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To illustrate the existence of bile regurgitation under stress condition, and explore the possible effects and related mechanism of changes of plasma cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8) and intragastric pH on stress-induced bile regurgitation in rats.(1) Changes in plasma CCK-8 and gastric bile concentration were respectively measured by using radioimmunoassay (RIA) method while simultaneously calculating gastric ulcer index (UI) and intragastric pH; (2) Each isolated gastric strips were suspended in a tissue chamber to record the contractile responses by polyphysiograph; (3) The responsiveness of gastric smooth muscle cells (SMCs) to sulfated cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8S) were examined using fura-2-loaded microfluorimetric measurement of intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)]i); (4) The current of L-type calcium channels (I(CaL)) of SMCs were recorded by patch clamp techniques.(1) Compared with the normal control group, plasma CCK-8 and gastric bile concentration significantly increased during stress (p0.01) and both simultaneously reached the peak at the time point of 2 h after stress; UI and intragastric pH apparently increased (p0.01); (2) Significant changes to CCK-8S were found in the mean contractile amplitude and frequency of circular muscle (CM) and longitudinal muscle (LM) of gastric antrum and pylorus; (3) CCK-8S-evoked significant increase in [Ca(2+)]i (p0.01) could be suppressed by CCK-A receptor (CCK-AR) antagonist; whereas a small but significant increase was still elicited by CCK-8S under condition of the removal of extracellular calcium or by given nifidipine; (4) CCK-8S-intensified calcium current (I(CaL)) apparently inhibited by respective administration of nifidipine, Ca(2+)-ATPase inhibitors or calcium dependent chloride channel (I(Cl-Ca)) blocker (p0.01).Gastric mucosal damage induced by bile regurgitation is closely connected with gastric antrum and pylorus dysmotility evoked by CCK-8 during the stress. CCK-8S-evoked [Ca(2+)]i increase in gastric antrum and pylorus SMC depends on the release of intracellular calcium stores which activates L-type voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCC) through the activation of calcium dependent chloride channels.

Aim: To investigate the functional and molecular mechanisms by which sulfated cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8S) regulates calcium mobilization in gastric antral smooth muscle cells (SMCs) of rats. Methods: Isotonic contraction of antral strips was recorded using a polyphysiograph. Immunoprecipitation was used to determine the regulatory effect of protein kinase C (PKC) on regulating the phosphorylation of the type III inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor (InsP3R3) in gastric SMCs. Alterations in the intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) concentration were assayed using fura-2/AM-loaded microspectrofluorometry, and the L-type calcium current (ICa-L) was recorded by patch-clamp techniques. Results: CCK-8S (5 × 10–8 mol/l) significantly increased the mean contractile amplitude of circular muscle by 61.85 ± 12.67% and the frequency of longitudinal muscle by 57.91 ± 15.70% in gastric antral strips, which were suppressed by dexloxiglumide or thapsigargin (TG) and BAPTA-AM (BA). Treatment withchelerythrine (5 × 10–8 mmol/l) significantly inhibited the CCK-8S-increased phosphorylation of InsP3R3 in SMCs. The amplitudes of the CCK-8S-triggered [Ca2+]i concentration oscillations were reduced in a dose-dependent manner when the SMCs were pretreated with increasing concentrations of PMA (from 10–8 to 10–5 mol/l). On removal of extracellular calcium or blocking ICa-L by nifedipine, a smaller but significant rise in the [Ca2+]i concentration was still elicited by CCK-8S. When [Ca2+]i was depleted by the administration of 10–5 mol/l TG and 10–5 mol/l BA or blocked by the calcium-dependent chloride current (ICl-Ca) by giving 5 × 10–6 mol/l niflumic acid, the CCK-8S-intensified ICa-L (from –56.42 ± 6.57 to –88.54 ± 5.71 pA) was apparently inhibited by 90.34 ± 4.71% and 82.59 ± 4.24%. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that the CCK-8S-evoked [Ca2+]i concentration increase in gastric antral SMCs depends on the release of [Ca2+]i stores which are negatively regulated by PKC-mediated phosphorylation of InsP3R3. Released calcium in turn activates ICa-L through the activation of ICl-Ca, ultimately resulting in the contraction of the gastric smooth muscle.

We clarify the essence of the method proposed by You (Phys. Rev. Lett. 90 (2004) 030402) to create the maximally entangled atomic N-GHZ state in the Mott insulator state. Based on the time-independent perturbation theory, we find that the validity of the method can be summarized as that the Hamiltonian governing the evolution is approximately equivalent to the type aJx2+bJx, which is the well known form used to create the maximally entangled state.

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the RevoLix 70W 2 micron continuous wave laser vaporesection in the treatment of high-risk patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).Forty-six high-risk patients (mean age, 82.6 y old) with BPH underwent 2-μm continuous wave laser vaporesection.The operative time, drop in hemoglobin, drop in serum sodium, indwelling catheterization time, operative complications, international prostatic symptom scores (IPSS), quality of life (QoL), urinary flow rate (Qmax), and post voiding residual urine volume (PVR) were observed.All 46 patients recovered without incident. The mean operative time was 68 ± 16.3 min. Occasional venous hemorrhage occurred during the operation, but no arterial hemorrhage was observed. Hemoglobin decreased from preoperative 15.0 g/dL to postoperative 14.3 g/dL, serum sodium decreased from preoperative 142.4 mmol/L to postoperative 141.6 mmol/L. IPSS decreased from preoperative 22 ± 6.2 to postoperative 9 ± 3.3, QoL scores decreased from 5.1 ± 0.7 to 2.1 ± 0.7, Qmax increased from 8.4 ± 5.2 to 21.2 ± 12.3 mL/sec, PVR decreased from 94.2 ± 60.2 to 21.6 ± 6.4 mL. The parameters were significantly different between pre- and postoperative results.The RevoLix 70W 2-μm continuous wave laser vaporesection is safe and effective in the treatment of high-risk patients with BPH.

To research the distribution characteristics of Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome and syndrome elements of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) by analyzing literature in recent 20 years.Relevant literature on treating CFS by syndrome differentiation of CM at home were retrieved by computer and manual ways. Database were established by using EpiData 3.1 to conduct frequency analysis of syndrome and syndrome elements.The most common clinical syndromes were Xin-Pi deficiency syndrome, Gan stagnation Pi deficiency syndrome, Gan-Shen yin deficiency syndrome, Gan qi stagnation syndrome, and Pi-Wei qi deficiency syndrome. Disease locations were sequenced as Pi, Gan, Shen, and Xin. The clinical pathogenesis of CFS was characterized by deficiency of vital energy, complicated with intermingled excess and deficiency. Asthenia of healthy energy was mainly manifested as qi deficiency, blood deficiency, and yin deficiency, while excess of sthenia was mainly manifested as qi stagnation, phlegm dampness, and static blood.Research of CM syndrome starting from syndrome elements can better unify and standardize clinical syndrome differentiation. Results of literature analysis can provide reference for further studies.

Many-core architectures, such as the Intel Xeon Phi, provide dozens of cores and hundreds of hardware threads. To utilize such architectures, application programmers are increasingly looking at hybrid programming models, where multiple threads interact with the MPI library (frequently called "MPI+X" models). A common mode of operation for such applications uses multiple threads to parallelize the computation, while one of the threads also issues MPI operations (i.e., MPI FUNNELED or SERIALIZED thread-safety mode). In MPI+OpenMP applications, this is achieved, for example, by placing MPI calls in OpenMP critical sections or outside the OpenMP parallel regions. However, such a model often means that the OpenMP threads are active only during the parallel computation phase and idle during the MPI calls, resulting in wasted computational resources. In this paper, we present MT-MPI, an internally multithreaded MPI implementation that transparently coordinates with the threading runtime system to share idle threads with the application. It is designed in the context of OpenMP and requires modifications to both the MPI implementation and the OpenMP runtime in order to share appropriate information between them. We demonstrate the benefit of such internal parallelism for various aspects of MPI processing, including derived datatype communication, shared-memory communication, and network I/O operations.

The optimum shape and arrangement of staggered pins in the channel of a plate heat exchanger are studied in this paper. The following four dimensionless geometric parameters of the pins are selected as the important design variables: the distance (L), the volume (V), the angle ( β ) and the pitch (G). The pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics are examined, and an optimization is carried out to minimize a global objective function consisting of the correlation between the Nusselt number and the friction factor. The optimal geometric parameters are as follows: L =0.272 , V =0.106 , β =0.44 and G =0.195 . The optimal geometric parameters obtained from this study can be applied for a Reynolds number ranging from 500 to 1500.

Hollow nanostructures have important applications in the field of gas adsorption, separation and storage due to their large specific surface areas. Silicon carbide nanotubes (SiCNTs) are one kind of such materials. In this paper, SiCNTs were synthesized from multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) via chemical vapor reaction (CVR) and purification. The SiCNTs were characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM. The results revealed that C-SiC nanotubes were obtained after CVR and most carbon were removed after purification with some traces retained inside SiCNTs. Hydrogen storage capacities measurements indicated that SiCNTs are superior to MWCNTs.

We describe a severe case of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome and review the clinical features and therapy in 49 Chinese patients. A 67-year-old man who underwent severe chronic diarrhea had typical clinical manifestations of hyperpigmentation, hair loss, and dystrophic changes in the fingernails. Although sufficient nutrition support and other therapies reported in the literature were provided, the patient died of systemic failure one year later. Cronkhite-Canada syndrome is characterized by generalized gastrointestinal polyps associated with hyperpigmentation, hair loss, and onycholysis. Anemia, positive stool occult blood, serum electrolyte disturbances, and low serum proteins are the main clinical features of patients with Cronkhite-Canada syndrome. Most patients were diagnosed by esophagogastroduodenoscopy and/or colonoscopy, and polyps were found in the entire alimentary tract, except the notable exception of the esophagus. The polyp-like samples of mucosa, hyperplasia, and adenoma were characterized by acute/chronic inflammation. Four cases were complicated with cancer. The treatment of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome includes symptomatic and support therapy, administration of corticosteroids, antibiotics and acid inhibitors, therapeutic endoscopy, and surgery. While the mortality rate was reported as 47.3% (9/19), some patients may live a long life with controlled symptoms.

DCFA-MPI is an MPI library implementation for Intel Xeon Phi co-processor clusters, where a compute node consists of an Intel Xeon Phi co-processor card connected to the host via PCI Express with InfiniBand. DCFA-MPI enables direct data transfer between Intel Xeon Phi co-processors without assistance from the host. Since DCFA, a direct communication facility for many-core based accelerators, provides direct Infini-Band communication functionality with the same interface as that on the host processor for Xeon Phi co-processor user space programs, direct InfiniBand communication between Xeon Phi co-processors could easily be developed. Using DCFA, an MPI library able to perform direct inter-node communication between Xeon Phi co-processors, has been designed and implemented. The implementation is based on the Mellanox InfiniBand HCA and the pre-production version of the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor. DCFA-MPI delivers 3 times greater bandwidth than the 'Intel MPI on Xeon Phi co-processors' mode, and a from 2 to 12 times speed-up when compared to the 'Intel MPI on Xeon where it offloads computation to Xeon Phi co-processors' mode in communication with 2 MPI processes. It also shows from 2 to 4 times speed-up over the Intel MPI on Xeon Phi Intel MPI on Xeon where it offloads computation to Xeon Phi co-processors' mode in a five point stencil computation with an 8 processes * 56 threads parallelization by MPI + OpenMP.

Cytomegalovirus, regarded as a trigger of several autoimmune diseases, is an opportunistic pathogen. Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) undergoing steroid treatment are susceptible to this infection. In the presence of cytomegalovirus, inflammation becomes more complex. Patients with active UC who are infected with cytomegalovirus are usually non-responders to steroid, while antiviral drugs could induce remission. Cytomegalovirus should be suggested as a probable cause of steroid-refractory UC based on the clinical data in the literatures.

The development of immunodiagnosis makes important contributions to the control of schistosomiasis. The most common way of diagnosis is to detect unknown antibodies through the known antigens, those are divided into soluble antigens, purified antigens and recombinant antigens. The diagnostic antigens which have high-sensitivity and high-specificity, and have the value of early diagnosis become the focus of researches, and are studied by many scholars. This article reviews the progress of the reaearches on diagnostic antigens of schistosomiasis japonica in recent years.

A direct communication facility, called DCFA, for a many-core based cluster, whose compute node consists of many-core units connected to the host via PCI Express with Infiniband, is designed and evaluated. Because a many-core unit is a device of the PCI Express bus, it is not capable of configuring and initializing the Infiniband HCA, according to the PCI Express specification. This means that the host has to assist memory transfer between many-core units, and thus extra communication overhead is incurred. In DCFA, the internal structures of the Infiniband HCA are distributed to both the memory space of the host and that of the many-core unit. After the host CPU configures and initializes the HCA, it obtains the addresses of both the HCA and the internal structures assigned by the host. Using the information given by the host and the internal structures assigned in the many-core memory area, the many-core unit may transfer data directly between other many-core units using the HCA without host assists. The implementation of DCFA is based on the Mellanox Infiniband HCA and Intel's Knights Ferry. Preliminary results show that, for large data transfer, the latency of DCFA delivers the same performance as that of host to host data transfer.

To study the association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (GPx4 or PHGPx) gene and oligo- or asthenozoospermic male infertility.The 5'-UTR region of the GPx4 gene was amplified from infertile men and controls using the polymerase chain reaction and was analyzed for polymorphisms by direct sequencing.A total of 9 SNPs were present in the cohort, however there were no significant differences in these 9 SNPs between the case and control groups. According to the results of linkage disequilibrium analysis and haplotype construction, one haplotype (rs757229-rs757230-rs4588110-rs3746165-rs3746166: C-G-G-T-A) was present only in the control men, and significant difference was detected(P0.01).The SNPs of 5'-UTR region of the GPx4 gene might not be associated with oligo- or asthenozoospermic male infertility. However, the haplotype (rs757229-rs757230-rs4588110- rs3746165-rs3746166: C-G-G-T-A) might be a protective haplotype.

To investigate the effect of small interfering RNA on cell proliferation and apoptosis in gastric cancer cell lines with high expression of RegIα.Total RNA was isolated from six gastric cancer cell lines,and the expression of RegI α mRNA was detected by RT-PCR. RegI α RNAi expression vector was constructed and stably transfected into MKN45 and AGS cells with high RegI α expression, empty-vector was used as control. RegI α mRNA and protein expression was measured by RT-PCR and Western blot respectively in stable transfected cell lines. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were detected with MTT assay and flow cytometry.RT-PCR results indicated that RegI α mRNA expression was significantly inhibited by RNAi in both cell lines compared with empty-vector. Western blot results showed that RegIα protein was down-regulated to (44 ± 4)% and (25 ± 4)% respectively in MKN45 and AGS cells compared to empty-vector. MTT results showed that cell growth was significantly inhibited in MKN45 and AGS cells. The apoptosis rate in MKN45 and AGS cells was remarkable increased compared to that of empty-vector (12.96 ± 0.50)% compared with (3.99 ± 0.30)% and (11.59 ± 1.10)% compared with (4.22 ± 0.40)% (P0.05).Small interfering RNA of RegI α gene can efficiently down-regulate RegI α expression in MKN45 and AGS cell lines, and further inhibit cell growth and induce cell apoptosis.

To construct RegIα over-expression vector and to evaluate the effect of RegIα on the proliferation and apoptosis of gastric cancer MKN28 cells in vitro.Full sequence of RegIα cDNA was amplified from normal gastric tissue samples by RT-PCR and cloned into pIRES2-EGFP vector. RT-PCR and Western blot were performed to detect expression levels of RegIα in MKN28 cells. The effects of over-expression RegIα on cell proliferation was measured by MTT assay and apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry.RegIα cDNA over-expression vector of pIRES2-RegIα-EGFP was successfully constructed. The expressions of RegIα in MKN28 cells, including mRNA and protein levels, were significantly increased after stable transfection, which resulted in cell proliferation and anti-apoptotic effect induced by H(2)O(2).The over-expression of RegIα can promote cell proliferation and reduce cell apoptosis when induced by H(2)O(2) in gastric cancer cells.

To construct COL1A1-targeted short hairpin RNA (shRNA) vector with pSilencer 4.1-CMV neo siRNA expression vector and to evaluate its effect on proliferation and migration of gastric cancer BGC-823 cells in vitro.Three COL1A1-shRNA plasmids (COL1A1-shRNA-1, COL1A1-shRNA-2, COL1A1-shRNA-3), targeting different sites of COL1A1 gene, were constructed using pSilencer 4.1-CMV neo siRNA expression vector and transfected into gastric cancer BGC-823 cells. Real time quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot were performed to detect expression levels of COL1A1. MTT and Transwell migration assays were employed to evaluate the effects of COL1A1 gene silence on cell proliferation and migration.Three recombinant plasmids targeting COL1A1 were constructed successfully. The expressions of COL1A1 in BGC-823 cells, including mRNA and protein levels, were significantly inhibited by the COL1A1-shRNA transfectants, which resulted in a clear reduction of cell proliferation and migration capacity.The COL1A1-shRNA can effectively knock down gene expression and inhibit proliferation and migration of gastric cancer BGC-823 cells.

In order to investigate the developmental differences between the duck breast muscle and leg muscle tissues during the embryonic stage to neonatal stages, as well as the expression profile of MyoD between the two muscle tissues, the morphologic characteristics in the two muscle tissues during duck embryo stages at E14, E18, E22, E27 and D7 were compared through the muscle paraffin sections. The coding domain sequence of duck MyoD gene was cloned, and then the expression of MyoD in duck leg muscle and breast muscle during embryo stage on E10, E14, E18, E22, E27 and D7 was detected using qRT-PCR method. Results showed that the developmental status of the duck breast muscle in embryonic phrases lag behind that of leg muscle. The CDS of duck MyoD gene consists of 894 nucleotides, and showed relatively high similarity with the gene of other species. The MyoD mRNA expressed in both kinds of muscle tissues and the expression profile had a similar trend, although the expression level of MyoD in the breast muscle was significantly higher than that in the leg muscle at each developmental stages (p < 0.05). Results suggested that MyoD might have potential functions in controlling muscle fiber phenotype during the secondary myogenesis of muscle development. These fundamental works may provide some valuable clues for knowing the roles of MyoD in the myogenesis and the muscle fiber type differentiation in birds.

Urethroplasty of complex urethral stricture is a difficult procedure, and there is no widely accepted standard approach described in the published literature. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of urethroplasty using lingual mucosa grafts (LMGs) for the repair of urethral strictures.Between August 2006 and April 2009, 92 cases of urethral strictures (length ranging from 2.5 cm to 18 cm, mean 6.5 cm) were treated using LMGs. Of the 92 patients, 38 with long-segment urethral strictures (9 - 18 cm) underwent dual LMG or LMG combined with foreskin flap or buccal mucosal graft urethroplasty.Follow-up was obtained for 3 - 33 months (mean 17.2 months) postoperatively. Complications occurred in 8 patients, including urinary fistulas in 4 patients; recurrent strictures developed in 4 patients at 3 - 4 months post-operatively. The remaining patients voided well postoperatively, with peak flows between 14.3 ml/s and 54.6 ml/s (mean 28.4 ml/s).The tongue is an excellent source of graft material for the repair of anterior mucosal strictures. Dual LMG substitution urethroplasty can successfully treat longer, more complex urethral strictures.

To explore reaction dynamic of hydroxyl radical (*OH) and salicylic acid,and to determine the elimination ratios of TCM polysaccharide to *OH by kinetic fluorescent analysis.The impact dynamics factors of this reaction were studied by fluorescent, such as the reaction of concentration, reaction time and temperature. The dynamical equation was built, a kinetic fluorescent spectrophotometry based on the reaction was developed to determine the elimination ratio. Repetitiveness and reliability of this method were tested by vitamin C.The dynamical equation of reaction rate to salicylic acid was gamma = 0. 9818x -1. 1801 under the condition of lambda ex = 295 nm, lambda em = 411 nm at room temperature, r approximately 1. The 50% elimination ratio (IC50) of TCM polysaccharide of Tangerine peel and Ganoderma lucidum to *OH was 78.01 mg/L and 232.5 mg/L, respectively. The IC50 of vitamin C was 24.52 microg/L, RSD was 0.23% (n = 5).The method is sensitive and reliable, it can be used to determine the elimination ratio of TCM polysaccharide to *OH.

To approach the effect on mechanical barricade of the mucous membrane of small intestine caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).Thirty-two male SD rats were randomly divided into control group and model group. The rats of the model group were given 7.5 mg/kg diclofenac by gavage, bid; the rats of the control group were given the same dose of saline. Then they were further randomly divided into two subgroups (n=8) at the first day and the fifth day after making the models to observe the scores of anatomical lesion on stomach and small intestine and the scores of tissue damage of mucous membrane and to quantitatively analyze the height of villi, as well as the thickness and the section area of mucous membrane with Carl Zeiss Imaging Systems. Observation of the change of ultrastructural organization of mucous membrane was carried out with transmission electron microscope.The mucous membrane of stomach of the model groups was slightly edematous. There was no difference between the scores of the model groups and control groups. It was seen that the mucous membrane of small intestine of the first day model group presented with erythema, amaurosis and ulcer. The ulcer was distributed along mesentery. The mucous membrane of small intestine of the fifth day model group showed bleeding, perforation and sinus tract formation, and the scores of anatomical lesion was higher than that of the control group (P0.05). The scores of the lesions of the first and fifth day model groups were 3.5 and 5.0. The difference had statistical significance when compared with those of the control groups (the scores were 0) (P0.05). Cell degeneration and cellular necrosis of epithelial mucosa of small intestine was also seen in the first day model group. The top of villi was ablated. The height of the pile on jejunum was (126.9 +/- 32.0) microm and that on ileum was (118.6 +/- 22.9) microm. They were lower than those of the control group (P0.05). However there was no difference of the thickness and section area between them, but the thickness and section area showed a tendency of decrease. It was also seen that there were apomorphosis and sphacelism of epithelial cells in the fifth day model group. Some villi were ablated and laminae propria exposed. The height of villi on jejunum [(73.4 +/- 25.4) microm] and that on ileum [(109.3 +/- 17.6) microm] decreased significantly. The thickness of mucous membrane [(123.8 +/- 51.6) microm and (165.7 +/- 37.4) microm] decreased and the section area [(2.48 +/- 1.01) mm2 and (3.27 +/- 0.76) mm2] became smaller (P0.05 vs. control group). The mucous membrane of the villi on small intestine was continuous but arranged disorderly. Cytochondriome swelled, endocytoplasmic reticulin expanded with different degrees, intercellular junction widened partly. The microvilli in the fifth day model group were ablated more obviously and intercellular junctions were broken and destroyed gravely.Diclofenac can cause damage to the function of mucous membrane barricade of small intestine. It could also lead to shortening of the villi, thinning of the mucous membrane, ablation of the microvilli, and widening of the tight intercellular junction as the characteristic morphological change.

Myogenic differentiation factors I (MyoD1) plays a key role in growth and muscle development and therefore is considered as a candidate gene for meat production. In order to get the sequence, we cloned the total coding region of duck MyoD1 gene in this study. The total CDS region of duck MyoD1 gene consists of 894 nucleotides and codes for 297 AA, including the bHLH domain. The similarity between duck and chicken is 93.7% at nucleotide level and 93.6% at protein level. There is higher similarity between duck and turkey, which is 93.8% at nucleotide level and 97% at protein level. Results showed that the MyoD1 gene is very conservative among different animal species and evolution of MyoD1 can well demonstrate the evolution of considered species. This work constructed the basis for further research on the molecular nature and the genetic markers for duck meat production and quality.

Well-log data and the associated extracted attributes have allowed better description of reservoir heterogeneities and more realistic assessment of oil and gas in place. However, the establishment of a complicated nonlinear relationship between logging attributes and reservoir properties has been a major challenge for working geoscientists. Although back propagation neural network is widely and successfully adopted in Reservoir Prediction, there have been several problems encountered, such as being slow to converge and easy to reach extreme minimum value. To overcome the shortcomings of traditional BP algorithm, a novel reservoir prediction model is presented which uses grey relational analysis technique to optimize the training samples of BP Neural Network, and a cascade neural network to achieve a higher speed and a lower error rate in identifying reservoir. The effectiveness of these neural network techniques in well-log interpretation is demonstrated in this paper through a real data example from Tarim Basin in China.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the effects of salvianolic acid B (Sal-B) on pancreatic damage in experimental chronic pancreatitis. METHODS Chronic pancreatitis was induced by infusion of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid into the pancreatic duct in male Sprague-Dawley rats. From the beginning of 5 weeks, the rats in group 2 were treated with Sal-B by gavage for 8 weeks. Salvianolic acid B was given at a daily dose of 10 mg/kg body weight. At the end of 12 weeks, the levels of serum biochemical indexes were measured on an automatic biochemical analyzer; serum hyaluronic acid and laminin levels were determined by radioimmunoassay; pancreatic tissue malondialdehyde (MDA) was analyzed, and the degree of pancreatic damage was determined. RESULTS The level of serum biochemical indexes were similar in all groups (P > 0.05 for all). Salvianolic acid B treatment did not obviously reduce hyaluronic acid and laminin concentration in blood (P > 0.05). Salvianolic acid B treatment decreased MDA concentration in pancreatic tissue (P < 0.01). Salvianolic acid B clearly improved pancreatic histological findings and prevented the activation of pancreatic stellate cells. CONCLUSIONS Sal-B treatment decreased MDA concentration in pancreatic tissue, attenuated morphological pancreatic damage, and prevented the activation of pancreatic stellate cells in experimental chronic pancreatitis.

Objective To investigate the possible effects and related ionic and molecular mechanisms of changes of plasma cholecystokinin octapeptide and somatostatin on stress-induced bile regurgitation in rats. Methods In forty healthy adult rats, changes of plasma cholecystokinin octapeptide, somatostatin and intragastric bile concentration under stressful condition were respectively measured by specific radioimmunoassay methods. Contractile responses of gastric antral smooth strips isolated from healthy adult rats were recorded by polyphysiograph. Immunoprecipitation was used to determine the regulatory effect of protein kinase C on regulating the phosphorylation of type 3 inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor (InsP3R3) in gastric smooth muscle cells. Changes of intracellular calcium fluorescence intensity of smooth muscle cells presented as intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) were analyzed under laser scanning confocal microscopy and L-type voltage-dependent calcium currents of smooth muscle cells were recorded by patch-clamp techniques. Results Compared with the normal control group, plasma cholecystokinin octapeptide and gastric bile concentration of each stress group significantly increased during the stress, while adverse effect was obtained in plasma somatostatin, which decreased from the beginning of the stress and attained the minimum nearly at the same time when the plasma cholecystokinin octapeptide concentration reached the maximum. Respective addition of cholecystokinin octapeptide and somatostatin with increasing concentrations caused rapid, sustained, concentration-dependent increase and decrease in muscle contraction of gastric antral strips, and cholecystokinin octapeptide that increased the contractile response could be blocked by respective administration of nifedipine and somatostatin significantly. Similar results were obtained in the changes of calcium fluorescence intensity and calcium currents of smooth muscle cells. Pretreatment with somatostatin significantly increased cholecystokinin octapeptide-increased phosphorylation of InsP3R3 in smooth muscle cells. Conclusions Gastric mucosal damage induced by bile regurgitation is closely connected with gastric antral dysmotility evoked by the changes of cholecystokinin octapeptide and somatostatin under stressful condition. Cholecystokinin octapeptide-intensified contraction depends on the release of intracellular calcium stores and the influx of extracellular calcium via L-type voltage-dependent calcium channels, while this excitatory effect of cholecystokinin octapeptide could be blocked by somatostatin, suggesting that both of the two peptides play important roles in the regulation of gastric motility.

The selection of threshold is critical in image segmentation. Based on genetic algorithm, an improved method for selecting the optimal threshold in image segmentation is proposed. In the computational process, the improved GA adjusts crossover probability and mutation probability automatically according to the variance between the target and background, thus overcoming the problems of poor astringency and premature occurrence in Simple Genetic Algorithm. Moreover, the improved GA is used to find the optimum relation of the evaluation function on the basis of OTSU Principle in the paper. The experimental data demonstrate that this improved GA has a better convergence and stability than the Simple GA.

Slant Correction plays an important role in vehicle license plate automatic recognition system. In order to reduce or avoid adverse effects caused by noise disturbance and fragmentary frame of vehicle license plate, as well as speed up the computation, an approach based on feature point and principal component analysis (PCA) is presented. Feature points are considered as the edge of characters on the license plate, with a lined orderliness which reflects the slant angle of the plate. Firstly, a pretreatment process is carried out to extract the feature points of the plate, and the direction of the principal component, which is considered as the slant angle of the plate, is achieved through principal component analysis of the feature points, then the correction of the plate is accomplished. The experimental results demonstrate that, this method enjoys the advantages of being simple and less demanding in image quality and frame of license plate, and makes the correction of the plate easier and more precise compare to some other method such as Hough transform.

Slant Correction plays an important role in the pretreatment during the recognition of vehicle license plate (VLP). To reduce and avoid the interference from the dirt, noise and frame of the VLP, as well as simplify the computation load, a method of slant correction of VLP integrates PCA (Principal Component Analysis) based on color-pair feature and radon transformation is presented in this paper. Three steps compose the method. The first step is to obtain the color-pair feature pixels of the image of VLP. The second step aims to seek the approximate slant angle of the plate by principal component analysis of the color-pair feature pixels. The final step is to achieve the further exact slant angle by radon transformation. The approach is implemented by program. And the experimental results demonstrate that this method is more precise and efficient than absolutely principal component analysis or radon transformation.

To study the effects of sulfated cholecystokinin octapeptide (sCCK-8S) on intracellular calcium release and extracellular calcium influx in gastric antral smooth muscle cells (SMC) and the mechanism thereof.(1) Longitudinal muscle (LM) and circular muscle (CM) strips of gastric antrum and pylorus were isolated from SD rats and suspended in a tissue chamber to record the contractile responses by polyphysiography. (2) Immunoprecipitation, electrophoresis, and immunoblotting were used to detect the phosphorylation of type III inositol 1, 4, 5-triphosphate receptor (InsP(3)R(3)) in the SMCs. (3) The responsiveness of gastric SMC to CCK-8S was examined by using fura-2-loaded microfluorimetric measurement of intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)]i). (4) The current of L-type calcium channels (ICaL) was recorded by using patch-clamp techniques.(1) Significant changes to CCK-8S were found in the mean contractile amplitude of the CM and frequency of LM of gastric antrum and could be suppressed by CCK-A receptor (CCK-AR) antagonist and ATPase inhibitors. (2) CCK-8S stimulation of SMC resulted in PKC-dependent phosphorylation of the InsP(3)R(3). (3) CCK-8S-evoked significant increase in [Ca(2+)]i [from (69 +/- 7) mol/L to (472 +/- 36) nmol/L, P0.01] could be suppressed by CCK-AR antagonist, ATPase inhibitors and protein kinase C (PKC) activator; whereas on condition that extracellular calcium was removed or L-type calcium inhibitor nifedipine was added a small but significant increase of [Ca(2+)]i could be still elicited by CCK-8S. (4) CCK-8S-intensified calcium current [from (-56 +/- 7) pA to (-89 +/- 6) pA, P0.01] could be apparently inhibited by respective administration of nifedipine, ATPase inhibitors, and calcium dependent chloride channel (I(Cl-Ca)) blocker (all P0.01).CCK-8S-evoked [Ca(2+)]i increase in gastric antral SMCs depends on the release of intracellular calcium stores, which is regulated by PKC mediated phosphorylation of InsP(3)R(3). The released intracellular calcium in turn activates the L-type voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCC) through the activation of calcium dependent chloride channels, and ultimately results in the occurrence of contraction response of smooth muscles.

The potential to predict pancreatic necrosis within the first 48 h by using plasma soluble thrombomodulin (sTM) in 104 patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) was analyzed in a prospective 5-year investigation performed at a single institution.According to Balthazar CT grade, pancreatitis was classified as no necrosis in 72 patients, one-third necrotic in 18 patients, one-half necrotic in 10 patients and more than one-half necrotic in 4 patients. Blood was collected at the first 48 hours after the onset of pain and analyzed for sTM.In the healthy volunteers, plasma levels of TM were 16.49+/-5.24 microg/L. By comparison, the mean plasma levels of TM in each group of pancreatitis patients were as follows: CT grade A group, 34.21+/-10.73 microg/L; CT grade B group, 36.18+/-12.50 microg/L; CT grade C group, 49.39+/-18.38 microg/L; CT grade D group, 114.46+/-39.44 microg/L; CT grade E group, 100.22+/-15.97 microg/L (p0.01). And for the patients, the Pearson correlation coefficient between the CT grade and TM values was 0.784 (p0.01). No necrosis group, 39.22+/-13.75 microg/L; one-third necrotic group, 71.44+/-18.02 microg/L; one-half necrotic group, 123.50+/-28.57 microg/L; more than one-half necrotic group, 129.00+/-33.28 microg/L (p0.01); And for the patients, the Pearson correlation coefficient between the degree of necrosis and TM values was 0.888 (p0.01). ROC analysis indicated the area under the ROC curve (AUC +/- SE) for sTM was 0.949+/-0.020, clearly supportive of the high accuracy of this index in predicting the necrosis of AP.Plasma soluble thrombomodulin (sTM) is a potential marker to predict pancreatic necrosis within the first 48 h, and further investigation in a multicentre study is necessary.

The purpose of this paper is to present an intensity based algorithm for aligning 2D endoscopic images with virtual images generated from pre-operative 3D data. The proposed algorithm uses photo-consistency as the measurement of similarity between images, provided the illumination is independent from the viewing direction.

Biliary atresia, the etiology of which still remains unclear, occurs exclusively in newborns and most are infected with rotavirus. In this study, we aimed to investigate the histopathological patterns of different kinds of rotavirus in the liver and biliary tract of neonatal mice and the expression of NF-kappaB in the liver and biliary tract of infected mice.Twenty-three adult mice (8 were male and 15 female) were divided into 8 breeding pairs, and each pair (1 male and 2 females) was housed in a cage in a laminar flow hood. Newborn mice, 24-48 hours old were randomly divided into A, B and C groups. The A and B groups were respectively inoculated with MMU18006 and SA11 rotavirus through the intraperitoneal route, while group C as blank control was only inoculated with culture medium. The liver was dissected after 5, 10, 15, 21 and 28 days; the weight of each mouse and the histopathological patterns in the liver were recorded. The expression of NF-kappaB in the liver and intrahepatic bile ducts was detected by immunohistochemical staining and the expression intensity was analyzed with a GT-2 imaging instrument.The average increase in weight of infected mice was significantly slower than that of the normal control, while the growth rate of group A (injected with MMU18006 rotavirus) was slower than that of group B (SA11 rotavirus). In infected mice, the acute and chronic inflammation of liver and intra- and extra-hepatic bile ducts was more significant in group A. Stenosis was found in most intrahepatic bile ducts, and sporadically in extrahepatic bile ducts. The expression of NF-kappaB in infected mice was dramatically higher than that of the normal control, while the expression in group A was higher than in group B.Significant damage to the liver and biliary tract of neonatal mice can be induced by inoculating MMU18006 rotavirus through the intraperitoneal route, which is very similar to the pathology of biliary atresia in the newborn human. Similar inoculation with SA11 rotavirus can only result in moderate impairment that disappears quickly. The difference of pathogenicity between the two rotaviruses may depend on their differing capacities to increase the expression of NF-kappaB in the liver and biliary tract.

To explore the mucosal protective effect on the quality of gastric ulcer healing.Gastric ulcers were induced in male rats by serosal application of acetic acid. Rats were gavaged for 14 days with saline, omeprazole (OME), teprenone (TEP) and TEP plus OME starting 3 days after ulcer induction. Then the tissues and blood samples were obtained and measured.The lower ulcer index (UI) and increased ulcer inhibition rate were observed in OME and OME+TEP groups. In TEP and OME+TEP groups, restored mucosa thickness increased, cystically dilated glands decreased, microvessels in connective tissue increased, the secretion of mucus, hexosamine, PGE(2), bFGF were enhanced, the expression of EGFR was increased.TEP can improve the quality of gastric ulcer healing, when combined with OME,the effect is more marked.

To illustrate the existence of bile regurgitation under stress condition, and explore the possible effects and related mechanism of changes of cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8) on stress-induced bile regurgitation in rats.(1) Changes in plasma CCK-8 and gastric bile concentration were measured by using radioimmunoassay while simultaneously calculating gastric ulcer index and intragastric pH; (2) Each isolated gastric strips were suspended in a tissue chamber to record the contractile responses by polyphysiograph; (3) The responsiveness of gastric smooth muscle cells (SMCs) to sulfated cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8S) were examined using fura-2-loaded microfluorimetric measurement of intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)] i); (4) The current of L-type calcium channels (I(CaL)) of SMCs were recorded by patch-clamp techniques.(1) Compared with the normal control, plasma CCK-8 [from (2.23 +/- 0.88) pmol/L to (10.80 +/- 3.82) pmol/L] and gastric bile concentration [from (37.93 +/- 23.76) micromol/L to (1316.00 +/- 197.36) micromol/L] significantly increased during the stress (P0.01) and both simultaneously reached the peak at the time point of 2 h after stress; ulcer index (from 0.62 +/- 0.23 to 32.01 +/- 16.11) and intragastric pH (from 1.06 +/- 1.20 to 5.29 +/- 1.25) apparently increased (P0.01); (2) Significant changes to CCK-8S were found in the mean contractile amplitude and frequency of circular muscle and longitudinal muscle of gastric antrum and pylorus; (3) CCK-8S-evoked significant increase in [Ca(2+)] i [from (65.8 +/- 7.4) nmol/L to (472.1 +/- 35.6) nmol/L, P0.01] could be suppressed by CCK-A receptor antagonist; whereas a small but significant increases were still elicited by CCK-8S under condition of the removal of extracellular calcium; (4) CCK-8S-intensified calcium current I(Ca-L) [from (-56.42 +/- 6.57) pA to (-88.54 +/- 5.71) pA, P0.01)] apparently inhibited by respective administration of nifedipine, Ca(2+)-ATPase inhibitors or calcium dependent chloride channel blocker (P0.01).Gastric mucosal damage induced by bile regurgitation is closely connected with gastric antrum and pylorus dysmotility evoked by CCK-8 during the stress. CCK-8S-evoked [Ca(2+)] i increase in gastric antrum and pylorus SMC depends on the release of intracellular calcium stores which activates L-type voltage-dependent calcium channels through the activation of calcium dependent chloride channels.

To investigate correlation between polymorphisms of rs3755557 and rs1880481 located in glycogen synthase kinase 3beta gene and beta-catenin gene respectively, the products of which are components of Wnt signalling pathway, and risk of gastric carcinoma.PCR and denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography combining with DNA sequencing were used to analyse genotype polymorphism of rs3755557 and rs1880481 of the subjects including 26 patients of gastric carcinoma and 33 patients of chronic superficial gastritis.Chi-square analysis revealed that there was no significant difference in the frequencies of alleles and genotypes of rs3755557 polymorphic site between gastric carcinoma group and control group. As to the rs1880481 polymorphic site, there was no significant difference in the frequencies of alleles between gastric carcinoma group and the corresponding control group. The frequency of heterozygous genotype in male control group was 68.18% and it was significantly higher than 26.67% in male gastric carcinoma group, OR=5.893, 95%CI: 1.377-25.226 (P=0.013); but the frequencies of AA genotype of the site in male control group and male gastric carcinoma group were 9.09% and 40.00% respectively. There was statistical significance, OR=6.667, 95% CI: 1.121-39.660 (P=0.025).The above results suggest that the genotypes and alleles of rs3755557 site do not contribute to the risk of gastric carcinoma. Low level of the heterozygous genotype or high level of AA genotype of rs1880481 polymorphic site in male patients might cause a higher risk of developing gastric carcinoma.

To evaluate the relationship among Helicobacter pylori (Hp)infection, blood ammonia concentrations, and hepatic encephalopathy (HE) status, and to investigate the effect of Hp eradication on blood ammonia levels and hepatic encephalopathy status in cirrhotic patients.From July 2003 to Jan 2005, cirrhotic patients in 5 regions of Zhejiang Province were enrolled. Patients were evaluated for the demographic checklists, number connection test, Hp infection, liver impairment level, blood ammonia concentrations and hepatic encephalopathy status. Patients with Hp infection were given one week therapy with omeprazole plus clarithromycin and tinidazole. (14)C urea breath test was performed and the mental symptoms and blood ammonia levels were reassessed after the eradication therapy.(1) 457 cirrhotics were enrolled, the overall Hp infection rate was 60.6%, and HE happened with 47.5%. Subclinical hepatic encephalopathy (SHE) were detected 55 in 47.0% of 117 cirrhotics. (2) Blood ammonia concentration in Hp (-) and Hp (+) cirrhotics was (53.8 +/- 51.4) micromol/L and (78.4 +/- 63.6) micromol/L respectively (P0.01), which was significantly reduced to (53.5 +/- 37.7) micromol/L after Hp eradication (P0.01). HE was more frequently observed in patients with Hp infection than without it (58.5% vs 30.6%, P0.01). HE rate were significantly dropped to 34.1% after Hp eradication (P0.01). (3) Hp prevalence significantly differed among cirrhotic with HE (74.4%), those with SHE (69.1%), or without HE (53.2%) (P0.05). The level of blood ammonia had significant difference among the cirrhotics with HE (94.5 +/- 75.6) micromol/L, those with SHE (59.9 +/- 49.2) micromol/L, or without HE (47.3 +/- 33.5) micromol/L (P0.05).Hp infection was an important factor of inducing with high blood ammonia concentration and hepatic encephalopathy in cirrhotic patients. Hp eradication may be helpful for treatment and prevention of HE.

To research the regulative effect of mica monomer granule preparation on the expression of gene associated with cancer in gastric mucosa tissue of experimental chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) rats.To treat experimental CAG rats using mica monomer granule preparation with three different dosage-high, moderate and low level respectively. To observe the expression changes of mutant antioncogene-p53 gene-protein, oncogene p21, antioncogene p16 and anti-apoptosis gene bcl-2 in gastric mucosa of CAG rats by two-step ways of EnVision system in immunohistochemical method.There was the tendency that mica monomer granule preparation with three different dosage could decrease the expression of p53 as well as p21, and mica had the obvious regulative effects on deletion of p16 and high-expression of bcl-2. It could also alleviate the inflammation of gastric mucosa and promote the regeneration of gland.The treatment and reversion action of mica on chronic atrophic gastritis is probably related with the regulative effect on the expression of gene associated with cancer.

To examine the efficacy of Muscovite on acetic acid-induced ulcerative colitis in rats, and to research the mechanisms of intestinal mucosal protection.Ulcerative colitis was induced in rats by intracolonic injection of 2 mL of 7% acetic acid. Rats were treated with three different doses of the Muscovite and SASP at random by intracolonic injecion, the normal saline was considered as control group. The rats were sacrificed and the colons were excised and opened longitudinally. Under a dissecting microscope, gross findings were observed and scored. MPO activity was assayed by spectrophotometry in colonic mucosa.Gross finding showed that multiple ulcer with diameter more than 1 cm, surrounded with erosion, erythematous and edema in the proximal colon in ulcerative coltis. The colon from Muscovite treatment group were histopatholgically normal, with slight erosion, erythematous and edema. The colon in SASP group had small ulceration and severe erosion and edema. The score of gloss change were significant lower in Muscovite groups than that in normal saline group (P0.01). There were necrosis and exfoliation of mucosa, multiple cystic dilation of mucosa gland, and large number of and inflammation attenuated in Muscovite groups. There nerutrophils and vessel infiltration in ulcerative colitis. The ulceration disappeared were erosion in mucosa and inflammatory cell infiltrating into submucosa in SASP group. Compared with normal saline group, the pathological scale were significant decreased in Muscovite and SASP groups (P0.05). The MPO activity was significant increased in colitis tissue compared with normal group (P0.001). After administrating with Muscovite or SASP, the level of MPO were significant decreased (P0.01).Muscovite has the effect of mucosal protection by attenuating the inflammation of colonic mucosa and decreasing the activity of MPO.

To explore the effect of muscovite on the quality of gastric ulcer healing.Gastric ulcers were produced in male rats by serosal application of acetic acid. Rats were gavaged for 14 days with saline, omeprazole and muscovite starting 3 days after ulcer induction. Then the tissue and blood samples were obtained and measured.In the muscovite group, restored mucosa thickness increased, cystically dilated glands decreased, microvessels in connective tissue increased, the secretion of mucus, hexosamine, PGE2, EGF, bFGF were enhanced, and the express of EGFR was stronger.Muscovite can promote the gastric ulcer healing and improve the quality of gastric ulcer healing.