The structural principles and technical performances of different ionization chamber dosimeters used in radiotherapy have been briefly introduced in this paper. In the mean time, a comparison of technical performances of four different kinds of ionization chamber dosimeter used in hospitals in China has also been made. The data show their quality meet the required specification specified by IEC731 and JJG912-96, so they can be used as field survey dosimeters in hospitals. Some precautions in using these dosimeters are given here too.
Equipment Design ; Radiometry ; classification ; instrumentation ; methods ; Radiotherapy ; instrumentation ; Radiotherapy Dosage

· AIM: To explore the effects of C3F8 tamponade on hypotony on or after primary operation and the prognosis of severe ocular trauma.· METHODS: Twenty-six cases (26 eyes) of severe ocular trauma were treated with pure C3F8 tamponade on or after primary operation. IOP was observed, and the curative effect of C3F8 tamponade was observed on secondary operation with prognosis evaluated.· RESULTS: Hypotony improved in 23 eyes postoperatively,in which 18 eyes with edematous and cloudy cornea, 15 eyes had clear cornea after gas tamponade. Retina was reattached under the gas action in 21 eyes during the secondary operation. Visual acuity improved in 22 eyes, remained unchanged in 3 eyes and decreased in 1 eye during the follow-up of 3-12months.· CONCLUSION: Application of pure C3F8 tamponade on or after primary operation can effectively improve hypotony after severe ocular trauma and benefit a better prognosis.

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of 18F-FDG PET/CT in primary peritoneal papillary serous carcinoma (PPPSC).Methods Ten postmenopausal female cases of pathologically diagnosed PPPSC from March 2009 to October 2011 were retrospectively reviewed (age range:61-81 years,mean:(69.4±6.2) years).All cases underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT.The CT characteristics and SUVmax of lesions on PET images were analyzed.Serum CA125 levels were measured before or after PET/CT within one week.The patterns of PPPSC on PET/CT were compared with histopathological results.Linear correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between the CA125 and the maximum SUVmax of lesions presented in parietal peritoneum,greater omentum or mesentery.Results The PET/CT uptake pattern of the 10 PPPSC cases was described as floccus,multi-nodular or cake-like in greater omentum (SUVmax =6.32±2.87),and as diffuse or localized nodules,or non-uniform strip-like thickening in 9 parietal peritoneum and 8 mesentery cases (SUVmax =5.96±2.14 and 5.70± 1.69,respectively).The most commonly involved sites were pelvic wall of peritoneum and mesentery of small intestine.All 10 cases had different degrees of ascites,mainly intrapelvic and perihepatic.Hypermetabolic ovarian enlargement (all ＜5 cm) was bilateral in 2 patients and right-sided in 1 patient.Four patients had retroperitoneal lymph node metastasis and others were found with punctate calcifications in metastatic lymph nodes,small pleural effusions,liver metastasis,as well as portal node metastasis.CA125 concentration was elevated in all cases ((51.25±26.40) ×104 U/L),but there was no significant correlation between CA125 and the maximum SUVmax of lesions found in parietal peritoneum,greater omentum or mesentery (r=0.05,P＞0.05).Conclusion 18F-FDG PET/CT could show the positions and metabolic status of PPPSC lesions.It may be an effective imaging modality in the diagnosis and assessment of PPPSC.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate whether the self-blood has influence on the molding process of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) bone cement, and to make sure whether it is valuable for the clinical practice.

METHODSAn in vitro study was performed to evaluate the prolonging-effect of self-blood on PMMA bone cement. The effect of prolonging was evaluated by the dough time (TD) and operable time (TO). Moreover, hardness test, squeezing value test and peak temperature test were also conducted to complete the evaluation of this program.

RESULTSThe self-blood, especially the plasma, could greatly prolong the handling time of PMMA bone cement without affecting its basic characteristics including hardness, leakage level and peak temperature. On the other hand, we found that in some abnormal conditions, for example with hyperlipemia, self-blood though can also prolong the handling time, would cause some side-effects.

CONCLUSIONWe report a new effective way to prolong the handling time of PMMA bone cement by adding moderate amount of self-blood. But "individualized medicine" should be noticed because some abnormal conditions like hyperlipemia would cause undesired side-effects.

Blood ; Bone Cements ; chemistry ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Materials Testing ; Polymethyl Methacrylate ; chemistry

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Gastric Mucosa ; microbiology ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; diagnosis ; microbiology ; Helicobacter Infections ; diagnosis ; microbiology ; Helicobacter pylori ; growth & development ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Mouth Mucosa ; microbiology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical features in children with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC)-associated cardiac rhabdomyomas (CRM).

METHODSThe clinical data of 15 children with TSC complicated by CRM were collected. The clinical features of the patients were analyzed, and TSC gene mutations were detected.

RESULTSEleven cases (73%) developed multiple CRM. The majority of the tumors were located in the left and right ventricles. Most tumors presented as a round-like hyperechogenic mass with a clear margin on echocardiography. Arrhythmias occurred in 3 patients and 2 patients experienced heart failure. Gene mutation tests were performed in 2 patients, and pathogenic mutations were detected in both patients, which were TSC1 mutation and TSC2 mutation, respectively. Three patients were followed up for 6 to 38 months, and their CRM shrank or regressed spontaneously.

CONCLUSIONSTSC-associated CRM is generally multiple. Heart failure and arrhythmias may occur in some patients. Echocardiography is important for diagnosis of CRM. TSC-associated CRM has an inclination to spontaneous regression. TSC can be diagnosed at a molecular genetic level by TSC gene mutation detection.

Child, Preschool ; Female ; Heart Neoplasms ; complications ; genetics ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Mutation ; Rhabdomyoma ; complications ; genetics ; Tuberous Sclerosis ; etiology ; Tumor Suppressor Proteins ; genetics

Objective To determine the incidence of non-fatal injuries and related influencing factors among children under 5 years old in China. Methods Data involving 10 819 children under 5 years old was from the Fourth National Health Service Survey of China. Injury-related indicators include: history of ever having had an injury, its frequency, cause, location and severity of the injury.A two-level Poissun regression was used to examine the significance of related socio-economic variables. Results The overall incidence rate of nonfatal injuries among children under 5 years old was 16.0 per 1000 population in the prior 12 months. The first three leading causes of non-fatal injuries were falls,animal bite, fire/bum among children under 1 year old,with the rates as 3.9, 1.8 and 1.8 per 1000 population, respectively. For children aged I to 4 years old, the first three leading causes were animal bite, fall, fire/burn with rates as 6.5,6.0 and 2.9 per 1000 population, respectively. 83.0% and 69.0% of last injuries occurred at home for the above said two age groups. No disability was found among children younger than 1 year old who suffered from a nonfatal injury while for the 1-4 age group, the disability accounted for 1.0% of injury-induced outcomes. After adjusting other variables,boys had 1.57 times the risk of injury compared with girls in the 1-4 age group (P＜0.05). The differences on the effects regarding ethmicity,per capita household income, and place were insignificant (P＞0.05). None of the socio-economic variables was found that significantly related to the non-fatal injury risk among children under 1 year old (P＞0.05). Conclusion The incidence of nonfatal injuries among children under 5 years old was 16.0 per 1000 population in the prior 12 months. The three leading causes of injuries were animal bite, falls, fire/bum respectively. Home was the most common place that non-fatal injuries occurred. Boys had a higher risk of injury compared with girls among children aged 1 to 4 years old and the difference was significant.

To simulate intervention measures in controlling an outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis on one school campus by using the Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) model, to provide evidence for preparedness and response to the epidemic. Classical SIR model was used to model the epidemic. Malthusian exponential decline method was employed to estimate the infective coefficient β for interventions. The initial value of parameters was determined based on empirical data. The modeling was implemented using Matlab 7.1 software. Without interventions, the outbreak was expected to experience three phrases: (1)early stage (the first 5 days) in which the epidemic developed slowly and could be intervened easily; (2) rapid growing stage (6-15 days) in which the number of infected cases increased quickly and the epidemic could not be well controlled;and (3) medium and late stage (16 days and later) in which more than 90% of the susceptible persons were infected but the intervention measures failed to prevent the epidemic. With the implementation of interventions, the epidemic was predicted to be controlled in the early stage, under the SIR model. The simulation based on the SIR model kept an acceptable consistency with the actual development of epidemic after the implementation of intervention measures. The SIR model seemed effective in modeling interventions to the epidemic of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis in the schools.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the alterations of cardiac hemodynamics, sodium current (I(Na)) and L-type calcium current (I(Ca-L)) in the cardiomyopathic model of rats. The model of cardiomyopathy was established by intraperitoneal injection of L-thyroxine (0.5 mg/kg) for 10 d. The hemodynamics was measured with biological experimental system, and then I(Na) and I(Ca-L) were recorded by using whole cell patch clamp technique. The results showed that left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP), +/-dp/dt(max) in cardiomyopathic group were significantly lower than those in the control group, while left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) in cardiomyopathic group was higher than that in the control group. Intraperitoneal injection of L-thyroxine significantly increased the current density of I(Na) [(-26.2+/-3.2) pA/pF vs (-21.1+/-6.3) pA/pF, P<0.01], shifted steady-state activation and inactivation curves negatively, and markedly prolonged the time constant of recovery from inactivation. On the other hand, the injection of L-thyroxine significantly increased the current density of I(Ca-L) [(-7.9+/-0.8) pA/pF vs (-5.4+/-0.6) pA/pF, P<0.01)], shifted steady-state activation and inactivation curves negatively, and obviously shortened the time constant of recovery from inactivation. In conclusion, the cardiac performance of cardiomyopathic rats is similar to that of rats with heart failure, in which the current density of I(Na) and especially the I(Ca-L) are enhanced, suggesting that calcium channel blockade and a decrease in Na(+) permeability of membrane may play an important role in the treatment of cardiomyopathy.
Animals ; Calcium Channels, L-Type ; metabolism ; Cardiomyopathies ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Hemodynamics ; physiology ; Male ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; Patch-Clamp Techniques ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sodium Channels ; metabolism ; Thyroxine

Objective To investigate the effect of 1 800 MHz electromagnetic radiation on activity of SOD and GSH－Px in the skin tissues of SD rats.Methods A total of 98 healthy SD rats with SPF level,aged 4 weeks, were randomly divided into radiation group and control group.The radiation group was totally exposed under 1 800 MHz electromagnetic wave with seven different power density of radiation of 0.1 mW/cm2,0.3 mW/cm2,0.5 mW/cm2 , 0.7 mW/cm2, 0.9 mW/cm2, 1.0 mW/cm2and 1.2 mW/cm2respectively.It lasted 21 days and for a period of 12 hours a day. After radiation,the activity of SOD and GSH－Px in the skin tissues were detected by enzyme marker. Results In radiation group,the activity of SOD and GSH－Px in the skin tissues of SD rats were decreased under 0.3 mW/cm2and 0.5 mW/cm21 800 MHz electromagnetic wave. Compared with the control group, there was a significantly difference in radiation group (P＜0.05) .While under other four 1 800 MHz electromagnetic waves, the activity of GSH－Px and SOD in the skin tissues showed no statistical difference between the two groups (P＞0.05) . Under 1 mW/cm21 800 MHz electromagnetic wave, the activity of GSH－Px showed no statistical difference between two groups (P＞0.05) . Conclusion The power density of 0.3 mW/cm2and 0.5 mW/cm21 800 MHz electromagnetic wave can reduce the activity of GSH－Px and SOD in the skin tissues of rats.