Unilateral Approach to Primary Bilateral Trigeminal Neuralgia Via Bilateral Microvascular Decompression.

BACKGROUND: Primary bilateral trigeminal neuralgia is a rare disease characterized by paroxysmal bilateral facial pain confined to the somatosensory distribution of the trigeminal nerve. Nonetheless, while treatment of bilateral trigeminal neuralgia with microvascular decompression (MVD) has been reported, there have been no trials of a unilateral approach for bilateral MVD. METHODS: The authors retrospectively analyzed the outcomes and complications of 2 cases of bilateral trigeminal neuralgia treated with MVD by unilateral craniotomy. The 2 patients were followed up for 27 and 32 months, with satisfactory results. One patient developed facial numbness on 1 side postoperatively, which disappeared 3 months later. CONCLUSIONS: Microvascular decompression is an effective and safe opinion for primary bilateral trigeminal neuralgia that fails to respond adequately to medical therapy. The authors suggest that the initial surgery be performed on the more seriously affected side. Unilateral craniotomy for bilateral MVD represents a new therapeutic approach in patients with an enlarged superior trigeminal nerve space.

An Infrared-Visible Image Registration Method Based on the Constrained Point Feature.

It is difficult to find correct correspondences for infrared and visible image registration because of different imaging principles. Traditional registration methods based on the point feature require designing the complicated feature descriptor and eliminate mismatched points, which results in unsatisfactory precision and much calculation time. To tackle these problems, this paper presents an artful method based on constrained point features to align infrared and visible images. The proposed method principally contains three steps. First, constrained point features are extracted by employing an object detection algorithm, which avoids constructing the complex feature descriptor and introduces the senior semantic information to improve the registration accuracy. Then, the left value rule (LV-rule) is designed to match constrained points strictly without the deletion of mismatched and redundant points. Finally, the affine transformation matrix is calculated according to matched point pairs. Moreover, this paper presents an evaluation method to automatically estimate registration accuracy. The proposed method is tested on a public dataset. Among all tested infrared-visible image pairs, registration results demonstrate that the proposed framework outperforms five state-of-the-art registration algorithms in terms of accuracy, speed, and robustness.

Saliency Detection with Bilateral Absorbing Markov Chain Guided by Depth Information.

The effectiveness of depth information in saliency detection has been fully proved. However, it is still worth exploring how to utilize the depth information more efficiently. Erroneous depth information may cause detection failure, while non-salient objects may be closer to the camera which also leads to erroneously emphasis on non-salient regions. Moreover, most of the existing RGB-D saliency detection models have poor robustness when the salient object touches the image boundaries. To mitigate these problems, we propose a multi-stage saliency detection model with the bilateral absorbing Markov chain guided by depth information. The proposed model progressively extracts the saliency cues with three level (low-, mid-, and high-level) stages. First, we generate low-level saliency cues by explicitly combining color and depth information. Then, we design a bilateral absorbing Markov chain to calculate mid-level saliency maps. In mid-level, to suppress boundary touch problem, we present the background seed screening mechanism (BSSM) for improving the construction of the two-layer sparse graph and better selecting background-based absorbing nodes. Furthermore, the cross-modal multi-graph learning model (CMLM) is designed to fully explore the intrinsic complementary relationship between color and depth information. Finally, to obtain a more highlighted and homogeneous saliency map in high-level, we structure a depth-guided optimization module which combines cellular automata and suppression-enhancement function pair. This optimization module refines the saliency map in color space and depth space, respectively. Comprehensive experiments on three challenging benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method both qualitatively and quantitatively.

MiR-29a-3p Enhances the Viability of Rat Neuronal Cells that Injured by Oxygen-Glucose Deprivation/Reoxygenation Treatment Through Targeting TNFRSF1A and Regulating NF-κB Signaling Pathway.

OBJECTIVE: We attempt to investigate the role of TNFRSF1A and its underlying mechanism in oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R)-induced injury in rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells. METHODS: Public datasets GSE61616 and GSE106680 were downloaded from GEO database. PC12 cells were used to construct OGD/R models. QRT-PCR and western blot were implemented to test the relative mRNA and protein levels, respectively. The miRNA online prediction website TargetScan was used to predict TNFRSF1A upstream regulated miRNAs, which were then confirmed by luciferase reporter assay. The changes in cell viability and apoptosis were evaluated using cell counting kit 8 (CCK-8), lactose dehydrogenase (LDH), and flow cytometry assays. RESULTS: Bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that the expression of TNFRSF1A was upregulated in CI/RI and middle cerebral artery occlusion models compared with control, respectively. And a significant upregulation was also observed in OGD/R-damaged PC12 cells. Depletion of TNFRSF1A can notably enhance the cells proliferation after OGD/R treatment, while enlargement of TNFRSF1A presented the opposite outcomes. Moreover, miR-29a-3p was shown to be the upstream regulatory miRNA of TNFRSF1A. The levels of TNFRSF1A were inversely mediated by miR-29a-3p. Overexpression of miR-29a-3p can raise the cell viability, decrease the LDH activity, and reduce the apoptotic ratio in OGD/R-treated cells. Besides, TNFRSF1A can attenuate the protective effect of miR-29a-3p on OGD/R-treated cells. Furthermore, miR-29a-3p mimic inhibited, while overexpression of TNFRSF1A promoted the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway, and TNFRSF1A can attenuate the suppressive effect of miR-29a-3p on the NF-κB pathway. CONCLUSION: Our research illustrated that the potential regulatory role of miR-29a-3p/TNFRSF1A axis in neurons cells suffered from OGD/R, and their effects on NF-κB signaling pathway, providing a possible bio-target for protecting cells from OGD/R damage .

Immunoglobulin G4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis with spinal cord compression: A case report.

IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a recently recognized inflammatory condition that can be found in many organs. However, spinal involvement is rare and has been described only in case reports and series. Here, we report a rare case of spinal IgG4-RD that resulted in hypertrophic pachymeningitis with spinal cord compression. This case expands the phenotypic presentation for the neurological sequelae of IgG4-RD. Our case hints that spinal IgG4-RD may be misdiagnosed, and IgG4-RD in patients should be considered when the patient has a dural mass. Although early surgery, steroids, and/or immunosuppressive therapy may prevent neurological complications, the side effects should receive more attention during treatment.

[Effects of cadmium chloride on mitochondrial function and PGC-1α expression in HK-2 cells].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of cadmium chloride on mitochondrial function and the expression of PGC-1α in HK-2 cells, and explore the possible role of cadmium chloride in the process of mitochondrial oxidative damage of HK-2 cells. METHODS: HK-2 cells were exposed to 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 µmol/L of CdCl_2 respectively for 24 h in vitro. MTT assay was used to observe the viability of HK-2 cells. The mitochondrial ROS was detected by Mito SOXTMRed staining. Mitochondrial membrane potential was measured by JC-1 staining flow cytometry. The activity of respiratory chain complex III was determined by Multi-functional microplate reader and PGC-1α expression was detected by Western blot analysis. RESULTS: Compared with control, CdCl_2 treatment at 20 and 60 µmol/L for 24 h the survival rate of HK-2 cells was decreased from( 77. 60 ± 0. 82) % ( 41. 97 ± 1. 22) %( P < 0. 01). The activity ofrespiratory chain complex III was decreased in a concentration-dependent manner( P <0. 05), while the mitochondrial ROS production was increased at the same time( P <0. 05), the JC-1 monomers positive ratio by the percentage of the treated cells was 1. 51, 1. 58, 1. 71, 2. 41 3. 47 times higher than untreated control( P < 0. 01). In addition, the expression of PGC-1α was decreased at 24 h( P < 0. 05). CONCLUSION: Cadmium chloride may inhibit the expression of PGC-1α and the activity of respiratory chain complex III, and by inducing the mitochondrial ROS production and reducing mitochondrial membrane potential, leading to the damage of HK-2 cells.

Intrathecal injection of tigecycline in treatment of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii meningitis: a case report.

The ubiquitous Acinetobacter baumannii is an important and troublesome pathogen of nosocomial infection. Multidrug-resistant A baumannii meningitis is very difficult to treat, usually with high mortality. The disease is generally associated with craniotomy, but rarely with lumbar puncture. However, in our case, a 45-year-old male construction worker suffered multidrug-resistant A baumannii meningitis associated with lumbar puncture. The patient responded poorly to the initial treatment with an intravenous infusion of tigecycline. However, later treatment with an intrathecal injection of tigecycline (concentration 1 mg/mL) at a dose of 10 mg every 12 hours proved to be highly efficacious. Thus, intrathecal injection of tigecycline should be seriously considered as a treatment for multidrug-resistant A baumannii meningitis.

Risk of Stroke in Patients with Herpes Zoster: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Several observational studies suggest that herpes zoster (HZ) may increase the risk of stroke, but the results are inconsistent. Our study was designed to assess the association between HZ and the risk of stroke through a meta-analysis of cohort studies. METHODS: The electronic databases PubMed and EMBASE were searched from inception to May 31, 2016 to identify relevant cohort studies that assess the risk of stroke in patients with HZ. Reference lists were also reviewed to identify potential studies. The random-effects model and fixed-effects model were used to calculate the summary relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Six cohort studies (251,076 HZ patients and 8462 cases of stroke) were identified in the study. The result showed that HZ was significantly correlated with increased risk of stroke, and the pooled RR was 1.36 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10, 1.67) (P = .004). In the subgroup analysis, the significant association was observed except for stroke type (hemorrhage group). In the sensitivity analysis, excluding 1 study, the pooled RR was 1.45 (95% CI: 1.17, 1.80) (P = .001) for HZ, and 4.42 (95% CI: 2.75, 7.11) (P = .000) for herpes zoster ophthalmicus. Considerable heterogeneity was observed in our study. CONCLUSION: Our study furnishes evidence of a positive association between HZ and the risk of stroke.

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin Mediated Cleft palate by Mouse Embryonic Palate Mesenchymal Cells.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of mouse embryonic palatal mesenchymal (MEPM) cells by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) induced. STUDY DESIGN: An experimental study at Xinxiang Medical University. METHODS: Primary MEPM cells were derived from palatal tissue on 30 pregnant C57BL/6 female mice (embryonic day13, GD13). The MEPM cells were placed in a humidified incubator at 37°C with 5% CO2 atmosphere with media replaced every other day. The third passage cells were seeded, and one part of cells were treated with 10nM TCDD (TCDD group). And others were treated with DMSO (≤0.05%, as control group). After 72h, MTT assay was analysed cell viability. Scratch wound-healing was analysed cell motility. Flow cytometry was analysed cell apoptosis and cycle. Western blot was analysed the expression of cyclinE, CDK2, P16 and P21. RESULTS: TCDD inhibited the growth and migration of MEPM cells, while increased cell apoptosis. TCDD exposure inhibited the progression of cells from G1 to S phase and tended to reduce the number of cells entering the G2/M phase. TCDD inhibited expression of cyclinE and CDK2 at the protein level, instead increased the expression of P16 and p21 proteins. CONCLUSIONS: TCDD might induce cleft palate by altering MEPM cells.

Cigarette smoking and risk of adult glioma: a meta-analysis of 24 observational studies involving more than 2.3 million individuals.

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking has been shown to be a risk factor for adult glioma by some but not all studies. We conducted a meta-analysis to systematically assess the potential association. METHODS: PubMed and EMBASE were searched from the date of their inception to October 1, 2015, to identify relevant articles. Reference lists from these articles were reviewed to identify additional studies. Both cohort and case-control studies were included. Fixed-effects models were used to calculate the overall relative risk (RR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: The final analysis included 24 studies (seven cohort and 17 case-control studies), involving more than 2.3 million individuals. The combined RR was 1.04 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.09; P=0.073) for ever-smokers, 0.97 (95% CI: 0.88, 1.07; P=0.574) for current-smokers, and 1.07 (95% CI: 0.98, 1.16; P=0.130) for past smokers, with little evidence of heterogeneity. Omission of any single study from the analysis had little effect on the result. No evidence of publication bias was found. A small but statistically significant increase was found in past smokers in females (RR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.28; P=0.046) but not in males. CONCLUSION: In general, there was no association between cigarette smoking and adult glioma. The small but statistically significant association in females requires further investigation.

Rhizotomy targeting the intermediate nerve, the glossopharyngeal nerve and the upper 1st to 2nd rootlets of the vagus nerve for the treatment of laryngeal neuralgia combined with intermediate nerve neuralgia--a case report.

BACKGROUND: In neurosurgery, the most common type of facial and pharyngeal pain is trigeminal neuralgia. In contrast, glossopharyngeal neuralgia is relatively rare, and laryngeal neuralgia is the most rarely observed. CASE PRESENTATION: A case of laryngeal neuralgia combined with intermediate nerve neuralgia that was admitted to our hospital in May 2012 was reported here. The patient was a 58-year-old middle-aged female, who experienced 2 years of paroxysmal burning and stabbing pain near the thyroid perichodrium, in the skin covering the right front side of the neck, and deep in inner ear. CONCLUSION: The surgical treatment plan similar to that for glossopharyngeal neuralgia could be applied if laryngeal neuralgia is associated with glossopharyngeal neuralgia and intermediate neuralgia or if no obvious improvement is achieved with the above mentioned treatment approaches.

[Study on EB virus infection, LMP1 and Bcl-2 expression in lung cancer patients].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, the expression of EBV latent membrane protein 1 ( LMPl) and oncogene bcl-2 in lung cancer patients. METHODS: EBERI in 108 cases of lung cancer were detected with in situ hybridization. EBV positive and negative lung cancer tissues were analysed for the expression of LMP1 and Bcl-2 by immnohistochemistry. The average area (AA) and integral optical density (IA) of each sample was measured with the digital medical image analyzing system. RESULTS: In 108 cases of lung cancer, 36 cases were EBER1 positive and 7 cases were LMP1 positive. The expression of Bcl-2 was higher in EBV positive lung cancer tissues than that in EBV negative. The AA value was 58014.23 +/- 6918.45 and 38156.22 +/- 4096.79, while the IA value was 11.00 +/- 1.48 and 8.03 +/- 0.78 respectively. No statistic difference was fund in the expression of Bcl-2 betwen LMP1 positive and negative lung cancer tisssues. CONCLUSION: EBV infection in lung cancer increased the expression of bcl-2, which may play a role in the occurrence or development of lung cancer. The increased expression of Bcl-2 may not be induced by LMP1. The exact mechanism need further study.

[Situation and assessment of heavy metal pollution in river and mud in one city in Henan Province].

OBJECTIVE: To study the heavy metal contamination status in river water and mud in the suburb of a city in Henan Province. METHODS: Typical sampling method is used to select a farmland irrigation river of the suburb of a city. Use the atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and measure the heavy metal cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) in the river water samples and mud samples by graphite furnace method and flame method, respectively. The results of water were compared with GB 3838-2002, Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water, and GB 5084-2005, Standards for Irrigation Water Quality. The results of mud were compared with national soil background value. The contents of Cu and Cd in the river samples do not exceed the standard, and that of Pb is 3 to 6 times higher than the standard. According to the single factor pollution index method, the single factor pollution indice of Cu, and Cd in the river are less than 0.2 and are of clean level, while that of Pb reaches 6.84, indicating the Pb pollution in river water is severe. Cu in mud is more than 4 times of the soil background value, and that of Cd is more than 69 times of the soil background value, and that of Pb is more than 2 times of the soil background value. The single item pollution index indicates, in mud, the pollution index of Pb is 2.5, medium level pollution. The pollution indice of Cu and Cd in mud are more than 3, is severe pollution, and the Cd pollution is especially heavy, and the single pollution index reaches 67.76. The comprehensive pollution indice of the river and the mud are 5.346 and 84.115, respectively, indicating that both are at heavy pollution level. The main pollution source of the river originates from Pb, and that of the mud is from Cd and it is required to take measure and control as early as possible.

[Detection of Epstein-Barr virus in lung carcinoma tissue by in situ hybridization].

OBJECTIVES: To examine the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in primary lung carcinoma tissue, and to investigate the relationship between EBV infection and tumorigenesis of lung cancer. METHODS: Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded lung tissue specimens from surgically resected lung carcinoma tissues of 108 cases treated in Tanshan area from 2001 to 2006, which were confirmed further by histopathological examination after hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, were used to observe the EBV encoded RNA-1 (EBER1) using in situ hybridization (ISH). RESULTS: EBER1 was detected in 36 of the 108 primary lung carcinoma cases, and in 1 of the 22 normal lung tissues. The positive rates of EBV infection in squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, small cell carcinoma and large cell carcinoma were 35.9%, 31.6% 31.0%, 1/2, respectively. Gender, age and clinicohistopathological type were not found to have any correlation with EBER1 expression, but EBER1 expression in groups of cases with poorly and moderately differentiated carcinomas was significantly higher than those in the group of cases with well differentiated carcinoma, and the EBER1 expression in the right lung was higher than in the left lung. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of EBV infection in this series of patients from Tangshan area was 33.3%, the results suggest that there is a relationship between EBV infection and the occurrence of the primary lung carcinoma, EBV infection might be one of the potential causes to induce lung cancer.

[Effect of anthocyanin rich fruit extract on PGE2 produced by endothelial cells].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of anthocyanin rich fruit extract on PGE2 produced by endothelial cells. METHODS: Normal human endothelial cells, CRL-2606, were cultured in F12K medium (complemented with 10% FBS, 0.1 mg/ml heparin, 0.03 mg/ml ECGS, 50 microg/ml streptomycin and 500U/ml penicillin) in 5% CO2 with 95% air at 37 degrees C. When the cells grow close to confluence, anthocyanin rich fruit extract with/without 100 ng/ml of LPS were added to the medium. After 18 hours of incubation, cells were harvested and the supernatant were collected. Cell viability was assayed. After centrifugation, PGE2 concentration in the supernatant was measured with the STAT-Prostaglandin E2 EIA Kit. RESULTS: 300 microg/ml or higher Chokeberry extract showed cytotoxicity effect on CRL-2606 cells, the viability was lower than 60% and showed a dose-response manner. Under using dosage, Blackcurrant extract (100 - 700 microg/ml) and Blueberry extract (50 - 400 microg/ml) did not show any cytotoxicity. When stimulated by LPS, the production of PGE2 by endothelial cells were increased two fold. Blueberry extract inhibit such action. 100 microg/ml of Blueberry extract keeps the production of PGE2 in normal level. 700 microg/mL of Blackcurrant extract and 500 microg/ml Chokeberry extract also inhibit the releasing of PGE2. CONCLUSION: Anthocyanin rich fruit extract from Blueberry, Blackcurrant, and Chokeberry inhibit PGE2 produced by endothelial cells, there exist antiinflammation and antioxidation.

[Fractional utilization of reduced iron powder in Chinese child bearing age women with dual stable isotopes].

OBJECTIVE: To study the utilization of reduced iron powder in child-bearing-age women with traditional Chinese food. METHODS: 20 health child-bearing-age women were randomly divided into two groups. With ferrous sulfate as control, the utilization of reduced iron was measured using dual stable isotopes. RESULTS: The fractional utilization of iron in ferrous sulfate was 5.8%, while in reduced iron powder was 2.1%. The rates of absorbed iron incorporated into hemoglobin were 70.1% and 91.3% respectively. The differences were statistic significant. CONCLUSION: With traditional Chinese food, the utilization of reduced iron in child-bearing-age women was 2.1%, and the rate of absorbed iron incorporated into red blood cells was 91.3%.

[Application of modified ABTS+ assay method to monitor antioxidant extraction from fruit].

OBJECTIVE: Modify the ABTS method to measure the antioxidant activity of compound. Apply this method to optimize antioxidant extraction from fruit. METHODS: In microplate, Trolox served as reference. Antioxidant activity was measured according to their ability to scavenge ABTS+ in the reaction mixture. Under different temperatures, solvent solid ratios, solvent concentrations, antioxidants were extracted. RESULTS: The standard error for measuring Trolox antioxidant activity was under 0.2. The antioxidant activities of fourteen standard samples were consistent with that reported in literatures. Using ethanol as solvent, at about 17 degrees C, for 1 gram of blackcurrant 20 ml of 67% ethanol was appropriate. While using sodium metabisulphite as solvent, at about 30 degrees C, for 1 gram of blackcurrant 20 ml of 300 mg/L metabisulphite would be appropriate. CONCLUSION: Modified ABTS+ method for measuring antioxidant activity was simple and feasible. This method could be applied to monitor antioxidant extraction from fruit and high throughput screening for antioxidant.

[Mineral absorption from dual stable isotopic technique].

Isotope technique is the most accurate method to assess the bioavailability of trace elements. Due to the hazard of radioisotopes, it can't be used to such populations as infants and pregnant women. With the development of stable isotope technique, more and more researches were conducted with stable isotopes. The newly developed dual stable isotope technique was preferred because of its accuracy. While the papers published using such technique till now usually contained the estimation of the blood volume and hemoglobin incorporation. Because of such estimation, errors would be introduced into the results. To obtain the accurate result from the data available, this paper described a rigorous method to calculate the trace element bioavailability. The dual stable isotopic technique was discussed in detail in this paper. From the assumption of the method to their performance, the author described the procedure of calculation of the mineral absorption from the MS data and why. This method was described by using iron as an example, and can be used in similar studies.

[Biomolecules associate with iron homeostasis].

There are many biomolecules that take part in the regulation of iron homeostasis. Most of these literatures were published in the magazines of molecular biology. These molecules were studied individually. In this review, these molecules were viewed as a whole in the maintenance of iron balance. It classified these molecules into those which are associated with iron absorption, those which are associated with iron transport, which store excessive iron and which monitored the iron homeostasis.