[Clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes of pediatric epiretinal membranes without specific etiologies].

Objective: To describe clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes of pediatric epiretinal membranes (ERMs) without specific etiologies. Methods: Medical data of a cohort of pediatric patients (≤14 years) who had ERMs without specific etiologies, underwent surgical removal from January 2019 to September 2021, and were followed up for at least 12 months were retrospectively reviewed. Age at presentation, chief complaints, color fundus photographs, optical coherence tomographic images, preoperative and postoperative visual acuities, anatomical changes, and postoperative complications were assessed. Results: There were 14 patients (17 eyes), including 5 females (6 eyes) and 9 males (11 eyes). The mean age at surgery was 6.31±2.91 years, and the follow-up duration was 17.3±9.5 months. Eight patients were found to have low vision in the school physical examination. Fifteen eyes had an appearance of cellophane macular reflex on fundus images. On optical coherence tomographic images, 10 eyes had"taco"folds, and 7 eyes had"ripple"folds. Five eyes had ellipsoid zone disruptions, while 12 eyes had ellipsoid zone integrity. The preoperative and postoperative best-corrected visual acuities in logMAR were 0.532±0.302 and 0.340±0.298. One patient suffered traumatic cataract and secondary retinal detachment postoperatively, and after further vitrectomy, the retina became attached. Conclusion: Pediatric ERMs without specific etiologies were mostly found in school-age children with cellophane macular reflex and"taco"folds. Vitrectomy may result in both potential visual acuity and macular anatomical improvements.

[Perinatal outcomes of thoraco-amniotic shunting for severe primary fetal hydrothorax].

Objective: To evaluate the safety and perinatal outcomes of thoracoamniotic shunting in the treatment of fetuses with severe primary hydrothorax. Methods: 22 cases of suspected severe primary fetal hydrothorax which underwent thoraco-amniotic shunting in Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, Fetal Medicine Unit and Prenatal Diagnosis Center from January 2012 to December 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. Hydrothorax associated with structural or chromosomal abnormalities, infections and immune fetal hydrops were excluded. Results: Totally, 28 shunts were placed in 22 fetuses. The median gestational age at TAS was 31.3 weeks. Preterm membrane rupture within 7 days after the procedure occurred in 9.1% (2/22) cases. Catheter displacement occurred in 18% (4/22) cases. The interval from shunting to delivery was 26.0 days. One fetus ended in induced abortion; 21 (95%, 21/22) babies were born alive, and their median gestational age at delivery was 34.4 weeks. 62% (13/21) newborns required ventilator supports; 4 neonatal deaths were attributed to pulmonary hypoplasia. The overall perinatal survival rate was 81% (17/21) . The perinatal survival rate with hydrops and without hydrops were 10/13 and 7/8 respectively. Conclusion: Thoraco-amniotic shunting is a safe procedure for intrauterine therapy and could improve the perinatal outcomes of severe primary fetal hydrothorax.

Significance of platelet distribution width as a severity marker of erectile dysfunction.

Mean platelet volume (MPV) and Platelet distribution width (PDW) are potential markers in platelet activation. In present study, we aimed to evaluate MPV and PDW as potential severity markers for those patients who are complaining erectile dysfunction (ED). A total of 358 participants were enrolled in this study. The whole cohort was asked to complete the International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) questionnaire. The participants were classified into 3 groups: control group (n = 120), mild ED (n = 118) and severe ED (n = 120). We found in our cohort MPV and PDW were significantly higher in both mild ED group and severe ED group than control group (9.24 ± 0.70 and 9.71 ± 0.80 versus 8.56 ± 0.62 for MPV; 14.48 ± 1.29 and 14.98 ± 1.60 versus 12.86 ± 1.13 for PDW respectively). The MPV and PDW increased as the disease progressed. In the mild and severe ED groups, a significant inverse correlation was detected between the mean values of IIEF-5 score and PDW. Furthermore, in the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the area under the curve of the MPV and PDW to predict severe ED was 0.818 and 0.848 respectively. Our study establishes a dose-dependent association between the PDW and ED. Therefore, the PDW can serve as a potential marker for predicting the severity of ED.

[Preliminary analysis on COVID-19 case spectrum and spread intensity in different provinces in China except Hubei province].

Objective: To analyze the characteristics of COVID-19 case spectrum and spread intensity in different provinces in China except Hubei province. Methods: The daily incidence data and case information of COVID-19 were collected from the official websites of provincial and municipal health commissions. The morbidity rate, severity rate, case-fatality rate, and spread ratio of COVID-19 were calculated. Results: As of 20 March, 2020, a total of 12 941 cases of COVID-19 had been conformed, including 116 deaths, and the average morbidity rate, severity rate and case-fatality rate were 0.97/100 000, 13.5% and 0.90%, respectively. The morbidity rates in Zhejiang (2.12/100 000), Jiangxi (2.01/100 000) and Beijing (1.93/100 000) ranked top three. The characteristics of COVID-19 case spectrum varied from province to province. The first three provinces (autonomous region, municipality) with high severity rates were Tianjin (45.6%), Xinjiang (35.5%) and Heilongjiang (29.5%). The case-fatality rate was highest in Xinjiang (3.95%), followed by Hainan (3.57%) and Heilongjiang (2.70%). The average spread ratio was 0.98 and the spread intensity varied from province to province. Tibet had the lowest spread ratio (0), followed by Qinghai (0.20) and Guangdong (0.23). Conclusion: The intervention measures were effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and improved treatment effect in China. However, there were significant differences among different regions in severity, case-fatality rate and spread ratio.