Alterations in Distribution of Blood Flow to the Lung''s Diffusion Surfaces During Exercise

We measured simultaneously, by single breath methods, pulmonary capillary blood flow (Q(c)), carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DL(CO)), and isotopic oxygen ((18)O(18)O) diffusing capacity (DL(18) (O2)) in five normal males during conditions of rest and moderate exercise at mixed venous O(2) tensions (PO(2) 33-44 mm Hg). During moderate exercise at a work load of 100 W. pulmonary capillary blood flow increased from 6.9+/-1.5 to 12.9+/-3.4 min(-1) and DL(18) (O2) increased from 25+/-4 to 43+/-3 ml.min(-1).mm Hg(-1), whereas DL(CO) showed no significant change (45+/-5 to 49+/-10 ml.min(-1).mm Hg(-1)). DL(18) (O2) increased proportionally to Q(c) (r = 0.74), where DL(CO) did not (r = 0.08). The greater increase in DL(18) (O2) during exercise can be explained by a more homogeneous diffusion/perfusion (DL(O2)/Q(c)) distribution in the individual respiratory exchange units during exercise. This improved distribution of DL(O2)/Q(c) acts to help prevent an increase in alveolar-arterial O(2) tension difference from developing despite the decrease in pulmonary erythrocyte transit times that occur during exercise. The insignificant rise in DL(CO) with exercise under these hypoxic breathholding conditions may result from pulmonary vasomotor responses to short-term hypoxia or from relative insensitivity of DL(CO) to moderate levels of exercise.     

骨髓干细胞移植治疗运动神经元病的近期效果:72例疗效分析

目的:观察自体骨髓干细胞移植治疗运动神经元病的近期疗效,探讨对其功能改善作用。方法:2004-02/10对经解放军第四六三医院神经内科临床确诊为运动神经元病的72例患者实施自体骨髓干细胞移植,围手术期给予营养神经等药物治疗。疗效评估以肌张力是否下降,言语不清、吞咽困难是否改善,抬头困难是否改善,肌束震颤次数是否减少,肌力是否增高为标准。如以上各项任何一种症状缓解即为有效。结果:5种症状均减轻者2例,任意4种症状得到缓解者6例,任意3种症状得到缓解者20例,任意2种症状得到缓解者28例,任意1种症状得到缓解者10例,所有上述5种症状均未得到缓解者6例。以上5种症状中的任何一种症状得到缓解均视为有效,有效率为92%(66/72)。无任何并发症出现。结论:自体骨髓干细胞移植具有改善运动神经元病功能障碍的可行性,近期疗效确切。     

Effectiveness of rosiglitazone on bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis: Assessed by micro-computed tomography and pathologic scores

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) agonists exhibit potent anti-fibrotic effects in the lung and other tissues. Recently, micro-computed tomography (CT) has been a useful tool for the investigation of lung diseases in small animals and is now increasingly applied to visualize and quantify the pulmonary structures. However, there is little information on the assessment for therapeutic effects of PPARγ agonists on the pulmonary fibrosis in mice using micro-CT. This study was aimed to determine the capability of micro-CT in examining the effects of rosiglitazone on pulmonary fibrosis. We used a murine model of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis to evaluate the feasibility of micro-CT in evaluating the therapeutic potential of rosiglitazone on pulmonary fibrosis, comparing with pathologic scores. On micro-CT findings, ground glass opacity (80%) and consolidation (20%) were observed predominantly at 3 weeks after the instillation of bleomycin, and the radiologic features became more complex at 6 weeks. In bleomycin-instilled mice treated with rosiglitazone, the majority (80%) showed normal lung features on micro-CT. Radiological-pathologic correlation analyses revealed that ground glass opacity and consolidation were correlated closely with acute inflammation, while reticular opacity was well correlated with histological honeycomb appearance. These results demonstrate that rosiglitazone displays a protective effect on pulmonary fibrosis in mice and that the visualization of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis using micro-CT is satisfactory to assess the effects of rosiglitazone. It implies that micro-CT can be applied to evaluate therapeutic efficacies of a variety of candidate drugs for lung diseases.     

Molecular imaging of small animals with fluorescent proteins: from projection to multimodality

Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have been widely adopted in cell research for protein trafficking and reporter gene expression studies, as well as to study other biological processes. However, biological tissue has high light scattering and high absorption coefficients of visible light; hence, using FPs in small animal imaging remains a challenge, especially when the FPs are located deep in the tissue. In small animals, fluorescence molecular imaging could potentially address this difficulty. We constructed fluorescence molecular imaging systems that have two modes: a planner mode (projection imaging) and a multimodality mode (fluorescence molecular tomography and micro-CT). The planner mode can provide projection images of a fluorophore in the whole body of a small animal, whereas three-dimensional information can be offered by multimodality mode. The planner imaging system works in the reflection mode and is designed to provide fast imaging. The multimodality imaging system is designed to allow quantification and three-dimensional localization of fluorophores. A nude mouse with a tumour targeted with a far-red FP, which is appropriate for in vivo imaging, was adopted to validate the two systems. The results indicate that the planner imaging system is probably suitable for high throughput molecular imaging, whereas the multimodality imaging system is fit for quantitative research.     

ERCP诊治胆总管结石128例临床分析

目的探讨经内镜逆行胰胆管造影（ERCP）及其相关技术在治疗胆总管结石中的作用。方法对128例胆总管结石患者行ERCP检查和治疗,主要包括内镜下乳头括约肌切开（EST）后网篮取石、网篮机械碎石后网篮或/和球囊取出结石碎片、球囊取石并球囊清理胆道;内镜下鼻胆管引流（ENBD）或塑料支架置入引流等治疗。对诊断和治疗情况及并发症进行回顾性总结分析。结果 128例患者ERCP检查发现结石显影120例,敏感性为93.8%,较腹部超声（BUS）检出率（80.5%）明显增高（P〈0.05）。插管成功率96.1%,一次性取石干净89例;68例次行EST后取石网篮取石,26例行网篮碎石后取石,22例行EST后取石球囊取石,7例先行ENBD后择期取石。取石后行ENBD 14例次,行塑料支架植入引流术2例。平均住院（5.8±1.1）d,术后患者腹痛症状消失,经复查结石均取尽。ERCP患者术后出现并发症19例（15.4%）,其中并发高淀粉酶血症14例,并发急性胰腺炎2例,电解质紊乱2例,消化道出血1例,均经内科保守疗法治愈。随访发现结石复发1例,未发现死亡病例。结论 ERCP及其相关技术是胆总管结石安全、微创、经济的治疗方法。     

A Neuroanatomical Signature for Schizophrenia Across Different Ethnic Groups

Schizophrenia is a disabling clinical syndrome found across the world. While the incidence and clinical expression of this illness are strongly influenced by ethnic factors, it is unclear whether patients from different ethnicities show distinct brain deficits. In this multicentre study, we used structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging to investigate neuroanatomy in 126 patients with first episode schizophrenia who came from 4 ethnically distinct cohorts (White Caucasians, African-Caribbeans, Japanese, and Chinese). Each patient was individually matched with a healthy control of the same ethnicity, gender, and age (±1 year). We report a reduction in the gray matter volume of the right anterior insula in patients relative to controls (P < .05 corrected); this reduction was detected in all 4 ethnic groups despite differences in psychopathology, exposure to antipsychotic medication and image acquisition sequence. This finding provides evidence for a neuroanatomical signature of schizophrenia expressed above and beyond ethnic variations in incidence and clinical expression. In light of the existing literature, implicating the right anterior insula in bipolar disorder, depression, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and anxiety, we speculate that the neuroanatomical deficit reported here may represent a transdiagnostic feature of Axis I disorders.Key words: schizophrenia, neuroanatomy, ethnicity, magnetic resonance imaging, voxel-based morphometrySchizophrenia is common, severely disabling, and has major socioeconomic impact. Consistent with the current understanding of illness as a collection of heterogeneous clinical syndromes,^1,2 epidemiological studies have found that the incidence and clinical expression of schizophrenia vary according to a number of sociodemographic factors including, amongst others, the ethnic origin of the patients under investigation.^3–7 For example, patients from Asian ethnicities are more likely to experience visual hallucinations, whereas patients from western cultures and Caucasian ethnicities are more likely to suffer from auditory hallucinations.⁵ In addition, the content of hallucination and delusions is also strongly influenced by the patient’s ethnic milieus.⁵ Even within the same geographical area, ethnic origin has been found to strongly influence the incidence and manifestation of the disease. For example, African-Caribbeans living in London are more likely to develop schizophrenia⁶ and suffer from affective symptoms⁷ than White Caucasians from the same neighbourhood. Likewise, Mâori people in New Zealand are more likely to present with hallucinations and aggression and less likely to present with depression and self-harm than non-Mâori people from the same area.⁸ Over the past 2 decades, neuroimaging techniques have enabled greater understanding of the neuroanatomical basis of this illness.^9–14 So far, however, the impact of ethnic characteristics on the neuroanatomical basis of schizophrenia has received minimal attention in the existing literature.¹⁵ Some neuroimaging studies have recruited ethnically uniform cohorts in order to minimize individual variation within each experimental group^16,17; whereas other studies have included participants from a range of ethnic backgrounds based on the assumption that this would not have a significant impact on the results.^10,18 Thus, at present, we know very little about whether patients from different ethnicities are characterised by similar or different neuroanatomical deficits. Here, we addressed this question by investigating 4 ethnically distinct samples comprising of (1) White Caucasian, (2) African-Caribbean, (3) Japanese, and (4) Chinese participants. The 4 groups were uniform with respect to the stage of the illness, as all patients had experienced a first episode of schizophrenia within the previous 24 months. In addition, in all 4 groups, each patient was individually matched with a healthy control of the same ethnicity, gender, and age (±1 year) in order to minimize the potential impact of these demographic variables. As the 4 groups were scanned at different sites using different scanners and acquisition sequences (see supplementary table S1 for detail), any discrepancy between datasets could be due to methodological differences. For the purpose of the present investigation, therefore, we focussed on differences between patients and controls that were expressed consistently across the 4 groups. As we preprocessed and analysed each dataset independently, using ethnic-specific templates, our investigation can be thought of as a series of replication studies across 4 independent datasets. We hypothesised that the 4 groups would show consistent neuroanatomical reductions in specific prefrontal, parietal, and limbic regions that are implicated in existing animal¹⁹ and human^11,20–24 models of schizophrenia. This would provide evidence for a neuroanatomical signature of schizophrenia expressed above and beyond ethnic differences in incidence and clinical expression.     

Disrupted resting‐state functional connectivity and its changing trend in migraine suffers

Chronic pain has been linked with learning and memory processes and functional changes in brain plasticity in its development and maintenance via neuroimaging studies. However, the principle of reorganization of the migraine brain network as the brain progresses into chronic pain remain poorly understood. Here, using resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs‐fMRI) and graph theory approaches, we aimed to investigate the dynamic dysfunctional connectivity in 108 patients with migraine without aura (MWoA) and 30 gender‐matched healthy controls (HC). All patients were divided into 40 groups using a sliding boxcar grouping of subjects in disease duration order. As compared with HC, nonparametric permutation tests were applied for between‐group comparisons of functional connectivity strength in each patient group. We focused only on the between‐group differences of functional connections in MWoA, and the situation how these different connections were organized along with the changing trend. As the disease duration increased, the presence of chronic headache altered the functional connectivity from the local central nervous system (CNS) to a disruption in the whole‐brain networks. These dysfunctional connections integrated into a connected component in relatively longer migraine duration groups, suggesting an abnormal integrated network configuration with ongoing central changes for long‐term migraine. Within these between‐group differences of the connected component, there were contained a small number of brain regions that had disproportionately numerous connections. Moreover, these brain regions exhibited a tendency to link to each other were organized into a strongly interconnected community. These interconnected brain regions were mainly located in the sensory‐discriminative brain areas. Our results exhibited a working model of the central mechanisms of migraine where the brain functional connectivity was altered from the local central nervous system to a densely interconnected center, which may extend our understanding of the role of learning mechanisms which are likely involved in maintenance of chronic pain. Hum Brain Mapp 36:1892–1907, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc .     

Development of a new ferulic acid certified reference material for use in clinical chemistry and pharmaceutical analysis

This study compares the results of three certified methods, namely differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the mass balance (MB) method and coulometric titrimetry (CT), in the purity assessment of ferulic acid certified reference material (CRM). Purity and expanded uncertainty as determined by the three methods were respectively 99.81%, 0.16%; 99.79%, 0.16%; and 99.81%, 0.26% with, in all cases, a coverage factor (k) of 2 (P=95%). The purity results are consistent indicating that the combination of DSC, the MB method and CT provides a confident assessment of the purity of suitable CRMs like ferulic acid.Abbreviations: ASTM, American Society for Testing and Materials; CRM, certified reference material; CT, coulometric titrimetry; DAD, diode-array detector; DSC, differential scanning calorimetry; EDQM, European Directorate for Quality Medicine; GUM, Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement; ISO, International Organization for Standardization; MB, mass balance; RM, reference material; SI, International System of Units; WHO, World Health OrganizationKEY WORDS: Differential scanning  calorimetry, Mass balance, Coulometric titrimetry, Certified reference  material, Uncertainty, Ferulic acid