Trends in venous diameter and brachial artery volume flow of AVF in 12 weeks postoperatively.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the trends of venous diameter and brachial artery volume flow (VF) in 12 weeks after arteriovenous fistula (AVF) and the influence of preoperative arterial diameter on this trend. Our goal was to clarify the maturation process within 12 weeks after AVF surgery. METHODS: Clinical data of 257 patients with end-stage renal disease who had their first radial-cephalic AVF established at our institution from February 1, 2023 to February 1, 2024 were included. The patients were divided into group A (radial artery diameter <1.5 mm), group B (radial artery diameter 1.5-2.0 mm), and group C (radial artery diameter >2.0 mm) according to the preoperative radial artery diameter. After AVF surgery, the artery and vein diameter, brachial artery VF were recorded at 1 day, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 weeks and 12 weeks. RESULTS: 1. The venous diameter and brachial artery VF of AVF showed an upward trend, and increased significantly in 1 day-6 weeks postoperatively (P < 0.05),especially between 1 day and 2 weeks, while no significant difference in the increases at 6-12 weeks. 2. Groups B and C were in line with the above trend, whereas the patients in group A showed best growth in 2-4 weeks postoperatively. 3. The natural maturation rates of AVF in groups B and C were significantly better than that of group A at all postoperative time (P＜0.05). CONCLUSION: The AVF was in a developmentally dominant stage at 6 weeks postoperatively, with 1 day-2 weeks being particularly prominent. The postoperative natural maturation rate of AVF with arteries diameter of<1.5 mm was low, the direct use of such arteries to establish AVF need careful consideration.

Effects of Gustatory and Olfactory Stimulation on Feeding Outcomes in Preterm Infants: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Few primary studies have examined the impact of olfactory and gustatory stimulation on premature infants, and variability exists in reported outcomes. PURPOSE: To explore the effects of olfactory and gustatory stimulation on feeding outcomes in preterm infants. DATA SOURCES: A literature search was conducted in 4 databases (CENTRAL, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL) from the inception of the databases to May 2024. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-RCTs to explore the effects of olfactory and gustatory stimulation on feeding outcomes in preterm infants were included. DATA EXTRACTION: Two reviewers independently extracted data from the included studies and completed the form designed for data extraction. RESULTS: Eleven RCTs and quasi-RCTs comprising 1009 preterm infants were included. Meta-analysis found that olfactory and gustatory stimulation significantly shortened the time to reach full oral feeds ( days ) (mean difference [MD]: -2.52, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -3.88 to -1.16, P = .0003), while they had no significant differences in time to achieve full enteral feeds ( days ), postmenstrual age (PMA) at the removal of the nasogastric tube ( weeks ), weight at discharge ( grams ), weight gain ( grams ), head circumference at discharge ( cm ), length at discharge ( cm ), total duration of parenteral nutrition ( days ), necrotizing enterocolitis, hospitalization duration ( days ), PMA at discharge ( weeks ). IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE AND RESEARCH: Large sample, multicenter studies are needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of olfactory and gustatory stimulation on feeding outcomes in preterm infants.

The factors associated with the caregiving burden among family caregivers of pediatric patients with fractures: A descriptive cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: To investigate the factors linked to the caregiving burden among family caregivers of pediatric patients with fractures. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional research used non-probabilistic sampling involving 200 pediatric patients (0-14 years) with fractures and their family caregivers. Data was collected between November 2019 and June 2020. The Chinese version of the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) and Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ) assessed caregiving burden and coping styles. We examined clinical data of patients and caregivers, identifying factors influencing caregiving burden by integrating findings from parallel studies, and conducted statistical analyses on these factors. RESULTS: Most family caregivers in this study were women (80.5%), with mothers comprising 56% of the total. The average ZBI score was 40.65 ± 17.27, and 81.5% of caregivers had moderate or severe burden. Factors associated with caregiving burden included caregiver gender, co-caregivers, positive and negative coping scores, and monthly income. The significant factors that were identified accounted for approximately 42.4% of the variability in the caregiving burden. CONCLUSIONS: This study concluded that family caregivers of pediatric patients with fractures often experience moderate to severe burdens, especially female caregivers, those without co-caregivers, using negative coping strategies, and from low-income families. Thus, it is essential to provide these families with professional information, policy support, and affordable, effective care services. IMPLICATIONS TO PRACTICE: Healthcare professionals should prioritize addressing the caregiving burden of family caregivers of pediatric patients with fractures. Nurses can actively improve the health of these pediatric patients and ease parental burden by providing information about social support systems.

Online Activity Recognition Combining Dynamic Segmentation and Emergent Modeling.

Activity recognition is fundamental to many applications envisaged in pervasive computing, especially in smart environments where the resident's data collected from sensors will be mapped to human activities. Previous research usually focuses on scripted or pre-segmented sequences related to activities, whereas many real-world deployments require information about the ongoing activities in real time. In this paper, we propose an online activity recognition model on streaming sensor data that incorporates the spatio-temporal correlation-based dynamic segmentation method and the stigmergy-based emergent modeling method to recognize activities when new sensor events are recorded. The dynamic segmentation approach integrating sensor correlation and time correlation judges whether two consecutive sensor events belong to the same window or not, avoiding events from very different functional areas or with a long time interval in the same window, thus obtaining the segmented window for every single event. Then, the emergent paradigm with marker-based stigmergy is adopted to build activity features that are explicitly represented as a directed weighted network to define the context for the last sensor event in this window, which does not need sophisticated domain knowledge. We validate the proposed method utilizing the real-world dataset Aruba from the CASAS project and the results show the effectiveness.

Traffic-related metrics and adverse birth outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Given the inconsistency of epidemiologic evidence for associations between maternal exposures to traffic-related metrics and adverse birth outcomes, this manuscript aims to provide clarity on this topic. Pooled meta-estimates were calculated using random-effects analyses. Subgroup analyses were conducted by study area, study design, and Newcastle-Ottawa quality score (NOS). Funnel plots and Egger's test were conducted to evaluate the publication bias, and Fail-safe Numbers (Fail-safe N) were measured to evaluate the robustness of models. From the initial 740 studies (last search, July 11, 2019), 26 studies were included in our analysis. The pooled odds ratio for the change in small for gestational age associated with per 500 m decrease in the distance to roads was 1.016 (95% CI: 1.004, 1.029). Subgroup analyses revealed significant positive associations between term low birth weight and traffic density in higher-quality literatures with higher NOS [1.060 (95% CI: 1.002, 1.121)], cohort studies [1.020 (95% CI: 1.006, 1.033)], and studies in North America [1.018 (95% CI: 1.005, 1.131)]. The buffer of traffic density made no difference in the effect size. Traffic density seemed to be a better indicator of traffic pollution than the distance to roads.

Exploring the Laplace Prior in Radio Tomographic Imaging with Sparse Bayesian Learning towards the Robustness to Multipath Fading.

Radio tomographic imaging (RTI) is a technology for target localization by using radiofrequency (RF) sensors in a wireless network. The change of the attenuation field caused by thetarget is represented by a shadowing image, which is then used to estimate the target's position.The shadowing image can be reconstructed from the variation of the received signal strength (RSS)in the wireless network. However, due to the interference from multi-path fading, not all the RSSvariations are reliable. If the unreliable RSS variations are used for image reconstruction, someartifacts will appear in the shadowing image, which may cause the target's position being wronglyestimated. Due to the sparse property of the shadowing image, sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) canbe employed for signal reconstruction. Aiming at enhancing the robustness to multipath fading,this paper explores the Laplace prior to characterize the shadowing image under the frameworkof SBL. Bayesian modeling, Bayesian inference and the fast algorithm are presented to achieve themaximum-a-posterior (MAP) solution. Finally, imaging, localization and tracking experiments fromthree different scenarios are conducted to validate the robustness to multipath fading. Meanwhile,the improved computational efficiency of using Laplace prior is validated in the localization-timeexperiment as well.

Efficient Recognition of Informative Measurement in the RF-Based Device-Free Localization.

Device-Free Localization (DFL) based on the Radio Frequency (RF) is an emerging wireless sensing technology to perceive the position information of the target. To realize the real-time DFL with lower power, Back-projection Radio Tomographic Imaging (BRTI) has been used as a lightweight method to achieve the goal. However, the multipath noise in the RF sensing network may interfere with the measurement and the BRTI reconstruction performance. To resist the multipath interference in the observed data, it is necessary to recognize the informative RF link measurements that are truly affected by the target appearance. However, the existing methods based on the RF link state analysis are limited by the complex distribution of the RF link state and the high time complexity. In this paper, to enhance the performance of RF link state analysis, the RF link state analysis is transformed into a decomposition problem of the RF link state matrix, and an efficient RF link recognition method based on the low-rank and sparse decomposition is proposed to sense the spatiotemporal variation of the RF link state and accurately figure out the target-affected RF links. From the experimental results, the RF links recognized by the proposed method effectively reflect the target-induced RSS measurement variation with less time. Besides, the proposed method by recognizing the informative measurement is helpful to improve the accuracy of BRTI and enhance the efficiency in actual DFL applications.

The effects of fat layer on temperature distribution during microwave atrial fibrillation catheter ablation.

To investigate the effects of fat layer on the temperature distribution during microwave atrial fibrillation catheter ablation in the conditions of different ablation time; 3D finite element models (fat layer and no fat layer) were built, and temperature distribution was obtained based on coupled electromagnetic-thermal analysis at 2.45 GHz and 30 W of microwave power. Results shown: in the endocardial ablation, the existence of the fat layer did not affect the shape of the 50 °C contour before 30 s. The increase speed of depth became quite slowly in the model with fat layer after 30 s. When ablation depth needed fixed, there are no significant effect on effectively ablation depth whether fat layer over or not. However, the existence of fat layer makes the temperature lower in the myocardium, and maximum temperature point closer to the myocardium surface. What is more, in the model with fat layer, effective ablation reach lower maximum temperature and the shallower depth of 50 °C contour. But there are larger ablation axial length and transverse width. In this case, doctor should ensure safety of normal cardiac tissue around the target tissue. In the epicardial ablation, the existence of fat layer seriously affects result of the microwave ablation. The epicardial ablation needs more heating time to create lesion. But epicardial ablation can be better controlled in the shape of effective ablation area because of the slowly increase of target variables after the appearing of 50 °C contour. Doctor can choose endocardial or epicardial ablation in different case of clinic requirement.

Association between glutathione S-transferases M1 and T1 gene polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Genetic polymorphisms in glutathione S-transferases M1 (GSTM1) and T1 (GSTT1) genes have been widely reported and considered to have a significant effect on prostate cancer (PCa) risk, but the results are inconsistent. To evaluate the impact of the GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphism on PCa risk, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis based on 18 eligible studies. A total of 18 studies, including 7,119 subjects for GSTM1 and 6,454 subjects for GSTT1 between 1999 and 2012 were identified through researching MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature database. A meta-analysis was performed to obtain summary-estimated odd ratios and 95% confidence intervals of GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms for PCa, with attention to study quality and publication bias. Overall, there is a significant association between GSTM1 (odds ratio (OR) = 1.407, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) = 1.147-1.727, I(2) = 73.2%, P = 0.001) genotypes and PCa susceptibility. Significant associations were also observed in subgroups of Caucasian populations (OR = 1.262, 95% CI = 1.055-1.511, I(2) = 48.7%, P = 0.011) and Asian populations (OR = 1.776, 95% CI = 1.134-2.781, I(2) = 83.4%, P = 0.012). However, no significant association was found (OR = 1.776, 95% CI = 1.134-2.781, P = 0.243) in African-American populations when stratified by ethnicity. While, there was no significant association seen between GSTT1 (OR = 1.003, 95% CI = 0.823-1.298, I(2) = 68.8%, P = 0.778) genotypes and PCa risk. However, no significant associations were observed in subgroups of Caucasian populations (OR = 1.086, 95% CI = 0.801-1.471, I(2) = 72.1%, P = 0.597) and Asian populations (OR = 0.961, 95% CI = 0.644-1.434, I(2) = 73.0%, P = 0.846), and similar result was found among African-American populations (OR = 0.802, 95% CI = 0.194-3.321, P = 0.761) when stratified by ethnicity. Our results suggest that the GSTM1 gene polymorphism contributes to PCa susceptibility, while GSTT1 gene polymorphism is not associated with PCa in our study.

Polycomb chromobox (Cbx) 7 modulates activation-induced CD4+ T cell apoptosis.

CD4(+) T cell polarization plays a critical role in a number of immune disorders; the pathogenesis is unclear. Chromobox homolog 7 (Cbx7) is involved in the gene transcription of several cell types. This study aims to investigate the mechanism by which Cbx7 modulates the CD4(+) T cell polarization. Expression of Cbx7 was assessed by quantitative RT-PCR and Western blotting. Apoptosis of CD4(+) T cell was analyzed by flow cytometry. The FasL promoter methylation was evaluated by the methylation specific PCR. The results showed that CD4(+) CD25(-) T cells express Cbx7 that was increased significantly after activation by exposing to anti-CD3/CD28 Ab, but suppressed by exposing to specific antigens. More apoptotic cells were detected in CD4(+) T cells with the Cbx7 gene knockdown. Exposure to insulin-like growth factor-1 up regulated the expression of Cbx7 in CD4(+) T cells. After antigen-specific TCR activation, Cbx7-deficient CD4(+) T cells expressed more FasL and showed the FasL gene promoter hyper demethylation than wild CD4(+) T cells. In addition, CD4(+) T cells with overexpression of Cbx7 showed lower levels of FasL gene promoter demethylation. We conclude that CD4(+) T cells express Cbx7; the latter prevents FasL expression and the activation-induced CD4(+) T cell apoptosis.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia with intestinal Behçet's disease: A case report.

Behçet's disease (BD) is a rare condition that is seldom associated with hematological malignancies. In this case report, we present the unique case of a 7-year-old girl diagnosed with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) and intestinal BD. The patient received allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), which resulted in complete remission of both JMML and BD. Our findings suggest that allo-HSCT may be a feasible treatment option for JMML patients with coexisting BD, and holds promise for achieving remission of both illnesses. However, further clinical investigations are needed to validate these findings.

Salvage treatment of ruxolitinib for refractory adenovirus-associated hemophagocytic syndrome post-haploidentical allogeneic stem cell transplantation: a case report.

Background: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare complication following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Currently, there is a lack of consensus recommendations for the treatment of post-transplant HLH. This case report emphasizes the successful utilization of ruxolitinib as a salvage therapy for HLH post-HSCT. The aim is to provide valuable insights into the optimal management of this rare and complex complication. Case Description: We present a case study of an 11-year-old male patient diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia who received a haploidentical HSCT. On the 86th day post-transplantation, the patient developed recurrent fever, hepatomegaly, hypertriglyceridemia, severe pancytopenia, and elevated levels of inflammatory factors and ferritin. Hemophagocytosis was observed in the bone marrow, and subsequent DNA next-generation sequencing identified adenovirus type C infection, leading to a diagnosis of adenovirus-associated HLH. After unsuccessful treatment attempts with cidofovir, dexamethasone, immunoglobulin, plasmapheresis, and etoposide, ruxolitinib was administered. Remarkably, the patient's clinical symptoms rapidly improved, and his test results gradually normalized with ruxolitinib therapy. The adenovirus viral load became undetectable by the 180th day. With continuous remission, ruxolitinib was discontinued on the 137th day post-transplantation, and a 15-month follow-up examination showed no relapse. Conclusions: We present a case of adenovirus-related secondary HLH (sHLH) post-HSCT, which was effectively treated with ruxolitinib. Our case highlights the potential of ruxolitinib as a therapeutic option for patients with viral infections and sHLH. Nonetheless, the safety and efficacy of this innovative treatment should be evaluated in forthcoming large-scale clinical trials.

Safety of different concentrations of glycerine enema for meconium evacuation in preterm infants: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Various approaches are employed to expedite the passage of meconium in preterm infants within the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), with glycerine enemas being the most frequently used. Due to the potential risk of high osmolality-induced harm to the intestinal mucosa, diluted glycerine enema solutions are commonly used in clinical practice. The challenge lies in the current lack of knowledge regarding the safest and most effective concentration of glycerine enema. This research aims to ascertain the safety of different concentrations of glycerine enema solution in preterm infants. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study protocol is for a single-centre, two-arm, parallel-group, double-blind and non-inferiority randomised controlled trial. Participants will be recruited from a NICU in a teriary class A hospital in China, and eligible infants will be randomly allocated to either the glycerine (mL): saline (mL) group in a 3:7 ratio or the 1:9 ratio group. The enema procedure will adhere to the standardised operational protocols. Primary outcomes encompass necrotising enterocolitis and rectal bleeding, while secondary outcomes encompass feeding parameters, meconium passage outcomes and splanchnic regional oxygen saturation. Analyses will compare the two trial arms based on an intention-to-treat allocation. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This trial is approved by the ethics committee of the Medical Ethics Committee of West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR2300079199.

Genetic polymorphisms in glutathione S-transferases P1 (GSTP1) Ile105Val and prostate cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Numerous epidemiological studies have evaluated the association between the glutathione S-transferases P1 (GSTP1) Ile105Val polymorphisms and prostate cancer (PCa) risk. However, these studies have yielded conflicting results. A comprehensive search was conducted through researching MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE, and a total of 13 studies including 3,227 cases and 3,945 controls were identified. A meta-analysis was performed to obtain a summary of estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of GSTP1 polymorphisms for PCa, with attention to study quality and publication bias. The GSTP1 Ile158Val variant genotypes are less associated with increased risk of PCa for the homozygote model (Val/Val vs Ile/Ile: OR = 1.42; I(2) = 63.7%; 95% CI = 1.02-1.97) and the recessive model (OR = 1.41; I(2) = 45.5%; 95% CI = 1.10-1.80). However, no associations were detected for other genetic models. In the stratified analysis by ethnicity, significant associations between GSTP1 Ile105Val polymorphism and PCa risk were also found among Caucasians for Val/Val vs Ile/Ile comparison (OR = 1.22; I(2) = 0.0 %; 95 % CI = 1.02-1.47) and for the recessive model (OR = 1.26; I(2) = 0.0%; 95% CI = 1.06-1.49), while there were no associations found for other genetic models. However, no associations were found in Asians and African-Americans for all genetic models when stratified by ethnicity. In conclusion, our meta-analysis provides evidence that GSTP1 Ile105Val gene polymorphisms contributed to PCa susceptibility.

Comparison of MRS and DWI in the diagnosis of prostate cancer based on sextant analysis.

PURPOSE: To evaluate apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value, metabolic ratio ((Cho + Cr)/Cit) and the combination of the two in identifying prostate malignant regions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-six consecutive patients with prostate biopsy results were retrospectively recruited in this study. Transrectal ultrasound-guided (TRUS) systemic prostate biopsies were used as a standard of reference. Mean ADC value and mean metabolic ratio (MMR) were calculated within each benign sextant region or malignant region. The efficiency of these two indices in prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis is estimated in Fisher linear discriminant analysis (FLDA). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the distinguishing capacity of mean ADC, MMR, and the combination of the two in differentiating between noncancerous and cancerous cases. RESULTS: There were significant differences for mean ADC value and MMR between malignant and benign regions. Weights of mean ADC value obtained by FLDA were much higher than those of MMR. In differentiating malignant regions, both ADC alone and combined ADC and metabolic ratio performed significantly better than MMR alone. However, accuracy improvements were not significant by using combined ADC and MMR than ADC alone. CONCLUSION: DWI is more efficient than MR spectroscopic (MRS) in the detection of PCa in this study. Combined ADC and MMR performed significantly better than MMR alone in distinguishing malignant from benign region in prostate peripheral zone.

Analysis of the prevalence and influencing factors of hyperuricemia in children and adolescents aged 6-17 years in northeastern Sichuan Province.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factors influencing hyperuricemia in children and adolescents and to provide a scientific basis for early prevention and treatment. METHODS: A retrospective study (2017-2021) of the prevalence of hyperuricemia in children and adolescents was conducted, and the factors influencing hyperuricemia were analyzed by multi-factor logistic regression. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of hyperuricemia in children and adolescents aged 6-17 years in northeast Sichuan Province was 55.12% (8676/15,739), of which 60.68% (5699/9392) in boys and 46.90% (2977/6347) in girls; the prevalence of hyperuricemia from 2017 to 2021 was 52.40% ( 1540/2939), 52.56% (1642/3124), 52.11% (1825/3502), 58.33% (1691/2899), and 60.40% (1978/3275), respectively; the prevalence rates of 6-12 years old were 48.92% (864/1766), 50.46% (769/1524), and 52.73% (685/1299), 56.99% (693/1216), 35.46% (444/1252), 46.33% (524/1131), 60.50% (720/1190), and 66.82% (739/1106), 58.95% (652/1106), and 62.17% (761/1106) for 13-17 years old, respectively, 62.17% (761/1224), 63.19% (855/1353), and 61.70% (970/1572), respectively. Logistic regression showed that the prevalence of male (OR = 1.451, 95% CI 1.034 to 2.035, p = 0.031), age (OR = 1.074, 95% CI 1.024 to 1.126, p = 0.003), overweight/obesity (OR = 1.733, 95% CI 1.204∼2.494, p = 0.003), blood creatinine (OR = 1.018, 95% CI 1.005∼1.031, p = 0.007), triglycerides (OR = 1.450, 95% CI 1.065∼1.972, p = 0.018), blood calcium (OR = 6.792, 95% CI 1.373∼33.594, p = 0.019), and systolic blood pressure (OR = 1.037, 95% CI 1.018∼1.057, p < 0.001) were influential factors for the development of hyperuricemia. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of hyperuricemia was higher in children and adolescents aged 6-17 years in northeastern Sichuan Province, with a higher prevalence in boys than in girls, and the prevalence increased with age.

Association of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol with all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

AIMS: To explore the association between low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and all-cause and cause-specific mortality based on a prospective cohort study. METHODS: Among 10850 individuals enrolled from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2014, 1355 (12.5%) died after an average follow-up of 5.7 years. Cox proportional regression models were used to determine the association between LDL-C with the risk of mortality. RESULTS: The level of LDL-C was L-shaped associated with the risk of all-cause mortality, namely a low level was related to an increased mortality risk. The level of LDL-C associated with the lowest risk of all-cause mortality was 124 mg/dL (3.2 mmol/L) in the overall population, and 134 mg/dL (3.4 mmol/L) in individuals not receiving lipid lowering treatment. Compared with participants with LDL-C of 110-134 mg/dL (2.8-3.5 mmol/L), the multivariable adjusted hazard ratio was 1.18 (95% confidence interval 1.01 to 1.38) for individuals with the lowest quartile for all-cause mortality. In participants with coronary heart diseases, the conclusion was similar but the critical point was lower. CONCLUSIONS: We found that low levels of LDL-C increased the risk of all-cause mortality, and the lowest risk of all-cause mortality for LDL-C concentration was 124 mg/dL (3.2 mmol/L). Our results provide a reasonable range of LDL-C when to initiate a statin therapy in clinical practice.

Involvement of vps33a in the fusion of uroplakin-degrading multivesicular bodies with lysosomes.

The apical surface of the terminally differentiated mouse bladder urothelium is largely covered by urothelial plaques, consisting of hexagonally packed 16-nm uroplakin particles. These plaques are delivered to the cell surface by fusiform vesicles (FVs) that are the most abundant cytoplasmic organelles. We have analyzed the functional involvement of several proteins in the apical delivery and endocytic degradation of uroplakin proteins. Although FVs have an acidified lumen and Rab27b, which localizes to these organelles, is known to be involved in the targeting of lysosome-related organelles (LROs), FVs are CD63 negative and are therefore not typical LROs. Vps33a is a Sec1-related protein that plays a role in vesicular transport to the lysosomal compartment. A point mutation in mouse Vps33a (Buff mouse) causes albinism and bleeding (Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome) because of abnormalities in the trafficking of melanosomes and platelets. These Buff mice showed a novel phenotype observed in urothelial umbrella cells, where the uroplakin-delivering FVs were almost completely replaced by Rab27b-negative multivesicular bodies (MVBs) involved in uroplakin degradation. MVB accumulation leads to an increase in the amounts of uroplakins, Lysosomal-associated membrane protein (LAMP)-1/2, and the activities of beta-hexosaminidase and beta-glucocerebrosidase. These results suggest that FVs can be regarded as specialized secretory granules that deliver crystalline arrays of uroplakins to the cell surface, and that the Vps33a mutation interferes with the fusion of MVBs with mature lysosomes thus blocking uroplakin degradation.

[Responses of radial growth of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica and Larix gmelinii to climate change]. / 樟子松和落叶松径向生长对气候变化的响应.

In the context of global warming, the increases of temperature may affect tree growth and thus disturb ecosystem balance. In this study, we explored the main limiting factors for radial growth of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica and Larix gmelinii in the Mohe area of Greater Khingan Mountains by using growth-climate response function analysis and moving correlation analysis, as well as the interspecific difference of the responses of radial growth to rapid warming. The results showed that the radial growth of P. sylvestris var. mongolica and L. gmelinii was affected by both temperature and precipitation. P. sylvestris var. mongolica was more sensitive to climate change than L. gmelinii, and its sensitivity to climate factors was more stable than L. gmelinii. The radial growth of P. sylvestris var. mongolica was significantly positively correlated with the monthly mean temperature and the monthly mean minimum temperature of the growing season, while that of L. gmelinii was significantly positively correlated with the monthly mean temperature and the monthly mean maximum temperature of winter. Precipitation in winter promoted the growth of P. sylvestris var. mongolica, whereas precipitation in the late growing season of the previous year inhibited the radial growth of L. gmelinii. After the rapid warming in 1990, the limiting effect of precipitation on P. sylvestris var. mongolica changed from negative to significantly positive, with the inhibition effect of high temperature being greater than the promotion effect. The inhibitory effect of high temperature on L. gmelinii was enhanced, and the limiting effect of precipitation on L. gmelinii was also enhanced after heating up. The growth rate decreased significantly, with obvious difference being observed in the correlations between the growth rate of two species with temperature and precipitation. Our results could provide scientific basis for forest ecosystem management and protection in Greater Khingan Mountains.

Using CT imaging to delineate the prostatic apex for radiation treatment planning.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In computed tomography (CT)-based radiotherapy planning for prostate cancer, it is difficult to precisely delineate the prostatic apex because of its relationship with the urogenital diaphragm and bulbospongiosus musculature. In this retrospective study, we analyzed the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and CT scans of the patients with prostate cancer to investigate the relationship between the prostatic apex and the anatomic structure visible on CT, and to provide evidence for localizing the prostatic apex in radiotherapy planning. METHODS: MRI and CT scans of 108 patients with prostate cancer were analyzed to measure the distances between the prostatic apex and the bottom of ischial tuberosities, the bottom of obturator foramen, the bottom of pubic symphysis, and the bulb of the penis. The volume of the prostate was measured to analyze its relationship with the localization of the prostatic apex. RESULTS: The prostatic apex was located (13.1±3.3) mm above the bulb of the penis, (11.0±5.4) mm above the bottom of the obturator foramen, (31.3±5.5) mm above the ischial tuberosities, and (7.1±4.7) mm above the bottom of the symphysis pubis. There was no correlation between the size of the prostate and the localization of the prostatic apex. CONCLUSIONS: The variance of the distance between the prostatic apex and the bulb of the penis is smaller than that of the distance between the apex and bony anatomy. Delineating the target to 6 mm above the bulb of the penis can cover the prostatic apex in 95% of the patients with prostate cancer, delineating to the bottom of obturator foramen can cover the prostatic apex in 100% of the patients.