Objective: To study the 3D positional changes occurring to anchor molars of 37 patients treated with MBT appliance. Methods: Thirty seven patients who needed maximum upper molar anchorage were divided into two treatment groups at random, group Ⅰ was comprised of 19 patients whose anterior teeth were retracted en masse, and group Ⅱ included 18 patients whose anterior teeth were retracted by two step. All the patients were treated with MBT appliance and headgear. Dental casts recorded before and after treatment were analyzed by YM 2115 three dimensional digitizer and related software. The changes of anchor molar tip,torque and rotation were compared between the two groups. Results: During the treatment, average anterior movement of the upper first molars was 4.53 mm, average extrusion of the upper first molars was 1.53 mm; the crown of the upper first molar tipped forward (6?4)?,torque buccally (3?6)?,and mesiolingually rotated 3.15?; In en mass group, the crown of the upper first molar tipped more mesially than the two step group, and the difference was statistically significant. Conclusion:Almost all the upper first molars showed the tendency to rotate and tip mesially and torque bucally; there was no statistically significant difference between the two treatment groups when upper molar positional changes were concerned except for the mesial tip of the crown.

Objective To measure cerebral circulation time(CCT) of a group of normal adults by contrast-enhanced ultrasound. Methods Forty-seven cases of healthy volunteers without any cardio-cerebral disease history were enrolled in the study. Internal carotid artery and vertebral artery were observed and the blood flow was measured with high frequency probe. Contrast-enhanced agent SonoVue was injected bolus into median cubital vein. CCT was measured and calculated according to the contrast curve analysis. Contralateral CCT measurement was repeated when the blood flow signal resume to the baseline intensity. Cerebral blood volume was then calculated according to CCT and cerebral blood flow. Results All the imaging of carotid vessels was presented clearly in all objects. Cerebral blood flow was 603 ～ 990 ml/min with an average (778 ± 171)ml/min. Bi-lateral CCT was measured successfully,the value ranged 4. 1 ～ 10.2 s with average (6.22 ± 1.47) s. There were no significant differences both in contrast of left and right side of the carotid vessels and in contrast of three dosage groups ( P ＞0.05). The cerebral blood volume was 54～96ml with average (76 ± 27)ml. Conclusions Contrast-enhanced ultrasound can be useful in measurement and calculation of CCT and cerebral blood volume.

OBJECTIVETo determine the agreement between two-dimensional radiograph and three-dimensional CT in the evaluation of the secondary alveolar bone grafting.

METHODSNine complete cleft lip and palate patients (8 UCLP, 1 BCLP) at least 6 months post secondary alveolar bone grafting were selected. The mean age of the patients was 15.5 years with a range of 12 to 26 years. Occlusal radiographs were taken and the interdental septal height was determined using Bergland criteria. There were 2 type I sites, 2 type II sites, 5 type III sites and 1 type IV site. All the patients had undergone CT scan of the cleft within two months after the radiograph was taken. The plane of scan was parallel to the occlusal plane. Cuts of 2 mm were taken from the infraorbital rim to the gingival third of the crown of the teeth. Three-dimensional reconstruction was performed.

RESULTSThe interdental septal height on the occlusal radiograph was conformed by the CT scan. Labial and palatal notch was found on CT scan at two grafting sides.

CONCLUSIONSThe study provided some evidence to support the continued cautious use of anterior occlusal radiograph in the evaluation of bone-graft success before the orthodontic treatment. When the X-ray examination is not in line with the clinical examination, CT scan is indicated.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Alveolar Process ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery ; Bone Transplantation ; Child ; Cleft Lip ; surgery ; Cleft Palate ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Male ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; methods

OBJECTIVE: To compare the hemostatic effects of local packing of Nasopore combined with hemocoagulase injection and local packing of Nasopore combined with saline injection for postoperative management of functional endoscopic sinus surgery by a double-blind, randomized control clinical trial. METHOD: Sixty-eight cases of chronic sinusitis needed functional endoscopic sinus surgery were randomly divided into the experimental group of 40 cases and control group of 28 cases, respectively. For the experimental group, 1 U of hemocoagulase dissolved in 0.5 ml saline was injected into Nasopore which was packed into the nasal cavity after operation. For the control group, 0.5 ml of saline was injected. The postoperative bleeding of the two groups were scored by visual analogue scale. RESULT: There was statistically significant difference between the bleeding VAS scores assessed 6 hours and the ones assessed 1, 2 and 3 days after the operation in the control group (P < 0.05). There was the statistically significant difference between the bleeding VAS scores of experimental group and control group assessed 6 h after the operation (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION The hemocoagulase may improve the hemostatic effect of Nasopore 6 hours after the operation by combined injection with Nasopore as nasal cavity packing.
Bandages ; Batroxobin ; administration & dosage ; Double-Blind Method ; Endoscopy ; Epistaxis ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Injections ; Male ; Nasal Cavity ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To investigate the value of intraoperative contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) in evaluating pathological grades of cerebral gliomas. Methods Intraoperative CEUS was performed in 33 patients of cerebral gliomas of different pathological grades. Real-time blood perfusion and enhance characteristics of these tumors were observed,quantitative parameters from the automatically derived time-intensity curve (TIC) were obtained, and compared with the tumor microvessel density (MVD) by immunostaining with anti-CD34. Results The time to peak was significantly shorter and the MVD was significantly higher in the high grade cerebral gliomas compared with the low grade ones ( P <0. 05). The time to peak was negatively correlated with the MVD by immunostaining (r = -0.79, P < 0. 05). Conclusions Intraoperative CEUS could be used to observe microvascular perfusion in real-time, and could indirectly reflect the information of MVD in cerebral gliomas, which is of help to grade cerebral gliomas and guide surgical resections.

Objective To compare the features of OCT angiography (OCTA) between neovascular agerelated macular degeneration (nAMD) and myopic ehoroidal neovascularization (mCNV) patients before and after intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment.Methods A prospective cohort study.Twenty-nine patients (37 eyes) with nAMD (19 males and 10 females,aged 68.20±8.76) and 31 patients (34 eyes) with mCNV (9 males and 22 females,aged 43.10± 11.80,with the mean diopter of-9.71 ± 1.20 D) from Department of Ophthalmology,West China Hospital of Sichuan University during May and December 2017 were included in this study.Ranibizumab or Conbercept (0.5 mg/0.05 ml) was intravitreally injected in all eyes.The patients were follow-up for 3-6 months.The OCTA was conducted before treatment and 1 day,1 week,1 month and 3-6 months after treatment.In order to ensure that the scanning position was the same,the tracking mode was adopted for each scanning.According to the OCTA images,the lesion area,parafoveal superficial vessel density and perfusion area were measured and analyzed contrastively between nAMD and mCNV patients.Results The mean lesion area before and 1 month after treatment in nAMD patients were 0.38± 1.87 mum2 and 0.06±0.12 mm2,while in mCNV patients,those were 0.26± 1.06 mm2 and 0.03 ± 0.05 mm2,respectively.There were statistically significant differences (Z=4.181,4.475;P＜0.001) in CNV lesion area before and 1 month after treatment between nAMD and mCNV patients.Compared with those before treatment,the absolute change (Z=1.853,P=0.064) and the percentage changes (t=2.685,P=0.010) of CNV lesion area l month after treatment in nAMD and mCNV patients show a statistical meaning.There were significantly decreases in both parafoveal superficial vessel density (F=8.997,P=0.003) and perfusion area (F=7.887,P=0.015) 3 months after treatment in nAMD patients,while decreases in parafoveal superficial vessel density (F=11.142,P=0.004) and perfusion area (F=7.662,P=0.013) could be detected 1 day after treatment in mCNV patients,before rising 1 month after treatment.Conclusions There are significantly differences in lesion area before and after the treatment of intravitreal anti-VEGF between nAMD and mCNV patients by OCTA examination.Moreover,the changes of both parafoveal superficial vessel density and perfusion area after anti-VEGF treatment are statistically different in two groups.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common cause of blindness among people over 65 in developed countries.With the rapidity of population aging process,the prevalence of AMD will be further increased.The application of anti-vascular endothelial factor growth medicine in ophthalmology has made great progress in the therapeutic effect and prognosis of wet AMD.In this context,many countries and regions have successively formulated guidelines for the AMD clinical diagnosis and treatment,especially the United States,Europe and Australia.Through the analysis of AMD clinical guidelines of American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) in 2015,and by comparing it with AMD analysis and treatment guidelines of European Society of Retina Specialists (EURETINA) in 2014,this paper provides an accurate,effective and comprehensive diagnosis strategy and lays a foundation for providing AMD patients with quality diagnosis and treatment plans.

The E (envelope) protein is the smallest structural protein in all coronaviruses and is the only viral structural protein in which no variation has been detected. We conducted genome sequencing and phylogenetic analyses of SARS-CoV. Based on genome sequencing, we predicted the E protein is a transmembrane (TM) protein characterized by a TM region with strong hydrophobicity and alpha-helix conformation. We identified a segment (NH2-_L-Cys-A-Y-Cys-Cys-N_-COOH) in the carboxyl-terminal region of the E protein that appears to form three disulfide bonds with another segment of corresponding cysteines in the carboxyl-terminus of the S (spike) protein. These bonds point to a possible structural association between the E and S proteins. Our phylogenetic analyses of the E protein sequences in all published coronaviruses place SARS-CoV in an independent group in Coronaviridae and suggest a non-human animal origin.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Base Sequence ; Cluster Analysis ; Codon ; genetics ; Gene Components ; Genome, Viral ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; metabolism ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Protein Conformation ; SARS Virus ; genetics ; Sequence Alignment ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Sequence Homology ; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus ; Viral Envelope Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism

INTRODUCTION: Patients with chronic diseases face difficulties when navigating the healthcare system. Using the Healthcare System Hassles Questionnaire (HSHQ) developed by Parchman et al, this study aimed to explore the degree of hassles faced by patients in primary care in Singapore and identify the characteristics associated with greater hassles. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with chronic diseases at Hougang Polyclinic, Singapore, using the interviewer-administered HSHQ. The mean HSHQ score was compared with that reported by Parchman et al. The associations between the number of chronic diseases, demographic variables and healthcare hassles were assessed using multivariate linear logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: In total, 217 outpatients aged 21 years and above were enrolled. Their overall mean HSHQ score (4.77 ± 6.18) was significantly lower than that of patients in the study by Parchman et al (15.94 ± 14.23, p < 0.001). Patients with five or more chronic diseases scored 3.38 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.11-6.65, p = 0.043) points higher than those with one chronic disease did. With each increasing year of age, the mean HSHQ score decreased by 0.17 (95% CI -0.26 to -0.08, p = 0.001) points. Patients with polytechnic/diploma/university education and higher scored 2.65 (95% CI 0.19-5.11, p = 0.035) points higher than those with primary education and lower did. CONCLUSION Patients in our population reported less hassles than those in the study by Parchman et al did. Increasing age and lower education level were associated with less hassles. Further analysis of the types of chronic diseases may yield new information about the association of healthcare hassles with the number and types of chronic diseases.

There are some limitations in the localization of epileptogenic zone commonly used by human eyes to identify abnormal discharges of intracranial electroencephalography in epilepsy. However, at present, the accuracy of the localization of epileptogenic zone by extracting intracranial electroencephalography features needs to be further improved. As a new method using dynamic network model, neural fragility has potential application value in the localization of epileptogenic zone. In this paper, the neural fragility analysis method was used to analyze the stereoelectroencephalography signals of 35 seizures in 20 patients, and then the epileptogenic zone electrodes were classified using the random forest model, and the classification results were compared with the time-frequency characteristics of six different frequency bands extracted by short-time Fourier transform. The results showed that the area under curve (AUC) of epileptic focus electrodes based on time-frequency analysis was 0.870 (delta) to 0.956 (high gamma), and its classification accuracy increased with the increase of frequency band, while the AUC by using neural fragility could reach 0.957. After fusing the neural fragility and the time-frequency characteristics of the γ and high γ band, the AUC could be further increased to 0.969, which was improved on the original basis. This paper verifies the effectiveness of neural fragility in identifying epileptogenic zone, and provides a theoretical reference for its further clinical application.
Humans ; Electroencephalography/methods* ; Epilepsy/diagnosis* ; Seizures ; Stereotaxic Techniques