Global, regional, and national time trends in myocarditis-related mortality, 1990-2019: An age-period-cohort analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyze the tendency of myocarditis mortality in 204 countries and areas during the last three decades and its connection with age, epoch, and birth cohort. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Global Burden of Disease 2019 Study acquired a cause-specific myocarditis mortality estimate. The net drift, as well as the influence caused by age, period, and birth cohort, were evaluated by the age-period-cohort model. Additionally, we analyzed the tendency in research intensity and international collaboration across countries using 3,983 myocarditis-related publications from four periods during 1990-2019. RESULTS: During the last three decades, 101 of 204 countries and areas experienced an increase (net drifts ≥0.0%) or stagnant declines (≥-0.5%) in the death rate. In particular, increasing death rate was generally discovered in most countries whose Socio-demographic indexes (SDIs) are high and middle-high, such as the United States [net drift=2.11% (95% CI 1.71-2.51)] and Italy [2.65% (1.24-4.08)]. Countries with a higher number of deaths were more active in this field of study, such as the United States (237 publications), China (120), and Italy (73). The United States and Italy, whose total link strengths were 209 and 135, respectively, were more active in international collaborative studies. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the global decrease in myocarditis death rate during the last three decades, negative period and cohort effects and elevated mortality were discovered in numerous countries, especially in those whose SDIs were high, and the age distribution of deaths shifted from adolescent to middle-aged and older populations. We also observed a decline in myocarditis research in some countries with increased mortality.

[Alteration on hepatocyte nuclear factor 1α expressions and significance in the process of occurrence and development of liver inflammation and fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B].

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the expression of hepatocyte nuclear factor-1 α (HNF-1α) and the occurrence and development of liver inflammation and fibrosis in liver tissues of patients with chronic hepatitis B. Methods: Sixty-four patients with chronic hepatitis B who were diagnosed and treated in our hospital from 2011 to 2018 were selected. All patients underwent ultrasound-guided aspiration liver biopsy. The pathological results of liver biopsy were collected for inflammation grading and fibrosis staging. The liver puncture biopsies was collected by paraffin sectioning. The expression of HNF1α in the liver tissue was detected by immunohistochemical staining. Mantel-Haenszel χ(2) test was used for bidirectional ordered grouping data, and Spearman's rank-correlation test was used for rank correlation analysis. Results: There were varying degrees of inflammatory necrosis and fibrosis in the liver tissues of patients with chronic hepatitis B. There was a linear relationship between the expression of HNF1α and the level of inflammation in liver tissues (χ (2)(MH) = 40.70, P < 0.05). The expression of HNF1α in liver tissues of patients with chronic hepatitis B was decreased with the increase of liver inflammation. The expression intensity of HNF1α was negatively correlated with the inflammation grade (r(s) = -0.815, P < 0.05). There was a linear relationship between the expressions of HNF1α and the degree and stage of liver fibrosis (χ (2)(MH) = 31.95, P < 0.05). The expression level of HNF1α in liver tissue was gradually decreased with the aggravation of liver fibrosis. The expression intensity of HNF1α was negatively correlated with fibrosis stage (r(s) = -0.713, P < 0.05). Conclusion: HNF1α is closely related to the occurrence and development of liver tissue inflammation and fibrosis, and is expected to be a sensitive indicator for evaluating the level of liver tissue inflammation and fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B. In addition, its down-regulation may be involved in the process of occurrence and development of liver inflammation and liver fibrosis, and may become a new target for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B.

Occurrence, sources, and fate of pharmaceuticals in aquatic environment and soil.

With the rapid economic development, a better living condition leads to longer life expectancy, which increased the total population, in particular the elderly group. It may result in increase in the demand of pharmaceuticals for people in domestic use or in hospital. Although most sewage treatment plants or waste water treatment plantsmet the regulatory requirement, there are still many pharmaceuticals removed incompletely and thus discharged to the environment. Therefore, the pharmaceuticals residue draws the public concern because they might cause adverse effects on the organism even human beings. Recently, many studies have published on the source and occurrence as well as the fate of pharmaceuticals all over the world. This paper summarized and reviewed the recent studies on the sources, occurrence, fate and the effects of the most common pharmaceuticals. Finally, it gave the suggestion and risk management for controlling the pharmaceuticals.

Development of alum sludge-based constructed wetland: an innovative and cost effective system for wastewater treatment.

This article describes a research attempt to integrate the dewatered alum sludge, a residual by-product of drinking water treatment process, into a constructed wetland (CW) system for the purpose of enhancing the wastewater treatment performance, thus developing a so called alum sludge-based constructed wetland system. A multi-dimensional research project including the batch tests of phosphorus (P) adsorption onto alum sludge followed by the model CWs trials of single and multi-stage CWs, has been conducted since 2004. It has been successfully demonstrated that the alum sludge-based CW is capable of enhanced and simultaneous removal of P and organic matter (in terms of BOD5 and COD), particularly from medium and high strength wastewater. The sludge cakes act as the carrier for developing biofilm for organics removal and also serve as adsorbent to enhance P immobilization. Batch P-adsorption tests revealed that the alum sludge tested possesses excellent P-adsorption ability of 14.3 mg-P/g x sludge (in dry solids) at pH 7.0 with the adsorption favored at lower pH. The results obtained in a 4-stage treatment wetland system suggest that high removal efficiencies of 90.4% for COD, 88.0% for BOD5, 90.6% for SS, 76.5% for TN and 91.9% for PO4(3-)-P under hydraulic loading of 0.36 m3/m2 x d can be achieved. The field demonstration study of this pioneering development is now underway.