Search

Background Fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB) and bronchoscopic biopsy are the established methods for diagnosing and treating sputum crust. However, sputum crust in concealed locations can sometimes be missed or undiagnosed, even with bronchoscopy. Case presentation We present the case of a 44-year-old female patient who experienced initial extubation failure and postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) due to the missed diagnosis of sputum crust by FOB and low-resolution bedside chest X-ray. The FOB examination showed no apparent abnormalities prior to the first extubation, and the patient underwent tracheal extubation 2 h after aortic valve replacement (AVR). However, she was reintubated 13 h after the first extubation due to a persistent irritating cough and severe hypoxemia, and a bedside chest radiograph revealed pneumonia and atelectasis. Upon performing a repeat FOB examination prior to the second extubation, we serendipitously discovered the presence of sputum crust at the end of the endotracheal tube. Subsequently, we found that the sputum crust was mainly located on the tracheal wall between the subglottis and the end of the endotracheal tube during the “Tracheobronchial Sputum Crust Removal” procedure, and most of the crust was obscured by the retained endotracheal tube. The patient was discharged on the 20th day following therapeutic FOB. Conclusion FOB examination may miss specific areas in endotracheal intubation (ETI) patients, particularly the tracheal wall between the subglottis and distal end of the tracheal catheter, where sputum crust can be concealed. When diagnostic examinations with FOB are inconclusive, high-resolution chest CT can be helpful in identifying hidden sputum crust.

Introduction: Endurance and speed are fundamental to swimming. It is also essential for athletes to use the correct practice method during training to improve swimmers’ level of strength, endurance, and speed. Standardized swimming exercises can also reduce the inability of conventional land sports to adapt to the transition process from land to water. At the same time, standardized swimming exercises can also reduce the inability of conventional land sports to adapt to the transition process from land to water. This total swimming ability is also the goal pursued by many coaches and players. Objective: This study analyzes the training methods to improve swimmers’ strength, endurance, and speed. The results of this work can establish a theoretical basis for coaches to formulate training plans. Methods: This paper selects 20 swimmers as the object of research. There were ten males and ten females. All athletes participate in an endurance training program. This paper records the training intensity and endurance data during the athlete’s training. This paper uses mathematical statistics for data analysis. Results: The athletes’ human body’s technical level improved significantly after the endurance system exercise. The data were statistically significant (P

Film drug delivery systems have the advantages of precise administration, simple process and easy portability, compared with other traditional drug delivery systems such as tablets, capsules, syrups, ointments, etc. The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are normally developed in four categories of film agent like patch film, coating, spray film and gel film, which are applied to the treatment of oral ulcers, chronic diseases of lower limbs, burns, scalds, gynecological disease and body care. So the TCM film has great research value and prominent market prospect. In this review, we summarized the research progress of the material composition, pharmaceutical production, clinical application and pharmacology mechanism of various TCM film agents. It may provide a comprehensive reference for further development and utilization of TCM film agents.

Background Thoracoscopic radical pneumonectomy is associated with a high incidence of postoperative chronic pain. Studies on the benefits of lidocaine intravenous infusion during the perioperative period were still controversial in thoracoscopic surgery. Methods Sixty-four lung cancer patients scheduled for thoracoscopic radical pneumonectomy were randomly divided into two groups: normal saline group (control group) or lidocaine group. In the lidocaine group, 1.5 mg/kg lidocaine was administered during the anesthesia induction, and 2 mg·kg−1·h−1 lidocaine was continuously intravenous infused until the end of the surgery. After the surgery, a mixture of 2 μg/kg sufentanil and 10 mg/kg lidocaine was continuously intravenous infused by postoperative patient-controlled intravenous analgesia pump (100 ml). In the control group, the same volume of normal saline was administered according to the calculation of lidocaine during anesthesia induction, maintenance and postoperative patient-controlled intravenous analgesia. The primary outcome was the incidence of chronic postoperative pain at 3 months after the surgery. The secondary outcomes include the incidence of chronic postoperative pain at 6 months after the surgery; the effect of lidocaine on postoperative pain within the first 24 and 48 h; total amount of sufentanil administered during entire procedure and the number of PCA triggers within 48 h after surgery. Results Compared with the control group, the incidence of chronic pain at 3 months after the surgery was significantly lower (13 cases, 46.4% vs. 6 cases, 20.7%, p p vs. 5.83 ± 4.12, p Conclusion Perioperative infusion lidocaine significantly reduced the number of PCA triggers and the incidence of chronic postoperative pain at 3 months after the thoracoscopic radical pneumonectomy. Trial registration http://www.chictr.org.cn: ChiCTR1900024759, frist registration date 26/07/2019.

To screen the genes regulating the biosynthesis of phenolic acid derivatives from the genome of Bletilla striata, we designed a suspension culture system to sample the cells for the following experiments. The contents of four phenolic acid derivatives were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography, and several full-length transcriptome sequencings of RNA samples at 10 time points were performed for bioinformatics analysis. The correlation analysis was used to identify and verify the key DEGs involved in the biosynthesis of the four phenolic acid derivatives. The results showed that the contents of p-hydroxybenzylalcohol (HBA), Dactylorhin A, Militarine, and Coelonin peaked at 33 days postinoculation (Dpi), 18 Dpi, 39 Dpi, and 39 Dpi of the culture system, respectively. Based on transcriptome data, 80 DEGs involved in the biosynthesis of phenolic acid derivatives were obtained. The KEGG pathway enrichment analysis classified them mostly into five metabolic pathways: phenylpropane biosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolic, cyanoamino acid metabolism, gluconeogenesis and glycolysis, and phenylalanine metabolism. qPCR analysis revealed that the relative gene expression levels were consistent with the overall trend of transcriptome sequencing results. Among them, 14, 18, 23, and 41 unigenes were found to be involved in the synthesis of HBA, Dactylorhin A, Coelonin, and Militarine, respectively. These unigenes laid a solid foundation for elucidating the biosynthesis mechanism of phenolic acid derivatives in suspension cells of B. striata.

The cultivation medium of Dendrobium nobile has an effect on the contents of its main medicinal components, but the specific mechanism is still unclear. In this study, the callus, seedlings, rhizomes, and leaves of D. nobile were sequenced for the PacBio SMRT. The 2-year-old stems were selected for the Illumina sequencing and metabolome sequencing to analyze the genetic mechanism of metabolic differences under different epiphytic patterns. As a result, a total of 387 differential genes were obtained, corresponding to 66 differential metabolites. Different epiphytic patterns can induce a series of metabolic changes at the metabolome and transcriptome levels of D. nobile, including flavonoid metabolism, purine metabolism, terpenoid backbone biosynthesis, amino acid metabolism, and alpha-linolenic acid metabolic, and related regulatory genes include ALDH2B7, ADC, EPSPS-1, SHKA, DHAPS-1, GES, ACS1, SAHH, ACS2, CHLP, LOX2, LOX2.3, and CYP74B2. The results showed that the genetic mechanism of D. nobile under various epiphytic patterns was different. In theory, the content of metabolites under the epiphytic patterns of Danxia stone is higher, which is more suitable for field cultivation.

Nowadays, with the popularization of machine translation software, new progress has been made in the development of machine translation post-editing of science and technology texts. However, researches on science and technology text post-editing in China has not been developed correspondingly. This paper collates and summarizes all the literatures on science and technology text post-editing in China, makes them into four categories based on the type of source texts and provides the corresponding features and analyses respectively, sorts out three major problems of current researches in this field, and points out targeted future research directions, so as to make a detailed analysis of problems and promote progress in this field.

To screen the genes regulating the biosynthesis of phenolic acid derivatives from the genome of

The cultivation medium of

The effect of a drug on the intestinal flora and the intestinal barrier is an important evaluation index for drug safety and efficacy. Chemical synthetic drugs are widely used due to their advantages of fast efficacy and low doses, but they are prone to cause drug resistance and inhibit proton pumps, which may harm intestinal health. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been applied clinically for thousands of years, and how TCMs regulate intestinal health to achieve their effects of disease treatment has become a hot research topic that needs to be resolved. This paper reviews the recent research on the effects of TCMs on intestinal microorganisms and the intestinal mucosal barrier after entering the intestine, discusses the interaction mechanisms between TCMs and intestinal flora, and details the repair effect of TCMs on the intestinal mucosal barrier to provide a reference for the development, utilization, and modernization of TCM.

Objective. To explore the clinical application of the classical theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in diabetic nephropathy (DN). Methods. A total of 100 patients with DN treated in our hospital from May 2019 to June 2021 were included. The patients were randomly assigned to the control group and the study group. The control group received routine treatment, and the study group was treated with the classical theory of TCM. The efficacy, TCM syndrome score, urine proteinuria (UTP), urine albumin-creatinine ratio (UACR), plasma albumin (ALB), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1C), fasting blood glucose (FBG), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr), and treatment safety were compared between the two groups. Results. In comparison to the curative effect, the study group was significantly effective in 34 cases, effective in 12 cases, and ineffective in 4 cases, and the effective rate was 92.00%; the control group was significantly effective in 16 cases, effective in 18 cases, and ineffective in 16 cases, and the effective rate was 68.00%. The effective rate in the study group was higher compared to the control ( P < 0.05 ). In comparison to the TCM syndrome scores, there exhibited no significant difference before treatment ( P > 0.05 ), but after treatment, the TCM syndrome scores of the two groups decreased, and the TCM syndrome scores of the study group were lower compared to the control at 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 24 weeks, and 36 weeks of treatment ( P < 0.05 ). There exhibited no significant difference in the indexes of UTP and UACR before treatment, but the indexes of UTP and UACR in the two groups decreased after treatment, and the indexes of UTP and UACR in the study group were lower compared to the control at 6 and 12 weeks after treatment. There was no significant difference in the indexes of ALB, HbA1C, and FBG before treatment, but after treatment, the indexes of ALB increased, the indexes of HbA1C and FBG decreased in both groups, and the indexes of HbA1C and FBG i4n the study group were lower compared to the control, while the index of ALB in the study group was higher. The indexes of BUN and Cr were compared, and there was no significant difference before treatment, but after treatment, the indexes of BUN and Cr in the two groups decreased, and the indexes of BUN and Cr in the study group were lower compared to the control ( P < 0.05 ). In terms of the treatment safety of the two groups, there was no abnormality in blood, urine, stool routine, and liver and kidney function examination in the study group. No obvious adverse reactions were found in all patients. There were 1 case of abnormal liver function and 2 cases of rash in the control group, and there exhibited no significant difference ( P > 0.05 ). Conclusion. Under the guidance of classical theory, the optimization scheme of comprehensive treatment of TCM may improve renal function by improving metabolic disorders, vascular lesions, neurotrophic disorders, antioxidant stress, and other ways to repair nerve injury, improving the changes of TCM syndromes, signs, and indicators of patients, and delay the progress of DN.

With the continuous emergence of depth image recognition technology, human motion recognition technology has gradually come to life. However, because the current technology of image recognition and skeletal tracking is too backward, people cannot use gesture recognition robots to perform gesture recognition and correction with high accuracy for athletes. In this study, the skeletal tracking depth image is obtained through the Kinect sensor. When using the Kinect sensor to acquire images, the requirements for the environment around the measured object are very low, and it will not be affected by conditions such as light, shadow, and object occlusion, and the pose can be segmented in real time in a complex background. In this study, the depth map feature and the bone information feature are selected for fusion. The HOD feature is difficult to deal with the occlusion problem, and it is not easy to detect the excessive range of the human body gesture or the change of the object direction. Based on this, the HOD feature is improved in many places to form a new 3D-HOD feature and DMM-HOG feature. In this study, the technical research on posture recognition and correction of swimmers in the experiment has realized posture collection, posture segmentation, posture analysis, posture modeling, and posture recognition. In this study, random forests are combined with HOD features to classify pixel-by-pixel points in depth images. The accuracy of training pixel classification is as high as 85%, and the average recognition time of the decision tree for each pose is about 9% higher than that of random forests. The use of Meanshift algorithm to cluster the classified pixels to form skeletal joint points is fast and efficient, and can quickly and accurately find joint points. It has also achieved good experimental effects on human motion recognition and continuous motion recognition, is more suitable for real life, and has commercial practical value.

This study evaluated quality attributes and in vivo antioxidant activity of Auricularia cornea var. Li polysaccharide (ACP)-fortified set yogurt during 21 days of storage (4 °C). Set yogurt was manufactured using a commercial yogurt culture, and 3% (w/v) ACP was added. Physicochemical (pH, titratable acidity, and water-holding capacity), textural, rheological, microstructural, flavor, and antioxidant properties of set yogurt were investigated. The results showed that the addition of ACP significantly enhanced WHC, viscosity, firmness, and cohesiveness, while inhibiting post-acidification of set yogurt during storage. The yogurt supplemented with ACP showed a larger hysteresis area and higher G' and G″ values, formed a porous, dense, mesh-like structure and exhibited a unique mushroom flavor. Antioxidant results showed that administration of ACP-fortified yogurt significantly decreased serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase enzyme activities and malondialdehyde levels, while increasing superoxide dismutase, catalase, phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase, and total antioxidant capacity in the liver and hippocampus of the mice. ACP-fortified yogurt might alleviate hepatic damage and hippocampal neuroinflammation induced by d-galactose. Additionally, ACP-fortified yogurt downregulated the expression of Keap1 and upregulated the expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 in the liver. In conclusion, ACP may be used as an ingredient to produce yogurt with desired properties.

The brittleness of ethyl cellulose (EC) film limited its full applications, and the addition of plasticizers is one of the most common methods to reduce its brittleness. However, the mechanical properties are normally dropped with the addition of plasticizers. Herein, cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) was chosen as a reinforcing agent to improve its mechanical properties. CNC was firstly extracted from the tobacco-stem and then modified by epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) via ring-opening grafting to obtain epoxidized soybean oil grafting CNC (ECNC). The grafting effect was evaluated by FTIR and XPS. After that, the films of ECNC/EC nanocomposites were prepared by the solution-casting method, and their mechanical, thermal and optical properties and fracture morphology were investigated. The results showed that at 4 phr loading of ECNC, the tensile strength of the nanocomposite film was up to 43.7 Mpa (about twice as much as that of the EC film plasticized by ESO), and the elongation at break was not influenced. Moreover, a higher thermal decomposition temperature was achieved for the ECNC/EC films. Besides, owing to the good dispersion, ECNC had no significant impact on the transparency, and the films presented high light transmittance in the visible light region.

It is well known that molecular structure has great influence on the porous structure prepared by breath figures. However, the effect of graft architecture on porous structure from graft copolymer is unclear. Here, the cellulose-based graft copolymers with different graft architectures were synthesized and the highly ordered porous films were facilely prepared by breath figure method. The effects of graft architecture with four different structural parameters on porous structure were systematically investigated. It was found that the pore size increased with the increasing graft chain length, main chain length or molecular weight, while the pore size decreased with the increasing graft density under other similar structural parameters. The shorter main chain and the higher graft density resulted in the smaller pore size. Moreover, the shorter main chain was more beneficial for the formation of highly ordered porous structure than the longer main chain. These results will help to understand the effect of graft architecture on porous structure and regulate pore size by adjusting the graft architecture.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is the standard therapeutic regimen for locally advanced breast cancer. However, clinical physical examination and imaging results fail to accurately assess the treatment response, and postoperative pathological examination has a time lag in response to therapeutic effect which is not conducive to the timely adjustment of treatment strategies. A previous study has shown that miR-301a was associated with invasion and metastasis in breast cancer, and was found to be involved in endocrine therapy resistance; however, evidence regarding the correlation between miR-301a expression and NAC efficacy remains scarce. In this study, 101 patients with locally advanced breast cancer were included. All patients received anthracycline based chemotherapy. The expression level of miR-301a in pretreatment core needle biopsy tissues was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. Relevant clinicopathological data were collected, and the correlation between miR-301a expression and NAC efficacy was assessed. Based on our data, miR-301a cannot be used to identify whether breast cancer benefits from NAC, and no correlation was observed between miR-301a expression and clinicopathological characteristics. In conclusion, miR-301a may not be a potential prognostic biomarker of NAC efficacy in breast cancer., Highlights • Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is the first-line of treatment for locally advanced breast cancer, early monitoring of efficacy is necessary. • MiRNA-301 has been previously employed as a poor prognostic biomarker for breast cancer. • MiRNA-301 has been previously employed as a poor prognostic biomarker for breast cancer, whether it can be employed as a biomarker of neoadjuvant chemotherapy efficacy in breast cancer is unknown.

In microorganisms and plants, aspartate kinase (AK) is the initial committed enzyme of the biosynthesis of the aspartate acid family amino acids and is inhibited by end products. In the paper, we mutated the key allosteric regulatory site A380 around the binding site of the Lys inhibitor in

BackgroundBletilla striata has been widely used in the pharmacology industry. To effectively produce the secondary metabolites through suspension cultured cells of B. striata, it is important to exploring the full-length transcriptome data and the genes related to cell growth and chemical producing of all culture stages. We applied a combination of Real-Time Sequencing of Single Molecule (SMRT) and second-generation sequencing (SGS) to generate the complete and full-length transcriptome of B. striata suspension cultured cells.MethodsThe B. striata transcriptome was formed in de novo way by using PacBio isoform sequencing (Iso-Seq) on a pooled RNA sample derived from 23 samples of 10 culture stages, to explore the potential for capturing full-length transcript isoforms. All unigenes were obtained after splicing, assembling, and clustering, and corrected by the SGS results. The obtained unigenes were compared with the databases, and the functions were annotated and classified.Results and conclusionsA total of 100,276 high-quality full-length transcripts were obtained, with an average length of 2530 bp and an N50 of 3302 bp. About 52% of total sequences were annotated against the Gene Ontology, 53,316 unigenes were hit by KOG annotations and divided into 26 functional categories, 80,020 unigenes were mapped by KEGG annotations and clustered into 363 pathways. Furthermore, 15,133 long-chain non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were detected. And 68,996 coding sequences were identified based on SSR analysis, among which 31 pairs of primers selected at random were amplified and obtained stable bands. In conclusion, our results provide new full-length transcriptome data and genetic resources for identifying growth and metabolism-related genes, which provide a solid foundation for further research on its growth regulation mechanisms and genetic engineering breeding mechanisms of B. striata.

Oxidative stress is an important factor in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance (IR) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Bioactive peptides from nuts have been shown to alleviate oxidative stress and IR. However, the specific mechanisms underlying their activity remain unclear. This study investigated the protective effects of three novel peptides derived from Juglans mandshurica Maxim., LVRL, LRYL, and VLLALVLLR, against high glucose-induced IR and oxidative stress in HepG2 cells. The possible mechanisms underlying these effects were also elucidated. The walnut-derived peptides improved glucose consumption, glucose uptake, and glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4) translocation, and elevated the phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), and protein kinase B (Akt). They also increased the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD), the nuclear transport of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), and the protein expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). Furthermore, the walnut-derived peptides reduced high glucose-induced ROS overproduction and the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38. These results suggested that walnut-derived peptides protect HepG2 cells from high glucose-induced IR and oxidative stress by activating IRS-1/PI3 K/Akt and Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathways.

Lipid is the chief energy source for starved animals. &beta, hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) is the main ketone body produced by lipid decomposition. In Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell experiment, it was found that BHBA could be used not only as an energy substance, but also as a ligand of GPR109A for regulating lipid metabolism. However, whether BHBA can regulate lipid metabolism of yaks, and its effective concentration and signal pathway are not clear. This study investigated the effects and mechanism of starvation and BHBA on the lipid metabolism of yak. Eighteen male Jiulong yaks were selected and then randomly divided into three groups: normal feeding group (NG), starvation group (SG), and starvation with BHBA infusion group (SBG). The yaks in the NG group were freely fed during the trial, while the yaks in the SG and SBG groups fasted, from 7th to 9th days of the experiment, the NG and SG were infused continuous with 0.9% normal saline and SBG was infused 1.7 mmol/L BHBA solution respectively. The blood samples were collected on the 0th, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th day of experiment. The subcutaneous adipose tissue of all the yaks in this study were taken from live bodies after infusion. Serum glucose, lipid metabolites, hormone concentrations, and mRNA and protein expressions of key factors of lipid metabolism and signaling pathway in subcutaneous adipose tissue were measured. The results showed that, as compared with NG, starvation significantly reduced the body weight of yak in SG, and significantly increased the concentration of BHBA in serum and the mRNA expression of PKA and CREB1 in subcutaneous adipose tissue, while the mRNA expression of MEK, PKC, ERK1/2, the area of adipocytes, and the proportion of saturated fatty acid were decreased. Whereas, further increase of BHBA concentration through infusion promoted the mRNA expression of GPR109A receptor in the subcutaneous adipose tissue of SBG, inhibited the mRNA expression of AC and PKA, and decreased the phosphorylation protein abundance of CREB1, and significantly increased the diameter and area of adipocytes. These findings suggest that starvation led to enhanced lipid catabolism in yaks. An increasing BHBA concentration could increase the mRNA expression of GPR109A receptor in subcutaneous adipose tissue and inhibit the cAMP/PKA/CREB signaling pathway and lipid decomposition.

RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq) is a newly developed method to analyze gene function and interaction at the omics level, which is widely used in frontier field in molecular biology and other fields. In recent years, this technology has been intensively used in the research of medicinal plants, and growing number of reports are published. In this study, we briefly introduced the research background of RNA-Seq, and have systematically organized relevant literature and reviewed the application of transcriptome sequencing in the research of medicinal plants in recent years from the aspects of functional gene mining and secondary metabolite pathway exploration, so as to provide research on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) based on RNA-Seq technology. Moreover, we introduced the specific application of several common medicinal plants, and discussed the application of this technology in the protection of germplasm resources, metabolomics, and optimal breeding of medicinal plants, in order to provide a reference for the study of systematic genomics of medicinal plants.

Yak suffers severe starvation and body weight reduction in the cold season and recovers relatively rapid growth in the warm season every year. Herein, we investigated the effects of starvation and refeeding on the growth, feed efficiency, blood biochemistry and rumen microbial community as well as functions of yaks. The results showed that starvation significantly reduced the body weight of yaks. Serum glucose and triglyceride concentrations significantly decreased, and &beta, hydroxybutyric acid and non-esterified fatty acid levels were significantly increased during the starvation period. Starvation also dramatically inhibited rumen microbial fermentations. Whereas, refeeding with the same diet significantly increased the feed efficiency, nutrient digestibility together with rumen acetate, propionate and microbial protein productions compared with those before starvation. The 16S rDNA sequencing results showed that starvation mainly decreased the ruminal protein-degrading bacteria Prevotella and propionate-producing bacteria Succiniclasticum populations and dramatically increased the denitrifying bacteria Thauera populations. Refeeding reduced the Euryarchaeota population and increased propionate-producing bacteria Succinivibrionaceae UCG-002 and starch-degrading bacteria Ruminobacter populations when compared with those before starvation. The predicted microbial metabolic pathways, related to amino acid and starch metabolisms, were also significantly altered during the starvation and refeeding. The results indicated that the rumen microorganisms and their metabolism pathways changed with feed supply, and these alterations in part contributed to yak adaption to starvation and re-alimentation. This study is helpful for enhancing the understanding and utilization of this natural character of yaks to explore and improve their growth potential.

Introduction: Breast tubular carcinoma (TC) is a well-differentiated infiltrating ductal carcinoma, common in postmenopausal women. Patient concerns: Two patients concerned their abnormality of their breasts, one at deep parasternal higher chest wall in a 74-year-old female and the other behind the nipple in a 39- year-old female. Diagnosis: These masses were detected by mammography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations. The parasternal mass identified by mammography showed long spicules along the edges of the mass. Ultrasound examination revealed that these masses had solid irregular hypoechoic nodules. The color Doppler ultrasound of the retro-nipple mass presented with increased blood flow resistance index. The dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI examination of the retro-nipple nodule demonstrated an intensely enhancing mass with a plateau-type time-signal intensity curve. Interventions: Two cases were surgically removed by local resection of foci under ultrasound guidance. Outcomes: These imaging examinations strongly suggest possible breast tubular carcinoma, which was confirmed by the pathological evaluation of frozen sections from surgically removed masses. Conclusion: Although uncommon, breast tubular carcinoma may be considered in the differential diagnosis of small solid masses with long spicules at parasternal breast or behind the nipples in adult women.

In order to cultivate “compound talent” to meet the demand of rapid developing electrical field, it is important to improve bilingual skills of bilingual electrical engineering teachers. This article will suggest some practicable and feasible ways for a bilingual electrical engineering teacher to improve his bilingual competencies and skills, including getting translation certificate, learning more theory, practicing written translation and oral interpretation as much as possible, learning from some electrical international conferences, and tracing the latest electric industry news and dynamics, and so on.

Background: Lipoprotein glomerulopathy (LPG) is a unique disease characterized by thrombus-like lipoprotein deposition in glomeruli and an increased serum apolipoprotein E level (ApoE protein or APOE gene). Several APOE mutations contribute to the occurring of LPG. Methods: We confirmed LPG in 7 individuals by renal biopsy, and investigated families of 2 patients with urinalysis, serum creatinine and serum lipid examination. Exons of APOE of all individuals as well as their relatives were amplified and sequenced directly. Results: Two types of APOE mutations were identified in the 7 patients and their relatives. APOE Maebashi (Arg142-Leu144→0) heterozygotes were found in 5 individuals who were from 4 different families. APOE Kyoto (Arg25-Cys) was confirmed heterogeneous in another 2 individuals. Both mutations present incomplete penetrance. Conclusion: Our research indicates that APOE Maebashi (Arg142-Leu144→0) is a common mutation in Chinese LPG. However, not all carriers of the 2 mutations have LPG, although hyperlipidemia and high serum ApoE level are tested. There are likely other reasons, such as a local mechanism in the glomeruli, which participated in the renal injury.

This paper presents a new attribute reduction algorithm, ARIMC, for both consistent and inconsistent decision tables. ARIMC eliminates all redundant and inconsistent objects in a decision table, extracts the core attributes when they exist in the decision table in an efficient way, and utilizes the core attributes and their absorptivity as the optimization condition to construct items of the discernibility matrix. Compared with Skowron et al's reduction algorithm [2], ARIMC shows its advantages in simplicity, practicability and time efficiency.