Amplitude modulation excitation for cancellous bone evaluation using a portable ultrasonic backscatter instrumentation

The ultrasonic backscatter (UB) has the advantage of non-invasively obtaining bone density and structure, expected to be an assessment tool for early diagnosis osteoporosis. All former UB measurements were based on exciting a short single-pulse and analyzing the ultrasonic signals backscattered in bone. This study aims to examine amplitude modulation (AM) ultrasonic excitation with UB measurements for predicting bone characteristics. The AM multiple lengths excitation and backscatter measurement (AM-UB) functions were integrated into a portable ultrasonic instrument for bone characterization. The apparent integrated backscatter coefficient in the AM excitation (AIB_AM) was evaluated on the AM-UB instrumentation. The correlation coefficients of the AIB_AM estimating volume fraction (BV/TV), structure model index (SMI), and bone mineral density (BMD) were then analyzed. Significant correlations (|R| = 0.82-0.93, p < 0.05) were observed between the AIB_AM, BV/TV, SMI, and BMD. By growing the AM excitation length, the AIB_AM values exhibit more stability both in 1.0-MHz and 3.5-MHz measurements. The recommendations in AM-UB measurement were that the avoided length (T1) should be lower than AM excitation length, and the analysis length (T2) should be enough long but not more than AM excitation length. The authors conducted an AM-UB measurement for cancellous bone characterization. Increasing the AM excitation length could substantially enhance AIB_AM values stability with varying analyzed signals. The study suggests the portable AM-UB instrument with the integration of real-time analytics software that might provide a potential tool for osteoporosis early screening.     

Nonlinear inversion of ultrasonic guided waves for in vivo evaluation of cortical bone properties

Ultrasonic guided waves (UGWs), which propagate throughout the entire thickness of cortical bone, are attractive for the early diagnosis of osteoporosis. However, this is challenging due to the impact of soft tissue and the inherent difficulties related to multiparametric inversion of cortical bone quality factors, such as cortical thickness and bulk wave velocity. Therefore, in this research, a UGW-based multi-parameter inversion algorithm is developed to predict strength-related factors. In simulation, a free plate (cortical bone) and a bilayer plate (soft tissue and cortical bone) are used to validate the proposed method. The inversed cortical thickness (CTh), longitudinal velocity (V_L) and transverse velocity (V_T) are in accordance with the true values. Then four bovine cortical bone plates were used in in vitro experiments. Compared with the reference values, the relative errors for cortical thickness were 3.96%, 0.83%, 2.87%, and 4.25%, respectively. In the in vivo measurements, UGWs are collected from the tibias of 10 volunteers. The theoretical dispersion curves depicted by the estimated parameters (V_T, V_L, CTh) match well with the extracted experimental ones. In comparison with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, our results show that the estimated transverse velocity and cortical thickness are highly sensitive to osteoporosis. Therefore, these two parameters (CTh and V_T) of long bones have potential to be used for diagnosis of bone status in clinical applications.     

Further insights into the assessment of cell cycle phases by FTIR microspectroscopy

Cell growth and replication occurs in an orderly manner through a set of tightly coordinated physiological events, classified as G0, G1, S, G2 and M in conformity to their characteristics. In a previous work, by combining the results of flow cytometry (FC) using propidium iodide (PI) staining, PI-FC, and Fourier Transform Infrared Microspectroscopy (FTIRM), we gathered information to classify live B16 cells into three different set of phases (G0/G1, S and G2/M), according to their nucleic acid content measured as the area integral of the Phosphate I band (PhI, 1274–1182 cm⁻¹). In this work, we demonstrate that, once built a calibration dataset for a cell line determining the intervals of the PhI area integral related to each phase of the cell cycle, such data can be used for assigning the stage to which a live cell belongs without the support of FC. In addition, we evaluate the spectral profile of early G1 B16 cells, and compare it with the one of G0 and late G1 cell cycle phases. FTIRM highlights that G0 and G1 phases are a continuum, where the content of RNA of early G1 cells is in between G0 and late G1, and the overall nucleic acid content varies accordingly. In the paper, we also pinpoint the effects on synchronization protocols on cellular biochemistry, further strengthening the potentialities of a totally label-free methodology for cell sorting. Finally, we demonstrate that the general concept behind the proposed approach may be extended to other mammalian cell lines: human bone osteosarcoma (U2OS) cells were tested.     

多发性骨髓瘤的骨髓形态学分析与临床应用

目的研究多发性骨髓瘤的骨髓形态学特征,探讨骨髓形态学在多发性骨髓瘤诊断中的临床应用价值。方法对广东医学院附属医院63例多发性骨髓瘤病人进行骨髓涂片及细胞染色和进行检验诊断分析。结果 94%的患者骨髓增生度都达到增生活跃以上,只有6%的是增生低下或极度低下,瘤细胞数量﹥15%,根据形态可分为四类;病人骨髓其他系包括巨核系、粒系、红系和淋巴系细胞都不同程度减少和受抑制。结论骨髓形态学分析是多发性骨髓瘤诊断和治疗疗效监测具有重要的临床应用价值,具有广泛开展的必要性和意义。     

高氟铝暨铝引起性发育前人和动物高钙及高骨矿性骨软化

对铝氟联合中毒27例2－11岁儿童和100日龄雄鸡实验3个月进行了动态观察。结果表明，骨软化伴 骨硬化的病人有22例，占81％；随着年龄增长，骨硬化渐渐突出；患儿全血钙、磷升高，血清Ca^2 正常范围偏高，血清P^5 下降。铝氟联合作用实验鸡性发育前、后全血钙一直较高，全血磷与血清Ca^2 、P^5 及其相关关系出现由高到低到高的交错变化；单独铝作用全血钙一直较高，碱到性成熟期下降，血清Ca^2 、P^5 一直较低。在性发育完成阶段，高铝可使类骨质矿化过度延迟，小幅度减少骨钙、磷含量，但骨部矿物元素和骨矿含量及骨密度不一定降低，甚至可小幅度升高，又有同软化；铝氟联合作用时类骨质矿化延迟时间仍过长，骨矿沉积率已高于对照，存在明显分离。氟可提高矿物元素含量，使骨矿化与骨硬化在骨组织不同层面茯结合成年病人的情况，认为铝氟联合 作用骨损害的表现与骨代谢速度及细胞生物化学和物理化学骨形成方式偏转的变化密切相关。     

古人类骨骼中微量元素的分析及其与古代食谱的关联

采用等离子体质谱(ICP-Ms)法对三峡地区及长江下游地区出土的古墓中的人体骨骼中的微量元素Zn、Sr、Ba、Ca进行了分析，并与原子吸收光谱(AAS)对照，结果表明：ICP-MS是骨化学微量元素分析很好的方法，它相对FAAS，具有灵敏度高，检出限低，可快速进行多元素检测等优点，对溶液中元素的检出限可达到ng/L数量级，对元素的高含量和低含量都能进行准确测量。本实验以Zn、Sr、Ba、Ca为指示剂，根据其测量结果，还对上述两地区的古人类食谱进行了初步探讨。     

白血病骨髓移植患者口腔黏膜病与微量元素锌的关系

为研究白血病骨髓移植患者全血微量元素锌与口腔黏膜病的关系，用原子吸收光谱法检测了正常对照组与白血病骨髓移患者预处理前及移植后骨髓空虚期全血微量元素锌的含量，并观察了白血病骨髓移植患者空黏膜病变情况。结果表明，正常对照组全血锌浓度与白血病骨髓移植患者预处理前全血锌浓度比较，差异无显著性（P＞0．05），而预处理前全血锌浓度与骨髓空虚期全血锌浓度有显著性差异（P＜0．01），白血病缓解后（预处理前）血锌接受正常水平，无口腔溃疡发生，而白血病骨髓移植患者处理后骨髓空虚期全血锌含量显著降低，并出现不同程度的口腔黏膜病变，说明预处理影响微量元素锌的代谢，微量元素锌的减少与白血病骨髓移植患者移植患者口腔黏膜病的发生有关。     

GC／MS法分析鳗鱼骨油的脂肪酸

用乙醚／已烷混合溶剂抽提鳗鱼骨油，用ＫＯＨ－ＣＨ_３ＯＨ酯交换法甲酯化，以毛细管色谱／质谱方法测定脂肪酸的组成。共检出２７种脂肪酸，其中以棕榈油酸、棕榈酸、油酸、硬脂酸、花生烯酸为主。     

环磷酰胺诱导的小鼠骨髓细胞微核率的时间、剂量-效应观察

为研究环磷酰胺(CP)诱导的小鼠骨髓细胞微核率的时间-效应关系和剂量-反应关系,给小鼠一次腹腔注射不同剂量(按体质量计)CP(0、30、60、90 mg/kg)后,于不同时间(给药后12、24、36、486、0 h)、不同部位(胸骨与股骨)取材来观察小鼠骨髓细胞微核率的变化。结果表明,高、中、低三个剂量组的小鼠骨髓细胞微核率与0 mg/kg组相比较,其差异具有统计学意义(P<0.01),且4个剂量组之间两两比较也均有统计学意义(P<0.05),并表现出明显的剂量-反应关系;不同取样时间对小鼠骨髓细胞微核率的影响具有统计学意义(P<0.05),在36~48 h这个时间段能够观察到更高的微核率,通过线性回归的曲线拟合分析,以41 h取材最佳;胸骨取材与股骨取材之间的微核率差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。环磷酰胺可作为诱导小鼠骨髓细胞微核的阳性对照,在一定范围内,具有剂量-反应关系和时间-效应关系。给小鼠一次腹腔注射量(按体质量计)60~90 mg/kg后36~48 h胸骨取材可取得较高微核率,结果满意。