BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairments are often accompanied in patients with silent cerebral infarction (SCI) and depression, and there is still no reliable objective assessing method for the evaluation.OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to probe into the value of auditory P300 in detecting the cognitive impairment in SCI patients with depression.DESIGN: A golden standard control study.SETTING: Department of Neurology, Xi 'an Central Hospital; Department of Neurology, the Second Hospital of Xi' an Jiao Tong University.PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-eight SCI patients were selected from the Outpatient Department of Neurology, the Second Hospital of Xi' an Jiao Tong University between January 2002 to May 2003, including 10 got dizziness,11 got poor concentration, 8 got headache, 5 got numbness of extremities and 4 got syncope. Among them, 26 were detected by CT and 12 by MRI.The patients'aged 45 to 63 years with mean age of (57.3±5.1) years, including 20 males and 18 females.METHODS: The existence of depressive symptoms was measured with the 17-item Hamilton depression scale (HAMD). In this scale, the total score ranged from 0 to 52, with higher score indicating more severe depressive symptoms, and the patient was considered as having depression if the HAMD score was ≥ 9. HAMD tests were administered by two psychiatrists,who were experienced in psychiatric disorders in stroke and other somatic diseases, and the two psychiatrists had a better coincidence (Kappa=0.86 -0.91). The auditory event related potential was detected with MYTO serial cerebra induced potential meter, while lying in a bed placed in a sound-attenuated room. Auditory stimuli were delivered binaurally through headphones. The subject was required to distinguish between the tones by noting the occurrence of the target and not to respond to the standard. All patients underwent a routine experimental test at first, and then a normal test was performed to obtain a better coincidence. Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) was conducted for the 38 patients by specialized training neurologist to assess the cognitive impairment, in which the total score ranged from 0 to 30, with lower score indicating greater impairment. The criteria of intellectual deterioration was defined on the basis of educational level:MMSE score of 17 for illiterate, 20 for primary school and 24 for middle school and above.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The score of MMSE, latent period of P300 wave and amplitude of P300 wave were mainly observed.RESULTS: All the 38 cases were involved in the final statistical analyhave depressive symptoms (47%, depression group) and 20 had no depresindexes and score of MMSE between the SCI patients with and without depression: As compared with the SCI patients without depression, the P300 latent period was obviously prolonged, the P300 amplitude and MMSE score were markedly decreased in the SCI patients with depression [(383.3±31.1), (347.2±37.3) ms; (5.6±0.7), (9.9±1.6) μV; (15.2±1.1),and P300 indexes: In the SCI patients with depression, the P300 latent period had significant negative correlation with the MMSE score (r=-0.549, P ＜ 0.05), the P300 amplitude had significant positive correlation with the MMSE score (r =0.525, P ＜ 0.05). However, there was no correlation between the latent period and amplitude of P300 and the MMSE score in the SCI patients without depression (r=-0.349 to 0.065, P ＞ 0.05).CONCLUSION: Depression and cognitive impairments may have the same pathophysiological basis in SCI patients. P300 can be used as a referential and objective method to analyze the cognitive function in SCI patients with depression.

A mathematical model of determining the injury of human knee joint was established by using structural dynamics method. The results showvered the corresponding shearing displacement and bending angle of the knee joint on the occasion of ligament avulsion, and the shearing force and bending moment which caused tibial condylar fractures under purest shearing and bending condition. The calculated results consisted with the experimental results greatly, suggesting that using mathematical method to determine the injury is feasible and this kind of method can do good to lots of subjects, such as pedestrian protection, athletic medicine and rehabilitation engineering.
Humans ; Knee Injuries ; Leg Injuries ; Models, Theoretical ; Multiple Trauma ; Tibial Fractures

Objective:The present study was designed to explore the role of ER stress in cardiac hypertrophy of adult APPswe /PS1dE9 transgenic mice.Methods:10 adult APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice and 10 C57BL/6 wild type (WT) mice were divided into the transgenic experimental and control group,WT experimental and control group,respectively,with 5 mice in each group.Experimental groups received a low dose ofIsoproterenol (ISO) (2 mg/kg) once a day for 4 weeks to induce cardiac hypertrophy,while control groups received the same volume of normal saline.After 4 weeks,the mice were anesthetized,followed by,electrocardiogram (ECG) recording and the measurement of the heart rate and body weight before being sacrificed.The heart was dissected out,and the masses of heart and the left ventricle were measured,the left ventricule mass index (LVW/BW) and the whole heart weight ratio (HW/BW) were calculated.HE staining was used to observe the pathological and morphological changes of cardiomyocytes,and Western Blot and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the expressions of ER stress relevant proteins-GRP78,JNK,P-JNK and CaMKII.Results:Compared with WT experimental mice,the ventricular wall in the APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic experimental mice was apparently hypertrophic after the induction by low doses of ISO,and the HW/BW and the LVW/BW were also significantly increased in the APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic experimental mice than those in the transgenic control mice,WT experimental and control mice (P＜0.05).HE staining showed that compared with the transgenic control mice,WT experimental and WT control mice,in the adult APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic experimental mice,the cardiomyocyte diameter was obviously increased,cell density was decreased,the capillary density was decreased,the intercellular substance was increased,and the intercellular space was increased.Western blot showed that the expression of GRP78,p-JNK and CaMKII in the experimental group of adult APPswe / PS1dE9 transgenic mice were significantly higher than those in the transgenic control mice and WT mice (P＜0.05,P＜0.01).There were no significant difference among the control group oftransgenic mice and the two groups of WT mice.Immunohistochemistry showed that the positive rates of GRP78 and CaMKII in the cytoplasm of cardiomyocytes of the APPswe/PS1 dE9 transgenic experimental mice were significantly higher than those of experimental WT mice (80％&40 ％)(P＜0.05),and the expressions in the two control groups were negative.The positive rates of p-JNK and JNK in the APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic experimental mice were 90％ and 40％ respectively,and the expressions were negative in other three groups.Conclusions:The adult APPswe/PSldE9 transgenic mice are more prone to cardiac hypertrophy than WT mice after the induction with a low dose of ISO.ER stress is involved in the formation of cardiac hypertrophy in adult APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice.

OBJECTIVETo discuss the diagnosis and therapy of chylous reflux and external chylous fistula.

METHODSAll of 6 patients were diagnosed with direct lymphagiography, lymphscintigraphy. Among them, 2 patients received CT after direct lymphagiography. Retroperitoneal lymphangiectomy plus lymph-vein shunting was performed in 5 patients, and retroperitoneal lymphangiectomy in 1 patient.

RESULTSThe 6 patients were followed up from 6 months to 6 years. In 5 patients, chylous cysts disappeared and chylous fistula closed, and in 1 patient, chylous fistula didn't cicatrize, and chyle still leak out from the scrotum.

CONCLUSIONSRetroperitoneal lymphangiectomy plus lymph-vein shunting has curative effect on chylous external fistula of the lower extremity and genitalia, but it has the chance to not obstruct all paths of chylous reflex.

Chyle ; Fistula ; Humans

Objective To establish a simple scoring system for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and to observe its sensitivity and specificity. Methods Two hundred and thirty-three patients diagnosed as CHB by liver biopsy were divided into model group (N = 154) and validation group (N = 79). The general information, biochemical parameters and imaging data of all patients were observed. With hepatic fibrosis being obvious or not as the end point of primary study in the model group, we established a simple scoring system for the diagnosis. The cut-off, sensitivity and specificity of the system were tested in the model group by ROC curve, and its diagnostic efficacy was tested in the validation group. Results(1) A simple scoring system for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis called MDFS was established in the model group, and the dimensions of the system included sex, HBV-DNA, Fibroscan (FS) value and splenomegaly. In MDFS, male, HBV-DNA≥ 107 U/mL,FS value≥7.3 kPa, and splenomegaly were assigned 1 point, -2 points, 3 points, and 2 points respectively. (2) The best cut-off value in MDFS was 2 points.(3) ROC curve of the model group indicated that the specificity and sensitivity were 92.86% and 54.76% respectively, the area under curve(AUC) was 0.790, and the Youden index was 0.4762. In the validation group, the diagnostic cut-off value was over 2 points, and the sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, and negative likelihood ratio were 52.17%, 82.35%, 2.96, and 0.58 respectively. (4) The scoring results of MDFS for different traditional Chinese medical syndromes of CHB showed that the scores of blood stasis blocking collaterals > damp-heat accumulation > deficiency of spleen and kidney yang> liver depression and spleen deficiency = stagnation of liver Qi. Conclusion The MDFS diagnostic scoring system has medium efficiency. The specificity of MDFS is relatively high and MDFs has a relatively low misdiagnosis rate for the diagnosis of obvious hepatic fibrosis in CHB. The MDFS is expected to be a noninvasive and simple diagnosing way for hepatic fibrosis in CHB.

OBJECTIVETo study whether As(2)O(3) has an apoptotic effect on human solid tumor cells, and the possible cellular and molecular mechanisms of this treatment using human esophageal squamous carcinoma cells (EC8712) as a model.

METHODSDNA microarray, biochemical and cytological analyses were used.

RESULTSThe growth and survival of EC8712 cells were markedly inhibited by As(2)O(3) treatment at a concentration of 1, 2 and 4 micromol/L. EC8712 cells were obviously arrested at G2/M phase with As(2)O(3) treatment and apoptosis induced at micromolar As(2)O(3) concentrations, as shown by morphology, histogram related nuclear DNA contents, and DNA gel electrophoresis. As(2)O(3) activated caspase-3, which might be involved in the process of As(2)O(3), induced apoptosis in EC8712 cells.

CONCLUSIONSAs(2)O(3) changes the expression of many genes at transcription level. The regulation of expression of many genes might be involved in the process of As(2)O(3) inducing apoptosis. These results suggest that As(2)O(3) can be clinically useful for solid tumor treatment.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Arsenicals ; pharmacology ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; drug therapy ; genetics ; pathology ; Cell Adhesion ; drug effects ; Cell Division ; drug effects ; DNA Fragmentation ; drug effects ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; genetics ; pathology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; drug effects ; Humans ; Microscopy, Electron ; Oxides ; pharmacology ; Tumor Cells, Cultured ; drug effects ; ultrastructure