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BACKGROUND@#The zone of calcified cartilage (ZCC) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA) but has never been imaged in vivo with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques. We investigated the feasibility of direct imaging of the ZCC in both cadaveric whole knee specimens and in vivo healthy knees using a 3-dimensional ultrashort echo time cones (3D UTE-Cones) sequence on a clinical 3T scanner.@*METHODS@#In all, 12 cadaveric knee joints and 10 in vivo healthy were collected. At a 3T MR scanner with an 8-channel knee coil, a fat-saturated 3D dual-echo UTE-Cones sequence was used to image the ZCC, following with a short rectangular pulse excitation and 3D spiral sampling with conical view ordering. The regions of interests (ROIs) were delineated by a blinded observer. Single-component T2* and T2 values were calculated from fat-saturated 3D dual-echo UTE-Cones and a Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (T2 CPMG) data using a semi-automated MATLAB code.@*RESULTS@#The single-exponential fitting curve of ZCC was accurately obtained with R2 of 0.989. For keen joint samples, the ZCC has a short T2* ranging from 0.62 to 2.55 ms, with the mean ± standard deviation (SD) of 1.49 ± 0.66 ms, and with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of 1.20-1.78 ms. For volunteers, the short T2* ranges from 0.93 to 3.52 ms, with the mean ± SD of 2.09 ± 0.56 ms, and the 95% CI is 1.43 to 2.74 ms in ZCC.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The high-resolution 3D UTE-Cones sequence might be used to directly image ZCC in the human knee joint on a clinical 3T scanner with a scan time of more than 10 min. Using this non-invasive technique, the T2* relaxation time of the ZCC can be further detected.
Subject(s)
Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Imaging, Three-Dimensional , Methods , Knee Joint , Pathology , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Methods , Osteoarthritis , Diagnostic ImagingABSTRACT
Objective:The present study aim to explore the difference and characteristics of disgust in obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD) with/without contamination washing symptoms,adding to the growing literature on the heterogeneity and clinical treatment of OCD.Methods:Totally 66 patients with OCD meeting the criteria of International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems,Tenth Revision (ICD-10) and 51 healthy controls matched with gender,age and level of education were recruited.All patients were divided into two subgroups namely washing symptoms group(n =26) and other symptoms group(n =40) based on the contamination washing symptoms.Participants respectively completed the lexical decision task.The results of the tasks were indicators reflecting the disgust feelings,including the accuracy,reaction time to core disgust words,moral disgust words,neutral words,and the rating intensity of disgust provoked by all of the words.Results:The reaction time for core disgust words[(723 ± 89)ms,(746 ± 95) ms vs.(676 ± 96) ms] and moral disgust words[(772 ± 98)ms,(796± 92)ms vs.(723 ± 94)ms] were longer in both group of patients with OCD than in healthy controls.The patients also rated higher degree of disgust for core disgust words[(6.7 ± 1.5),(6.9 ± 1.6)vs.(5.8 ± 1.7)]and moral disgust words [(6.8 ± 1.7),(7.2 ± 1.3)vs.(6.3 ± 1.5)] than healthy controls (Ps ＜0.05).But there were no difference existed between patients with and without contamination washing symptoms on the results of lexical decision task(Ps ＜0.05).Conclusion:It shows that patients with OCD tend to experience intense disgust feelings,and there is no difference between contamination washing symptoms and other symptoms on disgust.These findings suggest that intense disgust feelings may play a role on the etiology and maintenance of OCD,and reducing disgust could be a potential approach for OCD treatment.
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Aim To explore the alterations of blood corticosterone (CORT) level and adrenal steroidogenic function,as well as its sex specificity in intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) rats induced by prenatal nicotine exposure (PNE) with high-fat diet (HFD) after birth,and to make clear its mechanism through insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) signaling pathway.Methods IUGR model was established by PNE (2.0mL · kg-1 · d-1),and the offspring rats were administered with HFD until postnatal week (PW) 24 after weaning.Blood CORT concentration,adrenal steroidogenesis enzymes,expressions of IGF-1 signaling pathway and 11β-HSDs/CR system were tested.Results Compared with HFD control group,the CORT concentration in male offspring of PNE group represented a decrease trend,while an increase trend in female;the expressions of adrenal steroidogenesis enzymes (such as StAR,3β-HSD and P450cll) in male offspring decreased,while increased in female offspring (such as SF-1 and P450c21);the expressions of IGF-1 signalling pathway (IGF-1 and IGF-1R) in male offspring increased,and they significantly increased in female offspring;the expression levels of 11 β-HSD2 and GR decreased,but 11β-HSD1/11β-HSD2 ratio was enhanced in male PNE group,while in female PNE group,the corresponding gene expressions increased.Conclusions PNE could induce abnormal alterations of adrenal steroidogenic function,and exhibit apparent gender differences.The potential mechanism is related to low adrenal steroidogenesis function programming induced by nicotine and catch-up growth mediated by IGF-1 after birth.
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Objective To observe the effect of combined feeding instruction on the swallowing function and quality of life in patients with stroke patients with dysphagia.Methods 110 cases of stroke patients with dysphagia in our hospital from March 2013 to February 2015 were randomly divided into the study group and the control group,with 55 cases in each group.On the basis of routine nursing measures,feeding guidance was used control group,while the study group was combined with swallowing function training.After the intervention for 1 month,the swallowing function between the two groups was compared before and after the intervention.The nursing satisfaction and quality of life of the two groups were evaluated.Results After the intervention,Watian drinking water test scores of the two groups were significantly better than that of before the intervention,the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).Watian water test score of the study group after the intervention was better than that of the control group after the intervention was improved more obviously,the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).The life quality scores of the study group were significantly better than those of the control group,the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).The care satisfaction of the study group was 96.36％,it was significantly increased compared with the control group (81.82％) and the difference was statistically significant (P ＜0.05).Conclusions Combining feeding and swallowing function training can effectively improve the swallowing function of stroke patients with swallowing dysfunction,and can improve patient's quality of life and nursing satisfaction.