Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy combined with TME (total mesorectal excision) for the treatment of locally advanced middle and lower rectal cancer. Methods: Thirty patients with locally advanced middle and lower rectal cancer were recruited between September 2009 and February 2011, 14 of whom had stage II (T 3-4N0M0) and 16 had stage III (T1-4 N1-2M0). All patients received neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy [the total dose of preoperative radiotherapy was 45-50 Gy (1.8 Gy/fx), concurrently combined with two cycles of FOLFOX4 regimen]. The surgical operation was performed 4-6 weeks after concurrent chemoradiotherapy, following the principle of TME. Results: All patients completed the neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Of these thirty patients, 5 received complete response, 18 received partial response, 7 received stable disease, and 23 patients obtained downstaging (76.6%). Except one patient who receiving complete response rejected the surgical operation, 23 patients received low/ultra-low anterior resection (Dixon), and 6 patients received abdominoperineal resection (Miles) 4-6 weeks after chemoradiotherapy. The sphincter preservation rate was 80.0% (24/30). No perioperative death was observed, and the overall incidence of complication was 20.7% (6/29). Conclusion: Neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy combined with TME for treatment of locally advanced middle and lower rectal cancer is effective and safe, which can reduce the tumor stage and increase the complete tumor resection and sphincter preservation rates, and can also improve the quality of life. Copyright© 2011 by TUMOR.

The successful suppression of clutter arising from stationary or slowly moving tissue is one of the key issues in medical ultrasound color blood imaging. Remaining clutter may cause bias in the mean blood frequency estimation and results in a potentially misleading description of blood-flow. In this paper, based on the principle of general wall-filter, the design process of three classes of filters, infinitely impulse response with projection initialization (Prj-IIR), polynomials regression (Pol-Reg), and eigen-based filters are previewed and analyzed. The performance of the filters was assessed by calculating the bias and variance of a mean blood velocity using a standard autocorrelation estimator. Simulation results show that the performance of Pol-Reg filter is similar to Prj-IIR filters. Both of them can offer accurate estimation of mean blood flow speed under steady clutter conditions, and the clutter rejection ability can be enhanced by increasing the ensemble size of Doppler vector. Eigen-based filters can effectively remove the non-stationary clutter component, and further improve the estimation accuracy for low speed blood flow signals. There is also no significant increase in computation complexity for eigen-based filters when the ensemble size is less than 10.
Blood Flow Velocity ; Color ; Humans ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Ultrasonography

In recent years,nano-silver base inorganic antibacterial agents have been widely used in medicinal and biological fields.The recent research progress on nano-silver base inorganic antibacterial agents used in denture resin base,antibacterial effects,biocompatibility and the influence of the agents on the mechanical properties and color of the resin are introduced.

Objective To explore the feasibility of low-dose multi-slice computed tomography(MSCT) scan on pulmonary artery three-dimensional angiography, and the relationship between pulmonary VR image quality and the SD value of plain scan. Methods Pulmonary artery CT examination was performed in 87 patients. 63 volunteers were administered with low dose as a low-dose group, and the other 24 were scanned with conventional dose as a routine group. Both plain scans were use conventional dose of pulmonary scan with 150 mAs, and the low-dose pulmonary enhanced scans were used with 60 mAs. The images were post-processed with volume rendering(VR) and classified into three grades A, B and C, and VR image quality levels of both groups compared. The receiver operating characteristic curve( ROC) was used to analyze the relationship between VR image quality level and SD value of plain scan image SD value. Results The VR image level of A-class was 100% in the conventional dose group, and 85. 7% was in the low dose group . According to the correlation analysis between the standard deviation(SD) value of plain scan image and pulmonary artery VR image quality, the area under curve in receiver-operated characteristic analysis was 0. 906. Conclusions The low-dose scan of pulmonary artery three-dimensional angiography is feasible. Using 60 mAs low-dose in pulmonary artery enhanced scan could ensure better image quality. With the SD value of the plain scan decreased, the pulmonary artery VR image quality is improved.

Female ; Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis ; complications ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Otitis Media ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Young Adult

·AIM: To investigate the effect of the dipeptide Arg-Glnon retinal neovascularization of retinopathy of prematurity(ROP) in the oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) animalmodel.·METHODS.- Forty-eight 7-day-old C57BL/6J mice were exposed to 750mL/L oxygen for 5 days and then to normal situation to produce the murine model of oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR). All mice received twice daily intra- peritoneal injections of PBS or the dipeptide Arg-Gln(1.0, 3.0, 5.0g/kg per day), starting on postnatal day 12 and continuing till postnatal day 17. Experimental groups (36 mice, 12 in each group) received Arg-Gln, while the control group (12 mice) received PBS. All mice were executed at postnatal day 17. The changes of retinal vessels of mice were observed by ADPase histochemical technique and HE staining was used to count preretinal neovascular nuclei. RNA was isolated from retinas of 28 mice (7 in each group) selected at random and VEGF mRNA level of each group was measured by real-time RT-PCR.·RESULTS; Neovascularization reduced in retinas of the dipeptide Arg-Gln treated group in a dose-dependent manner. Compared with control group, experimental group had diminished non-perfusion area and neovascular tufts in retinal flatmount. The number of the endo-theliocyte nuclei of new vessels extending from retina to vitreous was significantly less in the eyes of the experimental group than in control group. Arg-Gln at 5g/kg per day reduced preretinal neovascularization by about 75% (P＜ 0.01). There was a significant reduction in VEGF mRNA at the 17th day in Arg-Gln treated group compared with control group(P＜0.01).·CONCLUSION; Arg-Gln dramatically inhibits retinal angiogenesis in OIR and this effect is associated with a reduction in retinal VEGF mRNA level. It appears to be a safe way to prevent and treat some neovascular retinal diseases including retinopathy of prematurity.

Bone Marrow Cells ; metabolism ; DNA-Activated Protein Kinase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Leukemia ; genetics ; Nuclear Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; Telomerase ; genetics ; metabolism

AIM:The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of angiotensin II (AngⅡ) on expression of MMP-9 in THP-1 macrophages. METHODS:Macrophages converted from THP-1 monocytes by incubating with PMA (0.1 ?mol/L) for 48 h were divided into PMA group; PMA+AngⅡ group (10-7mol/L,1 h); PMA+AngⅡ+PDTC group (10 ?mol/L,30 min) and PDTC group. Western blotting was used to detect the MMP-9 and phosphorylation of NF-?B p65,and the expression of MMP-9 mRNA in THP-1 macrophages was measured by RT-PCR.RESULTS:Compared to control group,the expression of MMP-9 (1.06?0.11,P

AIM: The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of angiotensin II (AngⅡ) on expression of MMP-9 in THP-1 macrophages. METHODS: Macrophages converted from THP-1 monocytes by incubating with PMA (0.1 μmol/L) for 48 h were divided into PMA group; PMA+AngⅡ group (10-7mol/L, 1 h); PMA+AngⅡ+PDTC group (10 μmol/L, 30 min) and PDTC group. Western blotting was used to detect the MMP-9 and phosphorylation of NF-κB p65, and the expression of MMP-9 mRNA in THP-1 macrophages was measured by RT-PCR.RESULTS: Compared to control group, the expression of MMP-9 (1.06±0.11, P<0.05) and phosphorylation of NF-κB p65 (1.02±0.10, P<0.05) in THP-1 macrophages were expressed when treated with AngⅡ (10-7mol/L); and the expression of MMP-9 mRNA were upregulated (1.22±0.08, P<0.05). However, NF-κB inhibitor PDTC reduced the NF-κB p65 (0.99±0.12, P<0.01) and MMP-9 (1.04±0.14, P<0.01) expressions and decreased the expression of MMP-9 mRNA (0.90±0.06,P<0.01). CONCLUSION: NF-κB signaling pathway contributes to the expression of MMP-9 in THP-1 macrophage induced by AngⅡ.

Tautomycin is one of well-known specific protein phosphatase inhibitors and exhibiting potent antifungal ability, especially to Sclerotinia sclerotiolum. This article reviews the recent research progress of tautomycin, focusing on its inhibition region and biosynthesis.