; anatomy & histology ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Phantoms, Imaging ; Skeleton ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed