Variability in blue carbon storage related to biogeochemical factors in seagrass meadows off the coast of the Korean peninsula.

Coastal vegetated habitats such as mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrasses, referred to as blue carbon ecosystems, play an important role in climate change mitigation by an effective CO2 capture from atmosphere and water columns and long-term organic carbon (Corg) storage in sediments. Although seagrass meadows are considered intense carbon sinks, information on regional variability in seagrass blue carbon stock and factors influencing its capacity still remain sparse. In the present study, seagrass blue carbon storage by measuring Corg stocks in sediments and living seagrass biomass, and carbon accumulation rates (CARs) in seagrass meadows were estimated along the Korean coast. Factors affecting variability in Corg stocks were also analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) regression and principal component analysis (PCA). Projected Corg stocks in sediment, extrapolated to a depth 1 m, exhibited substantial variability among sites, ranging from 49.91 to 125.71 Mg C ha-1. The majority of Corg (96-99%) was stored in sediments, whereas the contribution of living biomass was minor. PLS regression and PCA indicated that Corg stocks in seagrass meadows are strongly associated with sediment characteristics such as dry bulk density and water and mud content. Among seagrass traits, above- to below-ground biomass ratio was significantly related to the quantity of Corg stocks in seagrass meadows. Because of the high spatial variability in Corg stocks and CARs, local and regional differences in seagrass blue carbon storage should be considered to accurately assess the climate change mitigation potential of seagrass ecosystems.

Coastal Sediment Nutrient Enrichment Alters Seagrass Blue Carbon Sink Capacity.

The seagrass ecosystem is among the most efficient natural carbon sinks that can contribute to climate change mitigation. However, little is known about the effects of coastal nutrient enrichment caused by anthropogenic activities and/or climate change on the capacity of the seagrass blue carbon sink. Our experimental manipulations of sediment nutrient enrichment shifted the blue carbon sink capabilities of seagrass meadows. Sediment nutrient enrichment significantly increased the nutrient content of seagrass litter, stimulating the decomposition of rhizome + root litter by ∼10% while retarding the decomposition of leaf litter by ∼5%. Sediment N + P enrichment increased seagrass growth and litter production, while enrichment of N or P alone did not. Organic carbon (Corg) stocks in the surface sediments (0-5 cm) were 34% higher than those in the control with N + P enrichment due to high litter production and the low decomposition rate of nutrient-enriched leaf litter. However, Corg stocks in the subsurface sediments (5-20 cm) did not increase with sediment nutrient enrichment, which is likely due to accelerated decomposition of rhizome + root litter. Our findings suggest that nutrient loading in coastal sediments alters the blue carbon sink and storage capacities in seagrass meadows by changing the rates of carbon sequestration and decomposition.

Recurrence of SARS-CoV-2 PCR positivity in COVID-19 patients: a single center experience and potential implications

IMPORTANCEHow to appropriately care for patients who become PCR-negative for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still not known. Patients who have recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could profoundly impact the health care system if a subset were to be PCR-positive again with reactivated SARS-CoV-2. OBJECTIVETo characterize a single center COVID-19 cohort with and without recurrence of PCR positivity, and develop an algorithm to identify patients at high risk of retest positivity after discharge to inform health care policy and case management decision-making. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSA cohort of 414 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, at The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China from January 11 to April 23, 2020. EXPOSURESPolymerase chain reaction (PCR) and IgM-IgG antibody confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESUnivariable and multivariable statistical analysis of the clinical, laboratory, radiologic image, medical treatment, and clinical course of admission/quarantine/readmission data to develop an algorithm to predict patients at risk of recurrence of PCR positivity. RESULTS16.7% (95CI: 13.0%-20.3%) patients retest PCR positive 1 to 3 times after discharge, despite being in strict quarantine. The driving factors in the recurrence prediction model included: age, BMI; lowest levels of the blood laboratory tests during hospitalization for cholinesterase, fibrinogen, albumin, prealbumin, calcium, eGFR, creatinine; highest levels of the blood laboratory tests during hospitalization for total bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase; the first test results during hospitalization for partial pressure of oxygen, white blood cell and lymphocyte counts, blood procalcitonin; and the first test episodic Ct value and the lowest Ct value of the nasopharyngeal swab RT PCR results. Area under the ROC curve is 0.786. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThis case series provides clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients with recurrent PCR positivity, despite strict quarantine, at a 16.7% rate. Use of a recurrence prediction algorithm may identify patients at high risk of PCR retest positivity of SARS-CoV-2 and help modify COVID-19 case management and health policy approaches. Key PointsO_ST_ABSQuestionC_ST_ABSWhat are the characteristics, clinical presentations, and outcomes of COVID-19 patients with PCR retest positivity after resolution of the initial infection and consecutive negative tests? Can we identify recovered patients, prior to discharge, at risk of the recurrence of SARS-CoV-2 PCR positivity? FindingsIn this series of 414 COVID-19 inpatients discharged to a designated quarantine center, 69 retest positive (13 with 2 readmissions, and 3 with 3 readmissions). A multivariable model was developed to predict the risk of the recurrence of SARS-CoV-2 PCR positivity. MeaningRate and timing of the recurrence of PCR positivity following strict quarantine were characterized. Our prediction algorithm may have implications for COVID-19 clinical treatment, patient management, and health policy.

Alleviation of aortic vascular dysfunction in STZ/HFD-induced type 2 diabetic rats by nFGF1 / 中国病理生理杂志

AIM:To investigate the protective effect of non-mitogenic fibroblast growth factor 1 (nFGF1) on the aortic vascular function in streptozotocin (STZ)/high-fat diet (HFD)-induced type 2 diabetic rats and its underlying mechanisms. METHODS:Five-week-old male SD rats (n=30) were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=10 in each group),including normal control group,type 2 diabetic group and nFGF1 treatment group(type 2 diabetic rats were intra-peritoneally injected with 0.5 mg/kg nFGF1 every other day for 4 weeks). After the rats were sacrificed, blood glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride levels,aorta diastolic function and superoxide dismutase(SOD) level in the aorta of each group were measured. Besides,the protein levels of cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2),phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated ki-nase (p-ERK) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in the aorta were determined by Western blot. RESULTS:nFGF1 markedly lowered blood glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, enhanced aorta SOD activity and upregulated protein level of eNOS in the type 2 diabetic rats. Furthermore,the increased protein levels of COX-2 and p-ERK in the type 2 diabetic rats were largely abrogated by nFGF1. CONCLUSION:nFGF1 effectively attenuates aortic vascular dysfunction in the type 2 diabetic rats,which may be associated with decreasing blood glucose,cholesterol and triglyceride levels,re-ducing inflammation and oxidative stress response,and activating eNOS signaling pathway.

Efficacy of "tennis racket"-like flap with retrograde medial plantar on repairment of frontal plantar tissue defects / 中华医学美学美容杂志

Objective To explore the clinical experience and surgical method of the repairment of frontal plantar tissue defects by using "tennis racket"-like flap with the medial plantar retrograde,and to study the reliability in the clinical application of the medial plantar retrograde flap.Methods From June 2011 to June 2016,"tennis racket"-like flap with the medial plantar retrograde was used to repair the frontal plantar tissue defects in 10 cases.The cutting range of flap was from 3.5 cm × 2.0 cm to 8.0 cm x 4.0 cm in size;in all patients the donor area was covered by skin grafts.Results All flaps survived and wounds healed by first intention.In 10 patients the donor sites healed primarily with a straight scar,and the appearance and texture of the flaps were satisfactory.All patients were followed up from 6 to 24 months (mean 12 months).According to the Chinese foot function evaluation standard trial evaluation,the outcomes were excellent in 9 cases,good in 7 cases,and medium in 2 cases.Conclusions "Tennis racket"-like flap with the medial plantar retrograde is less anatomic variation with reliable blood supply,and sensory recovery is quick;the donor site is a small crater and cicatrial contractures are light;the cost is low.All patients are treated on one session and therefore it is an ideal method for the repairment of frontal plantar tissue defects.

[Effect of plant density on population yield and economic output value in maize-soybean intercropping].

The effects of plant density on population yield and economic output value in maize and soybean intercropping were studied with the design of the double saturated D-optimal regression. A mathematical model was developed, in which the densities of maize and soybean were independent variables, and population grain yield, dry matter accumulation and economic output value were dependent variables, respectively. The result showed that the plant density significantly affected the population grain yield, dry matter accumulation and economic output value, and the effects of density of maize on population indices were greater than those of density of soybean. Under the low level conditions of density, the population grain yield, dry matter accumulation and economic output value increased with the density of maize and soybean. The maximum population grain yield was 8101.31 kg · hm(-2) the optimized combination of 72023 plant maize · hm(-2) and 99924 plant soybean · hm(-2), while the maximum population dry matter accumulation was 15282.45 kg · hm(-2) with the optimized combination of 75000 plant maize · hm(-2) and 93372 plant soybean · hm(-2), and the maximum population economic output value was 23494.50 Yuan · hm(-2) with the optimized combination of 73758 plant maize · hm(-2) and 87597 plant soybean · hm(-2). The optimum combination of densities of maize and soybean calculated by computer were 58554-71547 plant · hm(-2) for maize and 82217-100303 plant · hm(-2) for soybean in order to obtain grain yield greater than 7500 kg · hm(-2), dry matter accumulation greater than 14250 kg · hm(-2) and economic output value greater 22500 yuan · hm(-2) under the condition of this experiment.

Femoral Condyles Tangential Views: An Effective Method to Detect the Screw Penetration of Femoral Condyles After Retrograde Nailing / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Postoperative knee soft tissue irritation is a common complication after retrograde nail fixation of femoral fractures. Distal locking screw prominence is one of the causes for soft tissue irritation. This study aimed to determine whether the use of the femoral condyles tangential views improve the diagnostic accuracy compared with anteroposterior (A-P) view in detecting distal locking screw penetrations during retrograde femoral nailing.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The angle between the sagittal plane and lateral aspect of the condyle and the angle between the sagittal plane and medial aspect of condyle were measured on computed tomography (CT) images. After the angles were measured and recorded, cadaveric femurs were used in a simulated surgical procedure. The retrograde femoral nail was inserted into the femur and placed distal locking screws, which were left 2, 4, and 6 mm proud of the medial and lateral condyles for each femur. A-P view, lateral condyle tangential view and medial condyle tangential view were obtained. All fluoroscopic images were recorded and sent to three observers blinded to the experimental procedure to determine whether screws penetrated the condyle cortex or not.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>According to the results of CT scan, the lateral condyle view was 20.88 ± 0.98° and the medial condyle view was 40.46 ± 3.14°. In the A-P view, we detected 0% at 2 mm penetration, 16.7% (lateral condyle screw) and 25.0% (medial condyle screw) at 4 mm, and 41.7% (lateral condyle screw) and 58.3% (medial condyle screw) at 6 mm. In the lateral tangential view, we detected 91.7% at 2 mm penetration of the lateral condyle and 100% at 4 mm and 6 mm. In the medial tangential view, we detected 66.7% at 2 mm penetration of the medial condyle and 100% at 4 mm and 6 mm. The femoral condyle tangential views provided significant improvement in detecting screw penetrations at all lengths (2, 4, and 6 mm) compared with the A-P view (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The femoral condyles tangential views increased the accuracy of detecting screw penetrations on the medial and lateral condyles. Routine clinical use of the femoral condyles tangential views has the potential to increase accuracy in detecting distal locking screw penetration during retrograde femoral nailing.</p>

Biomechanical Comparison of Two Kinds of Internal Fixation in a Type C Zone II Pelvic Fracture Model / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Unstable pelvic fractures are complex and serious injuries. Selection of a fixation method for these fractures remains a challenging problem for orthopedic surgeons. This study aimed to compare the stability of Tile C pelvic fractures fixed with two iliosacral (IS) screws and minimally invasive adjustable plate (MIAP) combined with one IS screw.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This study was a biomechanical experiment. Six embalmed specimens of the adult pelvis were used. The soft tissue was removed from the specimens, and the spines from the fourth lumbar vertebra to the proximal one-third of both femurs were retained. The pubic symphysis, bilateral sacroiliac joints and ligaments, bilateral hip joints, bilateral sacrotuberous ligaments, and bilateral sacrospinous ligaments were intact. Tile C pelvic fractures were made on the specimens. The symphysis pubis was fixed with a plate, and the fracture on the posterior pelvic ring was fixed with two kinds of internal fixation in turn. The specimens were placed in a biomechanical machine at a standing neutral posture. A cyclic vertical load of up to 500 N was applied, and displacement was recorded. Shifts in the fracture gap were measured by a grating displacement sensor.</p><p><b>STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED</b>Paired-samples t-test.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Under the vertical load of 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 N, the average displacement of the specimens fixed with MIAP combined with one IS screw was 0.46, 0.735, 1.377, 1.823, and 2.215 mm, respectively, which was significantly lower than that of specimens fixed with two IS screws under corresponding load (P < 0.05). Under the vertical load of 500 N, the shift in the fracture gap of specimens fixed with MIAP combined with one IS screw was 0.261 ± 0.095 mm, and that of specimens fixed with two IS screws was 0.809 ± 0.170 mm. The difference was significant (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The stability of Tile C pelvic fractures fixed with MIAP combined with one IS screw was better than that fixed with two IS screws.</p>

Four pins assisted reduction of complex segmental femoral fractures: a technique for closed reduction / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

Complex segmental femoral fractures are usually not amenable to closed reduction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a series of patients who had undergone four pins assisted reduction and intramedullary nail fixation to determine the therapeutic effect of this closed reduction technique. Between December 2010 and January 2013, 15 consecutive patients with segmental femoral fractures were treated with four pins assisted reduction at our hospital. The patient was placed in a supine position on a radiolucent fracture table and a gentle traction was attempted on the limb. Usually, the proximal fracture segment exhibited the typical deformity of flexion, external rotation, and abduction, the middle segment exhibited adduction and distal fracture segment exhibited flexion. Four Schanz pins were placed percutaneously to fix one cortex and did not penetrate into the medullary cavity, and the "T" sharp handles were fixed on the Schanz pins. The fragments were then reduced by reversing the deforming forces for segmental fractures by two assistants. And then, the reduction could be easily achieved and intramedullary nail fixation was performed. Radiographs were evaluated for the quality of the reduction and fracture union. Closed reduction was achieved in all patients using the four pins technology. All 15 fractures united uneventfully. No patient had a rotational malunion or limb length discrepancy at the time of the last follow-up. Thirteen of the fifteen (86.7%) patients had anatomic reduction and two of them (13.3%) had minor varus alignment of 3° and 5°. Knee stiffness was observed in 2 patients and no implant failure was observed. Surgical treatment of complex segmental femoral fractures with four pins assisted reduction and intramedullary nail fixation techniques can result in excellent reductions and a high union rate.

Four pins assisted reduction of complex segmental femoral fractures: a technique for closed reduction / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

Complex segmental femoral fractures are usually not amenable to closed reduction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a series of patients who had undergone four pins assisted reduction and intramedullary nail fixation to determine the therapeutic effect of this closed reduction technique. Between December 2010 and January 2013, 15 consecutive patients with segmental femoral fractures were treated with four pins assisted reduction at our hospital. The patient was placed in a supine position on a radiolucent fracture table and a gentle traction was attempted on the limb. Usually, the proximal fracture segment exhibited the typical deformity of flexion, external rotation, and abduction, the middle segment exhibited adduction and distal fracture segment exhibited flexion. Four Schanz pins were placed percutaneously to fix one cortex and did not penetrate into the medullary cavity, and the "T" sharp handles were fixed on the Schanz pins. The fragments were then reduced by reversing the deforming forces for segmental fractures by two assistants. And then, the reduction could be easily achieved and intramedullary nail fixation was performed. Radiographs were evaluated for the quality of the reduction and fracture union. Closed reduction was achieved in all patients using the four pins technology. All 15 fractures united uneventfully. No patient had a rotational malunion or limb length discrepancy at the time of the last follow-up. Thirteen of the fifteen (86.7%) patients had anatomic reduction and two of them (13.3%) had minor varus alignment of 3° and 5°. Knee stiffness was observed in 2 patients and no implant failure was observed. Surgical treatment of complex segmental femoral fractures with four pins assisted reduction and intramedullary nail fixation techniques can result in excellent reductions and a high union rate.

Influence of the peri-implantitis to the microscrew-bone interface / 华西口腔医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the histological change of microscrew-bone interface, detect the relative cytokine of gingival crevicular fluid, and explore the impossible mechanism of peri-implantitis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Four male Beagles were collected. Randomly select one side of animals jaw as the experimental group to induce the peri-implantitis, and another side as the control group. Four microscrews were implanted on each side. In the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th weeks after implantation, collect peri-implant sulcular fluid (PISF) and detect tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) levels before sacrificed, and the harvest tissue were observed in histological ways.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>According to the extension of time after implantation, the experimental group showed visible progress of interface destruction: 1st week after implantation showed large numbers inflammatory cells collected at the neck but did not undermine the cortical bone; 2nd week after implantation, cortical bone were observed angular absorption; Bone resorption continued to develop and at the 4th week, bone resorption were enlarged to the second thread of microscrew and the interface was filled with a large number of collagen fibers.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The destruction of interface began at the neck of microscrew, and the further development was along the interface in depth. Both microscrews with peri-implantitis and the healthy controls showed the presence of TNF-alpha. Inflammation accumulation might trigger the up-regulation of TNF-alpha level, and the onset of inflammation would enhance the up-trend.</p>

An ensemble classifier of support vector machines used to predict protein structural classes by fusing auto covariance and pseudo-amino acid composition.

The purpose of this article is to identify protein structural classes by using support vector machine (SVM) ensemble classifier, which is very efficient in enhancing prediction performance. Firstly, auto covariance (AC) and pseudo-amino acid composition (PseAAC) were used in protein representation. AC focuses on adjacent effects and PseAA composition takes sequence order patterns into account. Secondly, SVMs were trained on the datasets represented by different descriptors. The last, ensemble classifier, which constructed on the individual classifiers through a voting strategy, gave the final prediction results. Meanwhile, very promising prediction accuracy 93.14% was obtained by Jackknife test. The experimental results showed that the ensemble system can improve the prediction performance greatly and generate more stable and safer predictors. The current method featured by fusing the protein primary sequence information transferred by AC and described by protein PseAA composition may play an important complementary role in other related applications.

The effects of the autologous venous external stents on intimal hyperplasia of the vein grafts in rabbits / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To assess the effect of the autologous venous external stents on intimal hyperplasia of the vein grafts in rabbits.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty-six male New Zealand white rabbits, aged 5 months and weighing 2.8 to 3.0 kg, were randomly divided into 3 groups: group A, group B and group C, with 12 rabbits in each group. First, a section about 6 cm long of vein was cut from the right external jugular vein of each rabbit and severed to have 3 equal-length segments. Next, each distal segment prepared for anastomosis. The proximal segment invaginating middle segment in group A and only middle segment in group B were used for the external stent. Later, the left common carotid artery was separated from surrounding tissue, from it a section about 0.5 cm long was cut away. Finally, the vein graft was inverted and end-to-end anastomosed to the two ends of the artery with a 9-0 suture. After bloodstream re-established, the diameter of each vein graft was measured. At 2 and 4 weeks postoperative, the graft veins were cut off and histologically examined by the means of HE staining and Masson staining. The smooth muscle cells (SMC) proliferation was studied by the immunohistochemical detection of proliferating cell nuclear antigen.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After bloodstream re-established, the diameters of vein graft of group A and group B and group C were (1.6 +/- 0.3) mm, (2.2 +/- 0.4) mm and (2.6 +/- 0.6) mm respectively (P < 0.05). At 4 weeks postoperative, the data of the ratio of intima to media thickness and the index of the proliferating cells of the intima were as follow: group A (1.01 +/- 0.07 and 6.84 +/- 1.98), group B (1.32 +/- 0.08 and 11.01 +/- 2.61), group C (1.55 +/- 0.03 and 14.96 +/- 4.14). Both the data of group A were obviously less than that in group B, and that of group B was less than group C (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The autologous venous two-layer external stents inhibit intimal hyperplasia of the vein grafts.</p>

Using the augmented Chou's pseudo amino acid composition for predicting protein submitochondria locations based on auto covariance approach.

The submitochondria location of a mitochondrial protein is very important for further understanding the structure and function of this protein. Hence, it is of great practical significance to develop an automated and reliable method for timely identifying the submitochondria locations of novel mitochondrial proteins. In this study, a sequence-based algorithm combining the augmented Chou's pseudo amino acid composition (Chou's PseAA) based on auto covariance (AC) is developed to predict protein submitochondria locations and membrane protein types in mitochondria inner membrane. The model fully considers the sequence-order effects between residues a certain distance apart in the sequence by AC combined with eight representative descriptors for both common proteins and membrane proteins. As a result of jackknife cross-validation tests, the method for submitochondria location prediction yields the accuracies of 91.8%, 96.4% and 66.1% for inner membrane, matrix, and outer membrane, respectively. The total accuracy is 89.7%. When predicting membrane protein types in mitochondria inner membrane, the method achieves the prediction performance with the accuracies of 98.4%, 64.3% and 86.7% for multi-pass inner membrane, single-pass inner membrane, and matrix side inner membrane, where the total accuracy is 93.6%. The overall performance of our method is better than the achievements of the previous studies. So our method can be an effective supplementary tool for future proteomics studies. The prediction software and all data sets used in this article are freely available at http://chemlab.scu.edu.cn/Predict_subMITO/index.htm.

Two multi-classification strategies used on SVM to predict protein structural classes by using auto covariance.

Machine learning methods play the very important role in protein secondary structure prediction and other related works. On condition of a certain approach, the prediction qualities mostly depend on the ways of representing protein sequences into numeric features. In this paper, two Support Vector Machine (SVM) multi-classification strategies, "one-against-one" (1-a-1) and "one-against-all" (1-a-a), were used in protein structural classes identification. Auto covariance (AC), which transforms the physicochemical properties of the amino acids of the proteins into a data matrix, focuses on the neighboring effects and the interactions between residues in protein sequences. "1-a-1" approach was used on SVM to predict protein structural classes and obtained very promising overall accuracy 90.69% by Jackknife test. It was more than 10% higher than the accuracy obtained by using "1-a-a". Experimental results led to the finding that the SVM predictor constructed by "1-a-1" can avoid the appearance of biased prediction accuracy. This current method, using the protein primary sequence information described by auto covariance (AC) and "1-a-1" approach on SVM, should play an important complementary role in other related applications.

Clinical observation on the different treatments targeted at different types of radial head fracture and radial neck fracture / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To assess the effect of the different treatments targeted at different types of radial head fracture and radial neck fracture.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A retrospective study was performed in 87 patients from February 2006 to March 2007. Fifty-four patients with radial head fractures included 36 males and 18 females, aged from 18 to 65 years (the average age was 33); Forty of them resulted from crashing, 8 from traffic injury and 6 from falling injury. According to Mason classification system, there were 15 type I, 23 type II and 16 type III. Thirty-three patients with radial neck fractures included 21 males and 12 females, aged from 9 to 17 years (the average age was 13), 29 of them resulted from crashing, 1 from traffic injury and 3 from falling injury. According to O'Brien classification system, there were 8 type I, 14 type II and 11 type III. Type I of radial head fractures and radial neck fractures were immobilization with cast, the patients with type II of radial head fractures were treated with open reduction and micro-screw or T-trapezoid and bridge-shaped plate fixation and type III had operations to fix with bridge-shaped locked plate and repair the broken annular ligament, or replace heads with prosthesis. All patients with type II and type III of radial neck fractures were treated with closed reduction by leverage and percutaneous intra-medullary nailing.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The patients were followed up for 4-12 months (mean 7.2 months). The functional recovery degrees were evaluated with Wheeler's evaluation system. In group of radial head fractures, the results were excellent in 26 patients, good in 20, fair in 6 and poor in 2, the excellent and good rate was 85.2%. In group of radial neck fractures, the results were excellent in 20 patients, good in 9, fair in 4 and poor in no patient, and the excellent and good rate was 87.9%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Different types of fractures should choose different surgical methods according to their characters. The excellent functional recovery depend on anatomical reduction, retaining the head of radius, early repairing and protecting the broken annular ligament of radius, and early functional training.</p>

Experimental observation of synchronous competition in the Chua system.

We present experimental results for two different sinusoidal functions competing to phase synchronize a Chua oscillator. Our approach involves real-time observation of the synchronization process. It shows that depending on the amplitude and frequency values of the two sinusoidal functions, the Chua oscillator can stay phase synchronized to one or the other of the inputs all the time or can alternate synchronous states between them. Numerical simulations show good agreement with the experimental observations.

Multifocal VEP in patients with optic nerve disease / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

· AIM:To determine whether the multifocal visual evoked potential (mfVEP) can be used as a clinical method to assess the patients with optic nerve disease.· METHODS: Fifteen patients with optic nerve disease were examined in this study. All patients underwent visual acuity examination, slit-lamp inspection, ophthalmoscopy, Goldmann perimeter, fundus fiuorescein angiography, visual field and mfVEP. Although these patients with unilateral optic nerve damage,data from both eyes were included in the analysis.· RESULTS:In all patients the visual fields defect was demonstrated on the mfVEP and showed good correspondence in location of the scotoma. However, we also found some slight difference between visual field and mfVEP. In some locations, when the local visual fields were normal, mfVEP showed that its amplitude reduced. In reverse, when the local mfVEP seemed normal, visual field showed abnormity.· CONCLUSION:Multifocal visual evoked potential could be used as a clinical diagnosis option in patients with optic nerve disease. Local monocular damage to the optic nerve can be measured by an interocular comparison of the mfVEP.

[Loss of fragile histidine triad expression and metastasis in breast cancer].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Fragile histidine triad(FHIT), a tumor suppressor candidate gene, encompasses FRA3B, a common region with the highest fragility in the human genome, and is altered in a large number of human cancers, particularly those of epithelial cell origin and associated with known carcinogenic agents. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of FHIT protein, Fhit and the possible relationship between Fhit expression and clinicopathological indices in breast cancer. METHODS: Fhit protein expression in 66 cases of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded breast cancer composed of 6 in situ and 60 invasive ductal carcinoma were detected with citrate-microwave-Streptavidin-HRP(SP) immunohistochemical method, using rabbit antibody to human FHIT gene protein and relationships to invasion and lymphatic metastasis were analyzed. RESULTS: Thirty-eight (57.6%) cases of carcinomas showed a marked loss or absence of Fhit expression compared with the adjacent non-cancerous breast tissues, in which 22 cases were negative. The remain 18 (27.3%) showed stronger than, and 10 (15.2%) equal to the Fhit expression of the adjacent non-cancerous tissue. The lower expression of Fhit was found in 20/24(83.3%) cases with local or axillary lymphatic metastasis, and in 18/36 (50%) cases without metastasis in the invasive ductal carcinoma. Fhit expression was determined in all 6 cases of in situ ductal carcinoma did not show lower than non-cancerous tissue. There was a significant difference in the expression of Fhit between the breast cancers with and without lymphatic metastasis, both in ductal carcinoma (P < 0.01) and in invasive ductal carcinoma(P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The expression of Fhit is associated with invasion and metastasis of tumor in breast cancer. It is suggested that decreased Fhit expression may play an important role in the development and progression of the tumor, and thus may become a new prognostic marker for breast cancer.