Bone-filling mesh container plasty for spinal metastases with damaged posterior wall of vertebra / 中华骨科杂志

Objective:To study the efficacy and safety of bone-filling mesh container plasty in the treatment of posterior wall fracture of vertebra caused by spinal metastases.Methods:This study is a retrospective analysis of 65 patients with pathological fractures of the vertebra caused by vertebral metastases treated with bone-filling mesh container plasty from January 2015 to December 2019. There were 21 males and 44 females, 70.3±10.8 (46-90) (years). According to primary tumor, there were 25 cases of lung cancer, 14 cases of breast cancer, 11 cases of digestive system cancer, 13 cases of urinary system cancer, 1 case of lymphoma and 1 case of ovarian cancer. In the segment of vertebral metastases, there were 2 cases of T 2 vertebra, 1 case of T 5 vertebra, 1 case of T 6 vertebra, 2 cases of T 8 vertebra, 1 case of T 9 vertebra, 5 cases of T 10 vertebra, 4 cases of T 11 vertebra, 15 cases of T 12 vertebra, 12 cases of L 1 vertebra, 8 cases of L 2 vertebra, 8 cases of L 3 vertebra, 4 cases of L 4 vertebra, and 2 cases of L 5 vertebra. According to the CT images of the patient's vertebra before operation, the area of the damaged posterior wall of the vertebra is measured as s, and the area of the posterior wall of the intact vertebra is measured as S. The ratio of posterior wall damage is calculated as R= s/ S, and the value of R represents the degree of damage to the posterior wall of the vertebra. According to the size of the R value, the patients were divided into four groups, typeⅠ( R≤25%, 21 cases), typeⅡ(25%< R≤50%, 22 cases), typeⅢ (50%< R≤75%, 14 cases), typeⅣ( R>75%, 8 cases). The visual analog scale (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI) and activity of daily living (ADL) before and 1 day after surgery, 1 month after surgery, and 3 months after surgery were analyzed and compared to evaluate the efficacy of bone-filling mesh container plasty. Pairwise comparisons were performed to verify whether there is a difference in efficacy, bone cement leakage and postoperative complications. Results:All 65 patients were followed up for 3-6 months, with an average of 3.8 months. The VAS scores before surgery, postoperative day 1, postoperative 1, 3 months were 7.32±0.99, 4.14±1.06, 4.11±0.97, and 4.34±1.11, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( F=149.20, P<0.001). ODI of preoperative, postoperative day 1, postoperative 1, and 3 months were 69.45%±4.15%, 36.65%±3.72%, 36.84%± 3.38%, 37.78%±3.45%, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( F=840.88, P<0.001). ADL score of preoperative, postoperative day 1, postoperative 1, and 3 months were 71.31±12.81, 79.85±9.14, 78.92±8.95, and 78.31±8.67, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( F=149.20, P<0.001). There was no significant difference in VAS, ODI and ADL scores between types I and IV (all P>0.05), but with the increase of R value, the leakage rate of intraspinal bone cement would increase correspondingly. Eleven cases occurred bone cement leakage with the rate of 17%. The leakage rate of type I and II was 0, type III was 7.1% (1/14), and type IV was 37.5% (3/8). All patients did not have systemic complications such as allergies, shock, decreased oxygen saturation, etc., and there were no bleeding, infection, nerve root symptoms or cement insertion syndrome after surgery. Conclusion:Bone-filling mesh container plasty can significantly improve the pain symptoms of patients with spinal metastases and recovery functions. The degree of damage to the posterior vertebra has no effect on the efficacy of the surgery. As the degree of damage to the posterior wall of the vertebra increases, the risk of complications of bone cement leakage in the spinal canal will increase.

Hygienic economic evaluation of inter-spinal distraction fusion and fixation for lumbar disc herniation / 国际外科学杂志

Objective:To analyze the clinical efficacy of inter-spinal distraction fusion and fixation and Posterior lumbar interbody fusion in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation with stenosis, and to evaluate the health economics of the two surgical methods.Methods:Retrospectivly analyzed the clinical data of 400 patients with lumbar disc herniation with stenosis, who were enrolled in Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University from Jan. 2015 to Jan. 2019, including 190 male cases and 210 female cases, aged from 50 to 87 years old, with the average age of 67.97. All patients were divided into two groups according to different surgical methods. Among them, 200 patients used interspinous process fusion and distraction fixation (ISDFF group), the other 200 cases used posterior lumbar decompression and pedicle internal fixation (PLIF group). All patients completed the follow-up time of more than 1 year after operation. The basic information of patients′ age, gender, total number of days in hospital, intraoperative bleeding, operation time, surgical incision length and other basic information were observed. The Oswestry dysfunction index (ODI), the Japanese Orthopaedic Association Score (JOA) and the visual analog scale (VAS) were used to evaluate the relief of symptoms before and after the two groups of patients. Total medical expenses, anesthesia expenses, surgical expenses and other expenses were analysed. The software of SPSS 20.0 were conducted to analyze data.Results:The patients in the ISDFF group were (70.84±8.93) years old, and the PLIF group was (65.10±10.23) years old ( t=5.98, P=0.008). The operation time in the ISDFF group was (59.21±16.22) min, and the operation time in the PLIF group was (81.31±17.24) min( t=13.20, P<0.001). The bleeding volume of the ISDFF group was (33.24±11.31) mL, and the bleeding volume of the PLIF group was (67.30±17.61) mL ( t=23.02, P<0.001). The length of the surgical incision in the ISDFF group was (8.27±2.53) cm, and the length of the surgical incision in the PLIF group was (11.15±1.91) cm ( t=11.848, P<0.001). The total hospitalization time in the ISDFF group was (15.15±0.54) days, and the total hospitalization time in the PLIF group was (19.86±0.97) days( t=4.26, P<0.001). There was no significant difference in preoperative ODI, JOA and VAS between the two groups ( P>0.05). Symptoms of postoperative patients were significantly improved compared with preoperative. There were statistical differences in ODI, JOA and VAS between the two groups before and after operation ( P<0.05). However, ODI, JOA and VAS were no statistical difference between the two groups after operation. Complications occurred in 5 cases of the two groups of patients, including two cases of superficial infection in the PLIF group, two cases of dural tear in the PLIF group, one case of spinous process fracture in the ISDFF group. The total hospitalization fee for ISDFF was (57 450±8 670) (yuan), and the total hospitalization fee for PLIF was (75 770±1 640) (yuan), with statistical differences ( t=9.92, P<0.001). The cost of ISDFF operation was 1864±38.19 (yuan), and the cost of PLIF operation was 2352±41.39 (yuan) ( t=8.65, P<0.001). ISDFF antibacterial drug usage fee was 635.5±64.69 (yuan), PLIF antibacterial drug usage fee was 1449±307.1 (yuan) ( t=2.59, P<0.001). The one-time medical material cost during the ISDFF operation was (38 990±300) (yuan), and the one-time medical material cost during the PLIF operation was (52 110±150) (yuan) ( t=5.88, P<0.001). The excellent and good rate of ISDFF group was 92%, and that of PLIF group was 86%. In this study, the total cost of hospitalization was used as an indicator to measure the cost, and further cost-effectiveness evaluation was made. For every good patient, the cost of the ISDFF group was 62 450 yuan, and the cost of the PLIF group was 88, 100 yuan. Conclusions:ISDFF is beneficial to reduce the cost of medical insurance in China, which is in line with the direction of national reform to reduce medical expenditure. It is a surgical method worthy of wide promotion and has a good application prospect.

Biomechanical research progress of interspinous process device in lumbar degenerative disease / 国际外科学杂志

The implantation of interspinous process device is a minimal invasive surgical procedure for degenerative lumbar spinal diseases. At present, a variety of interspinous process devices designed can be subdivided into three categories based on different application principles: interspinous distraction device, interspinous fixation device and interspinous fusion device. The interspinous distraction devices distract interspinous interspace, enlarge spinal canal area and alleviate neurological symptom, which are mainly applied for lumbar spinal stenosis with intermittent neurogenic claudication. Interspinous fixation device has been used as an alternative technique to the pedicle screw fixation in lumbar interbody fusion due to gripping and fixating to spinous process. Interspinous fusion device utilizes rigid fixation to support fusion, which can be used as not only simple distraction device but also additional instrumentation for direct decompression and interbody fusion. All types of interspinous process devices are different in biomechanical characteristics due to its application concept. In this review, the author mainly focus on biomechanical research progress of interspinous process device in lumbar degenerative disease.

Biomedical applications of bionic untethered micro-nano robots / 生物医学工程学杂志

Bionic untethered micro-nano robots, due to their advantages of small size, low weight, large thrust-to-weight ratio, strong wireless mobility, high flexibility and high sensitivity, have very important application values in the fields of biomedicine, such as disease diagnosis, minimally invasive surgery, targeted therapy, etc. This review article systematically introduced the manufacturing methods and motion control, and discussed the biomedical applications of bionic untethered micro-nano robots. Finally, the article discussed the possible challenges for bionic untethered micro-nano robots in the future. In summary, this review described bionic untethered micro-nano robots and their potential applications in biomedical fields.

Effects of interferon inducible protein 16 (IFI16) on viral protein and pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-positive T cells / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

Objective@#To investigate the effects of interferon inducible protein 16 (IFI16), a cytosolic DNA sensor, on the expression of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) proteins and pro-inflammatory cytokines in adult HTLV-1-positive T cells.@*Methods@#IFI16 expression in different HTLV-1-positive T cell lines was detected by immunoblot assay. Specific siRNA targeting the IFI16 gene was constructed and the gene silencing efficiency was detected by immunoblot assay. Expression of HTLV-1 Tax protein at mRNA and protein levels was respectively detected by real-time PCR and immunoblot assay after knocking down the expression of IFI16 in HTLV-1-positive T cells with siRNA. Expression of interferon (IFN)-α, IFN-γ, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, Tax and Env were detected by real-time PCR.@*Results@#Compared with the HTLV-1-negative T cell line Jurkat, IFI16 expression was enhanced in the HTLV-1-positive T cell lines MT2, MT4 and C8166. Tax expression was increased, while that of IFN-α, IFN-γ and TNF-α was decreased in MT2 and MT4 cells after silencing the expression of IFI16 with siRNA.@*Conclusions@#IFI16 expression was increased in HTLV-1-positive MT2 and MT4 cells. Meanwhile, IFI16 promoted the production of interferon and pro-inflammatory cytokines and inhibited the expression of HTLV-1 proteins.

Effects of interferon inducible protein 16 (IFI16) on viral protein and pro-inflammatory cytokine ex-pression in human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-positive T cells / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

Objective To investigate the effects of interferon inducible protein 16 (IFI16), a cy-tosolic DNA sensor, on the expression of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) proteins and pro-in-flammatory cytokines in adult HTLV-1-positive T cells. Methods IFI16 expression in different HTLV-1-positive T cell lines was detected by immunoblot assay. Specific siRNA targeting the IFI16 gene was con-structed and the gene silencing efficiency was detected by immunoblot assay. Expression of HTLV-1 Tax pro-tein at mRNA and protein levels was respectively detected by real-time PCR and immunoblot assay after knocking down the expression of IFI16 in HTLV-1-positive T cells with siRNA. Expression of interferon ( IFN)-α, IFN-γ, tumor necrosis factor ( TNF )-α, Tax and Env were detected by real-time PCR. Re-sults Compared with the HTLV-1-negative T cell line Jurkat, IFI16 expression was enhanced in the HTLV-1-positive T cell lines MT2, MT4 and C8166. Tax expression was increased, while that of IFN-α, IFN-γand TNF-α was decreased in MT2 and MT4 cells after silencing the expression of IFI16 with siRNA. Con-clusions IFI16 expression was increased in HTLV-1-positive MT2 and MT4 cells. Meanwhile, IFI16 pro-moted the production of interferon and pro-inflammatory cytokines and inhibited the expression of HTLV-1 proteins.

cGAS recognizes HTLV-1 RTI and induces STING-dependent innate immune responses / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

Objective To investigate whether cyclic GMP-AMP synthase ( cGAS ) , a cytosolic DNA sensor, could recognize the reverse transcription intermediate and induce the subsequent signaling path-way during the infection of human T cell leukemia virus type 1 ( HTLV-1 ) . Methods Biotin-labeled ssDNA90, a reverse transcription intermediate of HTLV-1, was transfected into HeLa cells and the interac-tion between it and cGAS was detected by co-immunoprecipitation experiments. HeLa cells were co-cultured with HTLV-1-positive MT2 cells and the interaction between cGAS and stimulator of interferon genes ( STING) was analyzed by co-immunoprecipitation experiments. The expression of STING in HeLa cells was silenced by siRNA. cGAS was transfected into the HeLa cells 24 h after the silencing and after 24 h, these cells were co-cultured with MT2 cells for another 24 h. Real-time PCR assay was used to measure the ex-pression of IFN-β, RANTES ( regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed, and secreted) , TNF-α, HTLV-1 protein Tax, p19 and HBZ. Immunoblot assay was performed to evaluate the phosphorylation of IRF3 and p65 in HeLa cells. Results cGAS interacted with ssDNA90. cGAS interacted with STING in the cytoplasm. In STING-silenced HeLa cells, cGAS transfection had no influence on the expression of IFN-β, RANTES , TNF-α, Tax , p19 or HBZ , nor did it affect the phosphorylation of IRF3 or p65 . Conclusions cGAS interacted with HTLV-1 RTI ssDNA90 and activated STING-dependent innate immune responses.

TDP-43 regulates cancer-associated microRNAs

Aberrant regulation of miRNA genes contributes to pathogenesis of a wide range of human diseases, including cancer. The TAR DNA binding protein 43 (TDP-43), a RNA/DNA binding protein associated with neurodegeneration, is involved in miRNA biogenesis. Here, we systematically examined miRNAs regulated by TDP-43 using RNA-Seq coupled with an siRNA-mediated knockdown approach. TDP-43 knockdown affected the expression of a number of miRNAs. In addition, TDP-43 down-regulation led to alterations in the patterns of different isoforms of miRNAs (isomiRs) and miRNA arm selection, suggesting a previously unknown role of TDP-43 in miRNA processing. A number of TDP-43 associated miRNAs, and their candidate target genes, are associated with human cancers. Our data reveal highly complex roles of TDP-43 in regulating different miRNAs and their target genes. Our results suggest that TDP-43 may promote migration of lung cancer cells by regulating miR-423-3p. In contrast, TDP-43 increases miR-500a-3p expression and binds to the mature miR-500a-3p sequence. Reduced expression of miR-500a-3p is associated with poor survival of lung cancer patients, suggesting that TDP-43 may have a suppressive role in cancer by regulating miR-500a-3p. Cancer-associated genes LIF and PAPPA are possible targets of miR-500a-3p. Our work suggests that TDP-43-regulated miRNAs may play multifaceted roles in the pathogenesis of cancer.

Porcine circovirus type 2 increases interleukin-1beta and interleukin-10 production via the MyD88–NF-kappa B signaling pathway in porcine alveolar macrophages in vitro

Porcine alveolar macrophages (PAMs) represent the first line of defense in the porcine lung after infection with porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) via the respiratory tract. However, PCV2 infection impairs the microbicidal capability of PAMs and alters cytokine production and/or secretion. At present, the reason for the imbalance of cytokines has not been fully elucidated, and the regulatory mechanisms involved are unclear. In this study, we investigated the expression levels and regulation of interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) and IL-10 in PAMs following incubation with PCV2 in vitro. Levels of IL-1β and IL-10 increased in PAM supernatants, and the distribution of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) p65 staining in nucleus, expression of MyD88 and p-IκB in cytoplasm, and DNA-binding activity of NF-κB increased after incubation with PCV2, while p65 expression in PAM cytoplasm decreased. However, when PAMs were co-incubated with PCV2 and small interfering RNA targeting MyD88, those effects were reversed. Additionally, mRNA expression levels of Toll-like receptors (TLR)-2, -3, -4, -7, -8, and -9 increased when PAMs were incubated with PCV2. These results show that PCV2 induces increased IL-1β and IL-10 production in PAMs, and these changes in expression are related to the TLR–MyD88–NF-κB signaling pathway.

Analysis of microbial characteristics and predisposing factor in gram-negative bacteria blood stream infection / 实用医学杂志

Objective To investigate microbial characteristics and predisposing factors in gram-negtive bacteria blood stream infection. Methods A descriptive retrospective study was conducted. Patients diagnosed as sepsis with blood culture of G- bacilli and without sepsis were enrolled. The patients were all admitted to ICUs of Guangdong General Hospital from October, 2012 to December, 2014. The clinical characteristics and outcomes were compared. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyse the predisposing factors for sepsis of G- bacilli. Results A total of 148 patients suffered from sepsis of G-bacilli including Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae were enrolled. Single-factor analysis showed that patients with sepsis of G- bacilli infection had older ages, higher incidence of coronary heart diseases or congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular diseases or chronic renal insufficiency, hypertension, also higher incidence of longer length of hospital stay before blood was drawn for culture, and higher incidence using of vasoactive agents and pre-admission intravenous antibiotics and lower plasma albumin level (P < 0.05). Conclusions Coronary heart disease or congestive heart failure, chronic renal insufficiency and pre-admission intravenous antibiotics were independent predisposing factors for sepsis of G-bacilli.

MiR-130a regulates neurite outgrowth and dendritic spine density by targeting MeCP2

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are critical for both development and function of the central nervous system. Significant evidence suggests that abnormal expression of miRNAs is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. MeCP2 protein is an epigenetic regulator repressing or activating gene transcription by binding to methylated DNA. Both loss-of-function and gain-of-function mutations in the MECP2 gene lead to neurodevelopmental disorders such as Rett syndrome, autism and MECP2 duplication syndrome. In this study, we demonstrate that miR-130a inhibits neurite outgrowth and reduces dendritic spine density as well as dendritic complexity. Bioinformatics analyses, cell cultures and biochemical experiments indicate that miR-130a targets MECP2 and down-regulates MeCP2 protein expression. Furthermore, expression of the wild-type MeCP2, but not a loss-of-function mutant, rescues the miR-130a-induced phenotype. Our study uncovers the MECP2 gene as a previous unknown target for miR-130a, supporting that miR-130a may play a role in neurodevelopment by regulating MeCP2. Together with data from other groups, our work suggests that a feedback regulatory mechanism involving both miR-130a and MeCP2 may serve to ensure their appropriate expression and function in neural development.

A new method for quantifying mitochondrial axonal transport

Axonal transport of mitochondria is critical for neuronal survival and function. Automatically quantifying and analyzing mitochondrial movement in a large quantity remain challenging. Here, we report an efficient method for imaging and quantifying axonal mitochondrial transport using microfluidic-chamber-cultured neurons together with a newly developed analysis package named "MitoQuant". This tool-kit consists of an automated program for tracking mitochondrial movement inside live neuronal axons and a transient-velocity analysis program for analyzing dynamic movement patterns of mitochondria. Using this method, we examined axonal mitochondrial movement both in cultured mammalian neurons and in motor neuron axons of Drosophila in vivo. In 3 different paradigms (temperature changes, drug treatment and genetic manipulation) that affect mitochondria, we have shown that this new method is highly efficient and sensitive for detecting changes in mitochondrial movement. The method significantly enhanced our ability to quantitatively analyze axonal mitochondrial movement and allowed us to detect dynamic changes in axonal mitochondrial transport that were not detected by traditional kymographic analyses.

Research progress of anti-osteoporosis drug clinical application / 国际外科学杂志

With the increasingly aging population,osteoporosis morbidity had been gradually increased and the incidence of the hips and vertebral fractures showed a trend of rapid growth,which brought great pain and economic burden to patients and society.There were a variety of anti-osteoporosis drugs clinically,which interfere with the development of osteoporosis via multi-approaches to reduce the clinical symptoms and improve their quality of life.In this paper,the author aimed to make a review of the research progress of anti-osteoporosis drug clinical application.

Risk factors and prognosis of bloodstream infection in the ICU patients / 中华急诊医学杂志

Objective To investigate the risk factors and prognosis of blood stream infection in patients of intensive care unit (ICU).Methods Clinical data of all patients with culture-positive sepsis were collected from all ICUs of Guangdong General Hospital from October 12th, 2012 to December 1st, 2014 for retrospective study.Physiological characteristics and laboratory data were compared between patients with blood culture-positive sepsis group and patients without sepsis of control group.Logistic regression analysis was made to identify the risk factors for blood stream infection.Patients with blood culture-positive sepsis group were further divided into survivor and non-survivor groups according to the clinical outcomes.Physiological and laboratory data were compared between two groups.Logistic regression analysis was also performed to identify the risk factors for mortality.Results There were 299 patients with positive blood culture sepsis admitted in the ICUs in two years.Of them, 250 patients infected with Gram positive cocci including staphylococcus haemolyticus, staphylococcus epidermidis, staphylococcus capitis and staphylococcus aureus accounting for the majority.There were 174 patients infected with Gram negative bacilli including acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniaesubsp.pneumoniae accounting for the majority.A univariate analysis demonstrated that there were significant differences in hypertension (P =0.001), diabetes (P =0.01), coronary heart diseases and heart failure (P =0.000), chronic renal insufficiency (P =0.000), prolonged mechanical ventilation (P =0.000), pre-admission intravenous administration of antibiotics (P =0.000), and hypoalbuminemia (P =0.008) between culture positive group and control group.A logistic regression analysis demonstrated that diabetes [OR =2.158, 95％ CI (1.230, 3.787), P =0.007], chronic renal insufficiency [OR =13.410, 95％ CI (1.715, 104.879), P =0.013], pre-admission intravenous administration of antibiotics [OR =8.375, 95％ CI (5.267, 13.317), P=0.000] were independent risk factors for bloodstream infections in ICU.In patients with positive blood culture, the non-survivor group had patients with higher advance of old age, higher rate of hypertension, coronary heart diseases or congestive heart failure, tumor and chronic renal insufficiency, prolonged mechanical ventilation and higher incidence of surgery and pre-admission intravenous administration of antibiotics compared with the survivor group.The advance of old age [OR =1.023, 95％ CI (1.008-1.037), P =0.002], prolonged mechanical ventilation [OR =1.055, 95％ CI (1.024, 1.088), P =0.000] and hypoalbuminemia [OR =0.933, 95％ CI (0.898, 0.971), P =0.001] were independently associated with mortality of bloodstream infection in ICU.Conclusions Diabetes, chronic renal insufficiency and pre-admission intravenous administration of antibiotics were associated with the development of blood stream infection in ICU.The advance of old age, prolonged mechanical ventilation and hypoalbuminemia were independent risk factors for mortality in patients with culture-positive sepsis in ICU.

Effect of long-acting nitrate on expression of Ang Ⅱ receptor subtypes in kidneys of heart failure rats / 中华老年心脑血管病杂志

Objective To study the effect of long‐acting nitrate on cardiac function and expression of AngⅡreceptor (ATR)subtypes in kidneys of chronic heart failure (CHF)rats after myocardial infarction .Methods Ninety male Wistar rats aged 10 weeks were randomly divided into control group (group A ,n=9) ,sham operation group (group B ,n=8) ,HF model group (group C ,n=9) , low Elantan dose group (group D ,n=9) ,high Elantan dose group (group E ,n=9) ,olmesartan group (group F ,n=9) ,and combined high Elantan dose and olmesartan group (group G ,n=8) .A HF model was established by ligating the left anterior descending artery .The animals received gastric drugs for 6 weeks .Their cardiac function was assyed by ultrasound echocardiography and expressions of AT1 R and AT2 R were detected by RT‐PCR and Western blot ,respectively .Results The PRA and AngⅡexpression levels were significantly higher ,the AT1 R expression level was significantly higher and the AT2 R expression level was significantly lower in group C than in group B (P<0 .01 ,P<0 .05) .The PRA and AngⅡexpression levels were significantly lower ,the AT1 R expression level was significantly lower and the AT2 R expression level was significantly higher in groups E‐G than in group C (P<0 .05 ,P<0 .01) .The receptor expression levels were much higher in group G than in group F (P<0 .05) .Conclusion Long‐term use of long‐acting nitrate can effectively improve cardiac function and protect renal function .

Enhancement and assessment of the fundus image / 生物医学工程学杂志

A new enhancement method is proposed based on the characteristics of fundus images in this paper. Firstly, top-hat transform is utilized to weaken the background. Secondly, contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) is performed to improve the uneven illumination. Finally, two-dimensional matched filters are designed to further enhance the contrast between blood vessels and background. The algorithm was tested in DIARETDB0 databases and showed good applicability for both normal and pathological fundus images. A new no-reference image quality assessment method was used to evaluate the enhancement methods objectively. The results demonstrated that the proposed method could effectively weaken the background, increase contrast, enhance details in the fundus images and improve the image quality greatly.

Objective evaluation of driving fatigue by using variability of pupil diameter under spontaneous pupillary fluctuation conditions / 生物医学工程学杂志

Objective evaluation of driver drowsiness is necessary toward suppression of fatigued driving and prevention of traffic accident. We have developed a new method in which we utilized pupillary diameter variability (PDV) under spontaneous pupillary fluctuation conditions. The method consists of three main steps. Firstly, we use a 90s long infrared video of pupillogram infrared-sensitive CCD camera. Secondly, we employed edge detection algorithm based on curvature characteristics of pupil boundary to extract a set of points of visible pupil boundary, and then we adopted these points to fit a circle to obtain the diameter of the pupil in current frame of video. Finally, the values of PDV in 90s long video is calculated. In an experimental pilot study, the values of PDV of two groups were measured. One group rated themselves as alert (12 men), the other group as sleepy (13 men). The results showed that significant differences could be found between the two groups, and the values were 0.06 +/- 0.005 and 0.141 +/- 0.042, respectively. Taking into account of the knowledge that spontaneous pupillary fluctuation is innervated by autonomic nervous system which activity is known to change in parallel with drowsiness and cannot be influenced by subjective motive of people. From the results of the experiments, we concluded that PDV could be used to evaluate driver fatigue objectively.

Study on the orientation of liquid crystals presented on the glass substrates spin-coated and functionalized with copper ions / 生物医学工程学杂志

A stable, uniform, easily implemented, LC-based chemical and biological sensor substrate for orientations of liquid crystals (LCs) for a long-term is urgently needed for medical applications of the sensors. We proposed a use of spin-coating of copper perchlorate (Cu(ClO4)2), with five different concentrations(0-100mmol/L), directly on glass slides for fabricating a layer of chemically-sensitive copper ions. Observing the transmitted light with a polarized microscope, we found the luminosity of the light propagated through sensors deposited with copper ions started to weaken gradually after a certain time. The higher was the concentration of copper ions covered on the glass substrates of the sensors, the faster the weakening occurred, and the less time was needed for transmitted light to turn completely dark. But there was no change in luminosity of the transmitted light for the sensors without Cu(ClO4)2 spin-coating even after stored at room temperature (25 degrees C) for a whole day. When the Cu(ClO4)2 deposited sensors were stored within a drying oven at room temperature (25 degrees C) for 2 months, it was found that there vas almost no change in luminosity of the transmitted lights. The results showed that all the thin films of LC on glass slides functionalized with Cu(ClO4)2 could keep homeotropic and stable orientation for a long time; the concentration of Cu (ClO4)2I has an influence on the orientation response speed of LC from planar to perpendicular orientation.