BACKGROUND:Lycium barbarum polysaccharide, the main active component of leaves of lycium barbarum, has a remarkable therapeutic effect on osteoporosis in adult ovariectomized female rats.
OBJECTIVE:To explore effects of leaves ofLycium barbarum on serum estradiol and bone estrogen receptor expressions in adult oxariectomized female rats.
METHODS: Thirty-two 6-month-od female rats were randomized into sham-surgery, model, and treatment groups, respectively. Rat models of postmenopausal osteoporosis were induced by ovariotomy folowed by oraly administration of water solution of leaves ofLycium barbarum (500 or 1 000 mg/kg) or distiled water once daily for consecutive 12 weeks in treatment and model groups, respectively. Serum estradiol level was detected by radiation immunoassaymethod. Estrogen receptor α, β immunoreactivities in bone tissue were determined by immunohistochemical staining.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Serum estradiol level in the model group was significantly decreased compared with the sham-surgery group (P < 0.01), but that was significantly increased in the treatment groups, particularly at high dose, compared with the model group (P< 0.01). Estrogen receptor α, βimmunoreactivities were weaker in the model group than the sham-surgery group (P < 0.01), and those were stronger in the treatment groups than the model group (P < 0.01). Our results suggest that leaves of Lycium barbarum treat osteoporosis through enhancing serum estradiol and estrogen receptor expressions in adult ovariectomized rats.

Objective To evaluate mortality associated with simultaneous bilateral or staged bilateral TKA, and better understand the risks involved in the simultaneous versus staged bilateral procedures.Methods A systematic review was conducted, following an a priori protocol, according to the methods recommended by the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group in the Cochrane Collaboration. Eligible studies were identified in PubMed (1990-2010), OVID MEDLINE (1990-2010), and the Cochrane library, concerning postoperative complications of bilateral or staged bilateral total knee arthroplasty. All of the English-language abstracts were obtained, and retrieval words including bilateral total knee arthroplasty, staged total knee arthroplasty, and total knee arthroplasty, etc. An extensive analysis was then performed to identify articles fulfilling the inclusion criteria for the study. The details of the reported data were extracted and evaluated by two reviewers independently. Data analyses were conducted with Stata 10.0. Results Six studies met our inclusion criteria for review. The combined results showed that the prevalence of mortality[OR=2.925, 95% CI (2.352, 3.638)], mortality 30 days postoperatively[OR=5.078, 95% CI (2.192, 1 1.763)]and mortality in 70 years or older patients[OR=4.087, 95% CI (1.947, 8.582)]were statistically higher in the population that had undergone simultaneous TKA compared with staged TKA. Conclusion Compared with staged bilateral TKA, simultaneous bilateral TKA might carries a higher potential risk of postoperative mortality. Patients should be aware of this information when deciding whether to proceed with simultaneous bilateral TKA. Further well-designed and large-scale randomized controlled trials are required to confirm these findings.

Objective To study the effects of Hydergine on expression of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors in hippocampus and actions of mice with ischemia-reperfusion injury.Methods 36 mice were randomly divided into model group,Hydergine group and sham-operated group. The models of ischemia-reperfusion injury were made by knotting bilateral common carotid arteries. The behavioral abnormalities were investigated by step-down test and water maze test, and the expressions of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors in neurons of hippocampus were observed by immunohistochemistry technique. Results Compared with model group, the performance records of learning and memory in Hydergine group were better (all P

Objective To understand the prevalence and disease distribution of migrants within the water source area of the Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Diversion Project and analyze the influencing factors. Methods By multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method, 307 immigrants and 676 immigrants were selected from Danjiangkou reservoir area, Shiyan city, Hubei Province. Results The prevalence of chronic diseases among in-migration was 51.8%. The prevalence rates of the top five chronic diseases were waist and leg pain, hypertension, gastritis, heart disease and diabetes. The prevalence of chronic diseases among out-migration was 65.1%. The prevalence rates of the top five chronic diseases were waist and leg pain, hypertension, gastritis, heart disease and bronchitis. The rate of chronic disease, the rate of two weeks and the rate of two weeks' visit were higher than that of emigration(all P<0.05). The results of multivariate analysis showed that the factors influencing the chronic diseases of immigrants were 60 years old (OR=59.928，P<0.001), unsatisfied family income (OR=0.377, P=0.002) and poor economic status (OR=0.517, P=0.028). The factors influencing the chronic diseases of immigrants were 60 years old (OR=26.190, P<0.001), smoking (OR=1.856,P=0.004), unsatisfactory family income (OR=0.598,P=0.029) and poor economic status (OR=0.460,P<0.001). Conclusions The prevalence of migrants within a high level is at a high level. Actually raising the income of immigrants is conducive to improving the health condition of immigrants.

A new algorithm of adaptive super-resolution (SR) reconstruction based on the regularization parameter is proposed to reconstruct a high-resolution (HR) image from the low-resolution (LR) image sequence, which takes into full account the inaccurate estimates of motion error, point spread function (PSF) and the additive Gaussian noise in the LR image sequence. We established a novel nonlinear adaptive regularization function and analyzed experimentally its convexity to obtain the adaptive step size. This novel algorithm can effectively improve the spatial resolution of the image and the rate of convergence, which is verified by the experiment on optical images.
Algorithms ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Motion ; Time Factors

With the development of integration process, how to manage citizens' cross-border healthcare be-tween member countries in an organized way has become a major agenda for European Union (EU). Through great efforts over years,a well-functioning mechanism has been established by EU's social health insurance and has been of global interest. It's believed that China's trans-provincial healthcare management can learn a lot from this mechanism. This study aims to provide experiences and reference to China's trans-provincial healthcare management by overview EU's mechanism for cross-border healthcare and then analyzing the differences between China and European Union in terms of object of management,authorization,service institutions,types of healthcare services,and reimbursement of medical insurance in different places. This study suggests that it's necessary for each province to officially introduce relevant policies in order to speed up and facilitate the establishment of trans-provincial healthcare management mech-anism. Moreover,to achieve orderly seeking medical treatment, health insurance agencies should be endowed with approval power to authorize patient trans-provincial application. Meanwhile, the network of health institutions which are entitled to provide services to trans-provincial patients should be expanded. Along with such expansion,and given the lack of understanding on behaviors of health institutions in different provinces for a specific local health insurance agency,it's required that national trans-provincial healthcare management system should take an active role in putting such health institutions under supervision.

To increase the resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of magnetic resonance (MR) images, an adaptively regularized super-resolution reconstruction algorithm was proposed and applied to acquire high resolution MR images from 4 subpixel-shifted low resolution images on the same anatomical slice. The new regularization parameter, which allowed the cost function of the new algorithm to be locally convex within the definition region, was introduced by the piori information to enhance detail restoration of the image with a high frequency. The experiment results proved that the proposed algorithm was superior to other counterparts in achieving the reconstruction of low-resolution MR images.
Algorithms ; Humans ; Image Enhancement ; methods ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between abdominal fat volume and obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome in obesity people.

METHODSFrom July 2009 to July 2010, 50 patients with BMI > 25 were prospectively selected for study from the patients who complained of snoring in the Respiratory department. The patients were divided into OSAHS group and non-OSAHS group according to the result of sleep apnea monitoring. All the patients also received full abdominal CT and the whole abdominal fat volume was measured by 3-D CT reconstruction system. SPSS 13.0 was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTSThe whole abdominal fat volume in the two groups was analyzed by T- test, which was significantly different between the two groups (P < 0.01). It showed that there was a statistical relationship between OSAHS and abdominal fat in obesity people.

CONCLUSIONIn obesity people, OSAHS has a close relationship with abdominal fat volume. The abdominal fat volume is markedly higher in OSAHS patients than that in non-OSAHS people.

Abdominal Fat ; diagnostic imaging ; Adult ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Obesity ; diagnostic imaging ; Prospective Studies ; Radiography ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; epidemiology

Objective To study the outcomes of AIDS intervention programs and to provide scientific evidence for developing pertinent strategy on intervention among men who have sex with men (MSM).Methods MSM were recruited through snowballing and investigated by face to face interview in 2006 and 2007 respectively.SPSS 12.0 was used to compare the change of cognition about AIDS,sexual behavior,prevalence rates of HIV and Syphilis before and after the intervention program among the population under study.Results The cognition about AIDS among MSM was obviously improved after the intervention with the rate increased from 74.3% to 82.4% (P=0.01).The rate of last time condom use among MSM increased from 56.4% to 65.5% (P=0.00).The rate of consistent condom use during six months among MSM increased from 31.8% to 41.9% (P=0.00).The rates of both condom use during commercial sex with men and with women did not change much among MSM.The prevalence rates of HIV in 2006 and 2007 were 10.4% and 10.8% and of syphilis in 2006 and 2007 were 9.3% and 7.3% respectively which were not significantly different between before and after the intervention.Conclusion The cognition about AIDS among MSM was improved obviously.However,the rate of consistent condom use was still low,reflecting the segregation phenomenon between their behavior and cognition.All our findings implied that it was crucial to carry out AIDS prevention and control programs.

Objective To explore the acceptability of male circumcision (MC) as an HIV prevention method and its related factors among young men of Yi ethnicity in Liangshan prefecture. Methods 446 young men were selected in Butuo county,under stratified sampling method. Using a self-designed questionnaire,face to face interviews were taken to collect HIV-related risk behaviors,knowledge and acceptability of MC. Results After an introduction on MC by interviewers,40.6% of the interviewees expressed their willingness in taking this surgery. The main reason for acceptance was that they felt this surgery might reduce the risk of HIV infection (90.1%). For those who refused to take this surgery,most of them thought it was too sensitive and embarrassing (52.5%) and were afraid that it might affect their procreation ability. Data from logistic regression analysis indicated that the acceptability of MC was associated with the following factors as: age,income,experience of commercial sexual behavior. They also felt that messages related to male MC surgery could reduce the risk of being infected with HIV/STDs or induce pain when having sexual intercourse,or it might cause partial infection after surgery,or they might be mocked at if taking the surgery. Conclusion It is the prerequisite in helping young people of Yi ethnicity to have a good understanding on MC as for Yi people,embarrassment attitudes towards sex appears to be one of the big obstacles against the popularization of this surgery. The operation should be provided by trained and professional doctors,with standardized procedure,in good sanitary conditions and free for service.