Preservation of left colic artery in laparoscopic colorectal operation: The benefit challenge.

Background: During laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer, there is controversy regarding whether the left colic artery (LCA) should be preserved at its origin.

Aim: To investigate the prognostic significance of preservation of the LCA in colorectal cancer surgery.

Methods: Patients were divided into two groups.

Experimental Demonstration of a Dusty Plasma Ratchet Rectification and Its Reversal.

The naturally persistent flow of hundreds of dust particles is experimentally achieved in a dusty plasma system with the asymmetric sawteeth of gears on the electrode. It is also demonstrated that the direction of the dust particle flow can be controlled by changing the plasma conditions of the gas pressure or the plasma power. Numerical simulations of dust particles with the ion drag inside the asymmetric sawteeth verify the experimental observations of the flow rectification of dust particles.

Pollution in the urban soils of Lianyungang, China, evaluated using a pollution index, mobility of heavy metals, and enzymatic activities.

Soil samples from 16 urban sites in Lianyungang, China were collected and analyzed. A pollution index was used to assess the potential ecological risk of heavy metals and a sequential extraction procedure was used to evaluate the relative distribution of Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, and As in exchangeable, carbonate, Fe/Mn oxide, organic/sulfide, and residual fractions. The mobility of heavy metals and urease (URE) activity, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, and invertase (INV) activity of soils was determined.

Increased plasma lactate level is associated with subclinical cardiovascular damage in patient with non-dipping hypertension.

Objective: To evaluate the difference of plasma lactate level between dipping and non-dipping hypertension, and to investigate the effects of lactate on subclinical cardiovascular damages in dipping and non-dipping hypertension.

Methods: According to 24 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, 236 patients with dipping and 152 with non-dipping hypertension were included. Clinical characteristics were collected and compared between dipping and non-dipping groups.

Left ventricular deformation associated with cardiomyocyte Ca(2+) transients delay in early stage of low-dose of STZ and high-fat diet induced type 2 diabetic rats.

Background: In the early stage of diabetes, the cardiac ejection fraction is preserved, despite the existence of the subclinical cardiac dysfunction to some extent. However, the detailed phenotype of this dysfunction and the underlying mechanism remain unclear. To improve our understanding of this issue, we used low-dose STZ and high-fat diet to induce type 2 diabetic models in rats.

Heavy metal concentrations and enzymatic activities in the functional zone sediments of Haizhou Bay, Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China.

Surface sediments were collected at 31 sites covering five functional zones of Haizhou Bay, Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China. Heavy metal concentrations and enzymatic activity of phosphatase and urease were determined on a dry-weight basis of sediments. Metal concentrations in sediments were comparable to the Chinese National Standard of Marine Sediment Quality and were as follows: Cu, 8.

Interaction of multiarmed spirals in bistable media.

We study the interaction of both dense and sparse multiarmed spirals in bistable media modeled by equations of the FitzHugh-Nagumo type. A dense one-armed spiral is characterized by its fixed tip. For dense multiarmed spirals, when the initial distance between tips is less than a critical value, the arms collide, connect, and disconnect continuously as the spirals rotate.

[History of heavy metal pollution from tidal flat in Haizhou Bay].

Coastal zone could be considered as an important sink of regional source to sink and preserve historical records of environmental evolution. Four sediment cores, collected from tidal flat at Haizhou Bay near Lianyungang City, were examined for concentrations of heavy metals including Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn in core sediments to investigate the historical input of trace metals. In addition, sediment rates of cores LH3 and LH4 were determined based on radionuclide 210Pb.

[Spatial and temporal variations of phosphorus forms in surface sediments of Chaohu Lake].

Total phosphorus (TP), inorganic-phosphorus(IP), organic-phosphorus (OP), Fe/Al-bound phosphorus (NaOH-P) and Ca-bound phosphorus (HCl-P) in surface sediments of Chaohu Lake were measured, using the standard measurement and test (SMT) procedure of phosphorus forms in freshwater sediments. ArcGIS 9.2 and goestatistics software GS + 5.

Additional bedtime H2-receptor antagonist for the control of nocturnal gastric acid breakthrough: a Cochrane systematic review.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness and safety of additional bedtime H(2)-receptor antagonists (H(2)RAs) in suppressing nocturnal gastric acid breakthrough (NAB) via a systematic review.

Methods: Eligible trials were identified by searching the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (Cochrane Library Issue 2, 2004), MEDLINE (January 1966-June 2004), EMBASE (January 1980-June 2004) and CINAHL (January 1982-June 2004). Additional hand-searching was conducted on the proceedings of correlated conferences, eight important Chinese journals and references of all included trials.

[Study on the effect of combined therapy of Chinese and Western medicines and gene therapy (GT) on cartilage end-plate calcification in rabbits with cervical intervertebral disc regression].

Objective: To study the relationship between cartilage end-plate calcification (CEC) and cervical intervertebral discs regression (CIDR) in rabbits, and to study the inhibitory effect of combined therapy of Kanggu Zengsheng Capsule (KZC) ansforming growth factor-apsule (TGF-PLC) and igene therapy (GT) on CEC by measuring the thickness of CEC layer.

Methods: Thirty-five New Zeland rabbits of 4 months old were selected to establish cervical dynamic imbalance rabbit model for inducing CIDR (No disposal was given to rabbits in the normal control group). Seven months after operation, combined therapy of KZC and PLC were given, in doses calculated by body weight, to the modeled rabbits in the drug treated group with CEC of either superficial layer or full layer, twice a dantly by gavage for 30 successive days.