Nonspecific Effect of Stress on Brain Gray Matter Volume in Drug-naive Female Patients with First Depressive Episode / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>This study aimed to observe the differences in brain gray matter volume in drug-naive female patients after the first episode of major depression with and without stressful life events (SLEs) before the onset of depression.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-three drug-naive female patients voluntarily participated in the present study after the first major depressive episode. The life event scale was used to evaluate the severity of the impact of SLEs during 6 months before the onset of the major depressive episode. High-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were obtained, and the VBM and SPM8 software process were used to process and analyze the MRI.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared to that in patients without SLEs, the volume of brain gray matter was lower in the bilateral temporal lobe, right occipital lobe, and right limbic lobe in the SLE group. However, the gray matter volume did not differ significantly between the two groups after the application of false discovery rate (FDR) correction.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Although the results of the present study suggest the absence of significant differences in brain gray matter volume between female drug-naive patients after the first episode of major depression with and without SLEs after FDR correction, the study provides useful information for exploring the definitive role of stress in the onset of depression.</p>

Imaging features of duplication of the internal auditory canal / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore multiple slices computed tomography (MSCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of duplication of the internal auditory canal (DIAC) in order to improve the accuracy of diagnosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Four cases (5 ears) were analyzed and the related documents were reviewed retrospectively. MSCT was performed on all cases, and two cases had MRI scanning at the same time.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>MSCT has shown that the internal auditory canal were divided into two canals by a bony septum in 5 ears. The superior canal ended in a very narrow connection to the facial canal, the inferior portion ended in connection to the cochlea and vestibule. The bony septums from the 2 ears were found no longer intact. The sum of diameter of the two canals was greater than 2 mm. In addition, 5 ears were found to have an enlarged vestibules and the hypoplasia lateral semicircular canals, and meanwhile, 2 ears of them were combined with ipsilateral microtia. Also 1 case of them was combined with microtia, outer acoustic atresia as well as abnormal middle ear. Multiplanar reconstruction and volume rendering images can entirely show the bony septum and two canals. In this study, the vestibular nerve, cochlear nerve and facial nerve were total hypoplastic in one ear, in the other ear, the vestibular and cochlear nerve were hypoplastic, and however, the facial nerve was intact.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>MSCT can clearly depict duplication of the internal auditory canals and concomitant anomalies. MRI can clearly show the neural components and their associated malformation.</p>