Treatment-related central nervous system toxicity: MR imaging evaluation with CT and clinical correlation

Thirteen patients with abnormal brain MR scans attributable to treatment-induced injury were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were treated with radiation therapy and 62% received chemotherapy. Five patients were graded as having severe white matter (WM) changes, four had moderate WM changes, and four had mild WM changes. CT was generally equivalent to MR in evaluation of severe and moderate WM abnormalities, whereas MR was superior to CT in detection of mild WM abnormalities. In general, the severity of changes depicted by MR/CT correlated with the extent of neurologic dysfunction. The most severe changes were seen in those patients treated with combination irradiation and chemotherapy.     

Analysis of exhaled breath from smokers,passive smokers and non‐smokers by solid‐phase microextraction gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

In this study, 38 samples of expired air were collected and analyzed from 20 non‐smoking volunteers, four passive smokers and 14 smokers (21 women and 17 men). Measurements were carried out using solid‐phase microextraction (SPME) as an isolation and preconcentration technique. The determination and identification were accomplished by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Our data showed that ca 32% of all identified compounds in the breath of healthy non‐smokers were saturated hydrocarbons. In the breath of smoking and passive smoking volunteers hydrocarbons were predominant, but also present were more exogenous analytes such as furan, acetonitrile and benzene than in the breath of non‐smokers. Acetonitrile, furan, 3‐methylfuran, 2,5‐dimethylfuran, 2‐butanone, octane and decane were identified in breath of smoking and passive smoking persons. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

氧自由基与心血管疾病

随着氧自由基（ＯＦＲ）在疾病中的研究日趋深入，大量的资料证实氧自由基与充血性心力衰竭，动脉粥样硬化、心肌缺血、心律失常及淋巴细胞与心力衰竭的关系诸方面的发生，发匀有密切关系。     

TGF-��-treated antigen presenting cells suppress collagen-induced arthritis through the promotion of Th2 responses

Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) is mediated by self-reactive CD4⁺ T cells that produce inflammatory cytokines. TGF-β₂-treated tolerogenic antigen-presenting cells (Tol-APCs) are known to induce tolerance in various autoimmune diseases. In this study, we investigated whether collagen-specific Tol-APCs could induce suppression of CIA. We observed that Tol-APCs could suppress the development and severity of CIA and delay the onset of CIA. Treatment of Tol-APCs reduced the number of IFN-γ- and IL-17-producing CD4⁺ T cells and increased IL-4- and IL-5-producing CD4⁺ T cells upon collagen antigen stimulation in vitro. The suppression of CIA conferred by Tol-APCs correlated with their ability to selectively induce IL-10 production. We also observed that treatment of Tol-APCs inhibited not only cellular immune responses but also humoral immune responses in the process of CIA. Our results suggest that in vitro-generated Tol-APCs have potential therapeutic value for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis as well as other autoimmune diseases.     

Risk estimation of infectious diseases determines the effectiveness of the control strategy

Usually, whether to take vaccination or not is a voluntary decision, which is determined by many factors, from societal factors (such as religious belief and human rights) to individual preferences (including psychology and altruism). Facing the outbreaks of infectious diseases, different people often have different estimations on the risk of infectious diseases. So, some persons are willing to vaccinate, but other persons are willing to take risks. In this paper, we establish two different risk assessment systems using the technique of dynamic programming, and then compare the effects of the two different systems on the prevention of diseases on complex networks. One is that the perceived probability of being infected for each individual is the same (uniform case). The other is that the perceived probability of being infected is positively correlated to individual degrees (preferential case). We show that these two risk assessment systems can yield completely different results, such as, the effectiveness of controlling diseases, the time evolution of the number of infections, and so on.     

Procyanidins are potent inhibitors of LOX-1: a new player in the French Paradox

Lectin-like oxidized LDL receptor-1 (LOX-1) is an endothelial receptor for oxidized LDL (oxLDL) and plays multiple roles in the development of cardiovascular diseases. We screened more than 400 foodstuff extracts for identifying materials that inhibit oxLDL binding to LOX-1. Results showed that 52 extracts inhibited LOX-1 by more than 70% in cell-free assays. Subsequent cell-based assays revealed that a variety of foodstuffs known to be rich in procyanidins such as grape seed extracts and apple polyphenols, potently inhibited oxLDL uptake in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing LOX-1. Indeed, purified procyanidins significantly inhibited oxLDL binding to LOX-1 while other ingredients of apple polyphenols did not. Moreover, chronic administration of oligomeric procyanidins suppressed lipid accumulation in vascular wall in hypertensive rats fed with high fat diet. These results suggest that procyanidins are LOX-1 inhibitors and LOX-1 inhibition might be a possible underlying mechanism of the well-known vascular protective effects of red wine, the French Paradox.     

脉冲喷洒杀虫剂的植物病害模型的周期解

本文研究脉冲喷洒杀虫剂的植物病害模型.考虑在传染率随时间周期变化和森林树木总数保持不变的条件下,讨论具有垂直传播的一类具有单个种群的脉冲喷洒农药的SIRS模型,根据单值算子和Bohl-Brouaser不动点理论证明了无病周期解存在性,并且利用单值矩阵,Floquet理论得到其基本再生数并且给出了其无病周期解局部渐近稳定的条件.     

形体老化与疾病的非线性主成分分析

本文把 5个形体老化指标及 13种慢性病指标分别做成两个综合指标 ,再去研究人体老化、疾病与性别及年龄的关系。文中使用非线性主成分法及指出一般线性主成分法的局限性