Allostasis ; physiology ; Chronic Disease ; General Adaptation Syndrome ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Stress, Psychological ; physiopathology

Blood pressure (BP) is one of important physiological parameters which reflect the activity of cardiovascular system. The discriminant method of BP is the key to improve the accuracy of measurements. In this paper, the principle of oscillation method is introduced first. The factors that influence the accuracy of this method and the preprocessing of pulse wave are also analyzed. Then, an improvement method based on oscillation method is proposed by means of the flow progress diagram, which is applied to measuring BP simulator and human body. The measurements are compared with the standard values of BP simulator and the measurements by Korotkoff sound method respectively. The results validate that the accuracy and the repeatability of BP determination are improved dramatically.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of the plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide levels in patients with acute cardiac dyspnea or noncardiac dyspnea.Methods 93 patients with acute dyspnea were divided into two groups:cardiac dyspnea group(61 cases)and noncardiac dyspnea group(32 cases).In cardiac dyspnea group,according to the results of echocardiography,the cases were divided into three groups:pure diastolic heart failure(25 cases),pure systolic heart failure(21 cases)as well as diastolic and systolic heart failure(15 cases).At the same time,heart function was classified according to NYHA.The plasma NT-proBNP level was measured by ELISA.The data was analyzed by SPSS12.0.Results The plasma NT-proBNP level of the cases with cardiac dyspnea and noncardiac dyspnea was(3.591 ?2.943)ng/L and(0.429 ?0.119)ng/L respectively.There was a significant difference between cardiac dyspnea cases and noncardiac dyspnea cases(P

Objective To find a new algorithm for oscillometric blood pressure measurement. Method A coefficient difference comparative method was proposed to measure the difference of adjoining pulse waves and their comparative ratios. And the turning point was judged by priority way in the range. Result The new method settled the problem of miscarriage of justice of the turning point around average pressure and improved the accuracy of blood pressure measurement. Conclusion It can detect difference between cardiovascular patients and normal persons. And it is effective and reliable in blood pressure measurement. It provides a convenient method for researching, preventing and epidemiological studies of cardiovascular diseases in our country.

Objective To evaluate the activation of premotor area (PMA) in verb generation task, and to discuss the possible function of PMA in language expression. Methods Block-designed fMRI with verb generation task was performed on 23 subjects with GE 1.5T MR Scanner. During the test, the subjects were asked to generate a verb based on a given noun word. The white + appeared on the center of the black screen was used as control. The fMRI data were processed with SPM 2. Group analysis was performed with single sample t-test. Average mapping was obtained and overlapped onto standard MNI template. Activation of the PMA was analyzed. Results The fMRI data of eleven subjects were selected for group analysis after head motion effect was ruled out. Average mapping showed activation in the Broca's area, posterior part of the right inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral PMA and supplemental areas (SMA), left posterior parietal cortex, right thalamus, left basal ganglions, right cerebellum, and posterior part of the right temporal lobe. The area with the greatest activated intensity in the brain was the left PMA. Conclusion PMC is important in verb generation and may be responsible for voice processing, motor imagery, word extracting as well as advanced regulation of information.

Objective To study the role of prefrontal cortex in maintenance of working memory(WM)using event-related functional MRI(ER-fMRI).Methods Twenty healthy subjects completed a relative lower,high load version of the sternberg item recognition task during ER-fMRI.The brain areas showing activity on average across the two loads for maintenance phase were obtained with group analysis.Load dependent activity was identified with inter-group analysis.Results The maintenance phase were relevant to the activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(DLPFC),ventrolateral prefrontal cortex(VLPFC),parietal lobe,supplementary motor area(SMA)and premotor cortex(PMA).Brain regions including VLPFC showed increased activation for high load level.Conclusion Functional difference but not anatomic difference between maintenance and manipulation in brain may be exist.

Objective To observe responses of brain evoked by somatic stimuli in healthy subjects with blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging.Methods There were 30 healthy subjects in the study. Block design was used infunctional MR imaging. In experimental tasks somatic stimuli was executed to the hands of every subject at duration 1000 ms,interstimulus intervals 1000 ms.The professional software-SPM99 was performed to process the images.Results For healthy subjects to somatic stimuli, significant activation was observed in bilateral primary and secondary somatic cortex of precentral gyri and postcentral gyri, and temporallobes. Scattered activations could be seen in frontal lobes, supramarginal gyri and hemisphere of cerebella. There was more intensiveactivation in right hemisphere than that in left. There was no significant difference between the activation evoked by somatic stimuli of leftand right extremities. Conclusion somatic stimuli can evoke significant activations in bilateral primary and secondary somatic cortex.Temporal lobes and other brain areas join in the process of somatic stimuli.

Objective: To localize the functional areas related to music processing with fMRI,and to discuss the possible neural mechanism underlying emotion experience and music therapy.Methods: Thirty healthy non-musicians underwent fMRI study.Experimental tasks included listening passively to instrumental pieces of scale,pleasant classic music and scary music(3 pieces each),which were given in block design.Conjunction analysis was performed with SPM99 to render the mean functional images.Results: Both the pleasant music and the scary music activated the neural substrates underlying affective processing;the former mainly included bilateral lateral prefrontal cortex(left advantage),the left orbitofrontal cortex,the anterior cingulate cortex,the left anterior part of insula,the right thalamus and the left lenticula;the later mainly included bilateral lateral prefrontal cortex(right advantage),bilateral orbitofrontal cortex,bilateral medial frontal gyri,bilateral anterior cingulate cortex and bilateral amygdaloid complex.Conclusion: Passively listening to pleasant and scary music could strongly activate distinct emotion processing substrates,and the positive emotion processing system activation during pleasant music listening may be one of the neural mechanisms of music therapy.

Objective To evaluate the safety and accuracy of CT-guided cutting needle biopsy for the hepatic lesions near diaphragmatic dome.Methods A total of 25 cases with hepatic lesions near the diaphragmatic dome were undertaken CT-guided cutting needle biopsy using 16 gauge or 18 gauge core biopsy needles.Results Histological examination showed malignancy in 17 cases and benign in 8 with 2 false negative results(8%),and there were no false positive results.The specificities of malignant and benign lesions were 100% and 75%,respectively.Overall accuracy was 92%.Pneumothorax,needle tract hemorrhage,and subcapsular hepatic hemorrhage occurred in 2(8%),1(4%)and 1(4%),respectively.Conclusion CT-guided cutting needle biopsy for the hepatic lesions near diaphragmatic dome is a reliable and relatively safe diagnostic method.(J Intervent Radiol,2007,16:838-840)

BACKGROUND:Epidural scar after laminectomy is one important reason for the secondary spinal stenosis, and local application ofSanqi sodium hyaluronate gel can prevent epidural scar adhesion after laminectomy. OBJECTIVE: To study the effects ofSanqisodium hyaluronate gel on α-smooth muscle actin expression in the process of rabbit's epidural scar formation. METHODS: In this study, there were ninety-six rabbits which were randomized into four groups and given 0.5 mL normal saline, 0.5 mLSanqi concentrated solution, 0.5 mL sodium hyaluronate and 0.5 mLSanqisodium hyaluronate gel around the dura. At 1, 2, 4, 8 weeks after treatment, immunohistochemistry staining was employed for analysis of α-smooth muscle actin expression. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:At the end of weeks 1 and 2, the expression of α-smooth muscle actin antibody in the normal saline group was significantly higher than that in the other three groups (P < 0.01 orP < 0.05), but there were no significant differences among the Sanqi, sodium hyaluronate andSanqisodium hyaluronate gel groups (P> 0.05). At weeks 4 and 8, the expression of α-smooth muscle actin antibody in theSanqi sodium hyaluronate gel group was significantly lower than that in the other three groups (P < 0.01 orP < 0.05), and there was no significant difference among the latter three groups (P > 0.05). These findings suggest thatSanqi sodium hyaluronate gel can inhibit the expression of α-smooth muscle actin, and thus ease scar contracture.