Long-Term Treatment of Parkinsonism With Levodopa

Investigators all over the world have confirmed that levodopa not only relieves the akinesia and rigidity of parkinsonism but also ameliorates tremor in patients treated more than six months. An additional and unexpected benefit of the therapy is the improvement in intellectual function and memory in some patients. Although levodopa has some adverse side effects, it holds great promise in areas other than treatment of parkinsonism and has introduced an exciting new era of chemoanatomy.     

磁共振弥散加权成像DWI及动态增强扫描诊断前列腺癌的价值探讨

目的 研究分析磁共振弥散加权成像DWI及动态增强扫描对前列腺癌患者的诊断价值.方法 选择我院收治的经病理学检查确诊为前列腺癌的患者40例作为研究对象,对所有患者进行磁共振弥散加权成像DWI检查及动态增强扫描,并与病理学检查结果对比,分析其临床诊断效果.结果 前列腺癌患者的ADC为（0.81±0.09）,最大强化率为（138.98±36.34）,1 min强化率为（132.87±35.35）,2 min强化率为（133.09±41.21）,流出分数为（17.72±7.88）.与病理学检查诊断结果对比,2种检查方法对前列腺癌的检出率差异无统计学意义（P＞0.05）.结论 使用磁共振弥散加权成像DWI及动态增强扫描诊断前列腺癌效果较为理想,与病理学诊断较为接近,可以在临床上推广应用.     

64层螺旋CT在肿瘤调强放射治疗定位中的应用及分析

目的：探讨64层螺旋CT在肿瘤调强放射治疗定位中的临床应用及CT扫描床的误差分析。方法：收集我院2010年6月-2011年6月在TOSHIBA Aquiiion 64层螺旋CT机上进行肿瘤调强放疗定位CT扫描患者25例。其中，男13例，女10例，年龄35—73岁，平均年龄55岁。头颈部肿瘤10例，胸部肿瘤5例，腹部肿瘤6例，盆腔肿瘤4例。CT定位图像经DICOM3．0接口传输到XVI软件中，在Workstation上进行治疗床与定位床的误差分析。结果：组内数据符合统计学意义（P〈0．05），误差值X轴为（0．968±0．910）°，Y轴为（0．508±2．09）°，Z轴为（0．3±2．62）°。除X轴外，旋转误差均不符合国标GB／T17589—1998。结论：64层螺旋CT碳纤维平板床在肿瘤调强放疗定位中误差已超过阈值，不适合做精确调强放射治疗定位。     

Evaluating the accuracy of a geographic closed-ended approach to ethnicity measurement,a practical alternative

PurposeMeasuring ethnicity accurately is important for identifying ethnicity variations in disease risk. We evaluated the degree of agreement and accuracy of maternal ethnicity measured using the new standardized closed-ended geographically based ethnicity question and geographic reclassification of open-ended ethnicity questions from the Canadian census.MethodsA prospectively designed study of respondent agreement of mothers of healthy children aged 1–5 years recruited through the TARGet Kids! practice-based research network. For the primary analysis, the degree of agreement between geographic reclassification of the Canadian census maternal ethnicity variables and the new geographically based closed-ended maternal ethnicity variable completed by the same respondent was evaluated using a kappa analysis.ResultsEight hundred sixty-two mothers who completed both measures of ethnicity were included in the analysis. The kappa agreement statistic for the two definitions of maternal ethnicity was 0.87 (95% confidence interval, 0.84–0.90) indicating good agreement. Overall accuracy of the measurement was 93%. Sensitivity and specificity ranged from 83% to 100% and 96% to 100%, respectively.ConclusionsThe new standardized closed-ended geographically based ethnicity question represents a practical alternative to widely used open-ended ethnicity questions. It may reduce risk of misinterpretation of ethnicity by respondents, simplify analysis, and improve the accuracy of ethnicity measurement.     

Pseudolipoma of the Inferior Vena Cava

Pseudolipoma of inferior vena cava refers to a normal variant of adipose collection that is seen in typical pericaval or juxtacaval location; however, it mimics an intracaval mass lesion, especially fat-containing lesions such as lipoma. Awareness of this entity is very important to avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary diagnostic procedures.     

Testing for changing volatility

In this paper, we propose a consistent U‐statistic test with good sampling properties to detect changes in volatility. We show that the test has a limiting standard normal distribution under the null hypothesis, and that it is powerful compared with various alternatives. A Monte Carlo experiment is conducted to highlight the merits of the proposed test relative to other popular tests for structural changes in volatility. An empirical example is examined to demonstrate the practical application of the proposed testing method.