Transcranial Doppler can detect the presence of microembolic signal in patients at high risk of stroke as well as in invasive cardiovascular examinations and surgical procedure.A growing number of evidence has suggested that cerebral microemboli may cause cognitive impairment.This article reviews the effects of cerebral microemboli on cognitive function.

Cisplatin, an efficient anticancer agent, can trigger multiple apoptotic pathways in cancer cell. However, the signal transduction pathways in response to cisplatin-based chemotherapy are complicated, and the mechanism is not fully understood. Using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) technique, the molecular mechanism of cisplatin-induced apoptosis in living human lung adenocarcinoma cells (ASTC-a-1) were investigated. After cisplatin treatment, the recombinant pFRET-Bid and pSCAT-3 probes were used to determine the kinetics of Bid cleavage and Caspase-3 activation, respectively. The fluorescence probes Bid-CFP and DsRed-Mit were also used to detect the spatial and temporal changes of Bid in real-time in sub-cell level. The results showed that a cleavage of the Bid-FRET probe occurring at about 4～5 h after treated with 20 ?mol/L cisplatin. Cleavage of the Bid-FRET probe coincided with a translocation of tBid from the cytosolic to the mitochondria, and the translocation lasted about 1.5 h. At the anaphase of cell apoptosis, Caspase-3 was activated obviously as detected by FRET and Western blotting techniques. Using real-time single-cell analysis, it was observed the kinetics of Bid and Caspase-3 activation for the first time in living cells during cisplatin-induced apoptosis.

Objective To investigate the effects of controlled low central venous pressure (CLCVP) on cerebral oxygen metabolism during orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT),and study the safety of CLCVP in OLT.Method Forty-six patients subject to OLT were randomly divided into CLCVP group (CL group) and CVP group (C group).Blood samples were taken from radial artery and jugular simultaneously for blood gas analysis before operation (T1,baseline),immediately blocking inferior vena and portal vein (T2),30 min after anhepatic phase (T3),30 min after graft reperfusion (T4),2 h after graft reperfusion (T5),and 24 h after graft reperfusion (T6).Cerebral arterial oxygen content (CaO2),jugular oxygen content (CjvO2),cerebral arterial-venous oxygen content difference (Ca-jvO2),cerebral oxygen extraction rate (CERO2),and cerebral blood flow/ cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CBF/CMRO2) were calculated by the Fick formulae.Meanwhile,blood samples were taken from jugular simultaneously for serum creatinine (Cr) and urea nitrogen (BUN) a different time points.We also recorded the whole operation time,anhepatic phase time,volume of blood loss and transfusion,and urine volume.Results As compared with C group,CaO2,CjvO2,Ca-jvO2,SjvO2,CERO2 and CBF/CMRO2 in CL group were nearly not changed at different time pioints (P＞0.05),but in the same group,as compared with T1 and T2,the CaO2,CjvO2,Ca-jvO2 and CERO2 in T3,T4 and T5 were decreased significantly (P＜0.05),and the SjvO2 in T3,T4 and T5 was increased remarkably.The operation time and anhepatic phase time had no significant difference in both groups.As compared with C group,the volume of blood loss and transfusion in CL group were decreased (P＜0.05),and the urine volume in CL group CL was increased significantly (P＜0.05).Cr and BUN showed no significant difference in both groups and at the same time points of C group and CL group.Conclusion CLCVP can decrease volume of blood loss and transfusion,increase urine volume during OLT,and it does not change the cerebral oxygen metabolism during OLT.

Objective To evaluate the image quality and radiation dose of prospective electrocardiography-triggered coronary 320-slice volume CT angiography with different kV, and the feasibility of coronary scan with ＜ 1 mSv radiation dose.Methods Eighty consecutive patients were randomly divided into two groups equally.The tube voltage according to paradigm was 100 kV in group A and 120 kV in group B.All raw data in group A was reconstructed by the software AIDR in CT system to create a new group named as A1. Such parameters as the mean intraluminal attenuation (SI),noise (SD),signal-to-noise ratio (SNR),contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR),effective radiation dose(E) and image quality score measured in group A were compared with those in group B.The values such as SI,SD,SNR,CNR,image quality scores were compared between group A and group A1.The significance of group B and group A1 was compared in SI,SD,SNR,CNR,image quality scores as well.Results E in group A was significantly lower than that in group B[ E =(0.67 ± 0.18) mSv in group A vs.E =(3.08 ± 1.04) mSv in group B].The value of E in group A was decreased by 78％ compared to group B(t =- 14.30,P＜0.05 ).There was no significant difference in mean image quality scores between two groups(4.57 ± 0.57in groupA vs.4.59 ± 0.59 in group B,t=-1.17,P＞0.05).The values of SI,SD,SNR,CNR in group A were (570.8 ±131.5)HU,25.1 ±6.9,24.5 ±9.1,19.8 ±6.1.And the values of SI,SD,SNR,CNR in group B were (460.6 ± 14.3) HU,15.1 ±3.6,31.7 ±7.7,29.3 ±6.8.The values of SI and SD in group A were significantly higher than those in group B(t =4.49,8.18,P ＜0.05). The values of SNR and CNR in group A were lower than those in group B (t =-4.24,-6.19,P＜0.05).The valuesofS1,SD,SNR,CNR,image quality scores in group Al were (557.9 ±24.5) HU,21.1 ±6.0,27.7±10.0,23.4±7.8,4.60 ± 0.56.There was no difference in the SI and the image quality scores between group A and group A1 ( t =1.09,- 1.90,P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions 320-slice volume CT with 100 kV tube voltage and prospective ECG-triggered technique can reduce the radiation dose to less than 1 mSv and obtain optimal images in diagnosis of coronary arterial diseases.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate diagnostic significance of the noninvasive and objective 320-slice CT scan in the high pharynx resilience in the patients with obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome. METHOD: Fifty patients with OSAHS and 10 patients with pharyngeal paraesthesia were included in the study. 320 slice CT scan was used to measure the sagittal diameters, transverse diameters and sectional area of the retropalatal region, retroglossal region. Calculating the pharynx wall resilience. Analyzing the correlativity of pharynx wall resilience, BMI and AHI. Fiber endoscope was used to assess the subsidence percentage of the pharynx wall. RESULT: Between OSAHS patients and pharyngeal paraesthesia patients, there was obviously difference in the retropalatal region and retroglossal region upper airway. The pharynx wall resiliences of retropalatal region were much more than that of retroglossal region. The later pharynx wall resiliences were much more than the fore-to-aft pharynx wall resiliences in the retropalatal region. BMI, AHI and the pharynx wall resilience were positive correlative to each other. But AHI and the pharynx wall resilience was nonlinear correlative. There was a good concordance between the pharynx wall resilience detected by 320CT and subsidence percentage of the pharynx wall detected by fiber endoscope. CONCLUSION 320 slice CT is a kind of simple, rapid and objective method to localize the high resilience area of upper respiratory tract, which can be benefit to the clinical diagnosis, the etiological study and the treatment of OSAHS. Based on physical examination, we propose that only one time of CT scan to the patients' upper airway at the Muller' stage is enough to localize the stenosis area, which can reduce radiation dosage dramatically.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Compliance ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the method and effect of exercising larynx and genioglossus to treat obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). METHOD: Fifty-four patients who were diagnosed as OSAHS and exercised larynx and genioglossus were defined as treatment group. We took Epworth sleep scale, check patient's PSG, and took computer tomography (320CT) before treatment, 6 months and 12 months later. We made a record of AHI, LSaO2, BMI, the shortest sagittal diameter and transverse diameter. Compared with 30 patients who had taken UPPP surgery (control group 1) and the 21 patients without any treatment (control group 2) at the same time. SPSS 10.0 was used to analyze the data. RESULT: According to Chinese OSAHS construction in 2009, 6 months and 12 months later, the effective rates of treatment group were 31.48% and 44.44%, among which the effective rates in mild and moderate patients of treatment group were 44.74% and 63.16%. Before treatment the mark of Epworth sleep scale was 7.67, 6 month and 12 month later the marks were 3.54 and 3.25. AHI were up to 15.45 after 6 months and 13. 60 after 12 months from 22. 84 at the beginning. LSaO2 were up to 81.18% after 6 months and 81.93% after 12 months from 74.05% at the beginning. The effective rate of control group 1 was 66.67%, and was much higher than the treatment group 6 months later (P < 0.05). But there was no statistics difference of effective rate between treatment group and control group 1 (36.67%) after 12 months (P > 0.05). The effective rates of treatment group were much higher than control group 2 (P < 0.01). After 12 months, the sagittal wall compliance of retropalatal area was lower (P < 0.01). There was no significant change of BMI in every group. CONCLUSION Exercising larynx and genioglossus is one kind of non-invasive and effective method without payment to treat part of OSAHS patients, especially the patients who is old, without surgical condition, and especially mild and moderate OSAHS patient that do not want to take surgery and CPAP treatment. Besides, exercising larynx and genioglossus can be considered as remedial treatment of OSAHS to surgery and other therapy.
Adult ; Aged ; Exercise Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Pharynx ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; therapy ; Young Adult