Investigation of canopy interception characteristics in slope protection grasses: A laboratory experiment.

Canopy interception significantly affects hydrological processes such as infiltration, runoff and evapotranspiration. Research on grass canopy interception remains limited, and the experimental methods employed differ substantially. To thoroughly investigate the canopy interception characteristics of grass and clarify the methodological differences, five commonly utilized slope protection grass species in temperate regions were cultivated in a laboratory setting, and their canopy interception characteristics were experimentally investigated using the water-balance method (WBM), the water-wiping method (WWM) and the water-immersion method (WIM), respectively. The results showed that the WBM is more accurate for measuring canopy interception in grass, whereas both the WWM and the WIM underestimate grass canopy interception capacity. The canopy interception capacity measured by the WBM was 1.61-2.09 times higher than that of the WWM and 1.93-3.47 times higher than that of the WIM. Grey correlation analysis of the eight evaluated factors indicated that leaf area is the most influential factor affecting canopy interception in grass, followed by rainfall amount, dry mass, rainfall intensity, canopy projection area, leaf contact angle, fresh weight, and average height. There is a negative power function relationship between the interception ratio and the rainfall amount. With increasing rainfall intensity, the canopy interception capacity initially increases and then decreases, peaking at rainfall intensities of 15 to 20 mm/h. Leaf contact angle is a key quantifiable parameter that explains the differences in canopy interception among different grass species, and the canopy interception per unit leaf area decreases as the leaf contact angle increases. This study demonstrates that the WBM provides the most accurate measurements of grass canopy interception compared to the WWM and WIM, and highlights the leaf contact angle as a key factor in explaining interspecies differences. These findings could enhance the understanding of grass canopy interception and guide the selection of experimental methods.

A feasibility study of 70 kV double low-dose coronary imaging technique in abdomen-fatty patients using dual-source CT.

Objective: To investigate the aplication of low contrast agent concentration and low tube voltage in coronary CTA on patients with high BMI (26kg/m228kg/m2). Methods: 60 patients with high BMI (26kg/m228kg/m2) were randomly divided into two groups: double low group A (n=30, tube voltage = 70 KV), double low group B (n=30, tube voltage = 70 KV), processed by SAFIRE iterative reconstruction with 270 mgI/ml contrast agent. Conventional group a (n=30, tube voltage = 120 KV), conventional group b (n=30, tube voltage = 120 KV), with filtered back projection (FBP) and 370 mg I/ml contrast agent. the image excellent index (FOM), the effective radiation dose (ED), mean CT value, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio(CNR) between corresponding groups were compared. Result: There was no significant difference in subjective scores of coronary artery image quality between the two high BMI subgroups (P>0.05).The ED of group A (1.103±0.101 mSv) was significantly lower than that of group a (4.663±0.412 mSv) (P<0.001).There was no significant difference in mean CT value, SNR and CNR between the two subgroups (P>0.05).The image excellent index (FOM) of group A was higher than that of group a (P<0.05).The total iodine content and iodine injection rate in group A were lower than those in group a (P<0.001).The difference of subjective scores of coronary artery image quality between the two ultra-high subgroups was significant. The mean CT value, SNR and CNR of group B were lower than those of group b (P<0.05). The images of 14 patients in group B could not meet the diagnosis demand. Conclusion: It is feasible to reduce the tube voltage to 70KV in patients with abdominal BMI with high BMI (26Kg/m228Kg/m2), under the same conditions, the 70KV can not meet the daily diagnosis requirement.

Ladder-Like Low Iodine Delivery Rate Injection Protocols Based on BMI at 70 KV by Automated Tube Voltage Selection in Coronary CTA.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of reducing the injection velocity and volume of contrast agent according to BMI, and the effect of body weight (BW), body surface area（BSA）, body mass index（BMI），and blood volume (BV) on aortic contrast enhancement when the voltage of third-generation dual-source CT is selected at 70 KV. Methods: A total of 280 patients selected at 70 KV were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. Each group was divided into 7 subgroups according to BMI ≤20, 20-21, 21-22, 22-23, 23-24, 24-25, and 25-26. The experimental group uses 2.3/2.4/2.5/2.6/2.7/2.8/2.9 ml/s injection speed with 350 mgI/ml contrast agents according to the subgroups; injection time was fixed at 10 s. In the control group, the fixed injection flow rate was 3.5 ml/s, time was 12 s with a total of 42 ml. Subjects in both groups were inspected to adaptive prospective ECG-gating sequence scanning, and subjective and objective image quality of the two groups were compared using Student's t-test. BMI, BSA, and BV were calculated from the patient's body weight and height. We assess the relationship between aortic attenuation and BW, BMI, BV, and BSA using regression analysis or correlation analysis. Results: Significant differences exist in vascular enhancement between the two groups; SNR and CNR of objective image quality in the experimental group were lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). Both groups had the same subjective image scores (P > 0.05). The number of vessels in the optimal enhancement range counts more in the experimental group than in the control group (χ2 value = 334.25, P ＜ 0.05). In the control group, a weak to medium correlation was seen between vascular enhancement and BMI (r = -0.20), BW (r = -0.42), BSA (r = -0.46), and BV (r = -0.48) (P ＜ 0.05 for all). Conclusions: Compared to BW, BSA, and BV, a weaker negative correlation exists between vascular enhancement and BMI when ATVS selects 70 KV. However, as a much easier way to operate, the stepped low flow and low-contrast agent injection based on BMI was feasible, and the image quality was more homogenized than that of the control group.

WITHDRAWN: The Changes of ADC Value, DCE-MRI Parameters and Their Influence on Neuropsychology in Prostate Cancer Patients after Endocrine Therapy Based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

This article has been withdrawn at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal.

Multi-contrast imaging information of coronary artery wall based on magnetic resonance angiography.

In order to explore the most suitable image acquisition method for coronary artery wall, the display ability and image quality of segmentation breath-holding target volume acquisition method (the breath-holding method) and real-time navigation whole-hearted acquisition method (the navigation method) of coronary artery magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA) were compared. 26 healthy volunteers were selected to accept the CMRA in 1.5 tunnels magneto-resistance (TMR) equipment by the 2 acquisition methods respectively. The arteries were divided into 9 segments according to the standards of the American Heart Association (AHA). The images were evaluated by 2 magnetic resonance physicians. Satisfaction rate and success rate of each segment of the coronary artery were counted. The results showed that the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and the carrier to noise ratio (CNR) of the images obtained by the breath-holding method were higher than those obtained by the navigation method (P<0.05). Therefore, the segmentation breath-holding target volume acquisition method is proved to have a higher image quality and the simpler and more convenient operations, which is more suitable for the acquisition of positioning images of CMRA.

Two-Steps Coronary Artery Segmentation Algorithm Based on Improved Level Set Model in Combination with Weighted Shape-Prior Constraints.

Due to the complex topological structure of the coronary artery and the uneven distribution of the contrast agent, the angiography images are inevitably blurred and has low contrast, which causes great difficulty in process of segmentation. For this problem, a two-steps segmentation algorithm based on Hessian matrix and level set is proposed in this paper. Firstly, potential blood vessels of coronary images are preliminary extracted via Hessian matrix eigenvalues feature vectors of the geometric features and the response function. Then a novel regularization and area constraint is introduced into the local data energy fitting functional. Finally, the precision of Coronary Artery image is obtained in the evolution of the level set function. Experiments show that our proposed algorithm has better performance to these comparison segmentation algorithms.

Radiotherapy patients with identification study on continuous quality improvement / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

Objective To study the recogniting patients identity for the safety and reliability of radiotherapy. Methods Through PDCA 4 footwork, namely, plan, do, check, action the technicians in the hospital to improve patients' identity verification.Results After 4 months of PDCA cycle,the patient identity verification qualified rate increase gradually,from 88.17% up to 99.07%,the privacy of patients satisfaction rate rose from 52. 69% to 98. 15%. The patients identification accuracy rate of 100%, technicians working efficiency has been greatly improved. Conclusions The measure of patient identification can improve the working process of radiotherapy for safety and efficiency and can get better privacy protection.

Purification and characterization of a gelatinolytic matrix metalloproteinase from the skeletal muscle of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus).

A gelatinolytic matrix metalloproteinase (gMMP) from grass carp skeletal muscle was purified by 30-70% ammonium sulphate fractionation and a combination of chromatographic steps including ion exchange on DEAE-Sephacel, gel filtration on Sephacryl S-200, and affinity on gelatin-sepharose. The molecular weight of the proteinase as estimated by SDS-PAGE was 70 kDa under non-reducing conditions. The enzyme revealed high activity from 30 to 50 °C, and the gelatin hydrolysing activity was investigated at a slightly alkaline pH range using gelatin as substrate. Metalloproteinase inhibitor EDTA completely suppressed the gelatinolytic activity, while other proteinase inhibitors did not show any inhibitory effect. Divalent metal ion Ca(2+) was essential for the gelatinolytic activity. Further, peptide mass fingerprinting obtained four fragments with 45 amino acid residues, which were highly identical to MMP-2 from fish species. The gMMP could effectively hydrolyse type I collagen even at 4 °C, suggesting its involvement in the texture softening of fish muscle during the post-mortem stage.

Prognostic analysis of postoperative chemoradiotherapy in patients with grade Ⅲ/Ⅳ glioma / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

Objective To evaluate the treatment outcome and prognostic factors in patients with grade Ⅲ/Ⅳ glioma following postoperative chemoradiotherapy.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical records of 119 patients with grade Ⅲ/Ⅳ glioma who received treatment in our hospital from January 2007 to April 2012.Of the 119 patients,49 received radiotherapy alone,21 received radiotherapy combined with nitrosoureas,and 49 received radiotherapy combined with temozolomide.The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate overall survival (OS) rates and recurrence rates.The Cox regression model was used for multivariate prognostic analysis.Results The follow-up rate was 94.1％.Fifty-three patients were followed up for at least 1 year,and 10 for at least 2 years.The overall recurrence rate was 69.7％.The 1-and 2-year OS rates were 44.5％ and 8.4％,respectively.The multivariate analysis showed that age,presence or absence of seizures before surgery,extent of tumor resection,and radiotherapy plus concurrent and adjuvant temozolomide were the main prognostic factors for tumor recurrence (P =0.002,0.005,0.000,and 0.000).The above factors and the pathological grade of tumor were the independent prognostic factors for patients' survival (P =0.006,0.010,0.000,0.000,and 0.001).Conclusions Postoperative radiotherapy plus concurrent and adjuvant temozolomide produce a good clinical effect in patients with grade Ⅲ/Ⅳ glioma.Age of ＜ 60 years,no seizures before surgery,total tumor resection,and pathological grade Ⅲ of tumor are the favorable prognostic factors for the long-term survival in patients with malignant glioma.

A meta-analysis of ß1-adrenergic receptor gene polymorphisms in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Published data on the association between ß1-adrenergic receptor gene polymorphisms and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) risk are inconclusive. To derive a more precise estimation of the relationship, a meta-analysis was performed. A total of 12 case-control studies including 2642 cases and 3136 controls provided data on the association between ß1-adrenergic receptor gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to IDCM. Overall, no significantly elevated risk was associated with Arg389Gly polymorphisms for all genetic models. In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, no statistically increased risk was found for Gly389Gly versus Arg389Arg (OR 0.73; 95% CI 0.54-0.99; Ph=0.35) and Gly389Gly versus Arg389Arg+Arg389Gly (OR 0.75; 95% CI 0.55-1.01; Ph=0.52) among Europeans. Meanwhile, significantly increased risk was found among Asians based on the relatively small sample size. Further, significantly elevated IDCM risk was associated with Ser49Gly polymorphisms for all genetic models. When stratified by ethnicity, statistical association was found among Asians for Gly49Gly versus Ser49Ser (OR 4.56; 95% CI 1.36-15.23; Ph=0.10) and Gly49Gly versus Ser49Ser+Ser49Gly (OR 4.49; 95% CI 1.33-15.15; Ph=0.12), but not among Europeans. In summary, this meta-analysis suggests that no statistically increased risk was found between ß1-adrenergic receptor gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to IDCM among Europeans.

Varied association of prothrombin G20210A polymorphism with coronary artery disease susceptibility in different ethnic groups: evidence from 15,041 cases and 21,507 controls.

Published data on the association between prothrombin G20210A polymorphism and coronary artery disease (CAD) risk are inconclusive. To derive a more precise estimation of the relationship, a meta-analysis was performed. A total of 42 case-control studies including 15,041 cases and 21,507 controls were included in this meta-analysis. Overall, significantly elevated CAD risk was associated with prothrombin G20210A polymorphism (OR, 1.22; 95% CI 1.07-1.40; P=0.003) when 39 eligible studies were pooled into the meta-analysis. In the subgroup analysis, borderline statistically increased risk was found for myocardial infarction in 22 case-control studies (OR, 1.27; 95% CI 1.00-1.61; P=0.05). When stratified by ethnicity, significantly elevated risk was found in Europeans (OR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.02-1.38; P=0.02). However, no statistical differences were found among Americans and Asians. In summary, this meta-analysis indicated that prothrombin G20210A allele is a low-penetrant risk factor for developing CAD in Europeans.

Dosimetric comparison of postoperative intensity-modulated radiotherapy for stage Ⅱ - Ⅲ rectal cancer / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ObjectiveTo explore the optimal method of protecting bone marrow in postoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy of stage Ⅱ - Ⅲ rectal cancer by comparing two techniques of intensitymodulated radiotherapy (IMRT). MethodsFifteen patients with stage Ⅱ - Ⅲ rectal cancer after surgery had CT simulation. Clinical target volume, small bowel, bladder and bone marrow were contoured. Two IMRT treatment plannings with and without bone marrow-sparing (BMS-IMRT and IMRT) were separately designed. The dose distribution was compared based on that 95％ of the planning target volume received the prescribed dose. ResultsBMS-IMRT had an advantage over IMRT in terms of conformity indices ( 1. 06∶1. 04, t =- 2. 61, P =0. 023 ), but inferior to I M RT for homogeneity indices ( 0. 81 : 0. 75, t =- 2. 34, P =0.037)).Compared with IMRT, BMS-IMRT reduced the V5, V10, V20, V30, V40 of bone marrow (97.09％∶98.72％, t=-2.34, P=0.037;92.38％∶96.46％, t=-2.41, P=0.033;83.36％∶91.70％, t=-3. 18, P=0.008;51.47％∶69.65％, t=-4.92, P=0.000;36.34％∶49.57％, t=-2.66, P =0. 021 ). The doses received by small bowel and bladder were similar between BMS-IMRT and IMRT, except that the V20 of bladder was lower in BMS-IMRT (77. 32％∶92. 39％, t =-3.52, P=0. 004). Conclusions BMS-IMRT reduces low dose volume of bone marrow without increasing dose to other risk organs.BMS-IMRT might reduce acute hematologic toxicity and increase the feasibility of postoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy in stage Ⅱ -Ⅲ rectal cancer.

Clinical analysis of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy plus chemotherapy for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer:study of 56 patients / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

Objective To analyze the efficacy,complications and prognostic factors of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy(3 DCRT)for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Methods 56 patients who were treated either by radiotherapy alone(14 patients)or radiotherapy plus chemotherapy(42 patients)from Jan.2005 to Feb.2008 were enrolled.The patient cohort consisted of 36 men and 20 women,median age 62,median total dose 60 Gy.Results The following-up rate was 96%.The number of patients completed follow-up were 14 and 10,respectively at 3-year and 5-year.The response rate of 3DCRT was 70%.with complete mmission 9%and partial remission 61%.The 1-、3-、and 5-.year survival rates were 62%、25% and 17%,respectively,and the median survival time(MST)was 20 months.By logrank test,clinical stage,KPS perfomance,tumor volume,radiation dose,treatment regimen and response to treatment showed statistically dramatic impact on overall survival.By Cox muhivariable regression,the independent adverse prognostic factors by both univariate analysis and multivariate analysis were clinical stage,treatment type,and response to treatment.Grade 2 acute radiation pneumonitis was observed in 1 patient and grade 3 in 1 patient.Late grade 2 lung injury developed in 1 patient,and grade 3 in 1 patient.Acute grade 1 radiation esophagitis were observed in 20 patients.and above Grade 2 in 5patients.Acute grade 1+2 hematologic toxicity developed in 15 patients,and above Grade 2 developed in 4 patients.Conclusions 3 DCRT was feasible in the treatment of locally advanced NSCLC with acceptable normal tissue toxicity.Relative early stage.radio-chemotherapy with total radiation dosage≥60 Gy and good immediate tumor response are favorable prognostic factors for overall survival.

Prognostic analysis of 77 cases of rectal cancer with synchronous liver metastases / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the prognostic factors for rectal cancer patients with synchronous liver metastases.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Data from a total of 77 cases of rectal cancer with synchronous liver metastases treated in our center from January 2002 to December 2008 were collected and reviewed. The total survival rate was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method. Log-rank test and Cox regression model with SPSS 17.0 software were used to analyze 13 factors including clinicopathological factors and treatment choices.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The median survival time of the 77 cases was 12 months. The 1-, 2-, 3- and 5-year survival rates were 47.7%, 28.0%, 13.1%, and 1.5%, respectively. Univariate analysis with Kaplan-Meier method revealed that the differentiation of the primary tumor, T-stage, N status, the distribution, number and size of liver metastases, extrahepatic disease, serum CEA level at diagnosis and treatment modality were prognostic factors (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that the differentiation of the primary tumor (P = 0.007), T-stage (P = 0.027), the size of liver metastases (P = 0.003), serum CEA value at diagnosis (P = 0.000) were independent prognostic factors for rectal cancer patients with synchronous liver metastases.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The factors affecting the prognosis for rectal cancer patients with synchronous liver metastases are the differentiation of the primary tumor, T-stage, N status, the distribution, number and size of liver metastases, extrahepatic disease, serum CEA level at diagnosis and treatment modality. The differentiation of the primary tumor, T-stage, the size of liver metastases, and serum CEA value at diagnosis are independent prognostic factors.</p>