[Influence of body fat percentage and body mass index on semen parameters in adult males].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the influence of body fat percentage (BF%) and body mass index (BMI) on the semen quality of adult males. METHODS: A total of 125 randomly selected male infertility patients underwent examinations of semen quality, BMI and BF% on the day of enrollment. With BMI ≥28 kg/m2 as the criterion of obesity, 50 of the patients fell into the category of obesity and 75 into that of non-obesity, while with BF% >25% as the criterion, 69 belonged to the obesity and 56 to the non-obesity type. We compared the semen parameters of the subjects between the obesity and non-obesity groups based on the two criteria and analyzed the correlation of semen quality with age, BF% and BMI. RESULTS: With BF% as the criterion, the obesity patients, as compared with the non-obesity men, showed significantly lower semen volume (ï¼»2.94 ± 1.15ï¼½ vs ï¼»3.51 ± 1.27ï¼½ ml, P < 0.05), percentage of grade a+b sperm (ï¼»33.37 ± 19.80ï¼½% vs ï¼»41.87 ± 15.43ï¼½%, P < 0.05) and sperm motility (ï¼»56.31 ± 22.26ï¼½% vs ï¼»64.95 ± 18.22ï¼½%, P < 0.05). Similar results were observed with BMI as the criterion in the semen volume (ï¼»2.86 ± 1.11ï¼½ vs ï¼»3.34 ± 1.26ï¼½ ml, P < 0.05), percentage of grade a sperm (ï¼»16.33 ± 13.80ï¼½% vs ï¼»25.09 ± 15.06ï¼½%, P < 0.05), percentage of grade a+b sperm (ï¼»30.10 ± 18.43ï¼½% vs ï¼»39.80 ± 17.50ï¼½%, P < 0.05) and sperm motility (ï¼»53.62 ± 21.56ï¼½% vs ï¼»62.83 ± 20.47ï¼½%, P < 0.05). Age was correlated negatively with sperm motility (r = －0.20,P < 0.05), BF% negatively with the semen volume (r = －0.21, P < 0.05), the percentage of grade a sperm (r = －0.21, P < 0.05) and the percentage of grade a+b sperm (r = －0.18, P <0.05), and BMI negatively with the semen volume (r = －0.26, P < 0.01), percentage of grade a sperm (r = －0.23, P<0.01) and percentage of grade a+b sperm (r = －0.18, P < 0.05). Further multivariate analysis also showed that BF% was negatively correlated with the semen volume and percentage of grade a+b sperm after exclusion of age and other factors. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity affects the semen volume, percentage of grade a sperm, percentage of grade a+b sperm and sperm motility in male infertility patients. And BF% can be used as an indicator in the diagnosis of obesity.

Case detection and diagnosis of primary aldosteronism - The consensus of Taiwan Society of Aldosteronism.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Even though the increasing clinical recognition of primary aldosteronism (PA) as a public health issue, its heightened risk profiles and the availability of targeted surgical/medical treatment being more understood, consensus in its diagnosis and management based on medical evidence, while recognizing the constraints of our real-world clinical practice in Taiwan, has not been reached. METHODS: The Taiwan Society of Aldosteronism (TSA) Task Force acknowledges the above-mentioned issues and reached this Taiwan PA consensus at its inaugural meeting, in order to provide updated information of internationally acceptable standards, and also to incorporate our local disease characteristics into the management of PA. RESULTS: When there is suspicion of PA, a plasma aldosterone to renin ratio (ARR) should be obtained initially. Patients with abnormal ARR will undergo confirmatory laboratory and image tests. Subtype classification with adrenal venous sampling (AVS) or NP-59 nuclear imaging, if AVS not available, to lateralize PA is recommended when patients are considered for adrenalectomy. The strengths and weaknesses of the currently available identification methods are discussed, focusing especially on result interpretation. CONCLUSION: With this consensus we hope to raise more awareness of PA among medical professionals and hypertensive patients in Taiwan, and to facilitate reconciliation of better detection, identification and treatment of patients with PA.

Exploring Factors Associated with Functional Change and Predictors of Participation Improvement-A Two Years Follow-Up on People with Depression.

The purpose of this study is to understand the functional status distribution and to explore the factors associated with changes in functional status and social participation in people with depression using two-year follow-up data. Subjects were selected from the Taiwan Databank of Persons with Disabilities (TDPD) if they had an evaluation date between July 2012 and 31 December 2017. We used data for 1138 individuals with multiple evaluation records and who were diagnosed with depression. The WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) was the primary functional status measure. Other factors selected from the TDPD included social demographic data, living situation, employment status, economic status, and educational level. The results show scores in all dimensions of the WHODAS 2.0 declined over two years, especially in the domains of cognition, household activities, social participation, and total WHODAS 2.0 score. Aging groups showed poor recovery in cognition, getting along with others, and household activities. People living in suburban areas showed poorer recovery than people living in rural and urban areas in cognition, self-care, and general function (total score of WHODAS 2.0). Employment was also strongly associated with functional recovery in household activities, social participation, and general function. The original scores for cognition and getting along with others showed a significant negative relationship with social participation improvement. Our results can be used by policy makers to provide resources and conduct investigations, and by clinicians when making rehabilitation plans.

Enhanced hydrolysis of ß-cypermethrin caused by deletions in the glycin-rich region of carboxylesterase 001G from Helicoverpa armigera.

BACKGROUND: Carboxylesterase (CarE) is a major class of enzyme involved in the detoxification of toxic xenobiotics in various insect species. Previous work has shown that the carboxylesterase gene CarE001G found in Helicoverpa armigera is more active and can metabolize synthesized pyrethroids, such as ß-cypermethrin, one of the commonly used commercial insecticides for lepidopteran pest control. In addition, CarE001G is very special as it has a very specific glycine-rich region located adjacent to its C-terminal. But whether mutations in this unique sequence can change the biochemistry and function of CarE001G are unknown. RESULTS: In this study, four variants of CarE001G with different deletions in the glycine-rich region were obtained and functionally expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant proteins were purified and confirmed by Western blot and mass spectrometry analyses. These mutant enzymes showed high catalytic efficiency toward the model substrate α-naphthyl acetate. Inhibition study showed that ß-cypermethrin had relatively strong inhibition on CarE activities. In vitro metabolism assay showed that the mutant enzymes significantly enhanced their metabolic activities toward ß-cypermethrin with specific activities between 4.0 and 5.6 nmol L-1 min-1 mg-1 protein. Molecular docking analyses consistently demonstrated that deletion mutations in the glycine-rich region may facilitate the anchoring of the ß-cypermethrin molecule in the active binding pocket of the mutant enzymes. CONCLUSION: The data show that deletion mutations can cause qualitative change in the capacity of CarEs in the detoxification of ß-cypermethrin. This indicates that deletion mutations in the glycine-rich region may have the potential to cause synthesized pyrethroid (SP) resistance in H. armigera in the future. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

[Expression of pituitary tumor transforming gene and C-myc gene in patients with multiple myeloma].

The study was purposed to explore the expressions of pituitary tumor transforming gene and c-myc gene in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and its relationship with pathogenesis of MM. Expressions of pituitary tumor transforming gene and c-myc gene mRNA in BMMNC from 33 patients with MM and 10 normal controls were detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results showed that the expressions of pituitary tumor transforming gene and c-myc gene mRNA were significantly higher in MM patients those that in normal controls (p<0.05). The expression of pituitary tumor transforming gene mRNA was significantly correlated with the expression of c-myc gene (r=0.801, p<0.05). In conclusion, the overexpressions of pituitary tumor transforming gene and c-myc gene may be related to the pathogenesis and progression of MM.

[Preliminary study of multivariable model in predicting response to immunosuppressive therapy in patients with aplastic anemia].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential usefulness of a multivariable model in predicting the response to immunosuppressive therapy (IST) in patients with aplastic anemia (AA), and its application to the clinical practice. METHODS: PB T cells subpopulation and BM T cells intracellular IFN-gamma and IL-4 were serially analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM) before and during treatment. HLA-DRB1 * 1501 phenotype was analyzed by PCR-SSP. The predictive potentials of different parameter combinations for clinical responsiveness were statistically assessed. RESULTS: In all evaluated parameters, CD8+ cell intracellular IFN-gamma had the relatively best diagnostic value with sensitivity and specificity of 94.3% and 62.5%, and positive and negative predictive value of 84.6% and 83.3% respectively. Positive CD8+ cell intracellular IFN-gamma plus Tc1/Tc2 < 50 could increase the positive predictive value to 92.3%. A multivariable model consisting of absolute neutrophil count (ANC), BM T cell intracellular IFN-gamma, Tc1/Tc2 ratio and HLA-DRB * 1501 phenotype of the patients was finally established. CONCLUSION: The multivariable model is superior to each of the single parameters in terms of predictive power of IST therapeutic outcome, and its higher accuracy and the clinical application make it potentially useful in practice.

[Activation of platelet-neutrophil mediated by platelet-activating factor].

To investigate the pathophysiological mechanisms for platelet-neutrophils cross talk mediated by platelet-activating factor (PAF) and to lay a foundation for clinical application, ginkgolides B (GB), a PAF receptor antagonist, was added in the whole blood to block the effects of PAF on activation of platelet-neutrophil; PAF and ADP were respectively added in the whole blood to monitor the expression of CD62P on platelet by flow cytometry; PAF and ADP were added in the whole blood to monitor the expression of CD11b on neutrophil by flow cytometry; PAF and ADP were added in the whole blood to monitor the platelet-leucocyte aggregates (PLA) which were PLA in the total leucocyte population (PLA/L) and the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of CD42b. Outcomes were analyzed by t-test, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The results showed that the expression of CD62P on platelats, the expression of CD11b on neutrophils and PLA formation were all increased by PAF and ADP; the PAF receptor antagonists (GB) could obviously inhibit the expression of CD62P, CD11b and PLA formation induced by PAF, but could not completely inhibit the activation of platelet and neutrophil, and the platelet-neutrophil cross talk; GB could inhibit the expression of CD62P and CD11b induced by ADP, but could not conpletely inhibit the activation of platelet and neutrophli; GB could not obviously inhibit the platelet-leucocyte aggregates mediated by ADP. It is concluded that the multiligand-receptor systems involved in PLA formation and platelet-netrophils cross talk seem to be regulated by complex mechanisms; the PAF receptor antagonists (GB) obviously inhibit the effect of PAF, and may be widely utilized in the therapy of thrombosis and inflammation.