Stereotactic biopsy for lesions in brainstem and deep brain: a single-center experience of 72 cases

Stereotactic biopsies for lesions in the brainstem and deep brain are rare. This study aimed to summarize our 6-year experience in the accurate diagnosis of lesions in the brain stem and deep brain and to discuss the technical note and strategies. From December 2011 to January 2018, 72 cases of intracranial lesions in the brainstem or deep in the lobes undergoing stereotactic biopsy were retrospectively reviewed. An individualized puncture path was designed based on the lesion's location and the image characteristics. The most common biopsy targets were deep in the lobes (43 cases, 59.7%), including frontal lobe (33 cases, 45.8%), temporal lobe (4 cases, 5.6%), parietal lobe (3 cases, 4.2%), and occipital lobe (3 cases, 4.2 %). There were 12 cases (16.7%) of the brainstem, including 8 cases (11.1%) of midbrain, and 4 cases (5.6%) of pons or brachium pontis. Other targets included internal capsule (2 cases, 2.8%), thalamus (3 cases, 4.2%), and basal ganglion (12 cases, 16.7%). As for complications, one patient developed acute intracerebral hemorrhage in the biopsy area at 2 h post-operation, and one patient had delayed intracerebral hemorrhage at 7 days post-operation. The remaining patients recovered well after surgery. There was no surgery-related death. The CT-MRI-guided stereotactic biopsy of lesions in the brainstem or deep in the brain has the advantages of high safety, accurate diagnosis, and low incidence of complications. It plays a crucial role in the diagnosis of atypical, microscopic, diffuse, multiple, and refractory lesions.

Advances in atrial fibrillation and cardiac autonomic nerve and its remodeling area / 医学研究生学报

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in clinical work, accounting for about 1/3 of patients in hospital due to arrhythmia. Recently, more and more studies have shown that cardiac autonomic nerve and its remodeling are involved in the occurrence and maintenance of AF, which is one of the important mechanisms of AF. At present, the treatment methods of AF include drug therapy and radiofrequency ablation. As we all know, drug therapy has many limitations. In this paper, the mechanism of sympathetic, parasympathetic nerve and AF and the changes of cardiac autonomic nerve and its remodeling area before and after the occurrence of AF were studied, so as to explore a better treatment method of AF, and then simplify the tedious steps of radiofrequency ablation, reduce the scope of ablation, more accurately locate ectopic trigger point and vulnerable matrix, reduce the intensity of ablation, improve the success rate of operation and obtain good economic benefits.

Establishment and evaluation of PCR-array for detection of six common pathogens of purulent meningitis in children / 军事医学

Objective To develop a PCR-array method for detecting common purulent meningitis pathogens including Streptococcus pneumoniae,Escherichia coli,Haemophilus influenzae type B,Neisseria meningitidis,S.agalactiae and Listeria monocytogenes in children.Methods The amplification efficiency,limit of detection (LOD) and cross-reactivity were validated with individually real-time PCR using genomic DNA of the six pathogenic bacteria.The sensitivity and specificity of the PCR-array method were evaluated using artificial cerebrospinal fluid(CSF),and the consistency between the PCR-array method and the golden method of CSF culture was evaluated using clinical samples.Results The primers and probes of the pathogens in PCR-array had high specificity,and there was no cross reaction between them.The LOD of the PCR-array method was 10 cfu/ml and very sensitive.The sensitivity and specificity of the PCR-array method could reach 95％ in the evaluation of artificial CSF,and had a good consistency with the clinical gold standard method.Conclusion The PCR-array method with high sensitivity and specificity can simultaneously detect six common pathogens in children with purulent meningitis at 2.5 h,which could provide reference for the diagnosis of purulent meningitis.

Primary co-culture of cortical neurons and astrocytes of new-born SD rats / 药学学报

This study is to establish a simple and practical co-culture method of cortical neurons and astrocytes of rats. The cortex of the new-born SD rats was digested by 0.125% pancreatic enzyme, and the differential adherence was applied to obtain the mixed cell suspension of neurons and astrocytes. A low concentration of cytarabine was used to inhibit the astrocytes in a moderate way to get neuronal and astrocyte co-culture. The morphological characteristics of the cells in different times were observed under the inverted microscope. The cells began to adhere the wall 2 h after the inoculation. Neurons and astrocytes grew in a good condition under the inverted microscope 9 days after the inoculation. The results of the immunofluorescence staining and Rosenfeld's staining indicated that the co-culture of neurons and astrocytes was successful and the ratio of neurons and astrocytes was close to 1:1. A new neurons and astrocytes co-culture method, which is simple and convenient, was successfully established. It will be an efficient method for the related researches about neuronal and astrocyte co-culture in vitro.