Chronic exposure to schistosome eggs reduces serum cholesterol but has no effect on atherosclerotic lesion development

Previous studies have shown that people infected with schistosomiasis have lower levels of serum cholesterol than uninfected controls. To better understand the impact of this parasitic infection on serum cholesterol levels and on atherosclerotic lesion development induced by hypercholesterolemia, apolipoprotein E (ApoE)-deficient mice were chronically exposed to the eggs of Schistosoma mansoni over a period of 16 weeks. Total serum cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) were reduced in egg-exposed ApoE-deficient mice fed a diet high in cholesterol compared to unexposed controls. However, exposure to eggs had no effect on atherosclerotic lesion size or progression in ApoE-deficient mice. Macrophages isolated from egg-exposed mice had an enhanced ability to take up LDL but not acetylated LDL (acLDL). This study suggests that schistosome eggs alone may alter serum lipid profiles through enhancing LDL uptake by macrophages, but these changes do not ultimately affect atherosclerotic lesion development.     

应用非每日锥形束CT校位减少摆位误差对鼻咽癌调强放疗剂量影响

目的 探讨应用非每日千伏级锥形束CT(KVCBCT)校位能否改善摆位误差对鼻咽癌调强放疗(IMRT)剂量分布影响。方法 对14例行根治性IMRT的鼻咽癌患者治疗开始后连续5次用KVCBCT检测摆位误差,并将其均值作为系统误差预测值,若其＞1.5 mm则在第6次离线校位。假设通过移床能完全校正系统误差,那么从第6次起实际各方向摆位误差值加上离线校位值可得到未行校位时的摆位误差值,在治疗计划系统中通过等中心移位重新计算剂量来模拟应用非每日校位策略前后摆位误差所致的剂量变化。结果 对10例系统误差预测值＞1.5 mm者摆位误差明显降低了靶区剂量:98％大体肿瘤体积(GTV)所接受剂量(GTV-D98)平均减少3.8Gy(Z=-2.81,P=0.005),原发灶临床靶体积(CTVns) D95( CTVns-D95)平均减少4.8Gy(Z=-1.96,P=0.050),高危CTV1 -D95平均减少1.0Gy(Z=-2.82,P=0.005),低危CTV2-D95减少不明显(Z=-0.13,P=0.900)。应用非每日校位后明显减少了摆位误差的三维方向位移总量,均值从3.6 mm减少为2.6mm(t=2.00,P=0.000),GTV-D98平均增加3.8 Gy(Z=-2.70,P=0.007),CTVns-D95平均增加5.0Gy(Z=-2.15,P=0.030),CTV1 -D95平均增加0.9Gy(Z=-2.80,P=0.005),减少了危及器官剂量增加＞3％、5％患者比例。结论 应用非每日KVCBCT校位能有效减少摆位误差对鼻咽癌IMRT剂量分布的不利影响。     

食管癌切除胸腹二区淋巴结清扫手术疗效的研究

目的：分析总结食管癌切除胸腹二区淋巴结清扫的手术疗效。方法：回顾分析1986年2月～2007年12月我院对中下段食管癌和上段食管癌分别采用Ivor—Lewis术式,即上腹正中、右胸后外侧二切口切除及Akiyama术式．即右胸后外侧、上腹正中、左颈部三切口切除,并作胸腹二区淋巴结清扫治疗胸段食管癌1690例的临床资料,总结胸腹二区淋巴结转移的发生率并随访1、3、5年的生存率。结果：全组手术切除率为97．86％（1690／1727）。全组有淋巴结转移782例,占46．27％,其中胸部淋巴结转移占38．93％（658／1690）,腹部淋巴结转移占25．92％（438／1690）,胸部淋巴结转移发生于最上纵隔位于气管食管沟及喉返神经旁占20．47％（346／1690）,术后共有178例发生230例次各种并发症,总的并发症的发生率为13．6％（230／1690）,其中肺部并发症为第一位,占34．3％,心律失常占17．4％,喉返神经损伤发生率为8．7％,吻合口瘘发生率为1．7％。术后1、3、5年的生存率分别为88．2％（1161／1316）、63．5％（634／998）和51．8％（331／639）。无淋巴结转移的5年生存率为65．2％（219／336）,有淋巴结转移的5年生存率为32．3％（102／316）。结论：Ivor-Lewis术式和Akiyama术式胸腹腔有良好的显露,淋巴结清扫彻底、方便,尤其对右侧最上纵隔沿喉返神经旁淋巴结清扫便利。特别对有淋巴结转移的食管癌患者行胸、腹二区淋巴结清扫十分必要,能明显提高术后5年生存率。     

The kinetic occipital (KO) region in man: an fMRI study

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore, in individual subjects, the properties of the kinetic occipital (KO) region, which previous position emission tomography studies have shown to be involved in the processing of kinetic boundaries. The KO region was significantly activated in 23/25 subjects tested in the subtraction of uniform motion from kinetic gratings. The KO region is genuinely specialized for processing kinetic boundaries since it is significantly more activated by kinetic gratings than by luminance-defined gratings, uniform motion or transparent motion. This leaves only the kinetic boundaries, created by discontinuities in motion direction, as the specific stimulus aspect, activating the KO region. The KO region is anatomically and functionally distinct from areas MT/V5, V3 and V3A. It also has minimal overlap with the lateral occipital (LO) region. The selective activation of the KO region is robust and relatively immune to changes in stimulus size, spatial frequency and type of kinetic boundary. These results strongly argue for the view that the KO region is a new, separate, functional region in human occipital cortex.      

Electron microscopic evidence of persistent chlamydial infection following treatment

Chlamydia trachomatis infections of the female and male genital tracts are often asymptomatic and, thus, tend to become persistent. In the persistent state the typical Chlamydia life cycle is arrested and standard antibiotic regimens do not always eradicate this infection. We sought to relate treatment failures in men and women with persistent chlamydial genital tract infections to electron microscopic evidence of chlamydial persistence and with atypical morphological forms of the organism. Of 16 patients with chlamydial persistence following azithromycin treatment, morphological variants of this organism were observed by electron microscopy from one endocervical sample and one male urethral sample. We document the presence of intracellular inclusions containing only reticulate bodies, extracellular monomembrane and polymembrane phagosomes containing elementary bodies and reticulate bodies with abnormal outer membranes in the process of dividing extracellularly. These observations parallel previous in vitro studies of chlamydial persistence under adverse conditions. This capacity of C. trachomatis to undergo atypical morphological alterations in vivo may contribute to its persistence and relative resistance to antibiotics.