Virtual Reality is just emerging as an accepted scientific discipline. It has been widely used in medicine. The major applications of virtual reality for medicine are introduced from three areas :virtual humans,the fusion of virtual humans with real humans and virtual telemedicine. The advanced graphics behind medical virtual reality,such as computational demands,hardware and software environments is briefly discussed. This article also gives a summary of existing distributed VR systems.

The virtual reality teaching system of human skeletal anatomy developed in this paper is based on the advanced personal computer and uses the stereo glasses of ELSA 3D REVELATOR, mouse and keyboard to make up the human-computer interface. Using this system, students can take apart and assemble the skeleton, grasp single bone to rotate and zoom, learn the human skeletal anatomy in a vivid environment, and thus know more about motion physiology.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical application of total cavopulmonary connection with off-pump technique. Methods: Between May 2000 and December 2002, 9 patients underwent total cavopulmonary connection without cardiopulmonary bypass. The patients were 5 males and 4 females, mean age (10.3?6.4) years, ranged 4～24 years and mean body surface area (0.95?0.35) m 2, range 0.65～1.66 m 2. SpO 2 before operation was (73?6)% (60%～80%). Pulmonary pressure was (12.7?2.4) mmHg (10～16 mmHg) at operation. Results: Patient died after surgery. Chylothorax occurred in 1 patient. 2 patients were reoperated for fenestration between the extracardiac conduit and right atrial during the early postoperative period. All survivors were noncyanotic, the average SpO 2 on breathing air was (94?3)% (89%～97%). On d ischarged. Conclusion: Total cavopulmonary connection with off-pump technique is a useful procedure in management of patients with a functional univentricular heart. It is easy to perform. However, much remains to be studied about this unique physiologic status.

Linaoxin, a herhal preparatlon composed of Salvia miiltiorrhiza, Ligusticum wallichii,Pueraria lobata,and Polygonum multiflorum etc., at doses of O. 25 and o. 5g/kg (ig)significantly improved the neural symptoms of experimental cerehral infarction and reduced the size of infarcted area in rats. At the same doses it also significantly prolonged the hreathing time of mice after decapitation and showed effects on brain energyrnetabolism including the increase of brain ATP and phosphocreatine (Pcr)leveIs and decrease of brain lacticacid (LA)level. Linaoxin suspension at concentrations of l:

In recent years, TCM integrative data analysis has become an important issue requiring urgent solution because of the trend of exponential growth of clinical and scientific TCM research data. This article analyzed the necessity and problems of TCM integrative data analysis from the aspects of background and significance of TCM integrative data, status analysis, data visualization, and application prospect, and put forward the idea of applying data visualization method to data integrative analysis, with a purpose to provide new angles for the reasonable application of TCM data resources.

Lux reporter plays an important role in molecular biology,clinical microbiology and biochemical detection,owing to its high sensitivity,fast reaction and convenience.Here the component,types and characteristics of lux reporter system were introduced.Moreover,the recent advance of its application in environment detection,food safety,new drug discovery and tumor locating were reviewed.

Objective To investigate the dynamic variation of subsets of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and their ratio in septic mice, and to discuss their role in the development of sepsis. Methods Male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into sepsis model group and sham group according to random number table. Polymicrobial sepsis was induced by using cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), while mice in sham group only underwent laparotomy and laparorrhaphy without CLP. Thirty mice in each group were used to observe living condition, and the 20-day survival rate was compared between the two groups. In addition, subsets of MDSC in peripheral blood, spleen and bone marrow were analyzed with flow cytometry for other 60 mice (12 mice at each time point, as 0, 3, 7, 12 and 20 days). Spleens were harvested at 7 days for weighing, and single cell suspension of spleen tissue was prepared for splenocyte counting. Histopathologic changes in spleen tissue and liver tissue were observed under light microscope after hematoxylin and eosin (HE) stain. Results ① No mice died in sham group within 20 days after the operation. On the other hand, 10 mice in model group died within 20 days, and the difference in survival rate between the two groups was statistically significant (100.0% vs. 66.7%, χ2 = 11.861, P = 0.001). ② The spleens in model group showed obvious enlargement and significantly outweighed as compared with those in sham group (mg: 413.33±41.63 vs. 111.67±17.56, t = 11.564, P = 0.000), and the total count of splenocytes was significantly higher than that in sham group (×109/L: 21.20±2.43 vs. 1.87±0.06, t = 13.578, P = 0.005). ③ Pathological sections with HE staining showed that the liver tissue and spleen tissue remained normal in sham group. In model group, the hepatic tissue showed acute inflammatory reaction, including tissue disruption, capillary congestion, infiltration of neutrophils, marked edema of hepatocytes and focal hepatocellular necrosis. Abnormalities were also found in the spleen tissue: the red pulp and white pulp were disordered, splenic sinus was congested with numerous red cells, the splenic capsule thickened, immature myeloid cells with circular nuclei proliferated in the subcapsular region and perivascular region, splenic cord and splenic sinus were infiltrated with a large number of hematopoietic cells. ④ No significant changes in the monocytic MDSC (M-MDSC) and granulocytic MDSC (G-MDSC), and their ratio were found in peripheral blood, spleen and bone marrow at every time point in sham group. On the other hand, in model group, the ratio of M-MDSC and G-MDSC was continuously increased in peripheral blood, spleen and bone marrow, and M-MDSC only slightly decreased at 20 days. On the other hand, the ratio of M-MDSC/G-MDSC rose at first followed by a decrease. The ratio of M-MDSC/G-MDSC in peripheral blood was higher than 1 from 3 days after the operation, reaching the peak at 12 days (compared with 0 day: 4.16±0.53 vs. 0.79±0.11, P < 0.05), while the ratio of M-MDSC/G-MDSC in spleen and bone marrow after CLP were lower than 1 at all time points, reaching the peak on 7 days after the operation (compared with 0 day: 0.70±0.06 vs. 0.25±0.02 in spleen, 0.39±0.06 vs. 0.11±0.01 in bone marrow, both P < 0.05), and then gradually decreased afterwards. Conclusion Subgroups of MDSCs were continuously aggregated in the peripheral blood, spleen and bone marrow, and their ratio rose first and decreased afterwards along with the development of sepsis, and the changes may reflect the change of immune status at different stages of sepsis.

BACKGROUND:In terms of the histocompatibility, immune rejection and scar formation after repair, acel ular nerve al ograft is closer to autologous nerve cel s. At present, hyaluronic acid has been applied for autologous peripheral nerve repair;however, research on the nerve al ograft is rarely reported.
OBJECTIVE:To explore the effect of hyaluronic acid on the anastomotic scar in acel ular nerve al ograft repair of rat sciatic nerve defect.
METHODS:Thirty-six Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups (n=12 per group). The rat model of nerve defect of 10 mm was established by cutting the sciatic nerve of the left hind leg and then given nerve al ograft combined with the injection of hyaluronic acid at anastomosis (experimental group), only nerve al ograft (control group) and autologous nerve graft (nerve autograft group), respectively. Afterwards, the healing of the proximal anastomosis was observed and scar components were assessed.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Gross observations showed that the rat skin and muscle fascia had no significant differences in healing among groups, while the surrounding tissue adhesion in the experimental group was milder than that in the control group (P<0.05). Masson staining found that col agen deposition in the epinerium could be observed in each group. In the experimental group, a smal amount of col agen fibers arranged orderly in the epineurium;in the control group numerous col agen fibers accumulated and arranged irregularly;in the nerve autograft group, sparse epineurial col agen fibers appeared in an order arrangement. The gray value of col agen type I in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05), while the gray value of col agen type III was lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). No significant differences were found in the sum gray values of col agen type I and III among groups (P>0.05). These findings indicate that in the peripheral nerve repair, hyaluronic acid abrogates the scar formation by increasing the deposition of col agen type III and reducing the deposition of col agen type I.

Objective To observe signal changes induced by USPIO accords with iron swallowed by macrophages in brain tissue sections in rats. Methods Thirty-eight SD rats were divided into two groups randomly. Three of them were involved in sham operation group, other thirty-five rats were divided into five subgroups averagely according to 7.0T MR scanning time (6 h, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h). After establishment of MCAO models, USPIO was injected to tail intravenous and monitored with high resolution MRI at different time point, while rats in control group were injected with the same dose of sodium chloride. Brain tissue wax section was acquired after MR scanning. Cell necrosis, iron particle and activated macrophages were observed with HE dying, Prussian Blue dying and CD68 immunochemistry staining respectively. Results The ischemic lesion was detected as hyperintense area on T2WI after occlusion and perfusion of MCA. The accumulation of USPIO appeared as hypointense on T2WI but hyperintense on T1WI. The maximum signal change was observed at 48-72 h in both T1WI and T2WI (P>0.05). The iron particle accumulation was found in the boundary of ischemic lesion and necrotic area with Prussian Blue dying. Activated microglia was manifested with CD68 immunochemistry staining, the number of microglia at 72 h was more than those of the other time points. Conclusion USPIO can be used as a contrast agent to monitor rat ischemic stroke in vivo, and the signal changes induced by USPIO approximately accord with iron swallowed by macrophages in brain tissue sections. The cells which swallow USPIO are mainly activated macrophages.

Objective To examine the role of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase(JNK) 1 in cytolytic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses against virus infection.Methods Wild-type (WT) and JNK1-knockout (JNK1-/-) mice were infected with ectromelia virus(ECTV) through hind footpads.Survival and virus titers in the target organs (liver and spleen) were analyzed.Effector T cells in the spleen and popliteal lymph nodes were determined on day 3 and 7 post-infection.Proliferation and INF-γ production of CTL were also detected.Results JNK1 deficiency caused an increased susceptibility to ECTV infection in mice,indicated by higher case fatality and viral burden in target organs.The decrease in CTL response correlated with a defect in CTL proliferation and INF-γproduction.Conclusion The data suggest that JNK1 is involved in expansion of activated CTL during ECTV infection,and plays an important antiviral role in regulating the proliferation and effector function of CTL.