ABSTRACT
Objective@#To evaluate 99mtechnetium-three polyethylene glycol spacers-arginine-glycine-aspartic acid ( 99mTc-3PRGD2) singlephoton emission computed tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography (CT) imaging for diagnosing lymph node metastasis of primary malignant lung neoplasms. @*Materials and Methods@#We prospectively enrolled 26 patients with primary malignant lung tumors who underwent 99mTc-3PRGD2 SPECT/CT and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT imaging. Both imaging methods were analyzed in qualitative (visual dichotomous and 5-point grades for lymph nodes and lung tumors, respectively) and semiquantitative (maximum tissue-to-background radioactive count) manners for the lymph nodes and lung tumors. The performance of the differentiation of lymph nodes with and without metastasis was determined at the per-lymph node station and perpatient levels using histopathological results as the reference standard. @*Results@#Total 42 stations had metastatic lymph nodes and 136 stations had benign lymph nodes. The differences between metastatic and benign lymph nodes in the visual qualitative and semiquantitative analyses of 99mTc-3PRGD2 SPECT/CT and18F-FDG PET/CT were statistically significant (all P < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC)in the semi-quantitative analysis of 99mTc-3PRGD2 SPECT/CT was 0.908 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.851–0.966), and the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 0.86 (36/42), 0.88 (120/136), 0.69 (36/52), and 0.95 (120/126), respectively. Among the 26 patients (including two patients each with two lung tumors), 15 had pathologically confirmed lymph node metastasis. The difference between primary lung lesions in patients with and without lymph node metastasis was statistically significant only in the semi-quantitative analysis of 99mTc-3PRGD2 SPECT/CT (P = 0.007), with an AUC of 0.807 (95% CI, 0.641–0.974). @*Conclusion@#99mTc-3PRGD2 SPECT/CT imaging may notably perform in the direct diagnosis of lymph node metastasis of primary malignant lung tumors and indirectly predict the presence of lymph node metastasis through uptake in the primary lesions.
ABSTRACT
The autolysis of brewer's yeast seriously affects the quality of beer and the quality of yeast is considered as one of the key factors in beer brewing. Previous studies on brewer's yeast autolysis showed that RLM1 gene, an important transcription factor in cell integrity pathway, is closely related to the autolysis of yeast. In this study, RLM1 was knocked out and overexpressed in a haploid brewer's yeast. RLM1 disruption resulted in poor anti-autolysis performance of yeast, whereas overexpression of RLM1 contributed to the anti-autolytic ability of yeast. In addition, RLM1 gene knockout affected the osmotic stress resistance, cell wall damage resistance, nitrogen starvation resistance and temperature tolerance of yeast strain. The transcriptional level of GAS1 involved in cell wall assembly and DNA damage response was regulated along with the expression of RLM1, whereas other genes in CWI pathway did not show apparent regularity. RLM1 might mainly affect the expression of GAS1 so as to improve the stress resistance of lager yeast in harsh environment. The result from this study help further understand the mechanism of yeast autolysis and lay a foundation for breeding brewer's yeast strain with better anti-autolytic ability.
Subject(s)
Humans , Autolysis , Beer , Cell Wall , MADS Domain Proteins , Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Saccharomyces cerevisiae ProteinsABSTRACT
There are some common problems such as recurrent symptoms and poor compliance among patients with chronic diseases. Although scientific knowledge and skills have been learned from traditional health education, patients with chronic diseases cannot improve their life style continuously. At present, many researches abroad have proved that health coaching contributes to setting feasible goals and encourages continuously behavior change of patients. In China, health coaching is in the stage of becoming familiar with its scientific definition, intervention effect and application characteristics. And health coaching also needs evidences from high-level evidence-based studies. Along with continuous improvement of intervention techniques on health management, health coaching will get further development and standardization.
ABSTRACT
Objective:Our aim was to study the levels of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and pulmonary perfusion imaging in determining of pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH). Methods: We measured ANP levels by using radioimmunoassay after making various types of PAH in rabbits. Catheterization and pulmonary perfusion tomographic imaging were used in the control group. Results: When the pulmonary artery pressure increased slightly, the ANP levels were lower in PAH group than that of control group, but the difference was not significant (t=1, P>0.05). At the same time, pressure measured by catheterization did not change as the control group, but the ratio of back/abdomen radiopharmaceuticals distribution which was measured with pulmonary perfusion tomographic imaging was significantly higher in PAH group than that of the control (t=2.5, P<0.05). The difference between the ANP levels when the pulmonary artery pressure increased medially and seriously was significant (t＝4.0 and 6.5, P＜0.05). The other two methods got the same result (P＜0.05). Results of three examining methods were positively related. Conclusion:The ANP levels can determine the degree of PAH, and it was simple. But it was not as sensitive as that of pulmonary perfusion tomographic imaging.