Objective To explore the clinical value of Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) in evaluating abdominal aortic wall motion to predict pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH).Methods The velocities of anterior abdominal aortic wall motion in 112 pregnant women with normal 20-40 weeks' pregnancy were detected by DTI and combined with simultaneous electrocardiography.Electromechanical time (EMT), left ventricular pre-ejection period (PEP), patients' height and weight were measured and recorded respectively.Pulsed wave time (PWT, PWT = EMT-PEP) and relative pulse wave velocity (RPWV) were calculated and analyzed.Medium and late stage PIH eases and time were recorded in clinical follow-up.Results PIH group were 11 cases, non-PIH group were 101 cases.E, S_1, S_2, D peak value in PIH group were significantly lower than those in non-PIH group [(2.02 ± 0.39 ) cm/s vs (2.32 ± 0.45 ) cm/s, (6.08 ± 0.87 ) cm/s vs(7.12 ±1.11 ) cm/s, (2.22 ± 0.65 ) cm/s vs( 2.83 ± 0.81 ) cm/s, (3.26 ± 0.54) cm/s vs( 3.86 ± 0.72 ) cm/s, P < 0.01]; EMT shortening[(120.87 ± 11.34) ms vs (134.32 ± 10.62) ms,P<0.05];PEP longer[(92.36±9.04) ms vs(83.11±8.95) ms,P< 0.05];PWT shortening[(31 ± 11) ms vs(45 ± 13) ms,P<0.01]; RPWV faster [( 1 02.28 ± 20.69) m/s vs (75.37 ± 18.74) m/s, P < 0.01].Conclusions Abdominal aortic wall motion has already changed in early stage of PIH.DTI is a valuable method to evaluate the abdominal aorta wall motion for early detection of PIH with high sensitivity, high accuracy and access to promote.

Objective To investigate the main risk factors influencing the pre-hospital delay of patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) for preventing methods.Methods A retrieval was done across the epidemiologic studies on pre-hospital delay of AIS patients during 2004 to 2015 using the key words of ischemic stroke,prehospital delay,treatment delay.According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria,the literature was collected and the literature quality was assessed.The data were extracted for meta-analysis by RevMan software.Results Sixteen epidemiologic studies were included.Totally,there were 2,966 cases of prehospital delay and 2,468 cases of non-delay.The pooled OR values and 95％ CI by multivariate analysis were as follows:the degree of awareness of stroke was 0.5 (0.3,0.82),emergency medical service (EMS) was 0.49 (0.29,0.85),National Institute of Health Stroke scale (NHISS) score 0.58 (0.36,0.95),outpatient visit as first visit 4.28 (1.44,12.74),distance 0.76 (0.61,0.95),medical history of ischemic stroke 0.37 (0.18,0.79) (with significant differences in OR value,P＜0.05).Conclusions The protective factors for pre-hospital delay of acute ischemic stroke patients include:strengthened awareness of stroke,effective EMS,high NHISS score,short distance,medical history of ischemic stroke.The main risk factor is that their outpatient visit is their first visit for medical treatment.Therefore,we need to enhance the health education to the patients and their families about awareness of stroke,improve the use of EMS and build complete and efficient green path for the stroke patient.

Objective:To study the feasibility of 3-D reconstruction model in the observation of tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin(TCDD) effected palatal organ development of fetal mouse.Methods:Kunming mice treated 40 ug/kg TCDD by lavage on day 12.5 of pregnancy were used as in the experimental group,isodose corn oil treated in the control group.On day 13.5,14.5 and 15.5 of pregnancy heads of the fetal mice were taken out and fixed.Conventional paraffin serial sections of palatal organ were preparated and dyed by hematoxylin-eosin,images of the palatal organs were collected and photoshop treated,3-D reconstruction of the palatal organ was performed by 3D-DOCTOR software.Results:3-D reconstruction images showed that palatal organs moved from on both sides above the tongue and gradually closed and merged in the control group.In the experimental group,the palatal organs moved from on both sides above the tongue was later than control group,gradually closed,but not merged,formed cleft palate.Conclusion:3D-DOCTOR software reconstruction can be used for the study of the development process effected by TCDD in the pregnant mouse.

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of hermaphroditism.Methods Ultrasonographic appearances of 45 cases with hermaphroditism were reviewed retrospectively,and the results were compared with clinical data.Results All cases were confirmed pathologically.5 cases showed true hermaphroditism (11.1％),14 cases showed male pseudohermaphroditism (31.1 ％),24 cases showed female pseudohermaphroditism (53.3 ％),2 cases showed gonadal dysgenesis(4.4％).Compared with pathological results in the ultrasound examination,4 cases showed true hermaphroditism,the coincidence rate was 80％.11 cases showed male pseudohermaphroditism,the coincidence rate was 78.6％.20 cases showed female pseudohermaphroditism,the coincidence rate was 83.3％.1 cases showed gonadal dysgenesis,the coincidence rate was 50.0％.Conclusions Ultrasonography can not only evaluate internal reproductive organs in the patients,but also estimate the site,size,morphology and structure,which provides important imaging evidence for the clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Objective To explore MRI features in diagnosis of placenta accrete(PA).Methods MRI images of 19 patients with PA and 14 normal subjects were reviewed retrospectively.MRI features of the placenta and adjacent structures were analyzed and compared.Results Compared to the MRI findings of the normal subjects,abnormal uterine bulging,heterogeneous signal intensity of the placenta,and hypo-intensity intraplacental bands on T2WI were significantly higher in the patients with placenta accrete (P= 0.000,P=0.003 and P=0.015,respectively).The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,negative predictive value and accuracy of the three features diagnosing placenta accrete were 78.95%,85.71%,88.24%,75.00%,81.82%;84.21%,71.43%,80.00%, 76.92%,78.79%;73.68%,71.43%,77.78%,66.67% and 72.73%,respectively.Conclusion MRI has important value in diagnosing PA.The MRI features of abnormal uterine bulging,heterogeneous signal intensity within the placenta,and hypo-intensity intraplacental bands on T2WI are useful for diagnosis.

Objective:To investigate the effects of silicon photomutipliers (SiPM) detector and Bayesian penalized likelihood (BPL) reconstruction algorithm on semiquantitative parameters of 18F-FDG PET/CT and diagnostic efficiency for solitary pulmonary nodules/masses compared with traditional photomultiplier tube (PMT) and ordered subsets expectation maximization (OSEM). Methods:From March 2020 to January 2022, 118 patients (76 males, 42 females, age (63.0±10.1) years) newly diagnosed with solitary pulmonary nodules/masses in First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University were prospectively enrolled and underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging with two different PET/CT scanners successively. The images were divided into PMT+ OSEM, SiPM+ OSEM and SiPM+ BPL groups according to PET detector and reconstruction algorithms. The SUV max, SUV mean, metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of pulmonary nodules/masses were measured, then signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and signal-to-background ratio (SBR) were calculated. One-way analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test were performed to compare differences of above parameters among groups. ROC curve analysis was used to analyze the optimal threshold of SUV max for the differential diagnosis of pulmonary nodules/masses and AUCs were obtained. Results:There were 83 malignant nodules and 35 benign nodules. The image quality of SiPM+ BPL group (4.23±0.64) was better than that of SiPM+ OSEM group (3.57±0.50) or PMT+ OSEM group (3.58±0.51; F=54.85, P<0.001). There were significant differences in SUV max (7.57(3.86, 15.61) vs 4.95(2.22, 10.48)), SUV mean (4.43(2.28, 9.12) vs 2.84(1.21, 5.71)), MTV (3.54(1.57, 7.67) vs 5.09(2.83, 11.79)), SNR (28.12(12.55, 54.38) vs 20.16(8.29, 41.45)) and SBR (4.03(1.83, 7.75) vs 2.32(0.96, 5.03)) between SiPM+ BPL and SiPM+ OSEM groups ( H values: 16.63-37.05, all P<0.001). The optimal threshold values of SUV max in SiPM+ BPL, SiPM+ OSEM and PMT+ OSEM were 3.31, 2.21, 2.05 with AUCs of 0.686, 0.689, 0.615 for nodules < 2 cm, and were 10.29, 6.49, 4.33 with AUCs of 0.775, 0.782, 0.774 for nodules/masses ≥2 cm. Conclusions:Image quality and parameters of pulmonary nodules/masses are mainly affected by the reconstruction algorithms. BPL can improve SUV max, SUV mean, SBR and SNR, but reduce MTV without significant effect on liver parameters. SiPM+ BPL has a higher diagnostic threshold of SUV max than SiPM+ OSEM and PMT+ OSEM.

Objective:To improve the quality of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET images at different acquisition times through deep learning (DL) PET image reconstruction methods. Methods:A total of 45 patients (20 males, 25 females; age (52.0±13.6) years) with malignant tumors and PET/CT scans from September 2020 to October 2020 in the Department of Nuclear Medicine of the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University were included in this retrospective study. The short acquisition time 30 s/bed PET images from the raw list mode were selected as the input of DL model. DL image reconstruction model, based on the Unet algorithm, was trained to output imitated PET images with full dose standard acquisition time (3 min). The image quality evaluation and quantitative analysis were carried out for four groups of images: DL images, 30 s, 90 s, and 120 s images, respectively. The quality of PET images in four groups was evaluated using the five-point method. Liver background activities, lesions quantification parameters (maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max), mean standardized uptake value (SUV mean), standard deviation (SD), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR)), and first-order texture features (skewness, kurtosis, uniformity, entropy) were measured. Kappa test, χ2 test and one-way analysis of variance (least significant difference t test) were used for data analysis. Results:The image quality scores between four groups were highly consistent ( Kappa=0.799, P<0.001). The number of patients with scores≥3 in DL, 30 s, 90 s and 120 s groups were 6, 4, 7 and 8, respectively ( χ2=125.47, P<0.001). The liver SD of DL group was significantly lower than that of 30 s group (0.26±0.07 vs 0.43±0.11; F=3.58, t=-7.91, P<0.05). The liver SNR of DL group was higher than that of 30 s group (11.04±4.36 vs 5.41±1.41; F=10.22, t=5.40, P<0.05). The liver SD and SNR of DL group were similar to those of 90 s group (0.39±0.16, 8.46±3.34; t values: -0.87 and 2.17, both P>0.05). In 18 tumor lesions with high uptake, SNR and CNR of DL group were significantly higher than those of 30 s group (60.21±29.26 vs 38.38±16.54, 22.26±15.85 vs 15.41±9.51; F values: 13.09 and 7.05; t values: 5.20 and 4.04, both P<0.001). There were statistically significant differences among four groups in the first-order texture features ( F values: 4.30-9.65, all P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between DL group and 120 s group ( t values: from -1.25 to 0.15, all P>0.05). Conclusion:DL reconstruction model can improve the quality of short-frame PET images, which meets the needs of clinical diagnosis, efficacy evaluation and radiomics research.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the severity of blood steal and the hemodynamic profiles in patients with subclavian artery stenosis combined with vertebral artery stenosis. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed of transcranial Doppler (TCD) data from patients with subclavian artery stenosis (SAS) and concomitant unilateral/bilateral vertebral artery stenosis (VAS, >50%) or occlusion in our institution between February, 2014 and July, 2018.Thirty-seven patients with SAS combined with VAS (SAS+VAS) were reviewed for types of blood steal, peak systolic velocities of blood flow in affected subclavian artery and the contralateral vertebral artery, and the findings of hyperemia testing.These data were also reviewed for 39 SAS patients without VAS (control group) for comparison of blood steal and hemodynamic profiles. RESULTS: In SAS+VAS group, 5 patients showed no blood steal; blood steal in stage Ⅰ was found in 22 patients, stage Ⅱ in 7, and stage Ⅲ in 3, as compared to the numbers of 17, 12 and 10 in the control group, respectively (H=9.431, =0.002).The peak systolic velocity of the contralateral vertebral artery was 43.91±17.43 cm/s in SAS+VAS group, significantly lower than that in the control group (53.56±17.45 cm/s; = 629.5, =0.006).Hyperemia testing showed a significant difference in the negative rate between SAS+VAS group and the control group[35.1%(13/37) 7.7%(3/39);=8.603, =0.003). CONCLUSIONS SAS combined with VAS may lead to reduced compensatory blood flow in the contralateral vertebral artery to lessen the severity of subclavian steal syndrome.
Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Regional Blood Flow ; physiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Subclavian Steal Syndrome ; complications ; physiopathology ; Vertebral Artery ; physiopathology ; Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency ; complications ; physiopathology

Background N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation may play an important role in the process of malignant transformation of cells induced by environmental carcinogens. However, the specific roles and mechanisms need to be further explored. Objective To explore the role and mechanism of m6A binding protein insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 3 (IGF2BP3) in the malignant transformation of human gastric mucosal epithelial cells GES-1 induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). Methods Based on the GES-1 malignant transformation cells MC-30, a stable knockdown IGF2BP3 MC-30 cell line (MC30-shIGF2BP3, abbreviated as MC30-shI3) was constructed by lentiviral transfection technology, and a negative control group (MC30-NC) was also prepared. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting were applied to detect the mRNA expression and protein levels of IGF2BP3. RNA binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP-qPCR) was used to examine the combination between IGF2BP3 protein and MYC mRNA in malignant cells MC-30. Furthermore, the stability of MYC mRNA was detected by actinomycin D assay. CCK-8 and Transwell respectively were employed to detect cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Western blotting was applied to detect the expression of EMT markers (N-cadherin, Vimentin, α-SMA, and Snail). The role of the downstream target gene MYC was further elucidated by a rescue assay in MC30-shI3 cells transfected with a plasmid overexpressing MYC to observe changes in cellular phenotypes (proliferation, migration, invasion) and expression of key EMT proteins. Results Compared with the control group, the expression of IGF2BP3 mRNA was up-regulated after 5, 10, 20, and 40 μmol·L⁻¹ MNNG infection of GES-1 cells (P<0.05). After 20 μmol·L⁻¹ MNNG infection, the expression level of IGF2BP3 mRNA increased with prolongation of exposure time (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the mRNA and protein expression levels of IGF2BP3 were up-regulated in the 10th, 20th, and 30th generations of 5 μmol·L⁻¹ MNNG malignant transformation (P<0.05). The results of qRT-PCR and Western blotting showed that, compared with the MC30-NC group, the IGF2BP3 and MYC mRNA expression and protein expression decreased in the MC30-shI3 group (P<0.01). The CCK8 and transwell assay results showed that, compared with the MC30-NC group, the cell proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities significantly reduced in the MC30-shI3 group (P<0.01). The results of the Western blotting showed that, compared with the MC30-NC group, the protein levels of EMT markers N-cadherin, Vimentin, α-SMA, and Snail decreased in the MC30-shI3 group (P<0.01). The results of RIP-qPCR showed that, compared with the IgG group, the mRNA level was higher for the enriched MYC in the IGF2BP3 group (P<0.01); the results of the actinomycin D assay showed that, compared with the MC30-NC group, the stability of MYC mRNA significantly reduced in the MC30-shI3 group (P<0.01). While the rescue experiment showed that, compared with the IGF2BP3 knock-down+vector group, the MYC protein level significantly increased in the IGF2BP3 knock-down + MYC over-expression group (P<0.01), the proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities significantly enhanced (P<0.01), and the EMT key proteins (N-cadherin, Vimentin, α-SMA, Snail) increased in the MC30-shI3+MYC group (P<0.01). Conclusion Exposure to MNNG could result in up-regulation of IGF2BP3 expression in GES-1 cells. IGF2BP3 may enhance the proliferation, migration, and invasion of malignantly transformed human gastric epithelial cells by binding to MYC mRNA and increasing its stability and expression level and thus promoting the EMT process, which in turn affects the progression of malignant transformation.