International Journal of Mathematical Combinatorics, vol. 3/2011

The International J.Mathematical Combinatorics (ISSN 1937-1055) is a fully refereed international journal, sponsored by the MADIS of Chinese Academy of Sciences and published in USA quarterly comprising 100-150 pages approx. per volume, which publishes original researchpapers and survey articles in all aspects of Smarandache multi-spaces, Smarandache geometries, mathematical combinatorics, non-euclidean geometry and topology and their applications to other sciences. <br

Acetic Acid Enhanced Narrow Band Imaging for the Diagnosis of Gastric Intestinal Metaplasia

<div><p>Gastric intestinal metaplasia (GIM) is a precancerous lesion of the stomach. The detection of GIM using conventional white-light endoscopy (WLE) is difficult. In this study, we determined whether acetic acid-enhanced narrow band imaging (AA-NBI) improves the detection of GIM. A consecutive cohort of 132 individuals aged 40 years or older was subjected to upper gastrointestinal endoscopy using WLE, NBI and AA-NBI. The ability of the three methods to diagnose GIM in patients was compared. Histological assessment (per-patient and per-biopsy) was used for the accuracy assessment. Sixty-six (50.0%) out of the 132 individuals examined were found to have GIM, of which 44 (66.7%) were diagnosed correctly by NBI (sensitivity 66.7% and specificity 68.2%) and 58 (87.9%) were correctly identified by AA–NBI (sensitivity 87.9% and specificity 68.2%), as compared to only 22 (33.3%) by WLE (sensitivity 33.3% and specificity 28.8%). Therefore, the sensitivity of AA–NBI in the diagnosis of GIM was significantly higher than NBI (p<0.05) and WLE (p < 0.001). Our study indicates that AA-NBI can improve the accuracy of endoscopy-targeted biopsies for GIM.</p></div

Patients with histologically confirmed diagnosis of GIM.

<p>Patients with histologically confirmed diagnosis of GIM.</p

Flow diagram of patient enrollment and endoscopic procedure.

<p>Flow diagram of patient enrollment and endoscopic procedure.</p

Clinical characteristics of the study samples.

<p>Clinical characteristics of the study samples.</p

Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly of Homopolymer and Diblock Copolymer: A Facile Approach for Preparing Polymer Nano-Objects with Higher-Order Morphologies

Polymerization-induced self-assembly of homopolymer and diblock copolymer using a binary mixture of small chain transfer agent (CTA) and macromolecular chain transfer agent (macro-CTA) is reported. With this system, homopolymer and diblock copolymer were formed and chain extended at the same time to form polymer nano-objects. The molar ratio of homopolymer and diblock copolymer had a significant effect on the morphology of the polymer nano-objects. Porous vesicles, porous nanospheres, and micron-sized particles with highly porous inner structure were prepared by this method. We expect that this method will greatly expand the promise of polymerization-induced self-assembly for the synthesis of a range of polymer nano-objects with unique morphologies

Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly of Homopolymer and Diblock Copolymer: A Facile Approach for Preparing Polymer Nano-Objects with Higher-Order Morphologies

Polymerization-induced self-assembly of homopolymer and diblock copolymer using a binary mixture of small chain transfer agent (CTA) and macromolecular chain transfer agent (macro-CTA) is reported. With this system, homopolymer and diblock copolymer were formed and chain extended at the same time to form polymer nano-objects. The molar ratio of homopolymer and diblock copolymer had a significant effect on the morphology of the polymer nano-objects. Porous vesicles, porous nanospheres, and micron-sized particles with highly porous inner structure were prepared by this method. We expect that this method will greatly expand the promise of polymerization-induced self-assembly for the synthesis of a range of polymer nano-objects with unique morphologies

Appearance of intestinal metaplasia in the antrum of the same patient under three different endoscopic models.

<p>A, Endoscopic image in WLE shows antrum mucosa is normal. B, After being switched to the NBI model, no obvious bluish-whitish areas appear. C, The whitish patches are observed after sprinkling with acetic acid in the AA-NBI model. D, Targeted biopsy shows intestinal metaplasia of the stomach.</p

Diagnostic accuracy of endoscopy in patients with GIM by WLE, NBI and AA-NBI.

<p>Diagnostic accuracy of endoscopy in patients with GIM by WLE, NBI and AA-NBI.</p

The demographics of the study samples.

<p>The demographics of the study samples.</p