Objective To investigate the etiology and provide data for clinical treatment and therapeutic assessment of congenital clubfoot(CCF) via neuroelectrophysiology on motor and sensory nerves and ultrastructure of sural nerve.Methods Totally 248 patients diagnosed with CCF(338 clubfeet) were studied.Motor nerve conduction velocity(MCV),sensory nerve conduction velocity(SCV) and wave amplitude were detected for any changes.An ultra-structural study of sural nerve ramification was also conducted in 36 patients(36 clubfeet) under electron microscope.The correlation between deformity degree,nerve conduction abnormality and therapeutic outcomes was analyzed.Results The motor nerve conduction in 291 clubfeet(86.1%) and the sensory nerve conduction in 252 clubfeet(74.6%) were found with different degrees of abnormalities such as prolonged latency,declined/disappeared wave amplitude,etc.The ultrastructural observation of sural nerve ramification demonstrated abnormalities in all the 36 cases,showing proliferation of myelin sheath in peripheral myelinated nerve fibers,formation of vacuoles,segmental demyelinating lesions and so on.Part of axial cord was squeezed by the proliferated myelin sheath,which resulted in disappearance of axoplasm.The correlation study showed that as deformity became more severe,the nerve conduction abnormality was more evident,requiring more complicated treatments,and the therapeutic outcomes were less satisfactory.Statistical analysis by Mantel-Haenszel method showed that:① the abnormality rate of motor nerve in different types of CCF is signifi-cantly different(?2=32.31,P

The author studied the optimizing problem of medical signal processing in the course system of biomedical technology and focused on the design and realization of the comprehensive experiment platform of the course system of biomedical technology, and explored the course system of every stage in the public basic courses, the basic courses of specialty and the specialized courses by using course system of biomedical technology as the study subject and paradigm.

Fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm is a popular model widely used in the segmentation of magnetic resonance image (MRI). The conventional FCM doesn't involve the spatial information of MRI and then unexpected segmentation results appear when it is applied to inhomogeneous MRI with noise and bias field. Modifying the objective function of FCM and introducing a variable as the parameter to control the tight degree of neighborhood effect present a spatial model to FCM clustering algorithm. The variable can reasonably use the spatial information of MRI. The experiment results show that the proposed algorithm can provide a powerful segmentation than the conventional FCM and others.

Objective To determine the interleukin(IL)-17 concentrations in serum and synovi-al fluid from patients with knee osteoarthritis(OA),and evaluate their correlation with disease severity. Methods Serum and synovial fluid were collected from 100 patients with primary knee OA;age-and sex-matched 50 healthy subjects provided serum samples as controls.OA severity and grade were assessed u-sing the Lequesne index and Kellgren and Lawrence(K-L)grading system,respectively.The expression of IL-17 was quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results Serum IL-17 concentrations were significantly higher in patients than in controls(P <0.05).In the patient group,patients with K-L grade 3 and 4 had higher synovial IL-17 levels than those with K-L grade 2(P <0.05).At the same time,com-pared with K-L grade 3,there was a higher IL-17 level in K-L grade 4 patients(P <0.05).Synovial fluid IL-17 concentration was positively correlated with Lequesne index(r =0.6232,P <0.05).There was no correlation between serum IL-17 concentrations and Lequesne index,however.Conclusion The expres-sion of IL-17 was significantly increased in serum and synovial fluid of knee from patients with knee OA. There was a positive correlation between synovial fluid IL-17 concentrations and OA severity.It suggests that the imbalance of IL-17 expression plays a certain role in the pathogenesis of OA.

Objective To evaluate the safety and efficacy of percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty (PBMV) in patients with rheumatic severe mitral stenosis and thrombus in the left atrial appendage.Methods We selected 11 patients (9 women and 2 men), the average age being 40.6?5.7 years. All cases received warfarin orally every day for more than 12 weeks before underwent PBMV used Inoue single balloon technique, to see whether systemic thromboembolism complication occurred during the operation and one year follow-up term. Results The successful rate of PBMV was 100%. No systemic thromboembolism occurred during and after PBMV. The parameters of hemodynamics, mitral valve area and cardiac function improved markedly.Conclusion PBMV on patients with severe mitral stenosis and thrombus in the left atrial appendage is safe and effective after certain anticoagulation treatment.

Objective To identify the middle-long term outcomes,the incidence of restenosis,and the determining factors of restenosis.Methods Four hundred and sixty five patients with mitral stenosis (MS) underwent percutaneous balloon mitrail valvuloplasty (PBMV) from May 1990 to May 2002. Among the 465 patients,a retrospective study of 344 cases (258 females and 86 males) with complete data was presented in this article. The mean age was (40.2?9.6) years (ranging from 15 to 72 years). They were followed-up after PBMV. The data were analyzed with SAS software. Results Follow-up results of 1-12 years [median (3.6?2.5) years] showed that the one-year event-free survival rate was 100% with 9 cases of restenosis in 344 cases (2.5%),the three-years event-free survival rate was 97% with 39 cases of restenosis in 286 cases (13.6%),the five-years event-free survival rate was 91% with 60 cases of restenosis in 221 cases (27.1%),the eight-year event-free survival rate was 80% with 32 cases of restenosis in 81 cases (39.5%),and the ten-year event-free survival rate was 69% with 20 cases of restenosis in 42 cases (47.6%),and the twelve-year event-free survival rate was 63% with 9 cases of restenosis in 16 cases (56.3%). The event-free survival rate was greater in patients with modified echocardiographic score ≤10. Conclusion PBMV can produce good clinical middle and long-term outcomes in most patients,and those with modified echocardiographic score ≤10,bi-commissural splitting,sinus rhythm,large mitral valve area after PBMV,without poor cardiac function may especially have the best middle and long-term results.

To measure the subfoveal choroidal thickness ( SFCT ) in myopia using Cirrus HD optical coherence tomography ( OCT ), and to explore the relationship between the SFCT, axial length and myopic refractive spherical equivalent.
● METHODS: One - hundred thirty - three eyes of 70 healthy volunteers were recruited, and were divided into emmetropia group, low- degree myopia, middle- degree myopia and high - degree myopia group. SFCT were measured by Cirrus HD OCT, and the relationship between the SFCT, axial length and myopic refractive spherical equivalent were evaluated.
●RESULTS: 1) Average SFCT was (275. 91±55. 74)μ m in normals, that in emmetropia group, low-degree myopia, middle- degree myopia and high - degree myopia group were (290. 03± 34. 82) μ m, (287. 64 ± 51. 51) μ m, (274. 95 ± 56. 83)μ m, (248. 37 ± 67. 98) μ m; 2) the SFCT of high -degree myopia group was significant thinner than that of emmetropia group (P< 0. 05); 3) There was a significant negatives correlation between the SFCT and axial length (P<0. 01), a significant positive correlation between SFCT and myopic refractive spherical equivalent (P<0. 01).
● CONCLUSlON: the SFCT is inversely correlated with increasing axial length and myopic refractive error.

Objective To investigate the effect of impression of the inherent deformation after adding the circular marker on oral impression. Methods Two metal molds were made by American Dental Association standards. Six metal circular needles were inserted on one of molds. Two groups of impression sample which named A and B were made by two metal molds. Marker line on the impressions were measured and observed by measuring microscope to compare the impressions (group A and B) with the deformation extent and the deformation law. Croup t test method of SAS6.12 software was adopted to analyze the dimensional changes of the samples. Results The deformation range of two. groups( A and B) of alginate impressions was 0.38% ～ 0.58% and 0.43% ～ 0. 66%. Two groups of silicone impressions' deformation range was 0.38% ～ 0.42% and 0.33% ～ 0.49%. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05 ). Conclusion The method with adding markers points on the oral impression would the impression of the inherent deformation. This marking method wag feasible.

Objective To optimize the extracting conditions of Anchuan Keli. Method Six crude drugs, including Ephedra herb and so on, with the ephedrina hydrochloridum content as the index, extracting times, water volume and extracting time were screened by orthogonal test. Two crude drugs, including Sophora flavescens and so on, with matrine and ammothamnine content as the indexes, alcohol concentration, extracting times, alcohol volume and extracting time were screened by orthogonal test. Result The optimal extracting condition of six crude drugs including Ephedra herb was heat reflux and extracting 2 times (the first time 854 mL, the second time 732 mL), 2 hours for each time using water. The optimal extracting condition of two crude drugs include Sophora flavescens was heat reflux and extracting 2 times (the first time 288 mL, the second time 240 mL), 2 hours for each time using 80% alcohol. Conclusion The extracting technology selected is reasonable, practical and controllable.

Objective To observe the effect and significance of high-expression HOXB4 in controlling proliferation and cycle of human cartilage endplate stem cells (CESCs).Methods CESCs were divided into adenovirus-mediated HOXB4 delivery group (Group A),empty virus delivery group (Group B) and blank control group.Gene and protein expressions of HOXB4 in Group A were detected by PCR and Western blot respectively; cell proliferation among those groups were determined using cell counting kit 8 (CCK8) technique; cell cycle among those groups was measured by propidium iodide (PI) assay and flow cytometry.Results (1) Over-expressed HOXB4 virus was transferred to CESCs successfully; (2) Real-time quantitative PCR results showed 3.6 times higher expression of HOXB4 in Group A than in blank control group.Western blotting indicated HOXB4 protein in Group A was 3 times the level in control group; (3) HOXB4 promoted CESCs proliferation (P ＜ 0.05) and blocked the cells at phase S.Cells at phase S in Group A was increased from 29.27 to 30.28 (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Over-expressed HOXB4 accelerates proliferation of CESCs and increases cell population at phase S,indicating that HOXB4 hindering CESCs degeneration may be an approach to treat lumbar intervertebral disc protrusion.