Objective To observe any changes in spinal cord hemodynamics after spinal cord injury and to investigate their mechanism. Methods Twenty female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into a control group and a moderate injury group,10 rats in each group.A rat model of spinal cord injury caused by moderate compression was established using Nystrom's method.Changes in the velocity and volume of blood flow and in the diameters of vessels of the spinal cord were monitored for 6 hours using laser speckle imaging. Results No changes in the velocity or volume of blood flow or in the diameter of vessels were observed in the control group,but all of these indices diminished significantly in the injury group. Conclusions Laser speckle imaging can be used to monitor changes in spinal cord hemodynamics.Such changes after acute spinal cord injury indicate progressive post-injury ischemia.The occlusion of veins may be an important contributor to post-injury ischemia.

Objective To analyze on the responsibility of government for drug price addition canceling policy on incomes . Methods We Collected the 3-A hospital financial information statements and drug use data from January 2013 to September 2013 ( before reform) and from October 2013 to June 2014 ( after reform) .Results After taking evaluation of drug price addition cance-ling policy on incomes in the hospital, outpatient visits grew 9.62%, discharges increases 3.50%, and the outpatient average com-pensation fell by 4.69% and hospitalization fees per person increase 3.58%.Conclusion Preliminary results were obtained in con-trolling health care costs, medical services in ascension.The government's economic compensation economic compensation is difficult to make up for the cancellation of drug addition and reduce the reasonable income .It is suggested that we should improve the compen-sation scheme and assessment standards, and further strengthen the hospital internal management.

Objective To validate near-infrared cerebral topography (NCT) as a practical toolin tracing the regional hemodynamic changes during normal ischemic stroke model of rat. Method Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and photosensitizer induced intracranial infarction model of rat were established. The geometric shape and infarction area were measured by NCT, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and TTC stained anatomical imaging techniques. Result In photosensitizer induced infarction model, the correlation between anatomical infarct area and NCT image area for infarct focus were r= 0.897 for 24 h group (P<0.05) and r=0.906 for 2 months group (P<0.01),respectively. The correlation between anatomical infarction area and NCT image area for infarct focus were r=0.820 for normothermia group (P<0.05) and r= 0.851 for hypothermia group (P<0.05), respectively. The correlation between fMRI and NCT image area for infarction focus were r= 0.874 for normothermia group (P<0.05) and r= 0.782 for hypothermia group (P<0.05),respectively. Conclusion Measurement with NCT for infarction focus matched well with fMRI and anatomic sample in rats. NCT technique might be a practical tool for short-term prediction of stroke and the rehabilitation after stroke in real time.

Objective To investigate the left prefrontal lobe activation during semantic and non-semantic encoding tasks with functional near-infrared imaging (fNIRI) technique. Method 22 healthy subjects were assigned semantic encoding and non-semantic encoding tasks. During semantic encoding tasks, subjects were asked to make a meaningful sentence including two unrelated Chinese word pairs, while during non-semantic encoding task they were asked to judge whether the two Chinese word pairs had the same morphological structure or not. Light intensity of two wavelengths (760 nm and 850 nm) diffused through skull and left prefrontal lobe were real-time recorded and used to reconstruct the brain activation image during the experiment. Result With the fNIRI, significant activations were observed in the left inferior prefrontal cortex (Brodmann' areas 45 and 47) during the two tasks, but the evoked activations were more significant for semantic than non-semantic task. These observations were consistent with the results reported by others with functional megnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) and positron-emission tomographyPET.Conclusion The results suggest that fNIRI provides an important, non-invasive way to map the prefrontal activation during cognitive tasks.

Objective To study the enzymatic progress of amyloid precursor protein (APP), and construct the recombinant eukaryotic expression plasmid encoding the double mutations of APP and 2 different types of fluorescent protein. Methods The last 300 bases of APP named as C99 containing APP717 mutation was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the template pcDNA3.0-APP.The cyan and yellow fluorescence sequences named as CFP and YFP respectively were obtained by PCR with the template of digestion of the plasmid pcDNA3.0-CFP-CaM-YFP.The 54 bases in the middle of APP named as 54 bp containingSwedish mutation were synthesized. The 4 fragments, CFP, YFP, C99 and 54 bp were inserted into the vector pcDNA3.0.By genetic engineering the recombinant plasmid pcDNA3.0-CFP-54bp-YFP-C99 and pcDNA3.0-CFP-54bp-YFP were constructed and finally identified by enzyme digestion, PCR and sequencing. Then the 2 constructs were transfected into SH-SY5Y cells respectively. The expression of the fusion gene was examined by multi-photon con-focal microscopy and the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) signal was collected. The amyloid beta (Aβ)deposition was detected by immunocytochemistry. Results (1) DNA sequencing showed that the sequence of the construct was correct.(2)The cyan and yellow fluorescence could be seen by the multi-photon con-focal fluorescence microscopy. The fusion gene could be correctly expressed.(3)FRET was present in the cells expressing CFP-54bp-YFP,but absent in the cells expressing CFP-54bp-YFP-C99.(4)A13 labeled by YFP was detected by multi-photon con-focal microscope and deposited in the cytoplasm, membrane and in the intercellular space.(5)It was shown that by immunocytochemistry, the CFP-54bp-YFP-C99 expressionproduct could generate Aβ. The Aβ deposition was detected in the cell membrane, cytoplasma and intercellular space. Conclusions (1) The fusion protein could generate Aβ peptide by β and γ proteolytic processing.(2)Aβ may be generated in the conrse of APP transportation from cell plasma to cell membrane.(3)C99 is very important for the correct cleavage of APP. Our test data strongly suggest that C99 may function as the signal-like peptide. It may guide and direct the APP to the right location for the cleavage.(4)Before the Aβ deposition is formed outside of the cell, Aβ intracellular accumulation results in the change of cell shape.

Objective To explore the role of the prefrontal cortex in semantic encoding of unrelated word pairs by using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Method Forty-eight subjects were presented unrelated pairs of Chinese words under both the nonsemantic and semantic encoding conditions. Under the nonsemantic condition, subjects judged whether the two words had similar orthographic structures; under the semantic condition, they generated a sentence involving the presented word pairs. The changes of regional blood volume associated with the cognitive tasks were measured by using fNIRS equipment which was a continuous optical imager. Result The regions that corresponded to the prefrontal regions showed greater activation under semantic than nonsemantic condition in both left and right hemispheres, although the extent of the activation was larger in the left than right prefrontal regions. This result was consistent with other neuroimaging studies on unrelated word pairs processing, but did not conform to the strict interpretations of the hemispheric encoding/retrieval asymmetry model (HERA). Conclusion This study suggests that material specificity is one of the important factors to influence hemispheric asymmetry in memory encoding. When associations between items are required, right prefrontal regions participate in the encoding processing as well. It also indicates that fNIRS imaging is a viable method of investigating higher level cognitive processing such as memory.

The step-temperature technique can be used to measure bio-tissue thermal physical parameters. During the derivation of the step-temperature technique, the measuring probe was assumed to be made of single thermistor sensing element, and the electrical power was assumed to be uniformly distributed throughout the probe bead. However, the probe bead in reality is made of multi-layer structure, and the electrical power is not uniformly distributed throughout the probe bead. In this paper, a mathematical model is built for the step-temperature technique for multi-layer structure probe bead, and a numerical simulation is made to analyze the effects of probe configuration. The physical meaning of the calibrated values of the probe parameters (bead radius and bead thermal conductivity) is also explained theoretically. The results show that the step-temperature technique is still valid for the measurement of bio-tissue thermal physical parameters for the multi-layer structure thermistor probe bead on condition that the bead radius and the bead thermal conductivity are obtained through pre- calibration.
Biomedical Engineering ; methods ; Body Temperature ; Body Temperature Regulation ; Humans ; Models, Theoretical ; Thermal Conductivity ; Thermography ; instrumentation ; Thermometers

This paper is aimed to construct a 3D model of arterial vessels system of digital rat. Firstly, the special injection medium was perfused into the arterial blood vessels of Sprague-Dawley rat; the quality of perfusion through the digital radiography system was evaluated at the same time. Then we used the sectional anatomy imaging system and achieved the digital rat atlas of sectional anatomy (sectional anatomy images were captured at 100 microm intervals, with the resolution of 4,917 x 3,446 x 24 bit and in a total of 1,464 slices). Finally, the 3D model of arterial vessels system of digital rat was constructed by segmentation, and the visualization programs were developed on Visual C+ + and Visualization ToolKit (VTK). By use of this model, the 3D microstructure of arterial system of digital rat can be obtained accurately. Remarkably, it will benefit the study of the blood vessels system on laboratory rat.
Animals ; Arteries ; anatomy & histology ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; methods ; Male ; Models, Anatomic ; Models, Animal ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo study the biological character of Hepialus introduced from Yunnan province.

METHODH. jianchuanensis introduced from Yunnan was bred artificially to observe its biological character.

RESULTThe pupa duration was about 40 d, pupa emergence lasted for one day, female to male ratio was about 1.2:1, the mating peak was 19:30-20:30, the adults duration was about 25 d, the average life time of female was 5-6 d and that of male 6-7 d, the average number of the producing egg was about 300, the average weight of the 100 eggs was 10.33 mg. Lasting period of the larva is 350 d and the infancy larva showed the character of the polyphagy and cold endurance.

CONCLUSIONResults indicate that there are some differences in the whole duration, weight of the 100 eggs and the number of the eggs left in the abdomen between H. jianchuanensis and others bred at the Kangding base.

Animals ; Arachnid Vectors ; microbiology ; physiology ; China ; Cold Temperature ; Feeding Behavior ; physiology ; Female ; Larva ; anatomy & histology ; physiology ; Male ; Moths ; anatomy & histology ; physiology ; Oviposition ; physiology ; Ovum ; physiology ; Pupa ; physiology

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic basis for a Chinese patient featuring cleidocranial dysplasia(CCD). METHODS: Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples of the patient and his parents. Whole exome sequencing (WES) was carried out for the patient, and suspected variant was verified by Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: WES has identified a missense c.460G>T (p.Val154Phe) (GRCh37/hg19) variant of the RUNX2 gene. The variant was located in the Runt domain, a highly conserved region (PM1); it was not present in either the Genome Aggregation Database or the 1000 Genomes Project (PM2), and was predicted to have a deleterious effect on the gene product by multiple in silico prediction tools (PP3); the clinical phenotype of the patient was highly consistent with that of cleidocranial dysplasia (PP4). Furthermore, the variant was unreported in medical literature and was absent in both parents (PS2). Based on the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics guidelines, the c.460 G>T variant of RUNX2 gene was predicted to be pathogenic (PS2+PM1+PM2+PP3+PP4). CONCLUSION The c.460G>T (p.Val154Phe) variant of the RUNX2 gene probably underlay the clinical phenotype in the patient. Above finding has enabled accurate diagnosis and expanded the spectrum of RUNX2 variants.
China ; Cleidocranial Dysplasia/genetics* ; Core Binding Factor Alpha 1 Subunit/genetics* ; Humans ; Mutation ; Whole Exome Sequencing