The purpose of this study is to clarify the association between Zn levels and myocardial infarction (MI) using a meta-analysis approach. We searched articles in the PubMed, OVID, and ScienceDirect published as of November 2014. Thirteen eligible articles with 2886 subjects from 41 case-control studies were identified. Overall, pooled analysis indicated that subjects with MI had lower Zn levels than healthy controls (standardized mean difference (SMD) = -1.848, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = [-2.365, -1.331]). Further subgroup analysis found that subjects with MI had lower Zn levels than healthy controls in serum (SMD = -1.764, 95 % CI = [-2.417, -1.112]) and hair (SMD = -3.326, 95 % CI = [-4.616, -2.036]), but not in toenail (SMD = -0.396, 95 % CI = [-1.114, 0.322]). The subgroup analysis stratified by type of Zn measurement found a similar pattern in inductively coupled plasma-atomic absorption spectrometry (ICP-AAS) (SMD = -2.442, 95 % CI = [-3.092, -1.753]), but not in neutron activation analysis (NAA) (SMD = -0.449, 95 % CI = [-1.127, 0.230]). Lower Zn levels in MI patients were found both in male (SMD = -3.350, 95 % CI = [-4.531, -2.169]) and female (SMD = -2.681, 95 % CI = [-3.440, -1.922]). And the difference of Zn levels according to MI in Asia (SMD = -2.555, 95 % CI = [-3.267, -1.844]) was greater to that among the population in Europe (SMD = -0.745, 95 % CI = [-1.386, -0.104]), but no difference was found in Oceania (SMD = -0.255, 95 % CI = [-0.600, 0.089]). In conclusion, this meta-analysis indicates that there is a significant association between Zn deficiency and MI. We suggest that a community-based, long-term observation in a cohort design should be performed to obtain better understanding of causal relationships between Zn and MI, through measuring hair Zn at baseline to investigate whether the highest zinc category versus lowest was associated with MI risk.

Aim:To assess the prognostic significance of enhancement rate (ER) measured by contrastenhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) undergoing radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Materials and methods:A total of 253 patients with single primary HCC undergoing preoperative CEUS and RFA were enrolled in this study. The ER were evaluated though pretreatment CEUS.After a mean follow-up of 36.8 ± 10.2 months, the correlation of ER measured by CEUS and survival after RFA was analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis. The optimal cutoff ER value to predict survival was determined using receiver-operating characteristic analysis.Results: Mean follow-up period for all 253 patients was 36.8 ± 10.2 months, 31.2% of patients had died at endpoint. The optimal cutoff ER value predicting survival was 2.2 dB/s. Univariate analysis demonstrated that patients with a high ER level had poorer OS (62.8 months vs 48.8 months, P = 0.02) and recurrence-free survival (RFS = 60.2 months vs 47.4 months, P = 0.03) than patients with a low ER level. ER measured by CEUS also been confirmed as independent risk factor for overall survival (hazard ratio [HR], 1.87; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.21-7.25; P < 0.01) and RFS (HR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.08-6.21; P < 0.01) in multivariate analysis enrolling gender, BMI, tumor size, antiviral therapy, HBV DNA, histological differentiation, Child-Pugh score and tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage.Conclusions: ER measured by CEUS was a significant predictive factor for survival after RFA for HCC. K E Y W O R D Shepatocellular carcinoma, perfusion, prognosis, radiofrequency ablation is an important factor influencing the energy distribution of thermal ablation. 14,15 Therefore, pretreatment accurate quantification 238

Angiosarcoma of bone is an exceedingly rare primary bone malignancy that can present as an aggressive osteolytic lesion. This subset can radiologically mimic non-vascular neoplasms and impose serious challenges in reaching the correct diagnosis. Meanwhile histological diagnosis can be extremely challenging too, as the pathological features often resemble that of aneurysmal bone cysts. We present an unusual case of a 22-year-old woman who presented with a rapidly growing humeral tumor of 8 months' duration. The case of intraosseous angiosarcoma presented as a diagnostic dilemma and the relevant radiological and pathologic findings were discussed. We describe the clinical, radiological and pathological features of this unique case, and review the literature concerning Angiosarcoma of bone. Our case highlights the diagnostic difficulties for such very rare tumours and clinico-pathological correlation is of paramount importance to differential diagnosis.

Upper gastrointestinal (GI) abnormalities are one of the most common disease in clinical practice, and among them, gastric cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer-related death in China. However, conventional trans-abdominal ultrasound is difficult to evaluate GI diseases due to gas filled in the GI tract. With the development of oral contrast agents in China, ultrasonography with oral contrast agent has been used to visualize upper GI tract (i.e., stomach and duodenum) as well as its surrounding structures. The primary purposes of this consensus and guideline written by Chinese experts is to provide a coherent and clinical perspectives and practical protocol for using oral contrast in upper GI ultrasound, including four components: (1) indications and contraindications of gastric contrast ultrasound; (2) patients and instruments preparation; (3) scanning technique and imaging acquisition; (4) diagnosis of upper GI abnormalities.