Assessment of tardive dyskinesia by means of digital image processing

A wireless device for the assessment of tardive dyskinesia by means of digital image processing is presented. Four skin-cream dots placed around the subjects' mouth are recorded by a video camera. The image is passed to a framegrabber with a signal processor, where it is converted from analogue to digital. A fast spot-detecting algorithm implemented on the signal processor tracks the dots and passes the information to a personal computer, where a Fourier transformation is performed to calculate the frequency spectrum of the movements. The device provided detailed information on the magnitude and on the frequencies of the movements. Data from a longitudinal investigation suggest a higher sensitivity and reliability than conventional rating scales to detect and evaluate abnormal perioral movements. The device might be useful for the early detection, for the longitudinal assessment (p.e. clinical trials) and in some cases for the differential diagnosis of tardive dyskinesia, thus providing a tool for both research and clinical purposes.     

On the Use of Paramagnetic Beads and Ferrofluids to Assess and Eliminate the Leukocytic Contribution to Oxygen Radical Generation by Human Sperm Suspensions

PROBLEM: To develop a methodology to determine a) the leukocytic contribution to reactive oxygen species generation by human sperm suspensions and b) the therapeutic value of removing these cellular contaminants. METHODS: Leukocytes were removed with paramagnetic beads or colloidal ferrofluids coated with anti-CD45 antibody. The sperm suspensions were monitored for oxidant generation by chemiluminescence, leukocyte contamination by immunocytochemistry, and fertilizing potential using zona-free hamster oocytes. RESULTS: Percoll®-prepared human sperm suspensions exhibited a competence for PMA-induced reactive oxygen species generation which was significantly correlated with leukocyte contamination. However, the purified spermatozoa remaining after paramagnetic bead treatment, also demonstrated an intrinsic capacity for PMA-responsive reactive oxygen species generation and, freed from the oxidative stress created by the leukocytes, exhibited a significantly enhanced capacity for sperm-oocyte fusion. CONCLUSIONS: Although human spermatozoa can generate reactive oxygen species, sperm function is inhibited by the additional oxidative stress created by contaminating leukocytes. Removal of these cells with paramagnetic beads enhances fertilizing potential.     

Distribution and spatial geometry of dopamine interplexiform cells in the retina. II. External arborizations in the adult rat and monkey

The morphology and distribution of dopaminergic interplexiform cells in adult rat and monkey retinas were analyzed to determine any correlation with the function of dopamine in the outer retinal layers. The retinas were processed as whole mounts for tyrosine hydroxylase immunohistochemistry. There was a network formed by the sclerally directed processes of interplexiform cells in the inner nuclear, outer plexiform, and outer nuclear layers running throughout the retina. Their density was higher in the superior retina than in the inferior retina of the rat and was especially high in the superior temporal quadrant. The external network in this quadrant was significantly less dense in the monkey than in the rat, as are the interplexiform cells. The somata of interplexiform and other dopaminergic cells were about the same size in both rats and monkeys. Computer-assisted reconstruction of external arborizations of individual cells showed that external processes lay very close to horizontal and photoreceptor cells and also to blood capillaries. Because they were long, thin, and highly varicose; branched at right angles; and often arose from an axon hillock, the external processes were identified as axons. Therefore, we define the dopaminergic interplexiform cells as multiaxonal neurons, with at least one outwardly directed axon that reaches the outer plexiform layer. The function of the network of external processes from the interplexiform dopaminergic cells is discussed in terms of modulating the release of dopamine to external layers.     

核医学影像设备的发展与临床应用

γ相机和SPECT只能进行常规单光子显像，PET和双探头SPECT符合显像系统既能进行单光子显像，又能进行正电子符合显像，PET／CT系统的出现不仅提供高质量的衰减校正图像，保证了正电子显像校正数据的可靠性，而且能进行同机图像融合，提高了影像定位诊断的准确性。本文简要介绍了核医学影像设备发展历程，PET和PET／CT的原理以及在临床的应用。     

建立模拟功能状态下的下颌骨三维有限元模型

本文在三维影像重建和三维有限元分析技术的基础上，建立了正常人和颞下颌关节疾病患者正中咬合时下颌骨的三维有限元模型。下颌骨螺旋ＣＴ和有限元模型三维重建影像的几何相似性良好，加载方式符合生理状况，比较真实地反映和模拟了功能状态下颞下颌关节与牙合的受力情况。为对颞下颌关节在各种状况下的生物力学行为进行分析和研究创造了条件。     

Three antidepressants (amitriptyline,dothiepin, fluoxetine), with and without alcohol,compared with placebo on tests of psychomotor ability related to car driving

Eight female volunteers received acute doses of amitriptyline 50 mg (AMI), dothiepin 50 mg (DOT), fluoxetine 40 mg (FLU) or placebo both with and without a ‘social’ dose of alcohol (ALC) equivalent to 0·5 g/kg body weight absolute alcohol. Performance on a variety of tests of psychomotor ability and cognitive function (critical flicker fusion, choice reaction time, tracking, Maddox Wing and simulated car steering) were performed at 1·5 and 4 hours following treatment. AMI and DOT both with and without ALC impaired performance on a range of tests at either or both 1·5 and 4 hours, although the effects of AMI and AMI + ALC were more widespread and severe than those found with either DOT or DOT + ALC. FLU and FLU + ALC showed no evidence of impairment on any test at either the 1·5 or the 4 hours assessments. The results suggest that there are differences between the experimental substances, at the doses used, in their intrinsic potential for impairing aspects of psychomotor performance and cognitive function.     

海水型呼吸窘迫综合征兔肾皮质酶活性定位和图像分析

采用超微结构细胞化学和图像分析技术，对兔海水型呼吸窘迫综合征（ＳＷ－ＲＤＳ）肾皮质酶活性的变化进行了观察。ＳＷ－ＲＤＳ组肾皮质碱性磷酸酶、５’－核苷酸酶、对－硝基苯磷酸酶和细胞色素氧化酶活性明显下降，而胞嘧啶单核苷酸酶活性明显增强。这表明肾皮质一些酶活性的改变是兔ＳＷ－ＲＤＳ发病机理之一。     

重组人血小板因子4的表达、纯化及活性鉴定

目的: 用基因工程手段去获取有活性的重组人血小板因子4(rhPF4),为下一步的基础理论研究和临床应用奠定基础.方法: 用PCR手段获得人PF4的编码序列,克隆入质粒pRSET,构建融合表达载体pRSET-PF4,转化大肠杆菌,以IPTG诱导表达融合的人PF4蛋白,经镍柱亲和层析纯化,用SDS-PAGE分析所表达的目的蛋白及纯化后蛋白,用鸡胚绒毛膜尿囊膜实验(CAM)验证rhPF4的活性.结果: 成功构建了表达载体pRSET-PF4,DNA序列测定结果与预期结果一致.IPTG诱导表达的rhPF4融合蛋白部分以可溶形式存在,占菌体总蛋白量的11%.亲和层析纯化后目的蛋白纯度为84%.CAM实验表明,经纯化获得的rhPF4对鸡胚血管形成具有抑制作用.结论: 成功地获得了具有高度生物学活性的rhPF4蛋白.     

Body Image Changes in Adolescents II Comparison among Patients with Eating Disorders and Controls with Thin, Normal and Obese Body Shapes

Abstract: The Self-Rating Body Image (SRBI) test was used to determine whether the patients with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia showed their body image disturbance or not. The SRBI was completed by 120 subjects who consisted of 30 low weight (LW) controls, 30 normal weight (NW) controls, 30 high weight (HW) controls, 18 anorexic patients (AN) and 12 bulimic patients (BN). The AN group had a significantly greater dissatisfaction with the scales of the body shape, visceral organ and face image of the SRBI than the weight-matched LW group. The BN group had a significantly greater dissatisfaction with the visceral organ image than the weight-matched NW group. However, no significant difference in the body shape and face images between the BN and NW groups was found. Our results suggest that the anorexic patients may disturb more parts of the body image than the bulimic patients though both the anorexic and bulimic patients showed the disturbance of body image.     

Reclaiming 'Big Nurse': a feminist critique of Ken Kesey's portrayal of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Reclaiming 'Big Nurse': a feminist critique of Ken Kesey's portrayal of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Nurse Ratched or 'Big Nurse' in Ken Kesey's counter-culture novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of popular culture's most arresting and memorable images of the nurse. She is, however, deemed to be remarkable primarily for her malice and authoritarianism. This paper argues that such a purely realist reading fails to fully appreciate the significance of the character of Nurse Ratched. A feminist critique of the novel contends that die importance of 'Big Nurse' is less related to how realistic/unrealistic or good/bad she is as a nurse. Nurse Ratched is important because she exemplifies all diat traditional masculinity abhors in women, and particularly in strong women in positions of power and influence. This paper explores the stereotype of 'Big Nurse' and argues that Kesey's vision of her ultimate 'conquest' is not a progressive allegory of 'individual freedom', but a reactionary misogyny which would deny women any function other than that of sexual trophy.