Perforating and ophthalmic artery variants from the anterior cerebral artery: Two case reports.

BACKGROUND: The diagnosis and therapy during surgery depend largely on a full account of anatomic characteristics. Apart from regular structures, the common, less common or even uncommon anatomic variations are critical for procedural planning. This is especially true during craniocerebral microsurgery, where small vascular variations can affect the final surgical results and patient prognosis. CASE SUMMARY: Herein, two rare variations concerning the A1 (horizontal) segment of anterior cerebral artery (ACA1) were introduced. One enabled the communication between perforating branch of ACA1 and dural artery of anterior skull base, which was discovered during autopsy. The other was ophthalmic artery (OA) originating from ACA1, shown on digital angiography. CONCLUSION: In this study, we found two rare anatomical variations. One was an abnormal OA originated from the anterior communicating artery. The other was a perforating branch of the A1 segment of the anterior cerebral artery, which communicated with meningeal vessels in the anterior skull base. This finding is of great significance for the treatment of anterior communicating artery aneurysm or in other anterior skull base surgery.

[Clinicopathological significance of homeobox gene BP1 mRNA expression in human breast cancer].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Beta protein 1 (BP1) gene, a novel member of DLX homeobox gene family, is located in 17q21-22 region and overexpressed in both acute myeloid leukemia and acute T cell lymphocytic leukemia. However, the reports on the function of BP1 in solid tumors are rare. The study was designed to determine the expression of BP1 gene in breast cancer and to analyze its relationship with various clinicopathological factors. METHODS: With beta-actin gene as a reference, BP1 mRNA expression was detected in 82 breast cancer tissues and 12 near adjacent tissues and 10 far adjacent tissues using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: The expression rates of BP1 in near and far adjacent tissues were 16.67% (2/12) and 0% (0/10), respectively; while the expression rate in breast cancer group was 64.63% (53/82). There were statistically significant differences among the three groups (P< 0.05). Overexpression of BP1 in breast cancer was correlated with histological grade (P< 0.05). Nevertheless, no correlation was found between BP1 expression and other clinicopathological factors, including tumor size, lymph nodal metastasis, family history, pathological type, menarcheal age, primiparous age, number of pregnancy, menopausal status, ER status and PR status (P >0.05). CONCLUSION: BP1 gene is of upregulated expression in breast tumors and could be regarded as a new and vital biomarker in breast cancer research.

[Determination of bismuth pectin by flow-injection hydride-generation atomic absorption spectrometry].

A new method was developed by flow-injection hydride-generation atomic absorption spectrometry (FI-HG-AAS) for direct determination of bismuth in bismuth pectin, which is mostly composed of pectin and bismuth and serves as one of pharmaceuticals for protecting stomach mucous membrane. The influences of some experimental parameters of this method, such as the acidity of sample solution, the reductant of KBH4 and NaOH that served as the stabilizer of KBH4, were studied and these parameters were optimized. Bismuth was detected directly with the linear range of 0.00-44.00 ng.mL-1. The equation of working curve was A = 0.012 + 0.017c (c:ng.mL-1), r = 0.9995, the detection limit was 0.095 ng.mL-1 (3 sigma), and the recovery was 97.3%-103.3%. The method proposed has been used in the analysis of practical sample for bismuth with 96.6%-100.1% founded and 2.1% of RSD. Experiments showed that this method was simple, rapid, accurate and suitable for the assay of bismuth in bismuth pectin.

[Direct resolution of clenbuterol enantiomers with amide derivative as chiral stationary phase].

A simple and rapid high performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the direct resolution of clenbuterol enantiomers. The method involved the use of an amide type chiral stationary phase(CSP) made of (R)-1-naphthylglycine and 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid known as the Chirex 3005 column. The effects of different contents of n-hexane, 1,2-dichloroethane and methanol in mobile phase on the chiral separation are discussed. The effects of column temperature and flow rate of mobile phase were also studied. The separation factor obtained was 1.32 and the resolution factor was 1.81 when using the optimized mobile phase composed of n-hexane-1,2-dichloroethane-methanol (54:38:8, volume ratio) at 17 degrees C and 1.0 mL/min. The mechanism of separation is also discussed.

[Study on the determination of manganese in the Polygonum multiflorum by flame atomic absorption spectrometry].

This paper presents a method for the determination of manganese in the organism of the Chinese herbal medicine of the Polygonum multiflorum. Manganese was complexes, extracted and determined by FAAS. The opimum condition of experiment was studied. The accuracy and the detection limit were 7.6 and 8.4 ng.mL-1 respectively. The Mn was determined in range of 0.00-2.00 micrograms.mL-1. The relative standard deviation was 1.77%.