A diagnostic meta-analysis: sentinel lymph node biopsy for neck metastasis in patients with early oral squamous cell carcinoma / 中华口腔医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the value of sentinel lymph node biopsy in diagnosis of cervical metastasis in patients with early oral squamous cell carcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Cochrane library, evidence-based medicine (EBM), PubMed, China national knowledge internet (CNKI) were searched for 2001 - 2011 literatures on sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma as early diagnosis of cervical metastasis. The results were analysed by using Meta-analysis software Metadisc1.4.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were 12 studies in which, a total of 793 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma were involved in Meta-analysis. The combined sensitivity and specificity were 0.86 (95%CI: 0.81 - 0.90) and 0.99 (95%CI: 0.98 - 1.00) respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>For early oral cancer patients, the sensitivity and specificity of sentinel lymph node biopsy are relatively high. The sentinel lymph node biopsy could be used to select which patients need neck dissection.</p>

Guling tablets promotes the proliferation and mineralization and regulates OPG/RANKL/M-CSF expression of osteoblasts via the p38 MAPK pathway in vitro / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of Gulingpian (GLP, or Guling tablets) on the proliferation and mineralization of MG-63 cells and the involvement of p38 MAPK pathway in such processes.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>MG-63 cells were cultured in the presence of p38 inhibitor SB203580 and or serum from rats fed with normal saline or GLP. The expression of the OPG, RANKL and M-CSF mRNA, cell proliferation and formation of mineralized bone nodule, the total protein of p38 and phosphorylated p38, were observed or quantitatively measured.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Treatment with GLP serum increased the level of p38 phosphorylation but did not affect the total p38 expression. GLP serum significantly promoted MG-63 cell proliferation and differentiation, resulting also in up-regulated OPG and down-regulated RANKL mRNA expressions without obvious alteration in M-CSF expression. These effects were blocked by the specific p38 inhibitor SB203580.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>GLP promotes the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts and regulates OPG/RANKL expressions in vitro, which are mediated probably via the p38 MAPK pathway.</p>

An Improved Mesh Simplification Algorithm Based on Quadric Error Metrics / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVE: Quadric Error Metrics (QEM) algorithm can simplify complex 3D models. However, for its simple error metrics, QEM is not suitable to simplify medical model that contains many minute detail features. We need to develop a new algorithm because we are often interested in these features. METHODS: Based on QEM, We classify the vertex into seven classes. Different class has different cost of collapse. In our algorithm, collapse usually occurs with the lowest cost during simplification, thus minute feature can be preserved as possible. We also introduce the average of correlative triangles' area to estimate the volume change during the simplification. RESULTS: We test our algorithm on several complex medical models and find that our improved algorithm is effective and fast. CONCLUSION: To simplify a complex medical model, we want to preserve the minute feature during simplification. By classifying the vertexes, we develop an improved algorithm based on QEM. The testing results shows that our algorithm not only maintains the high efficiency of QEM algorithm, but also meets the high requirements of medical image processing on fidelity and mesh quality.