Prediction of pathological activity in Crohn's disease based on dual-energy CT enterography.

PURPOSE: To explore the feasibility of predicting the pathological activity of Crohn's disease (CD) based on dual-energy CT enterography (DECTE). METHODS: The clinical, endoscopic, imaging and pathological data of 55 patients with CD scanned by DECTE were retrospectively analyzed; the pathological results were used as a reference standard to classify the diseased bowel segments into active and inactive phases. The normalized iodine concentration (NIC), energy-spectrum curve slope K, dual energy index (DEI), fat fraction (FF) of the arterial phases and venous phases were compared. To assess the parameters' predictive ability, receiver-operating characteristic curves were used. The Delong test was used to compare the differences between the diagnostic efficiency of each parameter. RESULTS: A total of 84 intestinal segments were included in the study, including 54 active intestinal segments and 30 inactive intestinal segments. The NIC, energy-spectrum curve slope K and DEI were significantly different between active and inactive bowel segments in the arterial and venous phases (P < 0.05), while FF were not significantly different (P > 0.05). The largest area under the curve (AUC) of NIC, energy-spectrum curve slope K and DEI were higher in arterial phase than in venous phase. For identifying the intestinal activity of CD, the maximum AUC of NIC in arterial phase was 0.908, with a sensitivity of 0.833 and a specificity of 0.800, and the DEI in arterial phase had the highest sensitivity (0.944). CONCLUSION: The NIC, energy-spectrum curve slope K and DEI can effectively distinguish the active and inactive phases of the intestinal segments of CD patients and provide good assistance for determining further treatment.

Social functioning characteristics of children with co occurrence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To explore the social functioning characteristics of children with co ocurrence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) for intervention reference.@*Methods@#The Chinese Version of Swanson Nolan and Pelham, Version IV Scale-Parent Form(SNAP-IV), the Chinese Version of Weiss Functional Impairment Scale-Parent(WFIRS-P), and the Questionnaire-Children with Difficulties (QCD) were applied to 192 children with ADHD, 243 children with co occurrence of ADHD and ODD, who firstly visited the Department of Children Psychological Health of Zhuhai Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, and 118 healthy control children from a school in Zhuhai.@*Results@#The scores of attention deficit factor in SNAP-Ⅳ scale of children in three groups were[1.9(1.7, 2.1), 1.8(1.6, 1.9), 1.0(0.6, 1.2)], the scores of hyperactive impulsivity were[1.8(1.4, 2.1), 1.6(1.1, 1.8), 0.7(0.2, 1.0)] the scores of oppositional defiant were[1.6(1.5, 1.9), 1.0(0.8,1.1), 0.8(0.5, 1.0)], the differences were statistically significant( H=268.44, 237.97, 418.66, P <0.01). The dimensions and total scores of the three groups of children s WFIRS-P scale were family[0.8(0.6, 1.1), 0.6(0.3, 0.8), 0.3(0.1, 0.6)]; learning and school[0.8(0.5, 1.1), 0.8(0.5, 1.0), 0.3(0.1, 0.5)]; life skills[1.0(0.7, 1.2), 0.8(0.6, 1.0), 0.6(0.4, 0.8)]; self management [1.0(0.3, 1.0), 0.7(0.3, 1.0), 0.3(0.0, 0.7)]; social activities [0.7(0.4, 1.0), 0.6(0.3, 0.9), 0.3(0.0, 0.4 )]; adventure activities[0.3(0.2, 0.5), 0.2(0.1, 0.4), 0.1(0.0, 0.2)]; the total score[0.8(0.6, 1.0), 0.6(0.5, 0.8), 0.4( 0.2 , 0.6)], the difference between the groups was statistically significant( H=108.82, 122.45, 60.17, 40.58, 96.17, 76.57, 138.30, P <0.01). The difference between the QCD scale scores of children in the three groups was statistically significant[30.0( 24.0 , 37.0), 32.0(27.0, 40.0), 47.0(37.0, 52.3), H=124.65, P <0.01). Multiple regression analysis showed that attention deficit, and oppositional defiant symptoms were associated with both the total WFIRS-P score and the QCD score of children( R 2= 0.40 , 0.25, P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#Children with co occurrence of ADHD and ODD have more severe deficits in all dimensions of social functioning than children with ADHD, which might be associated with attention deficit and oppositional defiant symptoms.

Clinical application of Chinese Nanjing persistent vegetative state scale.

BACKGROUND: It is a challenge to characterize the consciousness level of patients with severe disturbance of consciousness and predict their prognosis effectively for Chinese doctors. We aimed to investigate the psychometric property and the diagnostic practicality of severe disturbance of consciousness by Chinese Nanjing persistent vegetative state scale (CNPVSS) which was first set up in 1996 and modified in 2001 and 2011. METHODS: The concurrent validity, inter-rater consistency and diagnostic accuracy of CNPVSS and Chinese version of coma recovery scale-revised (CRS-R) were investigated by assessment of 380 patients with severe disorders of consciousness. RESULTS: Total scores of the CNPVSS were correlated significantly with that of the CRS-R, indicating acceptable concurrent validity. Sub-scale analysis showed moderate to high inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability. CNPVSS was superior to CRS-R on the diagnosis sensitivity. The CNPVSS was able to distinguish 65 patients in emergence from minimal consciousness state who were misclassified as in minimal consciousness state (MCS) by the CRS-R, and it could also distinguish two patients in MCS who were misclassified as in vegetative state by the CRS-R. CONCLUSION: The CNPVSS is an appropriate measurement and is sensitive to distinguish the MCS patients from the VS patients.

Mapping brain injury with symmetrical-channels' EEG signal analysis--a pilot study.

A technique for detecting brain injury at the bedside has great clinical value, but conventional imaging techniques (such as computed tomography [CT] and magnetic resonance imaging) are impractical. In this study, a novel method-the symmetrical channel electroencephalogram (EEG) signal analysis-was developed for this purpose. The study population consisted of 45 traumatic brain injury patients and 10 healthy controls. EEG signals in resting and stimulus states were acquired, and approximate entropy (ApEn) and slow-wave coefficient were extracted to calculate the ratio values of ApEn and SWC for injured and uninjured areas. Statistical analyses showed that the ratio values for both ApEn and SWC between injured and uninjured brain areas differed significantly (P<0.05) for both resting and name call stimulus states. A set of criteria (range of ratio values) to determine whether a brain area is injured or uninjured was proposed and its reliability was verified by statistical analyses and CT images.

Heme activates TLR4-mediated inflammatory injury via MyD88/TRIF signaling pathway in intracerebral hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory injury plays a critical role in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH)-induced neurological deficits; however, the signaling pathways are not apparent by which the upstream cellular events trigger innate immune and inflammatory responses that contribute to neurological impairments. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) plays a role in inflammatory damage caused by brain disorders. METHODS: In this study, we investigate the role of TLR4 signaling in ICH-induced inflammation. In the ICH model, a significant upregulation of TLR4 expression in reactive microglia has been demonstrated using real-time RT-PCR. Activation of microglia was detected by immunohistochemistry, cytokines were measured by ELISA, MyD88, TRIF and NF-κB were measured by Western blot and EMSA, animal behavior was evaluated by animal behavioristics. RESULTS: Compared to WT mice, TLR4(-/-) mice had restrained ICH-induced brain damage showing in reduced cerebral edema and lower neurological deficit scores. Quantification of cytokines including IL-6, TNF-α and IL-1ß and assessment of macrophage infiltration in perihematoma tissues from TLR4(-/-), MyD88(-/-) and TRIF(-/-) mice showed attenuated inflammatory damage after ICH. TLR4(-/-) mice also exhibited reduced MyD88 and TRIF expression which was accompanied by decreased NF-κB activity. This suggests that after ICH both MyD88 and TRIF pathways might be involved in TLR4-mediated inflammatory injury possibly via NF-κB activation. Exogenous hemin administration significantly increased TLR4 expression and microglial activation in cultures and also exacerbated brain injury in WT mice but not in TLR4(-/-) mice. Anti-TLR4 antibody administration suppressed hemin-induced microglial activation in cultures and in the mice model of ICH. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that heme potentiates microglial activation via TLR4, in turn inducing NF-κB activation via the MyD88/TRIF signaling pathway, and ultimately increasing cytokine expression and inflammatory injury in ICH. Targeting TLR4 signaling may be a promising therapeutic strategy for ICH.

Erratum: 4-[(Z)-(2-Fur-yl)(2-naphthyl-amino)methyl-ene)]-3-methyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-5(4H)-one. Corrigendum.

The title of the paper by Li, Li, Li, Zhang & Li [Acta Cryst. (2009), E65, o1824] is corrected.[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1107/S1600536809025586.].

4-[(Z)-(2-Fur-yl)(2-naphthyl-amino)methyl-ene)]-3-methyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-5(4H)-one.

The title compound, C(25)H(19)N(3)O(2), crystallizes as discrete mol-ecules which are well ordered through one intra-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bond. Structural analysis indicates that the mol-ecules exist as the amine-one form.

[Studies of the relationship between the breeding efficiency of anther culture and the use of different hybrid generations as anther-donor plants in wheat].

The wheat haploid plantlets from anther culture were of theoretical and applied interest. Induced haploid spirophytes may play a key role, not only in increasing the efficiency of breeding programs by producing pure lines rapidly, but also in the elucidation of fundamental genetics. However large number of experiments turned out that there are many problems with low rate of green plantlet from anther culture, difficulties of saving plantlets though summer, low rate of double chromosome, extrusive contradiction between technique of wheat anther culture and variety improvement. So wheat anther culture has not played a role in wheat breeding. Studies were carried out on the relationship between the breeding efficiency of anther culture and the use of different hybrid generations as anther-donor plants in wheat. It was shown that previously the low breeding efficiency of anther culture in wheat cross breeding was mainly due to the use of F1 as anther donors. Experimental results demonstrated that the breeding efficiency of anther culture in F1 generation was very low, especially when the doubled haploid population was very small. Based on the experimental results as well as the theoretical analysis this paper proposes that the use of F2 or F3 (especially F3) as anther donors in combination with the conventional selection in the fields will increase the breeding efficiency of anther culture. Under the guidance of this proposal two wheat varieties have been developed within 5-7 years through anther culture.