Objective To determine the association between the geneti c polymorp hisms of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene and the prognosis for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in Chinese. Methods Twenty infants with threshold ROP who had undergone retinal photocoagulation were in the treated group and 20 infants with self-regressed ROP without any treatment were in the control grou p . In the two groups, all the infants had oxygen-breathing history and the sex a n d gestational age were all suitable to be compared, except birth weight. Polymer ase chains reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was used to determine the frequencies of VEGF genes in the two groups. Results The frequencies of +405C allele were higher in the treated group than those in the control group (P＜0.05). The frequencies of the VEGF-460T/C and +936C/T ploymorphisms were similar in both groups (P＞0.05). Conclusions The +4 05C/G ge netic polymorphisms of VEGF may correlate to the prognosis of ROP. The carriers of +405CC allele are more susceptible to ROP.
Objective To investigate the impact of injection of acetic acid hypertonic saline solution (AHS) in dog liver during radiofrequency ablation (RFA) on its destructive zone. Methods RFAs were performed in dog livers by using LDRF-120S mutiple probe ablation system combining 50% acetic acid 5% hypertonic saline solution injection. Thirty healthy adult hybrid dogs were randomly divided into 5 groups (n=6). Group A: RFA was performed immediately after injection of 2 ml AHS; Group B: RFA was performed 5 min after injection of 2 ml AHS; Group C: RFA was performed immediately after injection of 4 ml AHS; Group D: RFA was performed 5 min after injection of 4 ml AHS; Group E: RFA was performed immediately after injection of 6 ml AHS. Results There were no significant differences in the mean initial impedance within 5 groups. The mean ablation times were different significantly among 5 groups (F=83.831, P＜0.001). The mean ablation time was different significantly between any two groups by LSD-t analysis (P＜0.001). The mean coagulation diameters were different significantly among 5 groups （F=53.488, P＜0.001）. The mean coagulation diameter of group E was the largest among 5 groups. Besides mean coagulation diameter was no significant difference between group D and E (Pgt;0.05), the mean coagulation diameter was different significantly between any two groups by LSD-t analysis (P＜0.001). Obviously thrombus were shown in coagulation necrosis zone and nearly normal tissue with gordon amp; sweet. AHS spillage from the injection site occurred in group E. Four dogs died in group E within 14 d but no dog died in the other groups. Conclusion RFA is performed 5 min after injection of 4 ml AHS in dog liver produces the ideal ablation destructive zone.
Using electroencephalogram (EEG) signal to control external devices has always been the research focus in the field of brain-computer interface (BCI). This is especially significant for those disabilities who have lost capacity of movements. In this paper, the P300-based BCI and the microcontroller-based wireless radio frequency (RF) technology are utilized to design a smart home control system, which can be used to control household appliances, lighting system, and security devices directly. Experiment results showed that the system was simple, reliable and easy to be populirised.
Objective To evaluate the efficacy of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in treating primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods From March 2004 to March 2006, 137 patients with primary HCC underwent TACE alone (n=87) and TACE+RFA (n=50), respectively, after the interventional treatment, all patients periodically received CT reexaminations and alpha fetoprotein (AFP) measurement. The therapeutic efficacy, AFP level and survival rate between two groups were compared with each other. Results In TACE group the effective rate (CR+PR) was 34.5%, AFP decreasing amplitude was 54.2%, and 2 years survival rate was 43.7%. While in TACE+RFA group, the effective rate (CR+PR) was 70.0%, AFP decreasing amplitude was 78.0%, and 2 years survival rate was 62.0%, there were significant differences between two groups (P＜0.05). Conclusion Combined application of TACE and RFA is significantly superior to TACE alone in treatment of primary HCC.
Objective To investigate the combined effects of digastric muscle low frequency modulated medium frequency electro-acupuncture therapy and voice training for dysphagia in patients who underwent aortic arch surgery. Methods Forty-two consecutive patients with dysphagia after aortic arch surgery between October 2014 and November 2017 were divided into two groups including an observation group and a control group. There were 21 patients in each group. There were 17 males and 4 females at age of 51.0±6.5 years in the observation group, while 18 males and 3 females at age of 49.8±7.3 years in the control group. The patients in the observation group underwent electroacupuncture therapy and voice training (20 min per day for each therapy, 2 weeks), while the patients in the control group only received safe swallowing education and rehabilitation guidance (2 weeks). The test results, such as fibrolaryngoscope and functional oral intake scale (FOIS) score, and the data of computer phonatory detection, before and after the intervention were compared. Results The fibrolaryngoscope of vocal cords significantly decreased and the FOIS score significantly increased after digastric muscle low frequency modulated medium frequency electro-acupuncture therapy and voice training in the observation group(6.30 vs. 4.60, P<0.05). Bucking was obviously reduced. The indicators of hoarse degree, such as median pitch, fundamental frequency, jitter (0.60%±0.96%vs. 1.99%±1.86%, P=0.033), shimmer (2.47%±4.26% vs. 5.89%±3.66%, P=0.043), maximum phonation time (15.31±9.10 s vs. 3.72±8.83 s, P=0.006), maximum and loud phonation time (9.30±5.73 s vs. 2.32±2.99 s, P=0.039), mean noise-to-harmonics ratio (23.99±10.17 vs .9.98±9.37, P=0.006) and mean harmonics-to-noise ratio (0.03±0.02 vs. 0.17±0.23, P=0.019) improved after the treatment in both groups. But the improvement in the observation group was significantly better than that in the control group. Conclusion The combination of digastric muscle low frequency modulated medium frequency electro-acupuncture therapy and voice training on dysphagia in patients who underwent aortic arch surgery can significantly improve the swallowing function of patients. Meanwhile, it also helps the recovery of phonic function and improves the ability of feeding and communication in these patients.
The multi-window time-frequency reassignment helps to improve the time-frequency resolution of bark-frequency spectral coefficient (BFSC) analysis of heart sounds. For this purpose, a new heart sound classification algorithm combining feature extraction based on multi-window time-frequency reassignment BFSC with deep learning was proposed in this paper. Firstly, the randomly intercepted heart sound segments are preprocessed with amplitude normalization, the heart sounds were framed and time-frequency rearrangement based on short-time Fourier transforms were computed using multiple orthogonal windows. A smooth spectrum estimate is calculated by arithmetic averaging each of the obtained independent spectra. Finally, the BFSC of reassignment spectrum is extracted as a feature by the Bark filter bank. In this paper, convolutional network and recurrent neural network are used as classifiers for model comparison and performance evaluation of the extracted features. Eventually, the multi-window time-frequency rearrangement improved BFSC method extracts more discriminative features, with a binary classification accuracy of 0.936, a sensitivity of 0.946, and a specificity of 0.922. These results present that the algorithm proposed in this paper does not need to segment the heart sounds and randomly intercepts the heart sound segments, which greatly simplifies the computational process and is expected to be used for screening of congenital heart disease.
ObjectiveTo observe the changes of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets of patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (PHCC) treated with radiofrequency ablation (RFA). MethodsThe data of 70 cases of hospitalized patients with PHCC that voluntary accepted RFA diagnosed by clinical and pathological in our hospital between July 2011 and December 2014 were collected. According to the numbers of HCC lesions, 70 cases were divided into single focus group (n=41) and multifocal group (n=29). The changes of their immune parameters before and after RFA were analyzed. Results①The ratioes of peripheral blood CD3+/CD19-, CD3+/CD4+, CD4+/CD8+, and NK cells on 7 days and 14 days after RFA treatment of 70 cases were significantly higher than those on 1 day before RFA treatment (P < 0.05). The ratio of CD3+/CD8+ T cells reduced from 1 day before RFA treatment to 14 days after RFA treatment, but the difference was no statistically significant (P > 0.05).②The changing trend of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets before and after RFA treatment in single focus group and multifocal group were similar to the above.③Compared with single focus group, the ratioes of peripheral blood CD3+/CD19-, CD3+/CD4+, CD4+/CD8+, and NK cells before and after RFA treatment in multifocal group were lower, and the ratio of CD3+/CD8+ T cells was higher, but the difference were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). ConclusionRFA can not only destroy small PHCC foci, but also to significantly improve immune function and enhance the anti-tumor effect.
ObjectiveTo observe the accuracy of location and operation of traditional blind acupotomy lysis in the treatment of scapulohumeral periarthritis by using the high-frequency ultrasound.MethodsForty-two patients with scapulohumeral periarthritis diagnosed in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University and Urumqi Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from February to April 2018 were selected. Four common sites of needle knife in the treatment of scapulohumeral periarthritis were operated blindly, and the process of the needle insertion points location and needle perform were both observed by high-frequency ultrasound.ResultsUsing high-frequency ultrasound to observe and confirm the bare-handed positioning point and needle-knife operating point, we found that the accuracy rate of bare-handed positioning needle-point was 100.0% (42/42). In the process of needling, the accuracies of needle insertion at the point of small tubercle of humerus and the point of bursa of deltoid muscle were high, which was 95.2% (40/42) and 100.0% (42/42), respectively. However, because of the deviation of the needle depth and direction, the accuracies of needle insertion at the coracoid point and the sulcus point between the humeral tubercles were low, which was 45.2% (19/42) and 4.8% (2/42), respectively.ConclusionsTraditional acupotomy lysis is a commonly used method of needle knife treatment. Using high-frequency ultrasound, it is found that even by experienced needle knife doctors, there may still be positioning deviation when using blind method to insert needles. Because the visualization of clinical needle knife is difficult to be carried out universally due to the limitations of time and technology, it is suggested that high-frequency ultrasound could be used as a visualization teaching tool in the training of needle knife operation to assist the training of blind needle knife operation technology, which may improve the accuracy of blind needle knife operation.
Atrial fibrillation （AF） is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and associated with incremental morbidity and mortality. It is implicated that multiple reentry circuits have been the dominant mechanism of AF. The classical surgical treatment for medically refractory AF is the maze procedure composed of aultiple cuts and sutures within the atrial walls to disrupt the abnormal reentry circuits. Although the maze procedure is recognized as the most effective treatment of AF, it is complicated, time consuming and much invasive. New surgical ablation therapy, applying alternate energy sources （cryothermy, radiofrequency, microwave） have evolved to simplify the maze procedure without cut and suture and demonstrated promising success rates. The optimal lesion set has not yet been defined, Modification of lesion sets and techniques that ensure continuous and transmural lesions may improve the outcomes of ablation therapy and recover rate of sinus rhythm.
For speech detection in Parkinson’s patients, we proposed a method based on time-frequency domain gradient statistics to analyze speech disorders of Parkinson’s patients. In this method, speech signal was first converted to time-frequency domain (time-frequency representation). In the process, the speech signal was divided into frames. Through calculation, each frame was Fourier transformed to obtain the energy spectrum, which was mapped to the image space for visualization. Secondly, deviations values of each energy data on time axis and frequency axis was counted. According to deviations values, the gradient statistical features were used to show the abrupt changes of energy value in different time-domains and frequency-domains. Finally, KNN classifier was applied to classify the extracted gradient statistical features. In this paper, experiments on different speech datasets of Parkinson’s patients showed that the gradient statistical features extracted in this paper had stronger clustering in classification. Compared with the classification results based on traditional features and deep learning features, the gradient statistical features extracted in this paper were better in classification accuracy, specificity and sensitivity. The experimental results show that the gradient statistical features proposed in this paper are feasible in speech classification diagnosis of Parkinson’s patients.