[Clinical Significance of Screening Thalassemia with High- Throughput Sequencing].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic value of high-throughput sequencing (NGS) in screening the thalassemia genes. METHODS: The peripheral blood of 2 858 cases of pre-pregnancy and pregnancy from October 2014 to October 2016 randomly were collected in department of obstetrics, the third people's hospital in Dongguan city. Peripheral blood was used for the blood routine examination, hemoglobin electrophoresis, traditional thalassaemia gene screening and NGS. RESULTS: The rate of missed diagnosis for α-thalassemia and ß-thalassemia using NGS was 0.87% and 1.59%, respectively. Meanwhile, the missed rate of screening for α-thalassemia and ß-thalassemia by traditional screening models was 26.77% and 2.38%, respectively. The area under the ROC curve of α-thalassemia and ß-thalassemia screened by NGS was 0.994 and 0.991, respectively, however, the area under the ROC curve of screening for α-thalassemia and ß-thalassemia by the traditional screening model was 0.866 and 0.988, respectively. The sensitivity, rate of missed diagnosis, Youden index and negative predictive value of screening for α-thalassemia and ß-thalassemia using NGS all were superior to those using traditional screening. CONCLUSION: Compared with the traditional screening model, the NGS screening for thalassemia genes shows a high accuracy, moreover can avoid missed diagnosis resulted from screening by conventional method, suggesting that the NCS possesses the accurate and diagnostic value for screening of thalassemia and can widely apply to clinical practise so as to provid the guarantee for early diagnosis of thalassemia.

Bacillus vanillea sp. nov., Isolated from the Cured Vanilla Bean.

A Gram-positive bacterium, designated strain XY18(T), was isolated from a cured vanilla bean in Hainan province, China. Cells were rod-shaped, endospore producing, and peritrichous flagella. Strain XY18(T) grew at salinities of 0-8 % (w/v) NaCl (optimally 1-4 %), pH 4.0-8.0 (optimally 5.0-7.0 %) and temperature range 20-45 °C (optimally 28-35 °C). The predominant menaquinone was MK-7. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15:0, iso-C15:0, anteiso-C17:0, and iso-C17:0. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain XY18(T) was a member of the genus Bacillus, and closely related to B. amyloliquefaciens NBRC 15535(T) and B. siamensis PD-A10(T), with 99.1 and 99.2 % sequence similarity, respectively. However, the DNA-DNA hybridization value between strain XY18(T) and B. amyloliquefaciens NBRC 15535(T) was 35.7 %. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain XY18(T) was 46.4 mol%, significantly differed from B. siamensis PD-A10(T) (41.4 %), which was higher than the range of 4 % indicative of species. On the basis of polyphasic taxonomic study, including phenotypic features, chemotaxonomy, and phylogenetic analyses, strain XY18(T) represents a novel species within the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus vanillea sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is XY18(T) (=CGMCC 8629 = NCCB 100507).

Volatile organic compound emissions from different stages of Cananga odorata flower development.

Headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) was used to identify the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of the different flower development stages of Cananga odorata for the evaluation of floral volatile polymorphism as a basis to determine the best time of harvest. Electronic nose results, coupled with discriminant factor analysis, suggested that emitted odors varied in different C. odorata flower development stages, including the bud, display-petal, initial-flowering, full-flowering, end-flowering, wilted-flower, and dried flower stages. The first two discriminant factors explained 97.52% of total system variance. Ninety-two compounds were detected over the flower life, and the mean Bray-Curtis similarity value was 52.45% among different flower development stages. A high level of volatile polymorphism was observed during flower development. The VOCs were largely grouped as hydrocarbons, esters, alcohols, aldehydes, phenols, acids, ketones, and ethers, and the main compound was ß-caryophyllene (15.05%-33.30%). Other identified compounds were ß-cubebene, D-germacrene, benzyl benzoate, and α-cubebene. Moreover, large numbers of VOCs were detected at intermediate times of flower development, and more hydrocarbons, esters, and alcohols were identified in the full-flowering stage. The full-flowering stage may be the most suitable period for C. odorata flower harvest.

[A preliminary study on the occlusal contact changes during retention in adolescent patients].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the changes of the occlusal contact characteristics in adolescent patients during 12 months after active orthodontic treatment. METHODS: Twenty adolescent patients with Hawley retainers after active orthodontic treatment were divided into none occlusal interference group and occlusal interference group. The occlusion of the patients was examined with T-Scan II system directly after the appliance removal (T1) and after an average retention period of 12 months (T2). The changes of occlusal contact characteristics were observed. RESULTS: The disclusion time during protrusion, left and right lateral movements reduced significantly. The average disclusion time decreased [from (1.07 ± 0.87), (0.91 ± 0.47), (0.76 ± 0.43) s to (0.43 ± 0.25), (0.67 ± 0.41), (0.50 ± 0.27) s] significantly (P < 0.05). The occlusal interference disappeared in 4 patients and 1 patient with occlusal interference showed masticatory muscle symptom. The dynamic occlusion [from (1.25 ± 1.11), (0.84 ± 0.15), (0.52 ± 0.49) s to (0.35 ± 0.15), (0.36 ± 0.15), (0.33 ± 0.11) s] improved significantly (P < 0.05) in none occlusal interference group after retention and no statistical differences were found in the occlusal interference group (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The overall dynamic occlusion improved after retention in patients with retainers. The presence of occlusal interference affected the self-improvement process and increased the chance of the disorders of stomatognathic system, such as mandibular abnormal movements. Therefore, functional occlusion evaluation and final detailing were needed before appliance removal.

[Influence of interventional radiotherapy for severe postpartum hemorrhage on postpartum menorrhea].

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the influence of interventional radiotherapy for treating severe postpartum hemorrhage on postpartum menorrhea. METHODS: From Mar. 1995 to Feb. 2002, 18 cases of severe postpartum hemorrhage treated with arterial embolization served as the interventional group. Twenty parturients without postpartum complication were recruited as control group. The continuance of lochia, recovery of menorrhea between the two groups were compared. Serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E(2)) of the non-lactating women in the two groups were assayed during the 3rd-5th days of the first menstrual cycle. RESULTS: Continuance times of lochia were (33.9 +/- 2.0) days, and (36.2 +/- 3.1) days in interventional group and control group, respectively. Recovery times of menorrhea were (75 +/- 17) days, and (95 +/- 16) days in interventional group and control group. The quantity of the postpartum menorrhea was 1.3 +/- 0.1 times of that before delivery in interventional group, 1.3 +/- 0.2 times of that in control group. The number of menstrual cycle before recovery to normal menorrhea was 2 cycles in interventional group, 1.9 cycles in control group. Postpartum menstrual cycle was (33.9 +/- 2.2) days in interventional group, (33.2 +/- 1.6) days in control group. Serum FSH, LH, E(2) of the non-lactating women during the 3rd approximately 5th days of the first menstrual cycle were (5.2 +/- 1.1) U/L, (7.5 +/- 1.6) U/L, (262 +/- 14) pmol/L in interventional group, (4.3 +/- 2.1) U/L, (6.3 +/- 1.3) U/L, (280 +/- 12) pmol/L in control group. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: No obvious influence of interventional radiotherapy for postpartum hemorrhage on postpartum menorrhea was observed.