[Recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease in China].

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a frequent complication of patients with connective tissue disease (CTD) and significantly affects morbidity and mortality. Disease course may vary from stable or mildly progressive to more severe, with rapid loss of lung function. At present, there are great challenges and poor prognosis in the diagnosis and treatment of CTD-ILD. Based on the evidence and guidelines from China and other countries, experts from the Chinese Rheumatology Association developed standardization of diagnosis and treatment of CTD-ILD. The aim is to strengthen the early identification of, standardize the diagnosis and treatment of CTD-ILD, and delay the progress of the disease.

Decreased gray matter concentration and local synchronization of spontaneous activity in the motor cortex in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Patients with DMD have demonstrated functional abnormalities in the motor-related brain areas in previous PET, MRS, and TMS studies. We applied structural MR imaging and RS-fMRI in patients with DMD for the first time, and aimed to investigate the GMC and ReHo or local synchronization of spontaneous activity in the motor cortex. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten boys with DMD (6.4-14.0 years of age) and 15 healthy controls (7.9-15.1 years of age) underwent brain structural MR imaging and RS-fMRI scanning. GMC and local synchronization of spontaneous activity in the motor cortex were analyzed by using VBM and ReHo approaches, respectively. RESULTS: Compared with healthy controls, boys with DMD showed decreased GMC in the left PSMC and decreased ReHo in the bilateral PMSC as well as in the supplementary motor area (P < .05, corrected). CONCLUSIONS: The current results indicate that boys with DMD have both GMC loss and decreased local synchronization of spontaneous activity in the motor cortex, which might be due to the deficiency of dystrophin in the brain.

[An epidemiological study on etiology of mental retardation].

A cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted to assess the prevalence and etiology of mental retardation (MR) among children under 14 years of age. The definition of MR and the criteria for diagnosis were adopted from WHO (1985). The IQ/DQ was evaluated with standardized psychological tests. The etiology of MR was specified by medical, genetic and psychosocial studies. A total of 862 retarded children were found among 85,170 surveyed. The overall adjusted prevalence rate was 1.20%. The percentage of mild, moderate, severe and profound MR was 60.6%, 22.7%, 9.6%, and 7.1%, respectively. Specific causes were found in 673 cases (79.1%). The etiology was unknown in 21.9% children. Timing of the causes showed prenatal in 34% perinatal 11.9%, postnatal 33%. Biomedical causes consisted of 89.6% and sociocultural factors, 10.4%. Among the prenatal factors, genetic diseases ranked first and manifested as chromosomal abnormalities and inborn errors of metabolism. Among the postnatal causes, sequelae of CNS infections and other forms of acquired brain insult were most important. Most children of socio-cultural MR were at school age and of the mild category. Our results show that most MR cases are preventable.