Do children with primary nocturnal enuresis have a retarded bone age? A cross‐sectional study

OBJECTIVE: Nocturnal enuresis is a common pediatric problem, the etiology of which is unclear. In recent years, various studies have been published stating that children with nocturnal enuresis exhibit growth and skeletal maturation retardation. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we included 27 patients (16 boys, 11 girls) between the ages of 6 and 14 years who had presented with primary nocturnal enuresis (PNE) complaints. We included in the evaluation 19 healthy subjects (12 boys, 7 girls), who were the siblings of the children with PNE, as the control group. RESULTS: The patients in both groups were similar in chronological age, bone age, height and weight, with no significant difference between groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The two groups in our study consisted of the same genetic background. Thus, our results were found to be different from the previous studies. We have concluded that there is no direct relationship between enuresis nocturnal and skeletal maturation.     

《素问玄机原病式》学术思想探讨

《素问玄机原病式》一书，发挥《内经》病机学说，弥补了原“病机十九条”过于简略之不足，创造性地继承和发展了《内经》理论，特别是首倡“六气皆从火化”之说；关于“相火”的论述，则为后世相火理论的形成奠定了基础；它还总结了温热病的治疗原则，对后世温病学派的形成产生了重要影响。     

Changes in the Eeg Background Activity of Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia During Cytotoxic Therapy

Thirteen children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were investigated before and during cytotoxic therapy. EEG findings were correlated with the clinical course and the therapy protocol and compared with normal data obtained from 295 healthy children. Frequency analysis of the background activity of the EEG revealed an initial slowing of the background activity prior to therapy and further slowing each time a combination of vincristine (VCR), daunorubicine (DAU) or adriblastine (ADR), prednisone (FRED), and L-asparaginase (L-ASP) was administered. The slowing of the background activity correlated only with the administration of these drugs. DAU, ADR, and FRED are not known to influence the EEG; therefore, VCR and L-ASP remain the primary candidates responsible for the central nervous system alteration.     

解读中医"火"概念的发生及其内涵

生产生活常识中的"火"是中医"火"概念发生的原型,经过取象比类思维,抽象出了具有气、阴阳、五行等哲学意义的"火"概念,并在此基础上构建了中医"火"的概念以及相关理论.     

Directional asymmetry in smooth ocular tracking in the presence of visual background in young and adult primates

The smooth pursuit system moves the eyes in space accurately while compensating for visual inputs from the moving background and/or vestibular inputs during head movements. To understand the mechanisms underlying such interactions, we examined the influence of a stationary textured visual background on smooth pursuit tracking and compared the results in young and adult humans and monkeys. Six humans (three children, three adults) and six macaque monkeys (five young, one adult) were used. Human eye movements were recorded using infrared oculography and evoked by a sinusoidally moving target presented on a computer monitor. Scleral search coils were used for monkeys while they tracked a target presented on a tangent screen. The target moved in a sinusoidal or trapezoidal fashion with or without whole body rotation in the same plane. Two kinds of backgrounds, homogeneous and stationary textured, were used. Eye velocity gains (eye velocity/target velocity) were calculated in each condition to compare the influence of the textured background. Children showed asymmetric eye movements during vertical pursuit across the textured (but not the homogeneous) background; upward pursuit was severely impaired, and consisted mostly of catch-up saccades. In contrast, adults showed no asymmetry during pursuit across the different backgrounds. Monkeys behaved similarly; only slight effects were observed with the textured background in a mature monkey, whereas upward pursuit was severely impaired in young monkeys. In addition, VOR cancellation was severely impaired during upward eye and head movements, resulting in residual downward VOR in young monkeys. From these results, we conclude that the directional asymmetry observed in young primates may reflect a different neural organization of the vertical, particularly upward, pursuit system in the face of conflicting visual and vestibular inputs that can be associated with pursuit eye movements. Apparently, proper compensation matures later. Electronic Publication     

How to improve microscopic images obtained with consumer-type digital cameras

AIM: Digital imaging is useful in conventional photography because it immediately provides images, and the image quality can be improved afterwards by the use of computer programs. The major disadvantages of consumer-type digital cameras mounted on microscopes are (i) unequal illumination through the image, and (ii) a coloured background. A computer program was specifically adapted and refined to improve images obtained with consumer-type digital cameras mounted on microscopes. METHODS AND RESULTS: An approach using a division operation between the specimen image and a background image leads to homogeneous illumination throughout the image, with automatically corrected brightness and white background. The correct colour spectrum is preserved by correction of the histogram. This approach was obtained from the freeware computer program 'Image Arithmetic'. In a test, three different consumer-type digital cameras (Sony, Nikon, Olympus) on different microscopes were used to obtain images of different types of histological specimens (cervical smear, bone marrow biopsy, and colonic biopsy). The computer program dramatically improved the quality of images obtained with all tested cameras. CONCLUSION: Using this approach, even low-cost digital cameras mounted on microscopes produce brilliant images with homogeneous illumination and a white background, the image quality being comparable with expensive cameras especially designed for microscopes.     

Attitudes of medical and dental students to dissection

Guy's, King's, and St. Thomas's School of Medicine encourages students to learn anatomy from human dissection. Today, there is a worldwide move of anatomy-based teaching away from dissection to prosection. This study investigates how attitudes toward dissection vary with gender and ethnicity. We assessed students' reactions and concerns regarding the dissecting room, any coping strategies they use to combat them, and analyzed effective methods of teaching anatomy to medical and dental students. Three questionnaires were distributed amongst 474 first-year medical and dental students before dissection and 1 week and 12 weeks after exposure to the dissecting room. Over the 3 months we found significant changes in the concerns of students about dissection. There were also significant differences (P < 0.05) between medical and dental students, males and females, and students of differing ethnic backgrounds, which persisted over 12 weeks. Both medical and dental students found tutorials and textbooks of most value in learning anatomy. Dental students found prosection more useful than medical students (P < 0.001) though neither group demonstrated a significant preference for prosection over dissection. Of concern, 7% reported recurring images of cadavers and 2% insomnia after commencing dissection. Interest in the subject matter and discussion were the commonest methods used to combat stress. This study contributes to the ongoing debate about the value of the dissecting room in the medical school curriculum.     

Longitudinal studies of drug abuse in a fifteen-year-old population. 5. Prognostic factors

In an attempt to identify prognostic factors, non-drug users and abusers in the Gothenburg year cohort of 1953 were compared with reference to background data. Individuals with chronic abuse differed most from the "normal" group. Prognostic factors for drug abuse were: member of a multiproblem family, child psychiatric care, contact with the Social Welfare Administration at an early age, truancy, placement in special class, premature drop-out from school, admitted high-frequency drug use in a school questionnaire, for boys early registration for crimes and for girls nervous complaints. The results indicate the necessity of earlier and more effective prevention.     

肖厝口岸恙螨本底调查报告

〔目的〕掌握肖厝口岸鼠形动物所携带的恙螨的种类、分布和季节消长的本底情况。〔方法〕从2004年8月￣2005年7月分别采用捕鼠夹和捕鼠笼对肖厝口岸的鼠形动物所携带的恙螨的种群构成、季节消长进行了调查。〔结果〕本次调查共捕获鼠形动物60只,其中22只携带恙螨,共检集恙螨2938只,经鉴定隶属2科2属4种,其中地理纤恙螨为优势种,占总恙螨数的74.13%。恙螨全年平均密度(恙螨指数)为48.97,鼠体染恙螨率为36.67%。优势鼠种黄胸鼠的恙螨密度最高,为102.48,鼠体染恙螨率为59.26%。全年的季节消长有3个高峰期,最高峰月份为5月。〔结论〕肖厝口岸优势鼠种携带的恙螨率较高,存在着恙虫病发生的可能性。改善港区办公大楼及食堂室内外和与港区连接部的海龙餐馆室内外的环境卫生,消灭恙螨孽生地,加强防治知识的宣传以及开展群众性灭鼠是我们今后工作的重点。每年的5月和12月是开展灭鼠、灭螨的最好时机。