Objective To investigate flow patterns at carotid bifurcation in vivo by combining computational fluid dynamics(CFD)and MR angiography imaging.Methods Seven subjects underwent contrast-enhanced MR angiography of carotid artery in Siemens 3.0 T MR.Flow patterns of the carotid artery bifurcation were calculated and visualized by combining MR vascular imaging post-processing and CFD. Results The flow patterns of the carotid bifurcations in 7 subjects were varied with different phases of a cardiac cycle.The turbulent flow and back flow occurred at bifurcation and proximal of internal carotid artery (ICA)and external carotid artery(ECA),their occurrence and conformation were varied with different phase of a cardiac cycle.The turbulent flow and back flow faded out quickly when the blood flow to the distal of ICA and ECA.Conclusion CFD combined with MR angiography can be utilized to visualize the cyclical change of flow patterns of carotid bifurcation with different phases of a cardiac cycle.

Objective To investigate the spatial distribution and clustering areas of Budd-Chiari syndrome in Heze City,Shandong Province,and to provide epidemiological information for further exploring the etiology and related risk factors of the disease.Methods Detailed residential addresses of 342 cases of patients (residents of Heze City) with diaphragm type Budd-Chiari syndrome diagnosed between 1995 and 2004 in Heze Municipal Hospital,Heze Shan County Central Hospital,Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College,Shandong Provincial Hospital and Beijing Xuanwu Hospital were collected.Geographic information system (GIS) was used as a platform for data management and display.The nearest neighbor index,Ripley's K(d) function,Ripley's L(d) function and the nearest neighbor clustering method were applied to detect the spatial characters of Budd-Chiari syndrome in Heze City,Shandong Province.Crimestat 3.0 was used for spatial analysis.Results The nearest neighbor distance analysis showed that the nearest neighbor index was 0.6767 (Z =-11.4387,P ＜ 0.01).That was an aggregation at the first-order spatial scale.Within the study area,the first clustering radius of Budd-Chiari syndrome was 6.66 km,and the first clustering strength was 5.40; the average radius of the strongest clustering area was 126.61 km,and the clustering strength was 12.52,while the biggest clustering radius was larger than 222 km.After corrected by population,the gathering strength was slightly higher than that before the correction.Ten first-order hot spots were formed,and 95％ confidence interval aggregation number was 7,which meant the results were statistically significant(P ＜ 0.05),main clustering areas are in Mudan District,Shan County and Juancheng.One secondorder hot spot was gathered based on the first-order hot spot.Conclusions Spatial distribution of Budd-Chiari syndrome in Heze City,Shandong Province has showed spatial aggregation and heterogeneity.This study has a great epidemiological significance for further exploring the cause of Budd-Chiari syndrome.

Objective To explore the association between genetic polymorphisms and haplotypes of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (Trail) and ulcerative colitis (UC).Methods A total of 331 patients with UC and 832 age and sex-matched healthy controls were collected.After Trail gene was amplified by PCR,the genetic polymorphisms of three single nucleotides (G1525A/G1588A/C1595T) in 3' non coding regions of Trail gene were examined by direct sequencing.The relation between Trail haplotype and UC was analyzed.Results Compared with control group,the frequencies of variant allele A and genotype GA+ AA in Trail G1525A were significantly lower in UC group (both P＜0.01).The frequencies of variant allele A and T in Trail G1588A and C1595T were also significantly lower in UC group than that of control group,and the difference was statistically significant (both P ＜ 0.01 ).In mild and moderate UC patients,the frequencies of variant allele T and CT+TT in Trail C1595T were 49.15％ and 64.51％,in severe UC patients were 72.37％ and 84.21％,and the differences were significant between the two groups (OR=2.710 and 2.935,95％CI:1.598～4.596 and 1.188～7.249,all P ＜0.05).In severe UC patients,the frequency of variant allele A in Trail G1525A was 48.69％,which was higher than that of mild and moderate patients (35.16％,OR=1.750,95％CI:1.082～2.830,P=0.021).In UC group,the frequency of AAT haplotype was significantly lower than that of controls (43.09％ vs 58.41％,P＜0.01).The frequency of GAT haplotype was significantly higher in UC group (10.15％vs 0.18％,95％ CI:0.005 ～ 0.051,P＜ 0.01).Conclusion The genetic polymorphisms and haplotypes of Trail (G1525A/G1588A/C1595T) gene may be closely correlated with the susceptibility to UC.

Enterocolitis, Necrotizing ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Infant, Newborn ; Intestinal Mucosa ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Platelet Activating Factor ; metabolism

0.05),the mean FA on the left was higher than the right(t=1.912,P

OBJECTIVE Toprepareapolyclonalantibodyforspindlin1protein,anovelcancer related protein,and to provide the data for a better understanding of its functions and screening tu mor. METHODS Purifiedspindlin1proteinwasinjectedintorabbitstoproducethepolyclonalantiserumafter removing glutathione S-transferase (GST)from the fusion protein spindlin 1-GST that was expressed in Escherichia coli..The antiserum was purified through the Hitrap Protein A system,and the titer of spin-dlin 1 polyclonal antibody was detected by ELISA.The specificity of the polyclonal antibody was deter-minedbyWesternblottingandimmunohistochemistry.RESULTS Thetiterofspindlin1polyclonalanti-body was 1∶2000.Western blotting detection demonstrated that the spindlin 1 polyclonal antibody recog-nized myc-spindlin 1 reco mbinant fusion protein in HeLa cells transfected with pAdeasy-myc-spindlin 1 , which also corresponded with Myc.antibody.The HeLa cells were transfected with enhanced green fluo-rescence protein (EGFP)and spindlin 1 vector(pEGFP-C3-spindlin 1 ),which was confirmed by the in-dependent GFP fluorescence assay.The results of immunohistochemistry detection with the spindlin 1 polyclonal antibody suggested that spindlin 1 was mainly expressed in the nuclei of HeLa cells.More i m-portantly,in i mmunohistoche mical assays,the spindlin 1 antibody recognized nuclear spindlin 1 expres-sioninclinicalovariancancertissues.CONCLUSION Thespecificspindlin1polyclonalantibodyispre-pared,which may be used to detect cancer-related protein spindlin 1 in HeLa cells and ovarian cancer tissues.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of the combination of musk and olibanum on the tight junction protein expressions in prostatic epithelial cells of normal and chronic prostatitis (CP) rats.

METHODSEighty male SD rats were randomly divided into 8 groups of equal number: normal control, normal musk, normal olibanum, normal musk + olibanum, CP model control, CP model musk, CP model olibanum, and CP model musk + olibanum. At 60 days after modeling, the rats in the control, musk, olibanum, and musk + olibanum groups were treated intragastrically with normal saline, musk (0.021 g per kg body weight per day), olibanum (1.05 g per kg body weight per day), or musk + olibanum respectively, all for 3 days. Then, all the rats were sacrificed and their prostate tissues harvested for detection of the expressions of the tight junction proteins Claudin-1, Claudin-3, Occludin, and ZO-1 in the prostatic epithelial cells by immunohistochemical staining.

RESULTSIn the CP models, only the expression of Claudin-1 was significantly increased. In the normal rats, the expression of Claudin-1 was remarkably upregulated after treated with musk (824.6 ± 393.3, P < 0.05), olibanum (982.0 ± 334.0, P < 0.05), and musk + olibanum (1088.1 ± 640.2, P < 0.01); that of Claudin-3 was elevated markedly by olibanum (1 009.5 ± 243.6, P < 0.05) and insignificantly by musk (597.5 ± 80.7), but the increasing effect of olibanum was reduced by musk + olibanum (678.4 ± 255.1). No statistically significant differences were found in the expression of Occludin among the rats treated with musk (693.0 ± 424.8), olibanum (732.1 ± 302.0), and musk + olibanum (560.2 ± 202.3), or in that of ZO-1 in the animals treated with musk (290.0 ± 166.8) and olibanum (419.7 ± 108.1), but the latter was markedly decreased in the musk + olibanum group (197.7 ± 98.2, P < 0.05). In the CP rat models, both the expressions of Claudin-1 (823.0 ± 100.1, P < 0.01) and Occludin (1160.0 ± 32.2, P < 0.05) were significantly increased. The expression of Claudin-1 was remarkably down-regulated by musk (764.9 ± 179.0), olibanum (468.4 ± 220.4), and musk + olibanum (335.1 ± 204.0) (all P < 0.05), but that of Claudin-3 up-regulated by musk (744.6 ± 94.5) and olibanum (700.1 ± 223.7) (both P < 0.05). The expression of Occludin was reduced by musk (615.0 ± 221.0), olibanum (749.6 ± 321.7), and musk + olibanum (505.8 ± 523.7), while that of ZO-1 increased by olibaum (443.2 ± 44.9) and decreased by musk + olibanum (213.5 ± 24.9, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONIn physiological and pathological conditions, the combination of musk and olibanum acts on the expressions of tight junction proteins in prostate epithelial cells in a selective and dual-targeting manner, promoting their permeability by down-regulating the expression of ZO-1 and maintaining their structural stability by regulating the expressions of Claudin-1, Claudin-3, and Occludin.

Animals ; Claudins ; metabolism ; Down-Regulation ; Epithelial Cells ; drug effects ; Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated ; chemistry ; Frankincense ; chemistry ; Male ; Occludin ; metabolism ; Prostate ; cytology ; Prostatitis ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tight Junction Proteins ; metabolism ; Up-Regulation

Aneurysm, False ; etiology ; surgery ; Blood Loss, Surgical ; Carcinoma ; Carotid Arteries ; Carotid Artery Diseases ; etiology ; surgery ; Humans ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; radiotherapy ; Rupture

OBJECTIVETo rudiment analyze the different intervention factors affecting the spinal cord injury functional recovery initially through prospective study project.

METHODSDesigned prospective study project without clinical treatment intervention and admitted 62 spinal cord injury cases into observation group from Dec 2006 to Dec 2007. The internalized standard included acute spinal cord injury within 1 week, aged from 18 to 65 years old without sexuality difference and diagnosed as type A injury: total spinal cord injury or type B injury: non-total spinal cord injury (without movement function below the injury plane) according to clinical physical examination and combined MRI or CT examination. All the 62 cases were followed up. The spinal cord function were estimated at the time of arriving hospital, 1, 3, 6 months after injury during the following up time according to the American Spine Injury Association standard (Revised at 2000) and functional independence measure (FIM) score. The intervention factors affecting the spinal cord injury functional recovery were analyzed.

RESULTSAmong the 62 cases, male 60 cases and female 2 cases, aged from 18 to 41 years old, mean age 24 years old, 29 cases can be classified into type A injury and 33 cases can be classified into type B injury. There was no significant difference (Index including sense ASIA, motor ASIA and FIM) between operation group and non-operation group, namely conservatively composite treatment at all observation point in all type A injury cases (P > 0.05). There was significant difference (Index including sense ASIA, motor ASIA and FIM) between operation group and non-operation group at all observation point in all type B injury cases (P < 0.05); And there was significant difference (Index including sense ASIA, motor ASIA and FIM) between operated in 8 hours (< or = 8 h) group and beyond 8 hours (> 8 h) group at all observation point in all type B operated cases (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSOperation and operation time were of no significant value for type A injury (total spinal cord injury), but considering the nursing convenience and the need for spinal stabilities, operation decompression and internal fixation can be chosen; Operation decompression should be performed as soon as quickly for type B injury (non-total spinal cord injury) in order to get better functional recovery.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Injury Severity Score ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Recovery of Function ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo provide scientific basis for natural cultivation of Fritillaria cirrhosa.

METHODThe cluster analysis to the Bray--Curtis distance coefficient of community plot was carried out to divide the community types of F. cirrhosa.

RESULT AND CONCLUSIONThe community of F. cirrhosa's natural cultivation can be divided into six types: Sibiraea angustata community, Rhododendron litangense community, Salix sclerophylla community, Dasiphora fruticosa + Spiraea alpina + S. myrtilloides community, Sabina pingii var. wilsonii community, Polygonum viviparum + P. sphaerostachyum community, and the ecological characteristics such as the composition of community and ecological distribution have been showed.

Altitude ; China ; Climate ; Cluster Analysis ; Conservation of Natural Resources ; methods ; Ecosystem ; Fritillaria ; growth & development ; Pharmacognosy ; Plants, Medicinal ; growth & development ; Temperature