Carbonate apatite crystals in primary normophosphatemic tumoral calcinosis

A 66‐year‐old woman developed firm, painless, slowly growing nodular masses over her elbows, fingers, toes, and left hip over four years. Aspiration of the elbow mass revealed a white chalky material that was shown to be carbonate apatite on infrared spectroscopy and energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. We discuss the classification of tumoral calcinosis and the nature of the calcium deposits. Tumoral calcinosis should be differentiated from tophaceous gout and calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystal deposition disease. Polarizing light microscopy and crystal analysis by X‐ray and infrared spectroscopy, electron or X‐ray diffraction will confirm the diagnosis. Secondary causes of tumoral calcinosis should also be excluded.     

Affective neural circuitry during facial emotion processing in pediatric bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND: Facial emotions are central to human interaction. Identifying pathophysiology in affect processing circuitry that supports the ability to assess facial emotions might facilitate understanding of affect regulation in pediatric bipolar disorder. METHODS: Ten euthymic, unmedicated pediatric bipolar patients and 10 healthy control subjects matched for age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, and IQ were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Angry, happy, and neutral faces were presented in 30-sec blocks, with a 20-sec rest period between blocks. Subjects were asked to press a button when each face appeared, to ensure that attention was maintained on-task. RESULTS: In bipolar patients, in response to both angry and happy faces relative to neutral faces, we observed reduced activation of right rostral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex together with increased activity in right pregenual anterior cingulate, amygdala, and paralimbic cortex. Bipolar patients also showed reduced activation of visual areas in occipital cortex together with greater activation in higher-order visual perceptual areas, including superior temporal sulcus and fusiform gyrus with angry faces and posterior parietal cortex with happy faces. CONCLUSIONS: Findings document a disturbance in affective neurocircuitry in pediatric bipolar disorder. Reduced activation in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex might reflect diminished top-down control that leads to the observed exaggerated activation in amygdala and paralimbic areas. Changes in occipital areas might represent an effort to gate sensory input when affective responses to the faces could not be successfully modulated. Disturbances in affect processing circuitry could contribute to emotional dysregulation and social cognitive difficulties in bipolar youth.     

Laser induced autofluorescence studies of animal skin used in modeling of human cutaneous tissue spectroscopic measurements

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Laser-induced autofluorescence spectroscopy provides excellent possibilities for medical diagnostics of different tissue pathologies including cancer. However, to create the whole picture of pathological changes, investigators collect spectral information from patients in vivo or they study different tumor models to obtain objective information for fluorescent properties of every kind of healthy and diseased tissue. Therefore, it is very important to find the most appropriate, and close to the human skin, animal samples from the fluorescence point of view, which will allow the extrapolation of the animal data to human spectroscopic diagnostics. METHODS: In the present work, we examined the autofluorescence properties of different animal skin tissues, which are considered as the most common skin models. A nitrogen laser was used as an excitation source. Samples of healthy mouse, chicken and pig skin in vivo and/or ex vivo were studied and were compared with results obtained from investigations of healthy human skin in vivo. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Specific features of the recorded spectra are discussed and the possible origin of the obtained fluorescence signals is proposed. Quantitative evaluation of data extrapolation for each skin type is also depicted.     

MR频谱检测乳酸的脉冲序列优化研究

目的通过改变一系列脉冲序列参数，以利于乳酸的最佳检测与定量分析。方法制作含乳酸玻璃模型。改变一系列的MR脉冲序列参数，应用点解析频谱序列(point resolved spectroscopy，PRESS)和激励回波序列(stimulated echo acquisition，STEAM)获得乳酸模型的相应频谱。另外，对12例脑病变患者和2例健康志愿者进行磁共振频谱检查，测量出每个波峰的峰高，并绘出序列变化曲线图。结果STEAM各波峰的峰向与PRESS序列一致，但STEAM各峰高均低于同等条件的PRESS峰。随着TE时间的延长，用乳酸模型测出的乳酸峰的峰高一序列曲线图呈波浪状变化，正向双峰在TE=26、270ms时共振波幅达到最大绝对值，负向双峰在TE=135～160ms之间达到最大绝对值。脑病变患者和健康志愿者的扫描结果表明，乳酸峰在优化的序列高于非优化的序列。结论优化的脉冲序列更有利于乳酸的检测与定量分析。     

^H磁共振波谱在恶性胶质瘤与脑单发转移瘤鉴别诊断中的应用

目的:探讨1H磁共振波谱(1HMRS)鉴别恶性胶质瘤与脑单发转移瘤的价值.材料和方法:选择经病理证实的22例单发脑肿瘤患者(14例脑胶质瘤,8例脑转移瘤)术前行常规和增强MRI扫描及1HMRS.对其中16例患者术后6个月后进行MRI复查.结果:14例脑胶质瘤患者胆碱复合物波高高于脑转移瘤;肿瘤增强区肌醇波高及肿瘤周围区谷氨酸及谷氨酰胺(Glu-n)波高高于脑转移瘤.8例脑转移瘤患者肿瘤增强区Glu-n波高高于脑胶质瘤.术后复查MRI,3例出现复发,1HMRS显示Glu-n及脂质波高显著升高(占18.8%).结论:1HMRS鉴别恶性胶质瘤与脑单发转移瘤有诊断价值,并可对预后判定提供帮助.     

整脊疗法对功能性消化不良患者胃动素、胃泌素的影响

目的：观察整脊疗法对功能性消化不良患者血浆胃动素（MTL）和血清胃泌素（GAS）含量的影响，并探讨整脊疗法对该病的作用机制。方法：将功能性消化不良60例患者按随机分配原则分为两组，治疗组采用整脊疗法治疗，对照组口服贝络纳治疗，观察血浆胃动素、血清胃泌素含量的变化。结果：整脊疗法能提高MTL水平（P〈0．01），降低GAS（P〈0．05），其作用与贝络纳相仿。结论：通过对功能性消化不良患者血浆胃动素、血清胃泌紊含量变化的观察，整脊疗法可能通过调节脑一肠轴的脊柱前神经节影响胃肠神经系统改变胃肠黏膜分泌MTL和GAS的含量，改善胃肠功能。     

单蒂横行腹直肌肌皮瓣乳房再造中Ⅳ区皮瓣的取舍

目的探讨单蒂横行腹直肌肌皮瓣乳房再造术中Ⅳ区皮瓣的取舍。方法通过16例实施单蒂横行腹直肌肌皮瓣乳房再造术，术中观察皮瓣的皮色、断面出血颜色，并利用近红外血氧监测仪测定皮瓣各区的组织血氧饱和度，决定Ⅳ区皮瓣的取舍。术后观察指标包括术后并发症及美学效果。结果16例中5例Ⅳ皮瓣的肤色正常、断面出血呈鲜红色而非暗红色、组织血氧饱和度不低于Ⅲ区组织血氧饱和度的95％。在接受了保留Ⅳ区皮瓣的单蒂横行腹直肌肌皮瓣乳房再造术后，再造乳房全部成活，无严重术后并发症，患者对再造乳房均很满意。结论近红外血氧无创检测有助于决定Ⅳ区皮瓣的取舍。有选择地实施保留Ⅳ区皮瓣的单蒂横行腹直肌肌皮瓣乳房再造术，可用于大面积胸壁缺损或乳腺尾叶的修复重建。     

质子磁共振波谱对颞叶癫癎的诊断价值

目的:评价磁共振质子波谱(H MRS)对颞叶癫癎的诊断价值.方法:对20例健康人和18例颞叶癫癎病人进行1H MRS采集,并定量分析了癫痫病人的N-乙酰天门冬氨酸(NAA)、肌酸(Cr)和胆碱复合物(Cho)等代谢产物的变化.结果:癫癎病人致癫灶NAA峰以及NAA/(Cho cr)、NAA/Cr和NAA/Cho比值低于病灶对侧,亦低于健康对照组.正常对照组NAA/(Cho Cr)值平均为0.78,双侧差别小于0.07.我们以NAA/(Cho Cr)值＜0.68和双侧NAA/(Cho Cr)比值的差别＞0.07为判断标准,18例颞叶癫癎病人中,16例为单侧MRS异常,2例为双侧异常.结论:质子磁共振波谱能无创性探测脑组织内生化及代谢改变,是诊断颞叶癫癎的有效手段之一.     

Predictors of oral health quality of life in older adults

There is limited information regarding oral health status and other predictors of oral health‐related quality of life. An association between oral health status and perceived oral health‐related quality of life (OHQOL) might help clinicians motivate patients to prevent oral diseases and improve the outcome of some dental public health programs. This study evaluated the relationship between older persons' OHQOL and their functional dentition, caries, periodontal status, chronic diseases, and some demographic characteristics. A group of 733 low‐income elders (mean age 72.7 ISD=4.71, 55.6% women, 55.1% members of ethnic minority groups in the U.S. and Canada) enrolled in the TEETH clinical trial were interviewed and examined as part of their fifth annual visit for the trial. OHQOL was measured by the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI); oral health and occlusal status by clinical exams and the Eichner Index; and demographics via interviews. Elders who completed the four‐year assessment had an average of 21.5 teeth (SD=6.9). with 8.5 occluding pairs (SD=4.6), and 32% with occlusal contacts in all four occluding zones. Stepwise multiple regressions were conducted to predict total GOHAI and its subscores (Physical, Social, and Worry). Functional dentition was a less significant predictor than ethnicity and being foreign‐bom. These variables, together with gender, years since immigrating, number of carious roots, and periodontal status, could predict 32% of the variance in total GOHAI, 24% in Physical, 27% in Social, and 21 % in the Worry subscales. These findings suggest that functional dentition and caries influence older adults' OHQOL, but that ethnicity and immigrant status play a larger role.     

Chemical shift differences between free and Fab-bound peptide correlate with a two-stage selection of peptide sequences from a random phage display library to delineate critical and non-critical residues for antibody recognition

Epitope libraries provide a method to identify peptide ligands for antibodies, receptors or other binding proteins. As such, they provide a powerful tool to rapidly identify lead ligands in the drug discovery process. In an attempt to correlate structural information with the results from peptide screening, we have used NMR spectroscopy of peptide/antibody complexes to demonstrate that core residues identified through a two-stage selection process undergo a larger structural change upon binding antibody than do positions in the peptide amenable to a variety of side chains. The model system used was the M2 monoclonal antibody/Flag? octapeptide epitope system. We have analyzed two peptides: Ac-Asp-Tyr-Lys-Leu-Gly-Asp-Asp-Leu-NH₂ (peptide l), which contains several non-core positions randomized, and Ac-Asp-Tyr-Lys-Asp-Asp-Asp-Asp-Leu-NH₂ (peptide 2), which closely corresponds to the original Flag? sequence. Enrichment of the peptides with ¹⁵N facilitated the investigation by permitting spectral editing of the peptide resonances in the presence of antibody. For peptide 1 the absolute shifts for the free vs. Fab-bound peptide were found to be largest for the amide groups of Asp-1 and Asp-6, in agreement with classification of these residues as critical by the phage display library selection process. For peptide 2 the largest absolute shifts were observed for Asp-1 and Asp-4, with the other aspartic acid residues also showing significant but smaller changes. © Munksgaard 1995.