股骨旋轉的放射學評估：屍體標本研究

Purpose: To define how the lesser trochanter can be used in an objective manner to assess the femoral rotation in plain radiograph. Methods: Eighteen pairs of cadaveric femurs from Chinese individuals were used in this study. For each femur, radiographs were taken in the following positions with reference to the anatomical transepicondylar axis: neutral position; 5°, 10°, 15°, and 20° internal rotation; and 5°, 10°, 15°, and 20° external rotation. Lesser-trochanter index, which was defined as the width of lesser trochanter divided by the remaining width of the proximal femur, measured at the level of its most prominent point, which was perpendicular to the anatomical axis of the proximal femur, was obtained on a Picture Archiving Communication System workstation in every radiograph. Statistical analyses were performed by using a statistical software R (R language, version 2.12.0). Results: The lesser-trochanter index showed positive correlation with increasing external rotation of femur: correlation coefficient = 0.75 (p<0.00001). Analysis-of-variance test showed that the lesser-trochanter indexes of Group 1 (20° and 15° internal rotation), Group 2 (10° internal rotation to 10° external rotation), and Group 3 (15° and 20° external rotation) had statistically significant differences (p<0.00001). Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the cutoff value of lesser-trochanter index to distinguish the three groups. By using the lower cutoff value as 0.17, we can distinguish Group 2 from Group 1 with a sensitivity of 0.85 and a specificity of 0.65. By using the upper cutoff value as 0.28, we can distinguish Group 2 from Group 3 with a sensitivity of 0.80 and a specificity of 0.73. Conclusion: The lesser-trochanter index can be used as a method to assess the rotational alignment of femur in plain radiograph. It is simple, objective, not affected by the factor of magnification, and can be applied to both long and short films. © 2012.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Methods in angle-resolved photoelectron diffraction: Slab method versus separable propagator cluster approach

We have compared multiple-scattering results of angle-resolved photoelectron diffraction spectra between the exact slab method and the separable propagator perturbation cluster method. In the slab method, the source wave and multiple scattering within strongly scattering layers are expanded in spherical waves while the scattering among different layers is expressed in plane waves. The transformation between spherical waves and plane waves is done exactly. The plane waves are then matched across the solid-vacuum interface to a single outgoing plane wave in the detector's direction. The slab is infinitely extended parallel to the surface. Normal to the surface, enough layers are included to ensure convergence of the calculated intensity. The separable propagator perturbation approach uses two approximations; (i) A separable representation of the Green's-function propagator and (ii) a perturbation expansion of multiple-scattering terms. The cluster size is finite, typically containing 50 atoms or less. Results of this study show that using a cluster of 148 atoms, the largest cluster used to date, the cluster size is still too small for the cluster results on Ni(001) to converge with those of the slab method. Ideas to improve the perturbation expansion cluster method are discussed.published_or_final_versio

Influence of nitrogen on tunneling barrier heights and effective masses of electrons and holes at lightly-nitrided SiO2/Si interface

We have determined both the effective masses and the barrier heights for electrons and holes in pure SiO2 and lightly nitrided oxides with various nitrogen concentrations up to 4.5 at %. In contrast to previous studies which were usually carried out by assuming a value for either the effective mass or the barrier height, this study does not make such an assumption. The approach is proven to be reliable by examining the result for the well-studied pure SiO2 thin films. It is observed that with the increase of the nitrogen concentration the effective masses increase while both the barrier heights and the energy gap decrease. © 2004 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Interferon-gamma inducible protein 10 (IP10) induced cisplatin resistance of HCC after liver transplantation through ER stress signaling pathway.

Tumor recurrence remains an obstacle after liver surgery, especially in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The acute-phase liver graft injury might potentially induce poor response to chemotherapy in recurrent HCC after liver transplantation. We here intended to explore the mechanism and to identify a therapeutic target to overcome such chemoresistance. The associations among graft injury, overexpression of IP10 and multidrug resistant genes were investigated in a rat liver transplantation model, and further validated in clinical cohort. The role of IP10 on HCC cell proliferation and tumor growth under chemotherapy was studied both in vitro and in vivo. The underlying mechanism was revealed by detecting the activation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling pathways. Moreover, the effect of IP10 neutralizing antibody sensitizing cisplatin treatment was further explored. In rat liver transplantation model, significant up-regulation of IP10 associated with multidrug resistant genes was found in small-for-size liver graft. Clinically, high expression of circulating IP10 was significant correlated with tumor recurrence in HCC patients underwent LDLT. Overexpression of IP10 promoted HCC cell proliferation and tumor growth under cisplatin treatment by activation of ATF6/Grp78 signaling. IP10 neutralizing antibody sensitized cisplatin treatment in nude mice. The overexpression of IP10, which induced by liver graft injury, may lead to cisplatin resistance via ATF6/Grp78 ER stress signaling pathway. IP10 neutralizing antibody could be a potential adjuvant therapy to sensitize cisplatin treatment

Influence of charge trapping on electroluminescence from Si-nanocrystal light emitting structure

We report a study on the influence of charge trapping on electroluminescence (EL) from Si nanocrystal (nc-Si) distributed throughout a 30 nm Si O2 thin film synthesized by Si+ implantation into an oxide film thermally grown on a p -type Si substrate. The electron and hole trapping in the nc-Si located near the indium tin oxide gate and the Si substrate, respectively, cause a reduction in the EL intensity. The reduced EL intensity can be recovered after the trapped charges are released. A partial recovery can be easily achieved by the application of a positive gate voltage or thermal annealing at hot temperatures (e.g., 120 °C) for a short duration. The present study highlights the impact of charging in the nc-Si on the light emission efficiency and its stability of nc-Si light-emitting devices. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Analysis of spatial variability for the development of reduced lead body surface maps

The spatial frequency of measurement points from standard ECG systems lacks accuracy to diagnose local variability in cardiac activity on the torso. Body Surface Mapping (BSM) improves this accuracy, but lacks the simplicity to be implemented in clinic on a regular basis. Reduced-lead BSM system improves applicability, but currently no standardization of lead reduction has been agreed upon. This research investigates the reduction of BSMs based on Lomb-Scargle Spectral Analysis to determine an appropriate electrode positioning through spatial frequency assessment. Based on the measurement of 13 healthy volunteers, a 128 electrode system could be reduced to a 36 electrode system and an 84 electrode system for ventricular and atrial activity measurements, respectively, with up to 10% loss of the full information provided by the original body surface potential map. Further research will investigate the appropriate positions of these electrodes and the effect of lead reduction for various cardiac abnormalities