[Types and characteristics of advertising images in Chinese medicine works during the Republic of China]

The emergence of advertising images in Chinese medicine works during the period of China is the inevitable outcome of the development of commercial society. In the 237 advertising images, there are 106 pictures, 130 ink lines and 1 color photograph. It can be divided into 8 categories: chemist's shop, hospital, medical products, Chinese medicine school and organizations, book, book publishers, commodity and public service. It can reflect the popular themes of the society and social atmosphere at that time, having vivid characteristics of the times and artistry. Advertising image is a unique phenomenon in the books of the Republic of China.

[The expressions of VEGF and VEGFR signaling pathway in the bone marrow mononuclear cells with chronic mountain sickness]

Objective: This study was aimed at investigating the levels and relationships of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor(VEGFR) in the bone marrow mononuclear cells (MNC) of chronic mountain sickness (CMS). Methods: A total of 34 patients with CMS and 30 controls residing at altitudes of 3 000-4 500 m were recruited for this study. The levels of VEGF, VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 in bone marrow MNC were detected by flow cytometry technique and RT-qPCR. Results: The percentage of VEGFR2 positive cells in the bone marrow MNC of CMS were higher than that of the controls[20.7% (8.1%, 67.6%) vs 8.1% (2.2%, 14.9%), P<0.05], but that of VEGFR1-positive and VEGF-positive were similar in CMS and controls. The mRNA levels of VEGFR2 were higher in the bone marrow MNC of CMS than in the controls[1.7(1.0, 5.1) vs 1.0(0.4, 2.7), P<0.05], while VEGF and VEGFR1 mRNA levels were similar between the two groups. The percentage of VEGFR2 positive cells in CMS were significantly correlated with hemoglobin (r=0.453, P=0.007) and the percentage of VEGF-positive cells (r=0.373, P=0.030). Conclusions: Bone marrow MNC of CMS may show enhanced activity of the VEGF-VEGFR2 pathway, and it appears to be involved in the pathogenesis of CMS.

Theory of Inverse Edelstein Effect of The Surface States of A Topological Insulator

The surface states of three-dimensional topological insulators possess the unique property of spin-momentum interlocking. This property gives rise to the interesting inverse Edelstein effect (IEE), in which an applied spin bias μ is converted to a measurable charge voltage difference V. We develop a semiclassical theory for the IEE of the surface states of Bi2Se3 thin films, which is applicable from the ballistic regime to diffusive regime. We find that the efficiency of the spin-charge conversion, defined as γ = V/μ, exhibits a universal dependence on the ratio between sample size and electron mean free path. The efficiency increases from γ = π/4 in the ballistic limit to γ = π in the diffusive limit, suggesting that sufficient strength of impurity scattering is favorable for the IEE.

Filmless methods for quality assurance of Tomotherapy using ArcCHECK

PURPOSE

Tomotherapy delivers an intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment by the synchronization of gantry rotation, multileaf collimator (MLC), and couch movement. This dynamic nature makes the quality assurance (QA) important and challenging. The purpose of this study is to develop some methodologies using an ArcCHECK for accurate QA measurements of the gantry angle and speed, MLC synchronization and leaf open time, couch translation per gantry rotation, couch speed and uniformity, and constancy of longitudinal beam profile for a Tomotherapy unit.

METHODS

Four test plans recommended by AAPM Task Group 148 (TG148) and the manufacturer were chosen for this study. Helical and static star shot tests are used for checking the leaves opened at the expected gantry angles. Another helical test is to verify the couch traveled the expected distance per gantry rotation. The final test is for checking the couch speed constancy with a static gantry. ArcCHECK can record the detector signal every 50 ms as a movie file, and has a virtual inclinometer for gantry angle measurement. These features made the measurement of gantry angle and speed, MLC synchronization and leaf open time, and longitudinal beam profile possible. A shaping parameter was defined for facilitating the location of the beam center during the plan delivery, which was thereafter used to calculate the couch translation per gantry rotation and couch speed. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) was calculated for each measured longitudinal beam profile and then used to evaluate the couch speed uniformity. Furthermore, a mean longitudinal profile was obtained for constancy check of field width. The machine trajectory log data were also collected for comparison. Inhouse programs were developed in MATLAB to process both the ArcCHECK and machine log data.

RESULTS

The deviation of our measurement results from the log data for gantry angle was calculated to be less than 0.4°. The percentage differences between measured and planned leaf open time were found to be within 0.5% in all the tests. Our results showed mean values of MLC synchronization of 0.982, 0.983, and 0.995 at static gantry angle 0°, 45°, and 135°, respectively. The mean value of measured couch translation and couch speed by ArcCHECK had less than 0.1% deviation from the planned values. The variation in the value of FWHM suggested the couch speed uniformity was better than 1%. The mean of measured longitudinal profiles was suitable for constancy check of field width.

CONCLUSION

Precise and efficient methods for measuring the gantry angle and speed, leaf open time, couch translation per gantry rotation, couch speed and uniformity, and constancy of longitudinal beam profile of Tomotherapy using ArcCHECK have been developed and proven to be accurate compared with machine log data. Estimation of the Tomotherapy binary MLC leaf open time is proven to be precise enough to verify the leaf open time as small as 277.8 ms. Our method also makes the observation and quantification of the synchronization of leaves possible.

[Spatial-temporal analysis of pulmonary tuberculosis in Shandong province, 2015]

Objective: To analyze the spatial-temporal epidemiological characteristics of active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and sputum smear positive (SS+) PTB in Shandong province, China, 2015. Methods: The surveillance data of active PTB and SS+PTB in Shandong in 2015 were collected and analyzed by using the global and local indicators of spatial association (Moran's I) for the spatial autocorrelation of PTB, and by using SaTScan forspatial-temporal clustering characteristics of PTB based on geographic information system. Results: Totally, 31 776 active PTB cases and 8 631 SS+PTB cases were reported in Shandong in 2015, and the reported incidence rates of active PTB and SS+PTB were 33.09/100 000 and 8.99/100 000, respectively. Active PTB had positive spatial autocorrelation at county level, and the value of Moran's I value was 0.219 (P<0.001), indicating that the high-high (HH) aggregation areas with high incidence were in the northwestern, southeastern and central southern Shandong; SS+PTB also had positive spatial autocorrelation at county level, and the value of the Moran's I was 1.178 (P<0.001), indicating that the HH aggregation areas with high incidence were in the southeastern and northwestern Shandong. The results of spatial-temporal scanning indicated that there was incidence clustering of active PTB in the second quarter and the third quarter in 2015, and the clustering areas were in the central southern, southeastern and northwestern Shandong; there also was incidence clustering of SS+PTB in the second quarter and the third quarter in 2015, and the clustering areas were in the southeastern and northwestern Shandong. Conclusions: The incidence of active PTB and SS+PTB showed spatial and temporal clustering in Shandong in 2015. The areas with high PTB burden and high PTB transmission risks were in the northwestern and southeastern Shandong. The areas with high PTB burden but without high PTB transmission risks were in the central southern Shandong.

[Overexpression, homology modeling and coenzyme docking studies of the cytochrome P450nor2 from Cylindrocarpon tonkinense]

Cytochrome P450nor catalyzes an unusual reaction that transfers electrons from NADP/NADPH to bound heme directly. To improve the expression level of P450nor2 from Cylindrocarpon tonkinense (C.P450nor2), Escherichia coli system was utilized to substitute the yeast system we constructed for expression of the P450nor2 gene, and the protein was purified in soluble form using Ni(+)-NTA affinity chromatography. In contrast to P450nor from Fusarium oxysporum (F.P450nor) and P450nor1 from Cylindrocarpon tonkinense (C.P450nor1), C.P450nor2 shows a dual specificity for using NADH or NADPH as electron donors. The present study developed a computational approach in order to illustrate the coenzyme specificity of C.P450nor2 for NADH and NADPH. This study involved homology modeling of C.P450nor2 and docking analyses of NADH and NADPH into the crystal structure of F.P450nor and the predictive model of C.P450nor2, respectively. The results suggested that C.P450nor2 and F.P450nor have different coenzyme specificity for NADH and NADPH; whilst the space around the B'-helix of the C.P450nor2, especially the Ser79 and Gly81, play a crucial role for the specificity of C.P450nor2. In the absence of the experimental structure of C.P450nor2, we hope that our model will be useful to provide rational explanation on coenzyme specificity of C.P450nor2.