Clinical treatment outcomes and their changes in extremely preterm twins: a multicenter retrospective study in Guangdong Province, China. / è¶ æœªæˆç†ŸåŒèƒŽå„¿ä¸´åºŠæ•‘æ²»ç»“å±€åŠå˜åŒ–åˆ†æžï¼šä¸€é¡¹å¹¿ä¸œçœå¤šä¸­å¿ƒå›žé¡¾æ€§ç ”ç©¶.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the clinical treatment outcomes and the changes of the outcomes over time in extremely preterm twins in Guangdong Province, China. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed for 269 pairs of extremely preterm twins with a gestational age of <28 weeks who were admitted to the department of neonatology in 26 grade A tertiary hospitals in Guangdong Province from January 2008 to December 2017. According to the admission time, they were divided into two groups: 2008-2012 and 2013-2017. Besides, each pair of twins was divided into the heavier infant and the lighter infant subgroups according to birth weight. The perinatal data of mothers and hospitalization data of neonates were collected. The survival rate of twins and the incidence rate of complications were compared between the 2008-2012 and 2013-2017 groups. RESULTS: Compared with the 2008-2012 group, the 2013-2017 group (both the heavier infant and lighter infant subgroups) had lower incidence rates of severe asphyxia and smaller head circumference at birth (P<0.05). The mortality rates of both of the twins, the heavier infant of the twins, and the lighter infant of the twins were lower in the 2013-2017 group compared with the 2008-2012 group (P<0.05). Compared with the 2008-2012 group, the 2013-2017 group (both the heavier infant and lighter infant subgroups) had lower incidence rates of pulmonary hemorrhage, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhage (P-IVH), and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS) and a higher incidence rate of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant increase in the survival rate over time in extremely preterm twins with a gestational age of <28 weeks in the 26 grade A tertiary hospitals in Guangdong Province. The incidences of severe asphyxia, pulmonary hemorrhage, PDA, P-IVH, and NRDS decrease in both the heavier and lighter infants of the twins, but the incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia increases. With the improvement of diagnosis and treatment, the multidisciplinary collaboration between different fields of fetal medicine including prenatal diagnosis, obstetrics, and neonatology is needed in the future to jointly develop management strategies for twin pregnancy.

The Arabidopsis KH-domain protein FLOWERING LOCUS Y delays flowering by upregulating FLOWERING LOCUS C family members.

KEY MESSAGE: We identified FLY as a previously uncharacterized RNA-binding-family protein that controls flowering time by positively regulating the expression of FLC clade members. The ability of flowering plants to adjust the timing of the floral transition based on endogenous and environmental signals contributes to their adaptive success. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the MADS-domain protein FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) and the FLC clade members FLOWERING LOCUS M/MADS AFFECTING FLOWERING1 (FLM/MAF1), MAF2, MAF3, MAF4, and MAF5 form nuclear complexes that repress flowering under noninductive conditions. However, how FLM/MAF genes are regulated requires further study. Using a genetic strategy, we showed that the previously uncharacterized K-homology (KH) domain protein FLOWERING LOCUS Y (FLY) modulates flowering time. The fly-1 knockout mutant and FLY artificial microRNA knockdown line flowered earlier than the wild type under long- and short-day conditions. The knockout fly-1 allele, a SALK T-DNA insertion mutant, contains an ~ 110-kb genomic deletion induced by T-DNA integration. FLC clade members were downregulated in the fly-1 mutants and FLY artificial microRNA knockdown line, whereas the level of the FLC antisense transcript COOLAIR was similar to that of the wild type. Our results identify FLY as a regulator that affects flowering time through upregulation of FLC clade members.

Application of image identification to UAV control for cage culture.

The purpose of this study was to save manpower and reduce costs on water quality measurement in cage culture. An unmanned aerial vehicle system was applied to locate the target net cage and detect the water quality and temperature in the desired cage automatically. This paper presents the use of image recognition and deep learning to find a predefined target location of cage aquaculture. The whole drone control and image recognition process was based on an onboard computer and was successfully realized in an actual environment. When the drone approached the net cage, image recognition was utilized to fix the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle on the net cage and drop a sensor to check the water quality. The proposed system could improve conventional manned measurement methods and reduce the costs of cage culture.

Short term outcomes of extremely low birth weight infants from a multicenter cohort study in Guangdong of China.

With the increase in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants, their outcome attracted worldwide attention. However, in China, the related studies are rare. The hospitalized records of ELBW infants discharged from twenty-six neonatal intensive care units in Guangdong Province of China during 2008-2017 were analyzed. A total of 2575 ELBW infants were enrolled and the overall survival rate was 55.11%. From 2008 to 2017, the number of ELBW infants increased rapidly from 91 to 466, and the survival rate improved steadily from 41.76% to 62.02%. Increased survival is closely related to birth weight (BW), regional economic development, and specialized hospital. The incidence of complications was neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (85.2%), oxygen dependency at 28 days (63.7%), retinopathy of prematurity (39.3%), intraventricular hemorrhage (29.4%), necrotizing enterocolitis (12.0%), and periventricular leukomalacia (8.0%). Among the 1156 nonsurvivors, 90.0% of infants died during the neonatal period (≤ 28 days). A total of 768 ELBW infants died after treatment withdrawal, for reasons of economic and/or poor outcome. The number of ELBW infants is increasing in Guangdong Province of China, and the overall survival rate is improving steadily.