有限元法生物力学分析在青少年特发性脊柱侧凸治疗及病因研究中的应用

青少年特发性脊柱侧凸发病率较高且病情复杂,对青少年身心健康可造成显著影响,但其因病因不明,临床尚未形成治疗共识。近年来基于患者医学影像进行仿真建模的有限元法生物力学分析在青少年特发性脊柱侧凸治疗及其病因研究中已经有了一系列的应用。本文即从非手术治疗、手术治疗、病因研究、现有局限等角度对有限元法生物力学分析在青少年特发性脊柱侧凸中的应用进行综述,以期为临床实践及相关研究提供参考。     

Age estimation of Iraqi children and young adults based on third molar development and its relation to chronological age

ObjectivesThe study aimed to estimate the age of Iraqi children and young adults based on the third molar development to establish Iraqi reference material for orthodontic and forensic purposes, and to investigate the correlation between the estimated and chronological age.MethodsA retrospective analysis of digital orthopantographs of 1515 patients of Iraqi origin, aged from 6 to 25 years was conducted, and the developmental status of the mandibular right third molar for each patient was evaluated using Demirjian et al.’s method. Statistical analysis was carried out using “Mann-Whitney U-test” between genders. The linear regression analysis was performed to obtain “regression formulas” for dental age calculation with chronologic age.ResultsNo statistically significant differences were observed between Iraqi males and females at any age. The median of male and female age of initial calcification of the cuspal tips for mandibular third molars was 9 years, whereas 14 years was the median of age for both genders when the crown was completed. All mandibular right third molars have a complete root formation with apex closure at a median of male and female age 22 years.ConclusionsThe use of Demirjian et al.’s method was appropriate as a reliable age indicator for Iraqi population. A strong correlation was observed between these stages and chronological age. Consequently, reference data have been established for mandibular third molar development in Iraqi population.     

基于红外热成像技术探讨扶正温阳法对阳虚体质的影响

目的 基于红外热成像技术探讨“扶正温阳法”对阳虚质的影响，探讨阳虚质者红外热图的共性规律，分析判断“扶正温阳法”干预阳虚质人群的疗效。方法 纳入30例阳虚质患者给予益气温阳药物在大椎、肾俞（双侧）、命门等进行穴位贴敷，分别在干预前后运用红外热成像技术测定督脉、腰部、腹部、双手及双足局部温度的变化。结果 干预后阳虚体质患者的督脉、腰部、腹部、双手、双足温度均升高（P<0.05），阳虚体质局部温度得以改善。结论 本研究发现“扶正温阳法”可诱发循经热传导现象，通过调节热能代谢而起到调治阳虚体质的作用，红外热成像技术可用来辅助评价阳虚质的治疗效果，对临床指导制定阳虚质人群的干预方案疗效判定具有指导意义。     

中医移动医疗App信息服务现状研究

以“七麦数据”网站收录的中医移动医疗App作为研究对象，采用网络调查法和文献分析法，根据“七麦数据”对移动医疗App的分类，结合中医移动医疗App的信息服务内容和特点，将筛选出的中医移动医疗App划分为医疗健康类、中医养生类、知识传播类、全面综合类，并根据“七麦数据”网站中对各类中医移动医疗App的打分及累计下载量筛选出最具代表性的12款中医移动医疗App，从全面性、人性化、安全性、实用性4个一级指标和40个二级指标对其信息服务现状进行评价，指出当前中医移动医疗App信息服务存在的问题并提出建议。     

High Order Finite Difference Hermite WENO Fixed-Point Fast Sweeping Method for Static Hamilton-Jacobi Equations

In this paper, we combine the nonlinear HWENO reconstruction in [43] and the fixed-point iteration with Gauss-Seidel fast sweeping strategy, to solve the static Hamilton-Jacobi equations in a novel HWENO framework recently developed in [22]. The proposed HWENO frameworks enjoys several advantages. First, compared with the traditional HWENO framework, the proposed methods do not need to introduce additional auxiliary equations to update the derivatives of the unknown function $\phi$. They are now computed from the current value of $\phi$ and the previous spatial derivatives of $\phi$. This approach saves the computational storage and CPU time, which greatly improves the computational efficiency of the traditional HWENO scheme. In addition, compared with the traditional WENO method, reconstruction stencil of the HWENO methods becomes more compact, their boundary treatment is simpler, and the numerical errors are smaller on the same mesh. Second, the fixed-point fast sweeping method is used to update the numerical approximation. It is an explicit method and does not involve the inverse operation of nonlinear Hamiltonian, therefore any Hamilton-Jacobi equations with complex Hamiltonian can be solved easily. It also resolves some known issues, including that the iterative number is very sensitive to the parameter $ε$ used in the nonlinear weights, as observed in previous studies. Finally, to further reduce the computational cost, a hybrid strategy is also presented. Extensive numerical experiments are performed on two-dimensional problems, which demonstrate the good performance of the proposed fixed-point fast sweeping HWENO methods.     

Comprehensive interrogation of gene lists from genome-scale cancer screens with oncoEnrichR

Genome-scale screening experiments in cancer produce long lists of candidate genes that require extensive interpretation for biological insight and prioritization for follow-up studies. Interrogation of gene lists frequently represents a significant and time-consuming undertaking, in which experimental biologists typically combine results from a variety of bioinformatics resources in an attempt to portray and understand cancer relevance. As a means to simplify and strengthen the support for this endeavor, we have developed oncoEnrichR, a flexible bioinformatics tool that allows cancer researchers to comprehensively interrogate a given gene list along multiple facets of cancer relevance. oncoEnrichR differs from general gene set analysis frameworks through the integration of an extensive set of prior knowledge specifically relevant for cancer, including ranked gene-tumor type associations, literature-supported proto-oncogene and tumor suppressor gene annotations, target druggability data, regulatory interactions, synthetic lethality predictions, as well as prognostic associations, gene aberrations and co-expression patterns across tumor types. The software produces a structured and user-friendly analysis report as its main output, where versions of all underlying data resources are explicitly logged, the latter being a critical component for reproducible science. We demonstrate the usefulness of oncoEnrichR through interrogation of two candidate lists from proteomic and CRISPR screens. oncoEnrichR is freely available as a web-based service hosted by the Galaxy platform ( https://oncotools.elixir.no ), and can also be accessed as a stand-alone R package ( https://github.com/sigven/oncoEnrichR ).     

Prostate cancer incidence in men with prostate-specific antigen below 3 ng/mL: The Finnish Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening for prostate cancer (PCa) can reduce PCa mortality, but also involves overdetection of low-risk disease with potential adverse effects. We evaluated PCa incidence among men with PSA below 3 ng/mL and no PCa diagnosis at the first screening round of the Finnish Randomized Study of Screening for PCa. Follow-up started at the first screening attendance and ended at PCa diagnosis, emigration, death or the common closing date (December 2016), whichever came first. Cox regression analysis was used to estimate hazard ratios and their confidence intervals (CI). Among men with PSA <3 ng/mL, cumulative PCa incidence was 9.1% after 17.6 years median follow-up. Cumulative incidence was 3.6% among men with baseline PSA 0 to 0.99 ng/mL, 11.5% in those with PSA 1.0 to 1.99 ng/mL and 25.7% among men with PSA 2 to 2.99 ng/mL (hazard ratio 9.0, 95% CI: 7.9-10.2 for the latter). The differences by PSA level were most striking for low-risk disease based on Gleason score and EAU risk group. PSA values <1 ng/mL indicate a very low 20-year risk, while at PSA 2 to 2.99 ng/mL risks are materially higher, with 4- to 5-fold risk for aggressive disease. Using risk-stratification and appropriate rescreening intervals will reduce screening intensity and overdetection. Using cumulative incidence of clinically significant PCa (csPCa) as the criterion, rescreening intervals could range from approximately 3 years for men with initial PSA 2 to 2.99 ng/mL, 6 years for men with PSA 1 to 1.99 ng/mL to 10 years for men with PSA <1 ng/mL.     

Redox active or thiol reactive? Optimization of rapid screens to identify less evident nuisance compounds

Compounds that exhibit assay interference or undesirable mechanisms of bioactivity are routinely encountered in assays at various stages of drug discovery. We observed that assays for the investigation of thiol-reactive and redox-active compounds have not been collected in a comprehensive review. Here, we review these assays and subject them to experimental optimization to improve their reliability. We demonstrate the usefulness of our assay cascade by assaying a library of bioactive compounds, chemical probes, and a set of approved drugs. These high-throughput assays should complement the array of wet-lab and in silico assays during the initial stages of hit discovery campaigns to pursue only hit compounds with tractable mechanisms of action.