Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) are rare neuroendocrine tumors with metastatic potential. Both 68Ga-DOTATATE and 18F-FDG PET/CT scans have been demonstrated to have important roles in imaging PPGLs, but less is known about the performance of PET/MRI for PPGLs. The study is aimed to investigate whether diffusion-weighted imaging-MRI (DWI-MRI) has an added value to PET imaging in the identification of PPGL lesions by means of integrated PET/MRI.Eleven patients who underwent both 18F-FDG and 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/MRI within 2 weeks were retrospectively included in the study. A total of 56 PPGL lesions were analyzed, and lesion-based detection rates of 68Ga-DOTATATE PET, 18F-FDG PET, DWI-MRI, and PET/MRI were calculated and compared, respectively.68Ga-DOTATATE PET was superior to 18F-FDG PET and DWI-MRI in imaging PPGLs with a lesion-based detection rate of 96.4% (54/56) (95% confidence interval [CI], 87.7%-99.6%), 85.7% (48/56) (95% CI, 76.3%-95.2%), and 89.3% (50/56) (95% CI, 80.9%-97.6%), respectively. PET/MRI with DWI could improve the detection rate of 68Ga-DOTATATE and 18F-FDG PET alone up to 100% in metastatic PPGLs. Lesions of PPGL demonstrated markedly higher tracer uptake in 68Ga-DOTATATE PET than in 18F-FDG PET (P = 0.009 for primary lesion, P = 0.033 for metastases).68Ga-DOTATATE PET showed a higher detection rate than 18F-FDG for PPGLs. In integrated PET/MRI, MRI had an added value to 18F-FDG PET but not much to 68Ga-DOTATATAE PET in identifying PPGL lesions.
Objective
To compare the clinical pregnancy outcomes of two kinds of endometrial preparation protocols in frozen-thawed embryos transfer (FET).
Methods
Chose 947 FET cycle as the research subjects in Reproductive Medicine Center of Northern Jiangsu People′s Hospital from June 2010 to June 2015. The 501 FET cycles which took endometrial preparation protocol of natural cycles were included in the natural cycle group, and the 446 FET cycles which took endometrial preparation protocol of artificial cycle were included in the artificial cycle group. The clinical medical records of two groups were retrospectively analyzed. The general clinical data, clinical pregnancy outcomes and differences of clinical pregnancy rates of different age subjects between subjects of two groups of FET cycles were compared statistically.
Results
①There were no significant differences between two groups of FET cycles in general clinical data, including age, duration of infertility, endometrial thickness on transplantation day, basal estrogen and progesterone concentrations, basal follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels, and the number of transplantation embryos (P>0.05). ②There were no significant differences between two groups of FET cycles in clinical pregnancy outcomes, including embryo implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, ectopic pregnancy rate, miscarriage rate and live birth rate (P>0.05); ③There were no significant differences between two groups of FET cycles in the clinical pregnancy rates in age of ≤30 and >30-35 years old women, however, the clinical pregnancy rate in age of >35-40 years old women of natural cycle group was higher than that of artificial cycle group, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=5.011, P=0.025).
Conclusions
Natural cycle and artificial cycle of endometrial preparation protocols have no obvious different effects on pregnancy outcomes of FET. But for age >35-40 years old women, natural cycle may be superior to artificial cycle for FET.
Key words:
Cryopreservation; Embryo transfer; Menstrual cycle; Pregnancy outcomes; Female
Since the classical stability cannot deal with the behavior of closed-loop silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET gate drive during switching transients, a finite-time stability analysis method is proposed and demonstrated. First, a small-signal SiC MOSFET model including the nonlinearity of parameters is employed to derivation the state equations of the drive circuit. Then a determination procedure of nonlinear parameters is illustrated. Finally, the behavior of the drive circuit during switching transients is evaluated using Davari's method. Different circuit designs are analyzed using the proposed method and analysis results are confirmed by experiments.
The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) rapidly increases in Asia, and western dietary pattern is suspected to be the major risk factor. Despite this, there has been a lack of studies analyzing the relationship between dietary patterns and IBD in Taiwan. This study examines the dietary habits of Taiwanese individuals with and without IBD to inform clinical dietary recommendations for IBD patients.
Abstract Background Brachiocephalic vein aneurysm is a rare vascular malformation, which is often reported in case reports. At present it has attracted much attention due to the serious complications, such as vein aneurysm rupture, pulmonary embolism, venous thrombosis, etc. We report a case of left brachiocephalic vein aneurysm with compression symptoms. Case presentation a 52-year-old male who was admitted to our hospital with irritating cough for more than 1 month. Chest contrast-enhanced CT showed a localized expansion of 5.2 cm in diameter of the left brachiocephalic vein in the anterior mediastinum. The patient received venous angioplasty with brachiocephalic vein aneurysm resection, and the postoperative recovery was well. Conclusion Surgical operation is an effecive treatment method for brachiocephalic vein aneurysm, but it is still necessary to choose the appropriate way according to the type, size, location, lesion scope and complications of the vein aneurysm.
Abstract Background: Brachiocephalic vein tumor is a rare vascular malformation, which is often reported in case reports. At present it has attracted much attention due to the serious complications, such as vein tumor rupture, pulmonary embolism, venous thrombosis, etc. We report a case of left brachiocephalic vein tumor with compression symptoms. Case presentation: a 52-year-old male who was admitted to our hospital with irritating cough for more than one month. Chest contrast-enhanced CT showed a localized expansion of 5.2cm in diameter of the left brachiocephalic vein in the anterior mediastinum. The patient received venous angioplasty with brachiocephalic vein tumor resection, and the postoperative recovery was well. Conclusion: Surgical operation is an effecive treatment method for brachiocephalic vein tumor, but it is still necessary to choose the appropriate way according to the type, size, location, lesion scope and complications of the vein tumor.
Abstract To investigate the effect of multidisciplinary interventions on pain management in cancer inpatients. Four hundred thirty eight patients with cancer pain, who performed the multidisciplinary intervention were recruited. Before and after intervention, the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI) score as the primary endpoints and QOL scores as the secondary endpoint were all evaluated. To investigate the factors that led to different responses to multidisciplinary interventions, patients were classified as non-responders or responders. Finally, 92 patients (63 male and 29 female) scheduled for cancer pain management by inter-professional team were studied. After individualized multidisciplinary therapy, both pain and symptom severity was improved, as demonstrated by lowered BPI worst and average pain scores, as well as symptom severity score measured by MDASI ( P = .017, P = .003, and P = .011, respectively). The proportion of patients with mild pain increased regarding the BPI worst and average pain at baseline and after treatment ( P < .05). The QOL analyses showed multidisciplinary interventions could significantly improve the function and symptom scores ( P < .001). More patients in responder group received chemotherapy (58, 70.7%, P = .003), while fewer received mini-invasive therapy (6, 7.32%, P = .011). Multidisciplinary interventions had certain beneficial effect on cancer pain management, especially in patients with moderate or severe pain.
To assess the reliability and validity of a simplified version of acne-specific quality of life (Acne-Qol-19) instrument in Han populations in Sichuan province.Acne-Qol-19 was administered to 264 acne patients. Internal consistency, split-half reliability, content validity, criterion validity and construct validity (factor analysis) of Acne-Qol-19 were assessed.The Acne-Qol-19 obtained a Cronbach's α of 0.953 and split-half reliability of 0.902 (Spearman-Brown). Its content validity was well confirmed by dermatologists. The Acne-Qol-19 result was strongly associated (r =#-0.745) with Cardiff acne disabled index (CADI) (P <0.001). Confirmatory factor analysis yielded standardized loading of 0.853-0.944 on self-perception, 0.865-0.945 on role-social dimension, 0.383-0.898 on role-emotional dimension, and 0.612-0.867 on acne symptoms (P <0.01).Acne-Qol-19 has good validity and reliability in Han populations in Sichuan.