Dynamic Electronic and Ionic Transport Actuated by Cobalt-Doped MoSe2 /rGO for Superior Potassium-Ion Batteries.

Molybdenum selenium (MoSe2 ) has tremendous potential in potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) due to its large interlayer distance, favorable bandgap, and high theoretical specific capacity. However, the poor conductivity and large K+ insertion/extraction in MoSe2 inevitably leads to sluggish reaction kinetics and poor structural stability. Herein, Coinduced engineering is employed to illuminate high-conductivity electron pathway and mobile ion diffusion of MoSe2 nanosheets anchored on reduced graphene oxide substrate (Co-MoSe2 /rGO). Benefiting from the activated electronic conductivity and ion diffusion kinetics, and an expanded interlayer spacing resulting from Co doping, combined with the interface coupling with highly conductive reduced graphene oxide (rGO) substrate through Mo-C bonding, the Co-MoSe2 /rGO anode demonstrates remarkable reversible capacity, superior rate capability, and stable long-term cyclability for potassium storage, as well as superior energy density and high power density for potassium-ion capacitors. Systematic performance measurement, dynamic analysis, in-situ/ex-situ measurements, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations elucidate the performance-enhancing mechanism of Co-MoSe2 /rGO in view of the electronic and ionic transport kinetics. This work offers deep atomic insights into the fundamental factors of electrodes for potassium-ion batteries/capacitors with superior electrochemical performance.

Hematologic toxicities of sunitinib in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: Sunitinib offers a significant survival benefit to patients with imatinib-resistant gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). However, the incidence and risk of sunitinib-induced hematologic toxicities in such a population are often overlooked and have not been well characterized. This meta-analysis was performed to assess the summary incidence and risk of hematologic toxicities secondary to sunitinib in patients with GIST. METHODS: Searches were performed in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science as well as ClinicalTrials.gov to identify relevant studies up to April 2022. Studies with adequate safety profile, including anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia, were included to calculate the pooled incidence, relative risk (RR), and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). This study was registered with PROSPERO under number CRD42022328202. RESULTS: A total of 2593 patients from 13 studies were included in the present meta-analysis. For patients with GIST assigned to sunitinib, the overall incidences of all-grade anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia were 26.2% (95% CI, 14.9-39.4%), 41.8% (95% CI, 29.0-55.1%), and 36.4% (95% CI, 22.8-51.1%), respectively. Regarding high-grade (grades 3 and 4) events, there were 4.7% (95% CI, 3.8-5.6%) for anemia, 9.3% (95% CI, 5.6-13.7%) for neutropenia and 5.0% (95% CI, 2.9-7.3%) for thrombocytopenia. Compared to placebo arms, sunitinib was related to an increased risk of high-grade neutropenia with an RR of 10.39 (95% CI, 1.53-70.72; p = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: Sunitinib carries a relatively high incidence of hematologic toxicities and a substantial increased risk of high-grade neutropenia in patients with GIST. Appropriate prevention and management seem to be inevitable.

A Crossover Reconstruction Between the Forehead Expansion and Upper Eyelid Skin.

BACKGROUND: In cosmetic surgery, the authors have successfully used forehead expansion for reconstruction of the upper eyelid, and have found it to be indispensable for reconstruction of the upper eyelid. In such an operation, preserving the eyebrow is often a problem, and they suggest an approach in 2 stages, which allows us to both save the eyebrow and use the expander flap at the same time. In the last 6 years, they have performed 5 forehead expansions for total upper eyelid skin reconstruction, achieving very good aesthetic outcomes. METHODS: Firstly, the authors measure the defect and choose an appropriate expander implant for the forehead. Secondly, they cut out the pathologically changed-turned red or scarred-skin to protect the eyebrow. Next they get out the tissue expander and use the tissue flap to repair the upper eyelid defect, while the eyebrow is under the expander flap, covered by skin, which they originally cut from the upper eyelid. Three weeks later they can cut down the pedicel and the flap becomes the new upper eyelid skin. RESULTS: The authors find that the new upper eyelid skin may be vascularized by dermatological vessels from the expander flap. The forehead expander flap is reliable and particularly well suited for an upper eyelid, with numerous advantages. In this way, they make maximal use of the expander flap and no additional incision is needed. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, therapeutic study.

Adverse Drug Events Observed with the Newly Approved Remimazolam in Comparison to Propofol for General Anesthesia in Patients Undergoing Surgery: A Meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Developments in anesthetic pharmacology have been aiming at minimizing physiological disturbance in addition to maintaining and improving titrateability, recovery profile, and patient experience. Remimazolam, a GABAAlpha receptor agonist, is a new intravenous anesthetic agent which has recently been approved for use. This analysis aimed to systematically compare the adverse drug events reported with the newly approved remimazolam in comparison to propofol for general anesthesia (GA) in patients undergoing surgery. METHODS: Electronic databases were searched from 15 May to 20 December 2023 for relevant publications which compared the outcomes reported with the newly approved remimazolam versus propofol in patients undergoing surgery. Relevant reported adverse drug events were the endpoints of this study. The statistical analysis was carried out using the latest version of the RevMan software. Data analysis was represented by risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: Sixteen studies with a total number of 1897 participants were included in this analysis; 1104 participants received remimazolam and 793 participants received propofol. The risks for hypotension (RR 0.50, 95% CI 0.43-0.58; P = 0.00001), hypoxemia (RR 0.43, 95% CI 0.19-0.99; P = 0.05), bradycardia (RR 0.53, 95% CI 0.36-0.78; P = 0.001), pain at injection site (RR 0.07, 95% CI 0.01-0.56; P = 0.01), and total adverse events (RR 0.33, 95% CI 0.24-0.47; P = 0.00001) were significantly lower with remimazolam. However, no significant differences were observed in terms of postoperative nausea and vomiting (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.66-1.46; P = 0.93), dizziness (RR 0.42, 95% CI 0.11-1.57; P = 0.20), psychiatric symptoms (RR 1.09, 95% CI 0.45-2.67; P = 0.85), and respiratory depression (RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.24-2.76; P = 0.74). CONCLUSION: Our current analysis showed that the newly approved remimazolam was apparently associated with significantly fewer adverse drug events in comparison to propofol for GA in patients undergoing surgery. Therefore, this new drug should be further studied and more research with larger population sizes should be carried out to confirm this hypothesis.

Efficacy of reinforcing sutures for prevention of anastomotic leakage after low anterior resection for rectal cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Anastomotic leakage is a serious complication following surgery for cancer of the rectum. It is not clear whether reinforcing sutures could prevent anastomotic leakage. Therefore, this study aims at evaluating the efficacy of reinforcing sutures on anastomotic leakage. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases from inception to January 31, 2023. We included studies comparing anastomosis with reinforcing sutures to anastomosis without reinforcing sutures after low anterior resection. Risk of bias was assessed by the Cochrane tool for RCTs and the Risk of Bias in Non-Randomized Studies (ROBINS)-I tool for observational studies. The overall quality of evidence for primary outcome was assessed using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluations methodology. RESULTS: Two RCTs (345 patients) and four observational studies (783 patients) were included. Anastomotic leakage occurred in 4.4% (24 of 548) of patients with reinforcing sutures and 11.9% (69 of 580) of patients without reinforcing sutures. Meta-analysis showed a lower incidence of anastomotic leakage (RR, 0.41; 95% CI 0.25 to 0.66, low certainty) in patients with reinforcing sutures. Operative time (WMD, -3.66; 95% CI -18.58 to 11.25) and reoperation for anastomotic leakage (RR, 0.69; 95% CI 0.23 to 2.08) were similar between patients with reinforcing sutures and those without reinforcing sutures. CONCLUSIONS: While observational data suggest that, there is a clear benefit in terms of reducing the risk of anastomotic leakage with the use of reinforcing sutures, RCT data are less clear. Further large, prospective studies are warranted to determine whether a true clinically important benefit exists with this technique.

Applicability of evaluation metrics/schemes for human health burden attributable to regional ozone pollution: A case study in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), South China.

This is a study to identify the applicable/preferable short- and long-term metrics/schemes to evaluate the premature mortality attributable to the ozone pollution in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), one of the most representative populous ozone pollution regions in China, by comprehensively accounting the uncertainty sources. The discrepancy between the observation and the CAQRA reanalysis datasets (2013-2019) was investigated in terms of the concentration variation pattern, which determines the exposure metric change. A set of domestic short-term C-R coefficients for the all-age population were integrated using the meta-analysis respectively corresponding to the metrics of MDA1, MDA8, and Daily average. The dataset-based deviations of the short-term attributable factors (AFs) and their corresponding premature mortalities were respectively about 16.9 ± 13.3 % and <5 % based on MDA8, much smaller than other two metrics; and the MDA8-based evaluation results were the most sensitive to the deteriorative ozone pollution, with the maximum upward trends of 0.095-0.129 %/year. Accordingly, MDA8 was recognized as the most applicable short-term metric. For the long-term exposure, the domestic summer metric SMDA8 could not exactly represent the peak-season ozone maximum level in the GBA, with the deviation from 6MMDA8 as much as 30 %. By considering the ability of metric to represent the peak-season ozone, the relatively smaller dataset-based discrepancies of AFs (6MMDA8-WHO2021: 23.3 ± 16.9 %, AMDA8-T2016: 20.7 ± 15.8 %) and the attributable premature mortalities (6MMDA8-WHO2021: 5 %, AMDA8-T2016: 8 %), and the higher sensitivity of the evaluation results to the deteriorative ozone pollution (6MMDA8-WHO2021: 0.13 %;year, p = 0.01; AMDA8-T2016: 0.15 %/year, p = 0.03), the schemes of 6MMDA8-WHO2021 and AMDA8-T2016 were recognized relatively more preferable for the adult (≥25-year) long-term evaluation. Based on the recognized metric/schemes, the central and the eastern PRE areas of higher NO2 level in the GBA were experiencing the highest health burdens from 2013 to 2019.

Short-Term Supraorbital Nerve Stimulation and Pain Relief for Acute and Subacute Ophthalmic Herpetic Neuralgia: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial.

BACKGROUND: Herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO) is a kind of refractory disease, and treating it is important for preventing postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). But the evidence surrounding the current treatment options for these conditions is controversial, so exploring reasonable clinical treatment strategies for HZO is necessary. Neuromodulation is an excellent modality for the treatment of various neuropathic pain conditions. This trial was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of short-term supraorbital nerve stimulation (SNS) and the supraorbital nerve block (SNB) for HZO. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether short-term SNS relieves acute and subacute ophthalmic herpetic neuralgia. STUDY DESIGN: This prospective randomized controlled crossover trial compared short-term SNS to SNB. SETTING: The operating room of a pain clinic. METHODS: Patients with acute or subacute ophthalmic herpetic neuralgia were recruited. The patients were randomly assigned to receive either SNS or SNB. The primary outcome being measured was each patient's Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score at 4 weeks. The secondary outcomes under measurement were the proportion of patients who achieved ≥ 50% pain relief, sleep quality, medicine consumption, and adverse events. Crossover after 4 weeks was permitted, and patients were followed up to 12 weeks. RESULTS: Overall, 50 patients were included (n = 25/group). At 4 weeks, the patients who received SNS achieved greater pain relief, as indicated by their significantly different VAS scores from those of the SNB group (mean difference: -1.4 [95% CI, -2.29 to -0.51], P < 0.05). Both groups showed a significant decrease in pain level from the baseline (all P < 0.05). Overall, 72% and 44% of the SNS and SNB patients experienced ≥ 50% pain relief, respectively (OR: 0.31 [95% CI, 0.09 to 0.99], P < 0.05), and 68% and 32% of SNS and SNB patients, respectively, had VAS scores < 3 (OR: 0.22 [95% CI, 0.07 to 0.73], P < 0.05). Compared to the SNB group, the SNS group had better sleep quality, lower ophthalmic neuralgia, a lower proportion of further treatment, and lower analgesic intake. Overall, 18 patients received SNS alone, and 16 patients crossed over from SNB to SNS. The VAS scores, sleep quality, ophthalmic neuralgia, and trend of medicine intake were not significantly different between the groups (all P > 0.05). No serious complications occurred. LIMITATIONS: This study was nonblind. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term SNS is effective for controlling acute or subacute ophthalmic herpetic neuralgia. Combining SNS with SNB yields no additional benefits.

Coordination engineering of single zinc atoms on hierarchical dual-carbon for high-performance potassium-ion capacitors.

Dual-carbon engineering combines the advantages of graphite and hard carbon, thereby optimizing the potassium storage performance of carbon materials. However, dual-carbon engineering faces challenges balancing specific capacity, capability, and stability. In this study, we present a coordination engineering of Zn-N4 moieties on dual-carbon through additional P doping, which effectively modulates the symmetric charge distribution around the Zn center. Experimental results and theoretical calculations unveil that additional P doping induces an optimized electronic structure of the Zn-N4 moieties, thus enhancing K+ adsorption. A single-atom Zn metal coordinated with nitrogen and phosphorus reduces the K+ diffusion barrier and improves fast K+ migration kinetics. Consequently, Zn-NPC@rGO exhibits high reversible specific capacities, excellent rate capability, and impressive cycling stability, and remarkable power and energy densities for potassium-ion capacitors (PICs). This study provides insights into crucial factors for enhancing potassium storage performance.

Identification of significant genes associated with prognosis of gastric cancer by bioinformatics analysis.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC) ranks second in mortality among all malignant diseases worldwide. However, the cause and molecular mechanism underlying gastric cancer are not clear. Here, we used integrated bioinformatics to identify possible key genes and reveal the pathogenesis and prognosis of gastric cancer. METHODS: The gene expression profiles of GSE118916, GSE79973, and GSE29272 were available from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between GC and normal gastric tissues were screened by R software and Venn diagram software. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment of DEGs was performed using the DAVID database. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was established by STRING and visualized using Cytoscape software. Then the influence of hub genes on expression and survival was assessed using TCGA database. RESULTS: A total of 83 DEGs were found in the three datasets, including 41 up-regulated genes and 42 down-regulated genes. These DEGs were mainly enriched in extracellular matrix organization and cell adhesion. The enriched pathways obtained in the KEGG pathway analysis were extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction and focal adhesion. A PPI network of DEGs was analyzed using the Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE) app of Cytoscape. Four genes were considered hub genes, including COL5A1, FBN1, SPARC, and LUM. Among them, LUM was found to have a significantly worse prognosis based on TCGA database. CONCLUSIONS: We screened DEGs associated with GC by integrated bioinformatics analysis and found one potential biomarker that may be involved in the progress of GC. This hub gene may serve as a guide for further molecular biological experiments.

Diabetes Is a Risk Factor for the Prognosis of Patients with Bladder Cancer: A Meta-Analysis.

Objective: To systematically evaluate the impact of diabetes on the prognosis of bladder cancer patients after radical cystectomy (RC). Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were selected from inception to October 2021. The studies on the effects of diabetes on bladder cancer patients after RC were included for analysis. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were independently selected for literature screening, the quality of the included studies was evaluated, and data were extracted. Results: A total of 5 cohort studies were included, with a total of 2 661 subjects, including 391 cases in the diabetic group, non-diabetes. Meta-analysis results show that diabetes increases the overall risk of death in patients after RC (HR = 1.36, 95% CI: 1.30 ∼ 1.43, P < 0.001) and the risk of tumor-specific death (HR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.29 ∼ 1.95, P < 0.001). Sensitivity analysis shows that the stability of this study is well. Conclusion: Diabetes was an independent risk factor in terms of overall and cancer-specific survival in patients who underwent RC.

Antimicrobial Resistance of Escherichia coli From Aquaculture Farms and Their Environment in Zhanjiang, China.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a major concern worldwide. To evaluate the AMR of Escherichia coli in aquaculture farms of Zhanjiang, China, a total of 90 samples from the water, soil, and sediment of three aquaculture farms (farms I, II, and III) in Zhanjiang were collected, and 90 strains of E. coli were isolated for drug resistance analysis and AMR gene detection. The results indicated that the isolated 90 strains of E. coli have high resistance rates to penicillin, amoxicillin, ampicillin, tetracycline, compound sulfamethoxazole, sulfisoxazole, chloramphenicol, florfenicol, and rifampin (≥70%). Among these antimicrobial drugs, the resistance rate to rifampicin is as high as 100%. Among the isolated 90 strains of E. coli, all of them were resistant to more than two kinds of antimicrobial drugs, the number of strains resistant to nine kinds of drugs was the largest (19 strains), and the most resistant strain showed resistance to 16 kinds of antibacterial drugs. Regarding the AMR genes, among the three aquaculture farms, the most resistance genes were detected in farm II (28 species). The detection rate of bla TEM , bla CIT , bla NDM , floR, OptrA, cmlA, aphA1, Sul2, oqxA, and qnrS in 90 isolates of E. coli was high (≥50%). The detection rate of carbapenem-resistant genes, such as bla KPC , bla IMP , and cfr, was relatively lower ( ≤ 30%), and the detection rate of mcr2 was the lowest (0). At least four AMR genes were detected for each strain, and 15 AMR genes were detected at most. Among them, the number of strains that carried 10 AMR genes was the largest (15 strains). Finally, a correlation analysis found that the AMR genes including bla TEM , bla CIT , floR, OptrA, cmlA, aac(3)-II, Sul2, ereA, ermB, oqxB, qnrA, mcr1, and mcr2 had a high correlation rate with drug resistance (≥50%). To summarize, the 90 strains of E. coli isolated from water, surrounding soil, and sediment samples showed resistance to multi-antimicrobial drugs and carried various antimicrobial resistance genes. Thus, it is essential to strengthen the rational use of antimicrobial drugs, especially the amide alcohol drugs, and control the AMR in the aquaculture industry of Zhanjiang, China.

Effects of extremely low-frequency-pulsed electromagnetic field on different-derived osteoblast-like cells.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of extremely low-frequency pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) on osteoblast-like cells. PEMF with a magnetic flux density of 1.55 mT at 48 Hz was employed to stimulate the MC3T3-E1 cell and the primary osteoblast cell derived from 2-day-old Sprague Dawley (SD) rat calvaria for different time. MTS method was applied to analyze cell proliferation and flow cytometry to detect cell cycle. The intracellular alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was measured by colorimetry. Our results demonstrated that PEMF of 1.55 mT at 48 Hz did not affect cell number of MC3T3-E1 cell, whereas the cell percentage of S and G(2)M phase decreased significantly. Although the cell number of the primary osteoblast cell did not alter by MTS assay after being exposed to PEMF for 24 h continuously, the cell percentage of S and G(2)M phase increased significantly. When culture time extended to 48 h, the cell number increased greatly and the cell percentage of S and G(2)M phase decreased significantly despite of the exposure type. After the primary osteoblast cell was exposed to PEMF for 24 h continuously, the ALP activity decreased significantly, whereas it increased significantly when being exposed to PEMF for 48 h continuously. From the results we concluded that PEMF of 1.55 mT at 48 Hz did not affect proliferation and differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cell, but it promoted proliferation, inhibited differentiation at proliferation stage, and promoted differentiation at differentiation stage of primary osteoblast cells.

Spiking Neural P Systems With Rules on Synapses Working in Maximum Spiking Strategy.

Spiking neural P systems (called SN P systems for short) are a class of parallel and distributed neural-like computation models inspired by the way the neurons process information and communicate with each other by means of impulses or spikes. In this work, we introduce a new variant of SN P systems, called SN P systems with rules on synapses working in maximum spiking strategy, and investigate the computation power of the systems as both number and vector generators. Specifically, we prove that i) if no limit is imposed on the number of spikes in any neuron during any computation, such systems can generate the sets of Turing computable natural numbers and the sets of vectors of positive integers computed by k-output register machine; ii) if an upper bound is imposed on the number of spikes in each neuron during any computation, such systems can characterize semi-linear sets of natural numbers as number generating devices; as vector generating devices, such systems can only characterize the family of sets of vectors computed by sequential monotonic counter machine, which is strictly included in family of semi-linear sets of vectors. This gives a positive answer to the problem formulated in Song et al., Theor. Comput. Sci., vol. 529, pp. 82-95, 2014.

Injury potentials of spinal cord in ex vivo compression injury model.

The effect of applied electric field on neuroprotection and axonal regeneration has been studied in previous studies of acute spinal cord injury (SCI). However, due to the complexity of the microenvironment of the lesion site, the underlying mechanism of applied electric field is not yet fully understood. Thus, the injury potential, a significant index of the microenvironment change, was investigated in ex vivo spinal cords compression injury. Spinal cords isolated from rat were cultured in a double sucrose gap recording chamber. Both compound action potential (CAP) and injury potential were measured. Compression induced the decreasement of compound action potential, but the amplitude of CAP increased gradually after decompression. Compression also lead to the appearance of injury potential, represented by the voltage difference between the gap potential before and after compression, and the injury potential decreased with time logarithmicly after decompression. Intracellular Na(+) and Ca(2+) concentrations were measured and results showed that after injury these ions flowed into intracellular space. Therefore, the current approach can provide a basis for investigating the formation mechanism of the injury potential and help understand the pathophysiology of the SCI.

Is level V dissection necessary for low-risk patients with papillary thyroid cancer metastasis in lateral neck levels II, III, and IV.

Whether it is beneficial to dissect level V in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) patients with positive lateral neck lymph nodes at levels II-IV is still controversial, especially for low risk cases. In this study, we reviewed the medical records of 47 patients who underwent 47 ipsilateral selective lateral neck dissections (levels II-IV) for previously untreated papillary thyroid carcinomas between October 2006 and October 2008 to assist in establishing the optimal strategy for lateral neck dissection in low risk PTC patients with clinically negative level V nodes. All 47 patients were confirmed to have positive lymph nodes pathologically. Seventeen (36.12%), 36 (76.6%), and 34 (72.34%) patients had positive lymph nodes in levels II, III, and IV, respectively. The mean number of pathologically positive lymph nodes was 1.7 in level II, 2.9 in level III, 2.8 in level IV. No death and distant metastasis were recorded during follow up period. Just 2 patients exhibited recurrence to lymph nodes, and only one showed nodal recurrence in ipsilateral level V, who had positive lymph nodes in all of levels II, III, and IV at initial neck surgery. In conclusion, for PTC low risk patients with clinically negative lymph nodes in level V, non-performance of level V dissection would still achieve good survival results as traditional modified radical neck dissection, with a "wait and see" strategy to be recommended.

Evaluation of color Doppler ultrasonography in diagnosing hepatic alveolar echinococcosis.

To assess the accuracy of color Doppler ultrasonography in diagnosing hepatic alveolar echinococcosis, 129 patients were examined at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University between July 2004 and June 2010. Those patients suspected of having hepatic alveolar echinococcosis were examined and diagnosed by color Doppler ultrasound. All the cases were compared with the gold standard. The findings of their sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio and 95% confidence interval were recorded. Sensitivity: 95% (95% confidence interval: 90.7%-99.3%); specificity: 20.7% (95% confidence interval: 6.0%-35.4%); positive predictive value: 80.5%; negative predictive value: 54.5%; positive likelihood ratio: 1.2: negative likelihood ratio: 0.2. Our study indicates that color Doppler ultrasonography, when used in diagnosing hepatic alveolar echinococcosis, has high sensitivity although specificity is low. Color Doppler ultrasound is, thus, considered to be an efficient means for diagnosing hepatic alveolar echinococcosis.

Usefulness of gray-scale contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (SonoVue®) in diagnosing hepatic alveolar echinococcosis.

Hepatic alveolar echinococcosis (HAE) is a parasitic infection with an infiltrative growth pattern that has the appearance of a hepatic malignant tumor. Ultrasound (US) has been used for screening of HAE in epidemic areas. However, it has been very difficult to evaluate the clear boundary and microvessel perfusion of the lesions. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the characteristic imaging and clinical significance of HAE lesions by contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS). Seventeen patients with 19 HAE lesions were examined in sequence with US, color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) and then CEUS before any treatment. All the data were compared before surgery. Examined by fundamental US, 47.4% of HAE lesions showed irregular hyperechoic substantive areas and 52.6% appeared as having a mixed echotype with irregular anechoic areas in the central portion of the lesions. The CDFI method indicated no blood flow signals inside any of the 19 lesions. By CEUS, all 19 lesions displayed circular rim enhancement in the peripheral segments and absent enhancement within the central areas of the lesions (a "black hole" effect). As a result, the lesions' margins were clear, irregular and distinct. In general, the sizes of all the HAE lesions observed by CEUS were larger than those obtained by fundamental US. Therefore, CEUS is a simple imaging method and can be a helpful tool for more accurate sizing of HAE lesions and their surrounding invasion range and the proper cut-off margin when radical hepatectomy is needed.

Genetic diversity and population structure of 10 Chinese indigenous egg-type duck breeds assessed by microsatellite polymorphism.

The genetic structure and diversity of 10 Chinese indigenous egg-type duck breeds were investigated using 29 microsatellite markers. The total number of animals examined were 569, on average 57 animals per breed were selected. The microsatellite marker set analysed provided 177 alleles (mean 6.1 alleles per locus, ranging from 3 to 10). All populations showed high levels of heterozygosity with the lowest estimate of 0.539 for the Jinding ducks, and the highest 0.609 observed for Jingjiang partridge ducks. The global heterozygote deficit across all populations (FIT) amounted to -0.363. About 10% of the total genetic variability originated from differences among breeds, with all loci contributing significantly. An unrooted consensus tree was constructed using the NeighborNet tree based on the Reynold's genetic distance. The structure software was used to assess genetic clustering of these egg-type duck breeds. Clustering analysis provided an accurate representation of the current genetic relations among the breeds. An integrated analysis was undertaken to obtain information on the population dynamics in Chinese indigenous egg-type duck breeds, and to better determine the conservation priorities.

The effects of chronic repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid in rat brain.

Recent studies have shown that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has therapeutic potential for some neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, the neurobiological effects of this tool are not sufficiently explained so far, previous research reported that rTMS can change dopamine release, there have been few studies to examine a possible effect of rTMS on amino acid neurotransmitter. This study aimed to determine the effects of chronic rTMS on glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid concentration in the rat brain. Sprague­Dawley rat was subject to 500 pulses of 0.5 Hz rTMS for 15 days, or sham stimulation. After last stimulation, glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid content were measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results showed that the content of glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid increased significantly in hippocampus and striatum after chronic rTMS, but reduced significantly in the hypothalamus. These results indicate that chronic rTMS has a modulatory effect on the glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid systems. This change in amino acid neurotransmitter may contribute to its beneficial effects.

The application of imaginary method in EEG forward question of eccentric spheres models.

In this paper, we present a novel method to calculate the scalp potential distribution produced by the inside dipoles of the EEG forward question in detail: imaginary method. Using this method, the eccentric spheres models of the head can be simplified to the homocentric spheres model. The scalp potential distribution of the forward question of EEG of the homocentric spheres model can be solved easily. Using the imaginary method, the influence of the inside eccentric sphere can be replaced by some imaginary dipoles, the imaginary surplus single poles and the fractal single poles as well as fractal dipole. For the question in which the centers of the spheres and the position of the dipole are not in the same line, the analytical solution can be obtained, while the conventional method can only give the analytical solution in the case where all the centers of the spheres and the point of the dipole are in the same line. At last, we validate this method through computer simulation. By comparing the results from the imaginary method, the conventional method and the finite element method FEM (Although FEM can give more precise solution, but it cannot give the analytical solution, which is necessary when solve the reverse question.), the validity of this method is proven.