Microenvironment and related genes predict outcomes of patients with cervical cancer: evidence from TCGA and bioinformatic analysis

Cervical cancer (CESC) is one of the most common cancers and affects the female genital tract. Consistent HPV infection status has been determined to be a vital cause of tumorigenesis. HPV infection may induce changes to the immune system and limit the host’s immune response. Immunotherapy is therefore essential to improving the overall survival of both locally advanced and recurrent CESC patients. Using 304 relevant samples from TCGA, we assessed immune cell function in CESC patients to better understand the status of both tumor micro-environment cells and immune cells in CESC. Functional enrichment analysis, pathway enrichment analysis, and PPI network construction were performed to explore the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The analysis identified 425 DEGs, which included 295 up-regulated genes and 130 down-regulated genes. We established that upregulation of CCL5 was correlated with significantly better survival, meaning that CCL5 expression could serve as a novel prognostic biomarker for CESC patients. We further focused on CCL5 as a hub gene in CESC, as it had significant correlations with increased numbers of several types of immune cells. Cell-type fractions of M1 macrophages were significantly higher in the high-immune-scores group, which was associated with better overall survival. Finally, we concluded that CCL5 is a promising prognostic biomarker for CESC, as well as a novel chemotherapeutic target.     

多尺度空间特征提取的脊柱图像拼接算法

针对脊柱图像视野有限,提出一种基于优化MSFE的脊柱图像自动拼接算法。设计出一种基于尺度因子变化的高斯卷积模板尺寸自适应调整以及双向配对办法;相似性度量采用城市距离;利用RANSAC算法去除错配,从而确定待拼接图像之间的变换参数,最后利用加权平均对图像融合。对实际取得的多幅脊柱图像拼接结果表明该算法具有很好的实时性和鲁棒性。     

重组人干扰素α2b栓剂的检定及其临床疗效

目的对重组人干扰素α2b栓剂进行质量检定及临床疗效观察。方法连续试制3批样品,进行各项质控指标的检定及宫颈糜烂的临床疗效观察。结果本品各项检定指标均符合质量要求。治疗组宫颈糜烂的有效率为74·8%,对照组的有效率为60·0%。治疗组和对照组的副反应发生率分别为9·1%和8·3%。结论重组人干扰素α2b栓剂质量稳定,安全性好,疗效确切。     

基于3D打印的定制脊柱侧弯矫形器设计制造与舒适度评价

针对青少年脊柱侧弯矫正问题,研制一款由3D打印制成的脊柱侧弯矫形器并做出舒适度评价.该方法依据色努矫形原理,建立脊柱侧弯矫形器三维模型,并考虑躯干约束对矫形器进行了有限元仿真分析和结构优化,最后进行模型的分块和3D打印,分析精度误差.依据模糊理论和层次分析法,建立了包括环境、材料、结构、运动4个方面的主观舒适度评价方法.结果表明:3D打印技术可实现定制脊柱侧弯矫形器的制造与生产,并在几何精度和穿戴舒适性上表现良好.     

The impact of office chair features on lumbar lordosis,intervertebral joint and sacral tilt angles: a radiographic assessment

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine which office chair feature is better at improving spine posture in sitting. Method: Participants (n = 28) were radiographed in standing, maximum flexion and seated in four chair conditions: control, lumbar support, seat pan tilt and backrest with scapular relief. Measures of lumbar lordosis, intervertebral joint angles and sacral tilt were compared between conditions and sex. Results: Sitting consisted of approximately 70% of maximum range of spine flexion. No differences in lumbar flexion were found between the chair features or control. Significantly more anterior pelvic rotation was found with the lumbar support (p = 0.0028) and seat pan tilt (p < 0.0001). Males had significantly more anterior pelvic rotation and extended intervertebral joint angles through L1–L3 in all conditions (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: No one feature was statistically superior with respect to minimising spine flexion, however, seat pan tilt resulted in significantly improved pelvic posture.

Practitioner Summary: Seat pan tilt, and to some extent lumbar supports, appear to improve seated postures. However, sitting, regardless of chair features used, still involves near end range flexion of the spine. This will increase stresses to the spine and could be a potential injury generator during prolonged seated exposures.     

Movements with Lateral Constraint

Abstract

The literature on terminal control tasks and continuous tracking tasks suggests a possible model for tasks where the subject must guide a vehicle at his own speed along a course defined by a tolerance band. The model predicts a linear relationship between the average velocity and the width of the tolerance band. Throe experiments are described which simulate vehicle guidance by pencil-and-paper experiments for courses consisting of straight lines and circles. The predictions of the model were confirmed, suggesting that a general measure for the ease of control of a vehicle (or other controlled system) is possible using this technique.     

Disturbance and recovery of trunk mechanical and neuromuscular behaviours following prolonged trunk flexion: influences of duration and external load on creep-induced effects

Trunk flexion results in adverse mechanical effects on the spine and is associated with a higher incidence of low back pain. To examine the effects of creep deformation on trunk behaviours, participants were exposed to full trunk flexion in several combinations of exposure duration and external load. Trunk mechanical and neuromuscular behaviours were obtained pre- and post-exposure and during recovery using sudden perturbations. Intrinsic trunk stiffness decreased with increasing flexion duration and in the presence of the external load. Recovery of intrinsic stiffness required more time than the exposure duration and was influenced by exposure duration. Reflexive trunk responses increased immediately following exposure but recovered quickly (～2.5 min). Alterations in reflexive trunk behaviour following creep deformation exposures may not provide adequate compensation to allow for complete recovery of concurrent reductions in intrinsic stiffness, which may increase the risk of injury due to spinal instability.

Statement of relevance: An increased risk of low back injury may result from flexion-induced disturbances to trunk behaviours. Such effects, however, appear to depend on the type of flexion exposure, and have implications for the design of work involving trunk flexion.     

Influences of denucleation on contact force of facet joints under whole body vibration

To investigate the influence of the injured disc, frequency, load and damping on the facet contact forces of the low lumbar spine on the condition of whole body vibration, a detailed 3-D nonlinear finite element model was created based on the actual geometrical data of embalmed vertebrae of lumbar spine. The denucleation and facetectomy, together with removal of the capsular ligaments was employed to mimic the injury conditions of lumbar spine after surgery. The compression cyclic force was assumed to mimic the dynamic loads of transport vehicles. The results show that the high frequency vibration might increase both of the value and the vibration amplitude of facet contact forces of the lumbar spine under whole body vibration. The nucleus removal may increase significantly the facet contact forces. Although damping can decrease the vibration amplitude of facet contact forces for intact models, it has less effect on the vibration amplitude of facet contact force for the denucleated models. The denucleation of intervertebral discs is more harmful to the facet articulation on the condition of whole body vibration.     

Carrying and spine loading

The advantages and disadvantages of different methods of carrying objects on spine loading are still not fully understood. Previous studies have either examined the effects of carrying using physiological measures or examined isolated spine segments using biomechanical models. Additionally, most studies have been restricted to only a small number of carrying conditions. Very few studies have attempted to examine the various factors influencing spine loading together. To improve understanding of interacting factors on carrying, this study assessed the lumbar spine loads of 16 subjects as they assumed six styles of carrying at two weight levels and two activity levels (walking vs. standing). Concurrent with each trial, a subject-specific biomechanical model was used to assess spine forces over the full lumbar spine. Most carrying methods in the trials resulted in relatively low levels of spine loading. Anterior/posterior (A/P) shear loading was the only spine-loading dimension that reached biomechanically meaningful levels. Two carrying conditions, with bins carried in front of the body, significantly increased A/P shear compared with other carrying styles. This increase appeared to be due to the greater moment arms occurring in these conditions. Many of the other carrying styles produced A/P shears that were similar to those observed when carrying nothing at all. Of all the tasks, the backpack carry characteristically produced especially low spine loads. The findings of the study suggest that to achieve optimal carrying in terms of spine loading, loads should be positioned close to the body, even when carrying relatively light loads.     

The evaluation of a practical biomechanical model estimating lumbar moments in occupational activities

To estimate the mechanical load on the low back in manual materials handling, the Static Strength Prediction Model (SSPM, University of Michigan) is widely used in the occupational field. It requires (for practical reasons) only a small number of input variables (five body segment angles, standing height, total body mass, external load on the hands) on which basis the moment at the lumbo-sacral intervertebral joint (beside other parameters) is computed. The dynamic character of the activities is ignored in the calculations. To evaluate the validity of the SSPM in various situations, lumbar moments in lifting/lowering activities at different lifting techniques and speeds obtained by the SSPM, were compared with those obtained by a more comprehensive dynamic model (DM). An analysis of variance showed significant effects (p = 0.001) of the biomechanical model applied and the lifting speed used on the peak lumbar moment values. No effects of lifting technique were found. The differences in results from the SSPM and DM were dependent on the lifting speed: the SSPM peak lumbar moments were on average 9% (not significant), 21% (significant atp = 0.005) and 42% (p = 0.0001) smaller compared to the DM moments in the slow (mean velocity in a complete lifting/lowering cycle, 0.2 m s^?1), normal (0.4 m s^?1) and fast (0.8 m s^?1) speed condition respectively. The results indicate that the static/dynamic difference between the models is a major source for the different lumbar moments, while other differences between the SSPM and DM are of minor importance.