ACCURACY OF SURVEY RADIOGRAPHIC DIAGNOSIS OF INTERVERTEBRAL DISC PROTRUSION IN DOGS

To assess the diagnostic accuracy of survey radiography for canine thoracolumbar intervertebral disc protrusion, survey radiographs (lateral and ventrodorsal) of 64 dogs with surgically-confirmed thoracolumbar intervertebral disc protrusion, 51 dogs with negative myelograms and 29 dogs with various spinal conditions other than disc protrusion were reviewed by three independent observers who were unaware of any clinical information. There were marked differences in observer performance for diagnosis of intervertebral disc protrusion, although there were no significant differences in intraobserver diagnostic accuracy for small vs. large dogs. Accuracy of observers for determining sites of intervertebral disc protrusion using survey radiography was in the range 51-61%. All observers had low accuracy for identification of second sites of intervertebral disc protrusion. The most useful radiographic sign, narrowed intervertebral space, had only moderate sensitivity (range 64-69%) and moderate predictive value (range 63-71%) for intervertebral disc protrusion. Vacuum phenomenon was an infrequent but accurate sign of intervertebral disc protrusion. Recognition of multiple radiographic signs of intervertebral disc protrusion at one site was associated with increased accuracy of diagnosis. No observer was accurate enough to justify attempting targeted surgical treatment of intervertebral disc protrusion without myelography.     

单位圆内无穷级亚纯函数的T-半径和Borel半径

设E1={arg (z)=θj∣0≤ 1<θ2<…θq1<2π},E2={arg (z)=(p)j∣0≤ (p)1<(p)1<…<(p)1<(p)2<2π},且E1∩E2=φ,q1和q2是任意正整数.证明了(1)存在△内下级为任一正数的无穷级亚纯函数f(z),恰以E1 ∪ E2为其T-半径且恰以E2为其Borel半径;(2)存在△内下级为无穷的亚纯函数g(z),恰以E1 ∪ E2为其Borel半径且恰以E2为其T-半径.     

COMPARISON BETWEEN COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY,FLUOROSCOPY, AND ULTRASONOGRAPHY FOR GUIDING PERCUTANEOUS INJECTION OF THE CANINE INTERVERTEBRAL DISC

A minimally invasive method for delivering injectable therapeutic agents would be desirable for the treatment of intervertebral disc disease in dogs. The purpose of this study was to compare computed tomography (CT), ultrasonography (US), and fluoroscopy modalities for guiding percutaneous injection into canine intervertebral discs. Intervertebral discs of 14 dog cadavers were injected with a gelified ethanol therapeutic agent. Successful injectate placement and injectate leakage were determined based on necropsy inspection of discs. Injection into the nucleus pulposus was successful in 55 of 78 (71%) of all injected discs. Injections guided using CT and fluoroscopy were significantly more successful than US‐guided injections. Odds of successful injection without leakage were greater for CT vs. US (P = 0.0026) but there was no significant difference between CT and fluoroscopy (P = 0.0620). Injection success rates did not differ among vertebral sites or dog cadavers of varying weights. Forty‐nine (63%) of injection sites had injectate leakage outside the disc and 10 of these involved structures within the vertebral canal. The highest rate of injection success with the least amount of leakage was achieved with CT guidance. Findings indicated that CT, fluoroscopy, and US are feasible modalities for guiding percutaneous injection of a gelified ethanol therapeutic agent into the canine intervertebral disc, with moderate to high success rates for different regions of the spine. However, a moderately high rate of injectate leakage occurred outside of the disc and this should be taken into consideration for future safety and efficacy studies.     

A New Method for Measuring Bonding Shear Properties of Adhesives on Steel Substrates

Single-lap-joint adhesively bonded metal specimen which is the national standard experimental method in use has an extremely non-uniform distribution of shear stresses along the joint, and tensile stress concentration of high values is produced on the steel substrate interfaces. Therefore the test result, which is not the real bonding shear strength between adhesive and steel substrates, can only be used as a test index for qualities of adhesives not the strength criterion for load is capacity evaluation. The combined bonding disc specimen is adopted for measuring bonding shear properties of adhesive on steel substrates, has a very uniform distribution of shear stresses in adhesive and along the bonding surfaces of steel substrates, of which the uniform coefficient is greater than 0.97. Furthermore, when adhesive joint is treated as an arc and steel substrates are chamfered at both ends of the joint, tensile stresses on the bonding surfaces can be reduced to less than 20 MPa which can hardly cause tensile failure. Thus, the results of combined bonding disc specimens can actually represent the real bonding shear strength or bonding shear-compression strength between adhesive and steel substrates, which can be used as strength criterion for load capacity evaluation of bonding members.     

Evaluation of T2‐weighted versus short‐tau inversion recovery sagittal sequences in the identification and localization of canine intervertebral disc extrusion with low‐field magnetic resonance imaging

Sagittal T2‐weighted sequences (T2‐SAG) are the foundation of spinal protocols when screening for the presence of intervertebral disc extrusion. We often utilize sagittal short‐tau inversion recovery sequences (STIR‐SAG) as an adjunctive screening series, and experience suggests that this combined approach provides superior detection rates. We hypothesized that STIR‐SAG would provide higher sensitivity than T2‐SAG in the identification and localization of intervertebral disc extrusion. We further hypothesized that the parallel evaluation of paired T2‐SAG and STIR‐SAG series would provide a higher sensitivity than could be achieved with either independent sagittal series when viewed in isolation. This retrospective diagnostic accuracy study blindly reviewed T2‐SAG and STIR‐SAG sequences from dogs (n = 110) with surgically confirmed intervertebral disc extrusion. A consensus between two radiologists found no significant difference in sensitivity between T2‐SAG and STIR‐SAG during the identification of intervertebral disc extrusion (T2‐SAG: 92.7%, STIR‐SAG: 94.5%, P = 0.752). Nevertheless, STIR‐SAG accurately identified intervertebral disc extrusion in 66.7% of cases where the evaluation of T2‐SAG in isolation had provided a false negative diagnosis. Additionally, one radiologist found that the parallel evaluation of paired T2‐SAG and STIR‐SAG series provided a significantly higher sensitivity than T2‐SAG in isolation, during the identification of intervertebral disc extrusion (T2‐SAG: 78.2%, paired T2‐SAG, and STIR‐SAG: 90.9%, P = 0.017). A similar nonsignificant trend was observed when the consensus of both radiologists was taken into consideration (T2‐SAG: 92.7%, paired T2‐SAG, and STIR‐SAG = 97.3%, P = 0.392). We therefore conclude that STIR‐SAG is capable of identifying intervertebral disc extrusion that is inconspicuous in T2‐SAG, and that STIR‐SAG should be considered a useful adjunctive sequence during preliminary sagittal screening for intervertebral disc extrusion in low‐field magnetic resonance.     

Detection of beet yellows virus in sugarbeet plants by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

Beet yellows virus can be detected in leaf extracts of infected sugarbeet plants by ELISA. The use of discs was studied and proved to be a valuable and qualitatively reliable method. Leaf material could be stored at 4^o or 22°C for at least six days without affecting the detection of this virus by ELISA. A dramatic decrease in ELISA values was found when leaf extracts were frozen.In an analysis of the distribution of virus over the plant it was found that young leaves present at the moment of infection and those which had still to develop after infection will contain virus. Symptoms produced by systemic virus invasion occur on the oldest leaves containing virus.Samenvatting Het bietevergelingsvirus kan op betrouwbare wijze met de ELISA methode in geïnfecteerde bieteplanten worden aangetoond. Een aanzienlijke vereenvoudiging van de procedure kan worden bereikt met de zogenaamde disc-method, waarbij intacte ponsstukjes in de putjes van de ELISA-plaat worden geïncubeerd. Hierbij komt voldoende virus uit de ponsstukjes voor ELISA vrij. Bladmateriaal kon op verschillende wijzen bewaard worden zonder dat de mogelijkheid om het virus aan te tonen achteruitging. Met bladextracten die ingevroren waren, werden echter slechte resultaten verkregen.In een analyse naar de verdeling van het virus over het loof bleek het virus voor te komen in de geïnoculeerde bladeren, in die bladeren die op het tijdstip van inoculatie minder dan de helft van hun uiteindelijke lengte bereikt hadden en in de bladeren die nog moesten verschijnen. De symptomen ontwikkelden zich op de oudste systemisch geïnfecteerde bladeren.     

Assessing the Role of Competing Anions Silicate and Bicarbonate on Diffusion of P vis-à-vis Its Bioavailability in Different Soils Measured by Resin Disc Technique

The bioavailability of phosphorus (P) depends on its diffusion process. An attempt has been made to study the effects of bicarbonate and silicate on phosphate diffusion through the analysis of its bioavailability. Resin discs were used to determine P diffusion rate (PDR), which was observed to increase in the presence of competing anions in the following sequence: silicate > bicarbonate > control. Phosphorus diffusion rate also increased with added P levels, temperature, and moisture. Added P level in soil is the most important factor, which contributed about 56% of the variation in PDR. The presence of competing anions such as bicarbonate and silicate accounted for 12.5% of the variations of PDR in soil system. Embedded resin discs in fields treated with different treatments showed significant variation of PDR in the following sequence of treatments: mixture of biogas slurry and paddy straw > sodium silicate > only paddy straw > biogas slurry > control.     

Effect of astragalus polysaccharides on expression of MMP2 and MMP9 in annulus fibrosus of cervical intervertebral discs from cervical spondylosis model rats

AIM: To investigate the effect of astragalus polysaccharides (AP) on the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) and MMP9 in the annulus fibrosus of cervical intervertebral discs from cervical spondylosis model rats. METHODS: The model rats were randomly divided into model group (M group), and low-dose and high-dose AP treatment groups (L-AP and H-AP groups). The rats in sham operation group were used as negative control group (NC group). In addition, all the annulus fibrosus tissues were used for primary cell culture. Histological analysis was performed using HE staining and Safranin O staining. The expression of MMP2, MMP9, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 (TIMP2) and collagen Ⅳ at mRNA and protein levels was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, Western blot and RT-qPCR. Cell-collagen adhesion assay was used to detect annulus fibrosus cell-collagen adhesion. RESULTS: The intervertebral discs of M group were degenerated, while astragalus polysaccharide improved the degenerative disc disease in the rats with cervical spondylosis. Compared with NC group, the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 in the annulus fibrosus tissues of M group increased significantly, while the expression of TIMP2 and collagen Ⅳ was decreased significantly (P<0.05). Compared with M group, the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 in L-AP group and H-AP group was significantly decreased, while the expression of TIMP2 and collagen Ⅳ was significantly increased (P<0.05). The cell-collagen adhesion in M group was significantly lower than that in NC group (P<0.05). Compared with M group, the cell-collagen adhesion in L-AP group and H-AP group was increased significantly (P<0.05). Compared with NC group, the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 in annulus fibrosus cells of M group was increased significantly, while the expression of TIMP2 and collagen Ⅳ was decreased significantly (P<0.05). Compared with M group, the expression levels of MMP2 and MMP9 in L-AP group and H-AP group of fibrocytes were significantly decreased, while the expression of TIMP2 and collagen Ⅳ was significantly increased (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Astragalus polysaccharides inhibit the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 in the annulus fibrosus of cervical intervertebral discs from cervical spondylosis model rats and regulate the dynamic balance of MMPs and TIMPs in the extracellular matrix, thus inhibiting the degradation of collagen in the intervertebral disc matrix and having the potential research value for the treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration.     

多级泵平衡盘灵敏性优化设计

在层流理论的假设下利用N-S方程对多级泵平衡盘的轴向间隙和径向间隙流动进行分析,推导出泄漏量、平衡力与泵的平衡盘几何尺寸及压强之间的函数表达式.径向流动和轴向流动是压差流动,同时考虑平衡盘转动的离心力对流动的影响,根据实例绘出了F-b2曲线,提出了平衡盘灵敏性的概念,定性地分析了平衡盘结构参数对平衡盘灵敏性的影响.结果表明,灵敏性能准确地反映轴向间隙变化所引起的平衡力变化的能力.在轴向力不变,泵的结构和加工精度允许的情况下,r2的变化对灵敏性几乎没有影响,l,r1取较大值,b1取较小值,使平衡盘工作在灵敏性较高的区域.     

利用微机进行兽医细菌鉴定的研究

用传统的方法进行细菌的鉴定分类,工作量大,而且完全靠人的记忆和查阅资料,大大影响了工作效率及鉴定的准确性。 本研究的基本设想在于将汉化微型计算机应用于兽医细菌鉴定。文章将与兽医有关的28属,4亚属中的119种细菌的68种特性搜集归纳后,输入微机,贮存于磁盘内,鉴定时计算机可根据要求自动进行比较。实验室中的具有一定文化程度的非计算机专业工作人员只须稍加训练既可使用本程序。如果输入数据足够,此程序的鉴定符合率达100％。