Objective:To measure the beam stability of the electron FLASH radiotherapy accelerator developed by the Institute of Applied Electronics of Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics and to evaluate the performance of scintillator, fast current sensor (FCT) and graphite under the electron FLASH beam.Methods:Each continuous beam exit deviation and each pulse deviation at the electron FLASH radiotherapy accelerator in the same working state were measured. The correlation among three monitors and the measured dose of the accelerator at different electron beam energy (controlled by changing the charging voltage) and different beam pulse numbers were compared, which were validated by a Monte Carlo simulation procedure.Results:At the first high pressure, the first 10 scintillators and FCT signals were relatively large, approximately 2% deviation compared with the average value of 400 pulses. Among 40 beam outflows, the deviation between each pulse was within ±5%. In the accelerator steady state, each beam outflow deviation was within ±1%. Both simulated and measured values showed that the monitor could not be used for dose monitoring at different electron beam energy. However, when the energy was the same, only the number of beam pulses was changed, and linear relationship was observed between the number of the three monitors and the dose measured by the film (all R 2 > 0.999). Conclusions:The beam deviation of each beam outflow of this electron FLASH accelerator is within ±1%. Under the stability of the accelerator beam, the scintillator, FCT and graphite can meet the dose monitoring of the target area, which can provide reference for dose monitoring for subsequent biological experiments.

Objective To investigate the effect of diurnal temperature difference on hospitalization volume of patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in Urumqi City. Methods The daily hospitalization data for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in Urumqi City from 2019-2021, and meteorological and pollutant data for the same period were collected. The relationship between diurnal temperature range and hospitalizations for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases was analyzed using a distribution lag non-linear model (DLNM), controlling for the long-term trends, the day-of-week effects and other factors. Results The greater the diurnal temperature range, the longer the lag time, and the higher the risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The lag effect increased significantly when the maximum diurnal temperature range reached 21.0°C. The risk effect appeared on the day of exposure and lasted until day 20, with a maximum RR of 1.266 (95% CI: 1.129-1.421) at a lag of 13 days. At very high diurnal temperature range, the risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases was higher in the cold season than that in the warm season. Results after stratified analysis by sex and age showed that men and people aged ≥65 years were more susceptible to diurnal temperature range. Conclusion Extremely high diurnal temperature range is a potential trigger for hospitalization for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in Urumqi. Men and people aged ≥65 years are more vulnerable to the impact of diurnal temperature range. In the cold season, more attention should be paid to protecting vulnerable people from the impact of the extremely high diurnal temperature difference.

Objective Sialic acid and its derivatives in mammalian cells mainly include N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac), N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) and deaminoneuraminic acid (KDN), among which Neu5Ac can be catalyzed by cytidine monophospho-N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase (CMAH) for the synthesis of Neu5Gc. In this study, the transcriptional level of CMAH in different tissues of BALB/c mice were determined by relative fluorescence quantitative PCR, to provide a reference for further analysis of Neu5Gc levels in different tissues. Methods The mRNA sequence of CMAH was searched in the NCBI database and specific primers were designed. The mouse β-actin was selected as an internal control, and the transcriptional levels of CMAH in 9 different organ tissues of BALB/c mice were detected by relative fluorescence quantitative PCR using SYBR Green dye. Results Among the 9 mouse organs, the transcriptional level of CMAH in the liver tissue was the highest, which was 2. 46 times higher of that in the spleen, 3. 17 times of the kidney, 5. 14 times of the trachea, 11. 70 times of the lung, 21. 12 times of the myocardium, 31. 37 times of the skeletal muscles, 66. 90 times of the small intestine and 1056. 99 times of the brain tissue, respectively. Conclusions CMAH is transcribed in many organ tissues of mice, and its transcriptional levels vary in a quite wide range.

Objective To verify the reliability of our previously established reverse-transcription loop-mediated isother-mal amplification ( RT-LAMP) method for the detection of sentinel lymph nodes metastasis in breast cancer patients .Meth-ods Sentinel lymph nodes of breast cancer patients were analyzed by RT-LAMP and FDA-approved GeneSearch methods respectively, and the consistency of the two methods was assessed with a kappa concordance test.Results One hundred and thirty-four cases of sentinel lymph node samples were collected from seven hospitals in Beijing .Using the GeneSearch assay as the gold standard, the sensitivity, specificity and consistentcy of RT-LAMP were 96.2%(25/26),96.3%(104/108) and 96.3%(129/134), respectively.Statistical analysis showed that the two methods were consistent (Kappa=0.8857, P<0.001).Conclusion RT-LAMP is highly consistent with GeneSearch ,efficient,simple and inexpensive, promising a good prospect of application to intra-operative detection of sentinel lymph nodes metastasis for breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUNDThis multicenter prospective study aimed to assess the utility of dynamic enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) prior to breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer.

METHODSThe research subjects were drawn from patients with primary early resectable breast cancer treated in the breast disease centers of six three-level hospitals in Beijing from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2012. The participants were allocated to a breast-conserving surgery group (breast-conserving group) or a total mastectomy group (total mastectomy group). Enhanced MRI was used to measure breast volume, longest diameter of tumor and tumor volume. The correlations between these measurements and those derived from histopathologic findings were assessed. The relationships between the success rate of breast-conserving surgery and MRI- and pathology-based measurement results were statistically analyzed in the breast-conserving group.

RESULTSThe study included 461 cases in the total mastectomy group and 195 in the breast-conserving group. Allocation to these groups was based on clinical indications and patient preferences. The cut-off for concurrence between MRI- and pathology-based measurements of the longest diameter of tumor was set at 0.3 cm. In the total mastectomy group, the confidence interval for 95% concurrence of these measurements was 35.41%-44.63%. Correlation coefficients for MRI and histopathology-based measurements of breast volume, tumor volume and tumor volume/breast volume ratio were r = 0.861, 0.569, and 0.600, respectively (all P < 0.001). In the breast-conserving group, with 0.30 cm taken as the cut-off for concurrence, the 95% confidence interval for MRI and pathology-based measurements of the longest diameter of tumor was 29.98%-44.01%. The subjective and objective success rates for breast-conserving surgery were 100% and 88.54%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSThere were significant correlations between dynamic enhanced MRI- and histopathology-based measurements of the longest diameter of breast lesions, breast and tumor volumes, and breast volume/tumor volume ratios. Preoperative MRI examination improves the success rate of breast-conserving surgery.

Adult ; Breast Neoplasms ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies

Objective:The study aimed to validate the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) nomogram and Stan-ford Online Calculator (SOC) prediction of non-sentinel lymph node (NSLN) metastasis in Chinese patients with sentinel lymph node (SLN)-positive breast cancers. Methods:The MSKCC nomogram and SOC were used to calculate the probability of NSLN metastasis in 120 breast cancer patients who were positive for SLNs. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) for each model was evaluated. Patients with 10%and 90%probabilities of NSLN metastasis were separately examined. Results:The MSKCC and SOC predicted the likelihood of NSLN metastasis in a consecutive group of 120 patients with AUCs of 0.688 and 0.734, respective-ly. At the lowest probability cutoff value of 10%, the false-negative rates of MSKCC and SOC were both 4.4%, and the negative predic-tive values were 75.0%and 90.0%, respectively. When the highest probability cutoff value of 90%was used, the false-positive rates were 0.0%and 6.7%, and the positive predictive values were 100.0%and 68.8%, respectively. Conclusion:Results of the MSKCC no-mogram and SOC were inferior to those of previous studies on predicting NSLN metastasis in Chinese patients with breast cancers. The prediction ability of SOC was slightly superior to that of the MSKCC nomogram.

Objective Through the community health management of hypertension , to determine the input and output , change the knowledge , attitude, practice ( KAP) of hypertension patients and put forward the reasonable suggestions of antihypertensive treatment in order to reduce hypertensive patients 'medical expenses . Methods By random cluster sampling method , we selected 809 hypertension patients , over 18 years old, from two communities in Urumqi .414 patients were in the management group and 395 patients were in the control group.The health management the cost benefit was analyzed by the change of patient 's KAP, medical expenses and so on.Results For the knowledge and behavior changes , 17.94% patients in the management group and 3.04%patients in the control knew the classification of blood pressure (Z=-5.688,P=0.000).The master of normal range of blood pressure (Z=-11.927,P=0.000), knowledge of obesity (χ2 =15.608,P=0.000) and knowledge of risk factors (χ2 =-17.677,P=0.000) between groups had significant differences (P<0.01).The total drug expenses of the management group and the control group were (1 583.88 ±981.24) and (1 923.90 ±1 523.81) yuan, respectively;the total hospitalization expenses of the management group and the control group were (10 725.77 ±11 688.26) and (15 327.03 ±10 280.42) yuan, respectively, the differences were significant (t=2.14,2.75, respectively;P<0.05).The costs of patients taking the drug and other costs in the management group were lower than the control group , the differences were significant ( P <0.01 ). Conclusions Hypertension health management can obtain a good cost benefit , reduce hypertension sickness cost, and improve quality of life .

Objective To observe the effects of electroacupuncture combined with edaravone on the conduction velocity of sciatic nerve and oxidative stress in rats with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Methods 60 Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were included. 10 of them were selected as normal group. The other rats were modeled as diabetic peripheral neuropathy with streptozotocin. 48 of them were randomly selected and divided into electroacupuncture group (n=12), edaravone group (n=12), electroacupuncture + edaravone group (n=12), and model group (n=12). The threshold temperature for wave tail was tested, the levels of superoxidase dismutase (SOD) and malonaldehyde (MDA) were determined, and the conduction velocity of sciatic nerve were measured, before, and 4 and 8 weeks after modeling. Results 8 weeks after modeling, the conduction velocity and SOD increased in the electroacupuncture group, edaravone group and electroacupuncture+edaravone group compared with the model group (P<0.01), with the MDA decrease (P<0.01), while it was improved more in the electroacupuncture+edaravone group than in the electroacupuncture group or the edaravone group (P<0.01). Conclusion Both electroacupuncture and edaravone can inhibit oxidative stress and improve nerve conduction velocity of the sciatic nerve in rats with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, and it is more effective of combination.

Objective To study the utilization of preoperative ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration(USFNA) for axillary lymphnode(ALN) metastasis in breast cancer and to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of the technique. Methods Forty ALNs in 40 armpit negative palpation highly suspective breast cancer patients underwent USFNA. The cytopathological results were compared with the histopathological results of sentinel lymphnode(SLN) biopsy or axillary lymphnode dissection(ALND). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value(PPV), negative predictive value(NPV) and diagnostic accuracy of USFNA for the ALN metastasis were analysed. Results All the 40 patients were confirmed with breast cancer by pathology. Sensitivity of USFNA was 52. 2%, specificity was 100%, PPV was 100%,NPV was 60. 7% and diagnostic accuracy was 72. 5%. 12(30% ) patients with positive cytology proceeded to ALND, avoiding SLN biopsy. Conclusions USFNA is a minimally invasive, highly specified technique for prediction of breast cancer ALN metastasis before operation.

OBJECTIVETo compare the efficacy and toxicity of two different regimens as neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer.

METHODSForty-eight patients with stage II, III breast cancer as proved by cytology biopsy, were treated with either 5-Fu, epirubicin, cyclophosphamide (FEC) or epirubicin, paclitaxel (ET) regimens for 2 cycles every 3 - 4 weeks. Clinical responses in the breast and lymph nodes were assessed after 2 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Patients in FEC arm received combination of 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) 500 mg/m(2) by 4-hour continuous infusion on D1 and D8, epirubicin (EPI) 50 mg/m(2) by intravenous injection on D1, and cyclophosphamide (CTX) 500 mg/m(2) by intravenous injection on D1 and D8. Patients assigned to the ET arm received EPI 60 mg/m(2) by intravenous injection on D1, paclitaxel (TAX) 150 mg/m(2) by 3-hour continuous infusion on D2. All patients were treated by operation 2 weeks later and radiotherapy was added to some.

RESULTSFor primary tumor in the breast, the overall response rate (RR) was 50.0% (12/24) in FEC arm and 79.2% (19/24) in ET arm. One patient showed clinical complete response (cCR), 11 partial response (PR), 12 no change (NC) after the FEC therapy, while 1 patient showed CR, 18 PR, 5 NC after ET therapy. There was no pathologic complete response or progressive disease, though a higher proportion of RR was observed in stage II than stage III patients in these two groups. Clinically palpable axillary lymph nodes which had been found in all 48 patients before 2 cycles of treatment, 50.0% (12/24) in the FEC patients and 66.7% (16/24) in the ET patients became in-palpable. The major toxicity, including leukopenia, gastroenteric reactions, were similar in both groups, but alopecia was more severe and arthralgia, myalgia, neurotoxicity and flushing of face were the unique features of the ET regimen.

CONCLUSIONNeoadjuvant chemotherapy with two different regimens were effective to the primary tumor and axillary metastatic lymph nodes of breast cancer, and the side effects were tolerable. Higher efficacy and more side effects are observed in ET than in FEC regimen.

Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Cyclophosphamide ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Epirubicin ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Fluorouracil ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Neoplasm Staging ; Paclitaxel ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Taxoids ; Treatment Outcome