Ultrasonic Elastography Research Based on a Multicenter Study: Adding Strain Ratio after 5-Point Scoring Evaluation or Not

Background

This study aimed to confirm whether strain ratio should be added after evaluation of lesions with 5-point elasticity scoring for differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions on ultrasonographic elastography(UE).

Materials and Methods

From June 2010 to March 2012, 1080 consecutive female patients with breast lesions were recruited into a multicenter retrospective study, which involved 8 centers across China. Each institutional ethic review board approved the study, and all the patients gave written informed consent. All the patients underwent the UE procedure and the strain ratios were calculated and the final diagnosis was made by histological findings. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV and NPV were calculated for each of the two evaluation systems and the areas under the ROC curve were compared.

Results

The strain ratios of benign lesions (mean, 2.6±2.0) and malignant lesions (mean,7.9±5.8) were significantly different (p <0.01). When the cutoff point was 3.01, strain ratio method had 79.8% sensitivity, 82.8% specificity, and 81.3% accuracy, while the 5-point scoring method had 93.1% sensitivity, 73.0% specificity, and 76.8% accuracy. The areas under the ROC curve with the strain ratio method and 5-point scoring method were 0.863 and 0.865, respectively(p>0.05). The strain ratio method shows better a diagnosis performance of the lesions with elasticity score 3 and 4.

Conclusions

Although the two UE methods have similar diagnostic performance, separate calculation of the strain ratios seems compulsory, especially for the large solid breast lesions and the lesions with elasticity score 3 and 4.     

Simulated nitrogen deposition induces shifts in growth and resource-use strategies during range expansion of an invasive plant

Biological Invasions - An appropriate resource-use strategy contributes to the invasion success of exotic plants. During range expansion, population density and nitrogen availability are two...     

Effects of perinatal hypothyroidism on regulation of reelin and brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene expression in rat hippocampus: Role of DNA methylation and histone acetylation

Thyroid hormones have long been known to play important roles in the development and functions of the central nervous system, however, the precise molecular mechanisms that regulate thyroid hormone-responsive gene expression are not well understood. The present study investigated the role of DNA methylaion and histone acetylation in the effects of perinatal hypothyroidism on regulation of reelin and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene expression in rat hippocampus. The findings indicated that the activities of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT), methylated reelin and BDNF genes were up-regulated, whereas, the activities of histone acetylases (HAT), the levels of global acetylated histone 3 (H3) and global acetylated histone 4 (H4), and acetylated H3, acetylated H4 at reelin promoter and at BDNF gene promoter for exon II were down-regulated in the hippocampus at the developmental stage of the hypothyroid animals. These results suggest that epigenetic modification of chromatin might underlie the mechanisms of hypothyroidism-induced down-regulation of reelin and BDNF gene expression in developmental rat hippocampus.     

α2A肾上腺素受体激动剂guanfacine增强大鼠空间学习能力而不影响条件性恐惧记忆

伐α2A肾上腺素受体选择性激动剂guanfacine对空间工作记忆和选择性注意等前额叶皮层认知功能有重要的、有益的影响。然而,激活α2A受体对于依赖杏仁体和海马回路的恐惧记忆条件反射是否有影响,目前尚不清楚。本研究结果显示,全身给guanfacine显著提高大鼠在Lashley迷宫中的空间学习能力：guanfacine大鼠达到学会标准所需要的训练次数和所犯错误的次数显著少于生理盐水对照组大鼠。然而,guanfacine组大鼠场景和声音恐惧记忆的获得／巩固与对照组大鼠相比没有显著差异。结果提示,刺激α2A受体产生的有益效应是任务依赖的：guanfacine改善空间学习能力,但不影响恐惧记忆的获得／巩固。     

Positive Interactions： Crucial Organizers in a Plant Community

For more than a century, ecologists have concentrated on competition as a crucial process for community organization. However, more recent experimental investigations have uncovered the striking Influence of positive Interactions on the organization of plant communities. Complex combinations of competition and positive interactions operating simultaneously among plant species seem to be widespread In nature. In the present paper, we reviewed the mechanism and ecological importance of positive Interactions In plant communities, emphasizing the certainties and uncertainties that have made It an attractive area of research. Positive Interactions, or facilitation, occur when one species enhances the survival, growth, or richness of another. The Importance of facilitation in plant organization increases with ablotlc stress and the relative Importance of competition decreases. Only by combining plant interactions and the many fields of biology can we fully understand how and when the positive Interactions occur.     

Panaxynol induces neurite outgrowth in PC12D cells via cAMP- and MAP kinase-dependent mechanisms

Panaxynol, a polyacetylene ((3R)-heptadeca-1,9-diene-4,6-diyn-3-ol; syn. falcarinol), was isolated from the lipophilic fractions of Panax notoginseng, a Chinese traditional medicinal plant. In the present study, we reported the neurotrophic effects of panaxynol on PC12D cells and mechanism involved in neurite outgrowth of the cells. Panaxynol could morphologically promote neurite outgrowth in PC12D cells, concentration-dependently reduce cell division and up-regulate molecular marker (MAP1B) expression in PC12D cells. Panaxynol induces the elevation of intracellular cAMP in PC12D cells. The neurite outgrowth in PC12D cells induced by panaxynol could be inhibited by the protein kinase A inhibitor RpcAMPS and by MAP kinase kinase 1/2 inhibitor U0126. These observations reveal that panaxynol could induce the differentiation of PC12D cells in a process similar to but distinct from that of NGF and the panaxynol's effects were via cAMP- and MAP kinase-dependent mechanisms.     

Are beta-adrenergic receptors in the hippocampal CA1 region required for retrieval of contextual fear memory?

It is well established that β-adrenoceptors (β-ARs) in the hippocampal CA1 region are involved in regulating synaptic plasticity and are essential for acquisition and consolidation of spatial memory and contextual fear memory. Previous studies reported that β-ARs in the CA1 region are also involved in memory retrieval. The present study re-examined the role of hippocampal β-ARs in retrieval of conditioned contextual fear. We bilaterally infused a high dose of the β-AR antagonist propranolol (15 μg in 1 μl saline) into the CA1 region 30 min before retention test and found that propranolol produced no deficit in retrieval of either 1-day or 7-day contextual fear. We then examined if β-AR stimulation would produce a beneficial effect. The β-AR agonist isoproterenol (10 μg in 1 μl saline) was infused into the CA1 region 30 min before retention test. Surprisingly, isoproterenol did not enhance but severely disrupted retrieval of 7-day contextual fear memory, with no impact on retrieval of 1-day contextual fear memory. The present study argues against the previous conclusion that β-ARs in the CA1 region play a role in memory retrieval. β-ARs in the CA1 region may be dispensable for retrieval of conditioned contextual fear.     

不同植物生长调节物质对细叶小羽藓愈伤组织诱导及分化的影晌

以细叶小羽藓[Haplocladium microphyllum（Hedw．）Broth．】的配子体为外植体,研究了不同植物生长调节物质对细叶小羽藓愈伤组织诱导及分化的影响。结果表明：在Ms培养基中添加不同的植物生长调节物质对细叶小羽藓配子体增殖影响差异很大,具体表现为2,4一D、KT、IBA和IAA促进细叶小羽藓芽体的诱导及生长,NAA抑制细叶小羽藓芽体的诱导,TDZ阿姨、、及6－BA促进细叶小羽藓的配子体产生愈伤组织;在Ms培养基中添加0．3mg·L－1。6-BA最适合愈伤组织的诱导;在MS掊养基中添加1．0mg·L－1。。IBA最适合愈伤组织的分化。     

Role of vesicle pools in action potential pattern-dependent dopamine overflow in rat striatum in vivo

Action potential (AP) patterns and dopamine (DA) release are known to correlate with rewarding behaviors, but how codes of AP bursts translate into DA release in vivo remains elusive. Here, a given AP pattern was defined by four codes, termed total AP number, frequency, number of AP bursts, and interburst time [N, f, b, i].. The 'burst effect' was calculated by the ratio (γ) of DA overflow by multiple bursts to that of a single burst when total AP number was fixed. By stimulating the medial forebrain bundle using AP codes at either physiological (20 Hz) or supraphysiological (80 Hz) frequencies, we found that DA was released from two kinetically distinct vesicle pools, the fast-releasable pool (FRP) and prolonged-releasable pool (PRP), in striatal dopaminergic terminals in vivo. We examined the effects of vesicle pools on AP-pattern dependent DA overflow and found, with given 'burst codes' [b=8, i=0.5 s], a large total AP number [N = 768, f = 80 Hz] produced a facilitating burst-effect (γ[b8/b1] = 126 ± 3%), while a small total AP number [N=96, 80 Hz] triggered a depressing-burst-effect (γ[b8/b1] = 29 ± 4%). Furthermore, we found that the PRP (but not the FRP) predominantly contributed to the facilitating-burst-effect and the FRP played an important role in the depressing-burst effect. Thus, our results suggest that striatal DA release captures pre-synaptic AP pattern information through different releasable pools.     

Effects of extreme temperature on seedling establishment of nonnative invasive plants

Climate change and plant invasion are two of the most important ecological issues facing the world today. Extreme events are likely to play an important role in plant invasion. For example, tolerance to temperature stress is critical for plant germination and survival of seedlings. Nonnative invasive species tend to differ from co-occurring native species in several traits. Increased mean temperatures are known to enhance the risk of plant invasions, but few experimental studies have linked plant invasion to both increasing mean temperature and extreme (low and high) temperatures. Ten plant species from Asteraceae (six nonnative invasive and four native species) were chosen and six temperatures (extremely low, average winter, average annual, average summer, high and extremely high) were used to test the effects of extreme temperatures on plant invasion in southern China. The results showed that nonnative invasive plant species (IS) germinated more readily and the seedlings grew better than those of native plant species (NS) at high temperatures, suggesting that global warming may facilitate invasion. Extreme temperatures decreased the seed germination rate and seedling growth of both IS and NS, although NS were more tolerant of extremely low temperatures (5/0 °C). IS, in turn, were more tolerant of extremely high temperatures (40/35 °C). Extreme high temperatures may increase the risk of plant invasion because IS seedlings are better able to become established, whereas low temperatures may hinder invasion. In addition, the species-specific differences in plant origin (IS and NS) and temperature tolerance were correlated with other climatic factors and should be considered in managing invasive species in a changing world.