Objective To explore the effect of D-galactose(D-gal) on murine pancreatic injury and its pathogenesis.Methods C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control group and D-gal model group [D-gal 120 mg/(kg · d) for 42 days].On the 2nd day after drug injection completed,the peripheral blood was taken for measuring the level of fasting blood glucose(FBG) and fasting insulin(FINS);and then the organ index of pancreas was calculated by the ratio of pancreatic wet weight(mg) and mouse body weight(g);HE stain was routinely prepared to observe the histologic structure of pancreatic tissue;the TEM was used to analyze ultrastructural changes of pancreatic cells;the pancreatic frozen sections were prepared to test senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) and its relative absorbance(RA) of positively stained cells in the pancreatic islets;immunohistochemistry assays to study advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and its RA;pancreas tissue homogenate was made to detect the content of superoxide dismutase(SOD),malonaldehyde(MDA) and total antioxidant capacity(T-AOC).Results In D-gal group mice,the FBG increased(P＜0.05) and FINS reduced;pancreas wet weight and organ increased obviously (P＜0.01);light microscopic structure of the pancreas presented without typical pathologic change,however the single nucleated cell's area within the islet was increased significantly(P＜0.05);the pancreas endocrine and exocrine cells were showed the ultrastructure damaged and lipofuscin formation increased;the RA of positive pancreas cells in SA-β-gal staining increased(P＜0.05);the RA of AGEs positive regional expression markedly increased (P＜0.01);the content of SOD and T-AOC decreased (P ＜ 0.05),the content of MDA increased (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions Aging mice model replicated by D-gal can cause the pancreatic injury,its mechanisms may be closely related to oxidative injury of pancreatic cells caused by D-gal.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the influence of fewer courses and prolonged intervals of chemotherapy on survival rate of advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated by sequential chemo-radiation therapy combined with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). METHODS: From Jan. 2000 to Dec. 2001, 54 untreated advanced NSCLC patients (2 stage IIIa, 18 stage IIIb, 34 stage IV) were treated by sequential chemo-radiation therapy combined with TCM. The courses of chemotherapy were reduced and the intervals of chemotherapy were longer than that of the standard regimen. The efficacy and survival rate were documented and the prognostic factors were analyzed. RESULTS: Complete remission (CR) was observed in 1 case and partial remission (PR) in 20 cases. The overall objective response rate was 40.4%. Median survival was 15.3 months, 1-, 2- and 3-year survival rate were 53.7%, 28.9% and 9.6% respectively. The median survival of stage III and IV were 21.8 months and 12.5 months respectively. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year survival rates of stage III were 65.0%, 49.5%, 24.7% and that of stage IV were 47.0%, 23.3%, 0%, respectively. The quality of life was improved in most of the patients. Cox's proportional hazards regression showed that improved quality of life and treatment of TCM were the significant prognostic factors of overall survival. CONCLUSION: Chemotherapy and radiotherapy combined with TCM is beneficial to extending the interval of chemotherapy, improving the quality of life, and increasing the survival rate of advanced NSCLC patients.

Low-dose computed tomography (CT) reconstruction has become the focus of X-ray CT imaging study. In this paper, we propose an improved prior image constrained compressed sensing (PICCS) reconstruction approach. A penalized weighted least-squares approach was adopted to realize the line integral projection (sinogram) data restoration, followed by filtered back-projection (FBP) of the restored sinogram data for image reconstruction. Finally, the FBP image as the prior image was used for PICCS approach for dose reduction. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations were carried out with computer simulation. The results showed that the present approach yielded noticeable gains over the original PICCS approach for dose reduction in terms of noise-induced artifacts suppression and edge detail preservation.

Low-dose computed tomography (CT) reconstruction has become the focus of X-ray CT imaging study. In this paper, we propose an improved prior image constrained compressed sensing (PICCS) reconstruction approach. A penalized weighted least-squares approach was adopted to realize the line integral projection (sinogram) data restoration, followed by filtered back-projection (FBP) of the restored sinogram data for image reconstruction. Finally, the FBP image as the prior image was used for PICCS approach for dose reduction. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations were carried out with computer simulation. The results showed that the present approach yielded noticeable gains over the original PICCS approach for dose reduction in terms of noise-induced artifacts suppression and edge detail preservation.

Objective To explore the effect of applying surface neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) on the functioning of the upper esophageal sphincter (UES) using the high-resolution solid-state manometry.Methods Seventeen healthy volunteers were selected and given sham stimulation (SS),superior and inferior hyoid stimulation (SIHS),superior hyoid stimulation (SHS) or inferior hyoid stimulation (IHS) at a frequency of 80 Hz and the maximum tolerated level before swallowing.Any changes in the kinematics or biomechanics during swallowing and at rest were recorded using high-resolution solid-state manometry.One-factor repeated analysis of the measurement variance was used.Results A significant decrease in the duration of UES relaxation was observed in response to the electrical stimulation (compared with the sham stimulation).The UES's residual pressure showed a rising trend during electrical stimulation,especially in response to IHS,but the difference compared with SS was not significant.The UES's resting pressure during SIHS increased significantly compared with SS,but there was no significant difference between SHS and IHS in this respect.Conclusions Surface neuromuscular electrical stimulation applied to the neck can immediately change the functioning of the UES.NMES at the maximum tolerated intensity can reduce the duration of UES relaxation,which is important for dysphagia therapy and research.

OBJECTIVETo minimize of the radiation dose of cardiovascular CT angiography (CTA) imaging while preserving the image quality.

METHODSTo reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging, the normal-dose scan induced non-local means (ndiNLM) algorithm was adapted for low-mAs scanned CTA image restoration by using the previous scanned high-quality image.

RESULTSQualitative and quantitative evaluations were carried out on both simulated phantom and clinical CTA scans in terms of accuracy and resolution properties. Compared to the original NLM algorithm, the ndiNLM method could achieve noticeable gains in terms of noise-induced artifacts suppression and enhanced structure preservation.

CONCLUSIONThe ndiNLM algorithm is a potential useful technique to reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging.

OBJECTIVETo develop a computed tomography myocardial perfusion (CT-MP) deconvolution algorithm by incorporating high-dimension total variation (HDTV) regularization.

METHODSA perfusion deconvolution model was formulated for the low-dose CT-MPI data, followed by HDTV regularization to regularize the consistency of the solution by fusing the spatial correlation of the vascular structure and the temporal continuation of the blood flow signal.

RESULTSBoth qualitative and quantitative studies were conducted using XCAT and pig myocardial perfusion data to evaluate the present algorithm. The experimental results showed that this algorithm achieved hemodynamic parameter maps with better performances than the existing methods in terms of streak-artifacts suppression, noise-resolution tradeoff, and diagnosis structure preservation.

CONCLUSIONThe proposed algorithm can achieve high-quality hemodynamic parameter maps in low-dose CT-MPI.

Low-dose computed tomography (CT) reconstruction has become the focus of X-ray CT imaging study. In this paper, we propose an improved prior image constrained compressed sensing (PICCS) reconstruction approach. A penalized weighted least-squares approach was adopted to realize the line integral projection (sinogram) data restoration, followed by filtered back-projection (FBP) of the restored sinogram data for image reconstruction. Finally, the FBP image as the prior image was used for PICCS approach for dose reduction. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations were carried out with computer simulation. The results showed that the present approach yielded noticeable gains over the original PICCS approach for dose reduction in terms of noise-induced artifacts suppression and edge detail preservation.
Algorithms ; Computer Simulation ; Data Compression ; methods ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Least-Squares Analysis ; Phantoms, Imaging ; Radiation Dosage ; Signal-To-Noise Ratio ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; methods

OBJECTIVETo compare two methods for threshold selection in Huber regularization for low-dose computed tomography imaging.

METHODSHuber regularization-based iterative reconstruction (IR) approach was adopted for low-dose CT image reconstruction and the threshold of Huber regularization was selected based on global versus local edge-detecting operators.

RESULTSThe experimental results on the simulation data demonstrated that both of the two threshold selection methods in Huber regularization could yield remarkable gains in terms of noise suppression and artifact removal.

CONCLUSIONBoth of the two methods for threshold selection in Huber regularization can yield high-quality images in low-dose CT image iterative reconstruction.

Objective To minimize of the radiation dose of cardiovascular CT angiography (CTA) imaging while preserving the image quality. Methods To reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging, the normal-dose scan induced non-local means (ndiNLM) algorithm was adapted for low-mAs scanned CTA image restoration by using the previous scanned high-quality image. Results Qualitative and quantitative evaluations were carried out on both simulated phantom and clinical CTA scans in terms of accuracy and resolution properties. Compared to the original NLM algorithm, the ndiNLM method could achieve noticeable gains in terms of noise-induced artifacts suppression and enhanced structure preservation. Conclusion The ndiNLM algorithm is a potential useful technique to reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging.