The correlation between CT findings of diffuse axonal injury and the expression of neuronal aquaporin in patients with craniocerebral injury.

OBJECTIVE: The paper aimed at exploring the correlation between CT findings of diffuse axonal injury and the expression of neuronal aquaporin in patients with craniocerebral injury. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 150 patients with diffuse axonal injury diagnosed by CT and 50 healthy physical examinators were selected as the study objects. According to the craniocerebral CT and GCS scale scores, the patients were divided into DAI light group, medium group, and heavy group. The general conditions of patients were observed and recorded, and the brain pathological morphology, craniocerebral edema and CT imaging results of the patients in each group were compared. Changes in serum and brain AQP-4 levels were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot, and the correlation between CT manifestations of DAI and the expression of neuronal aquaporin was investigated. RESULTS: The results of DAI's pathological morphology, cerebral edema and CT imaging showed that the brain tissue of each group of DAI had a certain degree of injury. With the increase of the injury degree, the degree of edema and the number of axonal injuries sharply increased, and the difference was significant (p-value < 0.05). Therefore, CT could be used as an effective basis for the rapid and efficient diagnosis of DAI. RT-PCR, Western blot and Spearman correlation analysis showed that the levels of AQP-4 in the serum and brain tissue of DAI patients were significantly increased. With the increase of the degree of diffuse axonal injury, the expression level of AQP-4 was further increased, and the difference was significant (p-value < 0. 05). The CT manifestations of patients in each group were positively correlated with the expression level of AQP-4 protein. CONCLUSIONS: AQP-4 can be used as an important molecular index to judge the condition and prognosis of DAI, providing a new non-invasive detection method for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of DAI, which has high clinical application value.

[Determination of cadmium in human urine by colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay].

Objective: To establish the method of colloidal gold immunochrom atographic assay for detecting cadmium ions rapidly. Methods: The anti-cadmium ion monoclonal antibody-gold conjugate was labeled on the binding pad, cadmium ion hapten and goat anti-mouse IgG were coated on nitrocellulose membrane as the detection line (T line) and quality control line (C line) respectively. The sample pad, colloidal gold bonding pad, nitrocellulose membrane and absorption pad were orderly assembled on the PVC board to cut into a test paper strip. The qualitative results of the assay were visualized in color. Results: When detecting the human urine cadmium ions, the results were tested qualitativly within 15 minutes. The detection limit was 30 µg/L. No cross-reactivity with other heavy metal ions. The test paper strip could be stored at 4 ℃ for 3 months. Conclusion: The method has the advantages of low cost, strong specificity, good stability and reliable results, and is suitable for rapid screening of cadmium poisoning of enterprise and occupational health.

THE INFLUENCE OF POSTERIOR APPROACH CERVICAL INTRASPINAL TUMOR RESECTION ON THE STABILITY OF CERVICAL VERTEBRA.

This paper discusses the influence of posterior approach cervical intraspinal tumor resection on the stability of cervical vertebra. A total of 32 patients with cervical intraspinal tumor were included and divided into a group undergoing posterior approach bilateral vertebral lamina resection (group A) (n=16) and a group undergoing posterior approach semi-laminectomy (group B) (n=16). It was found, through follow-up visits, that the incidence rate of cervical instability of the patients was 25% and the incidence rate of cervical curvature deterioration of the patients was 37.5% in group A, whereas the two incidence rates of group B were 6.25% and 12.5% respectively; the incidence rates of cervical curvature deterioration and instability were significantly increased compared to group B (P< 0.05). It is concluded that, both regular posterior approach vertebral lamina resection and semi-laminectomy influence the biomechanical change of cervical vertebra, but the influence of the latter is less. Also, it is found that, applying titanium connectors and titanium nails for rigid internal fixation maintains the completeness and stability of the structure of the cervical vertebra.

Porcine model to evaluate local tissue tolerability associated with subcutaneous delivery of protein.

INTRODUCTION: The conversion from intravenous (IV) to subcutaneous (SC) delivery of biotherapeutics has increased in recent years. Some of the reasons for this shift in route of delivery are due to patient convenience, reduced adverse systemic effects, lack of a need for vascular access, and reduced cost of patient care, which ultimately lead to improved patient quality of life. One caveat to SC delivery is the limited volumes that can be administered at a single site and the associated local tolerability. To characterize factors that affect subcutaneous delivery of large volumes of therapeutic proteins, a porcine model was developed. Model endpoints included measurement of interstitial pressure, assessment of local skin visco-elasticity, and the qualitative assessment of local infusion sites. METHODS: Immunoglobulin G (IgG) was subcutaneously infused into the abdominal region of Yucatan miniature swine. Changes in interstitial pressure were measured, using an in-line pressure transducer, during and after infusions. Additionally, pre- and post-infusion changes in local skin visco-elasticity were measured using a Cutometer®. Lastly, infusion sites were assessed for post-infusion local skin reactions such as erythema and swelling. Similar assessments were made following SC IgG delivery with the permeation enhancer recombinant human hyaluronidase PH20 (rHuPH20). RESULTS: Subcutaneous infusions of IgG, in the presence of rHuPH20, significantly reduced average interstitial pressures by 55% during the infusion period and by 67% during the post-infusion period, compared to the control. Infusions in the presence of rHuPH20 also maintained better local skin elasticity as seen by a 42% increase in local skin pliability compared to the control. Finally, infusions with rHuPH20 resulted in an 80% reduction in swelling area compared to the control. DISCUSSION: A large animal model was developed that incorporates both quantitative and qualitative assessment methods to aid in understanding SC delivery of proteins.

Depinning dynamics of two-dimensional magnetized colloids on a random substrate.

We perform Langevin simulations on the depinning dynamics of two-dimensional magnetized colloids on a random substrate. On increasing the magnetic field strength, we find for the first time a crossover from plastic to smectic flows as well as a crossover from smectic to elastic crystal flows above depinning. For both the smectic and elastic crystal flows, a power-law scaling relationship could be obtained between the average velocity and applied driving force. The scaling exponent is found to be larger than 1 for smectic flow. But, for the elastic crystal flow, the scaling exponent is found to be less than 1. For the plastic flow, no power-law scaling relationship between the average velocity and applied driving force can be derived and history dependence of the depinning occurs. Within the crossover from plastic to smectic flows, a sudden decrease in the critical driving force is observed, and a sudden increase is found in the critical driving force across the crossover from smectic to elastic crystal flows, accompanied by a crossing of the curves of average velocity versus driving force.

Intense geodesic acousticlike modes driven by suprathermal ions in a tokamak plasma.

Intense axisymmetric oscillations driven by suprathermal ions injected in the direction counter to the toroidal plasma current are observed in the DIII-D tokamak. The modes appear at nearly half the ideal geodesic acoustic mode frequency, in plasmas with comparable electron and ion temperatures and elevated magnetic safety factor (q_{min}>or=2). Strong bursting and frequency chirping are observed, concomitant with large (10%-15%) drops in the neutron emission. Large electron density fluctuations (n[over ]_{e}/n_{e} approximately 1.5%) are observed with no detectable electron temperature fluctuations, confirming a dominant compressional contribution to the pressure perturbation as predicted by kinetic theory. The observed mode frequency is consistent with a recent theoretical prediction for the energetic-particle-driven geodesic acoustic mode.

Energetic-particle-induced geodesic acoustic mode.

A new energetic particle-induced geodesic acoustic mode (EGAM) is shown to exist. The mode frequency and mode structure are determined nonperturbatively by energetic particle kinetic effects. In particular the EGAM frequency is found to be substantially lower than the standard GAM frequency. The radial mode width is determined by the energetic particle drift orbit width and can be fairly large for high energetic particle pressure and large safety factor. These results are consistent with the recent experimental observation of the beam-driven n=0 mode in DIII-D.

High-beta equilibria of drift-optimized compact stellarators.

Compact stellarator configurations have been obtained with good neoclassical confinement that are stable to both pressure- and current-driven modes for high values of beta. These configurations are drift-optimized tokamak-stellarator hybrids with a high-shear tokamak-like rotational transform profile and /B/ that is approximately poloidally symmetric. The bootstrap current is consistent with the required equilibrium current and, while larger than that in existing stellarators, is typically only a small fraction (1/3-1/5) of that in an equivalent tokamak. These configurations have strong magnetic wells and consequently high interchange stability beta limits up to beta=23%. Because of the reduced bootstrap current, these configurations are stable to low-n ideal MHD kink modes with no wall stabilization for values of beta ( approximately 7%-11%) significantly larger than in an equivalent advanced tokamak.

Bilateral renal artery occlusion: an unusual presentation of atrial fibrillation and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy predisposes patients to atrial fibrillation and the development of systemic embolization. We describe a rare case of bilateral renal artery thrombosis which presented as acute renal failure requiring dialysis. The patient was successfully treated with a selective, continuous infusion of urokinase which resulted in the return of adequate renal function.

Application of continuous ST-segment monitoring in the detection of silent myocardial ischemia.

The detection of silent myocardial ischemia in patients presenting to emergency departments with atypical chest pain remains problematic. We describe the case of a patient with silent ischemia detected by continuous ST-segment monitoring, resulting in the prompt institution of therapeutic modalities.