Objective To investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics of metaplastic thymoma.Methods The histological features and immunophenotype of three cases with metaplastic thymoma were studied, and the literatures were reviewed.Results There were 2 females and 1 male of 3 patients with 45, 52 and 40 years old, respectively.All tumors were characterized by a biphasic pattern composed of epithelial components and spindle cells.The epithelial areas consisted of anastomosing cords and islands or broad trabeculae of cohesive neoplasia cells.Some epithelial cells showed mild cytologic atypia, the presence of prominent nuclear grooves or pseudoinclusion body, and very low mitotic activity.The cells appeared bland and a fine nuclear chromatin pattern, and the mitoses were not found.The epithelial cells were diffusely and strongly positive for AE1/AE3.The spindle cells were diffusely positive for Vimentin.The Ki-67 fraction was low (＜5 ％) in both components.Conclusions Metaplastic thymoma is a rare primary thymic epithelial tumor, and its biologic behavior is likely benign or lowly malignant process.Occasionally, the tumor invades adjacent tissue or recurrence.With complete tumor resection, the patients have good prognosis.The diagnosis of metaplastic thymoma mainly relies on its morphologic features and immunohistochemical profiles.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the causes and managements of postoperative neurological complications in pedicle screw internal fixation for the treatment of degenerative scoliosis (DS).

METHODSThe data of 325 patients with degenerative scoliosis underwent pedicle screw internal fixation was retrospectively analyzed from February 2000 to April 2013. There were 22 patients with postoperative neurological complications. Of them, 16 cases complicated with numbness or pain of lower limb and 6 cases with obvious sensation and motor function decreasing in lower limb. The patients were treated with trophic nerve, dehydration, glucocorticoids, reoperation according to the causes of disease. Postoperative at 3, 6 months and 1 year later, according to VAS scoring and muscule power improvement,the recovery of nerve injury was assessed.

RESULTSPostoperative at 3,6 months and 1 year later,VAS scoring of 16 patients with slightly nerve injury was 2.81 +/- 0.66, 1.94 +/- 0.77, 0.63 +/- 0.62, respectively, and the symptoms had obviously improved than 1 week after operation (P < 0.05). Postoperative at 3 months, among 6 patients with severe nerve injury,muscule power improved in 2 cases and no-improved in 4 cases, with VAS scoring of 4.83 +/- 1.17; postoperative at 6 months,muscule power still had not improved in 3 cases,with VAS scoring of 4.17 +/- 0.75; both of the VAS scoring had not significant difference than 1 week after operation (P > 0.05). One year later, there was no muscule power improvement in 2 cases,with VAS scoring of 3.00 +/- 1.26, there was significant difference than 1 week after operation (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe causes of postoperative neurological complication in internal fixation for the treatment of dengenerative scoliosis includes: dragging and torsion injury of spinal marrow and nerve root because of excessive orthopedic of scoliosis; inderect injury of nerve root because of malposition of pedicle screw; nerve functional impairment caused by spinal cord ischemia. Avoiding the above factors could decrease the complication and early discovery and treatment could decrease the adverse outcomes.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Bone Nails ; adverse effects ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nervous System Diseases ; etiology ; Postoperative Complications ; etiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Scoliosis ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Objective To evaluate the response and toxicity of the chemo-radiotherapy assisted with Shenqi Fuzheng injection(SFI)in non-small-cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Methods 58 cases of NSCLC(from Jun.2004 to Dec.2006)were divided at random into two groups.30 cases(trial group)were given chemo-radiotherapy with Shenqi Fuzheng injection while another 28 cases(control group)only chemo-radiotherapy.The radiotherapy was carried out between two cycles of induction chemotherapy with NVB 25 mg/m2 d1,8,DDP 30 mg/m2 d1-3.The radiation dose was 60 Gy/30 f/6 W.Shenqi Fuzheng injection was used in 250 ml/d,for 21days as one cycle and after 7 day intervals, given another one cycle.The cycles of same regimen chemotherapy were given again after one week when the radiotherapy had been completed.Results Shortterm therapeutic effectiveness.the rates of complete remission and partial remission as well as the overall effective rates in patients of the trial group and control group were 16.7%,60.0%and 76.7%,and 10.7%,50.0%and 60.7%,respectively,the differences between two groups be not significant(P＞0.05).The 0.5,1,2year survival rates in patients of the trial group and control group were 96.7%,65.2%,45.0%and 89.3%,48.0%,35.0%,respectively,the differences between two groups were not significant(P＞0.05).Shenqi Fuzheng injection was shown to have changes in chemo-radiotherapy effects on clinical symptom,quality of life (QOL)and immune function and toxicity in the treatment of patients with NSCLC(P＜0.05).Conclusion Shenqi Fuzheng injection is shown to have changes in ehemo-radiotherapy effects on clinical symptom,QOL and immune function and toxicity in the treatment of patients with NSCLC,but it could not increase survival rate of the patients.

OBJECTIVEIn order to get the method for improving the salt resistance of Lycium ruthenium seeds and seedlings under NaCl stress, the seed germination and physiological characteristics of L. ruthenium seedlings was studied.

METHODSeveral physiological indexes of L. ruthenium seeds under NaCl stress, such as the germination rate (Gr), germination vigor (Gv), germination index (Gi), vigor index (Vi), and relative salt damage rate were measured. Other indexes of the seedlings like relative water contents (RWC) , chlorophyll contents, soluble protein contents, electrolyte leakage, the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), and peroxidase (POD) were also measured.

RESULTNaCl at lower concentration could promote the seed germination but inhibit the seed germination at higher concentration. After the treatment by CaCl2 at the different concentrations, all germination indexes were increased. With the increase of salt concentration, the relative water contents and the contents of chlorophyll were decreased, the content of MDA and electrolyte leakage were increased. The change trend of POD activity showed the first increase and then decrease with the increase of salt concentration, which was similar to that of the soluble protein. After the treatment by CaCl2, relative water contents, chlorophyll and POD activities were decreased more slowly, and also electrolyte leakage and MDA contents increased slowly.

CONCLUSIONThe CaCl2 could significantly alleviate the damages to the seeds and seedlings of L. ruthenium under NaCl stress, and promote the salt resistance to the seeds and seedlings of L. ruthenium.

Calcium ; pharmacology ; Germination ; drug effects ; Lycium ; drug effects ; metabolism ; physiology ; Seedlings ; drug effects ; metabolism ; physiology ; Seeds ; drug effects ; metabolism ; physiology ; Sodium Chloride ; metabolism

The efficacy and safety of uric-acid-lowering therapy (UALT) on slowing the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) accompanied by hyperuricemia were assessed. We searched Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, CNKI, Wanfang and Vip databases up to November 15, 2012 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which compared the effect of UALT to control therapy in hyperuricemic patients secondary to CKD, and then performed quality evaluation and meta-analysis on the included studies. Seven RCTs involving 451 cases were included. UALT delayed the increase of serum creatinine (MD=-62.55 μmol/L, 95% CI: -98.10 to -26.99) and blood urea nitrogen (MD= -6.15 mmol/L, 95% CI: -8.17 to -4.13) as well as the decrease of glomerular filtration rate [MD=5.65 mL/(min·1.73 m2), 95% CI: 1.88 to 9.41], decreased systolic blood pressure (SBP) (MD= -6.08 mmHg, 95% CI: -11.67 to -0.49), and reduced the risk of the renal disease progression (RR=0.30, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.46). However, there was no statistically significant difference in 24-h urinary protein quantity and diastolic blood pressure (P>0.05). We identified that UALT could delay the progression of CKD with secondary hyperuricemia. And this also indirectly proved that hyperuricemia was a risk factor for the CKD progression.

Objective To investigate the probability of assessment of hepatic fibrosis for liver transplantation using model for end-stage liver disease(MELD) by comparing the correlation of MELD score with Ishak pathological grading method. Methods Fifty-eight patients who underwent liver transplantation because of end-stage liver disease from February 2006 to September 2006 were performed quantitative hepatic fibrosis evaluation using computer-assisted digital image analysis. Pathological diagnosis according to the Ishak modified score was also performed. MELD scores were calculated using the original formula based on the clinical examination data collected on the admission days. The correlations among the image analysis method, Ishak grading and MELD scoring method were analyzed using the Spearman's rank correlation analysis. The linear relationship between the MELD scores and the degree of hepatic fibrosis shown from linear regression analysis was used to define the reference criterion. Results The hepatic fibrosis area ratios of the 58 patients were between 23.2 % and 88.4 % with average of 56.7% by computer-assisted digital image analysis. The MELD scores on the admission clays were between 11 and 38 with average of 22.85±9.32. The semi-quantitative Ishak classification showed that there were 0, 2, 7, 12, 18, 12, and 7 cases in each of the 7 grades respectively, the higher the grade the higher the hepatic fibrosis area ratio and the higher the MELD scores. Spearman rank correlation test indicated that there was significant correlation among these three methods(P ＜ 0.01). Linear regression analysis showed that there was a linear relationship between the MELD scores and the degree of hepatic fibrosis. Conclusions Computer-assisted digital image analysis can evaluate objectively the hepatic fibrosis degree and it is significantly correlated to the MELD system. Hepatic fibrosis degree can be evaluated by MELD scores.

The technique introduced in this paper is applied in the endocardial catheter operation, which describes the 3D heart model reconstruction before the operation for the endocardial navigation. After a series of CT images of the thorax are processed, an accurate 3D endocardial model can be reconstructed. At first, the series of 2D CT images are preprocessed for denoising and the enhancement,then they are constructed as the volume data. After the region growing segmentation in the 3D volume data according to the grey value of the voxel in the heart cavity, the heart surface rendering is got and the 3D model of endocardial cavity is reconstructed.
Cardiac Catheterization ; methods ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Models, Cardiovascular ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; methods

A series of multinuclear diethylenetriamine ligands were synthesized and used as artificial nuclease enzyme model. Target compounds were characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR and ESI-MS. Preliminary studies on the cleavage of pUC19 DNA in the presence of metal complexes have also been performed and the results revealed that these complexes could act as powerful catalysts for the cleavage of pUC19 DNA after 48 h under physiological conditions. The hydrolytic cleavage mechanism of DNA plasmid by title compound was confirmed by T4 DNA ligase experiment.
DNA ; metabolism ; DNA Cleavage ; Ligands ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Polyamines ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization ; Spectrophotometry, Infrared

Objective To assess the effectiveness of the clinical pathway for the treatment of advanced schistosomiasis he-patic fibrosis. Methods The duration of hospital stay,gross hospitalization expense,individual-paid expense,interior diame-ter of portal vein,levels of four serum hepatic fibrosis-related parameters(PIIIP,CIV,HA,and LN),and activities of ALT, AST andγ-GT were assessed and compared between the advanced schistosomiasis patients receiving the clinical pathway and ones receiving non-clinical pathway. Results There were 142 advanced schistosomiasis patients with hepatic fibrosis receiving the clinical pathway of anti-hepatic fibrosis. Compared with the patients receiving non-clinical pathway ,the gross hospitalization expenses reduced by 11.2％(t=6.310,P<0.05),and the individual-paid expenses reduced by 16.1％(t=4.326,P<0.05). The mean HA level was twice higher than the normal range,with a positive rising from 70.4％to 83.1％,and the abnormal rates of CIV andγ-GT were 64.1％and 28.9％respectively. Conclusions The clinical pathway can drastically reduce the treatment expenses in advanced schistosomiasis patients with hepatic fibrosis. However,the patients have a trend towards the persistent disease progression. Therefore,the researches of more effective therapeutic methods for advanced schistosomiasis hepatic fibro-sis are urgently needed.

Objective To evaluate the clinical application and safety of CT-guided pereutaneous transthoracic biopsy in the diagnosis of mediastinal masses.Methods Thirty three cases were undertaken CT- guided percutaneous transthoraeie biopsy with automatic biopsy gun and then the sampling specimens were undergone histological examination.The accuracy of puncture,diagnostic correctness and complications were analyzed.Results The operations were performed successfully in all 33 cases(100%),the definite pathologic diagnosis were made in 28 out of 33 cases(85%)and no complications occurred.Conclusion As for midiastinal masses,CT-guided percutaneous transthoracic biopsy is a feasible,successful,efficient interventional diagnostic method with high accuracy in localization,puncture,diagnosis and few complications, which should he recommended in clinical use more widely.(J Intervent Radiol,2007,16:852-854)