Increasing the amplitude of event-related potential is one of the key methods to improve the accuracy of the potential-based brain-computer interface, e.g., P300-based brain-computer interface. The brain-computer interface systems often use symbols or controlled objects as vision stimuli, but what visual stimuli can induce more obvious event-related potential is still unknown. This paper designed three kinds of visual stimuli, i.e., a square, an arrow, and a robot attached with an arrow, to analyze the influence of concreteness degree of the graph on the N200 and P300 potentials, and applied a support vector machine to compare the performance of the brain-computer interface under different stimuli. The results showed that, compared with the square, the robot attached with arrow and the arrow both induced larger N200 potential (P = 1.6 × 10−3, P = 4.2 × 10−2) and longer P300 potential (P = 2.2 × 10−3, P = 1.9 × 10−2) in the frontal area, but the amplitude under the arrow condition is smaller than the one under the robot attached with arrow condition. The robot attached with arrow increased the N200 potential amplitude of the square and arrow from 3.12 μV and 5.19 μV to 7.21 μV (P = 1.6 × 10−3, P = 8.9 × 10−2), and improved the accuracy rate from 59.95%, 61.67% to 74.45% (P = 2.1 × 10−2, P = 1.6 × 10−2), and the information transfer rate from 35.00 bits/min, 35.98 bits/min to 56.71 bits/min (P = 2.6 × 10−2, P = 1.6 × 10−2). This study shows that the concreteness of graphics could affect the N200 potential and the P300 potential. The abstract symbol could represent the meaning and evoke potentials, but the information contained in the concrete robot attached with an arrow is more correlated with the human experience, which is helpful to improve the amplitude. The results may provide new sight in modifying the stimulus interface of the brain-computer interface.
ObjectiveTo analyze the effect of anal fistula clip (AFC) in the treatment of anal fistula, and to evaluate its safety. MethodsA historical cohort study method was conducted. Eighty-three patients with glandular transsphincteric anal fistula in the Xuzhou Central Hospital from September 2018 to May 2021 were collected, of which 42 patients underwent the AFC treatment (AFC group), 41 patients underwent the endorectal advancement flap (ERAF) treatment (ERAF group). The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, visual analogue scale (VAS) score of anus pain on postoperative day 1, 3, and 7, wound healing time, Wexner incontinence score of anal function on postoperative month 6, and clinical efficacy (healing and failure) were compared between the two groups. ResultsThe operation was successfully completed in both groups. The operation time and intraoperative blood loss in the AFC group were shorter or less than those in the ERAF group (P<0.05). No complications such as internal opening infection and bleeding occurred in the two groups. There were no statistical differences in the VAS score of postoperative anus pain at all time point between the two groups (P>0.05). The median follow-up time was 22 months. There was no statistical difference in the wound healing time between the two groups (P>0.05). The Wexner score of anal function in the AFC group was lower than that in the ERAF group (P<0.05), and there was no statistical difference between after operation and before operation (Z=–1.751, P=0.089) in the AFC group, while that in the ERAF group after operation was higher than before operation (Z=–1.859, P=0.014). The healing rate had no statistical difference between the AFC group and ERAF group (85.7% versus 77.5%, χ2=0.925, P=0.336). Conclusion From the results of this study, the AFC is safe and effective in treatment of anal fistula, with the advantages of relatively simple operation, less bleeding during operation, lighter postoperative pain, and good protection of anal function.
Anterior mediastinal inflammatory myofibroblastoma is a rare tumor with insidious onset and easy misdiagnosis. In this report, we presented a case of anterior mediastinal inflammatory myofibroblastoma with thymoma. The mediastinal tumor was found by physical examination, and the prognosis was good after surgical treatment. For this disease, operation is an effective method for definite diagnosis and treatment, and complete excision can achieve good outcomes.
Objective To summarize the methods and experience of animal experiment ethics training at home and abroad, analyze the opportunities and problems, and explore the ethics training methods suitable for the current situation of animal experiments in China. Methods Documents relating to animal experiment ethics training from January 2012 to February 2022 were searched in PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang Data databases. After literature screening and data extraction by 2 researchers independently, descriptive analysis was performed. Results A total of 44 documents were selected, including 19 in Chinese and 25 in English, involving 44 institutions. According to the literature analysis, in the United States, Britain and other developed countries, the welfare and ethical laws for laboratory animals were relatively perfect, such as the Animal Welfare Act of the United States, the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act of Britain, the Animal Welfare Act of German, and the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals of Japan, while in China administrative regulations were the main ones, and most of the institutions were restricted by management regulations; the ethics of personnel involved in animal experiments were uneven; the training time of some domestic institutions was less than that of institutions abroad; domestic training methods and contents needed to be improved. Basing on the comparative results at home and abroad and combining the training experience, West China Hospital of Sichuan University improved the animal experiment ethics training system. Conclusion It is suggested that the animal experimental institutions in China should improve the training methods, to enhance the awareness and cognition of people involved in animal experiments more systematically and scientifically, and strengthen the ethical review.
As pigs are similar to humans in anatomy, physiology and pathology, nutrition metabolism and disease characteristics, genetically modified pigs are already used for the studies of disease mechanism, pathology and toxicology and the evaluation of drugs. But the production of large modified animals is difficult, cumbersome, time-consuming and costly. With the breakthrough of gene editing technology, clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated 9( Cas9)(CRISPR/Cas9) technology has greatly improved the mutation efficiency, reduced the cost and simplified the steps, and promoted the widespread application of genetically modified pigs. In this paper, the production methods of genetically modified pigs and the research progress of genetically modified pigs by CRISPR/Cas9 in the medical field were reviewed.