Clinical significance of bladder training in preoperative localization of high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation of uterine fibroids

Objectives: High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is widely used to treat uterine fibroids. HIFU preoperative localization of uterine fibroids can be used to determine whether the patient is a suitable candidate for HIFU treatment. This study investigated the clinical significance of bladder training in improving the success rate of HIFU preoperative localization uterine fibroids. Material and methods: Our sample consists of patients who planned to undergo HIFU treatment in our hospital but who were failed in previous HIFU preoperative localization. They were recruited between July 2021 and April 2022, and randomly divided into experimental and control groups. A total of 150 patients were enrolled. Each group consisted of 75 patients. The patients in the experimental group adopted the procedure of drinking water multiple times and retaining urine. The training program lasted three days. The patients in the control group were required to keep regular drinking and urination habits without any special instructions or requirements. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in maximum bladder capacity, residual urine volume of bladder, bladder filling levels, and bladder shape change. After bladder training, the maximum bladder capacity and the degree bladder shape change of the patients in the experimental group were improved significantly. The success rate of HIFU preoperative localization in the patients in the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group. Conclusions: Bladder training can effectively improve the success rate of HIFU preoperative localization of uterine fibroids

Dynamics of quantum entanglement in the reservoir with memory effects

The non-Markovian dynamics of quantum entanglement is studied by the Shabani-Lidar master equation when one of entangled quantum systems is coupled to a local reservoir with memory effects. The completely positive reduced dynamical map can be constructed in the Kraus representation. Quantum entanglement decays more slowly in the non-Markovian environment. The decoherence time for quantum entanglement can be markedly increased by the change of the memory kernel. It is found out that the entanglement sudden death between quantum systems and entanglement sudden birth between the system and reservoir occur at different instants.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

A preliminary report on the gonadal development of adult milkfish, Chanos chanos, reared in tank

Milkfish is one of the most important food fishes in Taiwan. There are more than 16,000 ha of culture area and over 160 millions of fry are needed for milkfish farming industry every year. The fry are collected from the sea and also imported from other countries. However, due to several environmental factors, there is unpredictable fluctuations in the occurrence of these wild fry. In recent years, the demand for milkfish fry has gone up considerably owing mainly to the fast-growing populations, the natural resources being so limited that there is insufficient supply of stocking materials of this important foodfish. To solve the problem of shortage of milkfish fry, Tungkang Marine Laboratory started the preliminary work on artificial propagation of milkfish in 1970. In addition to capturing wild spawners, the Laboratory has also been raising the adult milkfish in tanks for this objective. After being reared for six years, one male and one female were dissected on 11 April 1976. The male had ripe sperms; the testes weighing 4.63 g with the GSI of 0.12. The gonad of the female weighed 21.20 g with the GSI of 0.66 and part of the ovarian oocytes was found to be at the oil droplet (yolk vesicle) stage. Judging from the condition of maturity of the above female, the feasibility of raising tank-reared spawners was ensured. It is believed that this is the first attempt on the world and is the prelude to successful artificial propagation by using tank-reared milkfish as spawner

Experimental Investigation of Polyurea-Coated Steel Plates at Underwater Explosive Loading

To improve the survivability of ship structures at underwater explosion, thin steel plates coated with polyurea were used to investigate the blast protection effect. During the experimental tests of bare steel plates at different standoff, an appropriate distance was selected as the reference standoff to perform the tests of coated plates. Experimental tests of different coating locations (front versus back) and coating thickness were carried out to study the influencing factors of blast resistance for metal substrate plates. Compared with the bare steel plates, the polyurea coating was found to reduce the deformation of the test plates at blast tests in both cases of the front and back surface locations of the polyurea layer. An increase in the coating thickness also mitigates substantially the deformation of plates. In addition, the properties of the material and the substrate-coating bond strength may also affect the protective effect of the polyurea coating

Estimation of affinities of ligands in mixtures via magnetic recovery of target-ligand complexes and chromatographic analyses: chemometrics and an experimental model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The combinatorial library strategy of using multiple candidate ligands in mixtures as library members is ideal in terms of cost and efficiency, but needs special screening methods to estimate the affinities of candidate ligands in such mixtures. Herein, a new method to screen candidate ligands present in unknown molar quantities in mixtures was investigated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The proposed method involves preparing a processed-mixture-for-screening (PMFS) with each mixture sample and an exogenous reference ligand, initiating competitive binding among ligands from the PMFS to a target immobilized on magnetic particles, recovering target-ligand complexes in equilibrium by magnetic force, extracting and concentrating bound ligands, and analyzing ligands in the PMFS and the concentrated extract by chromatography. The relative affinity of each candidate ligand to its reference ligand is estimated <it>via </it>an approximation equation assuming (a) the candidate ligand and its reference ligand bind to the same site(s) on the target, (b) their chromatographic peak areas are over five times their intercepts of linear response but within their linear ranges, (c) their binding ratios are below 10%. These prerequisites are met by optimizing primarily the quantity of the target used and the PMFS composition ratio.</p> <p>The new method was tested using the competitive binding of biotin derivatives from mixtures to streptavidin immobilized on magnetic particles as a model. Each mixture sample containing a limited number of candidate biotin derivatives with moderate differences in their molar quantities were prepared <it>via </it>parallel-combinatorial-synthesis (PCS) without purification, or <it>via </it>the pooling of individual compounds. Some purified biotin derivatives were used as reference ligands. This method showed resistance to variations in chromatographic quantification sensitivity and concentration ratios; optimized conditions to validate the approximation equation could be applied to different mixture samples. Relative affinities of candidate biotin derivatives with unknown molar quantities in each mixture sample were consistent with those estimated by a homogenous method using their purified counterparts as samples.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This new method is robust and effective for each mixture possessing a limited number of candidate ligands whose molar quantities have moderate differences, and its integration with PCS has promise to routinely practice the mixture-based library strategy.</p

Dynamic analysis of optimality in myocardial energy metabolism under normal and ischemic conditions

To better understand the dynamic regulation of optimality in metabolic networks under perturbed conditions, we reconstruct the energetic-metabolic network in mammalian myocardia using dynamic flux balance analysis (DFBA). Additionally, we modified the optimal objective from the maximization of ATP production to the minimal fluctuation of the profile of metabolite concentration under ischemic conditions, extending the hypothesis of original minimization of metabolic adjustment to create a composite modeling approach called M-DFBA. The simulation results are more consistent with experimental data than are those of the DFBA model, particularly the retentive predominant contribution of fatty acid to oxidative ATP synthesis, the exact mechanism of which has not been elucidated and seems to be unpredictable by the DFBA model. These results suggest that the systemic states of metabolic networks do not always remain optimal, but may become suboptimal when a transient perturbation occurs. This finding supports the relevance of our hypothesis and could contribute to the further exploration of the underlying mechanism of dynamic regulation in metabolic networks

Fibered Confocal Microscopy of Bladder Tumors: An ex Vivo Study

Background and Purpose: The inadequacy of white-light cystoscopy to detect flat bladder tumors is well recognized. Great interest exists in developing other imaging technologies to augment or supplant conventional cystoscopy. Fibered confocal microscopy offers the promise of providing in vivo histopathologic information to help distinguish malignant from benign bladder lesions. We report the initial use of this technology to visualize tumors in the human bladder. Materials and Methods: We performed ex vivo fibered confocal imaging of fresh radical cystectomy specimens using the Mauna Kea Technologies Cellvizio system. The findings were compared with results from standard histopathology. Results: The bladders of four patients were imaged using the fibered confocal microscope. Normal and neoplastic urothelium manifested differences in cellular and vascular density. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the feasibility of using fibered confocal microscopy to detect histologic differences between normal and neoplastic urothelium, and establishes a foundation for the use of fiber-based confocal microscopy in clinical studies.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78112/1/end.2008.0524.pd