The Clinical Value of Alpha-fetoprotein and Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin as Tumour Markers in Patients with Teratoma of the Testis

The results of serial alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and HCG estimations in a group of 66 patients with Stage I and Stage II teratoma of the testis are analysed. AFP levels are elevated (above 25 μg/1) in 61% of patients with active tumour and HCG levels are elevated in 30%. When the two markers are estimated together, 75% of patients with clinically evident tumour are found to have one or the other, or both, markers elevated.
Markers fall to normal levels with a half-life of five days when tumour is eradicated, and rise again in five out of 12 relapsed patients. The marker elevation was detected two to four months before metastases could be identified by clinical means.
Elevated markers in early-stage disease do not appear to have any prognostic significance, nor can they be used to predict a group of patients who will later relapse soon after their primary treatment.     

Biological Microchip for Simultaneous Quantitative Immunoassay of Tumor Markers in Human Serum

The biochip was constructed for simultaneous assay of total and free prostate-specific antigen, α-fetoprotein, cancer embryonic antigen, human chorionic gonadotropin, and neuron-specific enolase. These biochips represent an array of gel elements with covalently immobilized proteins. The major analytic characteristics of the developed method were obtained. It was shown that the results of simultaneous assay of six tumor markers in blood serum well correlated with routine measurements of each marker using enzyme immunoassay kits. This approach allowed us to reveal the hook effect of high concentrations during biochip assay, which prevents distortion of the diagnostic picture at high concentration of the analyte in the sample.     

联合检测生物学标志物对肺栓塞的临床意义

筛选生物学指标在肺栓塞的诊断及病情评估中的最佳组合,并以此为基础建立支持向量机辅助诊断模型。选择肺栓塞患者180例、健康者150例,回顾分析D-二聚体、BNP、PaO2、肌钙蛋白cTnI、肌钙蛋白cTnT、CRP、纤维蛋白原、CK-MB、AST、LDH、CK、血小板分布宽度等12个生物学指标,运用Logistic回归对肺栓塞的生物学指标进行分析,筛选出密切相关的指标,建立支持向量机模型,并与纳入全部变量时所建立的模型进行比较,评价其诊断价值。Logistic回归分析结果显示,D-二聚体、BNP、肌钙蛋白cTnI、纤维蛋白原和血小板分布宽度与肺栓塞密切相关,且单独诊断时诊断价值有限。将联合筛选出的变量建立支持向量机模型,模型的准确度、特异性和敏感性分别为85.0%、90.0%和80.0%,优于纳入全部12项生物学指标所建立的支持向量机模型(准确度、特异性、敏感性分别为70.0%、70.0%和80.0%)。研究表明,纳入D-二聚体、BNP、肌钙蛋白cTnI、纤维蛋白原和血小板分布宽度5项生物学指标所建立的支持向量机模型具有较高的诊断效能,有临床应用潜力。     

Cranial Nerves: Morphology and Clinical Relevance

This Special Issue entitled “Cranial Nerves: phylogeny, ontogeny, morphology and clinical significance” has been divided into two consecutive volumes. This second volume is devoted to morphology and clinical relevance. Articles in this volume examine these topics from a macroscopic point of view and with a surgical interest. This volume includes articles on oculomotor nerves III, IV, and VI and their course in the orbit; intracranial and extracranial views of the V and VII pairs; and branching patterns of IX, X, XI, and XII pairs with medical significance. Together, these articles provide a general overview of cranial nerves' gross anatomical organization, as well as improving on the knowledge necessary for clinical approaches. Anat Rec, 302:555–557, 2019. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Immunochemical Biological Markers and Hereditary Cancer Risk

The utilization of multiple biological markers in cancer may embellish the predictive value of any single marker. We have studied several putative biological markers of cancer risk (CEA, AFP, AHH, %T, %B lymphocytes, and immunoglobulins, IgA, IgM, IgG) in relatives at high genetic risk for cancer within a kindred manifesting the cancer family syndrome. Thirteen of the 19 individuals sampled were themselves unaffected progeny of affected direct genetic line parents. The remaining six individuals studied manifested cancer. In this report, we describe a method of derivation of an index utilizing results from five of the seven putative biological markers tested and the index scores were then obtained for each individual. The number of individuals manifesting a significant index score was compared with the number expected to carry the deleterious gene among the 13 unaffected progeny of affected parents. The observed number of aberrant index scores agrees precisely with that expected based upon gene segregation and the age distribution of the sample. The proposed index appears to provide predictability of cancer risk status in accord with mathematical expectations for a simple genetic model.     

精神分析理论生物学基础断想

精神分析理论是否有能得到现代科学研究的证实是已有100年历史的精神分析学说面临的最大挑战。根据精神分析理论，做梦时超我功能下降，本我愿望得到满足。精神分裂症的临床表现也可看作是超我功能下降，本我功能亢进，与梦十分相似。现代研究已经表明精神分裂症前额叶功能下降，皮层下功能亢进。研究也表明梦与记忆的加工有关，情绪在其中起重要作用。快眼动相睡眠(REM)的梦最为离奇且具有情感色彩，而此时前额叶功能相对静止，杏仁核等皮层及皮层下结构功能相对活跃且与前额叶相对缺少联系。作者认为现代科学研究的结果支持精神分析理论，并提出以下主要设想：1、超我的神经解剖学定位在前额叶；本我的神经解剖学定位于前额叶以外的其他皮层结构以及皮层下结构；2、“梦一尤其是REM睡眠时的梦，是潜意识中的愿望的满足”；REM睡眠时超我使全身的骨骼肌处于松弛状态，其功能为既可使本我的愿望在梦中得到某种满足，又使自我无法将本我的愿望付诸行动；3、移情的发生以及移情的非理性的特征与记忆的加工过程以及情绪参与记忆的加工有关。     

Biological Basis of Hearing-Aid Design

We show that we can accurately model the auditory-nerve discharge patterns in response to sounds as complex as speech and ask how we may exploit this knowledge to test new strategies for hearing-aid signal processing. We describe the auditory-nerve representations of vowels in normal and noise-damaged ears. The normal representations are predicted well by a cochlear signal processing model originally developed by Carney (Carney, L. H. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 93:401–417, 1993). Basilar-membrane tuning is represented by a time-varying narrow-band filter. Outer hair cell control of tuning is exerted by a nonlinear feedback path. We show that the effects of noise-induced outer hair cell damage can be modeled by scaling the feedback signal appropriately and use the model to test one strategy for hearing-aid speech processing. We conclude by discussing some aspects of future trends in biomedical engineering approaches to problems of hearing impairment. © 2002 Biomedical Engineering Society. PAC2002: 4350-x, 4364Dw, 8780Xa, 4360Bf, 4366Ts, 8719La, 8710+e, 8717Aa, 8716Xa