ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the imaging features of intestinal schwannoma(IS)in order to improve the diagnostic ability of the disease.Methods The clinical and imaging data of 14 patients with surgically and pathologically confirmed IS were retrospectively analyzed,including the location,size,morphology,nature,growth pattern,CT density,MRI signal,PET/CT metabolism and other characteristics of the tumors.Results Of the 14 IS cases,the lesions of 3 cases were located in the duodenum,2 cases in the cecum,8 cases in the colon and 1 case in the rectum.The lesions were all round or oval,with an average maximum diameter of(2.4±1.1)cm.The lesions were solid in 13 cases,extraluminal growth in 10 cases,cystic degeneration in 1 case and myxoid degeneration in 1 case.Chronic inflammatory lymph nodes were seen around the diseased intestines in 9 cases,and the short diameter of lymph nodes was greater than 5 mm in 6 cases.All 14 cases of IS showed low attenuation on plain CT scan,and progressive enhancement after contrast injection,including 1 case of mild enhancement,2 cases of moderate enhancement,and 11 cases of obvious enhancement.Two cases of IS showed low signal intensity on T1WI,slightly high signal intensity on T2WI,significantly high signal intensity on DWI,and obvious progressive enhancement after contrast injection on MRI.Two cases of IS showed high metabolism on 18F-FDG-PET/CT,and the SUVmax was 9.4 and 8.8,respectively.Conclusion The imaging findings of IS were characteristic to a certain extent.They mainly manifested as solid nodules or masses derived from the intestinal submucosa,with uniform attenuation or signal intensity,obvious progressive enhancement after contrast injection,obvious hypermetabolism on 18F-FDG-PET/CT,and slightly larger homogeneous lymph nodes were common around the lesions.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the phosphorylation and protein expression of extracellular-signal regulated protein kinase (ERK) and P38 mitogen activated protein kinase (P38 MAPK) in the ejaculated spermatozoa of healthy volunteers and asthenospermia males, and to explore the correlation of ERK and P38 MAPK with human sperm motility.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Semen samples were collected from 20 healthy volunteers (sperm concentration > or = 20 x 10(6)/ml, grade a sperm > or = 25% or grade a + b sperm > or = 50%) and 20 infertile males with asthenospermia (sperm concentration > or = 20 x 10(6)/ml, grade a sperm < 25% and grade a + b sperm < or = 40%) and classified as a control and an asthenospermia group. Total protein in spermatozoa was extracted from all the subjects, and Western blotting was used to detect phosphorylation and protein expression levels of ERK and P38 MAPK.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the control group, the protein expression levels of ERK and P38 MAPK and the phosphorylation level of P38 MAPK were significantly increased in the asthenospermia group (P < 0.05), but there were no statistically significant differences in the phosphorylation level of ERK between the two groups (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The up-regulated protein expressions of ERK and P38MAPK and increased phosphorylation level of P38 MAPK in human sperm may be involved in the pathogenesis of asthenospermia.</p>