Objective To evaluate the morphological characteristics of large and small infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) with 64-slice spiral CT angiography (CTA). Methods Forty-five patients with infrarenal true AAA underwent CTA. The morphological characteristics of AAA were evaluated. The patients were divided into two groups: small AAA (diameter<5 cm, n=20) and large AAA (diameter≥5.0 cm, n=25). The clinical risk factors and morphological characteristics between small and large AAA were compared. The correlation between the size of AAA and the other morphological characteristics was analyzed. Results Compared to patients with small AAA, those with large AAA showed lower systolic blood pressure and larger prevalence of smoking (P＜0.05). The length of aneurysms body, diameter of proximal and distal neck, the prevalence of thrombus in posterior wall, and aneurysm wall calcification score in large AAA were significantly larger than those of small AAA (P＜0.05). The length of AAA was positively correlated with proximal neck angle (r=0.418, P＜0.01) and diameter (r=0.411, P＜0.01), whereas negatively correlated with entry angle (r=-0.478, P＜0.01)and proximal neck length (r=-0.562, P＜0.01). Conclusion The size of infrarenal AAA is associated with the other morphological characteristics.

Tongue osteocartilaginous choristoma is the disease that there are well-developed bone and cartilage in the tongue. This article reported a case of tongue osteocartilaginous choristoma in the oral-cavity,which is rare.
Cartilage ; Choristoma ; Humans ; Tongue Diseases

Objective To assess the value of ultrasound examination in transvaginal diagnosis of normal fetal heart with 11-14 weeks of gestation.Methods Totally 158 cases of normal fetal heart with high risk pregnancy and nuchal translucency thickness were examined by two ultrasoud approaches:transvaginal(TVS) and tranabdomina(TAS) in 11-14 weeks of gestation.Results The group of TVS was obviously clearer than TAS by displaying the normal fetal cardiac structural in 12 week of gestation and 13-14 weeks of gestation with significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05),respectively.No significant difference between the two groups in 11 week of gestation was observed.Conclusion The transvaginal echocardiogram is of clinical value in the high risk gravida during the late first and the early second trimester.

BACKGROUND: It is demonstrated in modern pharmacologic study that total paeony glycoside (TPG) provides extensive pharmacologic activities,such as inhibiting aggregation of platelets and erythrocytes, anticoagulation,antithrombsis, anti-arterial sclerosis, protecting heart and liver, anti-tumor,etc.OBJECTIVE: Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were cultured in vitro and by the changes of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) contents in cell culture solution, the protection of TPG on injured cardiomyocytes was analyzed.DESIGN: Controlled observation was designed.SETTING: Bioengineering Department in School of Life Science and Technology of Xi 'an Jiaotong University and Institute of Bone Diseases in Medical School of Xi'an Jiaotong University.MATERIALS: The experiment was performed in Bioengineering Department in School of Life Science and Technology of Xi 'an Jiaotong University from February to June in 2003, in which, 44 SD neonatal rats aged 1-3 days were employed. The 48-hour-cultured cardioryocytes were prepared in 42 bottles and randomized into 6 groups, named normal control (normal group), medicated-injury group (injury group), TPG 0.625 mg/L group,TPG 3.125 mg/L group, TPG 15.625 mg/L group and positive control, 7 bottles in each group.METHODS: Cardiomyocytic primary culture was performed under aseptic condition. No any drug was used in normal group, isoprenaline was added in injury group to terminate the concentration at 100 mg/L, in TPG 0.625, 3.125 and 15.625 mg/L groups, 30 minutes after isoprenaline added, RGP at dosages of 0.625, 3.125 and 15.625 mg/L were added respectively; in positive control, 30 minutes after isoprenaline added, coenzyme Q10 was used to terminate the concentration as 100 mg/L.Afterwards, the assay of every index was performed. Xanthine oxidase (XOD) method was used to assay SOD activity, thiobarbituric acid (TBA)method was to assay MDA content and nitrate reductase (NR) method was to assay NO content.cell culture solution in each group.Compared with normal group, the levels of total SOD, CuZn-SOD and MnSOD were reduced remarkably in injury group (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01).The above-indexes in every TPG group and positive control were improved to different extents (P ＜ 0.05 or ＜ 0.01), in which, the protection of TPG 15.625 mg/L group was near to or superior to positive control [(79.50±10.67), (80.30±13.50); (48.24±13.26), (49.73±10.23); (31.26±10.22),in cell culture solution in each group: Those in injury group were higher remarkably than normal group (P ＜ 0.01). MDA and NO contents were all reduced in every TPG group and positive control and dose dependence presented in TPG protection, the higher the dose was, the stronger the action of TPG on protection was, in which, in high-dose group, MDA content was near to normal group [(5.41±1.81), (4.48±0.94) μmol/L, P ＞ 0.05] and NO content was similar to positive control [(81.83± 9.08), (82.41±12.37) mol/L,P ＞ 0.05].CONCLUSION: TPG protects myocardial injury induced by isoprenaline,indicating dose-dependence relationship, which is probably associated with enhanced anti-oxidation of cell, reduced injury of cellular membrane induced by free radical and lipid oxidant.

Objective To observed the impact of selenium supplementation therapy on the thyroid perioxidase antibody(TPO-Ab) levels and serum oxidative stress[malondialdehyde(MDA, glutathione peroxidase(GPx), and superoxide dismutase(SOD)] in patients with Hashimoto′s thyroiditis. Methods 79 patients with Hashimoto′s thyroiditis were randomly divided into trial group(n=44) and placebo group(n=35) .The double-blind treatment was for 24 weeks. The thyroid hormone levels, serum TPO-Ab levels, and oxidative stress indexes(MDA, GPx, and SOD) of both groups were detected before and after treatment. Results (1)There was no change of thyroid hormone levels either before or after treatments of both groups(P>0.05). (2)TPO-Ab of the trial group decreased significantly after the treatment(P<0.05). While the placebo group has little change. Group with TPO-Ab≤200 IU/ml and the course≤1 year manifested the most obvious declines by 29.98% and 26.63% respectively. (3)The oxidative stress level of trial group significantly decreased after 24 weeks. There was significantly positive correlation between the oxidative stress indexes and TPO-Ab. However the placebo group was with little change. Conclusion Selenium supplementation may reduce the level of TPO-Ab titers and oxidative stress in patients with Hashimoto′s thyroiditis, especially for those with lower antibody titers and short course.

Objective To evaluate the effect of genechip in detecting isoniazid-and rifampicinresistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) in China.Methods Studies of genechip in detecting MTB resistance to isoniazid and rifampicin in China,which were published from January 1995 to June 2013,were identified through searches of PubMed,Science Direct,CBMDISC,CNKI and Wanfang database.Meta-Disc1.4 software was used for all analyses.Results Totally 618 articles were identified.Fifteen articles published from 2004 to 2013 were finally included in the study.The pooled sensitivity and specificity of genechip in detecting MTB resistance to isoniazid was 0.79 (95 ％CI:0.77-0.81) and 0.94 (95％CI:0.93-0.95),respectively,with the area under curve (AUC) of 0.86.The pooled sensitivity and specificity of genechip in detecting MTB resistance to rifampin was 0.91 (95％CI:0.89-0.92) and 0.96 (95％CI:0.96-0.97),respectively,with the AUC of 0.97.The pooled sensitivity and specificity of genechip in detecting MTB resistance to multidrug was 0.75 (95％CI:0.72-0.78) and 0.97 (95％ CI:0.96-0.98),respectively.Conclusions The effect of genechip in detecting MTB resistance is moderate for isoniazid,while better for rifampin in China.More studies are needed to evaluate the effect of genechip in detecting multidrug resistance in MTB.

Aim To investigate the antioxidative effect of total paeony glycoside(TPG) on cardiomyocytes injured.Methods The ischemia and hypoxia injuy model of cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes was induced by adding isoprenaline(ISO), and superoxide dismutase(SOD), malonalde hyde(MDA) and nitric oxide(NO) in the culture solution of normal control group; ISO injure group, CoQ 10 positive control group as well as protective group s with high,middle or low-dose TPG were respectively analyzed and compared. Results Compared with normal control group,the enzyme activity o f total SOD, CuZn-SOD and Mn-SOD decreased obviously, and the content of MDA and NO increased markedly in injury group, but in TPG and CoQ 10 groups all of detective indicators had improvement in varying degrees, and the protective effect was better than or close to positive control group in high-dose TPG grou p.Conclusion TPG has protective action on injured cardiomyocyte s induced by ISO in dose-dependent manner. The mechanism relates to the enhance ment of antioxidative effect in cells, and the reduction of membrane damage caus ed by free radical and lipid peroxide.

The influence of inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) score on pregnancy outcomes in frozen-thawed blastocyst transfer cycles was analyzed. A retrospective analysis of 741 cycles of frozen-thawed blastosysts transfer was performed. All cycles were divided into four groups based on the number and morphological score of blastocysts: S-ICM B/TE B group (n=91), the single blastocyst transfer of ICM B and TE B; D-ICM B/TE B group (n=579), double blastocysts transfer of ICM B/TE B; D-ICM B/TE C group (n=35), double blastocysts transfer of ICM B/TE C; and D-ICM C/TE B group (n=36), double blastocysts transfer of TE B/ICM C. The pregnancy outcomes were compared among the four groups. As compared with D-ICM B/TE C group, the clinical pregnancy rate, implantation rate and multiple pregnancy rate were increased in D-ICM B/TE B group (74.96% vs. 57.14%, 57.43% vs. 37.14%, and 48.62% vs. 25%, respectively, P<0.05 for all). Clinical pregnancy rate and implantation rate in D-ICM B/TE B group were also higher than in D-ICM C/TE B group (74.96% vs. 50%, and 57.43% vs. 33.33%, both P<0.05). Multivariable Logistic regression analysis indicated that ICM score was a better predictive parameter for clinical pregnancy (OR=3.05, CI 1.70-5.46, P<0.001), while the trophectoderm score was a better one for early abortion (OR=0.074, CI 0.03-0.19, P<0.001). Clinical pregnancy rate and multiple pregnancy rate in S-ICM B/TE B group were significantly lower than those in D-ICM B/TE B group (46.15% vs. 74.96%, and 2.38% vs. 48.62%, both P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in the implantation rate between the two groups. It was suggested that the higher score of ICM and TE may be indicative of the better pregnancy outcomes. The ICM score is a better predictor of clinical pregnancy than TE, while TE score is a better one in predicting early abortion. Single ICM B/TE B blastocyst transfer in frozen-thawed cycles can also get satisfactory pregnancy outcomes.

The effects of the feed attractants on Whitmania pigra were studied. The average weight of Wh. pigra were 5.0 g. Arginine was selected as feed attractants, xanthan gum was selected as feed substrate. The times of Wh. pigra going into the inducing room were recorded. The water temperature was 22-25 degrees C during the whole experiment. Arginine that had better inducing effect was chosen to carry on in the gradient experiment. The results showed that the best inducing effect was found when the added amount of arginine was 0.3%, which was close to the arginine content of the natural body fluid of Wh. Pigra and Bellamya purificata, 2.97 mg x g(-1).
Animal Feed ; analysis ; Animals ; Arginine ; analysis ; metabolism ; Body Weight ; Feeding Behavior ; Leeches ; growth & development ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo explore the relation of the anogenital distance (AGD) with cryptorchidism in male newborns.

METHODSThis study included 350 male infants delivered in two community hospitals between September 2013 and September 2014. Within 24 hours after birth, a pediatric surgeon measured the AGD of the neonates and determined whether they had cryptorchidism. According to the testicular position, we divided the undescended testes into three types: upper scrotal, inguinal, and non-palpable.

RESULTSTotally 39 cases of cryptorchidism were found in the 350 newborns. The AGD of the cryptorchidism infants was significantly shorter than that of the normal neonates ([2.01 ± 0.22] vs [2.35 ± 0.19] cm, P < 0.01), and statistically significant differences remained even when preterm and low birth-weight infants were excluded ([2.32 ± 0.14] vs [2.06 ± 0.19] cm; (2.37 ± 0.17) cm vs (2.12 ± 0.12) cm, all P < 0.01). The newborns with higher-position cryptorchidism had a shorter AGD, though with no significant difference (F = 0.434, P > 0.05). No significant differences were observed in the AGD between unilateral and bilateral cryptorchidism ([1.96 ± 0.13] vs [2.02 ± 0.17] cm, P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONShorter AGD is associated with a higher incidence of cryptorchidism in male newborns. AGD could serve as a potential biomarker for disruption of androgen action during the male programming window period.

Androgens ; physiology ; Cryptorchidism ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Male ; Perineum ; abnormalities