Chromatin three-dimensional genome structure plays a key role in cell function and gene regulation. Single-cell Hi-C techniques can capture genomic structure information at the cellular level, which provides an opportunity to study changes in genomic structure between different cell types. Recently, some excellent computational methods have been developed for single-cell Hi-C data analysis. In this paper, the available methods for single-cell Hi-C data analysis were first reviewed, including preprocessing of single-cell Hi-C data, multi-scale structure recognition based on single-cell Hi-C data, bulk-like Hi-C contact matrix generation based on single-cell Hi-C data sets, pseudo-time series analysis, and cell classification. Then the application of single-cell Hi-C data in cell differentiation and structural variation was described. Finally, the future development direction of single-cell Hi-C data analysis was also prospected.
ObjectiveTo investigate the quality of life (QoL) of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) after surgery and analyze its relevant influencing factors. MethodsThe patients with DTC who underwent surgical resection in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from December 1, 2021 to October 1, 2023 were investigated through the postoperative follow-up platform and follow-up management group. The postoperative QoL of DTC patients were evaluate using the Chinese version of the Thyroid Cancer Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (THYCA-QoL) specific scale and the Chinese version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) developed a quality of life questionnaire consisting of 30 items (QLQ-C30). The higher overall average score of THYCA-QoL scale, the more clinical symptoms of patients, namely the negative QoL. The higher the EORTC QLQ-C30 overall health status score, the better QoL. In addition, multiple linear regression was used to explore the risk factors affecting the postoperative specific QoL score of DTC patients. ResultsA total of 1 076 patients’ questionnaires were collected. The EORTC QLQ-C30 overall health status score of 1 076 patients was 67±22 and the THYCA-QoL overall score was 22±13. The results of multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the early postoperative period (<6 months), male, age, without postoperative lifetime medication and without postoperative iodine-131 radiotherapy had negative effects on the overall score of THYCA-QoL scale (P<0.05), meanwhile the early postoperative period (<6 months) or later (≥12 months), without postoperative lifetime medication and without postoperative iodine-131 radiotherapy had positive effects on the overall health status score of EORTC QLQ-C30 (P<0.05). ConclusionsEORTC QLQ-C30 combined with THYCA-QoL can evaluate not only the common symptoms of cancer, but also the specific symptoms of thyroid cancer after surgery. And understanding the factors affecting the QoL of patients with thyroid cancer after surgery could provide targeted and supportive treatment and nursing for discharged patients to improve the QoL of patients with thyroid cancer after surgery.
Objective To evaluate the relationship of the organ injury scale （OIS） with clinical characteristics and survival in penetrating cardiac trauma patients. Methods A retrospective review identified 224 patients with penetrating cardiac trauma. A grade assigned on the basis of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma OIS was assigned to each case studied. Clinical data, including Glasgow coma scale（GCS）, revised trauma score（RTS）, injury severity score （ISS）, penetrating thoracic trauma index （PTTI）, penetrating trauma index （PTI）, and outcomes were analyzed for association with OIS grade. Results The majority of patients were either grade Ⅳ/ or Ⅴ , with grade Ⅵ having the highest mortality. Patients of grade Ⅰ to Ⅲ were mostly Sub-clinical type patients, and grade Ⅳ to Ⅵ were mostly pericardial tamponade type and hemorrhagic shock type patients. The OIS grade was significantly negative correlated with postinjury duration and GCS （r=-0. 18, -0.16）, and positive correlated with transfusion, ISS, PTTI, PT1, and death（r=0. 17,0. 22,0. 40,0. 41,0. 29）. Conclusion The OIS appears to correlate with severity of injury and survival, and it may be useful in predicting outcomes in patients with penetrating cardiac injury.
Objective To study the factors that affect the prognosis of status epilepticus (SE) and to improve the understanding of clinicians. Methods A retrospective analysis of 57 patients with SE witch from the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University and Cardio-cerebrovascular Disease Hospital were carried out to collect their clinical data. The data were analyzed by SPSS 17.0 software. The prognosis of the patients was assessed by the Status epilepticus severity score (STESS) scale. Results A total of 57 patients were included, 53 cases improved, 4 cases were automatically discharged. Telephone follow-up showed that 4 cases of automatic discharge were dead. The mortality rate of SE was 7.02%. The most common cause of SE was acute cerebrovascular disease (17.54%), followed by intracranial infection (10.53%); The most common incidence were the occasional medication, self-medication, withdrawal (15.79%). Age, state of consciousness and concurrent infection were associated with prognosis (improvement/death) (P<0.05). STESS score of 0 to 2 points were 45 patients, all improved; score of 3 to 5 points were 12 patients, 8 patients improved, 4 patients died. There were significant differences in the prognosis between the two groups (P<0.05). Conclusions Age, state of consciousness, concurrent infection were related to prognosis, more than 65 years, the state of consciousness for the sleeping or coma had the poor prognosis. STESS scale can predict the prognosis of patients effectively.
Early screening based on computed tomography (CT) pulmonary nodule detection is an important means to reduce lung cancer mortality, and in recent years three dimensional convolutional neural network (3D CNN) has achieved success and continuous development in the field of lung nodule detection. We proposed a pulmonary nodule detection algorithm by using 3D CNN based on a multi-scale attention mechanism. Aiming at the characteristics of different sizes and shapes of lung nodules, we designed a multi-scale feature extraction module to extract the corresponding features of different scales. Through the attention module, the correlation information between the features was mined from both spatial and channel perspectives to strengthen the features. The extracted features entered into a pyramid-similar fusion mechanism, so that the features would contain both deep semantic information and shallow location information, which is more conducive to target positioning and bounding box regression. On representative LUNA16 datasets, compared with other advanced methods, this method significantly improved the detection sensitivity, which can provide theoretical reference for clinical medicine.
ObjectiveTo provides an objective tool to evaluate rotator cuff function in rats. MethodsSixty adult male Sprague Dawley rats, weighing (281.21± 20.12) g, were involved in this experiment. Botulinum toxin A (6 U/kg) was injected into the infraspinatus of 12 rats in Botox group. Infraspinatus tendons of 12 rats in tear group were cut by microinvasive method. Infraspinatus tendons of 12 rats in sham-operation group were exposed but not cut. No any treatment was performed on the 12 rats in normal control group. One shoulder joint of each rat was selected randomly as treatment side. After 7 days, cadence, rate of stand phase, support pressure, swing speed, stand speed, and stride length of rats in those 4 groups were measured. Treatment side and contralateral side ratio of each gait parameter was caculated. If parameters of Botox group and tear group both showed significant differences compared with those of normal control group and sham-operation group, the gait parameter was brought into rating scale as an item. Each item was assigned from 1 point to 5 points according to gait parameter. The chronic rotator cuff injury model was established in 12 rats of verification group and rating scale was used to evaluate rotator cuff function each week for 8 weeks after surgery. ResultsAll gait parameters of tear group were significantly less than those of Botox group (P＜0.05), and Botox group was significantly less than sham-operation group and normal control group (P＜0.05), but no significant difference was found between sham-operation group and normal control group (P>0.05). All gait parameters were brought into rating scale as items. All items were rated from 1 point to 5 points, so the total score was 30 points and the lowest score was 6 points. Thirty points meant normal function of infraspinatus (rotator cuff function was normal), and 6 points meant complete loss of infraspinatus function (rotator cuff function was severely damaged). Rotator cuff functional scores of rats in verification group were 27.00±1.86, 23.75±2.83, 21.33±1.92, 18.17±2.37, 13.17±1.64, 11.67±2.50, 8.17±1.27, 6.50±0.67 from the 1st week to the 8th week respectively. ConclusionThe rating scale of rat rotator cuff function may reflect the severity of rotator cuff injury and the functional status of rotator cuff to some extent in rats.
Objective To explore the method of fabricating freeze-dried demineralized bone matrix with nanoscale topography (nFDBM) and to investigate the feasibility of reconstruction of tissueengineered bone with the novel scaffold. Methods Allogenic dogs’ phalangeal cortical bone was fabricatedinto freeze-dried demineralized bone (FDBM) with modified Urist’s method. FDBM was subjected toNd∶YAG laser irradiation under special conditions. The surface topography was identified by atomic force microscope(AFM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The osteoblasts were induced from autologous mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and mixed with nFDBM and FDBM in vitro.The effects of the different topography oncellbehavior was identified by SEM. The complex of nFDBM and osteoblasts wereimplanted into fascial bags on dogs’ back (experimental group A) and dogs’ phalangeal defects on right (experimental group C), while FDBMosteoblast complex (control group B) and unique FDBM (control group D) were implanted into the corresponding sites on left as control groups. The osteogenic status was assessed by X-ray, HE and SEM at 4, 8 and 12 weeks after surgery. Results The surface of FDBM subjected to Nd∶YAG laser irradiation resulted in well-defined three-dimensional nanoscale grooves (150 nm in depth and 600 to 800 nm in width). When the osteoblasts were implanted on the scaffold, the cells adhering to nFDBM were morethan those to FDBM and secreted more extracellular matrix. Either new bone-likethin layer on the nanoscale surface or a lot of new boneformation inner the experimental complex was observed by HE after 12 weeks of surgery and the experimental complexes were partially calcified at the same time, while the control groups almost had no osteogenic phenomena. Conclusion Nd∶YAG laser could produce nanoscale grooves on the FDBM surface. The nanoscale grooves are conductive to adherence, proliferation and matrix secretion of osteoblasts. Complexes by tissue engineering and nanoscale technology have some osteogenic abilities in vivoafter implanted the animal model.
Objective To investigate the changes of cognitive function of epileptic patients after antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) therapy. Methods Twenty eight cases of epileptic patients with new diagnosis and untreatment from March 2015 to February 2016 were collected. According to the seizure type, degree of attack and drug efficacy, patients were divided into three groups and treated with one of three AEDs, including Lamotrigine (LTG), Oxcarbazepine (OXC), and Sodium valproate (VPA). Among them, 11 were LTG group, 12 were OXC group and 5 were VPA group.Then the patients were followed up for 1 year. The clinical memory scale was used to analyze cognitive function of epileptic patients before and after therapy. Results Compared to 30 cases of healthy volunteers, the scores of memory quotient (P<0.01), directed memory (P<0.05), associative learning (P<0.05) and image free recall (P<0.01) of epileptic patients were obviously decreased before AEDs therapy.AEDs therapy reduced or controlled seizures in new diagnostic epileptic patients, and the total effective rate was 85.7%. In the clinical memory scale tests, the scores of memory quotient (P<0.01), directed memory (P<0.05), associative learning (P<0.05), portrait characteristics contact memory (P<0.05) were improved after therapy. The scores of image free recall and meaningless graphics recognition were also improved, but there was no statistical significance. Besides, there was a statistically significant improvement in the score of portrait characteristics contact memory after LTG treatment (P<0.05), and directed memory after VPA treatment (P<0.05). Conclusions Epileptic patients accompanied with cognitive deficits before drug intervention. Through standard AEDs treatment, seizures could be better controlled. The cognitive function of epileptic patients was not declined after short-term（within 1 year） intervention of LTG, OCX or VPA. Moreover some parts of the cognitive domain could be improved.
Non-rigid registration plays an important role in medical image analysis. U-Net has been proven to be a hot research topic in medical image analysis and is widely used in medical image registration. However, existing registration models based on U-Net and its variants lack sufficient learning ability when dealing with complex deformations, and do not fully utilize multi-scale contextual information, resulting insufficient registration accuracy. To address this issue, a non-rigid registration algorithm for X-ray images based on deformable convolution and multi-scale feature focusing module was proposed. First, it used residual deformable convolution to replace the standard convolution of the original U-Net to enhance the expression ability of registration network for image geometric deformations. Then, stride convolution was used to replace the pooling operation of the downsampling operation to alleviate feature loss caused by continuous pooling. In addition, a multi-scale feature focusing module was introduced to the bridging layer in the encoding and decoding structure to improve the network model’s ability of integrating global contextual information. Theoretical analysis and experimental results both showed that the proposed registration algorithm could focus on multi-scale contextual information, handle medical images with complex deformations, and improve the registration accuracy. It is suitable for non-rigid registration of chest X-ray images.
Taking advantages of the sparsity or compressibility inherent in real world signals, compressed sensing (CS) can collect compressed data at the sampling rate much lower than that needed in Shannon’s theorem. The combination of CS and low rank modeling is used to medical imaging techniques to increase the scanning speed of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), alleviate the patients’ suffering and improve the images quality. The alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm is proposed for multiscale low rank matrix decomposition of CMR images. The algorithm performance is evaluated quantitatively by the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and relative l2 norm error (RLNE), with the human visual system and the local region magnification as the qualitative comparison. Compared to L + S, kt FOCUSS, k-t SPARSE SENSE algorithms, experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can achieve the best performance indices, and maintain the most detail features and edge contours. The proposed algorithm can encourage the development of fast imaging techniques, and improve the diagnoses values of CMR in clinical applications.