Objective To estimate the gene mutation and the protein expression of v-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1 (BRAF) in esophageal cancer.Methods From February 2014 to September 2015,75 patients with esophageal cancer who received operation were enrolled.Tissues of cancer,adjacent to cancer and far from cancer were taken.The mutation and protein expression of BRAF were detected.The relationship between BRAF protein positive expression and clinical characteristics of patients with esophageal cancer was analyzed.The enumeration data was compared by chi-square test.Results The mutation of exon 11 and exon 15 of gene BRAF was not found in the tissues of esophageal cancer.Among 75 esophageal cancer,a base C or T inserted in the exon 11 was found in five Ⅲb TNM stage cases,and the expression of BRAF at protein level was positive in 46 cases (61.3％).Among 57 tissues adjacent to cancer,nine cases (15.8 ％) was BRAF positive at protein level.Among 75 tissues far from cancer,five(6.7％) was BRAF positive at protein level.The difference among three groups was statistically significant (x2 =61.098,P＜0.05).The positive rates of BRAF expression at protein level in patients with esophageal cancer at Ⅰ,Ⅱ and Ⅲ TNM stage were 21.7％ (5/23),70.8％ (17/24) and 85.7 ％ (24/28),respectively.The positive rates of BRAF expression at protein level in patients with and without lymph node metastasis were 81.6％ (31/38) and 40.5％ (15/37).The positive expression of BRAF at protein level was related with TNM stage and lymph node metastasis (x2 =23.136 and 13.313,both P＜0.01),however it was not related with gender,age and the degree of tumor differentiation (all P＞0.05).Conclusions There is base insertion in the exon 11 of gene BRAF in esophageal cancer,but gene mutation is not found.BRAF is highly expressed in esophageal cancer,which is related with TNM stage and lymph node metastasis,and BRAF could be an indicator of assessment of degree of malignancy and prognosis of esophageal cancer.

Cell culture is one of the usual methods for studying living cell and tissue, the method presented in this paper is based on image processing and analyzing technology for activity estimation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The existing activity estimation methods are costly, complex and invasive. In this method, thresholding is used to preprocess image and to separate out the growth hallow. Then the area is calculated by counting the pixels of the growth hallow. The changes of the activity estimated by this method are similar to those by corresponding cellular experiments. Compared with the existing methods in biology, medicine or medical cellular science, this method is easier, faster, cost-effective and non-invasive. The proposed method has been proved to be efficient by primary experiments of MSCs.
Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Femur ; cytology ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo investigate the mandibular incisive canal (MIC) with cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT).

METHODSFifty adults were selected and CBCT was taken. The CBCT data were reconstructed to evaluate the visibility, shape, diameter, length of the MIC and its relationship with mandible.

RESULTSMIC could be identified in 100% (100/100) of CBCT with good clarity in 71% (71/100). The diameters (horizontal diameter versus vertical diameter) of MIC became smaller from origin to end (left origin of MIC was 2.17 mm×2.22 mm, left end was 0.82 mm×0.92 mm; right origin of MIC was 2.14 mm×2.08 mm, right end was 0.87 mm×0.86 mm). The left and right mean length of MIC was 17.84 mm and 17.73 mm respectively. In bucca-lingual direction, MIC was close to buccal cortical border, and in vertical direction, MIC was close to lower margin of mandible. The distance from MIC to apex of root was shortest in canine.

CONCLUSIONSCBCT can identify MIC with high visibility and prominent clarity. In the interforaminal region of mandible, MIC was close to buccal and lower margin of mandible.

Adult ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; Humans ; Mandible ; anatomy & histology ; diagnostic imaging