Predictive Value of Soluble Growth Stimulator Gene 2 Protein for Coronary Slow Flow/No-Reflow in ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Patients Receiving Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Background: Soluble growth stimulator gene 2 protein (sST2) is associated with heart failure and myocardial infarction; however, the predictive value of plasma sST2 level for coronary slow flow/no-reflow (CSF/NRF) is unclear. This study aimed to explore the predictive value of plasma sST2 levels for CSF/NRF in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who underwent emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: A total of 242 STEMI patients who underwent emergency PCI at our hospital between November 2020 and July 2021 were enrolled in this study. According to the postprocedural procedure, these patients were divided into the CSF/NRF and control groups. Clinical data were collected from both groups and were used to explore the predictive value of serum sST2 levels for CSF/NRF. Results: Of the total 242 patients, CSF/NRF was observed in 50 patients (20.7%). Statistically significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed in age, diabetes mellitus, sST2 level, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), fasting blood sugar, preprocedural blood pressure, intraprocedural hypotension, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide, MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK-MB), and cardiac troponin I (cTNI). Multivariate analysis showed that the sST2 level, NLR, and intraoperative hypotension were independent risk factors for CSF/NRF. ROC curve analysis showed that the sensitivity and specificity of the sST2 level for predicting CSF/NRF were 68.0% and 75.5%, respectively, when the sST2 level was more than 64.6 ng/mL (AUC = 0.780, 95% CI: 1.003-1.020, P=0.009). Conclusion: For STEMI patients, preprocedural sST2 levels significantly correlated with CSF/NRF occurring in PCI. sST2 level is a potential predictor for CSF/NRF occurrence.

Accuracy of the Euro CTO(CASTLE) score obtained on coronary computed tomography angiography for Predicting 30-minute wire crossing in chronic total occlusions.

BACKGROUND: To investigate the feasibility and accuracy of the Euro CTO (CASTLE)CTA score obtained on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) for predicting the success of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and the 30-min wire crossing in chronic total occlusions (CTO). METHOD: One hundred and fifty patients (154 CTO cases; median age, 61 (interquartile range [IQR], 54-68) years; 75.3% male) received CCTA at the People's Hospital of Liaoning Provincce within 1 month before the procedure. The Euro CTO (CASTLE) score obtained on CCTA(CASTLECTA) was calculated and compared with the Euro CTO (CASTLE) score obtained based on coronary angiography (CASTLECAG) for the predictive value of 30-min wire crossing and CTO procedural success. RESULTS: In our study, the CTO-PCI success rate was 89.0%, with guidewires of 65 cases (42.2%) crossing within 30 min. There were no significant differences in the median CASTLECTA and CASTLECAG scores in the procedure success group (3 [IQR, 2-4] vs 3 (IQR, 2-3]; p = 0.126). However, the median CASTLECTA score was significantly higher than the median CASTLECAG score in the procedure failure group (4 [IQR, 3-5.5] vs 4 [IQR, 2.5-5.5]; p = 0.021). There was no significant difference between the median CASTLECTA score and the median CASTLECAG score in the 30-min wire crossing failure group (3 [IQR, 3-4] vs 3 [IQR, 2-4]; p = 0.254). However, the median CASTLECTA score was significantly higher than the median CASTLECAG score in the 30-min wire crossing group (3 [IQR, 2-3] vs 2 [IQR, 2-3]; p < 0.001). The CASTLECTA score described higher levels of calcification than the CASTLECAG score (48.1% vs 33.8%; p = 0.015). There was no significant difference between the CASTLECTA score (area under the curve [AUC], 0.643; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.561-0.718) and the CASTLECAG score (AUC, 0.685; 95% CI, 0.606-0.758) for predicting procedural success (p = 0.488). The CASTLECTA score (AUC, 0.744; 95% CI, 0.667-0.811) was significantly better than the CASTLECAG score (AUC, 0.681; 95% CI, 0.601-0.754; p = 0.046) for predicting 30-min wire crossing with the best cut-off value being CASTLECTA ≤ 3. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 90.8%, 55.2%, 54.6%, and 87.0%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The CASTLECTA scores obtained from noninvasive CCTA perform better for the prediction of the 30-min wire crossing than the CASTLECAG score.

An in vitro study: prebiotic effects of edible palm hearts in batch human fecal fermentation system.

BACKGROUND: Edible palm hearts (EPH), known as palmito, chonta or swamp cabbage in America or umbut in Malaysia, is a type of vegetable harvested from palm tree species. EPH is firm and smooth and described as having a flavor resembling artichoke. It has underlying prebiotic potential that selectively stimulates the growth and activity of beneficial colonic microbiota, thus enhancing the host's health. This study is the first to present results of EPH from local species such as oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), sago palm (Metroxylon sagu) and coconut (Cocos nucifera) using in vitro colonic fermentation with human fecal slurry. Samples obtained at 0, 6, 12 and 24 h were evaluated by bacterial enumeration using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), and short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). RESULTS: All EPH samples revealed induction effects towards Bifidobacterium spp., Lactobacillus-Enterococcus and Bacteroidaceae/Prevotellaceae populations similar to those in inulin fermentation. A significant decrease (P ≤ 0.05) in pathogenic Clostridium histolyticum group was observed in the response of raw sago palm hearts. In general, all samples stimulate the production of SCFA. Particularly in the colonic fermentation of sago palm heart, acetate and propionate revealed the highest concentrations of 286.18 and 284.83 mmol L-1 in raw and cooked form, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study concluded that edible palm hearts can be a potential prebiotic ingredient that promotes human gastrointestinal health, as well as discovering a new direction towards an alternative source of functional foods. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Clinical and neuropsychological characteristics of general paresis misdiagnosed as primary psychiatric disease.

BACKGROUND: Neurosyphilis is caused by the invasion of Treponema pallidum into the central nervous system. General paresis (GP) is a type of neurosyphilis. The main manifestation of general paresis is dementia; however, this is different from the other types of dementia, which can be cured by adequate doses of penicillin in the early stage. Neurosyphilis is the "great imitator" because it can mimic many types of medical disorders. In addition, the manifestations of neurosyphilis are not typical. Psychiatric disorders as a cause of general paresis have become more common due to the use of antibiotics. Patients with a psychiatric manifestation are often misdiagnosed. The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in the clinical and neuropsychological characteristics of general paresis between patients misdiagnosed as having a primary psychiatric disease and patients diagnosed correctly upon seeing a doctor. The results may assist clinicians in the early identification of neurosyphilis with a mental disorder. METHOD: The demographic and clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, and neuroimaging and neuropsychological characteristics were analysed in 55 general paresis patients with psychiatric disorders, including 29 patients misdiagnosed as primary psychiatric disease and 26 patients diagnosed as having general paresis after being seen once by a doctor. RESULT: All of the patients had positive assay results for cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) Treponema pallidum hemagglutination (TPHA). Only 43.3 % of misdiagnosed patients and 30.8 % of general paresis patients had positive results for the CSF rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test; 96.4 % patients had abnormal neuroimaging. Mood disturbances were the most common psychiatric disorder in the general paresis patients, especially agitation, between the two groups (patients with general paresis who were misdiagnosed as having primary psychiatric disease and patients who had never been misdiagnosed) (p = 0.011). CONCLUSION: Our findings reinforce the importance of performing serologic testing for syphilis. This should be a part of the evaluation of patients with psychiatric disorders, especially patients with cognitive impairment. When the syphilis serology is positive, the patient should be examined thoroughly for neurosyphilis by lumbar puncture. Brain imaging could also aid the physician in discriminating these patients from those with a functional mental disorder.

Actual experience of the training effect of Baduanjin on patients with hemiplegic limb dysfunctions after cerebral infarction: A qualitative study.

AIM: To explore the actual experience of training effect of Baduanjin on patients with hemiplegic limb dysfunctions after cerebral infarction through semistructured interviews and promote Baduanjin training application in clinical and community settings. DESIGN: This qualitative study was conducted using the conventional content analysis approach. METHODS: Twenty-five patients with hemiplegic limb dysfunctions after cerebral infarction were recruited as participants by applying purposive sampling method between September 2017-December 2020 in the physical therapy department of a rehabilitation hospital affiliated with Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China. Semistructured interviews were conducted after patients participated in Baduanjin training for 6 weeks. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis method of Graneheim and Lundman. RESULTS: Three major themes were identified after analysis, namely improving functions of hemiplegic limbs, improving the condition of the entire body and the feelings of practice. The participants indicated that Baduanjin could improve the limb functions and general conditions of hemiplegic patients. Their experience in practicing Baduanjin was generally positive, and they were willing to continue practicing.

Auxiliary Pneumonia Classification Algorithm Based on Pruning Compression.

Pneumonia infection is the leading cause of death in young children. The commonly used pneumonia detection method is that doctors diagnose through chest X-ray, and external factors easily interfere with the results. Assisting doctors in diagnosing pneumonia in patients based on deep learning methods can effectively eliminate similar problems. However, the complex network structure and redundant parameters of deep neural networks and the limited storage and computing resources of clinical medical hardware devices make it difficult for this method to use widely in clinical practice. Therefore, this paper studies a lightweight pneumonia classification network, CPGResNet50 (ResNet50 with custom channel pruning and ghost methods), based on ResNet50 pruning and compression to better meet the application requirements of clinical pneumonia auxiliary diagnosis with high precision and low memory. First, based on the hierarchical channel pruning method, the channel after the convolutional layer in the bottleneck part of the backbone network layer is used as the pruning object, and the pruning operation is performed after its normalization to obtain a network model with a high compression ratio. Second, the pruned convolutional layers are decomposed into original convolutions and cheap convolutions using the optimized convolution method. The feature maps generated by the two convolution parts are combined as the input to the next convolutional layer. Further, we conducted many experiments using pneumonia X-ray medical image data. The results show that the proposed method reduces the number of parameters of the ResNet50 network model from 23.7 M to 3.455 M when the pruning rate is 90%, a reduction is more than 85%, FIOPs dropped from 4.12G to 523.09 M, and the speed increased by more than 85%. The model training accuracy error remained within 1%. Therefore, the proposed method has a good performance in the auxiliary diagnosis of pneumonia and obtained good experimental results.

Image Recognition of Pediatric Pneumonia Based on Fusion of Texture Features and Depth Features.

Pneumonia is one of the diseases that seriously endangers human health, and it is also the leading cause of death of children under the age of five in China. The most commonly used imaging examination method for radiologists is mainly based on chest X-ray images. Still, imaging errors often result during imaging examinations due to objective factors such as visual fatigue and lack of experience. Therefore, this paper proposes a feature fusion model, FC-VGG, based on the fusion of texture features (local binary pattern LBP and directional gradient histogram HOG) and depth features. The model improves model performance by adding detailed information in texture features to the convolutional neural network while making the model more suitable for clinical use. We input the X-ray image with texture features into the modified VGG16 model, C-VGG, and then add the Add fusion method to C-VGG for feature fusion so that FC-VGG is obtained, so FC-VGG has texture features detailed information and abstract information of deep features. Through experiments, our model has achieved 92.19% accuracy in recognizing children's pneumonia images, 93.44% average precision, 92.19% average recall, and 92.81% average F1 coefficient, and the model performance exceeds existing deep learning models and traditional feature recognition algorithms.

Beneficial effects of dietary fibre supplementation of a high-fat diet on fetal development in rats.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of the addition of fibre and the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) to fat-rich diets on fetal intrauterine development in rats. A total of eighty virgin female Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a control diet, a high-fat diet (HF), a high-fat and high-fibre diet (HFF) or a high-fat NAC diet until day 19·5 of gestation. Maternal HFF consumption resulted in a significantly higher mean fetal number and placental weight than in the other groups (P < 0·05). The HFF diet significantly abrogated HF-induced decreases in maternal serum and placental superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical scavenging capacities (P < 0·05); partially abrogated HF-induced increases in maternal serum and placental malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyl concentrations (maternal serum MDA and placental protein carbonyl, P < 0·05); resulted in significantly higher fetal liver total superoxide dismutase (SOD), Cu- and Zn-containing SOD and Mn-containing SOD (Mn-SOD) activities than in the HF group (P < 0·05). Furthermore, mRNA expressions of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-α, thioredoxin 2 and Mn-SOD in fetal liver and Mn-SOD in fetal heart and placental GLUT3 in the HFF group were higher than those in the other groups (P < 0·05). The inclusion of dietary fibre in the HF diet was more effective than NAC supplementation in maintaining maternal serum and placental superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical scavenging capacities close to those of the control. These results suggest that maternal fibre intake during pregnancy is beneficial for fetal intrauterine development possibly through the improvement of maternal, placental and fetal antioxidant capacities and placental nutrient transfer capacity.

Effect of Seawater Environment on the Structure and Performance of Basalt Continuous Fiber.

Basalt continuous fibers (BFs) have been widely applied in the construction industry including marine applications, however, the corrosion mechanism of BFs in a seawater environment is still not well understood. In this work, we explored the effect of the seawater environment on the weight loss, tensile strength, surface morphology, and microstructure structure of BFs via soaking the BFs in seawater solutions at different temperatures and durations. Results show that the weight loss ratio of BFs decreases at the first stage (around 18 h) of soaking at 80 °C, 85 °C, and 90 °C and then increases for longer soaking durations, while the tensile strength has the opposite change. This enhancement of tensile strength and chemical resistance (at the first stage of seawater soaking) is dominated by the ion-exchange induced 'blunting' mechanism, even though the results from a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) revealed the damaging of the Si-O-Si tetrahedral structure during the corrosion process. This work revealed the full corrosion process and corresponding mechanism of BFs in a seawater environment.

Enzymatic hydrolysis: Sialylated mucin (SiaMuc) glycoprotein of edible swiftlet's nest (ESN) and its molecular weight distribution as bioactive ESN SiaMuc-glycopeptide hydrolysate.

Bioactive edible swiftlet's nest (ESN) sialylated-mucin (SiaMuc) hydrolysate is produced by alcalase hydrolysis. Enzymatic hydrolysis of ESN breakdown high-valued ESN SiaMuc-glycoprotein into bioactive SiaMuc-glycopeptide. This is a breakthrough for the issue of insolubility and low extraction rate in ESN, and even increases the bioavailability of ESN nutritional functionality and health benefits. Hydrolysis of ESN SiaMuc-glycoprotein was performed for 1 to 4 h and its effect on physicochemical properties, molecular weight (MW) distribution, SiaMuc-glycoprotein and glycopeptide integrity were determined. Other than improvement in solubility and bioavailability as SiaMuc-glycopeptide, results from SDS-PAGE revealed that MW of SiaMuc-glycoprotein decreased from 42.0-148.8 kDa to 17.7-142.7 kDa with increasing hydrolysis period. Further hydrolysis from maximized DH (90 min) showed an insignificant effect on the MW of ESN SiaMuc-glycopeptide and remained constant at 15.2 kDa. This highlights that enzymatic hydrolysis only influences macro SiaMuc-glycoprotein fractions (142.7, 115.3 and 102.7 kDa), while the majority of SiaMuc-glycopeptide fractions from 36.6-98.6 kDa remained intact. Conclusively, alcalase hydrolysis of ESN showed high recovery in the form of bioactive ESN SiaMuc-glycopeptide. Therefore, enzymatic biotechnology is an economic alternative applicable on ESN that broaden industrial utilization by reducing the MW without destroying the quality of bioactive SiaMuc-glycoprotein.

Assessment of Malaria Microscopy Competency at Primary Health Institutions in the Chongqing Municipality.

Background: In April 2019, Chongqing passed the national malaria elimination assessment. However, around 30 imported malaria cases are still being reported every year, and Anopheles sinensis was widely distributed in Chongqing, meaning the risk of malaria resurgence still exists. Early diagnosis and treatment for malaria cases are effective measures to prevent malaria resurgence. The primary health institutions are the first station where potential malaria cases may seek treatment. The competency with which primary health institutions diagnose malaria will directly affect the timeliness of malaria diagnosis. Nowadays, most primary health institutions in Chongqing use microscopy to confirm malaria cases. This study assessed the microscopy competence of primary health institutions, studied and analyzed the results, and provided a scientific basis for malaria prevention and control after malaria elimination in Chongqing. Methods: According to the stratified sampling principle, four plasmodium microscopy technicians (156 in total) were selected from each of the 39 districts/counties of Chongqing to test the plasmodium microscopy competence. Descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, spatial self-correlation analysis, and ROC curve analysis were carried out on the test results. Result: The average of the technicians' test scores was 4.33 ± 0.47 (min: 3, mid: 4.5, max: 5); The spatial clustering of the scores was significant (MoranI = 0.338, Z = 3.618, P < 0.01). The test scores were positively correlated with the "level of work institutions" (R = 0.21, P < 0.01) but were negatively correlated with "age" (R = -0.31, P < 0.01). The highest Sensitivity of the technicians' microscopy was in qualitative diagnosis (98.92%, CI: 98.00-99.69%). The Delong's test showed that the diagnostic efficiency of the technicians' microscopy to P. falciparum was the best (P < 0.01), however to P. ovale was the worst (P < 0.01). Conclusion: The microscopy technicians in primary health institutions in Chongqing have good microscopy competency in qualitative diagnosis, but there were deficiencies in the identification of plasmodium species. Township level health institutions in Central China have weaker microscopy than those in other areas.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) in Targeted Drug Delivery: Literature Review and Exploratory Data on Migrating and Differentiation Capacities of Bone MSCs into Hepatic Progenitor Cells.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), particularly bone MSCs (BMSCs) offer great potentials for targeted therapeutic applications owing to their migratory and differentiation capacities. Significant advances have been achieved in the differentiation of hepatocyte or hepatocyte-like cells both in vitro and in vivo. However, there is limited knowledge on the differentiation of BMSCs into bipotential hepatic progenitor cells or cholangiocyte. This study reviews the potentials and advances in using MSCs as vehicles for targeted drug delivery and proposes a new method for the induction of differentiation in rat BMSCs into hepatic progenitor cells in vitro and assesses the differential and migratory capacities. METHODS: The BMSCs of Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were harvested from the femur and the tibiae of the rats. After isolation and culturing, BMSCs from Passage 1 were used for the study. The in vitro differentiation of the hepatic progenitor cells was performed using a 2-step induction approach after 5-day serum deprivation from the BMSCs and culturing in Dulbecco's modified eagle medium. Spontaneous in vitro differentiation of BMSCs was examined in the absence of growth factors for 15 days as control treatment. Hepatocytes differentiation was achieved by exposing the culture to collagen type I-coated plates. Cholangiocytes differentiation was achieved with replating the BMC-HepPCs on a layer of Matrigel. Immunofluorescence was conducted on twelve-well plates to determine cell differentiations. Real-Time Quantitative Reverse Transcription PCR (qRTPCR) was used to determine the total RNA extracted using the Trizol LS reagent. In the hepatocyte differentiation group, after periodic acid-schiff (PAS) staining for glycogen, inverted microscope was used to determine differentiations and undifferentiated BMC-HepPCs served as controls. The amount of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) uptake by the BMSCs-derived hepatocytes was assessed using fluorescence microscopy. The secretion of rat albumin was quantified using a quantitative ELISA kit. RESULTS: Differentiation induction is indicative of the sequential supplementation of sodium butyrate and cytokines, which are involved in the embryonic development of the mammalian liver. Hepatic progenitor cells, derived from bone marrow, can be differentiated bidirectionally in vitro into both hepatocyte and cholangiocyte cell-lines. The differentiated cells, including hepatic progenitor cells, hepatocytes, and bile duct-like cells, were identified and analyzed at mRNA and protein levels. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that BMSCs can be utilized as novel bipotential hepatic progenitor cells and thereby for hepatobiliary disease treatment or hepatobiliary tissue-engineering.

[Analysis of the survival in patients after surgical resection of thoracic esophageal cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prognostic factors and influence of the number of lymph node metastases on survival and UICC-TNM classification in patients with thoracic esophageal cancer after curative resection. METHODS: From 1985 to 1990, 1224 patients were surgically treated for thoracic esophageal cancer. The patients who died within 30 days after operation were not included in this study. Fifteen factors possibly influencing survival of these patients were selected and analyzed. A multivariate analysis of these individual variables was performed by Cox proportional hazard model. According to the number of lymph node metastases (0, 1 and > or = 2), a new modification of the TNM classification was suggested: stage IIa (T2N0M0 and T3N0M0), stage IIb [T1N1M0 and T2N1(1)M0], stage IIIa [T2N1 (2)M0 and T3N1 (1) M0] and stage IIIb [T3N1 (2) M0 and T4N any M0]. RESULTS: According to multivariate analysis, lymph node metastases, depth of invasion, location of tumor, histological classification and length of the tumor were of prognostic significance (P < 0.01). There was obvious correlation between the rate of lymph node metastasis and the depth of invasion, length of tumor and grade of differentiation. The 5-year survival rate of the patients with 0, 1 and > or = 2 positive metastatic lymph nodes was 59.1%, 32.0% and 8. 9%, respectively. The 5-year survival rate of the patients with stage T2N1 M0 and stage T3N1 M0 was significantly higher in those with only one lymph node involved than in those with two or more lymph nodes involved (43.1% vs. 18.0% and 28.0% vs. 9.6%, P < 0.01). The 5-year survival rate of the modified stage IIa, IIb, IIIa and IIIb was 56.5%, 43.9%, 25.6% and 11.1%, respectively, with a statistically significant difference among different stages (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The lymph node metastasis is the most important prognostic factor for thoracic esophageal cancer after resection. The major influencing factors of lymph node metastasis are the depth of invasion, length of tumor and grade of differentiation. Therefore, the lymphadenectomy along with esophagectomy and subsequently combined modality therapy against lymph node metastasis is necessary to improve the 5-year survival rate. Our proposed new classification based on number of lymph node metastases (0, 1, > or = 2 positive nodes) is more applicable because it can well reflect the correlation between lymph node metastasis and the survival, and provides evidence for the modification of the currently used UICC TNM staging system for surgically treated thoracic esophageal cancer.

Robot-assisted therapy for balance function rehabilitation after stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the rehabilitative effects of robot-assisted therapy on balance function among stroke patients. DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. DATA SOURCES: Thirteen electronic databases were systematically searched from inception to March 2018: Web of Science, PubMed, EMBase, The Cochrane Library, Science Direct, CINAHL, MEDLINE, AMED, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, SPORTDiscus, WanFang Data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Chinese Scientific Journal Database. REVIEW METHODS: Randomized controlled trials were retrieved for identifying the effects of robot-assisted therapy on balance function among stroke patients. Two authors independently searched databases, screened studies, extracted data, and evaluated the methodological quality and risk bias of each included study. A standardized protocol and data-collection form were used to extract information. Effect size was evaluated by mean difference with corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Methodological quality and risk bias evaluation for each included study followed the quality appraisal criteria for randomized controlled trials that were recommended by Cochrane Handbook. Meta-analysis was conducted by utilizing Review Manager 5.3, a Cochrane Collaboration tool. Data was synthesized with descriptive analysis instead of meta-analysis where comparisons were not possible to be conducted with a meta-analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-one randomized controlled trials with a total of 1249 participants were included. The majority of the included studies contained some methodological flaws. The results of the meta-analysis indicated that robot-assisted therapy produced positive effects on balance function, as shown by an increase in the Berg balance scale score [random effects model, mean difference = 4.64, 95%CI = 3.22-6.06, P＜0.01], as well as Fugl-Meyer balance scale scores [fixed effects model, mean difference = 3.57, 95%CI = 2.81-4.34, P＜0.01]. After subgroup and sensitivity analyses, the positive effects were not influenced by different types of robotic devices, by whether robot-assisted therapy was combined with another intervention or not, or by differences in duration and intensity of intervention. CONCLUSION: Evidence in the present systematic review indicates that robot-assisted therapy may produce significantly positive improvements on balance function among stroke patients compared with those not using this method. More multi-center, high-quality and large-scale randomized controlled trials following the guidelines of CONSORT are necessary to generate high-quality evidence in further research.

Effects of traditional Chinese exercises on the rehabilitation of limb function among stroke patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review literature about the rehabilitative effects of traditional Chinese exercises (TCEs) on limb function among patients with stroke. METHODS: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Twelve electronic databases were searched from their inceptions to February 2017, including PudMed, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBase, Science Direct, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Allied and Complementary Medicine, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database and WanFang Data. RCTs were located to examine the rehabilitative effects of TCEs on limb function among stroke patients. Two authors independently screened the literature, extracted data and assessed the risk bias of the included studies. Methodological quality evaluation and meta-analysis of included studies was performed by using Cochrane Collaboration's tool (RevMan 5.3). RESULTS: A total of 31 RCTs with 2349 participants were included. Results of meta-analysis showed that TCEs produced positive effects on limb motor function (random effects model, standardized mean difference [SMD] = 1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.66 to 1.77, P < 0.01), balance function{Berg balance scale: (random effects model, SMD = 2.07, 95%CI = 1.52 to 2.62, P < 0.01), timed-up-and-go test: (fixed effects model, mean difference [MD] = -1.77, 95%CI = -2.87 to -0.67, P < 0.01)}, activities of daily living (ADL) ability {Barthel Index scale: (random effects model, MD = 15.60, 95%CI = 7.57 to 23.63, P < 0.01), Modified Barthel Index scale: (random effects model, MD = 12.30, 95%CI = 7.48 to 17.12, P < 0.01)}, and neurological impairment (fixed effects model, MD = -2.57, 95%CI = -3.14 to -2.00, P < 0.01). After subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis, the positive effects did not be affected by different types of TCEs and different lengths of intervention time. However, TCEs were no benefit to physical function on Short Physical Performance Battery and 2-min Step Test among stroke patients. CONCLUSION: Current evidence showed that TCEs produced positive effects on limb motor function, balance function, ADL ability and neurological impairment among stroke patients. More large-scale, high-quality, multiple center RCTs are required to further verify above conclusions in the future.

[Analysis of epidemiological characteristics of imported malaria cases in Chongqing Municipality in 2015].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the laboratory diagnosis results and epidemiological characteristics of imported malaria cases in Chongqing Municipality in 2015. METHODS: According to the Standard Operating Procedures of Malaria Diagnosis Reference Laboratory Manual, all the blood samples collected from the imported malaria patients were detected by microscopy, RDT and nest PCR. Meanwhile, the epidemiological data of the malaria cases were collected from the Parasitic Diseases Information Management System and analyzed. RESULTS: Totally 31 cases of imported malaria were reported in Chonqing Municipality in 2015, among which, there were 2 vivax malaria cases (6.45%), 23 falciparum malaria cases (74.19%), 5 ovale malaria cases (16.13%), 1 malariae malaria case (3.22%). For the 5 ovale cases, three of them were confirmed as Plasmodium ovale wallikeri infection. Among all the cases, 30 cases (96.77%) were from African countries, 1(3.33%) was from Southeast Asia. Thirty patients were male, and 1 was female. All the patients were aged from 23-61 years. There was no obvious seasonality in the case distribution. Both the medians of duration from malaria attack to first visiting a doctor and from first visiting a doctor to diagnosis were 2 days. The medical care units that the patients first visited were mainly county-level units, while those that made the diagnosis were mainly provincial level institutes. CONCLUSIONS: All the malaria cases in Chongqing in 2015 are imported, no local cases have been found, which suggests that this municipality still maintain the malaria elimination state. However, the monitoring and management of imported malaria cases as well as the training on malaria control for related medical staff still need to be strengthened.

[Optimization of the method for isolating and culturing rat mesenchymal stem cells].

OBJECTIVE: To optimize the protocols for isolation and culture of mesenchymal stem cells from rat bone marrow (BMSCs). METHODS: BMSCs were isolated by adherence to plastic with frequent medium change and reduced trypsinization time. The cell growth curves were drawn and the surface markers of BMSCs were detected by flow cytometry. The cells were induced to differentiate into osteogenic, adipogenic, hepatic and cholic lineages. RESULTS: The cells isolated using this method were positive for CD29, CD44, and CD90 and negative for the hematopoietic surface markers CD45. The osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation of the BMSCs was verified by alkaline phosphatase staining, Alizarin red staining and Oil red staining. The cell subcultures up to passage 10 maintained capacities of differentiation into osteogenic and adipogenic lineages. The BMSCs induced with sequential addition of growth factors, cytokines and hormones differentiated into cells expressing hepatocyte- and cholangiocyte-specific markers. CONCLUSION: The optimized method allows efficient isolation of homogenous populations of MSCs from rat bone marrow, which can be induced into multiple cell lineages.