Newly designed J-shaped tip guidewire: A preliminary feasibility study in wire-guided cannulation

AIM: To perform wire-guided cannulation using a newly designed J-shaped tip guidewire, and to verify feasibility and safety for use. METHODS: The study was conducted on endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) patients with na ve papilla undergoing diagnosis and treatment of biliary diseases between September 2011 and July 2012. We performed ERCP in a succession of 50 cases with a J-shaped tip guidewire. The first insertion attempt began with a trainee who had 5 min to complete cannulation, followed if necessary by the trainer for another 5 min. We assessed the primary success rate of selective biliary cannulation within 10 min and adverse events such as post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP), bleeding or perforation.RESULTS: The primary success rate was 90% (45/50) within 10 min, the initial success rate within 5 min by trainee staff was 76% (38/50). The rate of PEP was 6% (3/50), but all 3 cases were mild pancreatitis. All patients were managed successfully with conservative treatment. There was no bleeding or perforation. CONCLUSION: A newly designed J-shaped tip guidewire has the possibility to facilitate selective biliary cannulation for ERCP and appears to be safe.

A novel wavy non-uniform ligament chiral stent with J-shaped stress-strain behavior to mimic the native trachea

Tracheal stents are an important form of treatment for benign or malignant central airway obstruction.However,the mechanical behavior of current tracheal stents is significantly different from that of the native trachea,which leads to a variety of serious complications.In this study,inspired by the structure of the native trachea,a wavy non-uniform ligament chiral tracheal stent is proposed,in which J-shaped stress-strain behavior and negative Poisson's ratio response are achieved by replacing the tangential ligament of tetrachiral and anti-tetrachiral hybrid structure with a wavy non-uniform ligament.Through the combination of theoretical analysis,finite element analysis and experimental tests,a wide range of desired J-shaped stress-strain curves are explored to mimic the native porcine trachea by tailoring the stent geometry.Besides,the negative Poisson’s ratio and auxetic diameter curves versus axial strain of the stent are also studied in detail,thus contributing to the enhancement of cross-section ventilation and reducing the migration of the stent.This novel tracheal stent with a unique microstructure shows a potential to perfectly match the physiological activities of the native trachea and thereby reduce potential complications.

Rheumatic Mineralization of Aortic Valve and Anterior Mitral Leaflet—A Case Report

Aim: To present the heterotopic ossification of left-sided heart valves due to rheumatic inflammation and biomineralization. Introduction: Calcification in the region of mitral-aortic continuity is significant at its origin and etiopathogenesis. The etiology of valvular calcification may be divided into 3 groups, namely, inflammation, degeneration and metabolic disturbances. Calcification of cardiac valve leaflets is most often due to rheumatic etiology in tropical nations. Case Report: A 52-year-old male developed sudden onset of light-headedness and palpitations due to atrial fibrillation. Transthoracic 2D echocardiography revealed calcification of anterior mitral leaflet and aortic valve which resembles a bone-like structure and the patient was advised double valve replacement. Conclusion: It was known that the cellular mechanisms play an important role in its genesis and therapeutic strategies are targeted to reverse this process by understanding its biological mediators.

A New Function for Modelling Diameter Frequency Distribution in the Tropical Rain Forest of Xishuangbanna,Southwest of China

Permanent plots in the montane tropical rain forests in Xishuangbanna, southwest China, were established, and different empirical models, based on observation data of these plots in 1992, were built to model diameter frequency distributions. The focus of this study is on predicting accuracy of stem number in the larger diameter classes, which is much more important than that of the smaller trees, from the view of forest management, and must be adequately considered in the modelling and estimate. There exist 3 traditional ways of modelling the diameter frequency distribution: the negative exponential function model, limiting line function model, and Weibull distribution model. In this study, a new model, named as the logarithmic J-shape function, together with the others, was experimented and was found as a more suitable model for modelling works in the tropical forests.

Species Abundance in a Forest Community in South China：A Case of Poisson Lognormal Distribution

: Case studies on Poisson lognormal distribution of species abundance have been rare, especially in forest communities. We propose a numerical method to fit the Poisson lognormal to the species abundance data at an evergreen mixed forest in the Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve, South China. Plants in the tree, shrub and herb layers in 25 quadrats of 20 m× 20 m, 5 m× 5 m, and 1 m× 1 m were surveyed. Results indicated that: (i) for each layer, the observed species abundance with a similarly small median, mode, and a variance larger than the mean was reverse J-shaped and followed well the zero-truncated Poisson lognormal; (ii) the coefficient of variation, skewness and kurtosis of abundance, and two Poisson lognormal parameters (& and μ) for shrub layer were closer to those for the herb layer than those for the tree layer; and (iii) from the tree to the shrub to the herb layer, the α and the coefficient of variation decreased, whereas diversity increased. We suggest that: (i) the species abundance distributions in the three layers reflects the overall community characteristics; (ii) the Poisson lognormal can describe the species abundance distribution in diverse communities with a few abundant species but many rare species; and (iii) 1/α should be an alternative measure of diversity.