Idiopathic Spinal Cord Herniation as a Treatable Cause of Progressive Brown-Sequard Syndrome

Idiopathic spinal cord herniation is a rare spinal cord disorder caused by spinal cord prolapse through a adural defect. It is a curable disease, so early detection is of particular importance. We report a 38-year-old woman with Brown-Sequard syndrome which was caused by the thoracic spinal cord herniation. Her weakness was almost completely resolved after surgical management, which emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis and surgical management in this rare disease entity.     

Dependence of cardiac 11C-meta-hydroxyephedrine retention on norepinephrine transporter density.

The norepinephrine analog (11)C-meta-hydroxyephedrine (HED) is used with PET to map the regional distribution of cardiac sympathetic neurons. HED is rapidly transported into sympathetic neurons by the norepinephrine transporter (NET) and stored in vesicles. Although much is known about the neuronal mechanisms of HED uptake and retention, there is little information about the functional relationship between HED retention and cardiac sympathetic nerve density. The goal of this study was to characterize the dependence of HED retention on nerve density in rats with graded levels of cardiac denervation induced chemically with the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). METHODS: Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 6 groups, and each group was administered a different dose of 6-OHDA: 0 (controls), 7, 11, 15, 22, and 100 mg/kg intraperitoneally. One day after 6-OHDA injection, HED (3.7-8.3 MBq) was injected intravenously into each animal and HED concentrations in heart and blood at 30 min after injection were determined. Heart tissues were frozen and later processed by tissue homogenization and differential centrifugation into a membrane preparation for in vitro measurement of cardiac NET density. A saturation binding assay using (3)H-mazindol as the radioligand was used to measure NET density (maximum number of binding sites [B(max)], fmol/mg protein) for each heart. RESULTS: In control animals, NET B(max) was 388 +/- 23 fmol/mg protein and HED heart uptake (HU) at 30 min was 2.89% +/- 0.35 %ID/g (%ID/g is percentage injected dose per gram tissue). The highest 6-OHDA dose of 100 mg/kg caused severe cardiac denervation, decreasing both NET B(max) and HED HU to 8% of their control values. Comparing values for all doses of 6-OHDA, HED retention had a strong linear correlation with NET density: HU = 0.0077B(max) -0.028, r(2) = 0.95. CONCLUSION: HED retention is linearly dependent on NET density in rat hearts that have been chemically denervated with 6-OHDA, suggesting that HED retention is a good surrogate measure of NET density in the rat heart. This finding is discussed in relation to clinical observations of the dependence of HED retention on cardiac nerve density in human subjects using PET.     

多疗程治疗的癌症病人入院时的焦虑状态调查

[目的]了解恶性肿瘤病人反复多次入院治疗时的心理状态,通过护理干预帮助病人更快投入治疗情境.[方法]通过焦虑自评量表(SAS)进行心理测验,随机将病人分为对照组和实验组,针对结果分别进行相应护理,1周后复查.[结果]实验组和对照组护理后的SAS评分差异显著.[结论]癌症病人多疗程入院的病人焦虑状况严重,实施焦虑的支持护理及心理辅助,可较好地促进病人进入治疗角色,减少弃治轻生的发生.     

Beyond冷光美白术的护理配合

随着人们生活水平的日益提高，对美的要求也越来越高。牙齿美自治疗经历了氧化物温热外漂白法、家庭漂白法、激光漂白法、树脂贴面、烤瓷牙修复等过程。但它们都不同程度地存在美白效果不理想、稳定性差或对牙齿有损害等缺点。Beyond冷光美白法由于其使用安全，美白效果显著，操作时间短，成为牙齿美自治疗新宠^[1]。[第一段]     

Myasthenia Gravis Appearing After Thymectomy: a Case Report and Review of the Literature

A small proportion of thymoma patients without myasthenia gravis (MG) have been observed to develop MG after total removal of the thymoma. However, the underlying cause is not yet known due to the rarity of postoperative MG patients. We report a 39-year-old man in whom MG appeared after surgical removal of a thymoma. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed no signs of recurrent or metastatic thymoma. Administration of pyridostigmine bromide resulted in the prompt improvement of myasthenic symptoms. Our observations indicate that postoperative follow-up care with monitoring of possible postoperative MG is necessary after resecting a thymoma.     

AMPK在妊娠期糖尿病发病机制中的作用

腺苷酸活化蛋白激酶是一种重要的蛋白激酶,主要作用是协调代谢和能量平衡.腺苷酸活化蛋白激酶被激活后,在增加骨骼肌对葡萄糖摄取、增强胰岛素敏感性、增加脂肪酸氧化以及调节基因转录等方面发挥重要作用.已经证实脂联素有调节糖脂代谢的作用,但其作用机制尚不十分清楚,很可能是通过腺苷酸活化蛋白激酶介导,对脂联素信号转导通路的研究将成为进一步理解脂联素作用的关键所在.而脂联素又是妊娠期糖尿病的预测因子,所以腺苷酸活化蛋白激酶逐渐成为对妊娠期糖尿病研究中的焦点.     

Uncooked rice of relatively low gelatinization degree resulted in lower metabolic glucose and insulin responses compared with cooked rice in female college students

Cooking processes that gelatinize granules or disrupt structure might increase the glucose and insulin responses because a disruption of the structure of starch by gelatinization increases its availability for digestion and absorption in the small intestine. We hypothesized that the uncooked form of rice, which has a relatively low degree of gelatinization even though in powder form, would result in lower metabolic glucose and insulin responses compared with cooked rice (CR). To assess the effects of the gelatinization of rice on metabolic response of glucose and insulin, we investigated the glucose and insulin responses to 3 rice meals of different gelatinization degree in female college students (n = 12): CR (76.9% gelatinized), uncooked rice powder (UP; 3.5% gelatinized), and uncooked freeze-dried rice powder (UFP; 5.4% gelatinized). Uncooked rice powders (UP and UFP) induced lower glucose and insulin responses compared with CR. The relatively low gelatinization degree of UPs resulted in low metabolic responses in terms of the glycemic index (CR: 72.4% vs UP: 49.7%, UFP: 59.8%) and insulin index (CR: 94.8% vs UP: 74.4%, UFP: 68.0%). In summary, UPs that were less gelatinized than CR induced low postprandial glucose and insulin responses.     

Foot Polydactyly and Polysyndactyly: Genetic Implications in Two Families

The purpose of this study was to determine the genetic characteristics of foot polydactyly and identify its inheritance pattern by analyzing familial pedigree. Five cases from 2 Korean families were studied: 1 is a family whose members have been affected for 4 generations and the other for 2 generations. Using peripheral blood samples, we performed chromosomal analysis using the banding technique with Giemsa stain and karyotyping. We investigated the shape and structure of 46 chromosomes, looking for translation, deletion, inversion, ring chromosome, and isochromosome abnormalities. All peripheral blood samples demonstrated no chromosomal abnormalities, though the genetic nature of foot polydactyly and a new genetic locus was identified recently by other studies. Familial pedigree analysis suggested that polydactyly was inherited as an autosomal dominant trait in the first family. The mode of inheritance for the second family could not be determined due to an insufficient number of family members. The result of this study brought us to the conclusion that, while genetic factors play a major role in polydactyly, other factors may contribute to its occurrence.     

D1期前列腺癌的诊断

１９９０年１２月至１９９３年１２月，我们对临床Ａ－Ｃ期２７例病人进行盆腔淋巴结活检术，检出１２例Ｄ１期病人。临床Ａ期有５０％，Ｂ期有３７％，Ｃ期有７１％的病人发现盆腔淋巴结癌转移，其癌细胞的恶性程度也与淋巴结癌转移有关。近年，经腹腔镜盆腔淋巴结活检已成为诊断Ｄ１期前列腺癌的新方法。     

Lines of Murine Oligodendroglial Precursor Cells Immortalized by an Activated neu Tyrosine Kinase Show Distinct Degrees of Interaction with Axons In Vitro and In Vivo

Replication-defective retroviruses expressing the t- neu oncogene, or a hybrid protein with the neu tyrosine kinase linked to the external region of the human epidermal growth factor receptor ( egfr-neu ), were used to establish lines of murine oligodendroglial precursor cells. Differentiation of the t- neu lines into myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG)-positive oligodendrocytes was induced by dibutyryl cAMP, and the egfr-neu line showed limited differentiation in vitro upon withdrawal of epidermal growth factor. Cerebellar granule cell neurons expressed mitogens for the cell lines. Upon transplantation into demyelinated lesions, t- neu line cells engaged with the demyelinated axons whereas the egfr-neu line cells differentiated further and ensheathed the axons. These cell lines thus interact with neurons in vitro and in vivo and can be used as tools to define the molecules involved in different stages of neuron-glia interaction.