Laparoscopic vs open abdominoperineal resection in the multimodality management of low rectal cancers

AIM: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic abdominoperineal resection compared with the open procedure in multimodality management of rectal cancer.METHODS: A total of 106 rectal cancer patients who underwent open abdominoperineal resection(OAPR) were matched with 106 patients who underwent laparoscopic abdominoperineal resection(LAPR) in a 1 to 1 fashion, between 2009 and 2013 at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. Propensity score matching was carried out based on age, gender, pathological staging of the disease and administration of neoadjuvant chemoradiation. Data regarding preoperative staging, surgical technique, pathologicalresults, postoperative recovery and complications were reviewed and compared between the LAPR and OAPR groups. Perineal closure around the stoma and pelvic floor reconstruction were performed only in OAPR, not in LAPR. Therefore, abdominoperineal resection procedure-specific surgical complications including parastomal hernia and perineal wound complications were compared between the open and laparoscopic procedure. Regular surveillance of the two cohorts was carried out to gather prognostic data. Diseasefree survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier estimate and log-rank test. Subgroup analysis was performed in patients with locally advanced disease treated with preoperative chemoradiation followed by surgical resection. RESULTS: No significant difference was found between the LAPR group and the OAPR group in terms of clinicopathological features. The operation time(180.8 ± 47.8 min vs 172.1 ± 49.2 min, P = 0.190), operative blood loss(93.9 ± 60.0 m L vs 88.4 ± 55.2 m L, P = 0.494), total number of retrieved lymph nodes(12.9 ± 6.9 vs 12.9 ± 5.4, P = 0.974), surgical complications(12.3% vs 15.1%, P = 0.549) and pathological characteristics were comparable between the LAPR and OAPR group, respectively. Compared with OAPR patients, LAPR patients showed significantly shorter postoperative analgesia(2.4 ± 0.7 d vs 2.7 ± 0.6 d, P < 0.001), earlier first flatus(57.3 ± 7.9 h vs 63.5 ± 9.2 h, P < 0.001), shorter urinary drainage time(6.5 ± 3.4 d vs 7.8 ± 1.3 d, P < 0.001), and shorter postoperative admission(11.2 ± 4.7 d vs 12.6 ± 4.0 d, P = 0.014). With regard to APR-specific complications(perineal wound complications and parastomal hernia), there were no significant differences between the two groups. Similar results were found in the 26 pairs of patients administered neoadjuvant chemoradiation in subgroup analysis. During the follow-up period, no port site recurrences were observed. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic abdominoperineal resection for multidisciplinary management of rectal cancer is safe, and is associated with earlier recovery and shorter admission time in combination with neoadjuvant chemoradiation.

Research progress of natural antioxidants in foods for the treatment of diseases

A large amount of free radicals can be generated in human body during metabolic process.These free radicals can result in oxidative stress and homeostasis imbalance,even some chronic diseases and cancers if they are not promptly removed.Currently,many studies devote to exploring and utilizing natural antioxidants to remove excessive free radicals in human body,thus realizing the prevention and treatment of diseases.In the present study,the major species of natural antioxidants in foods that are benefit for the prevention and treatments of diseases have been summarized.Meanwhile,the research progress and future development have also been proposed.All of these studies,on the one hand,can provide a theoretical basis for the development of drugs and healthy foods;on the other hand,can offer novel development ideas for food industry,especially for food additive industry.

3D-QSAR Studies on a Series of Indoleamide Derivatives as Antiplasmodial Drugs

In this study, three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship（3D-QSAR） was studied for the antiplasmodial activity of a series of novel indoleamide derivatives by comparative molecular field analysis（CoMFA） and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis（Co MSIA）. 3D-QSAR model was established by a training set of 20 compounds and was externally validated by a test set of 4 compounds. The best prediction（Q2 = 0.593 and 0.527, R2 = 0.990 and 0.953, r（pred）2 = 0.967 and 0.962 for CoMFA and CoMSIA） was obtained according to CoMFA and CoMSIA. Those parameters indicated the model was reliable and predictable. We designed several molecules with high activities according to the contour maps produced by the CoMFA and CoMSIA models.

The intervention effects of Lactobacillus casei LC2W on Escherichia coli O157:H7-induced mouse colitis

This study investigated the intervention effects of Lactobacillus casei LC2W in murine(SPF C57BL/c)challenge infection models induced by Escherichia coli O157:H7.Mice were fed streptomycin with water for 3 days prior to intragastric gavage by E.coli O157:H7(Control)or L.casei LC2W together with E.coli O157:H7(Intervention)to explore the role of L.casei LC2W by biochemical indicators,histological evaluation,expression of colonic pro-inflammatory and intestinal barrier factors related to enteritis.Results showed that the administration of L.casei LC2W was able to alleviate the symptoms of colitis induced by E.coli O157:H7,exhibiting lower weight loss as well as more intact colon tissue.Furthermore,L.casei LC2W could down-regulate the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines(TNF-α,IL-6,and IL-1β)and protect the intestinal barrier function by improving the level of MUC2,ZO-1 and E-cadherin 1 compared to the control group.These results demonstrate that L.casei LC2W can reduce the severity of E.coli O157:H7 infection,and suggest L.casei LC2W may maintain the immune balance and intestinal barrier to reduce colitis.In addition,we found the effect of intervention is similar to that of prevention,which is better than that of treatment.

Synthesis and Bio-activities of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)(PEDOT)/Poly(styrene sulfonate)(PSS)/Gelatin Layer on Indium Tin Oxide(ITO)-coated Glass

Poly （3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene） （PEDOT）, together with its dopes, such as poly （styrene sulfonate） （PSS）, has been acknowledged to have a wide range of biomedical applications as an important conducting polymer. In this study, gelatin can be polymerized into PEDOT/PSS polymers on indium tin oxide （ITO）-coated glass. PEDOT/PSS/gelatin layer on ITO-coated glass significantly decreases electrochemical impedance spectroscopy （EIS） and increases charge delivery capacity relative to the gelatin layer and bare ITO- coated glass, comparable to the PEDOT/PSS layer on ITO-coated glass. PEDOT/PSS/gelatin layer on ITO- coated glass enhances pheochromocytoma （PC 12） cell affinity, possesses a high biocompatibility and promotes PC 12 cell growth by delivery of electrical stimulation. These results suggest that gelatin can be incorporated into the PEDOT/PSS polymers through electrochemical polymerization and the PEDOT/PSS/gelatin layer on ITO-coated glass possesses high electrochemical and biological activities.

Avalanching patterns of irregular sand particles in continual discrete flow

We investigate the flow patterns of irregular sand particles under avalanching mode in a rotating drum by using the spatial filtering velocimetry technique.By exploring the variations of velocity distribution of granular flow,we find a type of avalanching pattern of irregular sand particles which is similar to that of spherical particles flow.Due to the fact that the initial position of avalanche in this pattern locates at the middle of the drum and the avalanche propagates toward the edge area gradually,we named it as mid-to-edge avalanching pattern.Furthermore,we find another avalanching pattern which slumps from the edge and propagates toward the opposite edge of the flow surface,named as edge-to-edge pattern.By analyzing the temporal and spatial characteristics of these two types of avalanching patterns,we discover that these two types of avalanche patterns are caused by that the avalanching particles constantly perturb the axial adjacent particles.Thus,the particles on the flow surface are involved in avalanching sequentially in order of the axial distance from the initial position.

Recent Advances in Soft Biological Tissue Manipulating Technologies

Biological soft tissues manipulation,including conventional(mechanical)and nonconventional(laser,waterjet and ultrasonic)processes,is critically required in most surgical innervations.However,the soft tissues,with their nature of anisotropic and viscoelastic mechanical properties,and high biological and heat sensitivities,are difficult to manipulated.Moreover,the mechanical and thermal induced damage on the surface and surrounding tissue during the surgery can impair the proliferative phase of healing.Thus,understanding the manipulation mechanism and the resulted surface damage is of importance to the community.In recent years,more and more scholars carried out researches on soft biological tissue cutting in order to improve the cutting performance of surgical instruments and reduce the surgery induced tissue damage.However,there is a lack of compressive review that focused on the recent advances in soft biological tissue manipulating technologies.Hence,this review paper attempts to provide an informative literature survey of the state-of-the-art of soft tissue manipulation processes in surgery.This is achieved by exploring and recollecting the different soft tissue manipulation techniques currently used,including mechanical,laser,waterjet and ultrasonic cutting and advanced anastomosis and reconstruction processes,with highlighting their governing removal mechanisms as well as the surface and subsurface damages.

Researches on a practical system for concentration detection of human exhaled CO₂gas

In clinics, especially in the emergency department, carbon dioxide (CO2) is considered as the sixth vital sign in evaluating a patient's medical status. However, its wide applications in developing countries are dissatisfactory due to their high cost compared to their economic growth. In order to develop a practical system for concentration detection of human exhaled CO2 gas for our own, we studied the detection principle based upon the non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) measuring technique and related Lambert-Beer's equation carefully, gave out our functional circuit design of the system, and provided the corresponding graphical user interface (GUI) for CO2 detection. Finally, the experiment shows that it may be a practical system, and will give benefits for the development of our medical care in the future.

A wireless magnetic sensor for localizing in-vivo medical micro-devices

In order to measure the position and orientation of in-vivo medical micro-devices without the line-of- sight constraints, a wireless magnetic sensor is developed for an electromagnetic localization method. In the electromagnetic localization system, the wireless magnetic sensor is embedded in the micro-devices to measure alternating magnetic signals. The wireless magnetic sensor is composed of an induction coil, a signal processor, a radio frequency （R.F） transmitter, a power manager and batteries. Based on the principle of electromagnetic induction, the induction coil converts the alternating magnetic signals into electrical signals. Via the RF transmitter, the useful data am wirelessly sent outside the body. According to the relation between the magnetic signals and the location, the position and orientation of the micro-devices can be calculated. The experiments demonstrate the feasibility of localizing in-vivo medical micro-devices with the wireless magnetic sensor. The novel localization system is accurate and robust.

Simulation of tumor microvasculature and microenvironment response to anti-angiogenic treatment by angiostatin and endostatin

The effects of anti-angiogenesis treatment by angiostatin and endostatin on normalization of tumor microvasculature and microenvironment are investigated, based on mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of tumor anti-angiogenesis and tumor haemodynamics. The results show that after anti-angiogenesis treatment： （i） the proliferation, growth, and branching of neo-vessels are effectively inhibited, and the extent of vascularization in tumors is accordingly reduced. （ii） the overall blood perfusion inside of tumor is declined, the plateau of tumor interstitial fluid pressure （IFP） is relieved, the interstitial fluid oozing out from the tumor periphery into the surrounding normal tissue is reduced, the reduction of overall extravasation across vasculature to tumor interstium is much less than the decreased overall blood perfusion, due to the decline of IFP, the intravasations is remarkablely effected by the change, in some cases there are no intravasation flow appear.

Two-dimensional discrete mathematical model of tumor-induced angiogenesis

A 2D discrete mathematical model of a nine-point finite difference scheme is built to simulate tumor-induced angiogenesis. Nine motion directions of an individual endothelial cell and two parent vessels are extended in the present model. The process of tumor-induced angiogenesis is performed by coupling random motility, chemotaxis, and haptotaxis of endothelial cell in different mechanical environments inside and outside the tumor. The results show that nearly realistic tumor microvascular networks with neoplastic pathophysiological characteristics can be generated from the present model. Moreover, the theoretical capillary networks generated in numerical simulations of the discrete model may provide useful information for further clinical research.

Studies on the Hydrogenation of Acetonitrile over Fresh Mo_2C/γ-Al_2O_3 Catalyst by In-situ IR Spectroscopy

The adsorption of acetonitrile, the co-adsorption of acetonitrile with CO, and hydrogenation of acetonitrile on fresh Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst were studied by in situ IR spectroscopy. It was found out that CH3CN exhibited strong interaction with the fresh Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst and was adsorbed mainly on Moδ+ sites of fresh Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. Moreover, CH3CN could affect the shifting of IR spectra for CO adsorption towards a lower wave number. The IR spectroscopic study on acetonitrile hydrogenation showed that CH3CN could be easily hydrogenated in the presence of H2 on the Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. Furthermore, it was observed that CH3 CN could be selectively hydrogenated to imines on fresh Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. Additionally, the active sites of fresh Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst might be covered with coke during the hydrogenation reaction of acetonitrile. The treatment of catalyst with hydrogen at 673 K could not completely remove coke deposits on the surface of the Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst.

Establishment of probabilistic model for Salmonella Enteritidis growth and inactivation under acid and osmotic pressure

The growth and survival characteristic of Salmonella Enteritidis under acidic and osmotic conditions were studied.Meanwhile,a probabilistic model based on the theory of cell division and mortality was established to predict the growth or inactivation of S.Enteritidis.The experimental results demonstrated that the growth curves of planktonic and detached cells showed a significant difference(p<0.05)under four conditions,including pH5.0+0.0%NaCl,pH7.0+4.0%NaCl,pH6.0+4.0%NaCl,and pH5.0+4.0%NaCl.And the established primary and secondary models could describe the growth of S.enteritis well by estimating four mathematics evaluation indexes,including determination coefficient(R2),root mean square error(RMSE),accuracy factor(Af)and bias factor(Bf).Moreover,sequential treatment of 15%NaCl stress followed by pH 4.5 stress was the best condition to inactivate S.Enteritidis in 10 h at 25◦C.The probabilistic model with Logistical or Weibullian form could also predict the inactivation of S.Enteritidis well,thus realize the unification of predictive model to some extent or generalization of inactivation model.Furthermore,the primary 4-parameter probabilistic model or generalized inactivation model had slightly higher applicability and reliability to describe the growth or inactivation of S.Enteritidis than Baranyi model or exponential inactivation model within the experimental range in this study.

Random Walk Based Method for Automatic Segmentation of Intravascular Ultrasound Images

Intravascular ultrasound( IVUS) is an important imaging technique that is used to study vascular wall architecture for diagnosis and assessment of the vascular diseases. Segmentation of lumen and media-adventitia boundaries from IVUS images is a basic and necessary step for quantitative assessment of the vascular walls.Due to ultrasound speckles, artifacts and individual differences,automated segmentation of IVUS images represents a challenging task. In this paper,a random walk based method is proposed for fully automated segmentation of IVUS images. Robust and accurate determination of the seed points for different regions is the key to successful use of the random walk algorithm in segmentation of IVUS images and is the focus of the present work. Performance of the proposed algorithm was evaluated over an image database with 900 IVUS image frames of nine patient cases. The preliminary experimental results show the potential of the proposed IVUS image segmentation approach.

Pomalidomide improves the function of CD133-or HER2-specific CAR T cells

Chimeric antigen receptor(CAR)T-cell therapy is mostly limited to hematological malignancies and has a poor effect on solid tumors.CAR T cells as a kind of immune cell may be affected by some immunomodulatory drugs such as pomalidomide,so the use of pomalidomide may improve the effect of CAR T cells on solid tumors.In this study,CD133-or HER2-specific CAR T cells were chosen to investigate whether pomalidomide can regulate the function of CAR T cells in vitro.We found that pomalidomide can significantly enhance the ability of CD133-CAR T cells and HER2-CAR T cells to kill tumor cells and increase the cytokine secretion of CD133-CAR T cells and HER2-CAR T cells.Also,pomalidomide was shown to induce down-regulation of protein levels of IL-2 transcriptional repressors Aiolos and Ikaros in CAR T cells.This study suggests that the combination of pomalidomide and CAR T cells may be a new strategy for the treatment of solid tumors.

Research and Optimization of Technological Process Based on Fermentation for Production of Seaweed Feed

This paper for the purpose of utilization, conducted a study of technological process of producing animal feed by fermenting seaweed waste. Anaerobic fermentation, which can improve the contents of protein and polysaccharide in seaweed waste, proved to be an available method to improve the nutritional value of animal feed by using seaweed waste. Also effects of different additives and fermentation time on the fermentation products was compared, combined CCRD with neural network to optimize these factors, the predict model among all factors was established, also obtained the optimal fermentation process.

Effects of Different Types of Verbal Activities on Heart Rate Variability

In the present study, the effects of different types of verbal activities on heart rate variability (HRV) were investigated. ECG signals were recorded in ten volunteers during resting (R), reading silently (RS), reading aloud (RA) and talking freely (TF). Time domain, frequency domain and Poincaré plot measures of HRV were calculated for analyzing. Time domain parameter of pNN50, frequency domain parameter of LF (n.u.) and Poincaré plot parameter of SD1/SD2 were found statistically difference in RA and TF compared to R and RS. The results in this study show that HRV decreased while subjects were reading aloud and talking freely. The results also indicated that verbal activities of reading aloud and talking freely improve the sympathetic nervous activity.

Research on the Influence of X-ray Phase Contrast Imaging Parameters with Micro-focus Source

X-ray in-line phase contrast imaging enables weakly to absorb specimens to be imaged successfully with high resolution and definition. In this paper we use computer simulation method to analyze how each parameter influences the quality of the image. It can avoid wasting unnecessary time and materials in the course of experiment to get ideal images.

Stomach wall structure and vessels imaging by acoustic resolution photoacoustic microscopy

AIM To image stomach wall blood vessels and tissue, layerby-layer.METHODS We built up the acoustic resolution photoacoustic microscopy(AR-PAM) system for imaging layered tissues, such as the stomach wall. A tunable dye laser system was coupled to a fiber bundle. The fibers of the bundle were placed in nine directions with an incident angle of 45° around a high-frequency ultrasound transducer attached to the acoustic lens. This structure formed a dark field on the tissue surface under the acoustic lens and the nine light beams from the fibers to be combined near the focal point of the acoustic lens. The sample piece was cut from a part of the porcine stomach into a petri dish. In order to realize photoacoustic depth imaging of tumor, we designed a tumor model based on indocyanine green(ICG) dye. The ICG solution(concentration of 129 μM/m L)was mixed into molten gel, and then a gel mixture of ICG(concentration of 12.9 μM/mL) was injected into the stomach submucosa. The injection quantity was controlled by 0.1 mL to make a small tumor model. RESULTS An acoustic resolution photoacoustic microscopy based on fiber illumination was established and an axial resolution of 25 μm and a lateral resolution of 50 μm in its focal zone range of 500 μm has been accomplished. We tuned the laser wavelength to 600 nm. The photoacoustic probe was driven to do B-scan imaging in tissue thickness of 200 μm. The photoacoustic micro-image of mucosa and submucosa of the tissue have been obtained and compared with a pathological photograph of the tissue stained by hematoxylin-eosin staining. We have observed more detailed internal structure of the tissue. We also utilized this photoacoustic microscopy to image blood vessels inside the submucosa. High contrast imaging of the submucosa tumor model was obtained using ICG dye. CONCLUSION This AR-PAM is able to image layer-by-layer construction and some blood vessels under mucosa in the stomach wall without any contrast agents.

A novel particle tracking velocimetry method for complex granular flow field

Particle tracking velocimetry(PTV)is one of the most commonly applied granular flow velocity measurement methods.However,traditional PTV methods may have issues such as high mismatching rates and a narrow measurement range when measuring granular flows with large bulk density and high-speed contrast.In this study,a novel PTV method is introduced to solve these problems using an optical flow matching algorithm with two further processing steps.The first step involves displacement correction,which is used to solve the mismatching problem in the case of high stacking density.The other step is trajectory splicing,which is used to solve the problem of a measurement range reduction in the case of high-speed contrast The hopper flow experimental results demonstrate superior performance of this proposed method in controlling the number of mismatched particles and better measuring efficiency in comparison with the traditional PTV method.