Aged ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; therapy ; Humans ; Walking

Animals ; Fatigue ; prevention & control ; Female ; Gardenia ; chemistry ; Hypoxia ; prevention & control ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred Strains ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Thuja ; chemistry ; Ziziphus ; chemistry

Animals ; Brain Edema ; prevention & control ; Brain Ischemia ; physiopathology ; Erythropoietin ; pharmacology ; Female ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Protective Agents ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury ; prevention & control ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

Objective The three-dimensional reconstructed images of maximum intensity projection (MIP) for membranous labyrinth and internal auditory meatus in Chinese adults were observed and measured in order to provide anatomic basis for otolosurgery and nerosurgery. Methods Thirty inner ears of 15 volunteers were scanned by using a circular temporal coil and three-dimension fast spin echo sequence with a 1^5T GE-signal MRI scanner. All original images were transferred to MRI workstation and all the structures of inner ear were reconstructed, rotated from various angles and measured by using maximum intensity projection. All the data were analyzed using SPSS 10.0 software. Results Anatomic structures of membranous labyrinth and internal auditory meatus were well demonstrated in three-dimensional reconstructed images of MIP in all volunteers. All three semicircular ducts, utricle, saccule, cochlear duct and internal auditory meatus produced high intensity signal. The results of measurement were statistically in significant.Conclusion Three-dimensional reconstruction of MlP might document, lively, stereoscopically and directly, the minute structures of membranous labyrinth and internal auditory meatus. We provide the basic data for the establishment of the MRI measurement criterion of inner ear.

Communicable diseases are the major threats to the health and security of all the people living in Liberia, including UN peacekeepers from China. The most prevalent communicable diseases in Liberia include malaria, HIV/AIDS, acute respiratory infection, sexual transmitted disease, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, tuberculosis, cholera, pertussis, hepatitis, meningococcal disease, typhoid fever, Lassa fever and yellow fever. An insight into the profiles and epidemiology of the above epidemics in Liberia would greatly help peacekeepers with disease diagnosis and epidemic prevention. According to the profiles of epidemics in Liberia and the authors' experience in epidemic prevention in Liberia, the authors recommend that peacekeepers strengthen their epidemic prevention as follows. Firstly, a combined vector control strategy is suggested for the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases. Secondly, water safety should be highlighted by water disinfection and regular water quality testing. Thirdly, vaccines, diagnostic reagents and medications should be accordingly outfitted. Then, the awareness of epidemic prevention and individual hygiene should be improved by education and strict management. Finally, the daily life management for peacekeepers is also very important. The epidemic overviews and strategies for epidemic prevention described in this paper are also useful for all the other peacekeepers deployed in Africa.

OBJECTIVE: To realize the automated assessment of the levels of epiphysis of distal radius and ulna by support vector machine (SVM). METHODS: The X-ray films of the left wrist joints were taken from 140 teenagers aged from 11 to 19 years old as training samples. The levels of epiphysis of distal radius and ulna were divided into five developmental levels. Each level contained 28 samples. Another 35 cases were selected as independent verifying samples. SVM classification models of the five developmental levels of epiphysis of distal radius and ulna were established. The internal cross validation was made by leave one out cross validation (LOOCV), while the external validation was made by histogram of oriented gradient (HOG), and then the accuracy (PA) of testing results was calculated, respectively. RESULTS: The PA of SVM, LOOCV and HOG of distal radius epiphyseal level were 100%, 78.6%, and 82.8%, respectively; whereas the PA of SVM, LOOCV and HOG of distal ulna epiphyseal level were 100.0%, 80.0% and 88.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION The SVM-based automatic models of the growth stage of distal ra- dius and ulna appear to have certain feasibility, and may provide a foundation for software development of bone age assessment by forensic medicine.
Adolescent ; Bone Development/physiology* ; Child ; Epiphyses/growth & development* ; Female ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods* ; Male ; Radius/growth & development* ; Support Vector Machine ; Ulna/growth & development* ; Wrist/growth & development* ; Wrist Joint/growth & development* ; Young Adult

Objective To observe the expression of STEAP4 gene(a novel obesity-related gene) during the period of human preadipocyte differentiation and to explore the relationship between the STEAP4 gene expression and adipocytes differentiation,adipogenesis.Methods Human preadipocytes were cultured and differentiated into the matured adipocytes in vitro.Adipocytes morphology and lipid accumulation were observed during this process.Total RNA was extracted from adipocytes at various time points (preadipocyte,Day 0,Day 4,Day 6,Day 8,Day 11,Day 14,and Day 17) and the level of STEAP4 mRNA expression was measured by fluorescent real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polyme-rase chain reaction(RT-PCR).Results The level of STEAP4 mRNA expression remained high in preadipocytes.In the presence of differentiation medium (Day 4),there was a transient upregulation in the expression of STEAP4 gene.After that,with the human preadipocytes being differentiated into matured adipocytes,the expression of STEAP4 mRNA was downregulated and reached the lowest level in fully differentiated adipocytes.There was a significant difference between any 2 detected phases in the level of STEAP4 mRNA expression (Pa

OBJECTIVETo observe the therapeutic angiogenesis effect of naotai recipe (NR) on local ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury of rats by observing signaling pathway of hypoxia-inducible factor-lα (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

METHODSTotally 120 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, namely, the normal control group (n =12), the sham-operation group (n =12), the I/R model group (n =48), and the NR group (n =48). Cerebral I/R injury models were established using thread suture method. Rats in the I/R model group and the NR group were sub-divided into 4 sub-groups according to the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th I/R day (n =12). The phenomenon of neovasculization was observed by immunofluorescence staining. The protein and mRNA expression levels of HIF-la, VEGF-A, and VEGFR II receptor were detected by RT-PCR.

RESULTSThere were a large amount of labels for neovasculization in the ischemic area of the NR group. Double-immunofluorescence labeling [vWF (red) and BrdU (green)] was observed in the NR group. Compared with the model group, the HIF-1α protein expression was obviously enhanced on the 1 st day of I/R (P <0.01), and the VEGF protein expression started to enhance on the 3rd day in the NR group (P <0.01). The VEGFR protein expression level was the highest in the NR group on the 5th day of I/R (P <0.01). The protein expression of VEGF and HIF-1α started to decrease on the 7th day of I/R.

CONCLUSIONNR could strengthen angiogenesis after I/R by elevating the expression of HIF-lα and activating HIF-lα/VEGF signaling pathway.

Animals ; Brain Ischemia ; metabolism ; Cerebral Infarction ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ; genetics ; metabolism ; Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain ; metabolism ; Ischemia ; Neovascularization, Pathologic ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury ; Signal Transduction ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; biosynthesis

OBJECTIVETo analyze the physical growth changes in Chinese children aged from 0 to 7 years old during the past 30 years.

METHODSFour national physical growth surveys of the children under 7 years old were undertaken in the same urban and suburban areas of nine main cities in China from 1975 to 2005. The nine cities were Beijing, Harbin and Xi'an in the northern part; Shanghai, Nanjing and Wuhan in the central part; Guangzhou, Fuzhou and Kunming in the southern part of China. Random cluster sampling method was used. The children aged from 0 to 7 years old were classified into 22 groups by age. The sample size was ranged from 150 to 200 persons for each sex-age group in each area (urban/rural) of each city. Totally, 158 400, 152 874, 157 362 and 138 775 healthy children were examined in 1975, 1985, 1995 and 2005 respectively. The data of weight, height, chest and head circumference obtained from these surveys were analyzed.

RESULTSAverage weight and height in most of the age groups for both boys and girls from urban and suburban rural areas has been significantly improved during the past 30 years, the average increments of weight were 0.76 kg to 1.14 kg in 12 - 15 months group and 2.58 kg to 3.26 kg in 6 - 7 years group; and the average increments of height were 2.7 cm to 3.8 cm in 12 - 15 months group and 5.0 cm to 7.6 cm in 6 - 7 years group. Chest circumference did not show an increase in infants younger than 4 months and increased slightly after 4 months. The average increments of head circumference were 0.1 cm to 1.0 cm. From 1975 to 2005, the increments of weight and height per 10 years was in an increasing trend, e.g. weight increments of 5 - 6 years old were 0.58 kg, 1.02 kg and 1.67 kg and the height increments were 1.5 cm, 2.0 cm and 2.6 cm for every 10 years. The urban-rural difference in height has become smaller, the height difference in 6 - 7 years group for boys was decreased from 4.9 cm in 1975 to 2.6 cm in 2005. The weight has become smaller in children under 3 years old but becoming greater after 3 years, such as the difference increased from 1.14 kg in 1975 to 1.72 kg in 2005 for boys aged 6 - 7 years old. The regional difference also showed a decreasing trend.

CONCLUSIONThe physical growth of Chinese children had been much improved during the past 30 years and the secular trend should be still continuing at an accelerated growth stage. The urban-rural difference and regional difference in weight and height had become smaller.

Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Body Height ; Body Weight ; Child ; Child Development ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Rural Population ; Sampling Studies ; Urban Population

OBJECTIVE: To access application value of multi-slice spiral computed tomography (MSCT) and coronary artery calcium scoring (CACS) in investigation the coronary artery disease (CAD), and to explore the effective way of virtual autopsy to evaluate the sudden death due to CAD. METHODS: Nine cases of sudden cardiac death were collected to analyze MSCT before the autopsy. The quantitative analysis of the degree of coronary artery calcium was made by Agatston's method. The CACS of all the subjects were calculated based on the diagnostic criteria for CAD, in which calcium scoring was more than 400. The results of CACS were compared with that of the autopsy. RESULTS: Only 2 cases got the high calcium scoring which were more than 400 in the 9 cases died of CAD confirmed by the autopsy. The prediction rate of CACS for CAD was only 22.2%. Pulmonary edema of different severity was found in both autopsy and MSCT. There was a higher morbidity rate in the left anterior descending of coronary artery than the other branches. CONCLUSION Obvious calcification of coronary artery can be detected by MSCT and calculating CACS. To detect subtle calcification needs other technologies such as postmortem angiography.
Autopsy ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease/diagnostic imaging* ; Death, Sudden/pathology* ; Humans ; Multidetector Computed Tomography/methods* ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Vascular Calcification/diagnostic imaging*