Objective To evaluate the feasibility of the demonstration for morphologic characteristics of pulmonary vein(PV)and left atrium(LA)with 64-multislice computed tomography(MSCT).Methods Between February 2006 and February 2007,we studied morphologic characteristics of the pulmonary vein and left atrium in 88 patients undergone 3D imaging and virtual endoscopy with 64-slice MSCT scanner.46 patients in atrial frillation(AF)group and 42 subjects without history of AF in control group.Results 1.64-slice MSCT can reconstruct properly the morphology,number,size of orifice and flow route of pulmonary veins;among them,the sizes of orifice of pulmonary veins in AF group and control group showed no significant difference.2.The reconstruction images of left atrial appendages(LAA)showed that there were two kinds of morphologic variation existing at the crista between left auricle and left superior pulmonary vein with the continuatum of the left superior and inferior pulmonary veins.3.The reconstruction images,also revealed 3 types of left atrial top;including convex type(9%),concave type(32.9)and plateau type(58.1%);with approximately 12.5% of local convexity.Conclusion Clear demonstration of pulmonary vein and left atrium through 3D reconstruction of MSCT provides higher successful rate of RFCA for AF with simultaneous decrease of complications

In order to meet the requirements of ultrasound bone density measurement, we proposed a software solution to improve the accuracy and speed of measurement of bone mineral density of the ultrasound bone densitometer. We used a high-speed USB interface chip FT232H, along with a high-speed AD converter chip to calculate speed of sound (SOS), broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA ) and other bone density parameters in the PC software. This solution improved the accuracy of the measurement data, reduced the measurement time and increased the quality of the displayed image. It is well concluded that the new software can greatly improve the accuracy and transmission speed of bone density measurement data through a high-speed USB interface and a software data processing technology.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Bone Density ; Software ; Sound ; Ultrasonics

BACKGROUND:Human amniotic epithelial cells are an important source of cells in regenerative medicine as its multipotentation, but new studies mainly focused on differentiation features and there were little research oneffect of culture in vitro on biological property of amniotic epithelial cells.
OBJECTIVE:To analyze the effects of in vitro culture on growth, cellphenotype and differentiation capacity of human amniotic epithelial cells into cardiomyocyte-like cells, and explore the correlation of primarily cultured human amniotic epithelial cells marker SSEA-4 expression level and the change of biological characteristics of human amniotic epithelial cells.
METHODS:Primarily cultured human amniotic epithelial cells were obtained from amniotic tissues by using the same separation protocol. Human amniotic epithelial cells were cultured in vitro. The proliferation, cellphenotype and the differentiation capacity of human amniotic epithelial cells into cardiomyocyte-like cells were evaluated by means of cellcounting kit-8, flow cytometry and real-time PCR.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The SSEA-4 positive cells in primarily cultured human amniotic epithelial cells from different fetal tissues were between 26.7%-97%, which indicated that there was great individual difference among amniotic tissue samples. Moreover, with passage, the SSEA-4 expression in human amniotic epithelial cells decreased significantly, which did not correlate with the SSEA-4 expression in primarily cultured human amniotic epithelial cells. Results indicated that there was great individual difference in SSEA-4 expression level in primarily cultured human amniotic epithelial cells from different amniotic tissue samples. Thus, it is necessary to set up clinical screening indexes to get samples with higher SSEA-4 expression stably and to control the quality of human amniotic epithelial cells. In addition, during culture period, SSEA-4 expression level was affected by culture conditions. The culture conditions of human amniotic epithelial cells should be optimized to maintain SSEA-4 expression at a high level. In addition, the differentiation capacity of human amniotic epithelial cells into cardiomyocyte-like cells was also affected by individual difference among different samples and culture conditions, which wil be further studied in the future.