Objective: To evaluate the noise characteristic of different reconstruction type CT image by using the noise power spectrum (NPS), and analyze the correlation between this results and subjective vision noise evaluation. Methods: QA water phantom of CT equipment was scanned and 8 common reconstruction algorithms were applied to dispose image. NPS peak value, the peak frequency and standard deviation (SD) were compared with the subjective evaluation measurements, such as granularity, contrast, sharpness and optical noise level, by using the correlation analysis. Results: Each reconstruction algorithm owned different peak value and peak frequency. Granularity negatively correlated with the peak frequency. A positive correlation was found between contrast and peak value. Sharpness was positively correlated with both peak value and peak frequency. All of the subjective evaluation measurements were correlated with SD. Conclusion: Comparing with SD, NPS can reflect both intensity and morphological feature of the noise and possess applicative potential as a more comprehensive evaluation index.

Objective To observe the inhibitory effect of andrographolide (AD) on the migration and invasion of human cervical cancer cells,and investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the inhibitory effect of AD.Methods Human cervical cancer cell lines HeLa cells were cultured in vitro.After induced by 100 nmol/L of phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate(PMA) for 24 h,different concentration of AD was co-incubated for another 24 h.Cell viability was detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazoliym (MTT) assay.Chamber invasion assay was used to observe the migration and invasion,respectively.Expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and translocation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) p65 subunit were detected by Western blot.Results The concentration (0 ～ 10 μmol/L) of AD exhibited a non-cytotoxic effect on HeLa cells.10 μmol/L of AD decreased PMA-induced migration by 49％ and invasion by 52％.Western blot showed that AD suppressed PMA-induced MMP-9 protein expression in a dose-dependent manner.Treatment of AD could decrease the translation of p65 in HeLa cells.Conclusions AD inhibits MMP-9 expression mediated by NF-κB,which lead to the suppression of migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells.

Objective: To evaluate the frequency of MSI in epithelial ovarian tumors and its relationship with clinicopathologic features. Methods: Ninety fresh specimens of epithelial ovarian tumors, including 74 primary and 16 secondary tumors, were collected. Microsatellite analysis was carried out using 5 mono- and dinucleotide markers from the National Cancer Institute Consensus Panel by fluorescence-labeled polymerase chain reaction. Results: Of 90 epithelial ovarian tumors analyzed, 18 demonstrated a high level of microsatellite instability (MSI-H), 30 demonstrated a low level of microsatellite instability (MSI-L), and the remaining 42 exhibited microsatellite stability (MSS). Frequency of microsatellite instability (MSI) at loci BAT-25 was higher than that at any other loci. No correlation was found between MSI level and patient age, tumor type, tumor differentiation (P>0.05). But the microsatellite instability-high phenotype correlates with clinical stage.It tended to occur more frequently in early-stage tumors (P=0.03). Conclusion: The frequent MSI in epithelial ovarian tumors suggests that it is an early event to involve in the development of epithelial ovarian tumors.

Objective To explore surgical treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods Clinical data of 16 patients of UC undergoing surgery were retrospectively analyzed. Results In this series,16 out of 78 UC patients undergoing surgery included failing to control symptom by conservative therapy in 10, bowel obstruction in 3,suspected malignance in 3. Eight cases underwent total proctocolectomy and ileostomy,4 with total proctocolectomy and ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA),2 with total colectomy and ileorectal anastomosis,2 with partial colectomy. Conclusions The main indications for surgery in UC patients were failure of medical treatment, complicated bowel obstruction and suspected malignance. Total proctocolectomy and ileostomy is a cure for UC, total proctocolectomy and ileal pouch-anal anastomosis benifits defecation control but suffering from high incidence of stomal ulcer.

Objective To compare the efficacy and safety of 2 mg/d and 4 mg/d of terazosin in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).Methods A total of 120 BPH patients were randomly divided into 2 groups receiving 2 mg or 4 mg terazosin per day for 2 months. Arterial blood pressure, International Prostatic Symptom Score (IPSS) and peak flow rate (Qmax) before and after treatment were compared while side effects were estimated. Results Forty-six patients receiving 2 mg and 54 patients receiving 4 mg terazosin completed this study. Patients' age and pre-treatment blood pressure, IPSS and Qmax had no difference between the 2 groups. The improvement of IPSS (including obstructive score, irritating score and total IPSS) and Qmax was significantly better in 4 mg group. The percentage of patients experiencing greater than 30% improvement in Qmax in the 4 mg treatment groups was significantly higher than that of the 2 mg group (46.3% vs 23.9%, P=0.02). Side effects were rare and mild in both groups.Conclusion The improvements of IPSS and Qmax are significantly greater in 4 mg treatment of terazosin than that of 2 mg with no obvious increase of side effects.

Transforming growth factor-?(TGF-?) is a kind of multifunctional cytokine that regulates cell growth,differentiation,cellular senescence,apoptosis,wound healing and embryo development.As a tumor suppressor,deregulated or aberrant TGF-? signaling has been strongly implicated in human solid tumors,as well as in normal and malignant hematopoiesis.TGF? exerts an inhibitory role during the whole procedure of hematopoiesis.As a cell cycle inhibitor,it maintains cells in a quiescent state and can downregulate expression of hematopoiesis activators and oncoproteins.In malignant hematopoiesis,altered expression of coactivators or corepressors involve in TGF-?-induced transcriptional responses and loss/disruption of TGF-? target gene expression.Then malignant cells grow and differentiate abnormally.In acute promyelocytic leukemia,PML-RAR? may inhibit TGF-? signaling through inhibition of cPML and nPML.Degradation of PML-RAR? by ATRA restores this signaling pathway.

Objective To evaluate the effects of serum procalcitonin (PCT)-guided antibiotic therapy in elderly patients with early-onset stroke-associated pneumonia (EOP).Methods Totally 179 eligible elderly patients with EOP were randomly devided into 2 groups:standard therapy group (standard group,n=88) and PCT-guided group (PCT group,n=91).Patients in standard group received antibiotics according to antibiotics guidelines in China by the treating physicians.Patients in PCT group were treated with antibiotics for 5 days,then the antibiotic treatment was based on serum PCT levels as follows:discouraged if PCT＜0.25 μg/L and encouraged if PCT≥0.25 μg/L.Length of hospitalization,duration of antibiotics,costs of hospitalization and antibiotics,clinical efficacy,andmortality,National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score and Barthel index (BI) on the 28th day were observed.Results There were no significant differences in clinical efficacy,mortality,NIHSS score and BI between the two groups on the 28th day [(85.7％ vs.86.3％),(8.8％ vs.7.9％),10.1 (7.8,16.2) vs.9.8 (6.0,15.5),60.1(42.5,82.3) vs.57.9 (39.2,84.8),respectively,all P＞ 0.05].The length of hospitalization,antibiotic duration,costs of hospitalization and antibiotics were lower in PCT group than in standard group [19 (10,38) d vs.26(17,42) d,10 (7,14) dvs.15 (6,21) d,3350 (2052,6163) yuanvs.10355 (6877,15421) yuan,7532 (4810,12116) yuan vs.5358 (3089,8144) yuan,respectively,all P＜0.05].Conclusions PCT guidance of antibiotic therapy is effective and safe for the treatment of early-onset stroke associated pneumonia in elderly patients.It can reduce the antibiotic duration and costs of hospitalization.

Objective To investigate the alteration of the default-mode network (DMN) in the patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) using resting functional MRI, and to explore its underlying clinical significance. Methods Fourteen MHE patients and 14 age-matched normal controls underwent standard resting state functional MRI scan. The components representing DMN were picked out after separation of independent component analysis. One and two sample t-tests were used to observe the changes of DMN in the patients in contrast to the controls. Results Typically spatial distributions of the DMN were found in both MHE patients and controls. Comparison results revealed that there was significantly reduced functional connectivity in the left posterior cingulate cortex, bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral medial prefrontal cortex, left parahippocampal cortex in MHE patients, while functional connectivity increased in the right precuneus. Conclusion Resting state functional MRI can be used to observe DMN changes in MHE patients. In MHE patients, there is reduced DMN activation in the widespread regions, while the activation of right precuneus increases.

Objective To explore the surgical treatment of Crohn's disease(CD).Methods Clinical data of 11 patients with Crohn's disease undergoing surgery were retrospectively analyzed.Results 9 cases were diagnosed before operation,with symptoms including abdomen pain,diarrhea or constipation,weight loss,and segmental lesions.Abdominal mass was the most common cause,accounting for 54.5%(6/11)in surgery,and intestinal obstruction was secondary.accounting for 36.4%(4/11),and perianal abscess,9.1%(1/11).Partial enterectomy and anastomosis was the main procedure.3 cases were suspected malignance and underging radical cure.The pathology results showed there was moderate atypical hyperplasia in 2 of 3.Most of the patients had a good recovery and their nutritional conditions were improved obviously(P＜0.05).Conclusion Abdominal mass and intestinal obstruction are the main causes of surgical management in patients with Crohn's disease.The possibility of cancerization is higher in patients with longer medical history.The length of intestine reseeted would be enough with visitable lesions resected,and the operative effects are as good as those underwent radical cure.

ObjectiveTo study the potential of using temporal clustering analysis(TCA)technique in localizing an epileptogenic zone.MethodsTwelve patients with epilepsy were examined using resting functional MRI(fMRI). The patients had detectable focal lesions on cranial MRI.TCA was performed to analyze resting fMRI data in order to identify the timing of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs).Standard event-related fMRI analysis in SPM99 was used to generate maps of the activation induced by epileptic brain activities.Comparisons were made between TCA Resultsand SPM motion trochoid.ResultsEight of the twelve subiects showed activations in the brain regions that were consistent with those lesions determined on anatomic MRI.The remaining four subiects showed no clear activation in the areas of detectable lesions. In addition, correlation was found between TCA Resultsand motion trochoids.ConclusionsTemporal cluster analysis,an exploratory data-driven technique,may provide the timing information about interictal epileptiforill discharges.However,the Resultsfrom this novel fMRI analytical technique need to be interpreted with caution as it is vulnerable to motion artifact.