Artificial intelligence-based literature data warehouse for vaccine safety / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective: To establish a sustainable updated literature data warehouse for global vaccine safety assessment, and provide data support for evidence-based vaccine safety assessment. Methods: Semi-automated construction and updating of a literature data warehouse were achieved through the continuous integration of standard operating steps of evidence-based reviews with artificial intelligence technologies. Following the standard procedure of a systematic literature review, the literatures about vaccine safety assessment published before November 29, 2020 were retrieved from 9 databases including OVID, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrails.org in English and Wanfang, CNKI, VIP, and SinoMed in Chinese. Literatures were screened for two rounds in a semi-automatic manner (by artificial intelligence literature processing system and manual work) according to the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Furthermore, the literatures were classified according to the types of vaccines and adverse events. The updating strategy was established, and the literature data warehouse was updated regularly. Experts were organized to select specific vaccine safety topics and carry out special demonstration studies. Results: More than 0.41 million articles were retrieved. According to the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 23 304 articles were included after two rounds of screening. At present, we have selected and completed three prior topics as demonstration studies, including the systematic review of "DPT (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus) vaccine and encephalopathy/encephalitis", and the classified management of literatures about allergic purpura and brachial plexus neuritis. Conclusions: The sustainable updated literature data warehouse of vaccine safety can provide high-quality research data for vaccine safety research, including evidence support for immunization related policy-making and adjustment and vaccine safety-related methodological research or clinical tool development; and further demonstration studies can provide references for building a new methodological framework system for timely and efficient completion of the evidence-based assessment of vaccine safety.

Epidemiological study of infantile epilepsy incidence density among infants under 36 months of age in Ningbo City from 2015 to 2019 / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To describe the distribution and trend of infantile epilepsy among infants under 36 months in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.@*METHODS@#Using the birth cohort design, we retrospectively collected the local born infants in Ningbo national health information platform from 2015 to 2019, and took the first visit of epilepsy in the electronic medical record of the platform as the new case. The incidence density and 95% confidence interval (CI) of epilepsy were estimated by Poisson distribution.@*RESULTS@#From 2015 to 2019, a total of 294 900 children were born in Ningbo, with male accounting for 51.92%. The total person-years of observation were 595 300, while the median follow-up person-years was 2.31 [interquartile range (IQR): 1.90]. There were 575 new onset epilepsy patients during the whole observation period. The total number of visits was 2 599, with an average of 4.52. The total incidence density was 96.59/100 000 person-years (95%CI: 88.85-104.82). The median age of onset was 13 months (IQR: 15), 0-12 months old infants had the highest incidence density (102.18/100 000 person-years), 25-36 months old infants had the lowest incidence density (89.68/100 000 person-years), and the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The incidence density of male was 97.58/100 000 person-years, female was 95.53/100 000 person-years, and the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Fenghua was the highest (130.54/100 000 person-years, 95%CI: 94.47-175.83) and Ninghai was the lowest (66.44/100 000 person-years, 95%CI: 47.02-91. 19), with significant difference (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence density in different birth years (P>0.05). There was significant difference in the incidence density between 0-12 months old infants in different calendar years (Ptrend < 0.05). In this age group, the incidence density was the lowest in 2015 (69.41/100 000 person-years, 95%CI: 41.79-108.39), and the highest in 2019 (225.61/100 000 person-years, 95%CI: 186.10-271.03). There was no significant difference in the incidence density between 13-24 and 25-36 months old infants in different calendar years (P>0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#The incidence density of epilepsy in 0-36 months old infants in Ningbo City from 2015 to 2019 was low as a whole, and there was no difference in age group, gender, and year of birth. The incidence density of 0-12 months old infants increased with the year.

Clinical features and prognostic factors in patients with leptomeningeal metastases / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of leptomeningeal metastases (LM) from solid tumors and to develop better treatment strategies.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical characteristics and follow-up results of 77 cases of leptomeningeal metastases (LM) from solid tumors diagnosed and treated in our hospital from 2002 to 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical characteristics, treatment methods and overall survival were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression model.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The median survival time for all the patients was 88 days. KPS score, control of the primary tumor and systemic treatment were correlated with survival time for the patients (P < 0.05 for all). The median survival time of systemic treatment was 150 d and those without systemic treatment (chemotherapy and/or targeted therapy) after LM was 60 d (P = 0.001). Systemic therapy combined with local treatment (radiotherapy to the meninges or intrathecal chemotherapy) further improved the survival time of patients. Multivariate analysis showed that KPS and short-term therapeutic response for the LM were independent prognostic factors (P < 0.05 for both).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>KPS and short-term therapeutic response are independent prognostic factores for leptomeningeal metastases from solid tumors. Systemic chemotherapy or targeted therapy can prolong the survival time. Systemic treatment (chemotherapy and/or targeted therapy) combined with radiation therapy or intrathecal injection may further improve the clinical outcomes.</p>