Early detection and intervention in diabetic gastroparesis:Role of body surface gastric mapping

Diabetic gastrointestinal neuropathy is a diabetes-related complication,associated with a complex interplay of hyperglycemic damage,autoimmune responses,oxidative stress,gastrointestinal hormones,and vascular insufficiency.Patients with diabetes should be monitored and therapeutic intervention introduced to prevent neuropathy due to diabetes prior to“the point of no return”.Determining gastric bioelectrical activity by body surface gastric mapping may be a promising option to monitor diabetic gastrointestinal neuropathy.

Relationship between body surface area and ALT normalization after long-term lamivudine treatment

AIM： To further evaluate the relationship between BSA and the effects of lamivudine in a greater number of cases and over a longer period of observation than in our previous evaluation. METHODS： We evaluated 249 patients with chronic hepatitis B. The effects of treatment for one year （n = 249）, two years （n = 147）, and three years （n = 72） were evaluated from the levels of serum ALT and HBVoDNA, as biological and virological effects （undetectable levels by PCR）, respectively. Moreover, several variables that could influence the response to treatment, including ALT, albumin, bilirubin, platelet counts, BSA, HBVoDNA, and HBeAg were analyzed. RESULTS： For 1-year treatment, multivariate analysis revealed that BSA （P = 0.0002） was the only factor for the biological effect, and that ALT （P = 0.0017）, HBV- DNA （P = 0.0004）, and HBeAg （P = 0.0021） were independent factors for the virological effect. For 2-year treatment, multivariate analysis again showed that BSA （P = 0.0147） was the only factor for the biological effect, and that ALT （P = 0.0192） and HBeAg （P = 0.0428） were independent factors for the virological effect. For 3-year treatment, multivariate analysis, however, could not reveal BSA （P = 0.0730） as a factor for the normalization of ALT levels. CONCLUSION： BSA is a significant predictor for the normalizing the effect of lamivudine therapy on ALT for an initial 2-year period, suggesting that lamivudine dosage should be based on the individual BSA.

The Maximum Temperatures （Tmax） Distribution on the Body Surface of Sport Horses

The objective of the study was to determine the usefulness of measuring maximum temperatures in designated regions of a healthy horse＇s body surface. Thermographic investigations （Thermovision〉550, FLIR） were carried out on 35 horses from 6 to 16 years old participating in show jumping competitions. The rectal temperatures of the horses were in the range 37.5-38.2 ℃. The research was performed in a stable, the ambient temperature （Tab） of which was 14℃ with a humidity （φ） of 60%. Thermograms of the left and right side of the horses were obtained. Each thermogram consisted of 36 body surface regions （before the competition） and 25 regions （immediately after the competition）. The maximum temperature ranges at rest were 21.8 ℃-31.0℃ and symmetrical regions did not differ statistically （P 〉 0.05）. The highest temperatures were on the head, neck and trunk, the lowest-on the limbs. The hind legs were warmer than the front legs in analogous areas, with the exception of the gaskin and forearm. The warmest body areas had the largest surface area, which is indicative of their crucial role in the thermoregulation of the equine organism. The research results may therefore be useful in veterinary diagnosis. The range of maximum temperatures after the competitions was 25.2℃-34.2℃. The highest increment was observed at the breast, elbow, forearm and gaskin, the lowest-at the head, pastern and hoof （foreand hind limbs）. Research regarding body surface temperature after exercise does not have diagnostic value for veterinarians because ＂warming-up＂ certain parts of body surface masks inflammation.

Body Surface Area Prediction in Odorrana grahami

Body surface area（BSA）was regarded as a more readily quantifiable parameter relative to body mass in the normalization of comparative biochemistry and physiology.The BSA prediction has attracted unceasing research back more than a century on animals,especially on humans and rats.Few studies in this area for anurans were reported,and the equation for body surface area（S）and body mass（W）：S=9.9 W 0.56,which was concluded from toads of four species in 1969,was generally adopted to estimate the body surface areas for anurans until recent years.However,this equation was not applicable to Odorrana grahami.The relationship between body surface area and body mass for this species was established as：S=15.4 W 0.579.Our current results suggest estimation equations should be used cautiously across different species and body surface area predictions on more species need to be conducted.

Research on the body surface resistance imbalance degree at yuan-source points of three yin meridians of foot in the patients with primary dysmenorrhea

Objective:To explore whether or not the changes in body surface resistance at yuan-source points of three yin meridians of foot can specifically responds the onset of primary dysmenorrhea(PD) in females of menstrual period and the before and after,so as to provide the evidence for acupoint selection in clinic.Methods:A total of 90 cases of PD were recruited in a PD group and 90 healthy female undergraduates were recruited in a normal group.The yuan-source of points of three yin meridians of foot were selected,i.e.Taibai(太白SP3),Taichong(太冲LR3) and Taixi(太溪KI3).The acupoints for control were Xuehai(血海SP10),the non-special acupoint,Xuanzhong(悬钟GB39),the acupoint not on the relevant meridian,as well as a non-meridian point.Successively,before menstruation,on Day 1 during menstruation and on Day 3 after menstruation,the body surface resistance at the above-mentioned test sites was detected in the participants of two groups each day.The resistance imbalance degree(RID) of the bilateral acupoints was taken as the outcome indicator.The observation lasted one menstrual cycle.Results:(1) Intra-group comparison:at LR3,the RID was lower on Day 1 during menstruation than that before menstruation significantly in the normal group(P ≤0.05).There was no significant change in RID at the same time points,but RID on Day 3 after menstruation was lower significantly than that before menstruation in the PD group(P ≤0.05).At SP3,KI3,SP10,GB39 and sham acupoint,there were no significant differences in RID among different time points within the same group(all P> 0.05).(2) Intergroup comparison:there were no significant differences in RID among different time points at the same point.(all P> 0.05).Conclusion:RID at yuan-source points of three yin meridians of foot cannot specifically respond to PD.However,at LR3,before and after menstruation,RID changes are different between PD patients and healthy female undergraduates,which needs a further study in the future.

Extracting body surface dimensions from top-view images of pigs

Continuous live weight and carcass traits estimation are important for the pig production and breeding industry.It is widely known that top-view images of a pig’s body(excluding its head and neck)reveal surface dimension parameters,which are correlated with live weight and carcass traits.However,because a pig is not constrained when an image is captured,the body does not always have a straight posture.This creates a big challenge when extracting the body surface dimension parameters,and consequently the live weight and carcass traits estimation has a high level of uncertainty.The primary goal of this study is to propose an algorithm to automatically extract pig body surface dimension parameters,with a better accuracy,from top-view pig images.Firstly,the backbone line of a pig was extracted.Secondly,lengths of line segments perpendicular to the backbone line were calculated,and then feature points on the pig’s contour line were extracted based on the lengths variation of the perpendicular line segments.Thirdly,the head and neck of the pig were removed from the pig’s contour by an ellipse.Finally,four length and one area parameters were calculated.The proposed algorithm was implemented in Matlab®(R2012b)and applied to 126 depth images of pigs.Taking the results of the manual labeling tool as the gold standard,the length and area parameters could be obtained by the proposed algorithm with an accuracy of 97.71%(SE=1.64%)and 97.06%(SE=1.82%),respectively.These parameters can be used to improve pig live weight and carcass traits estimation accuracy in the future work.

Recognition of abnormal body surface characteristics of oplegnathus punctatus

To identify the abnormal characteristics of the oplegnathus punctatus is great importance to the detection of iridovirus disease in the breeding environment.In this paper,an advanced neural network model to identify the characteristics of the oplegnathus puncta-tus and predict its different periods of suffering from iridovirus disease is proposed based on the establishment of a data set.First of all,a standard format data set of oplegnathus punctatus and an abnormal format date set are established in order to verify the effective-ness of the method in this paper.And then,the feature extraction fusion method is used for preprocessing in terms of the abnormal format data set,which combines the edge fea-tures extracted by the improved multi-template Sobel operator and the color features extracted by the HSV model.Finally,an improved VGG-GoogleNet network recognition model comes into being through the fusion and improvement of the VGG and GoogleNet neural network structure.The experiments results show that the prediction accuracy rate for oplegnathus punctatus suffering from iridovirus disease in the the abnormal format data set and the standard format data set are improved,which reach 98.55%and 69.18%.

BODY SURFACE EXPOSURE DISTRIBUTION OF EXAMINEES RECEIVED UPPER G．I．T．X－RAY EXAMINATION

A special cloth for keeping LiF(Mg,Cu,P)TL dosimetry elements is worn by examinees. The exposures of 128 examinees .received upper G.I.T (gastro-intestinal tram) X-ray examination are measured. The reference point of the maximum body surface exposure given is at the middle of stomach. The average of this point is (4.97±1.94) × 10-4C.kg-1 person-1 examination-1 and (1.33±0.28)×10-4C.kg-1.min-1.

Three-dimensional analysis of pedicle screw channel,screw entry point and lateral surface of cervical vertebral body

Objective To explore three-dimensional relations of pedicle screw channel (PSC) ,screw entry point and lateral surface of cervical vertebral body by digital techniques. Methods CT scan images of cervical

NON-CONTACT MEASUREMENT OF SCULPTURED SURFACE OF ROTATION

A method for measuring the sculptured surface of rotation by using coordinatemeasuring machine (CMM) and rotary table is proposed. The measurement is realized during thecontinuous rotation of the workpiece mounted on the rotary table while the probe moves along thegeneratrix of the surface step by step. This method possesses lots of advantages such as simplicityof probe motion, high reliability and efficiency. Some key techniques including calibration of theeffective radius of the probing system, determination of the position of axis of rotation,auto-centering of the workpiece, data processing algorithm, are discussed. Approaches fordetermining the coordinates on measured surface, establishing workpiece coordinate system andsurface fitting are presented in detail. The method can be used with contact or non-contact probes.Some fragile ceramic and plaster parts are measured by using the system consisting of a CMM, rotarytable, motorized head and non-contact laser triangulation probe. The measuring uncertainty is about0.02 mm which meets the general requirement in most cases.

Standard liver weight model in adult deceased donors with fatty liver: A prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND Standard liver weight(SLW)is frequently used in deceased donor liver transplantation to avoid size mismatches with the recipient.However,some deceased donors(DDs)have fatty liver(FL).A few studies have reported that FL could impact liver size.To the best of our knowledge,there are no relevant SLW models for predicting liver size.AIM To demonstrate the relationship between FL and total liver weight(TLW)in detail and present a related SLW formula.METHODS We prospectively enrolled 212 adult DDs from West China Hospital of Sichuan University from June 2019 to February 2021,recorded their basic information,such as sex,age,body height(BH)and body weight(BW),and performed abdominal ultrasound(US)and pathological biopsy(PB).The chi-square test and kappa consistency score were used to assess the consistency in terms of FL diagnosed by US relative to PB.Simple linear regression analysis was used to explore the variables related to TLW.Multiple linear regression analysis was used to formulate SLW models,and the root mean standard error and interclass correlation coefficient were used to test the fitting efficiency and accuracy of the model,respectively.Furthermore,the optimal formula was compared with previous formulas.RESULTS Approximately 28.8%of DDs had FL.US had a high diagnostic ability(sensitivity and specificity were 86.2%and 92.9%,respectively;kappa value was 0.70,P<0.001)for livers with more than a 5%fatty change.Simple linear regression analysis showed that sex(R2,0.226;P<0.001),BH(R2,0.241;P<0.001),BW(R2,0.441;P<0.001),BMI(R2,0.224;P<0.001),BSA(R2,0.454;P<0.001)and FL(R2,0.130;P<0.001)significantly impacted TLW.In addition,multiple linear regression analysis showed that there was no significant difference in liver weight between the DDs with no steatosis and those with steatosis within 5%.Furthermore,in the context of hepatic steatosis,TLW increased positively(nonlinear);compared with the TLW of the non-FL group,the TLW of the groups with hepatic steatosis within 5%,between 5%and 20%and more than 20%increased by 0 g,90 g,and 340 g,respectively.A novel formula,namely,-348.6+(110.7 x Sex[0=Female,1=Male])+958.0 x BSA+(179.8 x FLUS[0=No,1=Yes]),where FL was diagnosed by US,was more convenient and accurate than any other formula for predicting SLW.CONCLUSION FL is positively correlated with TLW.The novel formula deduced using sex,BSA and FLUS is the optimal formula for predicting SLW in adult DDs.

Yin and Yang of Body Composition Assessment

Objectve：To define if such crucial body composition parameters like body density（Db） and body surface area（BSA） could be considered in the frame of yin-yang concept,i.e.,one of the most popular in conventional biomedical science theories of Chinese medicine.Methods：Standardized Eurofit Pysical Fitness Test Battery reports of 715 junior school children have been evaluated for association of their body composition parameters with corresponding motoric fitness test results.Equations for BSA and Db calculation included height,weight,and skin-fold thickness values of the tests.Results：Correlative analysis of major physical fitness parameters,obtained from 715 junior school children,demonstrated that participants with high BSA/Db ratio had better yang-featured anaerobic performance,whereas those with low BSA/Db ratio presented with better yin-featured aerobic performance.This result coincided with proposed suggestions to treat BSA as external yang component and Db as internal yin component of body composition.Calculated confidence intervals for BSA/ Db ratio ranged between 1.073-1.15,which can be accepted as optimal for junior school children yang/yin ratio of body composition.Conclusion：Easily accessible BSA and Db can provide specialists with useful preliminary information for generating reasonable exercise and nutritional programs.

Endocardial mapping and ablation of tachycardia guided by noncontact balloon catheter mapping system

Objective To describe a new noncontact balloon catheter mapping system and to assess the clinical utility of this system for guiding endocardial mapping and ablation of tachycardia.Methods Five patients with tachycardia underwent endocardial mapping and radiofrequency ablation using the noncontact balloon catheter mapping system. A 9 French, 64-electrode balloon catheter and a conventional 7 French electrode catheter for mapping and ablation were positioned in the same ventricular chamber. Ventricular three-dimensional geometry was established by the computerized mapping system. Using a boundary element inverse solution, 3360 virtual endocardial electrograms were computerized and used to derive isopotential maps. The earliest endocardial activation site, the exit site and the activation sequence of tachycardia or the critical isthmus of the reentry circuit were identified. Radiofrequency ablation with circular or linear lesion was performed at the target sites guided by the locator system.Results Six clinical types of tachycardia, 5 of which were ventricular tachycardia and one was concealed fasciculoventricular fiber mediated tachycardia, were induced by programmed stimulation. The mean cycle length of these tachycardias was 336.6±42.69 msec. The earliest activation site and the exit site of 5 mapped tachycardias were all identified using the system. One type of ventricular tachycardia was hemodynamically unstable and difficult to terminate, and could not be mapped. Among the 6 types of tachycardias, radiofrequency ablation was successful in 4. There was no complication during and after the procedure. During the mean follow-up of 6 months, no tachycardia recurred in the patients with a successful ablation.Conclusions The noncontact mapping system described in this study has advantage over conventional mapping techniques for refractory tachycardia. It is not only helpful for understanding the electrophysiologic mechanism of a complex case, but also suitable for mapping hemodynamically-intolerated and nonsustained ventricular tachycardia.

Histopathological changes in the skins and gills of some marine fishes due to parasitic isopod infestation

Objective:To study the histopathological symptoms owing to cymothoid isopod that were categorised as gross lesions.Methods:Nature of damage fish tissues and gills were taken from the parasite attachment area of infested and uninfested fishes which were cut out in fresh condition fixed in 10%buffered neutral formalin.Fresh and recently preserved tissues and gills were washed in tap water and dehydrated using alcohol series.The tissues gills were then cleaned in methylbenzoate and benzene and embedded in paraffin wax.The serial sections cutting 4 to 5 m thickness,were stained with Erlich’s haematoxylin and Eosin for histopathological analysis.Results:In normal muscle tissue,the tensile strength of muscle fibers with extra cellular matrix collagen was extensively tight associated.This gave a rigid musculature pattern to the tissues.Infested fish exhibited histopathological anomalies such as tissue reactions,primarily associated with the formation of granulomas consisted of macrophages and epitheleioid cells,which were occasionally surrounded by a thin rim of fibroblasts.The infestations such as lipofibrosis,hyperaemia,haemorhagic lesions and penetration of dactylus usually pressure atrophy often accompanied by the presence of parasites.Lesions had well developed granulomas that underlined in the muscle or overlying subcutaneous tissue,form these spread to underlying organs.Conclusions:It could be concluded that the infection studies of parasite that attaches or settles on the host body,at first,causes localized inflammatory changes,but with time,assuring a different or diffused character.The changes always begin with hyperaemia in the angles between adjacent sides at the site of attachment and then move towards deeply situated area.