12-18 years old).In each age group,children were classified according to their genders.Diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)was performed in all the children's heads.Then the angles formed by splenium corporis callosi and occipital forceps were measured in fractional anisotropy maps.All the data were analyzed statistically.Results 1.The females in infant group had the larger angles formed by splenium corporis callosi and occipital forceps.With the age increasing,the average values of angles tended to decrease gradually.But in some age groups,the average values in some cases tended to increase before it decreased.2.A statistically significant sex difference was found in infant group.In young child group,pre-school age group and adolescence group,such difference was found in angles formed by occipital forceps.Only in young child group,difference in the maximum angles of splenium corporis callosi was found.3.There was a significant difference between age groups in the angles formed by sides of occipital forceps and the minimum angles of splenium corporis callosi through one-way analysis of variance.4.The angles of occipital forceps and the minimum angles of splenium corporis callosi both had a negative correlation with ages.They both had a linear regression to ages.But,there was no correlation between the maximum angles of splenium corporis callosi and ages.Conclusions Sex differences might exist in the angles formed by both sides of occipital forceps and splenium corporis callosi.The angles formed by sides of occipital forceps and parts of angles of splenium corporis callosi might decrease when the age increases.Diffusion-weighted technology can be used to study the age and sex difference in angles formed by splenium corporis callosi and occipital forceps in children.

Aged ; Aneurysm, Dissecting ; therapy ; Aorta ; Catheterization ; methods ; Humans ; Male

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical outcome of submucosal inferior turbinectomy and outfracture surgery of inferior turbinates. METHODS All patients receiving two different operations were measured by acoustic rhinometry and questionnaire of QOL at preoperative 1 week and postoperative 12 months, seperately. RESULTS Forty-seven patients with inferior turbinate hypertrophy were enrolled in this study. Evaluation of SNOT-20 discovered both surgeries could improve patients' QOL with similar outcome. Preoperative '5 important items' in patients with inferior turbinate hypertrophy were 'lack of a good night's sleep', 'need to blow nose', 'thick nasal discharge', 'fatigue' and 'dizziness'. Postperative '5 important items' were 'postnasal discharge', 'runny nose', 'sneezing', 'reduced concentration' and 'reduced productivity'. Both surgeries could make acoustic rhinometry parameters change obviously, such as minimal cross-sectional area, 0-5 cm nasal volume(NV) and 2-5 cm NV. Furthermore, submucosal inferior turbinectomy produced more volume in nasal cavity than outfacture surgery, (7.28±2.01)cm3 vs (6.01±1.22)cm3, (5.99±1.87)cm3 vs (4.23±1.08)cm3(P<0.05), seperately. There was no correlation between the data of SNOT-20 and acoustic rhinometry. CONCLUSION We recommend outfracture surgery of inferior turbinate as the preferred surgical choice for patients with mild inferior turbinate hypertrophy.

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging(IVIM-DWI)in diagnosis of different pathological types of lung cancer.Methods 45 patients were performed traditional MR and multi-b value DWI scan by GE discovery 750 MR.The values of Slow-ADC,Fast-ADC and ffast measured on a AW4.5 workstation were analyzed between the different pathological types of lung cancers.The correlations between these IVIM-DWI parameters and the serum tumor markers of lung cancer were analyzed.The diagnostic efficiency of these parameters were evaluated by receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC).Results 27 cases NSCLC(13 cases squamous carcinoma;14 cases adenocarcinoma )and 18 cases SCLC were finally included in this study.There were significant differences in Slow-ADC values between SCLC group and NSCLC group (P =0.00),the adenocarcinoma group (P=0.03),the squamous carcinoma group(P=0.01).There were no significant difference in Fast-ADC as well as ffast value between any two groups.The AUC of Slow-ADC value was 0.874.There existed negative correlation between squamous cell carcinoma antigen(SCC-Ag)of squamous carcinoma group and Slow-ADC(r=-0.730).Conclusion The Slow-ADC of IVIM-DWI parameters is useful in differential diagnosis of NSCLC and SCLC,which has the largest diagnostic efficiency.The correlation between SCC-Ag and Slow-ADC value has a certain meaning in diagnosing different pathological types of lung cancers.

In this study, UPLC-MS/MS was adopted to determine the contents of five ephedrine alkaloids (Norephedrine, Norpseudoephedrine, Ephedrine, Pseudoephedrine, Methylephedrine) in plasma and urine in rats after the combined administration of Ephedrae Herba-Gypsum Fibrosum and calculate relevant pharmacokinetic parameters, in order to discuss the effect of the combined administration of Ephedrae Herba-Gypsum Fibrosum on plasma pharmacokinetics and urinary excretion characteristics. According to the results, after being combined with Gypsum, the five ephedrine alkaloids showed similar pharmacokinetic changes, such as shortened t(max), accelerated absorption rate, but reduced AUC(0-t) and V(z)/F, which may be related to the increase in urine excretion. Besides, Gypsum was added to enhance C(max) of Pseudoephedrine and prolong MRT(0-t) of Methylephedrine, so as to enhance the anti-asthmatic effect of Ephedrae Herba and resist the toxic effect of Norephedrine and Ephedrine. This study proved the scientific compatibility of Ephedrae Herba-Gypsum Fibrosum and provided a reference for studies on the prescription compatibility regularity and relevant practices.
Alkaloids ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; urine ; Animals ; Calcium Sulfate ; pharmacokinetics ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacokinetics ; Ephedra ; chemistry ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Urine ; chemistry

DNA barcoding is a technique in which species identification and discovery are performed by using short and standard fragments of DNA sequences. In this study, eleven species of Paris, including seven varieties, were sampled. Five chloroplast sequences, psbA-trnH, rpoB, rpoC1, rbcL, matK, and one nuclear marker, the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) of ribosomal DNA, were amplified and sequenced. The PCR amplification and sequencing efficiency, intra- and inter-specific divergence and barcoding gap were used to evaluate different loci, and the identification efficiency was assessed using BLAST1 and Nearest Distance methods. The ITS2 sequences in the studied samples of Paris were amplified and sequenced successfully using primers designed by our group, while matK showed low level in the amplification and psbA-trnH was difficult for sequencing because of over 800 bp and poly (A) structure. Analysis of the intra- and inter-specific divergence and barcoding gap showed ITS2 was superior to other loci. The ITS2 showed a much higher percentage of success (100%) in identification than other five loci, none of which indicated more than 50% except matK (52.9%). The 2-locus combination of rbcL+matK didn't improve ability of authentication. In addition, the rate of successful identification with ITS2 kept 100% when the samples were expanded to 67 samples of 29 species. In conclusion, ITS2 can be used to correctly identify medicinal plants of Paris, and it will be a potential DNA barcode for identifying medicinal plants of other taxa.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the risk factors of pinhole infection in the fractured lower limbs after external fixation.

METHODSThe case-control study was designed. From May 2009 to May 2014, the clinical data of 272 patients with lower limb fracture treated by external fixation device were collected. All the patients were divided into two groups according to post-operative pinhole infection. There were 29 cases in the case group including 23 males and 6 females. The age of patients in case group ranged from 25 to 77 years old,with the average age of (53.41 ± 12.77) years old. There were 243 cases in control group including 217 males and 26 females. The age of patients in the control group ranged from 27 to 78 years old, with the average age of (48.71 ± 11.87) years old. There were nine risk factors observed in our study including age, gender, fixed time by external fixation device, diabetes, time in bed, smoking, operation condition of other parts in the body, infection condition of other parts in the body.

RESULTSThe results of univariate analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences among age (χ² = 15.708, P < 0.001), fixed time by external fixation device (χ² = 11.940, P < 0.001), severity of the lower limb fracture (χ² =15.438, P < 0.001), diabetes (χ² = 8.519, P = 0.004) and time in bed (χ² = 7.165, P = 0.007) between case group and control group. The results of Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors of pinhole infection after fixed by external fixation device in the lower limb fracture were the advanced age (OR = 8.327, P < 0.001), fixed time by external fixation device (OR = 6.795, P < 0.001), diabetes (OR = 4.965, P = 0.001) and time in bed (OR = 4.864, P = 0.008).

CONCLUSIONThe advanced age, long fixed time, diabetes and long time in bed could increase the risk of pinhole infection after external fixation in the lower limbs with fracture.

Adult ; Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; External Fixators ; adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; injuries ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; etiology ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of substance P on cultured rat osteoclasts.

METHODSNeurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor expression in osteoclasts was examined by immunohitochemical method, and changes of bone resorption activity caused by substance P and NK1 receptor antagonists were detected by pit formation assay.

RESULTSImmunoreactivity for NK1 receptor was distributed in the cytoplasm of osteoclasts. The average of pit formation areas significantly increased with addition of substance P (10(-7)-10(-4) mol/L) (P < 0.05), but the number of pitformations did not change (P > 0.05). NK1 receptor antagonists inhibited the enhancement of the bone resorption by substance P addition.

CONCLUSIONThe findings suggested that substance P may stimulate osteoclasts and result in bone resorption by the mediation of NK1 receptor.

Animals ; Osteoclasts ; Rats ; Receptors, Neurokinin-1 ; Substance P

DNA barcoding is a rapidly developing frontier technology in the world and will be useful in promoting the quality control and standardization of traditional Chinese medicine. Until now, many studies concerning DNA barcoding have focused on leaf samples but rarely on Chinese herbal medicine. There are three issues involved in DNA barcoding for traditional Chinese medicinal materials: (1) the extraction methods for total DNA of the rhizomes of the medicinal materials; (2) intra-specific variation among samples from different places of origin; (3) accuracy and stability of this method. In this study, Gentianae Macrophyllae Radix was used to verify the stability and accuracy of DNA barcoding technology. Five regions (ITS2, psbA-trnH, matK, rbcL, and ITS) were tested for their ability to identify 86 samples of Gentianae Macrophyllae Radix and their adulterants. After improving the DNA extraction method, genomic DNA from all samples was successfully obtained. To evaluate each barcode's utility for species authentication, PCR amplification efficiency, genetic divergence, and species authentication were assessed. Among all tested regions only ITS2 locus showed 100% of PCR amplification and identification efficiencies. Based on the established method, we successfully identified two samples of Gentianae Macrophyllae Radix bought in pharmacy to the original species.

Objective To study hemodynamics of cerebral blood flow in newborns with asphyxia.Method Bilateral cerebral electrical admittance plethysmogram(BCEAP) was used to explore characteristics of cerebral blood flow in 20 healthy newborns and 20 newborns with asphyxia respectively from first to fourth day after birth.Results Both the ratio of Hs to b-S(Hs/ b-S) and index of admittance differential loop(ADL) Ⅰ+Ⅱ decreased significantly in newborns with asphyxia compared to normal control from first to fourth day after birth(P