Effects of gestational exposure to mobile phone radiation on parietal cortical astrocytes in rat offspring / 中华围产医学杂志

Objective To evaluate the effects of gestational exposure to mobile phone radiation on astrocytes in parietal cortex of rat offspring.Methods Nine male Sprague Dawley rats were mated with nine female rats at the age of 12 weeks.Pregnant rats were randomly divided into three groups including control group,short-term gestational exposure group (STE group) and long-term gestational exposure group (LTE group) with three in each group.From day 2 to day 18 of pregnancy,rats in STE and LTE groups were exposed to a mobile phone in talking mode for 6 h and 24 h per day,respectively.Meanwhile,the mobile phone used in control group was kept in standby mode.Morphology and ultrastructure of cells in parietal cortex of 1 month-old offspring rat were studied by Nissle staining and electron microscope,respectively.Cells positive for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and expression of GFAP in parietal cortex were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western bloting.One-way ANOVA,followed by SNK post hoc tests,were used for statistical analysis.Results (1) No significant difference in the morphology of cells in parietal cortex of rat offspring was observed among the three groups by Nissle staining.These cells were regularly arranged with intact cell membrane,clear nuclear membrane,evenly distributed chromatin and distinct nucleoli.(2) Neurons with normal morphology and intact synapse were observed in rat offspring in both control and STE groups.But condensation and migration of nuclear chromatin in neurons and blurred and widened synaptic clefts were observed in LTE group.(3) In offspring of control and STE groups,there were few GFAP-positive cells with small cell body and short processes in parietal cortex.But in LTE group,more GFAP-positive cells with large body and long processes were found.Moreover,long-term exposure to mobile phone during pregnancy resulted in enhanced GFAP expression in parietal cortex (0.79±0.04) as compared with control group (0.37±0.03) and STE group (0.41 ±0.04) (F=147.059,P＜0.001).Conclusions Long-term gestational exposure to mobile phone radiation might lead to activation of astrocytes,increased expression of GFAP and changes in the ultrastructure of neurons in parietal cortex of rat offspring.

Relationships between Prostatic Volume and Intravesical Prostatic Protrusion on Transabdominal Ultrasound and Benign Prostatic Obstruction in Patients with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>The objective of this study is to determine the relationships between prostatic volume (PV) and intravesical prostatic protrusion (IPP) with benign prostatic obstruction (BPO).</p><p><b>MATERIALS AND METHODS</b>A total of 408 males (aged 50 years and above) who presented with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) suggestive of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were recruited. All had International Prostate Symptoms Score (IPSS), quality of life (QOL) index, uroflowmetry (Qmax) and postvoid residual urine (PVR) measured by transabdominal ultrasonography (TAUS). The PV and the degree of IPP were also measured by TAUS in the transverse and sagittal planes respectively. The PV is classified as Grade a, (20 ml or less), Grade b, (more than 20 ml to 40 ml) and Grade c, (more than 40 ml), while the IPP is graded as Grade 1 (5 mm or less), Grade 2 (more than 5 mm to 10 mm) and Grade 3 (more than 10 mm).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was a fair positive correlation between the PV and IPP (Spearman, r(s) = 0.62, P <0.001) with important clinical exceptions. There was negative correlation between the PV and Qmax (rs = -0.20, P = 0.022), IPP and Qmax (r(s) = -0.30, P <0.001). PV and IPP were good predictors of BPO. However, IPP was slightly better (r(s) of -0.30 vs -0.20) than PV.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>PV is related to IPP with important clinical exceptions. IPP is a better predictor of BPO than PV.</p>

The effects of constraint-induced movement therapy on early stage upper limb function recovery in patients with subacute stroke / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

Objective To investigate the effects of constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) on the function of hemiplegic upper extremity in the early subacute stroke patients.Methods A prospective,single-blinded,randomized controlled study was conducted.Forty-seven stroke patients with hemiplegic upper limb dysfunction were randomly divided into 2 groups:a CIMT group and a control group.The CIMT group received constraintinduced movement therapy and the control group was treated with conventional rehabilitation therapy.Both groups were treated 3 h daily,5 d a week for 2 weeks.The Wolf motor function test (WMFT) and Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) were used to evaluate upper extremity motor function,and motor activity log (MAL) was used to assess upper extremity ability in activities.WMFT,FMA and MAL were measured before and after 1 day and 6 months of treatment.Results After 1 day of treatment,FMA,WMFT,MAL-AU and MAL-HW were 53.81 ± 2.59,66.68 ± 3.54,1.89 ± 0.88 and 3.26 ± 0.65,respectively,in the CIMT group,and 48.61 ± 4.48,62.10 ± 7.97,1.25 ± 0.64 and 2.65 ± 0.93,respectively,in the control group.After 6 months of treatment,FMA,WMFT,MAL-AU and MAL-HW were 57.53 ±2.01,69.57 ± 3.00,3.00 ±0.82 and 3.84 ±0.69,respectively,in the CIMT group,and 53.30 ± 2.88,66.20 ±3.59,2.20 ± 1.06 and 3.25 ±0.64,respectively,in the control group.The scores of FMA,WMFT,MAL in the CIMT group were all higher than those in the control group at 1 day and 6 months post-treatment,and the differences were statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Constraint-induced movement therapy can significantly improve the patients' hand function in the early stage of subacute stroke,which maintain up to 6 months of follow-up.

Evaluation of data completeness of the prostate cancer registry after robotic radical prostatectomy

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>This study evaluated the data completeness in the registration of prostate cancer after robotic radical prostatectomy (RRP) in the Urological Cancer Registry at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), and its compliance to the international standards of US Commission on Cancer (CoC).</p><p><b>MATERIALS AND METHODS</b>A certified cancer registrar reviewed all RRP cases between June 2003 and July 2008 in the Urological Cancer Registry at SGH.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 365 cases were reviewed. The results showed that 351 (96.2%) of RRP patients' demographic data were captured and 321 (87.9%) of RRP patients were staged. According to the international standards of CoC for an academic institution, the requirement is to capture 100% of all cancer cases and stage at least 90% of them. As for data completeness, 317 (86.7%) of RRP details were captured as compared to the CoC standard requirement of 90%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The existing manual cancer registry does not fully meet the CoC standards. Hence, the registry increased sources of case-finding and used active case-finding. With improvements made to the data collection methodology, the number of prostate cancer cases identified has been increased by 52.1% from 215 in 2007 to 327 in 2009. The registry is expected to be fully compliant with the CoC standard with the recruitment of more full time cancer registrars when a new web-based cancer registry is in full operation.</p>