A certain amount of image noise is increased in low-dese protocols, but image quality is still acceptable without problem in CT localization. The reduction of radiation dose and the radiation harm to patients are the superiority.

Objective To estimate the biological effects of leptin on human HaCaT keratinocytes and explore their molecular mechanisms.Methods Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) was used to evaluate the proliferation of cultured HaCaT cells treated with different concentrations of leptin for 24 and 48 hours.Some HaCaT cells were classified into four groups to remain untreated,be treated with leptin (100 μg/L) and piceatannol (a specific inhibitor of STAT3 phosphorylation) alone or in combination for 24 hours,respectively,followed by the evaluation of cell proliferation using CCK-8 kit.Flow cytometry was performed to assess cell cycle of HaCaT cells treated with leptin of 100 μg/L,Western blot to determine the phosphorylation level of Erk1/2 and STAT3 in HaCaT cells treated with leptin of 100 μg/L for different durations.Statistical analysis was done by Student's t-test for unpaired data using GraphPad Prism 5 software.Results The proliferation of HaCaT cells was accelerated to different degrees after treatment with leptin of 50 and 100 μg/L for 24 and 48 hours,and the accelerating effect was in a dose-dependent manner within 24 hours (r =0.9989,P ＜ 0.05).Piceatannol apparently inhibited the promotive effect of leptin on the proliferation of HaCaT cells.There was an obvious elevation in the percentage of cells at S phase ((57.70 ± 5.88)％ vs.(42.50 ± 7.55)％,P ＞ 0.05),but a significant decrease in that at G0/G1 phase ((39.70 ± 1.57)％ vs.(45.20 ± 1.44)％,P ＜ 0.05),with a significant increase in proliferation index (0.603 ±0.0157 vs.0.564 ± 0.0144,P ＜ 0.05) in HaCaT cells treated with leptin of 100 μg/L for 24 hours compared with the untreated controls.Western blot showed that leptin of 100 μg/L markedly enhanced the phosphorylation level of STAT3 in HaCaT cells.Conclusion Leptin may upregulate the proliferation of HaCaT cells through activation of STAT3 pathway.

Objective To evaluate different post-processing imaging techniques of multi-slice helical CT cholangiography (MSCTC). Methods Fourty-seven patients were suspected of bile duct disease by ultrasound, with no abnormality by ordinary CT. These patients then received MSCTC examination. The original images were post-processed at workstation. The result of post-processed images was compared with that of the laparotomy and surgical bile duct endoscopy. Results Procedures were successful in 45 cases. Thirty-one cases were found with choledocholithiasis. The specificity and the sensitivity of CT virtual endoscopy (CTVE) for choledocholithiasis group were high. Cholangitis and cholangiocarcinoma were detected in 3 each cases.Three cases were finally found to have gallbladder polypus, in which only CTVE provided the diagnosis. The diagnosis of bile duct disease made by ultrasound were finally excluded by CTVE. Conclusions KG1 The available post-processing methods are CTVE and X-proj, MPR is applicable for observing bile duct wall, it is valuable in the diagnosis of all kinds of bile duct disease. CTVE is better than other methods at displaying intraluminal structure.

BACKGROUND: Serum creatinine (SCr) is the most commonly used parameter to estimate renal function impairement, but there are some shortcomings. Many factors including age, gender, drug, diet, muscle mass and metabolic rate can influence SCr, leading to an inaccurate estimation of kidney impairment. Studies have shown that cystatin C (CysC) is not affected by factors such as muscle mass, age, gender, diet, inflammation or tumor. The present study was undertaken to compare the sensitivity of CysC and SCr in evaluating renal function impairment at early stage of shock. METHODS: Seventy-one patients aged 38.3±21.4 years, who had been treated at the Emergency Medicine Department of the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University between February 2006 and June 2007, were studied. They were divided into groups A, B, C, and D according to the shock time. Serum sample was drawn from each patient at 1, 2, 3, 4 hours after shock to determine SCr and CysC. CysC and SCr were determined again at 72 hours and 7 days after shock. RESULTS: CysC increased earlier than SCr in the 71 patients, and CysC decreased slower than SCr when shock was corrected. CysC increased at 1 hour after shock. There was a negative correlationship between CysC, SCr and glomerular filtration rate (GFR), especially at early stage of shock. CONCLUSIONS: There is renal injury at early stage of shock. CysC is more sensitive than SCr in assessing renal function at the early stage of shock.

Objective To discuss the application of different types of bronchial arteriography catheter in performing bronchial artery embolization (BAE) for the treatment of hemoptysis.Methods The clinical data of a total of 97 patients with hemoptysis,who received BAE during the period from January 2013 to May 2016,were collected.According to angiographic findings in aspect of the opening and running direction of the arteries causing bleeding,the responsible arteries were divided into 4 types:upward opening,horizontal opening and running upwards,horizontal opening and running downwards,and downward opening.For each responsible artery,appropriate angiography catheter was selected from the following catheters:MIK catheter,left gastric artery catheter,Cobra catheter,Simmon-1 catheter and Simmon-2 catheter.With super-selective catheterization technique the selected suitable catheter was inserted into the responsible artery and angiography was subsequently performed.The effect of the selection of bronchial arteriography catheter in performing BAE for hemoptysis was analyzed.Results A total of 180 responsible arteries were detected in 97 patients.Of the 180 responsible arteries,artery with upward opening was seen in 42,artery with horizontal opening and running upwards was found in 54,artery with horizontal opening and running downwards was observed in 46,and artery with downward opening was detected in 38.The success rates of super-selective catheterization for MIK catheter,left gastric artery catheter,Cobra catheter and Simmon catheter were 83.3％ (35/42),92.6％ (50/54),87.0％ (40/46) and 89.5％ (34/38,including 30 Simmon-1 catheters and 4 Simmon-2 catheters) respectively.After BAE,the responsible arteries were occluded in all patients,and hemoptysis stopped immediately.The recurrence rate at 6 months after BAE was 7.2％ (7/97).Conclusion For the treatment of hemoptysis,BAE is safe and effective.The key point to ensure a successful BAE is that the selection of appropriate catheter should be based on the opening and running direction of the artery causing bleeding.

Objective To analyze the CT imaging features of Castleman disease and enhance our knowledge of Castleman disease.Methods Twenty two patients with lymph node biopsy-proved or surgeryproved Castleman disease were retrospectively reviewed in this study.Of the 22 patients,18 had localized lesion and 4 patients had multicentric lesions.Correlation was made between CT and pathologic findings.Results Eighteen patients with localized Castleman disease had the hyaline-vascular type and showed well-circumscribed masses with soft-tissue density [mean CT value,(45 ± 16) HU],punctate or bifurcate calcification and linear low-density areas on non-enhanced CT images.All localized masses showed significant enhancementwith an increase of(56 ± 22)HU on arterial phase and showed residual enhancement and some low-density areas on delayed phase.Enhancing patterns were variable,including homogeneous enhancement,gradual enhancement from the edge to the center of mass and heterogeneous enhancement.Four patients with localized lesion demonstrated enhancing vessels around masses.Four patients with muhicentric CD belonged to the plasma cell type and had multiple enlarged lymph nodes.Plasma cell type masses with homogeneous density also showed enhancement after injection of contrast media but appeared to reveal a less increase of (32 ± 10) HU than the hyaline vascular type.Conclusions The localized Castleman disease showed certain characteristics on CT imaging includingcalcification and contrast enhancing patterns,which could help in the differential diagnosis of this disease.The muhicentric Castleman disease did not reveal any useful imaging features.

Objective To study the changes of Neuroendocrine immunology sensitive indicators in children with Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease (HFMD) and values of determining the patient′s conditions. Methods The children with HFMD were divided into three groups , the common group , severe group and risk group according to the clinical diagnosis and classification standards, meanwhile, the healthy children were enrolled as control group. Peripheral blood samples were collected from the case groups and control group , concentrations of cortisol (COR), β-endorphin (β-EP), interleukin-13 (IL-13), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), immunoglobulin (IgG, IgA, and IgM), and the relative contents of T cell subsets, B cells and NK cells were tested respectively. Results Compared with the control group, the levels of COR, β-EP, IL-13, IFN-γ and IgG, IgA, IgM all significantly increased in the three groups of HFMD. All the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.01), except the difference of IgG, and IgA between the ordinary type and the control group. Compared with the common group, the percentage of NK and B cells dramatically increased, meanwhile, compared the other two types with the control group , the percentage of T cell subsets and NK cells significantly decreased , but B cells significantly increased, and there were all significant difference (P < 0.01). Conclusions HFMD caused by EV71 infection is the result of the combined effect of changes in nervous system , immune system and endocrine system. It is extremely important to detect early the sensitive indicators in children with HFMD , such may help to find the risk cases and carry on early intervention for patients′ recovery.

Neurofeedback, as an alternative treatment method of behavioral medicine, is a technique which translates the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals to styles as sounds or animation to help people understand their own physical status and learn to enhance or suppress certain EEG signals to regulate their own brain functions after several repeated trainings. This paper develops a neurofeedback system on the foundation of brain-computer interface technique. The EEG features are extracted through real-time signal process and then translated to feedback information. Two feedback screens are designed for relaxation training and attention training individually. The veracity and feasibility of the neurofeedback system are validated through system simulation and preliminary experiment.
Brain-Computer Interfaces ; Electroencephalography ; Female ; Humans ; Neurofeedback

Aims To investigate the protective effects of noninvasive limb ischemic preconditioning (LIPC) on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I /R)injury,and to explore the mechanism.Methods Healthy male Wistar rats were divided randomly into I /R,I /R +LIPC,I /R +5-Hydroxydecanoate (5-HD)and I /R +LIPC +5-HD groups.The I /R +LIPC and I /R +LIPC-5-HD groups of rats were subjected to three cy-cles of LIPC induction per day with 5 min of reperfu-sion after occlusion for 5 min at the left hind limb for 3 days.All rats were subjected to myocardial I /R injury on the fourth day.The I /R +5-HD and I /R +LIPC-5-HD groups of rats were given the inhibitor of ATP-sen-sitive potassium channel 5-HD before and during myo-cardial I /R injury. Results Compared with I /R group,LIPC reduced myocardial infarct size (P <0.05),lowered cardiocyte apoptosis index and Fas, FasL positive cell number (P <0.01 ),increased the reduced nitric oxide (NO)/endothelin (ET)-1 ratio (P <0.05)in serum in I /R +LIPC group.5-HD a-bolished the protective effects induced by LIPC in I /R+LIPC-5-HD group.Compared with normal myocardi-al tissue,expression of mir-30a-3p was increased in I /R group (P <0.01 )and was decreased in LIPC group (P <0.01 ).Conclusion LIPC alleviates myocardial I /R injury and improves endothelial function. The mechanism may be related with the opening of ATP-sensitive potassium channel,regulating the balance be-tween NO and ET-1 and decreasing the expression of myocardial mir-30a-3p.

Peptide cyclization, a pivotal approach to modifying linear precursors of proteins and pepticles, has been used to enhance their biological activities and serum stabilities. Recently, sortase A (SrtA) from Staphyloccus aureus becomes a promising new technology for efficiently incorporating site specific modifications into proteins, conjugating the cell surface and cyclizing the linear peptides. In this study, we constructed two recombinant expression systems, one with chitin binding domain and the other with six-histidine tag and chitin binding domain on the N-terminal of SrtA, separately. The results of enzymatic kinetics indicate that the two recombinant tags do not impair the transpeptidase activity of SrtA compared with the standard reaction reported under the same reaction condition. The two synthesized peptides with N-ternimal three glycines and C-terminal penta-amino acid motif, LPETG, were cyclized using immobilized and recycled SrtA. The SrtA-based cyclization promises to represent a simple method for easy and efficient enzymatic synthesis of large cyclic peptides.
Aminoacyltransferases ; metabolism ; Bacterial Proteins ; metabolism ; Cyclization ; Cysteine Endopeptidases ; metabolism ; Enzymes, Immobilized ; metabolism ; Kinetics ; Peptides ; metabolism ; Peptides, Cyclic ; biosynthesis ; Staphylococcus aureus ; enzymology