This paper is to build a finite element model of brain with a real brain shapeon which simulation studies of electrical impedance tomography EIT in the brain is based. A curve of a real brain shape is simulated with the curve-fitting methods and EIT in the brain is finished with finite-element methods and Equipotential Lines Back-Projection algorithm.The locationarea and amplitude of the change of the resistivity are reconstructed accurately. But the image quality has to be further improved.This paper provides a basis for clinical applications of EIT in brain.

Objective To explore the present condition of endemic arsenism, the implementation of control measures and the effect of the monitored county (Tongyu County) and the monitoring spot (Baiyintuhai Village) in 2006 and 2007. Methods According to the National Survey Scheme of Endemic Arsenism, the progress of anti-arsenic water in Tongyu, and the management and running of all engineering projects and the arsenic content in water were surveyed. The patients with endemic arsenism in Tongyu were generally surveyed. The arsenic content of the improved drinking water in Tongyu and the arsenic in urine of children aged 8-12 and adults over 18 years of age were determinted. The causes of resident death in the monitoring spot from the year of 2006 and 2007 were investigated. Arsenic content of drinking water and the urine of local residents was examined with "Model AFS-930 Double-Channel Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometer". Results There were 30 endemic arsenism areas, 157 areas with high arsenic content and all population of 57 576 in Tongyu. Six areas had improved water till 2006, where 20.0% of water had improved, and six water-improving projects were all running normally, benefiting a population of 1670. Eight high arsenic areas changed water, in a rate of 5.09%. Eight water-improving projects were functioning well, benefiting a population of 4350. Until 2007, 28 areas had improved water in Tongyu, accounting for 93.33%. These 28 projects were well running, covering a population of 7980. One hundred and fouty-eight high arsenic areas had changed water, reaching a rate of 94.27%. One hundred and fouty-eight projects changedg water were running normally, benefiting a population of 46 214. In the surveyed spots, arsenic content was between 0.004 mg/L and 0.005 mg/L in 2006 and between 0.010 mg/L and 0.021 mg/L in 2007, all in the normal range to the time being. The arsenic contents in urine of the children aged 8-12 in the monitoring spots were determinted, averaging at 0.024 mg/L in 15 samples, fluctuating between 0.005 mg/L and 0.048 mg/L in 2006. The average content in urine from adults was 0.019 mg/L in 53 samples, fluctuating between 0.005 mg/L and 0.087 mg/L in 2007. The arsenic contents in urine were all in the normal range in 2006 and 2007. In 2006 14 endemic arsenism patients, all in light symptoms, had been checked out, the morbidity being 6.19%. In 2007, 17 patients who were all in light symptoms were identified in a rate of 6.94%. There was no significant difference of morbidity between the two years(χ2=0.1059, P>0.05). Two patients died, unrelating with drinking high arsenic water in 2006 and 2007. Conclusions The prevention and control measures are well implemented in Tongyu. The water-improving projects are functioning well. The condition of endemic arsenism is slight and hasn't changed so much in these two years. The arsenic contents in urine of children and adults within the normal range, showing that improving water can control the occurrence and the development of endemic arsenism.

When the glomerular mesangial cells of rats were cultured in vitro at high glucose concentration,the activity of extraeellular signal-regulated kinase(ERK),the expression of transforming growth factor-?_1(TGF-?_1)mRNA and the content of typeⅣcollagen in the supematant were higher than those at normal glucose concentration.These effects were inhibited by fluvastatin.The results showed that the activation of ERK signal transduction pathways appeared to play a role in the onset and progression of diabetic nephropathy. Furthermore,fluvastatin could protect the kidney by inhibiting ERK signal transduction pathway and TGF-?_1 expression.

NP, P and L gene of Newcastle disease virus of goose origin were amplified and cloned into pGEM-T easy vector and then subcloned into pCI-neo expression vector respectively, the positive clones were identified by enzyme cutting, PCR and sequencing. GFP reporter gene was inserted into the downstream of recombinant expression plasmid of P gene, which of stop codon was deleted. The experiment of transfection of P and GFP recombinant plasmid on COS-1 cells and CEF showed that GFP gene expressed, and this demonstrated that P gene was also expressed. This research may be helpful for further study of reverse genetics and functional genome of NDV of goose origin.

OBJECTIVETo compare the medium- and long-term effect of pneumatic ballistic extracorporeal shock wave versus ultrasound-guided hormone injection in the treatment of plantar fasciitis.

METHODSThe clinical data were collected from patients with plantar fasciitis admitted to PLA General Hospital pain department from September, 2015 to February, 2017. The patients were randomly divided into ultrasound-guided drug injection group and shock wave group. The therapeutic parameters including the numerical rating scale (NRS) scores in the first step pain in the morning, American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) Ankle Hindfoot Scale, and thickness of the plantar fascia were monitored before and at 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after the treatment. The recurrence rate, effectiveness, and patient satisfaction were compared between the two groups at 6 months after the treatment.

RESULTSThirty-nine patients were enrolled in shock wave group and 38 patients in ultrasound group. The NRS scores in the first step pain in the morning were lowered after treatment in both groups (P<0.05), and the scores were significantly lower in ultrasound group than in shock wave group at 1 week and 1 month (P<0.01), but significantly higher in ultrasound group than in shock wave group at 3 and 6 months after treatment (P<0.05). The AOFAS functional scores were increased in both groups (P<0.05) at 6 months after treatment, was significantly lower in ultrasound group than in shock wave group than group B (90.44∓13.27 vs 75.76∓21.40; P<0.05). The effective rates in shock wave group and ultrasound group were 92.31% and 76.32%, respectively (P<0.05). Recurrence was found in 1 patient (2.56%) in shock wave group and in 8 (21.05%) in ultrasound group (P<0.05). The patient satisfaction scores were significantly higher in shock wave group than in ultrasound group (8.13∓2.67 vs 6.63∓3.75, P=0.048).

CONCLUSIONPneumatic ballistic extracorporeal shock achieves better medium- and long-term outcomes than ultrasound-guided hormone injection in the treatment of plantar fasciitis.

OBJECTIVETo obtain monoclonal antibodies (McAbs) which can be widely used to detect mammalian prions (PrP) and to develop diagnostic tests for screening transmissile spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) as well as for studying pathogenesis of prion-related diseases.

METHODSBALB/c mice were immunized separately with bovine PrP peptide 29-48 (BoP1) and 89-108 (BoP2) coupled to keyhole limpt hemocyan. Two hybridoma cell lines secreting monoclonal antibodies against these peptides were established by cell fusion and 2 to 3 rounds of cell cloning. The reactions of the McAbs to the recombinant bovine (Bo)PrP(25-242), human (Hu)PrP(23-231) and hamster (Ha) PrP (23?231) were tested separately by Western blotting.

RESULTSThrough cell fusion, two hybridoma cell lines secreting McAbs against BoP1 and BoP2, designated D11 and D8 accordingly, were identified by ELISA and cell cloning. The McAbs produced by these cell lines reacted well with the recombinant PrP proteins; (Bo) PrP (25-242), (Hu) PrP (23-231), and (Ha) PrP (23-231), respectively.

CONCLUSIONSTwo McAbs reacting with bovine, human and hamster PrPs were successfully generated, they are potential to be used to detect PrPs in mammals and to study the mechanism of pathogenesis of TSE.

Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; biosynthesis ; Antibodies, Viral ; biosynthesis ; immunology ; Antibody Specificity ; Cattle ; Cricetinae ; Cross Reactions ; Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform ; prevention & control ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Hybridomas ; secretion ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; PrPSc Proteins ; immunology ; Prion Diseases ; prevention & control ; Prions ; immunology ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; immunology

OBJECTIVEThe goals of this work was to analyse the cost of Shenqi Fuzheng injection-an extraction of a Chinese traditional herbs on reducing adverse effects in lung cancer patients during chemotherapy.

METHODSIn a randomized cross-over trial, each patient completed two identical cisplatin-based chemotherapy cycles, one with Shenqi Fuzheng injection, another without Shenqi Fuzheng injection. Adverse effects and change scores of quality of life (QOL) during chemotherapy were compared in tow cycles. The direct cost dealing with adverse effect and cost-effectiveness analysis were taken.

RESULTSOne hundred and thirty were enrolled with 123 of whom were evaluable. The patient characteristics were well balanced between the two groups. The chemotherapy cycles with Shenqi Fuzheng injection spent 220.5 more Chinese yuan, but the adverse effect of leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and vomiting were slight different and the change of score of several QOL domains showed significant better as compared to those in another cycle.

CONCLUSIONShenqi Fuzheng injection could reduce the severity of toxicity related to chemotherapy and improve the QOL of patients and had some benefits in terms of cost-effectiveness.

Aged ; Antineoplastic Agents ; adverse effects ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Costs and Cost Analysis ; Cross-Over Studies ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; economics ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Injections ; Lung Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged

OBJECTIVEComparative and statistical analysis the HPV infection rate between fresh tissue and Paraffin-embedded Specimens of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma,and comparative the testing results with others regions.

METHODSExtracted the total DNA from the novel fresh tissue and Paraffin-embedded Specimens; Detected the DNA by PCR with universal primer and Detected the HPV type with human papilloma virus nucleic acid amplification-based typing detection reagent kit (Hybribio); Compared the statistical result from the different specimens; analyzed the result between different region.

RESULTSHPV infection rate of fresh tissue is 82.6% with HPV16 (34.8%) and HPV18 (34.8%), and paraffin-embedded specimens is 78.2% with HPV16 (30.4%) and HPV18 (17.4%).

CONCLUSIONThe results provides the first evidence that there wasn't noticeable difference between HPV infection rate of the two specimens. So broader specimen source could be used for HPV testing.

Capsid Proteins ; analysis ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; virology ; DNA, Viral ; isolation & purification ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; virology ; Human papillomavirus 16 ; isolation & purification ; Human papillomavirus 18 ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Oncogene Proteins, Viral ; analysis ; Papillomaviridae ; isolation & purification ; Papillomavirus Infections ; epidemiology ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

OBJECTIVETo explore the anti-tumor immunity in vitro induced by prostate cancer cell vaccine transfected with recombinant adenovirus encoding 4-1BBL in mice.

METHODSThe replication-deficient adenovirus AdEasy-1 system was used to construct recombinant adenovirus Ad-m4-1BBL and Ad-eGFP. The prostate cancer cell RM-1 of mice was transfected with Ad-m4-1BBL and Ad-eGFP, and treated with mitomycin (MMC) to produce TCV, TCV-Ad-eGFP and TCV-Ad-m4-1BBL, followed by co-culture with syngeneic murine spleen cells. Then the cytotoxic activity of the lymphocytes against RM-1 cells was analyzed with CCK-8 solution, and IL-2 and INF-gamma were detected by ELISA.

RESULTSThe 4-1BBL protein was highly expressed in the TCV-Ad-m4-1BBL of the 4-1BBL-transfected mice. TCV-Ad-m4-1BBL significantly increased the expressions of IL-2 ([180.24 +/- 2.22] pg/ml) and INF-gamma ([1512.46 +/- 23.64] pg/ml) as compared with TCV and TCV-Ad-eGFP (P < 0.05), and induced higher RM-1 cell specific cytotoxicity ([34.24 +/- 2.64]%) than the latter two ([9.82 +/- 1.48]%) and ([14.65 +/- 3. 21]%), (P < 0.05). But none of them exhibited significant cytotoxicity against hepatocellular carcinoma Hepal-6.

CONCLUSIONThe m4-1BBL-expressing prostate cancer cell vaccine can effectively induce anti-tumor immune responses.

4-1BB Ligand ; genetics ; immunology ; Animals ; Cancer Vaccines ; genetics ; immunology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Coculture Techniques ; Cytotoxicity, Immunologic ; genetics ; Female ; Interleukin-2 ; metabolism ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Transfection

Aged ; Femur ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; methods ; Skin Transplantation ; Surgical Flaps