Inhibitory effect of nifedipine on cholecystokinin-induced gallbladder contraction in man

A prospective study was performed on seven male and eight female patients with normal hepatobiliary findings to investigate the effect of 20 mg nifedipine on cholecystokinin-induced gallbladder contraction. Each patient received 1 IDU (Ivy dog unit) cholecystokinin per kg body weight intravenously on two consecutive days, with additional administration of 20 mg nifedipine sublingually on the second day. Gallbladder volumes were assessed by ultrasonography over a period of 25 minutes. Cholecystokinin induced a maximal reduction in the mean initial volume of 56.8 +/- 3.6%. After nifedipine, this volume change was significantly reduced to 30.9 +/- 5.1% (p less than 0.001). Thus our data suggest for the first time that the calcium-channel-blocking agent nifedipine can have an effect on human gallbladder kinetics.     

Effect of respiratory training with a mouth-nose-mask in tetraplegics

Ten tetraplegics, 8 males and 2 females, with a median age of 32 years participated in a scheduled 6 weeks training programme with a respiratory muscle training mouth-nose-mask (RMT-mask) with a fixed expiratory and an increasing inspiratory resistance set by the tetraplegic in accordance to his/her increasing ability during the training period. During the 6 weeks the tetraplegics required to use the RMT-mask for 15 minutes three times a day. Before and after each training session they measured peak flow (PEF). Lung volumes, ventilatory and diffusion capacity were measured before and after the 6 weeks training period. The training resulted only in a significant change in the PEF, which increased with 11% from 371 l/min before to 412 l/min in average after the 6 weeks of training (p less than 0.025). This statistically significant increase was confirmed by the measurements of PEF performed by the tetraplegics themselves during the training period. In addition there was an increase in PEF from before to immediately after each 15 minutes training session, this trend reached statistically significance (p less than 0.025) in the third '2 weeks period'. These results might indicate a possibility of improving the tetraplegics ability to cough by use of a simple RMT-mask, which in turn might prevent certain lung complications including pneumonia, and atelectasia.     

Angiostatin overexpression in Morris hepatoma results in decreased tumor growth but increased perfusion and vascularization.

Growth of malignant tumors is dependent on sufficient blood supply. Thus, inhibition of tumor angiogenesis is emerging as a promising target in the treatment of malignancies. Human angiostatin (hANG) is one of the most potent inhibitors of endothelial cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and tumor growth in vivo. However, its mechanisms operating in vivo are not well understood. METHODS: To obtain more information about functional changes in the angiogenic process, we established Morris hepatoma (MH3924A) cell lines expressing hANG (hANG-MH3924A). The effects of hANG expression on proliferation and apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were measured in coculture experiments in vitro. To evaluate changes in tumor perfusion and blood volume, H2 15O and 68Ga-DOTA-albumin (DOTA is 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N',N',N'-tetraacetic acid) were used for PET studies in vivo. Additionally, immunohistologic quantification of vascularization, apoptosis, and proliferation as well as gene array analyses were performed. RESULTS: Our in vitro experiments demonstrate reduced proliferation and increased apoptosis in HUVECs when being cocultured with hANG-MH3924A. In support, tumor growth of hANG-MH3924A is diminished by 95% in vivo. However, tumor perfusion and blood volume are increased in hANG-MH3924A corresponding to an increased microvessel density. Furthermore, hANG-transfected tumors show changes in expression of genes related to apoptosis, stress, signal transduction, and metabolism. CONCLUSION: hANG expression leads to inhibition of tumor growth, increased apoptosis, and changes in the expression of multiple genes involved in stress reactions, signal transduction, and apoptosis, which indicates a multifactorial reaction of tumors. An enhanced microvessel density is seen as part of these reactions and is associated with increased perfusion as measured by PET.     

内脏器官激光多谱勒血流灌注图象的显示

目的显示内脏器官血流灌注和分布的图象,探讨激光多谱勒血流成像技术在内脏微循环检测中的价值。方法应用激光多谱勒血流灌注成像仪(LDPI),对大鼠和家兔腹部脏器(肝、脾、肾、膀胱、胃、大小肠和肠系膜等)的血流灌注进行扫描和血流图显示。结果在体内脏器官显像清晰,肝、肾、脾、膀胱等微循环血流的整体分布较均匀;而胃、肠系膜、回盲肠等激光多谱勒血流图上大血流线状显示极其显著;大鼠与家兔两种动物之间相同脏器血流图上的差异并不明显。结论LDPI能将内脏器官的微循环状态以图象的形式显示,该新技术方法在检测内脏血流方面将有一定的应用价值。     

Design of Case-controls Studies with Unscreened Controls

Traditionally in genetic case‐control studies controls have been screened to exclude subjects with a personal history of illness. This control group has the advantage of optimal power to detect loci involved in illness, but requires more work and may incur substantial cost in recruitment. An alternative approach to screening is to use unscreened controls sampled from the general population. Such controls are generally plentiful and inexpensive, but in general there is a risk that some may have the same disease as the cases, which will reduce power to detect associations. We have quantified the extent of this power loss, and produced mathematical formulae for the number of unscreened controls necessary to achieve the same power as a fixed sample of screened controls. The effect of using unscreened controls will also depend on the ratio of the number of screened controls to cases specified in the original study design, and this is also investigated. We have also investigated the cost‐benefits of the screened and unscreened approaches, according to variation in the relative costs of sampling screened and unscreened controls, together with genotyping costs. We have, thus, identified the range of situations in which using unscreened controls is a cost‐effective alternative to the screened control method and could be considered when designing a study. In many of the typical, real‐world situations in complex genetics, the use of unscreened controls is potentially cost‐effective and can, in general, be considered for disorders with population prevalence K_p < 0.2. With the steady reduction in genotyping costs and the availability of common sets of “population controls” this design is likely to become increasingly cost effective.     

儿童胡桃夹征CT表现(附2例报告)

“胡桃夹征”(nutcracker sign)又称“左肾静脉压迫综合征”,本文对经CT证实的2例分析如下。1材料与方法2例中,男女各1例,年龄7~10岁。临床症状主要为反复血尿,直立或剧烈活动明显。症状持续时间为10天~1年2个月,为肉眼或镜下血悄,伴有或不伴蛋白尿,无高血压及水肿。2例患者实验室检查:肝功、肾功、抗PPD抗体、抗“O”均正常。2结果2例患者重组图像均显示肠系膜上动脉(SMA)与腹主动脉夹角变小,为23°~25°,SMA向后挤压左肾静脉,以矢状面重组图像较为直观(图1);左肾静脉于SMA后方与腹主动脉之间明显狭窄,其远侧段管腔扩张(图2)。CTA…     

平衡法门控心血池显像评价不同分级前壁心肌梗死患者左室收缩及舒张功能

目的我们应用平衡法门控心血池显像技术对不同Killip分级的前壁心肌梗死患者进行左室总体和局部收缩和舒张功能参数的对比分析。方法对照组15例（G0）,前壁心肌梗死KillipⅠ级17例（G1）,前壁心肌梗死KillipⅡⅢ级12例（G2）。利用平衡法门控心血池显像技术评价3组的左室总体和局部的收缩与舒张功能。结果①左室整体收缩功能,在LVEF,ESC 2个参数中,G1比G0有显著差异（P<0.05）,G2分别比G1和G0有显著差异（P<0.05）。在PER、1/3EF、1/3ER 3个参数中,G2分别比G1和G0显著下降（P<0.05）。②左室总体舒张功能,在PFR、1/3FF、1/3FR、EDC中,G1比G0有显著差异（P<0.05）,G2分别比G1和G0有显著差异（P<0.05）。③左室局部收缩功能,在以LVREF为参数时,G1在4个节段比G0显著差异（P<0.05）,G2在所有6个节段中比G1和G0均显著下降（P<0.05）。④左室局部舒张功能,在以LVR1/3FF为参数时,G1在4个节段比G0显著下降（P<0.05）,G2在所有6个节段比G0和G1均显著下降（P<0.05）。结论前壁心肌梗死后出现心功能受损或心力衰竭的主要原因为左室重构。     

血管内栓塞结合显微手术治疗颅内动脉瘤临床研究

目的应用显微手术夹闭、血管内栓塞和栓塞后手术夹闭3种治疗方法，探讨治疗颅内破裂动脉瘤的安全有效方案。方法显微手术瘤颈夹闭30个动脉瘤，栓塞34个动脉瘤，栓塞后夹闭15个动脉瘤。结果夹闭组30个完全夹闭，无复发，死亡率6％（2／30）。栓塞组完全闭塞率70．6％（24／34），复发率17．6％（6／34），死亡率11．8％（4／34）。栓塞后手术组15个完全夹闭，无复发，死亡率6．7％（1／15）。治疗结束用GOS评价，1个月后3组良好率分别为80．0％、79．4％和80．0％；半年后良好率分别为90．0％、88．2％和86．7％。结论显微手术瘤颈夹闭术仍然是治疗破裂动脉瘤的有效方法，具有1次治疗彻底和复发率低的优势，并可作为栓塞失败的补救手段。     

Sonographic evaluation of gallbladder kinetics: in vitro and in vivo comparison of different methods to assess gallbladder emptying.

In an in vitro study, 10 gallbladders of adult pigs and 6 gallbladders of lambs, all removed immediately after slaughtering, were stimulated in a water bath by electric means to induce active contraction. Gallbladder emptying was followed by ultrasonography employing five measurement procedures: (1) gallbladder width, (2) longitudinal planimetry, (3) transverse planimetry, (4) ellipsoid method, and (5) sum of cylinders method. In an in vivo investigation, gallbladder emptying of 30 volunteers (12 healthy subjects, 18 diabetics) was evaluated in the same way after ingestion of a fatty meal. Gallbladder width was found to be unsuitable to estimate the decrease in gallbladder volume due to a nonlinear relation of the parameters. Longitudinal planimetry tended to be less valid than transverse planimetry in assessing gallbladder volume reduction. The most valid estimation of gallbladder volume decreases was obtained by the two three-dimensional procedures. However, in neither in vitro nor in vivo could a significant difference between the sum of cylinders method and the ellipsoid method in determining relative volume reduction be established. We conclude that a three-dimensional measurement procedure should be used for valid assessments of gallbladder motility. However, according to our data there is no advantage in using the time-consuming sum of cylinders method compared to the simple ellipsoid method.