Value of Molybdenum Target X-Ray and High-Frequency Color Doppler Flow Imaging in Early Diagnosis of Breast Carcinoma: A Comparative Analysis.

Background: Breast carcinoma (BC) threatens the physical and mental health of women worldwide, and early diagnosis is important for improving patient outcomes and ensuring successful treatment. Purpose: This research mainly aims to compare and analyze the value of molybdenum target X-ray and high-frequency color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) in the early diagnosis of BC. Methods: First, 102 patients with suspected early-stage BC (ESBC) admitted to Henan Provincial People's Hospital were examined by molybdenum target X-ray and CDFI. Based on the pathological findings, the diagnostic efficiency data of the two diagnostic modalities such as positive detection rate (PDR), positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), and accuracy (ACC), as well as imaging information like masses, microcalcifications (MCs), axillary lymph node (LN) metastases, and blood flow signal or vascular sign abnormalities were analyzed. Results: CDFI contributed to higher PDR, PRV, NPV, SEN, and ACC than molybdenum target X-ray in ESBC diagnosis, but similar SPE. The combined diagnosis of molybdenum target X-ray plus CDFI contributed to even higher PDR, PRV, NPV, SEN, and ACC than molybdenum target X-ray alone and higher ACC than CDFI. Imaging inspection revealed that the number of cases of masses, axillary LN metastases, and abnormalities in blood flow signals or vascular signs detected by CDFI was significantly higher than that by molybdenum target X-ray, while the number of MCs was significantly lower. Conclusion: Molybdenum target X-ray plus CDFI is more effective in the diagnosis of ESBC and plays a complementary role in imaging examination, which can synergistically improve the diagnostic ACC of ESBC and is worthy of clinical promotion.

Development and Validation of a Novel Scoring System for Severity of Plantar Fasciitis.

OBJECTIVES: Plantar fasciitis (PF) is the most common cause of heel pain. Though PF is self-limited, it can develop into chronic pain and thus treatment is needed. Early and accurate prognostic assessment of patients with PF is critically important for selecting the optimal treatment pathway. Nevertheless, there is no scoring system to determine the severity of PF and no prognostic model in choosing between conservative or surgical treatment. The study aimed to develop a novel scoring system to evaluate the severity of plantar fasciitis and predict the prognosis of conservative treatment. METHODS: Data of consecutive patients treated from 2014 to 2018 were retrospectively collected. One hundred and eighty patients were eligible for the study. The demographics and clinical characteristics served as independent variables. The least follow-up time was 6 months. A minimal reduction of 60% in the visual analog scale (VAS) score from baseline was considered as minimal clinically important difference (MCID). Those factors significantly associated with achieving MCID in univariate analyses were further analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. A novel scoring system was developed using the best available literature and expert-opinion consensus. Inter-observer reliability and intra-observer reproducibility were evaluated. The appropriate cut-off points for the novel score system were obtained using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. RESULTS: The system score = VAS (0-3 point = 1; 3.1-7 point = 3; 7.1-10 point = 5) + duration of symptoms (<6 months = 1; ≥1 6 months = 2) + ability to walk without pain (>1 h = 1; ≤1 h = 4) + heel spur in X-ray (No = 0; Yes = 2) + high intensity zone (HIZ) in MRI (No = 0; Yes = 2). The total score was divided in four categories of severity: mild (2-4 points), moderate (5-8 points), severe (9-12 points), and critical (13-15 points). Inter-observer agreement with a value of 0.84 was considered as perfect reliability. Intra-observer reproducibility with a value of 0.92 was considered as perfect reproducibility. The optimum cut-off value was 10 points. The sensitivity of predictive factors was 86.37%, 84.21%, 91.22%, 84.12%, and 89.32%, respectively; the specificity was 64.21%, 53.27%, 67.76%, 62.37%, and 79.58%, respectively; the area under curve was 0.75, 0.71, 0.72, 0.87, and 0.77, respectively. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed a good fitting of the score system with an overall accuracy of 90.6%. CONCLUSIONS: Based on prognostic factors, the present study establishes a novel scoring system which is highly comprehensible, reliable, and reproducible. This score system can be used to identify the severity of plantar fasciitis and predict the prognosis of conservative treatment accurately. The application of this scoring system in clinical settings can significantly improve the decision-making process.

[Relationship between antioxidant activities and contents of active ingredients in Radix Scutellaria].

OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between the antioxidant activities and the contents of active ingredients in Radix Scutellaria. METHOD: The antioxidant activities of extracts and active ingredients of Radix Scutellaria in NADPH-dependent lipid peroxidation in rat liver microsome were assayed. RESULT: Extracts of Radix Scutellaria showed a 50% inhibition of lipid peroxidation in the concentration range of 2.72-18.27 mg x L(-1). CONCLUSION: The antioxidant activities of extracts of Radix Scutellaria are not only related with the contents but also the ratio of the active ingredients.

[Determination of contents of the effective ingredients in root of Scutellaria baicalensis by HPLC-ECD].

OBJECTIVE: To develop an HPLC-electrochemical detection (HPLC-ECD) method for determination of contents of three effective ingredients baicalin, baicalein and wogonin in Scutellaria baicalensis simultaneously. METHOD: 70% ethanol extract of S. baicalensis was separated on a Kromasil C18 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) using a mixture solution of CH3OH and H2O-THF-H3PO4(80:10:0.2) as mobile phase and detected by Waters2465 electrochemical detector at + 800 mV ( vs. ISAAC). Temperature of column was 30 degrees C. RESULT AND CONCLUSION: The linear ranges of baicalin, baicalein and wogonin were 0.045 6-1.14 microg (r = 0.999 6), 0.013-0.325 microg (r = 1) and 0.009 5-0.047 5 microg ( r = 0.999 9), respectively. The average recoveries of baicalin, baicalein and wogonin were 97.9% (n = 5, RSD 2.3%), 97.2% (n = 5, RSD 3.3%) and 103.5% (n = 5, RSD 3.5%), respectively. The contents of three effective ingredients from 14 different germplasm resourses and 9 different growing areas of S. baicalensis were determined, the quality of S. baicalensis was evaluated.

[Influences of submerged vegetation Hydrilla verticillata on the forms of inorganic and organic phosphorus and potentially exchangeable phosphate in sediments].

The influences of submerged vegetation Hydrilla verticillata on forms of inorganic and organic phosphorous forms and potentially exchangeable phosphate in sediments were investigated under indoors simulating condition. The results show that: (1) Hydrilla verticillata can decrease the amount of OM, CEC and TP evidently ( p < 0.05) and activate the phosphate in sediments. (2) In the forms of inorganic phosphorus, the NaOH-P was significantly influenced (p<0.01) and the labile organic P in the forms of organic P was influenced to a certainty (p < 0.1), while no significant differences were made to the other forms of phosphorous. (3) Hydrilla verticillata can affect the amount of potentially exchangeable phosphate of the sediments, which increased 11.5% for the vegetation-group and decreased 61.0% for the control group during the period of the experiments. The change orientation was oppositional and the degree of change was quite different. This testified that Hydrilla verticillata could increase the amount of potentially exchangeable phosphate of sediments.

[Phosphate adsorption characteristics onto the sediments from shallow lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River].

Adsorption isotherms and kinetics of phosphate onto the 11 sediments taken from shallow lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were determined in laboratory, and the effect of physical and chemical properties of the sediments on its phosphate adsorption characteristics was also analyzed. The results indicate that: (1) The process of phosphate adsorption onto sediments mainly occurred within 0-10 h, the maximum adsorption rates occurred within 0-0.5 h, and then attends to a dynamic equilibrium; (2) Between the NAP and its organic matter, CEC, total phosphorus, inorganic phosphorus, organic phosphorus, Fe/Al-phosphorus and total nitrogen have remarkable positive correlation; between the maximum adsorption of phosphate and its CEC, inorganic phosphorus, organic matter and total phosphorus have remarkable negative correlation; between the total maximum adsorption of phosphate and its organic matter, CEC, total phosphorus, inorganic phosphorus, organic phosphorus, Fe/Al-phosphorus and total nitrogen have remarkable positive correlation; (3) As regards water quality of the shallow lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River at present, its sediment exists desorption. Between the adsorption-desorption equilibrium concentrations of phosphate onto the sediments and its organic matter, CEC, total nitrogen, the total phosphorus and the content of every form phosphorous have a remarkable positive correlation. Even the sediment from heavily polluted lake also has the tendency to release phosphate into the overlying water in this study.