Objective to investigate the clinical effectiveness and safety of ultrasound-guided percutaneous thermotherapy for benign thyroid nodules. Methods Ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency or microwave ablation was conducted following tru-cut bopsy of 50 benign thyroid nodules in 40 patients, including those with adenomas and hyperplastic nodules. The necrosis and shrinkage in the ablated areas were evaluated. The adverse effects and complications related to ablation were observed. Results All the 50 thyroid nodules were depend of blood supply after ablation as shown by contrast-enhanced ultrasound, and the ablated area completely covered the size of the nodules. Follow-up ultrasound examination demonstrated that the ablated areas were shrunk to various degrees, including completely disappearance in 6 (12%), 32(64%) with the diameters reduced by more than a half, and 12 (24%) with the diameters reduced by less than a half. There were no skin burns in the neck, bronchial or esophageal injuries, recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, or complication related to neck muscle injury. Conclusion Ultrasound-guided percutaneous thermal ablation is a safe, minimally invasive, controllable and definitely effective method for treating benign thyroid nodules. It has a great clinical potential.

Humans ; Diverticulum, Colon ; Fecal Impaction ; Hydrodynamics

Adolescent ; Adult ; Dysgerminoma ; etiology ; genetics ; Female ; Gonadal Dysgenesis ; genetics ; Gonadal Dysgenesis, 46,XY ; genetics ; Humans ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; genetics

Objective To analyze the effects of injecting glial fibrillary acidic protein promoter (pGFAP)-containing lentivirus into mouse hippocampus on electroencephalogram(EEG)activity, and to explore the feasibility of applying the lentivirus in epilepsy study. Methods Astrocytes-specific infection of pGFAP lentivirus was identified in both cultured hippocampal cells and hippocampal slices from mice by immunofluorescence techniques. The mice were divided into two groups: artificial cerebrospinal fluid(ACSF)injection group and pGFAP lentivirus injection group. Changes in mice body weight were analyzed before and after brain injection. Changes of power spectrum and high-frequency oscillations(HFOs)of EEG were analyzed by Spike 2 software 3 to 4 weeks after pGFAP lentivirus injection. Results It was found that:(1)non-neuron cells were selectively infected by pGFAP lentivirus in cultured hippocampal cells;(2)pGFAP lentivirus specifically infected GFAP+cells in dentate gyrus(DG)area of mouse hippocampus;(3)compared with ACSF injection group, mouse body weight had no significant changes 3 to 4 weeks after the virus injection in pGFAP lentivirus injection group; and(4)pGFAP lentivirus injected into DG area of hippocampus had no significant effect on power spectrum, or the number and mean duration of HFOs of EEG. Conclusion It is a feasible strategy to study the function of astrocytes in epilepsy by brain injection of pGFAP lentivirus.

In the present study, serum samples from 402 sheep and 216 goats were collected from 5 counties in Jinzhou from August to October 2012 and antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii were detected by modified agglutination test (MAT). Overall, 104 (16.8%) had antibodies to T. gondii with antibody titres of 1:25 to 1:800. Seropositive samples were distributed in all the 5 counties and seroprevalences of T. gondii varied significantly with flock size, age and rearing system, but not with breed, gender and farm location. The seroprevalences in small farms (18.3%, 95/518, 95% confidence interval [CI], 15.0-21.7%) were statistically higher than that in large farms (9%, 9/100, 95% CI, 3.4-14.6%) (P < 0.05), older animals were statistically higher than that in younger animals (P < 0.01). The prevalence in extensively and semiintensively raised samples was statistically higher than that in intensively raised animals (P < 0.01). Small flock size and extensive rearing system are the potential risk factors for the prevalence of Toxoplasma infection in sheep and goats in Jinzhou. This is the first report of T. gondii infection in sheep and goats in Jinzhou, northeastern China, and of an association of seropositivity to T. gondii and the risk factors.

We have previously reported that the recombinant T. spiralis aminopeptidase (rTsAP) could induce a partial protective immunity against T. spiralis infection in mice. The aim of this study was to predict the structures and functions of TsAP protein by using the full length cDNA sequence of TsAP gene. TsAP sequence was 1515 bp length with a 1515 bp biggest ORF encoding 504-amino acid protein. The molecular weight and isoelectric point of TsAP were 54.7 kDa and 6.69, respectively. TsAP structure domains contained a Peptidase_M17_N and a Peptidase_M17 domain, which has the function of catalysis of the hydrolysis of N-terminal amino acid residues. TsAP had no signal peptide site and transmembrane domain, and located in cytoplasm. The secondary structure of TsAP contained 16 α-helix, 14 β-strand and 29 coils. The TsAP had 11 and 21 potential antigenic epitopes of T cell and B cell, respectively. Based on the phylogenetic analyses of TsAP, T. spiralis have the closest relationship with Plasmodium falciparum. TsAP was a kind of proteolytic enzyme with a variety of biological functions and its antigenic epitopes could provide important insights on the diagnostic antigens and target molecular of anti-Trichinella drugs

Objective To investigate the value of electroencephalogram (EEG) nonlinear parameters in assessing the therapeutic efficacy in patients with acute carbon monoxide poisoning (ACMP). Methods Twenty-one patients diagnosed with ACMP in our department from November 2010 to March 2011 and 21 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study.The EEG nonlinear parameters were obtained fi om the patients for analysis on the day of admission, at 2 and 4 weeks post-treatment,respectively,including approximate entropy (ApEn),cross-approximate entropy (C-ApEn),correlation dimension (D2),point wise correlation dimension (PD2),mutual dimension (Dm),Lyapunov exponent (LE),Kolmogorov entropy (KE) and Complexity (Cx).The EEG nonlinear parameters of the patients were compared with those of the healthy volunteers. Results The mean values of D2, Cx,ApEn,C-ApEn and Dm were found to gradually increase with the duration of therapy, whereas the values of PD2,LE and KE had no association with the therapy.On the day of admission,the mean values of D2,Cx,ApEn, C-ApEn and Dm for ACMP patients were significantly different from those of the healthy volunteers (P＜0.05),but at 2 and 4 weeks post-therapy,the mean values ofLE,PD2,D2,Dm,Cx,ApEn and C-ApEn of the ACMP patients were not significantly different from those of the healthy volunteers (P＞0.05). Conclusion Since EEG nonlinear parameters (D2,DM,Cx,ApEn,C-ApEn) can objectively reflect the status of brain functional recovery in ACMP patients at an early treatment stage,they can serve as practical measures in the treatment of ACMP.

Previous studies showed that crude antigens from Trichinella spiralis adult worms (AW) can be recognized by mouse infection sera at 8 days post infection. The aim of this study was to identify the early diagnostic antigenic bands in soluble proteins from T. spiralis AW by Western blot using early infection sera. The affecting factors of adult recovery were firstly observed in this study, and the results showed that the maximum number of adults was collected from small intestine when the female BALB/c mice were orally infected with 4000 ML and sacrificed at 3 days post infection. The results of Western blot analysis showed that seven protein bands (31, 35.1, 39, 40.6, 41.9, 47 and 50.6 kDa) could be recognized by early infection sera as early as at 8-10 days post infection, and were strongly reacted with mouse infection sera at 11-12 days post infection. Our results suggested that the seven protein bands of T. spiralis AW soluble proteins might be the early expressed antigens during the intestinal stage of Trichinella infection and therefore have potential value for the early diagnosis of trichinellosis.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of line probe assays for drug- resistant tuberculosis (TB) in China. Methods: Chinese databases (CNKI, Wanfang, SinoMed, VIP Information) and English databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library) were used to retrieve the literatures regarding the accuracy of line probe assays in the diagnosis of drug-resistant tuberculosis in China between January 1, 2000 and September 1, 2017. Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 was used to evaluate the quality of the included studies. Sensitivity and specificity in different studies (using drug sensitivity test or gene sequencing as gold standard) were combined by Meta-analysis using bivariate or univariate model. In addition, subgroup analysis (GenoType MTBDRplus, GenoType MTBDRsl and Reverse dot blot hybridization) and sensitivity analysis were also carried out. Results: A total of 24 literatures involving 82 studies were included in the final analysis. The sensitivity and specificity of line probe assays for rifampicin resistant TB were 0.91(0.88-0.94) and 0.98 (0.97-0.99), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of line probe assays for isoniazid resistant TB were 0.80 (0.77-0.83) and 0.98 (0.96-0.99), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of line probe assays for multidrug-resistant TB were 0.81 (0.76-0.85) and 0.99 (0.99-1.00), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of line probe assays for quinolone resistant TB were 0.92(0.88-0.95) and 0.94 (0.91-0.97), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of line probe assays for second-line injectable drug resistant TB (including kanamycin, Capreomycin, amikacin) were 0.79(0.58-0.91) and 0.98 (0.90-1.00), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of line probe assays for extensively drug-resistant TB were 0.46 (0.19-0.75) and 1.00 (0.98-1.00), respectively. Subgroup analysis showed that the overall diagnostic accuracy of GenoType MTBDRplus and GenoType MTBDRsl was higher than that of Reverse dot blot hybridization. According to the results of sensitivity analysis, the results of this study were robust. Conclusion: The diagnostic accuracy of line probe assays for drug-resistant TB is high.
Antitubercular Agents/therapeutic use* ; Biological Assay/methods* ; China ; Humans ; Isoniazid/pharmacology* ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests/methods* ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis/isolation & purification* ; Rifampin/pharmacology* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant/drug therapy*

The organization of the brain follows a topological hierarchy that changes dynamically during development. However, it remains unknown whether and how cognitive training administered over multiple years during development can modify this hierarchical topology. By measuring the brain and behavior of school children who had carried out abacus-based mental calculation (AMC) training for five years (starting from 7 years to 12 years old) in pre-training and post-training, we revealed the reshaping effect of long-term AMC intervention during development on the brain hierarchical topology. We observed the development-induced emergence of the default network, AMC training-promoted shifting, and regional changes in cortical gradients. Moreover, the training-induced gradient changes were located in visual and somatomotor areas in association with the visuospatial/motor-imagery strategy. We found that gradient-based features can predict the math ability within groups. Our findings provide novel insights into the dynamic nature of network recruitment impacted by long-term cognitive training during development.
Child ; Humans ; Cognitive Training ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Brain ; Brain Mapping ; Motor Cortex