BACKGROUND:Internal heat-type acupuncture therapy is a new treatment technique that combines acupuncture therapy with hyperthermia.It has good clinical effects on steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head,but the mechanism of action is still not fully clear. OBJECTIVE:To explore the possible mechanism of internal heat-type acupuncture therapy in treating steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head in rabbits. METHODS:Thirty-two New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into blank group,model group,internal heat-type acupuncture group and shock wave group using a random number table method,with 8 rabbits in each group.The model group,internal heat-type acupuncture group and shock wave group were modeled using methylprednisolone sodium succinate combined with Escherichia coli endotoxin.The internal heat-type acupuncture group received an internal heat-type acupuncture intervention on the buttocks of rabbits,once a week,for 20 minutes each time.The shock wave group received shock wave intervention on the buttocks of rabbits,once a week,with 2 000 beats per session.The blank group and model group were not given any treatment.After 4 weeks of intervention,blood samples and bilateral femoral head samples were collected from experimental rabbits.The levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 in serum were detected by ELISA;the histomorphology of the femoral head was observed using hematoxylin-eosin staining and the rate of empty lacunae was calculated;the protein expressions of matrix metalloproteinase 2,matrix metalloproteinase 9,matrix metalloproteinase tissue inhibitor 1,and matrix metalloproteinase tissue inhibitor 2 were detected by immunohistochemistry and western blot. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the blank group,the model rabbits showed reduced food intake,mental fatigue,and decreased activity;compared with the model group,the above performance of the experimental rabbits was significantly improved after internal heat-type acupuncture and shock wave treatment.Compared with the blank group,the histomorphology of the femoral head in the model group deteriorated significantly and the rate of empty bone lacuna increased(P<0.001),while the histomorphology of the femoral head in the internal heat-type acupuncture group and shock wave group was significantly improved compared with the model group,and the rate of empty bone lacuna was reduced(P<0.001).The serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 in the model group were significantly higher than those in the blank group(P<0.05),while the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 in the internal heat-type acupuncture group and the shock wave group were significantly lower than those in the model group(P<0.05).Compared with the blank group,the expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase 2 and matrix metalloproteinase 9 in the femoral head of the model group were significantly increased,while the expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase tissue inhibitor 1 and matrix metalloproteinase tissue inhibitor 2 were significantly decreased(P<0.001);compared with the model group,the protein expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase 2 and matrix metalloproteinase 9 were significantly decreased,while the protein expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase tissue inhibitor 1 and matrix metalloproteinase tissue inhibitor 2 were significantly increased in the internal heat-type acupuncture group and the shock wave group(P<0.001).Overall,these findings indicate that internal heat-type acupuncture may promote the repair of the necrotic femoral head by regulating the levels of matrix metalloproteinases/matrix metalloproteinase tissue inhibitors and serum inflammatory factors,thus treating early steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head.

From November to December of 2018, twenty 65-year-old or older women patients with knee osteoarthritis were recruited from the Department of Physical Therapy, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. Meanwhile, twenty healthy 65-year-old or older women were recruited from the local community. The results showed that the knee contact angle of the patient group was more flexed ( P=0.040), and the minimum angle of the knee joint increased ( P=0.008) during the stance period compared to the healthy group. However, there was no significant difference in the maximum contact angle between the angle of hip and ankle joints. In addition, the tibialis anterior muscle of the patients was significantly smaller than the healthy group ( P=0.023). Therefore, knee osteoarthritis could change the gait and muscle activity of older women, especially the knee joint.

From November to December of 2018, twenty 65-year-old or older women patients with knee osteoarthritis were recruited from the Department of Physical Therapy, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. Meanwhile, twenty healthy 65-year-old or older women were recruited from the local community. The results showed that the knee contact angle of the patient group was more flexed ( P=0.040), and the minimum angle of the knee joint increased ( P=0.008) during the stance period compared to the healthy group. However, there was no significant difference in the maximum contact angle between the angle of hip and ankle joints. In addition, the tibialis anterior muscle of the patients was significantly smaller than the healthy group ( P=0.023). Therefore, knee osteoarthritis could change the gait and muscle activity of older women, especially the knee joint.

Objective:To analyze the clinical parameters of the patients with femoral neck fracture such as general condition,therapy method,hospitalized expense so as to provide more effective management plan for the clinical work.Methods:The patients with femoral neck fracture above 50 years who received in-patient treatment from 2008 January to 2012 December were admitted into this study.We collected and analyzed the information,such as age,chronic medical disease,therapy method,hospitalized duration and expense and so on.Results:There were 1 794 femoral neck fracture patients above 50 years (male/female=1/2.06)in our hospital in recent 5 years and the annual average rate of increase was 7.3%. The average age of the patients was (69.9 ±10.7)years and the annual average rate of increase was 0.6%.The chronic medical disease diagnosis ratio was 55.0%.The average waiting time for operation was (6.8 ±4.2)days and the average hospitalized duration was (12.9 ±4.9)days which showed down-ward trend in recent years. The most popular operations were cannulated screw internal fixation (41.8%)and artificial femoral head replacement (34.1%).In the study,146 cases (7.9%)received nonsurgical treatment which showed downward trend.The average hospitalized expense was (35 075 .7 ± 1 1 343.2)yuan which showed no obvious change in recent years.The cost for the females was more than that for the males.The expense for hemiarthroplasty and total hip arthroplasty increased while that for cannulated screw internal fixation decreased gradually.Conclusion:The cannulated screw internal fixa-tion and artificial femoral head replacement were the most important operations for the patients with femo-ral neck fracture.The number and the average age of the patients were on the rise while the expense showed no obvious change in recent years.

The non-stationary interference with the analysis parameters of short-term heart rate variability (HRV) has been studied. The results show that although all considered parameters fluctuate with the lapse of time, only HFnorm and sample entropy (SE) correlate significantly with non-stationary interference. Therefore, the low frequency fluctuations of HRV contain not only the non-stationary interference, but also the intrinsic cardiac dynamic characteristics. Specially, the results of the base-scale entropy (BE) analysis of three groups of people, and of three kinds of noises are contrasted. It is shown that, at the expense of outstanding anti-nonstationarity, BE fails to depict the long range correlation of HRV.
Algorithms ; Autonomic Nervous System ; physiology ; Electrocardiography ; methods ; Entropy ; Heart Rate ; physiology ; Humans ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

Image mosaicing can solve the problem that only very limited field of view is available when highly magnifying lens is used in microscope imaging. This paper puts forward an equation of the system's influence to the grayscale distribution of the medical microscopic images, based on the analysis of the influence. Then, by the system equation and the accurate registration equation, the least-squares optimization error function can be formulated. By these equations, a set of transcendental equations is formed. We can estimate the system's influence on the gray-level of the images by singular-value decomposition (SVD), based on the equations set, and compensating for it. This permits image mosaicing seamlessly, without lowering the speed.
Humans ; Image Enhancement ; methods ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Microscopy ; methods

In this paper is reported a method using joint entropy to analyze the nonlinear dynamical complexity of short-term heart rate variability(HRV) signal. This method can effectively pick up dynamical information from the short-term heartbeat time series, reflect the dynamical complexity of heart rate variability, and so improve the quality of being covenient in clinical application. At first, the joint entropy method is demonstrated by applying it to the low-dimensional nonlinear deterministic systems such as logistic map and henon map. Then, the proposition is applied to the short-term heartbeat time series. The result shows that the method could robustly discriminate the patterns generated from healthy and pathologic states, as well as aging. Furthermore, the authors point out that decreased nonlinear dynamical complexity in the heartbeat time series with physiological aging and pathologic states is probably due to self-adjusting ability depression with aging and disease. At last, using the joint entropy method,the authors uncover nonrandom patterns in the ventricular response to atrial fibrillation.
Adult ; Aged ; Electrocardiography ; methods ; Entropy ; Heart Rate ; physiology ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Nonlinear Dynamics ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Ventricular Fibrillation ; physiopathology ; Young Adult

Using the algorithm proposed by Costa M, et al., we studied the multiscale entropy (MSE) of electrocardiogram. The sample entropy (SampEn) of the healthy subjects was found to be higher than that of the subjects with coronary heart disease or myocardial infarction. The healthy subjects' complexity was found to be the highest. The SampEn of the subjects with coronary heart disease was noted to be only slightly higher than that of the subjects with myocardial infarction. These findings show that the complexity of the subjects with coronary heart disease or myocardial infarction is distinctly lower than the complexity of the healthy ones, and the subjects suffereing from coronary heart disease are liable to the onset of myocardial infarction.
Algorithms ; Coronary Disease ; physiopathology ; Electrocardiography ; methods ; Entropy ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction ; physiopathology ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

By analysing the f(a) singularity spectra of the ST segments of the synchronous 12-lead ECG, we have found that the singularity spectrum is close to monofractality and its area is only half the area of the synchronous 12-lead ECG f(alpha) singularity spectrum. The ST segments of the synchronous 12-lead ECG signal also has f(alpha) singularity spectra distribution and it also has a reasonable varying scope. We have also found that the lead number of the ST segment f (alpha) singularity spectra for adults having coronary heart disease overstep the reasonable scope tends to increase over that of the ECG f(alpha) singularity spectra. These findings show that using the ST segments f(alpha) singularity spectra distribution of the synchronous 12-lead ECG is more effective than using the synchronous 12-lead ECG on the clinical analysis.
Electrocardiography ; methods ; Humans ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

We analyzed the multifractal singularity spectrum of synchronous 12-lead ECG (electrocardiogram) signals from heart and brain disease patients, and found that multifractal curves of different leads do not overlap each other. After calculating the scope of the singularity strength, we noticed that the averages of scope are not the same in different subjects,and the dispersing degree is also different in someone's different leads. Both the deltaalpha, the average of the deltaalpha, and the dispersing degree deltaalpha (be defined as standard deviation) of the deltaalpha of every one's 12-lead ECG were computed. Then, a comparison was made between the spectrum of the healthy subjects and the heart disease patients. The results showed that their deltaalpha are close, but their deltaalpha are markedly different. Also the healthy subjects and brain disease patients were compared, we found that their deltaalpha are close, but their deltaalpha are markedly different. These indicate that the character of multifractal spectrum is controlled by both the neurosystem of body and the self-syntonic property of cardiac structures. Furthermore, the deltaalpha is related with the neuroautonomic control of people's body on the ECG, and the deltaalpha is related with the anisotropy of the heterogeneous tissue and the electric signal propagation in heart.
Aged ; Brain Concussion ; physiopathology ; Coronary Disease ; physiopathology ; Electrocardiography ; methods ; Humans ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted