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We present an algorithm to compute Minkowski sum of general ployhedra, the algorithm removes unnecessary information of computing pairwise Minkowski sum by redundancy analysis and adopt heuristic sorting order to improve computing efficiency of union process, contrast experiments show the algorithm is efficient and suitable for CAD and CAM.

With the development of hepatic surgery and radiology, a more accurate understanding of intrahepatic vessels and hepatic segments is necessary. Previously, research in these fields was primarily by means of dissecting livers, preparing corrosion cast specimens, reconstructing three-dimensional MSCT images of intrahepatic vessels, and so on. The aim of this study was to search for a new specimen preparing method, which could demonstrate intrahepatic vessels and the relationships between internal vessels and external structures of liver simultaneously. Rabbit livers were prepared with three different techniques in this study: (a) corrosion-cast technique; (b) transparency technique; and (c) combination technique of cast and transparency. The results showed that the combination of casting and transparent liver specimens in group C could demonstrate both the intrahepatic vessels and the external structures clearly. The relationships between the internal vessels and external structures could also be observed clearly. In conclusion, the combination method for preparing casting and transparent liver specimen created a new approach for the research of intrahepatic vessels, especially for applied basic research of hepatic segments.

Open surgery with common bile duct (CBD) exploration and T tube drainage are still traditionally performed in a large amount of selected patients with cholelithiasis and choledocholithiasis. Confirmation of CBD clearance via T tube cholangiography after surgery is a routine procedure before T tube removal. The present study aims at investigating potential risk factors associated with residual stones in CBD via T tube cholangiography. Patients undergoing open CBD exploration and T tube drainage for choledocholithiasis in the hospital were enrolled retrospectively from January 2011 to December 2013. The clinical data were reviewed and analyzed based on computer database. Patients undergoing laparoscopic CBD exploration were excluded. Patients with CBD exploration and primary choledochotomy or choledochojejunostomy were also excluded from the study. T tube cholangiography was regularly performed 4 to 8 weeks postoperatively. Two hundred seventy-five patients undergoing open CBD exploration and T tube drainage were enrolled in the study. Thirty-five patients (12.7%) were found to have gallbladder stones but without bile duct stones intraoperatively (Group A). One hundred sixty-five (Group B) and 77 patients (Group C) were diagnosed with choledocholithiasis and hepato-choledocholithiasis in operation, respectively. Disease of hepato-choledocholithiasis, size of the previous stones, and CBD exploration without intraoperative choledochoscopy were identified as risk factors associated with residue stones via T tube cholangiography (P

Moire patterns on HOPG were studied with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The results reveal that the observed Moire patterns originate from the defects locating several layers below the surface, which presents the first experimental evidence supporting the prediction that in HOPG the nanoscale electronic waves can propagate through several layers without obvious decay.

The prognostic role of inflammation index like neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains controversial. We conduct a meta-analysis to determine the predictable value of NLR in the clinical outcome of CRC patients. The analysis was carried out based on the data from 16 studies (19 cohorts) to evaluate the association between NLR and overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with CRC. In addition, the relationship between NLR and clinicopathological parameters was assessed. Hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was used as the effect size estimate. Our analysis results indicated that elevated pretreatment NLR predicted poorer OS (HR: 1.813, 95% CI: 1.499-2.193) and PFS (HR: 2.102, 95% CI: 1.554-2.843) in patients with CRC. Increased NLR is also significantly associated with the poorer differentiation of the tumor (OR: 1.574, 95% CI: 1.226-2.022) and higher carcino-embryonie antigen (CEA) level (OR: 1.493, 95% CI: 1.308-1.705). By these results, we conclude that NLR gains a prognostic value for patients with CRC. NLR should be monitored in CRC patients for rational stratification of the patients and adjusting the treatment strategy.

The study sample consisting of 429 people (207 males, 222 females) of Han nationality in Shaanxi, China. Five types of tongue movements were investigated, including tongue rolling, tongue folding, tongue twisting, pointed tongue and clover-leaf tongue. The results revealed that the frequencies of tongue rolling, tongue folding, tongue twisting, pointed tongue and clover-leaf tongue were 63.6, 14.0, 12.6, 54.8 and 0 %, respectively. There were no significant gender differences except with pointed tongue. Compared with other nationalities, tongue rolling, tongue folding, and pointed tongue of Han in Shaanxi had an average frequency. Tongue twisting and clover-leaf tongue had low frequencies. There were significant differences in frequency of clover-leaf tongue between Han and another seven nationalities of China (P < 0.01). Furthermore, only three pairs of trait correlations were exhibited among ten pairs of types of tongue movement combination traits when analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The data indicated that the correlations of tongue movement were between tongue rolling and tongue folding, between pointed tongue and tongue rolling, and also between tongue folding and pointed tongue, respectively. Additionally, there were significant differences in frequency of tongue movements with age. The possible mechanism of variations of tongue movements with aging may involve the degradation of tongue function, and differential gene activation and modulation, or protein translation.

With the development of hepatic surgery and radiology, an increasing amount of researchers have reported discrepancies between the real distribution of the hepatic portal vein branches and Couinaud's segmentation, especially for further division of the right medial division. The present study investigated 25 cadaveric liver dissections and 30 three-dimensional reconstruction images of intrahepatic vessels. The ramifications, course, distribution and quantity of the portal branches were analyzed. An oblique fissure that had few vessels was found among third-order branches of the hepatic portal vein of the right medial division. The right medial division could be redivided into the ventral subsegment and dorsal subsegment by this oblique fissure. A hepatic vein coursed in the oblique fissure between the ventral subsegment and dorsal subsegment. The hepatic vein could serve as an anatomical landmark of the inter-subsegmental plane. This new method of identifying further division of the right medial division is a novel concept providing further information on conventional segmental anatomy. Clin. Anat. 25:489–495, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Aiming at the feature of the cavity microscopic image of the cross-section of Fiberboard, a new algorithm is proposed which can detect the image effectively and accurately. This algorithm used Otsu algorithm to segment the cavity from the microscopic image, then refined the cavity edge by using the GAP statistic model which was based on the difference in distribution function of grey-level. The experimental results show that the algorithm improves the edge detection effect of cavity microscopic image with a good anti-noise performance, and achieves better detection effect.

To compare the areas of human liver horizontal sections with computed tomography (CT) images and to evaluate whether the subsegments determined by CT are consistent with the actual anatomy. Six human cadaver livers were made into horizontal slices with multislice spiral CT three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction was used during infusion process. Each liver segment was displayed using different color, and 3D images of the portal and hepatic vein were reconstructed. Each segmental area was measured on CT-reconstructed images, which were compared with the actual area on the sections of the same liver. The measurements were performed at four key levels namely: (1) the three hepatic veins, (2) the left, and (3) the right branch of portal vein (PV), and (4) caudal to the bifurcation of the PV. By dividing the sum of these areas by the total area of the liver, the authors got the percentage of the incorrectly determined subsegmental areas. In addition to these percentage values, the maximum distances of the radiologically determined intersegmental boundaries from the true anatomic boundaries were measured. On the four key levels, an average of 28.64 ± 10.26% of the hepatic area of CT images was attributed to an incorrect segment. The mean-maximum error between artificial segments on images and actual anatomical segments was 3.81 ± 1.37 cm. The correlation between radiological segmenting method and actual anatomy was poor. The hepatic segments being divided strictly according to the branching point of the PV could be more informative during liver segmental resection.

Until now there has been no definitive anatomical study of the boundary between hepatic subsegments IVa and IVb. In this study, we used a multicolor segmental corrosion cast technique and a multicolor segmental technique on plastinated slices, in combination with helical CT three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction on 15 donated fresh isolated human liver specimens. The corrosion cast technique was carried out on eight of these specimens, and the remaining seven livers were used to make horizontal plastinated slices. Examination of these specimens and observation of 20 additional liver corrosion cast specimens showed that all boundaries between hepatic segments were complex, undulating scissures rather than simple, flat planes. We also found that there was an obvious boundary between subsegments IVa and IVb, such that subsegment IVa laid posterosuperior to subsegment IVb. A tributary of a hepatic vein passed through the boundary between subsegments IVa and IVb, and could serve as an anatomical landmark of this boundary. Clin. Anat. 21:439–446, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

To observe the channel state in patients with acute sport injury of external malleolus joint from the cutaneous electrical conductance quantity (ECQ) of Jing (Well)-points, Yuan (Source)-points and Luo (Collateral)-points of the twelve regular channels.Forty-five patients with acute sport injury of external malleolus joint were chosen to be used as the observation group, and 30 healthy people as the control group. The ECQ of the cutaneous tissue of Jing-points, Yuan-points and Luo-points of the twelve regular channels was detected by using HB-DET Acupoint Diagnosis-Therapeutic Apparatus under room temperature. If the difference of ECQ values between the bilateral limbs exceeded 50%, it was considered to be imbalance.In observation group, the imbalance state reflected from ECQ of Jing-points mainly involved Trienergizer Channel of Hand-Shaoyang and the Kidney Channel of Foot-Shaoyin, with the imbalance rate being 60.0% (27/45) and 55.6% (25/45) respectively which were significantly higher than those [0 and 3.3% (1/30)] of control group (P0.05). The ECQ of the Yuan-points of the 12 regular channels indicated that the imbalance state mainly involved the Bladder Channel (32/45, 71.1%), Gallbladder Channel (30/45, 66.7%). Liver Channel (28/45, 62.2%), Kidney Channel (27/45, 60.0%), Stomach Channel (25/45, 55.6%) and Pericardium Channel (21/45, 46.7%) which were significantly higher than those [1/30 (3.3%), 0, 1/30 (3.3%), 0, 0, and 0] of control group in the number of imbalanced channels (P0.05). The ECQ of the 12 Luo-points showed that the imbalanced channels were mainly Gallbladder Channel (29/45, 64.4%) and Bladder Channel (29/45, 64.4%) which were significantly higher than those [0, and 1/30 (3.3%)] of control group in the number (P0.05). Of the 540 Jing-points, 540 Yuan-points and 540 Luo-points, 93 (17.2%), 181 (33.5%) and 96 (17.8%) appeared imbalance, and the imbalance rate of Yuan-points was apparently higher than those of Jing-points and Luo-points (P0.05).Acute sport injury of external malleolus joint may lead to imbalance of channels passing through the injured areas, and also involves the channel (Pericardium Channel) dominated by the heart and the 12 Yuan-points.

To probe into therapeutic effects of Ziwuliuzhu combined selection of the source point and the collateral point on athletic injuries and the state of channels.Ninety cases meeting diagnostic criteria were randomly divided into a group of Ziwuliuzhu combined selection of the source point and the collateral point (group A), a group of routine selection of acupoint (group B) and a group of external application of medicine (group C), 30 cases in each group. The electric conduction amount on source points of 12 channels were determined before and after treatment with a point diagnosis and treatment instrument. Changes of the state of channels and clinical therapeutic effects in the 3 groups were investigated after treatment.The therapeutic effect in the group A was better than those in the other two groups (P0.05).Ziwuliuzhu combined selection of the source point and the collateral point has good effect on pain and other clinical symptoms of athletic injuries, and makes channels of imbalance tend to balance or recover balance.

The title compound, C(13)H(13)N(5)O, crystallizes with two mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit. The crystal structure is stabilized by intra-molecular N-H⋯N and N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The dihedral angles between the pyrazine ring and the 4-aminolphenyl ring are 2.5 (1) and 6.5 (1)° in the two molecules.