Expression of CD63 in Lung Tissue of Guinea Pigs Dying of Anaphylactic Shock.

ABSTRACT: Objective To study the protein expression of cluster of differentiation 63 （CD63） in lung tissues of guinea pigs that died of anaphylactic shock and discuss the diagnostic value of CD63 for death from anaphylactic shock. Methods Twenty guinea pigs were randomly divided into control group, anaphylactic shock immediate death group, cold storage group （4 ℃ for 48 h） and frozen group （-20 ℃ for 7 d）. The animal model of guinea pigs that died of anaphylactic shock was established with human mixed serum injection. The expression changes of CD63 protein and CD63 mRNA in lung tissues were detected by hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining, immunohistochemical staining, Western blotting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） and real-time RT-PCR. Results HE staining results showed congestion, and edema of lung tissues, and eosinophil infiltration in the anaphylactic shock groups. Western blotting analysis results showed that the expression of CD63 protein in the lung tissues of guinea pigs that died of anaphylactic shock was significantly higher than that in the control group （P<0.05）. Comparison between the anaphylactic shock groups was made, and the differences had no statistical significance. The results of immunohistochemical staining and real-time RT-PCR were consistent with that of Western blotting. ELISA results showed that CD63 protein expression in the immediate death group was higher than that in the control group （P<0.05）. Conclusion The expression of CD63 protein and CD63 mRNA in the lung tissues of guinea pigs that died of anaphylactic shock is significantly enhanced. Animal carcasses which were put in cold storage for 48 h and frozen for 7 d do not affect the examination of the above indicators. CD63 protein is expected to become an auxiliary diagnostic indicator of death from anaphylactic shock.

[Application of Ischemia Modified Albumin for Acute Ischemic Heart Disease in Forensic Science].

OBJECTIVES: To explore the application value and forensic significance of ischemia modified albumin （IMA） in pericardial fluid to diagnose sudden cardiac death. METHODS: IMA level in pericardial fluid was detected in acute ischemic heart disease group （n=36）, acute myocardial infarction group （n=6）, cardiomyopathy group （n=4） and control group （n=15） by albumin cobalt binding method. The levels of IMA were compared among these groups. The best cut-off IMA value was estimated and the sensitivity and specificity of acute myocardial ischemia group was distinguished from control group by receiver operating characteristics （ROC） curve. RESULTS: The IMA level in acute ischemic heart disease group was significantly higher than that of control group （P<0.05）. Compared with acute myocardial infarction group and cardiomyopathy group, the IMA level in acute ischemic heart disease group had no significant difference （P>0.05）. The cut-off value for the identification of acute myocardial ischemia which obtained by ROC analysis was 40.65 U/mL. And the sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing acute ischemia cardiac disease was 60.0% and 80.5%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The IMA value in pericardial fluid can be a reference marker for the diagnosis of acute myocardial ischemia, which also can provide objective basis for the forensic identification of sudden cardiac death.

An fMRI study with written Chinese.

Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (ER-fMRI) was used to investigate how the human brain processes phonology and transforms a word's visual form (orthography) into phonological form during reading in logographic Chinese, a writing system that differs markedly from alphabetic languages. We found that reading aloud of irregular words produced larger MR signal intensity changes over extensive regions involving left infero-middle frontal cortex, left motor cortex, right infero-frontal gyri, bilateral anterior superior temporal areas, and anterior cingulate cortex. Right superior parietal lobule, the cuneus in bilateral visual cortex, and thalamus participated in the processing of irregular, but not regular, words. These findings were discussed in comparison to neuroimaging findings from alphabetic languages, as well as in relation to models of reading.

Neural correlates of response inhibition for behavioral regulation in humans assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging.

To identify the specific frontal and cingulate regions involved in response inhibition, five Chinese right-handed male volunteers with an attention span reaching or exceeding a 7-digit level participated in this blocked design functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Each block represented one of the two experimental conditions, the Correct Matching or the Incorrect Matching condition. In the Correct Matching condition, the subjects were required to make correct judgement of whether the two 3-digit numbers presented in succession were the same or not; whereas in the Incorrect Matching condition, the participants were instructed to inhibit the correct responses. Bilateral activations of the prefrontal and anterior cingulate as well as the left posterior cingulated cortex were observed while the subjects were exercising response inhibition. The roles of these activations in response inhibition were discussed.

Cerebral hemodynamic response in Chinese (first) and English (second) language processing revealed by event-related functional MRI.

Comparative functional neuroimaging studies using the block design paradigm have previously demonstrated that there are no significant differences in the location of areas of cerebral activation when native Chinese speakers independently process single words or sentences in both the Chinese (first) and English (second) languages. While it has also been documented that significant domains of brain response include the inferior to middle left frontal lobe, the latency, amplitude and duration of the associated hemodynamic changes during isolated neural processing of Chinese and English languages still remain unknown. The aim of this study, therefore, was to examine the characteristics of the hemodynamic alterations in the above-mentioned regions with event-related functional MRI (ER-fMRI) when native Chinese speakers performed verb generation tasks in both the Chinese (first) and English (second) languages. Our results demonstrate the presence of a similar neural activity-induced hemodynamic response in the inferior to middle left frontal lobe during both tasks. Further, there were also no statistically significant differences among the variables that described the hemodynamic response curves. These findings strongly imply that the underlying neural mechanism for Chinese (first) and English (second) language processing may be similar in native Chinese speakers.

[The causes of blindness by corneal diseases in 3,499 cases].

The chief causes of corneal blindness was found to be corneal inflammatory diseases and injury in 83.4% of the 3,499 cases (3,993 eyes) of corneal blindness that presented themselves during 1983-1985 at the authors' hospital. The important diseases in order of frequency were herpes simplex keratitis (42.8%), bacterial keratitis (17.4%), corneal injuries (15.7%), keratomalacia (10.0%), and trachoma (3.8%). Patients of the latter two diseases were mostly old cases. The authors discussed the incidence of corneal diseases and their prevention and treatment.

[Factors of graft failure after chemical corneal injury].

83 cases (97 eyes) of keratoplasty after chemical corneal injury were followed up for a mean 14 months with the results that 21 (21.6%) grafts were transparent and 76 (78.4%) opaque or semitransparent. The success rate depended on the severity of the chemical injury; it was 87.5% for type A corneal scarring and 15.7% for type B. The causes of graft failure were postoperative epithelial erosion (70.7%) and corneal rejection (28.0%). Most patients with epithelial erosion had problems of insufficient tear secretion and tear-film defects. The prevention and management of graft failure were discussed.

[Penetrating keratoplasty in the treatment of corneal perforation].

166 patients of corneal perforation from HSK, suppurative corneal ulcer and chemical or thermal burn were treated by penetrating keratoplasty. In the group of HSK, 69.8% of the grafts remained transparent and vision was restored to 0.05-1.0 in 81 cases (69.8); in the group of suppurative corneal ulcer, 40% of the grafts were transparent and vision was restored to 0.05 or better in 15 cases (37.5%); while in the group of burns, the grafts were clear only in 20% and vision was 0.05-0.6 in 3 cases (30%). The complications and causes for failure were similar to those in patients without perforation. These results indicate that timely penetrating keratoplasty is recommendable for the treatment of corneal perforations of various etiology.

Anomalous compression behavior in lanthanum/cerium-based metallic glass under high pressure.

In situ high-pressure x-ray diffraction, low-temperature resistivity, and magnetization experiments were performed on a La(32)Ce(32)Al(16)Ni(5)Cu(15) bulk metallic glass (BMG). A sudden change in compressibility at approximately 14 GPa and a rapid increase of resistivity at approximately 12 K were detected, whereas magnetic phase transformation and magnetic field dependence of the low-temperature resistivity do not occur at temperatures down to 4.2 K. An interaction between conduction electrons and the two-level systems is suggested to explain the temperature and field dependences of resistivity of the BMG alloy. Although the cause of the unusual change in compressibility at approximately 14 GPa is not clear, we believe that it could be linked with the unique electron structure of cerium in the amorphous matrix. An electronic phase transition in BMG alloys, most likely a second-order amorphous-to-amorphous phase transition, is suggested.

[Infections in the early postoperative period following keratoplasty--a report of seven cases].

Keratoplasty was performed on 3482 eyes from 1965 to 1986 in our hospital. Five eyes (0.14%) were infected in the early postoperative period. Two eyes had endophthalmitis. These seven eyes were operated on again and with local and systemic antibiotics treated as well. Followed up for 36 days to 7 years, six eyes remained safe (5 eyes transparent and 1 eye semi-transparent.) The visual acuity reached 0.3 in two eyes, 0.2 in one eye and finger counting to 0.1 in three eyes. The seventh eye was enucleated because of serious infection. Several factors of infection in the early postoperative period following keratoplasty, causative organisms, the relations between the types of operation in the early postoperative period following keratoplasty were also discussed.

Comparison of the experimental BOLD signal change in event-related fMRI with the balloon model.

Event-related functional MRI (ER-fMRI) based on both blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrast and cerebral blood flow (CBF) contrast has been developed to study the human brain response to transient stimulation. A balloon model has been developed and used in understanding the relationship between changes in CBF and in the BOLD signal in block-designed fMRI. In this report, the balloon model was used to interpret experimental event-related fMRI. Using experimental data acquired from CBF-based ER-fMRI as an input function in the balloon model, simulated BOLD signal changes were obtained. The simulated time course of the BOLD signal changes was directly compared with the experimentally acquired data. A chi-square (chi(2)) test showed excellent correlation between the simulated and experimental data (alpha

Noninvasive glucose monitoring in vivo with an optical heterodyne polarimeter.

An amplitude-sensitive optical heterodyne polarimeter was set up to monitor noninvasively the aqueous glucose concentration in a rabbit's eye. A Zeeman laser in conjunction with a Glan-Thompson analyzer was used to generate an optical heterodyne signal. The amplitude of the heterodyne signal linearly related to the optical rotation angle of the aqueous glucose. The concentration of the aqueous glucose in a rabbit's eyeball was measured in vivo. There was a 30-min time delay between observations of aqueous glucose and blood glucose. The detection capability and the reproducibility of the experiment are demonstrated and discussed.

Perfusion-weighted imaging of interictal hypoperfusion in temporal lobe epilepsy using FAIR-HASTE: comparison with H(2)(15)O PET measurements.

To detect perfusion abnormalities in areas of high magnetic susceptibility in the brain, an arterial spin-labeling MRI technique utilizing flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery (FAIR) and half-Fourier single shot turbo spin-echo (HASTE) for spin preparation and image acquisition, respectively, was developed. It was initially tested in a functional study involving visual stimulation, and was able to detect significant activation with an increase (approximately 70%) in relative cerebral blood flow. Subsequently, it was applied in a clinical situation in eight patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The perfusion-weighted images obtained showed no susceptibility artifacts even in the region of the inferior temporal lobe and were able to detect interictal hypoperfusion in TLE. The results were compared with those derived from H(2)(15)O PET perfusion imaging in each patient. A statistically significant correlation (r = 0.75, P < 0.05) was found between results acquired from these two modalities. Magn Reson Med 45:431-435, 2001.