Objective To investigate the value of ultrasound in diagnosing, treating and follow-up of patients with supraspinatus tendon injury. Methods Between May 2014 and October 2015, ultrasound and MRI examinations were performed on 52 patients who were suspected to have supraspinatus tendon injury in the First People’s Hospital of Guangyuan. According to the conditions of the disease, patients underwent conservative or surgical treatment. The treatment results were compared with MRI and arthroscopic surgery. And regular ultrasound follow-up was performed at different recovery stages to observe the changes of the supraspinatus tendon, in order to provide corresponding basis for further clinical treatment. Results Ultrasound results showed that 37 patients had supraspinatus tendon injury. Based on MRI results, the sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and coincidence rate of the ultrasound examination were 85.0%, 75.0%, 91.9%, 60.0% and 82.7%, respectively. Of these 37 patients, 18 underwent conservative treatment, 7 underwent calcified mass mashing and aspiration treatment through needles under the guidance of ultrasonography, and 12 underwent arthroscopic surgery. Conclusions Ultrasonography is accurate in diagnosing supraspinatus tendon injury, which can achieve bilateral comparison and real-time dynamic information of the patients. When it is necessary, it can also guide localization and puncture of local lesions. Furthermore, it is inexpensive and easy for treatment and follow-up.
ObjectiveTo explore the clinical value of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in the diagnosis of infective endocarditis. MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the transthoracic echocardiogram in 35 patients with infective endocarditis confirmed between September 2003 and September 2013. Patients underwent routine heart scan in all sections to measure sizes of all chambers and cardiac function, observe morphologies, activities and functions of all valves and ventricular walls, and diagnose whether underlying heart diseases exist, focusing on intracardiac vegetations and their distributions, morphologies, sizes, numbers, echoes and activities, and a full analysis of the blood culture findings was also conducted. ResultsOf the 35 patients undergoing initial TTE, 29 were positive, and 6 were negative (2 positive and 4 negative in the reexamination one week later). Vegetations were found in the mitral valve (8/35), aortic valve (15/35), tricuspid valve (5/35), pulmonary valve (1/35), pulmonary arterial wall (1/35) and right ventricle (1/35), respectively. There were 29 (8 and 21 with congenital and acquired heart diseases, respectively) and 6 patients with and without underlying heart diseases, respectively. Of the 35 blood cultures, 33 were positive and 2 were negative. ConclusionsTTE is rapid and accurate for early diagnosis of infective endocarditis, precise localization and rough quantification of vegetations, determination of whether valve damage occurs and what its severity is, and detection of whether complications exist. It is valuable for early diagnosis, treatment, follow-up and prognosis judgment.
The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of microencapsulation on the expression of the oxidative stress genes and exogenous regulation of HepG2 cells. We compared the expression of hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1) and glutathione S-transferases-A1 (GST-A1) in HepG2 cells under different culture conditions through real-time PCR. The effects of exogenous antioxidants on cell viability and albumin levels were also evaluated through MTT assay and ELISA assay. The results showed that after culturing for 6 and 16 days, the expression levels of HO-1 in encapsulated cells were approximately 4.9 and 3.1 times higher than that of monolayer cells at the same culture period; As for the expression levels of GST-A1, they were elevated to 11.2 and 33 times of monolayer cells (P<0.05). Accordingly, we found that NAC at 5-10 mmol/L significantly increased the viability by 40%-70% and the biosynthetic function by 20%-30% in microencapsulated HepG2 cells (P<0.05). GSH increased the viability of the encapsulated cells by 20%-55% and the biosynthetic function by 15% (P<0.05). In conclusion, oxidative stress exists in the microcapsules and affects genes expression. Exogenous antioxidants can prevent the inhibition effects of oxidative stress on cellular growth.