Neural stem cells and strategies for the regeneration of the central nervous system

The adult mammalian central nervous system (CNS), especially that of adult humans, is a representative example of organs that do not regenerate. However, increasing interest has focused on the development of innovative therapeutic methods that aim to regenerate damaged CNS tissue by taking advantage of recent advances in stem cell and neuroscience research. In fact, the recapitulation of normal neural development has become a vital strategy for CNS regeneration. Normal CNS development is initiated by the induction of stem cells in the CNS, i.e., neural stem cells (NSCs). Thus, the introduction or mobilization of NSCs could be expected to lead to CNS regeneration by recapitulating normal CNS development, in terms of the activation of the endogenous regenerative capacity and cell transplantation therapy. Here, the recent progress in basic stem cell biology, including the author’s own studies, on the prospective identification of NSCs, the elucidation of the mechanisms of ontogenic changes in the differentiation potential of NSCs, the induction of neural fate and NSCs from pluripotent stem cells, and their therapeutic applications are summarized. These lines of research will, hopefully, contribute to a basic understanding of the nature of NSCs, which should in turn lead to feasible strategies for the development of ideal “stem cell therapies” for the treatment of damaged brain and spinal cord tissue.     

冬小麦冻害胁迫高光谱分析与冻害严重度反演

对冬小麦冻害严重度的精确反演是及时采取补救措施降低损失的关键,同时及时预测产量损失对政府职能部门也具有积极意义。针对冬小麦冻害群体严重度评估方法在经典统计反演模型存在估算效果不理想的情况下,以冬小麦为试验对象,首先对冬小麦冠层光谱反射率数据进行重采样平滑处理,再用主成分分析(PCA)技术对高光谱数据进行分析,进一步实现综合原始光谱主成分信息作为自变量参与冬小麦冻害严重度反演过程,最后采用决定系数R2、均方根误差RMSE、准确度Accuracy三种模型精度验证方法对模型进行评价。结果显示,基于主成分分析法建立冬小麦冻害严重度模型精度分别达0.697 5,0.184 2和0.697 5;同时对反演模型进行验证,其精度也分别达到0.630 9,0.350 3和1.339 6。因此,该方法能有效地对冬小麦冻害严重度进行快速、精确的反演。     

基于数值模拟的飞行员高速气流吹袭损伤分析

研究飞行员高速气流吹袭的损伤机理,应用尺度适应模型对人椅系统外流场进行数值模拟.在马赫数为0.6,迎角为-90°~90°条件下的数值计算结果与风洞试验结果吻合较好.对不同马赫数、不同迎角的无防护状态下的人椅系统进行数值模拟,研究发现高速气流吹袭下飞行员面颈部、胸腹部、上臂内侧、小腿迎风侧压力较大;增大人椅系统的迎角可以改善飞行员身体各部分的受力情况.     

Differentiation between intra-axial metastatic tumor progression and radiation injury following fractionated radiation therapy or stereotactic radiosurgery using MR spectroscopy, perfusion MR imaging or volume progression modeling

Objective

To determine the accuracy of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), perfusion MR imaging (MRP), or volume modeling in distinguishing tumor progression from radiation injury following radiotherapy for brain metastasis.

Methods

Twenty-six patients with 33 intra-axial metastatic lesions who underwent MRS (n=41) with or without MRP (n=32) after cranial irradiation were retrospectively studied. The final diagnosis was based on histopathology (n=4) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) follow-up with clinical correlation (n=29). Cho/Cr (choline/creatinine), Cho/NAA (choline/N-acetylaspartate), Cho/nCho (choline/contralateral normal brain choline) ratios were retrospectively calculated for the multi-voxel MRS. Relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV), relative peak height (rPH) and percentage of signal-intensity recovery (PSR) were also retrospectively derived for the MRPs. Tumor volumes were determined using manual segmentation method and analyzed using different volume progression modeling. Different ratios or models were tested and plotted on the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), with their performances quantified as area under the ROC curve (AUC). MRI follow-up time was calculated from the date of initial radiotherapy until the last MRI or the last MRI before surgical diagnosis.

Results

Median MRI follow-up was 16 months (range: 2-33). Thirty percent of lesions (n=10) were determined to be radiation injury; 70% (n=23) were determined to be tumor progression. For the MRS, Cho/nCho had the best performance (AUC of 0.612), and Cho/nCho >1.2 had 33% sensitivity and 100% specificity in predicting tumor progression. For the MRP, rCBV had the best performance (AUC of 0.802), and rCBV >2 had 56% sensitivity and 100% specificity. The best volume model was percent increase (AUC of 0.891); 65% tumor volume increase had 100% sensitivity and 80% specificity.

Conclusion

Cho/nCho of MRS, rCBV of MRP, and percent increase of MRI volume modeling provide the best discrimination of intra-axial metastatic tumor progression from radiation injury for their respective modalities. Cho/nCho and rCBV appear to have high specificities but low sensitivities. In contrast, percent volume increase of 65% can be a highly sensitive and moderately specific predictor for tumor progression after radiotherapy. Future incorporation of 65% volume increase as a pretest selection criterion may compensate for the low sensitivities of MRS and MRP.     

Harmonics-to-noise ratios in normally speaking prepubescent girls and boys

This study examined harmonics-to-noise ratios (HNR) in 4 groups of normally speaking children. HNRs were calculated for the vowels /ai/ and /inverted v/, selected from conversational speech samples of 80 children aged 4, 6, 8, and 10 years (10 boys and 10 girls at each age level). HNR values for /inverted v/ were significantly higher than those for /ai/. Significant age differences emerged for /ai/ between ages 4 and 8, and ages 8 and 10. Girls obtained significantly higher HNRs than boys for the /ai/ vowel. Overall, the HNR values for these normally speaking children were lower than those reported for normally speaking adults. These findings suggest that acoustic values for children cannot be validly compared to those for adults, and that the child's gender and age should be taken into account when applying spectral analyses to research and/or clinical situations.     

轿车冲撞行人过程的力学分析

通过建立力学模型,分析轿车冲撞行人的力学过程,对此进行了计算和讨论,进而得到与实验结果相吻合的使行人发生倒立时轿车车速的临界值.并提供了一种有效估算临界车速的方法.     

生物组织电穿孔中的热效应研究

本文对生物组织电穿孔中的热效应问题进行了计算研究。结果表明生物组织电穿孔过程中,选用不当的脉冲电压参数,会对组织造成严重的热损伤。若采用相同的烧伤阈值来描述热损伤范围,则相同电脉冲参数条件下在体组织比离体组织受到的热损伤更大。     

Prevalence of voice disorders in African American and European American preschoolers

Several studies have reported prevalence rates for voice disorders in school-aged children. Less is known, however, about such prevalence in preschoolers, and whether racial, ethnic, or cultural diversity may influence it. The presence of voice disorders in a total of 2445 African-American and European-American preschool children, 1246 males and 1199 females, from 2 to 6 years of age is reported here. Presence of a voice disorder characterized by hoarseness was identified by a three-prong approach including teacher identification, investigator screening, and parent identification. Speech-language pathologists listened individually to each child's speech as they engaged each child in play-conversation activities. A voice disorder was identified on the basis of the judgment of two speech-language pathologists. Voice disorders characterized by hoarseness were identified in 95 children or 3.9% of the total sample by the investigators. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences for age, gender, or race.     

In vivo study on the protection of indole‐3‐carbinol (I3C) against the mouse acute alcoholic liver injury by micro‐Raman spectroscopy

Micro‐Raman spectroscopy (MRS) was utilized for the first time to evaluate the effect of indole‐3‐carbinol (I3C) on acute alcoholic liver injury in vivo. In situ Raman analysis of tissue sections provided distinct spectra that can be used to distinguish alcoholic liver injury as well as ethanol‐induced liver fibrosis from the normal state. Sixteen mice with liver diseases including acute liver injury and chronic liver fibrosis, and eight mice with normal liver tissues, and eight remedial mice were studied employing the Raman spectroscopic technique in conjunction with biomedical assays. The biochemical changes in mouse liver tissue when liver injury/fibrosis occurs such as the loss of reduced glutathione (GSH), and the increase of collagen (α‐helix protein) were observed by MRS. The intensity ratio of two Raman peaks (I₁₄₅₀/I₆₆₆) and in combination with statistical analysis of the entire Raman spectrum was found capable of classifying liver tissues with different pathological features. Raman spectroscopy therefore is an important candidate for a nondestructive in vivo screening of the effect of drug treatment on liver disease, which potentially decreases the time‐consuming clinical trials. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Deuterium dilution technique for body composition assessment: resolving methodological issues in children with moderate acute malnutrition

Childhood malnutrition is highly prevalent and associated with high mortality risk. In observational and interventional studies among malnourished children, body composition is increasingly recognised as a key outcome. The deuterium dilution technique has generated high-quality data on body composition in studies of infants and young children in several settings, but its feasibility and accuracy in children suffering from moderate acute malnutrition requires further study. Prior to a large nutritional intervention trial among children with moderate acute malnutrition, we conducted pilot work to develop and adapt the deuterium dilution technique. We refined procedures for administration of isotope doses and collection of saliva. Furthermore, we established that equilibration time in local context is 3?h. These findings and the resulting standard operating procedures are important to improve data quality when using the deuterium dilution technique in malnutrition studies in field conditions, and may encourage a wider use of isotope techniques.