Gender of infant and risk of postpartum depression: a meta-analysis based on cohort and case-control studies.

BACKGROUND: It is inconclusive nowadays for the association between infant's gender and their mothers' risk of developing postpartum depression (PPD). In addition, a complete overview is missing. A meta-analysis of cohort and case-control studies was performed to address the question of whether women who gave birth to a female infant were at an increased risk of developing PPD, compared with those giving birth to a male infant. METHODS: Unrestricted searches were conducted, with an end date parameter of 31 January 2018, of PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, Cochrane Libraries, and Chinese databases, to identify studies that met pre-stated inclusion criteria. Reference lists of retrieved articles were also reviewed. Either a fixed- or a random-effects model was used to calculate the overall combined risk estimates. RESULTS: Twenty-three studies involving 119,736 women were included for analysis. Overall, mothers who gave birth to a female infant experienced a significantly increased risk of developing PPD compared with the reference group (OR = 1.15, 95%CI: 1.01-1.31; p = .03). However, substantial heterogeneity (p < .00001; I2 = 75%) was observed across studies. Relevant heterogeneity moderators have been identified by subgroup analysis. Sensitivity analysis yielded consistent results. No evidence of publication bias was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Although the role of potential bias and evidence of heterogeneity should be carefully evaluated, the present study suggests women giving birth to a girl are associated with a higher risk of developing PPD when compared with those giving birth to a boy. Improving family and social communication and reducing gender preference should be important components of any such interventions.Statement of significanceProblem or issue Interestingly, the known risk factors leading to PPD are basically the same in different regions and cultures, but the gender of the infant seems to be an exception.What is already known Some studies conducted in traditional western countries indicated that there is a weak or null association between infant's gender and risk of PPD, while others suggested a positive association. In contrast, studies conducted in Nigeria, India, Turkey and China showed that mothers giving birth to a female infant were at a higher risk of developing PPD.What this paper adds Today, the association between infant's gender and risk of developing postpartum depression (PPD) is still uncertain; additionally, a complete overview is missing. Our study represents the first meta-analysis of risk of PPD associated with infant's gender.

Risk factors for preterm birth: a prospective cohort study. / æ—©äº§å±é™©å› ç´ çš„å‰çž»æ€§é˜Ÿåˆ—ç ”ç©¶.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the incidence of preterm birth and risk factors for preterm birth. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was performed for the pregnant women in early pregnancy and their spouses, who underwent prenatal examination for the first time in Hunan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital from May 2014 to December 2016 and decided to be hospitalized for delivery. A questionnaire survey was performed to collect exposure information possibly related to preterm birth. The hospital's medical record system was used for information verification and to record the pregnancy outcome. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the risk factors for preterm birth. RESULTS: A total of 6 764 pregnant women with complete data were included, and the incidence rate of preterm birth was 17.09%. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that a history of adverse pregnancy outcomes, eating areca nut before pregnancy, a history of pregnancy complications, a history of hepatitis, no folate supplementation during pregnancy, medication during pregnancy, active smoking and passive smoking during pregnancy, drinking during pregnancy, unbalanced diet during pregnancy, high-intensity physical activity during pregnancy, and natural conception after treatment of infertility or assisted conception as the way of conception were risk factors for preterm birth (P<0.05). Additionally, the pregnant women whose spouses were older, had a higher body mass index or smoked had an increased risk for preterm birth (P<0.05). A higher level of education of pregnant women or their spouses and lower gravidity were protective factors against preterm birth (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: There are many risk factors for preterm birth. Special attention should be paid to the life behaviors of pregnant women during pregnancy, and health education should be strengthened for pregnant women and their spouses to develop good living habits and reduce the incidence of preterm births.

[A Meta analysis of risk factors for asthma in Chinese children].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the main risk factors for asthma in Chinese children, and to provide a reference for the prevention and treatment of asthma. METHODS: The databases including CNKI, Wanfang Data, China Biology Medicine disc, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, Web of Science, and PubMed were searched for studies on risk factors for asthma in Chinese children published up to September 2017. Stata 12.0 was used for the Meta analysis. RESULTS: A total of 24 case-control studies were included, with 5 309 cases in the case group and 6 404 cases in the control group. The Meta analysis showed that a family history of asthma (OR=5.246, 95%CI: 3.435-8.011), a family history of allergy (OR=4.627, 95%CI: 2.450-8.738), atopic constitution (OR=4.659, 95%CI: 2.511-8.644), allergic rhinitis (OR=11.510, 95%CI: 6.769-19.574), a history of eczema/dermatitis (OR=4.919, 95%CI: 3.514-6.886), a history of allergies (OR=4.732, 95%CI: 2.802-7.989), a history of food allergies (OR=5.890, 95%CI: 3.412-10.166), a history of drug allergies (OR=4.664, 95%CI: 2.637-8.252), mold contamination at home (OR=2.483, 95%CI: 1.671-3.690), flowers at home (OR=1.748, 95%CI: 1.383-2.209), a history of house decoration (OR=2.823, 95%CI: 2.206-3.935), and cesarean section (OR=1.894, 95%CI: 1.166-3.077) were risk factors for asthma in children, while breastfeeding was a protective factor against asthma (OR=0.508, 95%CI: 0.396-0.653). CONCLUSIONS: The development of asthma in Chinese children is associated with a variety of factors, among which a family history of asthma, a family history of allergy, atopic constitution, a history of allergies, allergic comorbidities, cesarean section, and bad family environment can increase the risk of asthma in children, while breastfeeding can reduce the risk.

Development and Testing of a Reliable and Valid Patient-Needs Questionnaire for Breast Cancer Inpatients in China.

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer patients are demanding more active roles in their care, especially in the initial diagnosis and treatment stages. At present, there is no suitable patient questionnaire that appropriately incorporates Chinese language, habits, and cultural differences. AIM: To develop and validate a patient-needs questionnaire for female breast cancer inpatients in China. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The questionnaire structure was based on Maslow's model and a modern medical model. In the first step, a focus group was used to design 125 questions, of which 64 constituted the initial questionnaire for item screening with a group of 115 hospitalized patients with breast cancer. Items were included or excluded based on the evaluation of eight statistical analysis. Ultimately, 38 items were selected and validated. The reliability and validity of the 38-item questionnaire were determined in a cohort of 323 patients. RESULTS: The scale was set up with the 38 selected items. The four primary areas were disease knowledge, medical environment, psychosocial parameters and sexual attitudes. Cronbach's coefficient was 0.959. The split-half reliability value was 0.935. Principal component factor analysis extracted four common factors. CONCLUSION: Our new questionnaire, designed to assess the care needs of Chinese inpatients with breast cancer is reliable, sensitive, effective, independent and representative. It can be used in medical practice as a tool for a more complete assessment of patients' needs.

Clinical utility of microRNA-378 as early diagnostic biomarker of human cancers: a meta-analysis of diagnostic test.

A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic value of miR-378 for detecting human cancers. Systematic electronic searches were conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang from the inception to January 15, 2016. We used the bivariate mixed effects models to estimate the combined sensitivity, specificity, PLRs (positive likelihood ratios), NLR (negative likelihood ratios), DORs (diagnostic odds ratios) and their 95% CI (confidence intervals) for assessing the diagnostic performance of miR-378 for cancers. Twelve studies were included in the meta-analysis, with a total number of 1172 cancer patients and 809 health controls. The overall estimated sensitivity and specificity were 0.75 and 0.74. The pooled PLR was 2.91, NLR was 0.34, DOR was 8.50, and AUC (Area Under the Curve) was 0.81. The subgroup analyses suggested that AUC for plasma-based is higher than serum-based. The overall diagnostic values of miR-378 in the present meta-analyses are moderate accurate for human cancers; The source of specimen has an effect on the diagnostic accuracy. The diagnostic value of serum-based was higher than that of plasma-based.

Prevalence of Depression Among College-Goers in Mainland China: A Methodical Evaluation and Meta-Analysis.

There are no proper statistics available to assess how much of a burden it is to them. This study was conducted to gauge the pooled prevalence and offer evidence in support of few prevention and regulation strategies. A methodical literature search was conducted with the help of the Web of Knowledge, PubMed, Chinese Web of Knowledge, Wanfang, and Chongqing VIP databases. Furthermore, articles published from 2000 to 2014, reporting about the estimated prevalence of depression among college students in mainland China, were covered as well. In this study, a meta-analysis was deployed to approximate the overall prevalence of depression among college-goers in mainland China. A total of 45 studies were conducted on 50,826 participants. The average pooled prevalence of depression was 30.39% (26.38-34.55%). Subgroup analyses showed that 29.45% (22.88-36.48%) were men and 28.65% (23.44-34.16%) were women. Furthermore, 28.10% (22.83-33.70%) were from the northern part and 32.44% (26.67-38.48%) were from the southern. The prevalence of depression was 30.45% (23.96-37.36%) for sample sizes of <500 subjects, 30.99% (25.08-37.23%) for samples with 500 to 1000 people, and 29.54% (33.32-37.33%) in case of samples with >1000 people. Publications between 2000 and 2006 showed a depression prevalence of 8.45% (22.34-35.00%), whereas 30.52% (21.30-40.61%) and 31.79% (27.31-36.45%) were the corresponding values according to publications during 2007 to 2011 and 2012 to 2014. The prevalence of depression among college students in mainland China had reached the world's epidemic level.

Re: ''laparoscopic vs open approach to resection of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with known cirrhosis: systematic review and meta-analysis''.

Twaij and colleagues have carried out a meta-analysis of cohort studies to review the currently available literature comparing laparoscopic to open resection of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with known liver cirrhosis. We congratulate and applaud their important work, but several important issues should be noted.

MicroRNA-433 inhibits cell proliferation in hepatocellular carcinoma by targeting p21 activated kinase (PAK4).

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. P21-activated kinase 4 (PAK4) has been identified as an oncogenic protein in a variety of cancers. However, the contribution and regulation of PAK4 in HCC remain poorly understood. In the present study, we found that inhibition of PAK4 expression by specific shRNA significantly attenuated HCC cell proliferation. Moreover, we show that microRNA-433 (miRNA-433) could directly target PAK4 through the miRNA-433 binding sequence at the 3'-UTR of PAK4 mRNA, and inhibit PAK4 protein expression. We further show that miRNA-433 expression was downregulated in HCC tissues and cell culture as well, which inversely correlated with PAK4 expression levels. Overexpression of miRNA-433 significantly suppressed the proliferation of HepG2 cells, while this effect was partially rescued by forced expression of PAK4 through restoring PI3K/AKT signaling in HepG2 cells. These findings will shed light on the roles and mechanisms of miRNA-433 in regulating HCC proliferation, and may benefit future development of therapeutics targeting miRNA-433 and PAK4 in HCC.

Relationship between red cell distribution width and serum uric acid in patients with untreated essential hypertension.

We assessed whether red cell distribution width (RDW) is associated with serum uric acid (UA) level in a group of 512 patients with newly diagnosed hypertension, recruited in Beijing. Patients were divided into high uric acid group and low uric acid group according to the median (334.9 µmol/L) of serum uric acid. Compared with the low uric acid group, the patients with high uric acid had higher red blood cell count (P < 0.001) and RDW (P = 0.032). The multiple linear regression analysis showed that RDW (P = 0.001) was positively correlated with uric acid level after the adjustment of related factors. Stepwise multiple logistic regression model confirmed that RDW (odds ratio: OR = 1.75) was independent determinants of high serum uric acid as well as sex (OR = 6.03), triglycerides (OR = 1.84), and Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN, OR = 1.30). RDW may be independently associated with serum UA level in patients with newly diagnosed hypertension. To firmly establish the causal role of RDW in the incidence of high uric acid level among hypertensive patients, large cohort studies are needed.

[Meta-analysis of risk factors for childhood cerebral palsy during pregnancy].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate major risk factors for childhood cerebral palsy (CP) during pregnancy and to provide evidence for the prevention of CP. METHODS: Using the search terms of "cerebral palsy", "pregnancy", "risk factor", and "case-control", a search was performed to collect case-control studies on the risk factors for childhood CP from 1998 to 2011. The obtained data were subjected to metaanalysis using fixed effects model and DersimonionLaird random effects model to quantitatively evaluate risk factors for childhood CP during pregnancy. RESULTS: Eighteen studies involving 11050 cases and 15941 controls were collected. The results of the multivariate analysis for risk factors of childhood CP during pregnancy were as follows: maternal age (≥35 years) (OR = 4.172, 95%CI = 1.670-10.426, P < 0.05), multiple pregnancy (OR = 8.402, 95% CI = 2.386-29.584, P < 0.05), medicine use in early pregnancy (OR = 3.974, 95% CI = 2.217-7.123, P < 0.05), harmful environment (OR = 3.299, 95% CI = 1.058-10.289, P < 0.05), recurrent vaginal bleeding during pregnancy (OR = 4.736, 95% CI = 1.792-12.517, P < 0.05), pregnancy infectious diseases (OR = 1.238, 95%CI: 0.284-5.395, P > 0.05), pregnancy induced hypertension (OR = 4.096, 95%CI: 2.246-7.469, P < 0.05), meat intake (OR = 1.436, 95%CI:0.382-5.393, P > 0.05), father smoking (OR = 2.376, 95%CI: 0.801-7.049, P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The major risk factors for childhood CP during pregnancy include advanced maternal age (≥35 years), multiple pregnancy, medicine use in early pregnancy, harmful environment, recurrent vaginal bleeding during pregnancy and pregnancy-induced hypertension.

[Primary risk factors of hepatitis E virus infection:a meta-analysis].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the main risk factors of hepatitis E virus infection. METHODS: Literatures published in China and abroad about the risk factors on the transmission of HEV were searched. HEV, risk factors, epidemiology and case-control were used as keywords to retrieve papers in Chinese literature databases including CNKI, Wanfang and SinoMed databases. The same strategy was used to retrieve English papers in English literature database including EBSCO and PubMed databases, supplemented by literature tracing method. Time range was from January 1994 to December 2012. A total of 258 papers were collected. Stata 11.0 software was used to calculate combined odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence internals (CI). RESULTS: A total of 21 studies was included in this Meta-analysis, which contained 3566 cases and 14 724 controls. The results of univariate analysis including OR (95%CI) : Dining out: 2.13 (1.62-2.81), consumption of aquatic products: 2.21 (1.76-3.31), unboiled water: 2.04 (1.13-3.71), not washing hands before meals:1.72 (1.07-2.77), common health facilities: 2.53(1.73-3.70), touching animals:2.00 (1.58-2.52), consumption of contaminated food:1.56 (1.18-2.05), contacting with patients: 2.33 (1.92-2.83), drinking alcohol: 2.56 (1.42-4.63) and gender (male):1.64 (1.15-2.33). The results of multivariate analysis including OR (95%CI) : Dining out: 2.04 (1.68-2.48), consumption of aquatic products: 2.31(1.70-3.15), unboiled water: 1.43 (1.10-1.85), not washing hands before meals: 2.01 (1.46-2.77), common health facilities: 2.28 (1.48-3.51), consumption of contaminated food: 2.16 (2.06-2.26), touching animals: 2.17 (1.55-3.04), contacting with patients: 2.32 (1.68-3.21), drinking alcohol: 1.66 (1.31-2.10) and gender (male): 1.67 (1.46-1.92). CONCLUSION: The independent risk factors of HEV infection were dining out, consumption of aquatic products, unboiled water, not washing hands before meals, common health facilities, touching animals, consumption of contaminated food, contacting with patients, drinking alcohol and gender (male).

Factors influencing axillary lymph node metastasis in invasive breast cancer.

PURPOSE: To explore the relationship between auxiliary lymph node metastasis and clinical features, and to identify the factors that affect metastasis occurrence. METHODS: A total of 164 cases of primary breast cancer were selected to investigate features such as age, concomitant chronic disease and pathologic diagnosis. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of the estrogen receptor (ER) and CerbB-2. Logistic regression was employed to analyze the factors that affect the incidence of lymph node metastases. RESULTS: The incidence of lymph node metastases was 46.3% among elderly patients with breast cancer. Based on logistic regression, chronic disease, scale of tumor, age, and ER expression affected the occurrence of lymph node metastases; the ORs were 3.05, 2.18, 0.34, and 3.83, respectively. Between different pathologic diagnoses and the risk factors, the OR scores were 12.7 and 8.02, respectively, for aggressive ductal carcinoma and aggressive lobular carcinoma auxiliary lymph node metastases. CONCLUSION: The incidence of lymph node metastases is affected by chronic disease, scale of tumor, age, ER expression and pathologic diagnosis.

A nested case-control study of maternal-neonatal transmission of hepatitis B virus in a Chinese population.

AIM: To examine the determinants of maternal-neonatal transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV). METHODS: A nested case-control study was conducted in Changsha, Hunan, People's Republic of China from January 1, 2005 to September 31, 2006. To avoid potential maternal blood contamination, we collected vein blood of newborns immediately after birth and before initial hepatitis B vaccination to determine the HBV infection status of the newborn. For each HBsAg-positive infant, one HBsAg-negative infant born to an HBsAg-positive mother was matched by hospital at birth (same), gender (same), and date of birth (within 1 mo). A face-to-face interview was conducted to collect clinical and epidemiological data. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the independent effects of various determinants on maternal-neonatal transmission of HBV. RESULTS: A total of 141 HBsAg-positive infants and 141 individually matched HBsAg-negative infants were included in the final analysis. Maternal first-degree family history of HBV infection, intrahepatic cholestasis, and premature rupture of membranes were risk factors for perinatal transmission of HBV, whereas systematic treatment and HBV immunoglobulin injections for mothers with HBV infection were protective factors for maternal-neonatal transmission of HBV, after adjustment for potential confounding factors. CONCLUSION: For HBsAg-positive mothers, systematic treatment, HBV immunoglobulin administration, and controlling intrahepatic cholestasis and pregnancy complications may reduce the incidence of perinatal transmission of HBV.

Comparison of the efficacy of tenofovir and adefovir in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B: a systematic review.

Chronic viral hepatitis B remains a global public health concern. Currently, several drugs, such as tenofovir and adefovir, are recommended for treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B. tenofovir is a nucleoside analog with selective activity against hepatitis b virus and has been shown to be more potent in vitro than adefovir. But the results of trials comparing tenofovir and adefovir in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B were inconsistent. However, there was no systematic review on the comparison of the efficacy of tenofovir and adefovir in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. To evaluate the comparison of the efficacy of tenofovir and adefovir in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials. We searched PUBMED, Web of Science, EMBASE, CNKI, VIP database, WANFANG database, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Review. Finally six studies were left for analysis which involved 910 patients in total, of whom 576 were included in tenofovir groups and 334 were included in adefovir groups. At the end of 48-week treatment, tenofovir was superior to adefovir at the HBV-DNA suppression in patients[RR = 2.59; 95%CI(1.01-6.67), P = 0.05]. While there was no significant difference in the ALT normalization[RR = 1.15; 95%CI(0.96-1.37), P = 0.14], HBeAg seroconversion[RR = 1.32; 95%CI(1.00-1.75), P = 0.05] and HBsAg loss rate[RR = 1.19; 95%CI(0.74-1.91), P = 0.48]. More high-quality, well-designed, randomized controlled, multi-center trails are clearly needed to guide evolving standards of care for chronic hepatitis B.

[Application of confirmatory factor analysis in studying the achievements of index system in clinical sciences and technologies].

To explore the role of confirmatory factor analysis in checking the construct validity of index system in clinical sciences and technologies and to determine the weighting of each index. Data were collected based on the achievements regarding the index system of sciences, technologies and analyzed by softwares SPSS and AMOS. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to assess the construct validity and to identify the weighting. The P values for testing the two-order confirmatory factor models were bigger than 0.05, indicating that the actual data were in agreement with theory in designing the index system. Statistics on the goodness fit index (GFI) such as GFI were bigger than 0.90, indicating that they were satisfactory. Weightings for each index were identified based on factor loading of confirmatory factor analysis, showing that they were highly correlated with that from the Delphi method. Confirmatory factor analysis appeared to be an appropriate method in analyzing the associations among the index variables, and could be widely used to assess the construct validity of index system and identifying the weightings.

[Nested case-control study on the influence factors of perinatal stage transmission of hepatitis B virus].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the influence factors of perinatal stage transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and to provide scientific evidence for the prevention of perinatal stag transmission of HBV. METHODS: A 1:1 matched nested case-control study was conducted, and 141 pair of pregnant women with HBsAg-positive and their newborns were enrolled. A questionnaire was performed and blood-related indicators were detected. The data were dealt with single factor analysis and conditional logistic regression analysis using SPSS 13.0 and SAS 8.1. RESULTS: Single factor paired Chi-square test showed that education, first class family history, disfunction of liver, serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase, systematic treatment, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP), fetal distress, and vaccinating hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) were the risk factors of perinatal stage transmission of HBV. Conditional logistic regression analysis indicated that first class family history, vaccinating HBIG, systematic treatment, and ICP were the risk factors of perinatal stage transmission of HBV. CONCLUSION: For women with HB-sAg-positive, active treatment, the standard vaccination of HBIG, and preventing and controlling the incidence of ICP may reduce the incidence of perinatal stage transmission of HBV.

Detection of HBsAg, HBcAg, and HBV DNA in ovarian tissues from patients with HBV infection.

AIM: To investigate the presence of HBsAg, HBcAg, and HBV DNA in ovarian tissues from patients with HBV infection. METHODS: HBsAg and HBcAg were examined in ovarian biopsy tissues from 26 patients with HBV infection by immunocytochemistry, and HBV DNA was detected in ovarian tissues by PCR. RESULTS: HBsAg and HBcAg were present with the same positive rate of 34.6% (9/26). The total positive rate was 46.2% (12/26). HBsAg and HBcAg were positive in 6 (23.1%) of the 26 patients. Brown positive particles were diffusely distributed in ovarian cells. The positive rate of HBV DNA was 58.3% (7/12). CONCLUSION: HBsAg, HBcAg, and HBV DNA can be detected in ovarian tissues from patients with HBV infection. The presence of HBsAg and HBcAg in ovarian tissues does not correlate with the HBV markers in serum.

[Prevalence and influence factors of hypertension among mechanic factory workers].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the status and influence factors of hypertension on mechanic factory workers and to provide reference for further hypertension prevention and control. METHODS: A cross-sectional study on 1205 workers (exposed to different noise levels) in Hunan was carried out by using questionaire and measuring the blood pressure of the workers and the noise exposure level in the workplace. The prevalence and the influence factors of hypertension among mechanic factory workers were analysed. RESULTS: The hypertension prevalence was 12.1%. Logistic regression analysis showed the body weight index (BMI), age, and history of hypertension in parents and accumulative noise dose levels influenced the hypertension prevalence. CONCLUSION: Controlling the body weight, reducing alcohol consumption, decreasing the sound pressure level in workshops and advocating healthy diet may reduce the prevalence rate of hypertension among mechanic factory workers.

[Epidemiological study on the occupational noise exposure and hypertension in mechanic factory workers].

OBJECTIVE: To study the relations of noise expose and hypertension in mechanic factory workers. METHODS: A cross-sectional study on 1205 workers (exposed to different noise levels) in Hunan was carried out, using questionnaire, blood pressure of the workers and the exposure level to noise at workplace. RESULTS: The prevalence of hypertension was 12.1% in mechanic factory workers. There was an increasing tendency of hypertension rate along with the increase of accumulative noise doses (tendency chi-squared = 29.932, P < 0.01). Result by logistic regression analysis after adjusting age, history of hypertension in parents and body weight index showed that the risk of hypertension increased about 5% by 1 dB(A) of more noise exposure (OR = 1.047). CONCLUSION: Noise exposure might serve as a risk factor of hypertension. Reducing the sound pressure level in workshops could work as an effective measure to control the incidence rate of hypertension in mechanic factory workers.

[Presence and significance of HBV in renal tissues from patients with HBV infection].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the presence and significance of HBsAg, HBcAg, and HBV DNA in renal tissues from patients with HBV infection. METHODS: The presences of HBsAg and HBcAg were measured in the renal tissues of 63 patients with HBV associated glomerulonephritis (HBV-GN), 20 patients with non-HBV associated glomerulonephritis (NHBV-GN), and 12 other renal patients with positive HBV markers (such as renal tuberculosis, renal calculi, renal cellular carcinoma, and renal atrophy, and so on) by immunocytochemistry. HBV DNA was detected in the renal tissues of those patients with positive immunocytochemic results by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS: HBsAg and HBcAg were present with the positive rates of 76.2% and 42.9% respectively in the renal tissues of HBV-GN patients, which were significantly higher than those of NHBV-GN patients, but had no statistical difference compared with those of other renal patients with positive HBV markers. The positive expression rates of HBsAg and HBcAg in renal tissues showed no statistically significant difference between HBV-GN patients with positive serum HBeAg and HBV-GN patients with negative serum HBeAg. By PCR, 13 out of 17 HBV-GN patients (76.5%) were positive, and 2 out of 8 patients with other renal diseases (25%) were positive. CONCLUSION: The location of HBV in the renal tissues may lead to renal lesions, and it plays a role in the replication, the preservation of virus, and the transmission of hepatitis B.