[Study on the status of low vision among students of Beijing in 2017].

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the status quo and related factors on low vision (LV) among students of Beijing. Methods: All the students in Beijing were included as the subjects of interest, based on the reference of the Chinese National Survey on Students' Constitution and Health. Results: The overall rate of LV among students in Beijing was 58.6% in 2017, with 61.6% in females, higher than 55.9% in males. LV also appeared higher in urban than in rural areas. The rates of LV appeared as 46.8%, 78.0%, 89.0%, 71.0%, in students from primary, middle, high or vocational high schools, respectively. Rates on light, moderate or severe LV were 8.4%, 17.8% and 32.5%, respectively. Conclusions: The overall rate of LV among students in Beijing was considered high. Students in preschool, in 4-6 grades and the 2(nd) grade of middle schools, were at the key stages of developing vision-related problems. Factors as heavy load on homework, lack of outdoor activities and 'limit of vision space' as well as incorrect reading behavior during puberty, need to be of concern.

[Association between obesity and DNA methylation among the 7-16 year-old twins].

Objective: On whole-genome scale, we tried to explore the correlation between obesity-related traits and DNA methylation sites, based on discordant monozygotic twin pairs. Methods: A total of 90 pairs of 6-17 year-old twins were recruited in Chaoyang district, Yanqing district and Fangshan district in Beijing in 2016. Information on twins was gathered through a self-designed questionnaire and results: from physical examination, including height, weight and waist circumference of the subjects under study. DNA methylation detection was chosen on the Illumina Human Methylation EPIC BeadChip. R 3.3.1 language was used to read the DNA methylation signal under quality control on samples and probes. Ebayes function of empirical Bayes paired moderated t-test was used to identify the differential methylated CpG sites (DMCs). VarFit function of empirical Bayes paired moderated Levene test was used to identify the differentially variables CpG sits (DVCs) in obese and normal groups. Results According to the obesity discordance criteria, we collected 23 pairs of twins (age range 7 to 16 years), including 12 male pairs. A total of 817 471 qualified CpG loci were included in the genome-wide correlation analysis. According to the significance level of FDR set as <0.05, no positive sites would meet this standard. When DMC CpG site cg05684382, with the smallest P value (1.26E-06) as on chromosome 12, the DVC CpG site cg26188191 with the smallest P value (6.44E-06) appeared in CMIP gene on chromosome 16. Conclusions: In this study, we analyzed the genome-wide DNA methylation and its correlation with obesity traits. After multiple testing corrections, no positive sites were found to have associated with obesity. However, results from the correlation analysis demonstrated sites cg05684382 (chr: 12) and cg26188191 (chr: 16) might have played a role in the development of obesity. This study provides a methodologic reference for the studies on discordance twins related problems.

End-stage renal disease risk equations for Hong Kong Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes: Hong Kong Diabetes Registry.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The objective of the study was to investigate risk factors and develop risk equations for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A prospective cohort of 4,438 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and without ESRD (median observation period 2.9 years, interquartile range 1.6-4.1 years) was included in the analysis. The end-point (ESRD) was defined by: (1) death due to diabetes with renal manifestations or renal failure; (2) hospitalisation due to renal failure; (3) estimated GFR (eGFR) <15 ml min(-1) 1.73 m(-2). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to develop risk equations. The data were randomly and evenly divided into the training data for development of the risk equations and the test data for validation. The validation was performed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (aROC), which takes into account follow-up time and censoring. RESULTS: During the observation period, 159 patients or 12.45 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI 10.52-14.37 per 1,000 person-years) developed ESRD. Known duration of diabetes, systolic blood pressure, log(10) total cholesterol:HDL cholesterol ratio and retinopathy were significant predictors of ESRD. After further adjusting for eGFR, log(10) spot albumin:creatinine ratio (ACR) and haematocrit, only eGFR, haematocrit and log(10) ACR remained as independent predictors of ESRD. The risk equation derived from these three independent predictors had good discrimination, with an aROC of 0.97. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Estimated GFR, haematocrit and ACR were independent predictors of ESRD and the derived risk equation performed well in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes.

Use of conventional antipsychotics and the cost of treating schizophrenia.

This study documents the drug therapy patterns and 1-year treatment costs for 18,833 Medicaid patients with schizophrenia treated with conventional antipsychotic medications in Michigan, Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia. One in four patients used no antipsychotic, but had total costs that were less than for treated patients (-$2,576, p < .0001); 18 percent of treated patients delayed therapy for at least 1 month and had significantly higher total costs of $3,994 (p < .0001); 41 percent of treated patients changed therapy with similar results (+$4,067, p < .0001). Only 20 percent of patients were compliant with drug therapy but this had no significant impact on total treatment costs.