Is OSNA better than imprint cytology for intraoperative diagnosis of cancer involvement of axillary sentinel node in breast cancer?

ObjectiveThe study aim was to establish Sensitivity, Specificity, Positive Predictive Value, Negative Predictive Value (NPV), and Accuracy Values of both imprint cytology (IC) and the OSNA assay for intraoperative assessment of axillary sentinel node (SN) cancer involvement in breast cancer. Specifically, we wished to find out if true positive and false negative results of IC were associated to axillary lymphadenectomy (ALND). Also, we addressed a comparative cost analysis between techniques.Methods244 patients treated for breast cancer in the Breast Unit of Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol from 2011 to 2015 were prospectively included. A transversal, consecutive design was applied to assess IC compared to the reference test (OSNA). Inclusion criteria were: T1 and T2 tumors with negative nodes, both clinically and on ultrasound.ResultsSensitivity of IC for macrometastases was 70%. The NPV of IC for macrometastases was 95,75%. Accuracy of IC was 96,12%. In the comparative cost analysis, the release time of results for OSNA doubled that of IC and was associated with an increased cost of € 370.ConclusionsIC has been stated as a good technique for intraoperative cancer involvement SN with high sensitivity and NPV compared to the OSNA assay. It allows keeping the whole node tissue and thus the possibility of improved histopathological evaluation, which can be useful for adjuvant, and offers the advantage of being less time consuming. Cost analysis shows a higher cost for OSNA, which may exceed the benefit of sorting out false negatives from IC.     

触控式省水阀在综合性医院应用的除尘能力评价

目的通过触控式水阀的除尘能力研究,验证其是否适合在医院环境中使用。方法收集医院环境中的自然落尘,溶于清洁自来水中,人工将其附着于触控头上,干燥24h后开启自来水,将冲脱下来的自来水分段收集,检测其浊度和电导率,观察洗脱效果。结果附着物能在20s内被快速洗脱,将自来水的吸光度值降为零,电导值降到0．018s／cm．清洁度与原自来水检测值一致。结论触控式水阀具备自动除尘能力,能在综合性医院安全应用。     

Sound enhances touch perception

Certain sounds, such as fingernails screeching down a chalkboard, have a strong association with somatosensory percepts. In order to assess the influences of audition on somatosensory perception, three experiments measured how task-irrelevant auditory stimuli alter detection rates for near-threshold somatosensory stimuli. In Experiment 1, we showed that a simultaneous auditory stimulus increases sensitivity, but not response biases, to the detection of an electrical cutaneous stimulus delivered to the hand. Experiment 2 demonstrated that this enhancement of somatosensory perception is spatially specific—only monaural sounds on the same side increased detection. Experiment 3 revealed that the effects of audition on touch are also frequency dependent—only sounds with the same frequency as the vibrotactile frequency enhanced tactile detection. These results indicate that auditory information influences touch perception in highly systematic ways and suggest that similar coding mechanisms may underlie the processing of information from these different sensory modalities.     

Enhanced sensory perception in synaesthesia

Previous findings imply that synaesthetic experience may have consequences for sensory processing of stimuli that do not themselves trigger synaesthesia. For example, synaesthetes who experience colour show enhanced perceptual processing of colour compared to non-synaesthetes. This study aimed to investigate whether enhanced perceptual processing was a core property of synaesthesia by contrasting tactile and colour sensitivity in synaesthetes who experience either colour, touch, or both touch and colour as evoked sensations. For comparison the performance of non-synaesthetic control subjects was also assessed. There was a relationship between the modality of synaesthetic experience and the modality of sensory enhancement. Synaesthetes who experience colour have enhanced colour sensitivity and synaesthetes who experience touch have enhanced tactile sensitivity. These findings suggest the possibility that a hyper-sensitive concurrent perceptual system is a general property of synaesthesia and are discussed in relation to theories of the condition.     

Spatial attention affects the processing of tactile and visual stimuli presented at the tip of a tool: an event-related potential study

An event-related potential (ERP) experiment was conducted in order to investigate the nature of any cross-modal links in spatial attention during tool use. Tactile stimuli were delivered from the tip of two sticks, held in either a crossed or an uncrossed tools posture, while visual stimuli were presented along the length of each tool. Participants had to detect tactile deviant stimuli at the end of one stick while trying to ignore all other stimuli. Reliable ERP spatial attention effects to tactile stimuli were observed at early (160–180 ms) and later time epochs (>350 ms) when the tools were uncrossed. Reliable ERP attention effects to visual stimuli presented close to the tip of the tool and close to the hand were also observed in the uncrossed tools condition (time epoch 140–180 ms). These results are consistent with the claim that tool-use results in a shift of visuospatial attention toward the tip of the tool and also to attention being focused by the hand where the touch is felt.     

天然牙触觉阈限的测量及临床意义

目的 检测天然牙6个正交方向的被动触觉阈限,分析其影响因素,以指导临床个性化调(牙合).方法 利用牙齿触觉功能数字测试系统,测试20名健康受试者(平均年龄25岁,男女各10名)的218颗天然牙(上下颌中切牙至第一磨牙)的6个正交方向(即唇或颊、舌、近中、远中4个水平方向,根方和冠方2个轴向)的被动触觉阈限,利用多水平模型(multilevel modeling,MLM)分析被动触觉阈限的影响因素.结果 前牙、前磨牙和磨牙被动触觉阈限的中位数(四分位数间距)分别为16(18)、38(57)和105(115)mN,MLM分析显示,受试者间天然牙被动触觉阈限的个体差异明显(P＜0.05),受牙列分区、性别和受力方向3个因素的影响(P＜0.01),其影响作用的大小依次递减.结论 天然牙具有灵敏的触觉功能,被动触觉阈限能达到10 mN的水平,被动触觉阈限存在个体差异,受牙列分区、性别和受力方向的影响.     

抚触联合金双歧治疗母乳性黄疸的疗效观察

目的观察抚触联合金双歧治疗母乳性黄疸的疗效。方法124例母乳性黄疸随机分组,对照组给予菌栀黄口服液及酶诱导剂口服,治疗组给予金双歧口服及抚触护理。结果治疗组与对照组在治疗黄疸消退方面的疗效无显著差异,在体重增长方面有显著差异。结论金双歧口服联合抚触护理治疗母乳性黄疸,安全有效,除能明显降低血清胆红素水平,缩短治疗时间外,尚能促进生长发育,值得推广使用。     

Touch or pain? Spatio-temporal patterns of cortical fMRI activity following brief mechanical stimuli

Most imaging studies on the human pain system have concentrated so far on the spatial distribution of pain-related activity. In the present study, we investigated similarities and differences between the spatial and temporal patterns of brain activity related to touch vs. pain perception. To this end, we adopted an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm allowing us to separately assess the activity related to stimulus anticipation, perception, and coding. The fMRI signal increases following brief mechanical noxious or non-noxious stimulation of the hand dorsum were largely overlapping in the contralateral and ipsilateral hemispheres, including portions of the parietal, insular, frontal and cingulate cortices. Higher activity following noxious stimulation was found in the contralateral mid-anterior insular cortex, in the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (aMCC) and in the adjacent dorso-medial frontal cortex. Significant decreases in fMRI signals following both tactile and painful stimuli were found in perigenual cingulate (pACC)/medial prefrontal cortex (MPF) and in the posterior cingulate/precuneus/paracentral lobule; more intense decreases were found in the pACC/MPF following painful stimuli. fMRI signal increases in the contralateral insula and in aMCC, but not in the parietal cortex, were more prolonged following painful than tactile stimuli. Moreover, a second peak of signal increases (albeit of lower intensity) was found in anterior insula and aMCC during pain intensity rating. These results show specific spatio-temporal patterns of cortical activity related to processing noxious vs. non-noxious mechanical stimuli.