Besides ultrasound and nuclear medicine techniques, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are commonly used to examine adrenal lesions in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Some adrenal lesions have characteristic radiological features. If an adrenal nodule is discovered incidentally, determining whether the lesion is benign or malignant is of great importance. According to their biological behavior, lesions can be divided into benign (mainly: adenoma, hyperplasia, pheochromocytoma, cyst, hemorrhage, cystic lymphangioma, myelolipoma, hemangioma, ganglioneuroma, teratoma) and malignant (mainly: metastases, adrenal cortical carcinoma, neuroblastoma, lymphoma) conditions. In this paper, we review CT/MRI findings of common adrenal gland lesions.

The soil water retention curve is an important hydraulic function for the study of flow transport processes in unsaturated soils. To accurately describe and interpret the hydraulic property, a general soil water retention function was developed based on the pore‐solid fractal (PSF) model. The objective of this study was to evaluate the general soil water retention function using data of 65 soils and to compare the PSF function with its special cases, that is, three other soil water retention functions. Defined from the parameters of the PSF, an index of β/θs was used to quantify the relationship between the PSF and the other soil water retention functions. The PSF function fit all the data sets well, whereas the other retention functions only matched the retention data for some soils, ranging from 11 to 72% of the tested soils. Directly fitting these functions with the data sets showed that for 30 to 40% of the tested soils, these functions gave poorer results than the PSF.

The present study uses data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) to develop a multidimensional measure for the healthiness of Chinese citizens' lifestyles. A latent class analysis reveals variety in Chinese people's lifestyles. Three categories are identified: the healthy, the mixed, and the risky. People with higher socio-economic status (SES) are polarized between the healthy and the risky lifestyles, while those with lower SES tend to have a more mixed lifestyle. Generally speaking, Chinese people's lifestyles are in constant change. Located in an advantageous social-structural position, members of the upper strata manage to choose the lifestyle beneficial to their health. At the same time, however, they are influenced by western lifestyles. Members of the lower strata are more constrained by social-structural status.

Background: The study aimed to explore cortical morphology in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) and the relationship between cortical characteristics and age of onset and intelligence quotient (IQ). Methods: Cortical morphometry with surface-based morphometry (SBM) was used to compare changes in cortical thickness, gyrification, sulcal depth, and fractal dimension of the cerebral cortex between 25 BECTS patients and 20 healthy controls (HCs) with two-sample t-tests [P<0.05, family-wise error (FWE) corrected].Relationships between abnormal cortical morphological changes and age of onset and IQ, which included verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ), performance intelligence quotient (PIQ), and full-scale intelligence quotient (FIQ) were investigated with Spearman correlation analysis (P<0.05, uncorrected). Results:The BECTS patients showed extensive cortical thinning predominantly in bilateral frontal, temporal regions, and limbic system. Cortical gyrification increased in the left hemisphere and partial right hemisphere, and the decreased cortical gyrification was only in the left hemisphere. The increased sulcal depth was the left fusiform gyrus. There are no statistically significant differences in the fractal dimension.Correlation analysis revealed the negative correlation between age of onset and cortical thickness in the right precentral gyrus. It also revealed the negative correlation between the age of onset and cortical gyrification in the left inferior parietal gyrus. Also, there was negative correlation between VIQ and cortical gyrification in the left supramarginal gyrus of BECTS patients.Conclusions: This study reveals aberrant cortical thickness, cortical gyrification, and sulcal depth of BECTS in areas related to cognitive functions including language, attention and memory, and the correlation between some brain regions and VIQ and age of onset, providing a potential marker of early neurodevelopmental disturbance and cognitive dysfunction in BECTS.

Teratoma originates from pluripotent cells of two or more than two germ cell layers, and most of them are benign. Teratomas are found in the ovaries and testes. Retroperitoneal teratoma is rare, especially adrenal teratoma. Here, we describe a rare case of a 17-year-old woman who was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis and a right adrenal mass at the age of eight. So, she received anti-tuberculosis treatment. Nine years later, chest X-rays showed prior lesions in both lungs, and abdominal CT showed the mass in the right adrenal gland was larger than before, during this period she had no clinical symptoms. She underwent retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy, and the pathological diagnosis was a mature teratoma of the right adrenal gland. During a one-year follow-up, the patients recovered well without any discomfort.Thirty-two cases were found in the literature review, among which no patients had a history of pulmonary tuberculosis. Adrenal teratoma is often seen in females and the left adrenal gland. The imaging features of adrenal teratoma can be cystic, solid, and cystic solids. Mature fat and calcification can be seen in most teratomas. Comprehensive analysis of clinical features and imaging characteristics can enhance the diagnostic confidence of radiologists in adrenal teratoma.