Balance function assessments for stroke patients include instruments and scales. The instruments consist of static balance test systems and dynamic balance test systems. The commonly used static balance test systems include balance performance monitor (BPM) and Tetrax balance test system, and the dynamic balance test systems include Active Balancer EAB-100 and Pro-Kin 254. The balance scales contained Berg Balance Scale, Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke Patients, Timed Up and Go Test, Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Bal-ance, Tinetti Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment, and Five-Times-Sit-to-Stand Test, etc. This article reviewed the features and indi-cations of them.

BACKGROUND:Al oying is a convenient and effective method to alter the microstructure and control the corrosion behavior of magnesium al oy.
OBJECTIVE:To explore the in vitro and in vivo degradation of Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr al oy as a degradable medical biomaterial.
METHODS:(1) In vitro static immersion test:The immersion tests were carried out at (37.0±0.5) thermostatic bath. Six Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr al oy samples and six pure magnesium samples were immersed in the 250 mL simulated body fluid and vibrated without agitation during immersion. After 3, 7 and 30 days static immersion, the samples were taken out from the simulated body fluid. Then the in vitro corrosion properties were evaluated using scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer analysis. (2) In vivo animal experiment:After bone tunnel was established in the left femur of adult New Zealand rabbits, the Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr al oy rods were embedded in the Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr al oy group, titanium al oy rods were embedded in the titanium al oy group, and only bone tunnel was established in the sham-operated group. At 1, 2, 4, 8 weeks after implantation, an X-ray of the implanted region was taken to determine the location and the degradation behavior℃in a of Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr al oy. At 4, 8 weeks after implantation, the corrosion product and its element composition were observed using scanning electron microscope with an energy dispersive spectroscopy system.

Objective To explore the diagnostic value and clinical significance of the combined detection of antinuclear antibody (ANA) and anti-nuclear antibody spectrum (ANAs) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) .Methods 110 patients with SLE ,88 patients with other autoimmune diseases (AID) and 50 individuals with healthy physical examination were selected and detected se-rum ANA by using indirect immunofluorescence (IIF);the Western blot was adopted to detect the 15 items of ANAs .Results A-mong 110 cases of SLE ,the positive rates of serum ANA ,anti-ribonucleoprotein /Smith antibody (nRNP/Sm) ,anti-Smith antibody (Sm) ,anti-Sjogren′s syndrome A antibody (SSA) ,anti-Ro-52 antibody (Ro-52) ,anti-Sjogren′s syndrome B antibody (SSB) ,anti-scleroderma 70 antibody (Scl-70) ,anti-PM-Scl antibody (PM-Scl) ,anti-cytoplasmic group acyl-tRNA antibody (J0-1) ,anti-centro-mere antibodies (CENP B) ,anti-proliferative protein antibody (PCNA ) ,anti-double stranded DNA antibody (ds-DNA ) ,anti-nu-cleosome antibody (AnuA) ,anti-histone antibody (AHA) ,anti-ribosomal P protein antibody (ARPA) and anti-mitochondrial anti-body M2 subtype (AMA M2) were 98 .2% ,59 .1 % ,39 .1 % ,71 .8 % ,68 .2 % ,21 .8 % ,2 .7 % ,3 .6 % ,0 .9% ,9 .1% ,5 .5% , 44 .5% ,38 .2 % ,27 .3 % ,38 .2% and 15 .5% respectively ,the positive rate of above 16 kinds of autoantibody in the orther AID were64.8% ,14.8% ,0% ,37.5% ,42.0% ,11.4% ,9.1% ,0% ,5.7% ,9.1% ,1.1% ,2.3% ,1.1% ,1.1% ,5.7% and2.3% respec-tively ;ANA had the highest diagnostic sensitivity (98 .2% ) and low specificity (35 .2% ) for SLE ,the antibodies with higher speci-ficity in diagnosing SLE were anti-Sm antibody (100 .0% ) ,anti-ds-DNA antibody (97 .7% ) ,anti-AnuA antibody (99 .0% ) ,anti-AHA antibody (99 .0% ) ,anti-ARPA antibody (94 .3% ) and anti-PCNA antibody (98 .9% ) and the disease control group (50 .9% ) .In detecting ANA karyotype by IIF ,the maximum was nuclear particle type (43 .5% ) and the disease control group (50 .9% ) ,no statistically significant difference was found between them (P>0 .05) ,part of the ANA-negative patients have positive ANAs .Conclusion Multiple autoantibodies can be detected in the serum of the SLE patients .The combined detection of ANA and ANAs has important clinical significance for diagnosing and differentially diagnosing SLE .

Objective To explore the functional imaging alteration of dorsal attention network (DAN) between heroin addicts and heroin abstainers and probe into its influence on attentional function.Methods Attention-related neuropsychological assessments were applied to evaluate the difference of attentional function between heroin addicts and heroin abstainers.With the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data obtained from 17 heroin addicts and 15 heroin abstainers at resting state,we extracted the DANs of heroin withdrawal group and heroin dependence group respectively by using independent component analysis (ICA) and analysed the differences of intra-group and inter-group,then correlation analysis was performed among brain areas which have significant difference between groups and Stroop interference effect test.Results Compared with the heroin dependence group,there was a better result of attentional function in the heroin withdrawal group (P＜0.05),especially at the digit span test(backward) (P=0.0363),digit symbol test (writing) (P =0.0195),Stroop test C (reaction) (P =0.0379),Stroop test C (error) (P=0.0014) and Stroop interference effect test (P=0.0002).Neuroimaging findings demonstrated that there was a similar DAN in the heroin withdrawal group and heroin dependence group which mainly included the bilateral intraparietal suleus,postcentral gyrus and frontal eye field.Compared with the DAN of heroin addicts,significantly enhanced functional connectivity within the DAN of heroin abstainers was observed in the left superior parietal lobule (MIN:-24,-75,48),right inferior parietal lobule (MIN:39,-54,45) and left inferior parietal lobule (MIN:-33,-51,57).Significant negative correlations were observed between these brain areas and Stroop interference effect test in the heroin dependence group (r=-0.79,-0.69,-0.64,P＜0.01),but not in the heroin withdrawal group.Conclusions Heroin addiction can impair attentional function,compared with the DAN of heroin addicts,significantly enhanced functional connectivity in the left superior parietal lobule as well as bilateral inferior parietal lobule are observed in the heroin abstainers at resting state,which may be one of the neural mechanisms of attentional function improvement.

Objective To explore clinical characteristics of alveolar soft part sarcoma(ASPS) and prognosis factors related to surgical treatment.Methods This study retrospectively analyzed 29 ASPS consecutive cases between Sep.1982 to Sep.2010,including 18 males and 11 females,with average 24.4 and median 21 years old (ranging 9 to 58).26 patients with surgery were enrolled in this study,with 23 cases primarily ocurred in soft tissue and 3 cases in bone.There were 17 cases with painless mass (65.4％,17/26) and 9 cases with pain (36.4％,9/26).Demographics,tumor size,stage,surgical margin,adjuvant chemotherapy provided,local recurrence,metastatic rate and overall survival probability were evaluated.We used multivariate analysis of logistic regression and Cox regression for local recurrence and survival rate respectively,and univariate analysis for tumor size,surgical margin,adjuvant chemotherapy and local recurrence.Results According to the Enneking classification,we distinguished stage Ⅱ 14 cases and stage Ⅲ 12 cases.Marginal excision was obtained in 9 cases as well as wide resection in 17 patients.The average and median follow-up time was 45.9 and 31 months (ranging 5 to 226) respectively,12 cases eventually survived (46.2％).The 5-year survival rates for stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ cases were 79.5％ and 23.4％ respectively.We found significant difference for local recurrence with surgical margin.However,there was no significant difference for prevention of metastatic progression with or without adjuvant chemotherapy.For tumor size,5-year survival rate of ＞ 5 cm and ＜ 5 cm group were 40.7％ and 80.0％ respectively.Multivariate analysis of logistic regression showed the surgical marginal was the only significant risk factor for local recurrence,while Cox regression showed both stage and tumor size were independent prognostic indicators for survival.Conclusion Although presenting as a slowly growing and painless mass,ASPS is an aggressive tumor with high risk of metastasis.Prognosis of ASPS is basically related to the characteristics of tumor size,surgical stage and quality of surgery.With limited improvement of adjuvant chemotherapy for metastasis control and survival,new agents are eagerly needed to complement surgery to eradicate this disease.

Objective To explore the relationship between the expression of XRCC1 and glioma. Methods Total of 26 samples of glioma were divided into 4 groups:gradeⅠ,gradeⅡ,gradeⅢand gradeⅣ. The expression of XRCC1 in 26 Gliomas tissues were examined using SP immunohistochemical staining.Results The positive staining of XRCC1 protein was localized in nucleus of tumor cells in Glioma. There was no correlation among them. The difference of XRCC1 expression among gradeⅠ~Ⅳ was not significant ( >0.05) .Conclusion The difference of XRCC1 expression among gradeⅠ~Ⅳ was not significant. The expression of XRCC1 was closely correlated with the effect of radiotherapy.

Objective To investigate the molecular mechanism of retinoic acid in targeted treatment of craniopharyngioma by detecting the expression of RARαand PPARβ/δin craniopharyngioma cells and analyzing the correlation between the expression and effect of retinoic acid. Methods The expression of RARα and PPARβ/δ in craniopharyngioma cells from 31 patients cultured in vitro was quantified by reverse transcription-PCR. The inhibition rates of RA on craniopharyngioma with different expression of RARα and PPARβ/δ were detected by using MTT assay, and the correlation between the expression of RARα and PPARβ/δand the effect of RA was analyzed. Results 1. The RT-PCR results showed that the expression levels of PPARβ/δand RARα mRNA were different. Craniopharyngioma cells from 31 patients in primary culture were divided into three groups according the expression levels of nuclear receptor: PPARβ/δ>RARα group, RARα>PPARβ/δ group and RARα>>PPARβ/δ group. 2.MTT results showed that the inhibition rate of RARα>>PPARβ/δgroup was significantly higher than the other groups under same drug, the differences had statistical significance ( <0.01) . Conclusions The expression of PPARβ/δ, RARα can be used to evaluate the effect of RA in treatment of craniopharyngioma. The craniopharyngioma with low-expression of PPARβ/δ is more sensitive to RA. Targeting higher RARα or targeting lower PPARβ/δ is beneficial to the treatment of craniopharyngiomas.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the antitumor effect of recombinant IFN-alpha-2b-BCG on mouse bladder cancer MB49 cells in vitro, and to explore its antitumor mechanisms.

METHODSMB49 cells were co-cultured with recombinant BCG or wild BCG, and than were examined by light and transmission electron microscopy. The cell growth was assessed by MTT assay, and apoptosis rate and MHC-I of the MB49 cells was detected by flow cytometry using AO and Hoechst33258 fluorescence immunostaining.

RESULTSThe hIFN-alpha-2b-BCG-treated tumor cells showed slow growth, detachment of some cells, and various degree of degeneration. Light microscopy revealed organelle disorganization, chromatin aggregation, nuclear pyknosis, and cytolysis in some cells. Cellular membrane bulged and some bubbles were seen under fluorescence microscope using AO staining. Hoechst33258 assay also depicted frequent apoptosis in the tumor cells. The MTT assay showed that rBCG more actively than the wild BCG inhibited the proliferation of MB49 cells. The apoptosis rate of the recombinant BCG group was 19.7% and 46.6% at the time point of 24 h and 48 h, respectively, significantly higher than 10.8% and 20.9%, respectively, in the wild BCG group. The results of flow cytometry indicated that both types of BCG enhanced the expression of MHC-I in the MB49 cells, but more effective in the recombinant BCG group.

CONCLUSIONThe recombinant hIFN-alpha-2b-BCG has more strong immuno-modulatory properties, anti-tumor effect on MB49 cells and induces apparent cytotoxicity in the bladder cancer cells in vitro.

Adjuvants, Immunologic ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; BCG Vaccine ; pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cytotoxicity, Immunologic ; Histocompatibility Antigens Class I ; metabolism ; Interferon-alpha ; pharmacology ; Mice ; Recombinant Proteins ; pharmacology ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology

BACKGROUNDGiant cell tumors (GCTs) most commonly occur around the knee. The most beneficial procedure for this disease has been extensive curettage with reconstruction. However, since many GCTs may compromise the subchondral bone, surgery can further jeopardize the articular cartilage and result in secondary osteoarthritis. In this study, we aimed to determine the factors associated with the development of degenerative arthritis and the effect of bone grafting on the prevention of secondary osteoarthritis.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed 76 patients with GCT around the knee. The mean age at first diagnosis was 31.1 years. Surgical treatments included extensive curettage and cementation with or without bone grafting in the subchondral bone. Patient follow-up was a median duration of 35 months, ranging from 18 to 113 months.

RESULTSThe local recurrence rate was 5.3% (4/76). Secondary degenerative changes occurred in 30.3% (23/76) of the patients. Less than 10 mm of the residual thickness of the remaining subchondral bone was correlated with secondary degenerative changes in 57 patients (P < 0.001). Of these 57 patients, 56.5% (13/23) treated with bone cement reconstruction alone developed secondary degenerative changes; following bone grafting, the rate decreased to 29.4% (10/34), with a statistically significant difference (P = 0.041).

CONCLUSIONSGCT patients with less residual thickness of the subchondral bone are more likely to develop degenerative arthritis after curettage. Bone grafting in the subchondral bone area is recommended when the residual thickness of the subchondral bone is less than 10 mm.

Adult ; Aged ; Bone Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Bone Transplantation ; Female ; Giant Cell Tumor of Bone ; pathology ; surgery ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo investigate the apoptosis induced by manumycin in U937 and HL-60 cell lines, and to explore the role of mitochondria apoptotic pathway in manumycin-inducing apoptosis.

METHODSLeukemic cells line U937 and HL-60 were treated by manumycin at 2 micromol/L for different time. Apoptosis of leukemia cells was detected by flow cytometry. The cytosolic proteins were extracted using a digitonin buffer. The protein expression of cytochrome C, caspase-9, caspase-8, and caspase-3 were determined by western blot. Mitochondrial membrane potential was detected by JC-1.

RESULTSIn U937 and HL-60 cells, manumycin induced mitochondrial depolarization after 6 h treatment. The average red/green fluorescence ratios at 6 h were significantly (P < 0.01) lower than those at time 0, being 0.51 +/- 0.07 and 0.41 +/- 0.06 for control group respectively. Manumycin induced cytochrome C release from the mitochondria into the cytosol after 6 h treatment, and activated caspase-9, caspase-8, and caspase-3 after a 16h treatment. The broad-spectrum caspase-inhibitor Z-VAD-fmk at 50 micromol/L was able to inhibit caspase cleavage completely, but only reduced the manumycin-induced apoptosis rates by 51.69% and 56.47% in U937 and HL-60, respectively.

CONCLUSIONManumycin induced apoptosis in U937 and HL-60 cell lines via mitochondria apoptotic pathway.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Caspase 8 ; metabolism ; Caspase 9 ; metabolism ; Cytochromes c ; metabolism ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; Mitochondria ; drug effects ; metabolism ; physiology ; Polyenes ; pharmacology ; Polyunsaturated Alkamides ; pharmacology