In recent years, much attention has been paid to arterial stiffness detection,but the relation between arterial stiffness and cerebrovascular disease has not been fully elucidated.This article reviews the detective methods of arterial stiffness and its relationship between the risk factors for cerebrovascular disease, ischemic stroke (including asymptomatic cerebral infarction) and cerebral hemorrhage.

Pulse waves contain rich physiological and pathological information of the human vascular system. The pulse wave diagnosis systems are very helpful for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Accurate pulse waveform is necessary to evaluate the performances of the pulse wave equipment. However, it is difficult to obtain accurate pulse waveform due to several kinds of physiological and pathological conditions for testing and maintaining the pulse wave acquisition devices. A pulse wave generator was designed and implemented in the present study for this application. The blood flow in the vessel was simulated by modeling the cardiovascular system with windkessel model. Pulse waves can be generated based on the vascular systems with four kinds of resistance. Some functional models such as setting up noise types and signal noise ratio (SNR) values were also added in the designed generator. With the need of portability, high speed dynamic response, scalability and low power consumption for the system, field programmable gate array (FPGA) was chosen as hardware platform, and almost all the works, such as developing an algorithm for pulse waveform and interfacing with memory and liquid crystal display (LCD), were implemented under the flow of system on a programmable chip (SOPC) development. When users input in the key parameters through LCD and touch screen, the corresponding pulse wave will be displayed on the LCD and the desired pulse waveform can be accessed from the analog output channel as well. The structure of the designed pulse wave generator is simple and it can provide accurate solutions for studying and teaching pulse waves and the detection of the equipments for acquisition and diagnosis of pulse wave.
Algorithms ; Equipment Design ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Liquid Crystals ; Models, Cardiovascular ; Pulse Wave Analysis ; instrumentation ; Regional Blood Flow

Objective To investigate the relationship between different topographic locations and neurological deteriorations (ND) in patients with acute new isolated pontine infarction.Methods One hundred sixty-eight patients with acute new isolated pontine infarction during arch 2012 to March 2016 were identified by diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) for retrospective review.Patients were divided into two groups according to their clinical symptoms:patients with ND and patients without ND.According to neuroimaging of DWI,the topographic location of pontine infarction was divided into three types:The upper,middle,and lower ones,and the correlations of ND with risk factors,laboratory examination results,clinical manifestations and different topographic locations were explored by statistical tests.Results Of 168 patients,26.8％ (45/168) were diagnosed with ND,and 73.2％ (123/168) were diagnosed without ND.Univariate analysis showed that there were differences in female ratio [62.2％ (28/45) vs 41.5％ (51/ 123)],smoking ratio [13.3％ (6/45) vs 26.0％ (32/123)],mean length of hospital stay [(22.83 ± 7.12)d vs (19.31 ± 7.65)d],ratio of worse short-term clinical outcomes [77.8％ (35/45) vs 33.3％ (41/123)],and ratio of lower pontine infarction [55.6％ (25/45) vs 26.0％ (32/123)] between two groups (P ＜ 0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that lower pontine infarction was the independent risk factor of ND (OR =1.953,95％ CI:1.092-3.535,P =0.029).Conclusions Topographic location of lower pons lesions may be reliable predictor of ND in acute new isolated pontine infarction.

Objective To analyze the correlation between clinical features and renal dysfunction in patients of acute lacunar infarction with progressive cerebral microbleeds (CMBs). Methods Two hundred and sixty-five patients with first-episode acute lacunar infarction were selected. The serum creatinine was measured within 24 h of admission and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated. The brain MRI (including gradient-echo images) was examined within 2 d of admission and after 1 years of follow-up, respectively. The progressive CMBs was assessed with microbleeds anatomical rating scale (MARS), and the patients were divided into progressive CMBs group (progressive group, 42 cases) and non progressive CMBs group (non progressive group, 223 cases). The clinical features of 2 groups were compared and the correlation between progressive CMBs and renal dysfunction was analyzed. Results The age, 24 h pulse pressure, incidences of renal dysfunction and CMBs in progressive group were significantly higher than those in non progressive group: (69.8 ± 5.8) years vs. (61.5 ± 4.9) years, (63.3 ± 3.1) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa) vs. (51.8 ± 4.2) mmHg, 69.0％(29/42) vs. 39.9％(89/223) and 57.1％(24/42) vs. 25.1％(56/223), and the platelet was significantly lower than that in non-progression group:(168 ± 35) ×109/L vs. (189 ± 40) ×109/L, and there were statistical differences (P<0.05 or<0.01). The Logistic regression analysis result showed that renal dysfunction and CMBs were Independent risk factors of progressive CMBs (OR = 1.571 and 1.054, 95％ CI 1.042 - 2.493 and 1.010 - 1.142, P<0.05). Conclusions The rate of renal dysfunction is higher in patients of acute lacunar infarction with progressive CMBs, and progressive CMBs are associated with renal dysfunction.

Objective To investigate the hemodynamic parameters to stabilize cerebral blood flow within limits of cerebral autoregualtion. Methods We assessed the flow velocity of middle cerebral artery using transcranial Doppler and recorded invasively the blood pressure simultaneously. We then analyzed the curves of cerebral blood flow autoregulation (CBFA) and calculated upper limit of autoregulation (ULA) and lower limit of autoregulation (LLA). The values of critical closing pressue (CCP) and resistance area product (RAP) were calculated according to previous theory. The relationship between CCP, RAP and MABP were analyzed. Results In the process of increasing or decreasing blood pressure, ULA and LLA of normal rats were 148.12 ± 7.49 mmHg or 62.96 ± 3.34 mmHg, respectively. When mean artery blood pressue (MABP) changed within limits of cerebral autoregulation, the cerebral blood flow velocity changed little (increasing:0.65± 0.27 cm/s/10mmHg MABP, decreasing:0.43±0.23cm/s/10 mmHg MABP), while CCP and RAP changed significantly (in?creasing: 4.60 ± 1.06 mmHg/10mmHg MABP and 0.11 ± 0.04/10 mmHg MABP, decreasing: 6.74 ± 0.59 mmHg/10 mmHg MABP and 0.09 ± 0.02/10mmHg MABP). After fixing change of blood flow velocity, CCP and RAP were correlated with MABP more remarkablely, although all blood flow velocity, CCP and RAP were significantly correlated with MABP. Conclusion Within limits of cerebral autoregulation, stable cerebral blood flow is mainly achieved by the change of CCP and RAP against blood pressure changing on normal rats, especially the increasing or de?creasing of CCP.

Objective To compare the safety and efficacy of minimally-access percutaneous nephrolithotomy (Mini-PCNL) in modified lateral position and prone position in high-risk patients with upper urinary tract stones and explore the clinical value of the modified lateral position. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 82 cases of high-risk patients underwent ultrasound-guided percutaneous nephrolithotomy from June 2010 to December 2015. 43 cases in group of modified lateral position and 39 case in group of prone position. The mean operating time, the success rate of stone fragmentation, hospitalization days, the value of postoperative hemoglobin decline and complication rate of patients were record and compared between the two groups. Results There was no statistical significance between the modified lateral position group and prone position group (P > 0.05) in gender, age, stone type, BMI, the score of ASA and preoperative complication. There was statistical significance in found access time, (7.88 ± 0.82) min in the modified lateral position group and (8.50 ± 0.80) min in the prone position group (P < 0.01). The stone free rate in the modified lateral position group (95.35 %) was higher than that in prone position group (74.36 %), the value of postoperative hemoglobin decline were (9.33 ± 2.49) g/L and (10.90 ± 3.54) g/L, respectively (P < 0.05); Two groups of the pleural damage rate had significant difference (P < 0.05); the hospitalization days and operating time were no statistical difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). Conclusions The Mini-PCNL in modified lateral position for high-risk patients had advantages of found access time, stone clearance rate, pleural injury, blood loss, comfort degree and security and worthy of clinical promoting.

Objective To investigate the correlation between the measurement methods of carotidcerebral pulse wave velocity (ccPWV) and the traditional method of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV).Methods A total of 136 healthy volunteers were divided into a youth group (20-39 years),a middleaged group (40-59 years),and an elderly group (more than 60 years) according to their ages.While detecting baPWV,transcranial Doppler ultrasound was used to simultaneously monitor the ipsilateral common carotid artery and the terminal segment of internal carotid artery.The time differences of the beating points of their cardiac cycles and the distanceses of the skin surfaces between the 2 probes were measured and ccPWV was calculated.Results The systolic blood pressure,pulse pressure and mean arterial pressure in the elderly group were signifificantly higher than those in the middle-aged group and the young group.The ccPWVs in the youth,middle-aged and elderly groups were 418 ± 52 cm/s,489 ±54 cm/s,and 599 ± 58 cm/s,respectively.The elderly group was significantly faster than the middle-aged group (t =7.308,P ＜0.001),and the middle-aged group was significantly faster than the youth group (t=6.758,P＜0.001).A Pearson correlation analysis showed that ccPWV was significantly positively associated with the age (r=0.847,P＜0.001) and baPWV (r =0.548,P ＜0.001).The multiple linear regression analysis showed that ccPWV was significantly positively associated with the age and diastolic blood pressure (partial correlation coefficients were 0.742 and 0.293respectively,P ＜0.001 and ＜0.010 respectively).Conchlusions ccPWV is a new measurement method for cerebrovascular stiffneas,and it has a good correlation with the traditional measurement method.

BACKGROUND: It has been believed mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play a role in treatment through paracrine mechanism. Various side effects such as embolism, tumorigenesis and immunological reaction caused by direct injection of MSCs can be avoided by extracting MSC lysate. However, there is a larger difference in current collection methods and standards of MSC lysate. OBJECTIVE: To compare repeated freeze-thaw and ultrasonication for the collection of lysate of MSCs. METHODS: Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) were isolated from the abdominal subcutaneous fat of healthy individuals, and purified with adherence screening method, followed by in vitro amplification using fetal bovine serum medium. The common surface makers of these cells were tested by flow cytometry (1×109, 2×109, 4×109/L). Repeated freeze-thaw and ultrasonication were employed for cell cytoclasis at three different densities respectively in saline and double distilled water, and a comprehensive comparison was performed on cytoclasis rate and the content of protein in cell lysate between the two methods. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) ADMSCs obtained from in vitro isolated human adipose tissue grew in a swirl or radial pattern with a homogenous size and neat arrangement. CD44, CD90, CD105 and other commonly used surface markers were highly expressed. (2) The study for optimization of lysate collection revealed that the higher cell density implicated a longer time for cell wall disruption and cytoclasis, as well as significantly increased cytoclasis rate. (3) BCA protein assay showed that the highest content of protein was obtained in saline solvent using ultrasonication method. Comprehensive analysis on the results leads to a conclusion that ultrasonication method with saline as the solvent is the optimized method for extraction of ADMSCs lysate, and the cell concentration of less than 4×109/L is recommended.

24 patients with chronic hepatitis B were treated with interleukin-2 activated human peripheral blood lymphocytes (IAPBL). 23 patients served as control. The results showed that HBeAg disappeared in 54.2% of IAPBL group, in comparison with 17.4% of the controls (P

OBJECTIVETo investigate the epidemiological status of cholestasis in first-hospitalized patients with chronic liver disease in Shanghai, and to provide a scientific basis for developing prevention and treatment measures.

METHODSFrom April 2005 to September 2014, 5,146 first-hospitalized patients in Shanghai with a diagnosis of chronic liver disease were enrolled in this study. Clinical data of the 4,660 patients who fit the study criteria for participation were collected for retrospective analysis.Diagnosis of cholestasis was made according to serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels higher than 1.5 times the upper limit normal (ULN) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) levels higher than 3 times the ULN. The incidence rate of cholestasis was assessed for relation to age, sex, etiology, and type of liver disease, and statistically compared to the general clinical data and specific biochemical indicators with potential sex-related differences. T-test and chi-square test were performed for the statistical analyses.

RESULTSOf the 4,660 study participants, 10.26% had cholestasis; the prevalence of cholestasis increased with increasing age in male patients. The distribution of the cholestasis incidence according to the type of chronic liver disease was: 75.00%, primary sclerosing cholangitis; 42.86%, primary biliary cirrhosis; 35.97%, hepatic tumor; 30.77%, autoimmune hepatitis; 28.31%, drug-induced liver disease; 16.46%, alcoholic hepatitis; 13.98%, cryptogenic cirrhosis; 12.99%, schistosomal cirrhosis; 7.53%, alcoholic cirrhosis; 7.32%, mixed cirrhosis; 5.94%, viral liver cirrhosis; 2.70%, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of cholestasis between the two sexes. In the patients with cholestasis, the levels of GGT and total bilirubin were significantly different between the two sexes.

CONCLUSIONThe incidence rate of cholestasis in first-hospitalized patients with chronic liver disease was 10.26%, and the rate increased with increased age. Patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis or primary biliary cirrhosis had higher incidence rates of cholestasis. Incidence rates of cholestasis of the various chronic liver diseases were not related to sex.

Bilirubin ; China ; Cholestasis ; Chronic Disease ; Humans ; Incidence ; Liver Diseases ; Male ; Prevalence ; Retrospective Studies ; gamma-Glutamyltransferase