Parental Age and Childhood Risk for Cerebral Palsy in California.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the associations between maternal or paternal age at the time of delivery and offspring's risk for cerebral palsy (CP) in California. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a population-based, case-control study that included 8736 singleton CP cases and 90 250 singleton controls, matched by sex and birth year, selected from California birth certificate records from 1994 to 2010. We estimated OR and 95% CIs for CP diagnosis according to maternal and paternal age recorded on the birth certificates. Causal mediation analysis was performed to estimate direct and indirect effects of parental ages on CP with preterm delivery as a potential mediator. RESULTS: Children born to younger mothers (≤19 years) or older mothers (35-39 years; ≥40 years) had a greater risk of CP compared with children of mothers aged 25-29 years (ORs ranging from 1.13 to 1.59). Compared with paternal age 25-29 years, older paternal age (40-44 years; ≥45 years) also was associated with an increased risk for CP independent of maternal age. When analyzing jointly using both parents of ages 20-34 years as the reference, the greatest risk was estimated for older parents (≥35 years). Preterm birth was estimated to mediate 19%-34% of the total effects between maternal or paternal age and offspring CP risk. CONCLUSIONS: Young maternal age and an older age in either or both parents were associated with a greater risk of CP in their children. Although preterm birth was a mediator, additional factors related to parental age need further exploration to explain risk of CP.

Will different sagittal and vertical skeletal types relate the soft tissue thickness: A study in Chinese female adults.

Facial reconstruction is a classical technique in forensic anthropology to reestablish the contours of the soft tissues over the skull. The accurate facial soft tissue data plays an essential role in forensic facial reconstruction. However, according to previous studies, various skeletal types might relate to different thickness in facial soft tissue. Until now, there are few publications focusing on the relationship between facial soft tissue thickness (FSTT) and different skeletal types, and none of them analyze the FSTT according to various sagittal and vertical skeletal types. The aim of this study was to testify the possible existence of correlations between FSTT and different skeletal types. In order to exclude interference from age, sex, ethnicity and body mass index (BMI) factors, we collected lateral projection X-rays data of 270 Chinese female aged 19-26 years with nomal BMI and divided them into various skeletal groups. Soft tissue thickness measurements were mainly based on 10 anthropological landmarks of the skull and statistics were analyzed on the basis of different skeletal types. The greatest differences were observed in the upper lip region of maxilla and the mental region of mandible. The concave and hypodivergent skull types showed the thickest soft tissue in maxillary region, and the convex and hypedivergent skull types showed the thickest soft tissue in the mental region. This study provided a database for FSTT according to various skeletal types in Chinese female population, and our current studies demonstrated that considering various skeletal types will improve the accuracy of facial reconstruction.

Differential Diagnosis of Solitary Pulmonary Inflammatory Lesions and Peripheral Lung Cancers with Contrast-enhanced Computed Tomography.

OBJECTIVES:: To clarify differences between solitary pulmonary inflammatory lesions and peripheral lung cancers with contrast-enhanced computed tomography. METHODS:: In total, 64 and 132 patients with solitary pulmonary inflammatory masses/nodules and peripheral lung cancers, respectively, were enrolled in this study. Their computed tomographic findings were summarized and compared retrospectively. RESULTS:: Compared with the peripheral lung cancers, the inflammatory lesions were located closer to the pleura (p<0.0001). The majority of the inflammatory lesions were patchy and oval-shaped (82.8%), whereas most of the tumors were lobulated (82.6%). Almost all the inflammatory cases were unclear (93.8%), whereas most of the tumors had spiculated margins (72.7%). Computed tomography values were significantly higher for the inflammatory lesions than for the cancers (p<0.0001). More than half of the inflammatory lesions had defined necrosis (59.3%). Furthermore, 49.2% of the cancers enhanced inhomogeneously, but only 24.6% had ill-defined necrosis or cavities. The peripheral zones of 98.4% of the inflammatory lesions and 72.7% of the tumors were unclear, with peripheral scattered patches (92.2%) and beam-shaped opacity (66.7%) being the most common findings, respectively. Adjacent pleural thickening was more frequent for the inflammatory lesions than the cancers (95.3% vs. 21.1%, p<0.0001), whereas pleural indentation was found in 67.4% of the subjects with cancer. In addition, hilar (p=0.034) and mediastinal (p=0.003) lymphadenopathy were more commonly detected in the cancers than in the inflammatory cases. CONCLUSIONS:: Contrast-enhanced computed tomography findings for pulmonary inflammatory lesions and peripheral lung cancers were significantly different in many aspects. Developing a comprehensive understanding of these differences is helpful for directing their management.

Differential Diagnosis of Solitary Pulmonary Inflammatory Lesions and Peripheral Lung Cancers with Contrast-enhanced Computed Tomography

OBJECTIVES: To clarify differences between solitary pulmonary inflammatory lesions and peripheral lung cancers with contrast-enhanced computed tomography. METHODS: In total, 64 and 132 patients with solitary pulmonary inflammatory masses/nodules and peripheral lung cancers, respectively, were enrolled in this study. Their computed tomographic findings were summarized and compared retrospectively. RESULTS: Compared with the peripheral lung cancers, the inflammatory lesions were located closer to the pleura (p<0.0001). The majority of the inflammatory lesions were patchy and oval-shaped (82.8%), whereas most of the tumors were lobulated (82.6%). Almost all the inflammatory cases were unclear (93.8%), whereas most of the tumors had spiculated margins (72.7%). Computed tomography values were significantly higher for the inflammatory lesions than for the cancers (p<0.0001). More than half of the inflammatory lesions had defined necrosis (59.3%). Furthermore, 49.2% of the cancers enhanced inhomogeneously, but only 24.6% had ill-defined necrosis or cavities. The peripheral zones of 98.4% of the inflammatory lesions and 72.7% of the tumors were unclear, with peripheral scattered patches (92.2%) and beam-shaped opacity (66.7%) being the most common findings, respectively. Adjacent pleural thickening was more frequent for the inflammatory lesions than the cancers (95.3% vs. 21.1%, p<0.0001), whereas pleural indentation was found in 67.4% of the subjects with cancer. In addition, hilar (p=0.034) and mediastinal (p=0.003) lymphadenopathy were more commonly detected in the cancers than in the inflammatory cases. CONCLUSIONS: Contrast-enhanced computed tomography findings for pulmonary inflammatory lesions and peripheral lung cancers were significantly different in many aspects. Developing a comprehensive understanding of these differences is helpful for directing their management.