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Background: Lymph node metastases from squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) can reach 20% in some high risk subgroups, and while early detection of metastasis may potentially improve overall and/or disease-specific survival, techniques for early detection have not been established. One such technique is the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), however its role for SCC of the extremities has not been explored., Materials and Methods: A case that highlights the utility of SLNB in this setting is described, and a systematic review of the literature was undertaken in order to establish the current evidence for its use., Results: There have been no prospective clinical trials performed to investigate the role of SLNB in this setting. Thirty-two cases utilizing SLNB for peripheral SCCs have been reported, with a 28.1% rate of positive SLN, and low false-positive and false-negative rates. No complications were reported., Conclusion: SLNB for SCC of the limbs has been scarcely reported, but those cases reported do collectively demonstrate a high positive predictive value for lymph node metastasis and a low false-positive rate, with poor prognostic variables identified. The efficacy of SLNB in this setting requires further investigation.

Mast cells as the body's main immune cells, not only involved in allergic, inflammatory response, but also related to a lot of physiological and pathological processes. Its differentiation, maturation, activation and media release are in strict regulation and control. The in-depth study of mast cells not only allows us to understand the mechanism of allergy, inflammation and autoimmune diseases more thoroughly, but also provide us some valuable reference about the prevention and treatment of such diseases.

A new method for the fast discrimination of varieties of corn based on near-infrared spectroscopy using genetic algorithm and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was proposed. First, data of NIS of 37 varieties of corn was collected, second, genetic algorithm used for choosing the feature band of spectrum, then PCA and LDA were used to extract features, and finally corn seeds were classified. The result showed that GA could remove noise band effectively and improve the generalization ability of LDA. A large number of redundant data was removed to simplify the computing, which resulted in the data dimension reduction from 2075 to 233. For the 300 samples of test set one, the average correct recognition rate and average correct rejection rate attained 99.30% for both, and the average correct recognition rate of 73.33% varieties of corn attained for 100%. For the 175 samples of test set 2 (all of whose varieties had not been trained), the average correct recognition rate attained 99.65%. The run time is shorter and the correct rate is higher compared to the common method of PCA.

The history of collateral puncture therapy in Japan was traced, the current status and characteristics of collateral puncture therapy in Japan were introduced in this paper. Originated in China, the collateral puncture therapy in Japan combined Japanese knowledge of acupuncture with the theory and practice of bloodletting of Portugal Medicine and Netherlands Medicine. The discussion on the theory and technique of the collateral puncture therapy by Kudo Kunsei became the standard of the collateral puncture therapy in Japan in modern times. Based on this discussion, Tetuo Asami proposed a new theory of the collateral puncture therapy which improved the collateral puncture therapy in Japan. Currently, as a part of Japanese health care system, the collateral puncture therapy with Japanese characteristics is gradually accepted by the medical profession in Japan.

Objective: To understand the situation of studies and development of international acupuncture and moxibustion in 2006 by analysis on the acupuncture-related articles embodied in Medline data-base in 2006., Methods: A total of 881 articles in Medline data-base of the ISI knowledge Web were retrieved by "acupuncture", "moxibustion", "acupressure" and "cupping" as key words, then 761 articles excluding unrelated 120 ones were analyzed and concluded for distribution of the article sources, periodicals source, type, research contents and methods., Results: Most of the articles are from China, Britain and America. The journal of the highest impact factor of 25.8 is Lancet. Acupuncture and moxibustion can treat various diseases, but primarily for relieving pain., Conclusion: Acupuncture and moxibustion are still a part of CAM for clinical practice abroad. Most of the experiments confirm the effects of acupuncture and moxibustion, but there are some different views on some diseases. And various countries make a lot work about mechanism research of acupuncture effect, showing the feature of large range.