Estimating neuron dendritic length in 3D from total vertical projections and from vertical slices

The recently developed method of total vertical projections is illustrated to estimate the total dendritic length of a human Substantia Nigra neuron. Next, the length of the different orders of dendritic branches, and the mean segment length for each order - commonly regarded as important parameters in neuron physiology - are also estimated. Finally, it is shown how to estimate the mean dendritic length in a population of neurons from vertical slices of arbitrary and unknown thickness. Being unbiased and highly efficient, the proposed methods offer interesting alternatives to current procedures used for the metric analysis of neuron arborizations.     

Cortical projection patterns of magnocellular basal nucleus subdivisions as revealed by anterogradely transportedPhaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin

The present paper deals with a detailed analysis of cortical projections from the magnocellular basal nucleus (MBN) and horizontal limb of the diagonal band of Broca (HDB) in the rat. The MBN and HDB were injected iontophoretically with the anterograde tracer Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA-L). After immunocytochemical visualization of labeled efferents, the distribution of projections over the cortical mantle, olfactory regions and amygdala were studied by light microscopy. Based on differences in cortical projection patterns, the MBN was subdivided in anterior, intermediate and posterior portions (MBNa, MBNi and MBNp). All subdivisions maintain neocortical projections and are subject to an anterior to posterior topographic arrangement. In the overall pattern, however, the frontal cortex is the chief target. Furthermore, all MBN parts project to various regions of meso- and allocortex, which are progressively more dense when the tracer injection is more anteriorly placed. The most conspicuous finding, however, was a ventrolateral to dorsomedial cortical projection pattern as the PHA-L injection site moved from posterior to anterior. Thus, the posterior MBN projects predominantly to lateral neo- and mesocortex while the anterior MBN sends more fibers to the medial cortical regions. Furthermore, the MBNa is a source of considerable afferent input to the olfactory nuclei and as such should be regarded as a transition to the HDB. The HDB, apart from projecting densely to olfactory bulb and related nuclei, maintains a substantial output to the medial prefrontal cortical regions and entorhinal cortex, as well. Comparison of young vs aged cases indicate that aging does not appear to have a profound influence on cortical innervation patterns, at least as studied with the PHA-L method.     

局部进展期胰腺癌调强放疗剂量递增临床研究

目的探索调强放射治疗 (IMRT)提高进展期胰腺癌局部肿瘤靶区剂量以及减少周围正常组织照射剂量的可能性。　方法 2 1例局部进展期胰腺癌患者接受同期放化疗。放射治疗分第一阶段予常规放射治疗 ,剂量30Gy/ 15次 / 3周 ;第二阶段强调放射治疗 ,肿瘤靶区分割剂量 3Gy/次 ,总剂量为 2 1～30Gy ,在 2周内分 7～10次完成。总剂量递增水平 :5 1、5 4、5 7、6 0Gy。在放射治疗过程中 ,每个治疗日 5 -FU静脉点滴。　结果 16例完成治疗计划 ,分别为 5 1Gy 3例、5 4Gy 3例、5 7Gy 3例 ,6 0Gy 7例。 13例治疗前CA19- 9值升高 ,中位值治疗前后分别为 716、2 5 5U/ml(P <0 .0 0 1)。 14例以疼痛为主的患者至少减少 1/ 3～1/ 2的麻醉药品用量 ,其中 5例疼痛症状完全消失。10例患者治疗后卡氏评分有提高。　结论局部进展期胰腺癌患者接受适形调强放疗并同期应用 5 -Fu化疗增敏 ,可获得确切的姑息治疗作用 ,肿瘤剂量 6 0Gy分 2 5次在 5周完成 ,无严重的放射治疗相关的急性毒性反应     

薄块MIP在听小骨显示中的作用评价

目的探讨通过多层螺旋CT各向同性扫描进行薄块最大密度投影(th in slab m aximum intensity projection,ts-M IP)后处理对听小骨的显示能力。方法对35例患者行多层螺旋CT各向同性扫描,然后在工作站进行ts-M IP后处理,观察横断面、冠状面和矢状面ts-M IP对听小骨的显示情况。结果横断面、冠状面和矢状面ts-M IP均能对锤骨、砧骨及锤砧关节进行显示,其中横断面ts-M IP显示砧镫关节较好,并可同时显示锤骨柄及砧骨长脚的全长;冠状面ts-M IP可显示锤骨的全貌;矢状面ts-M IP显示听小骨可很好地避免各结构地重叠。结论通过多层螺旋CT各向同性扫描获得的图像进行ts-M IP后处理,能够很好地显示正常锤骨、砧骨及砧镫关节,其缺点是对镫骨的显示欠佳。     

Vessel-encoded arterial spin-labeling using pseudocontinuous tagging.

A new signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) efficient method is introduced for the mapping of vascular territories based on pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (ASL). A pseudocontinuous tagging pulse train is modified using additional transverse gradient pulses and phase cycling to place some arteries in a tag condition, while others passing through the same tagging plane are in a control condition. This is combined with a Hadamard or similar encoding scheme such that all vessels of interest are fully inverted or relaxed for nearly all of the encoding cycles, providing optimal SNR. The relative tagging efficiency for each vessel is measured directly from the ASL data and is used in the decoding process to improve the separation of vascular territories. High SNR maps of left carotid, right carotid, and basilar territories are generated in 6 min of scan time.     

低场强MRI对主动脉夹层的诊断价值

目的 评价低场强磁共振成像对主动脉夹层的诊断价值。方法 对16例主动脉夹层在低场强MRI自旋回波（SE）序列和梯度回波（GRE）表现进行回顾性分析总结，其中，6例经手术病理证实。结果 16例均能清晰显示病变的范围、夹层起始部位、内膜片、真假腔，6例假腔内显示血栓。结论 低场强MRI作为一种无创性检查能对主动脉夹层作出准确及时的诊断。     

Difference in projections to the lateral and medial facial nucleus: anatomically separate pathways for rhythmical vibrissa movement in rats

Summary The present paper demonstrates that the lateral and medial subdivisions of the rat facial motor nucleus (NVII) receive differing mesencephalic and metencephalic projections. In order to study brain projections to facial nucleus, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was injected iontophoretically into the entire facial nucleus or the following subdivisions: lateral, dorsolateral, medial, intermediate, and ventral. In the mesencephalic region, the retrorubral nucleus was found to project to the contralateral medial subdivision of NVII, while the red nucleus was found to project to the contralateral lateral subdivision of NVII. Other mesencephalic projections to the facial nucleus arose from the deep mesencephalic nucleus, oculomotor nucleus, central gray including inter stitial nucleus of Cajal and nucleus Darkschewitsch, superior colliculus and substantia nigra (reticular). In the metencephalic region, the Kölliker-Fuse nucleus, parabrachial nucleus, and the ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus projected mainly to the ipsilateral lateral subdivision of NVII. In addition, the trapezoid, pontine reticular, vestibular, and motor trigeminal nuclei were observed to have predominantly ipsilateral connections to the facial nucleus. In contrast, projections from the myelencephalic region were to both the lateral and medial subdivision of NVII. The medullary reticular nucleus, ambiguus nucleus, spinal trigeminal nucleus and parvocellular reticular nucleus projected to both lateral and medial subdivisions of NVII with an ipsilateral predominance. The gigantocellular and paragigantocellular reticular nuclei, raphe magnus, external cuneate nucleus and the nucleus of the solitary tract also projected to the facial motor nucleus. Surprisingly, no direct projections to the NVII were observed from diencephalic and telencephalic regions. Our findings that the lateral subdivision of NVII which innervates vibrissa-pad-muscles (Dom et al. 1973; Martin and Lodge 1977; Watson et al. 1982) receives different metencephalic and mesencephalic projections than medial subdivision which controls pinna movement (Henkel and Edwards 1978), suggest that the functional difference between these subdivisions is mediated by the anatomically separate pathways. We confirmed our anatomical findings by eliciting exclusively vibrissa responses by electrical stimulation of the nuclei which project to the lateral subdivision of NVII.     

The differential effect of optic nerve disease on pattern and focal electroretinograms

We studied nine cases of retrobulbar neuritis with confirmed multiple sclerosis and six cases of optic atrophy from other causes. Pattern and focal electroretinograms (macular ERGs) were recorded with high (400 cd/m²) and low (40 cd/m²) intensity stimuli. Contrast sensitivity was also measured with a simple printed test.Luminance was not markedly important. High spatial frequency contrast sensitivity was significantly correlated with pattern ERG amplitude. Pattern and focal ERG amplitude ratio was usually reduced, but the effect was not correlated with contrast sensitivity or large enough to be useful clinically.In optic atrophy the pattern ERG (PERG) was clearly more severely reduced than the focal ERG (FERG). In retrobulbar neuritis both ERGs were equally and more severely reduced even though the visual losses were less. In unilateral cases the PERG increased then decreased after the initial attack, as previously described (Arden et al., 1982). The results suggest that retinal layers beyond the ganglion cells may be affected in retrobulbar neuritis, but proximally generated, pattern-specific ERG components are selectively lost in optic atrophy.     

车间空气中石棉纤维卫生标准的研制

在上海、苏州、北京及四川的石棉厂矿进行了长期的职业流行病学调查，分别取得各厂矿石棉尘重量浓度与石棉纤维计数浓度的换算关系，进而计算各厂矿工人接触石棉计数剂量与石棉肺发病的剂量－反应关系，并按工人平均接尘３５年计，推算出将患病率控制在１％时的容许浓度。上海和苏州两厂调查中，工人接尘浓度已计算成时间加权平均浓度；北京和四川二厂矿则用瞬时浓度。据此制订的车间空气中石棉纤维卫生标准为：最高容许浓度１．５ｆ     

Dynamic MRI with projection reconstruction and KWIC processing for simultaneous high spatial and temporal resolution.

A method for dynamic imaging in MRI is presented that enables the acquisition of a series of images with both high temporal and high spatial resolution. The technique, which is based on the projection reconstruction (PR) imaging scheme, utilizes distinct data acquisition and reconstruction strategies to achieve this simultaneous capability. First, during acquisition, data are collected in multiple undersampled passes, with the view angles interleaved in such a way that those of subsequent passes bisect the views of earlier ones. During reconstruction, these views are weighted according to a previously described k-space weighted image contrast (KWIC) technique that enables the manipulation of image contrast by selective filtering. Unlike conventional undersampled PR methods, the proposed dynamic KWIC technique does not suffer from low image SNR or image degradation due to streaking artifacts. The effectiveness of dynamic KWIC is demonstrated in both simulations and in vivo, high-resolution, contrast-enhanced imaging of breast lesions.