[Investigation and analysis of prevalence of musculoskeletal diseases among interventional surgeons in some top three hospitals in Tianjin].

Objective: To analyze the prevalence and risk factors of musculoskeletal diseases among interventional surgeons in top three hospitals, and to provide suggestions for prevention of musculoskeletal diseases. Methods: In June 2022, a self-designed questionnaire was used to collect general information of doctors engaged in interventional surgery (121) and non-interventional surgery (124) in some top three hospitals in Tianjin. The standard version of the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was used to investigate information related to musculoskeletal diseases. The prevalence and risk factors of musculoskeletal diseases among interventional and non-interventional surgeons were analyzed. Results: The prevalence of musculoskeletal diseases among interventional surgeons and non-interventional surgeons was 59.50% (72/121) and 62.90% (78/124) . Compared with non-interventional surgeons, interventional surgeons had a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal diseases in the shoulders and upper back, and a lower prevalence of musculoskeletal diseases in the waist. The differences were statistically significant (P<0.05) . Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, weekly time of physical exercise, time of intervention operation, and wearing protective clothing were independent risk factors for musculoskeletal diseases (P<0.05) . Conclusion: The prevalence rate of musculoskeletal diseases among doctors engaged in interventional surgery is relatively high in some top three hospitals in Tianjin, and proper enhancement of physical exercise and shortening of interventional time are conducive to reducing musculoskeletal diseases.

[Clinical effect and economic benefit evaluation of minimally invasive surgery for drivers with lumbar disc herniation].

Objective: To investigate the clinical effect of minimally invasive surgery in the treatment of professional drivers with lumbar disc herniation. Methods: 126 patients with lumbar disc herniation admitted to hospital from June 1, 2015 to December 30, 2018 were selected and divided into observation group (59 cases treated by percutaneous transforaminal endoscopy) and control group (67 cases treated with conventional conservative treatment) according to the treatment methods. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Japanese Orthopaedic Association Scores (JOA) before and after treatment were analyzed retrospectively. Length of stay, time out of bed, hospitalization expenses and recurrence rate were evaluated. The measurement data was expressed by x±s, the comparison between groups was performed by t test, and the count data were analyzed by descriptive analysis. Results: Before treatment, there was no significant difference in gender, age, VAS score and JOA score between the two groups (P>0.05) . After treatment, compared with the control group, the VAS score of the observation group was lower, the JOA score was higher, the time out of bed was shorter, the average hospitalization time was reduced, the average hospitalization cost was higher, and the recurrence rates after Six months and one year were lower in the observation group, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05) . Conclusion: The clinical effect of percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic treatment is better than that of conventional conservative treatment for driver＇s lumbar disc herniation.

Subtype-specific inherited predisposition to pemphigus in the Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: Pemphigus is a group of rare life-threatening mucocutaneous autoimmune diseases, presenting mainly as two subtypes: pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and pemphigus foliaceus (PF). Inherited predispositions to pemphigus have long been speculated but they remain poorly understood. OBJECTIVES: To identify common and specific nongenetic and genetic factors associated with pemphigus and its subtypes in the Chinese population. METHODS: A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed in 496 unrelated patients with pemphigus (including 365 with PV and 104 with PF) and 1105 controls without pemphigus. RESULTS: A sex preference was observed only in PV (57·5% female) and not in PF (47·1% female). For male patients only, the mean age at diagnosis was significantly lower for PV than for PF (P < 0·001). The strongest associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms are in the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) region: rs70993900 (PV; P = 1·5 × 10-45 ) and rs9469220 (PF; P = 1·1 × 10-8 ). HLA-DQB1*05:03 ranks at the top (P = 4·7 × 10-40 ; odds ratio 12·4) in both subtypes, with significantly different risk allele frequency (RAFPV = 34·2% vs. RAFPF = 18·8% vs. RAFcontrol = 4·4%), whereas HLA-DRB1*14:01 and HLA-DRB1*04:06 are PV specific. HLA-DQB1*03:03 and HLA-DQB1*03:02 show significant subtype specificity in opposite directions. All of these associations were validated in the replication series with 147 cases of pemphigus and 604 controls. Multiple novel non-HLA susceptibility loci were also identified in the GWAS. CONCLUSIONS: This study represents the largest GWAS on pemphigus in the Chinese population published to date, and has allowed us to identify HLA haplotypes significantly shared between or specific to the two main subtypes of pemphigus.

Tolerance and safety to colonoscopy with conscious sedation in Malaysian adults.

Tolerance to colonoscopy varies between populations and data from the South East Asian region is lacking. We aimed to determine tolerance and safety with to colonoscopy; conscious sedation and identify risk factors for complications in Malaysian adults. Consecutive outpatients undergoing colonoscopy were enrolled prospectively. A combination of pethidine and midazolam were used and tolerance to colonoscopy assessed three hours post-procedure using a validated scale. All patients were monitored for cardiorespiratory depression and risk factors for complications were identified. Two hundred and eight patients (mean age 57.2 +/- 14.8 years, 48% female) were enrolled. The population ethnicity consisted of 45 (21.63%) Malays, 101 (48.56%) Chinese and 56 (26.92%) Indians. Conscious sedation was achieved with 5.0 +/- 1.1 mg of midazolam and 43.3 +/- 14.0 mg of pethidine. Thirty (14.4%) patients tolerated the procedure poorly and independent predictors included female gender (OR 2.93, 95% CI = 1.22 to 7.01) and a prolonged duration of procedure (OR 2.85, 95% CI = 1.08 to 7.48). Hypotension occurred in 13 (6.25%) patients, with age > 65 years as the only risk factor (OR 13.17, 95% CI = 1.28 to 137.92). A prolonged duration was the main cause of hypoxia (OR 5.49, 95% CI = 1.54 to 19.49), which occurred in 6 (2.88%) patients. No major complications occurred during the study period. The current practice of conscious sedation is safe and tolerated well by most adults in our population. However, poor tolerance in a notable minority may have significant clinical implications.

Determination of atrazine, deethylatrazine and simazine in water at parts-per-trillion levels using solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry.

Methods for trace analysis of atrazine and simazine in water have been developed by using stable-isotope dilution with detection by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. D(5)-Atrazine was used as the internal standard for the determination of atrazine and deethylatrazine, while (13)C(3)-simazine was used for simazine analysis. Water samples were fortified with known amounts of the internal standards and submitted to solid-phase extraction with a C(18) bonded-silica cartridge. A gas chromatograph coupled with an ion-trap mass spectrometer was used to analyze the water sample extracts. Method detection limits were 38 parts-per-trillion (ppt) for atrazine and deethylatrazine and 75 ppt for simazine. The accuracy of the method, represented by relative analytical errors, was less than 15%, and the method precision was less than 5% (relative standard deviation, n = 9). The method was successfully applied to analyze surface water samples collected from a reservoir and a river at ppt levels.

Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry applied for the analysis of triazine herbicides in environmental waters.

The excess use of triazine herbicides in agriculture causes severe contamination to the environment especially for ground water. Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was used to analyze simazine, atrazine (ATR), cyanazine, as well as the degradation products of ATR such as deethylatrazine and deisopropylatrazine in environmental water samples. These compounds were baseline separated by the established GC method. The water samples were pre-concentrated by solid-phase-extraction (SPE) and analyzed by ion trap MS at sub- to low-ppt levels. Recovery of ATR by the SPE pre-concentration using a C18 cartridge was determined as 90.5 +/- 3.5%. Detection limit of the method using selected ion monitoring technique for ATR was 1.7 ppt when one liter water was analyzed. The relative analytical error for ATR fortified water samples at 200 ppt was -12.5% (n=12) with triple analysis and the relative standard deviation was 3.2%. Trace levels of ATR at 3.9 and 9.7 ppt were determined in water samples collected from a reservoir and a river in Hong Kong.