Specific convulsions and brain damage in children hospitalized for Omicron BA.5 infection: an observational study using two cohorts.

BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 continues to mutate over time, and reports on children infected with Omicron BA.5 are limited. We aimed to analyze the specific symptoms of Omicron-infected children and to improve patient care. METHODS: We selected 315 consecutively hospitalized children with Omicron BA.5 and 16,744 non-Omicron-infected febrile children visiting the fever clinic at our hospital between December 8 and 30, 2022. Specific convulsions and body temperatures were compared between the two cohorts. We analyzed potential associations between convulsions and vaccination, and additionally evaluated the brain damage among severe Omicron-infected children. RESULTS: Convulsion rates (97.5% vs. 4.3%, P < 0.001) and frequencies (median: 2.0 vs. 1.6, P < 0.001) significantly differed between Omicron-infected and non-Omicron-infected febrile children. The body temperatures of Omicron-infected children were significantly higher during convulsions than when they were not convulsing and those of non-Omicron-infected febrile children during convulsions (median: 39.5 vs. 38.2 and 38.6 °C, both P < 0.001). In the three Omicron-subgroups, the temperature during convulsions was proportional to the percentage of patients and significantly differed ( P < 0.001), while not in the three non-Omicron-subgroups ( P = 0.244). The convulsion frequency was lower in the 55 vaccinated children compared to the 260 non-vaccinated children (average: 1.8 vs. 2.1, P < 0.001). The vaccination dose and convulsion frequency in Omicron-infected children were significantly correlated ( P < 0.001). Fifteen of the 112 severe Omicron cases had brain damage. CONCLUSIONS: Omicron-infected children experience higher body temperatures and frequencies during convulsions than those of non-Omicron-infected febrile children. We additionally found evidence of brain damage caused by infection with omicron BA.5. Vaccination and prompt fever reduction may relieve symptoms.

Digital measuring the ocular morphological parameters of guinea pig eye in vivo with Python.

AIM: To quantitatively measure ocular morphological parameters of guinea pig with Python technology. METHODS: Thirty-six eyeballs of eighteen 3-week-old guinea pigs were measured with keratometer and photographed to obtain the horizontal, coronal, and sagittal planes respectively. The corresponding photo pixels-actual length ratio was acquired by a proportional scale. The edge coordinates were identified artificially by ginput function. Circle and conic curve fitting were applied to fit the contour of the eyeball in the sagittal, coronal and horizontal view. The curvature, curvature radius, eccentricity, tilt angle, corneal diameter, and binocular separation angle were calculated according to the geometric principles. Next, the eyeballs were removed, canny edge detection was applied to identify the contour of eyeball in vitro. The results were compared between in vivo and in vitro. RESULTS: Regarding the corneal curvature and curvature radius on the horizontal and sagittal planes, no significant differences were observed among results in vivo, in vitro, and the keratometer. The horizontal and vertical binocular separation angles were 130.6°±6.39° and 129.8°±9.58° respectively. For the corneal curvature radius and eccentricity in vivo, significant differences were observed between horizontal and vertical planes. CONCLUSION: The Graphical interface window of Python makes up the deficiency of edge detection, which requires too much definition in Matlab. There are significant differences between guinea pig and human beings, such as exotropic eye position, oblique oval eyeball, and obvious discrepancy of binoculus. This study helps evaluate objectively the ocular morphological parameters of small experimental animals in emmetropization research.

[Congenital pulmonary alveolar proteinosis in a neonate]. / æ–°ç”Ÿå„¿å ˆå¤©æ€§è‚ºæ³¡è›‹ç™½æ²‰ç§¯ç—‡1例.

The male patient was referred to the hospital at 44 days old due to dyspnea after birth and inability to wean off oxygen. His brother died three days after birth due to respiratory failure. The main symptoms observed were respiratory failure, dyspnea, and hypoxemia. A chest CT scan revealed characteristic reduced opacity in both lungs with a "crazy-paving" appearance. The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) showed periodic acid-Schiff positive proteinaceous deposits. Genetic testing indicated a compound heterozygous mutation in the ABCA3 gene. The diagnosis for the infant was congenital pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP). Congenital PAP is a significant cause of challenging-to-treat respiratory failure in full-term infants. Therefore, congenital PAP should be considered in infants experiencing persistently difficult-to-treat dyspnea shortly after birth. Early utilization of chest CT scans, BALF pathological examination, and genetic testing may aid in early diagnosis.

Research on aeromagnetic data error analysis and processing of multi-rotor UAV based on variational mode decomposition algorithm.

Aeromagnetic survey of multi-rotor UAV is widely used in small and medium-sized mineral resources survey, engineering investigation, non-explosive detection and other fields due to its advantages of high safety, low cost and convenient operation. The original data of UAV aeromagnetic survey includes interference from external environment, interference from UAV platform and interference from airborne electromagnetic equipment. The interference is mainly shown as striping anomaly along the direction of the survey line in the aeromagnetic anomaly map, which affects the accuracy of aeromagnetic compensation and information detection of geological anomaly body, thus affecting the accuracy of interpretation of geological anomaly body. In this paper, the algorithm of Variational Modal Decomposition (VMD) is introduced to filter and preprocess the aeromagnetic data to obtain high quality aeromagnetic data. At the same time, the source and characteristics of the errors are predicted according to the interference size and spectrum characteristics of the Modal function errors, which provides a reference for the optimization of aeromagnetic system.

An in-depth discussion of cholesteatoma, middle ear Inflammation, and langerhans cell histiocytosis of the temporal bone, based on diagnostic results.

Objective: This study aimed to conduct an in-depth investigation of the learning framework used for deriving diagnostic results of temporal bone diseases, including cholesteatoma and Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). In addition, middle ear inflammation (MEI) was diagnosed by CT scanning of the temporal bone in pediatric patients. Design: A total of 119 patients were included in this retrospective study; among them, 40 patients had MEI, 38 patients had histology-proven cholesteatoma, and 41 patients had histology-proven LCH of the temporal bone. Each of the 119 patients was matched with one-third of the disease labels. The study included otologists and radiologists, and the reference criteria were histopathology results (70% of cases for training and 30% of cases for validation). A multilayer perceptron artificial neural network (VGG16_BN) was employed and classified, based on radiometrics. This framework structure was compared and analyzed by clinical experts according to CT images and performance. Results: The deep learning framework results vs. a physician's diagnosis, respectively, in multiclassification tasks, were as follows. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) (cholesteatoma): (0.98 vs. 0.91), LCH (0.99 vs. 0.98), and MEI (0.99 vs. 0.85). Accuracy (cholesteatoma): (0.99 vs. 0.89), LCH (0.99 vs. 0.97), and MEI (0.99 vs. 0.89). Sensitivity (cholesteatoma): (0.96 vs. 0.97), LCH (0.99 vs. 0.98), and MEI (1 vs. 0.69). Specificity (cholesteatoma): (1 vs. 0.89), LCH (0.99 vs. 0.97), and MEI (0.99 vs. 0.89). Conclusion: This article presents a research and learning framework for the diagnosis of cholesteatoma, MEI, and temporal bone LCH in children, based on CT scans. The research framework performed better than the clinical experts.

Reactivity of Viral Nucleic Acids with Chlorine and the Impact of Virus Encapsidation.

Free chlorine disinfection is widely applied to inactivate viruses by reacting with their biomolecules, which include nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids. Knowing the reactivities of viral genomes with free chlorine and the protection that encapsidation provides would ultimately help predict virus susceptibility to the disinfectant. The relative reactivities of different viral genome types and the impact of viral higher order structure with free chlorine are poorly characterized. Here, we studied the reactivity of viral genomes representing four genome types from virus particles with diverse structures, namely, (+)ssRNA (MS2), dsRNA (φ6), ssDNA (φX174), and dsDNA (T3) with free chlorine. We compared the reactivities of these viral nucleic acids when they were suspended in phosphate buffer solutions (naked forms) and when they were in the native virus particles (encapsidated forms). The reactivities of nucleic acids were tracked by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays. The naked dsDNA of T3 was the least reactive with free chlorine, with an average second order rate constant normalized by the number of bases in the measured regions (in M-1 s-1 b-1) that was 34×, 65×, and 189× lower than those of the dsRNA of φ6, ssRNA of MS2, and ssDNA of φX174, respectively. Moreover, different regions in the ssRNA genome of MS2 and the dsRNA genome of φ6 exhibited statistically different reaction kinetics. The genomes within virus particles reacted slower than the naked genomes overall, but the extent of these differences varied among the four viruses. The results on viral nucleic acid reactivity help explain different susceptibilities of viruses to inactivation by free chlorine and also provide a valuable comparison of the susceptibilities of different nucleic acids to oxidants.

Measuring the Ocular Morphological Parameters of Guinea Pig Eye with Edge Detection and Curve Fitting.

AIM: To identify the guinea pig eyeball with edge detection and curve fitting and devise a noncontact technology of measuring ocular morphological parameters of small experimental animal. METHODS: Thirty-nine eyeballs of guinea pig eyeballs were photographed to obtain the anterior and posterior surface; transverse and sagittal planes after the eyeballs were eviscerated. Next, the eyeball photos were input into digital image analysis software; the corresponding photo pixels-actual length ratio was acquired by a proportional scale. The contour lines of the eyeballs were identified by edge detection technology; conic curve fitting was applied to fit the contour line of the eyeball. The maximum and minimum diameters, the horizontal and vertical diameters, eccentricity, tilt angle, cross-sectional area, equatorial circumference, retrobulbar equatorial maximum length, corneal radius of curvature (CRC) in central region, and the whole cornea were calculated according to the geometric principles. The corneal data of in vitro study were compared with the in vivo results. RESULTS: The contour line of the selected guinea pig eye was identified correctly by edge detection. There were no significant differences between anterior and posterior surfaces of one eyeball in the maximum diameters, eccentricity, cross-sectional area, equatorial circumference, and tilt angle (P > 0.01). There were significant differences of eccentricity and CRC between central region and the whole cornea (P < 0.01). There were no significant differences between keratometer in vivo and cornea in vitro. CONCLUSION: It was feasible to measure an experimental animal eye in a noncontact way. Edge detection and curve fitting technology could accurately evaluate the ocular morphological parameters.

Imaging findings of pulmonary manifestations of chronic granulomatous disease in a large single center from Shanghai, China (1999-2018).

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is characterized by recurrent infections and granuloma formation in multiple organs, especially the lung. We aimed to investigate pulmonary manifestations by computed tomography (CT). In total, 100 patients with 117 episodes of pulmonary infection were included. Chest CT scans of every episode were analyzed. Random nodules were the most common findings (79.49%), followed by ground-grass opacities (74.36%), focal consolidations (62.39%), and masses (59.83%). Cavities (12.82%) and multiple small abscesses (17.09%) could be found in the consolidations and masses. CT revealed interstitial pneumonia with tree-in-bud opacities (17.09%), interlobular septal thickening (23.08%) and emphysema (35.04%), which were more severe in the bilateral upper lobes. Mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathy (78.63%) and axillary lymphadenopathy (65.81%) were common. Fungal infection (n = 27) was the most common and presented with multiple nodules and masses. Approximately 1/4 of fungal infections had interstitial pneumonia. In Staphylococcus aureus (n = 6) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 3) infections, large areas of consolidation were common. In tuberculosis infection, the pulmonary infections were more severe and complex. For Bacillus Calmette-Guérin disease, left-sided axillary lymphadenopathy was a characteristic manifestation. CT images of CGD demonstrated variable pulmonary abnormalities. The main infectious organisms have unique imaging features.

Nucleic Acid Photolysis by UV254 and the Impact of Virus Encapsidation.

Determining the influence of higher order structure on UVC photolysis will help inform predictions of nucleic acid fate and microorganism inactivation. We measured the direct UV254 photolysis kinetics of four model viral genomes composed of single-stranded and double-stranded RNA (ssRNA and dsRNA, respectively), as well as single-stranded and double-stranded DNA (ssDNA and dsDNA, respectively), in ultrapure water, in phosphate buffered saline (PBS), and encapsidated in their native virus particles. The photolysis rate constants of naked nucleic acids measured by qPCR (RT-qPCR for RNA) and normalized by the number of bases measured in a particular sequence exhibited the following trend: ssDNA > ssRNA ≈ dsDNA > dsRNA. In PBS, naked ssRNA bases reacted, on average, 24× faster than the dsRNA bases, whereas naked ssDNA bases reacted 4.3× faster than dsDNA bases. Endogenous indirect photolysis involving 1O2 and ·OH was ruled out as a major contributing factor in the reactions. A comparison of our measured rate constants with rate constants reported in the literature shows a general agreement among the nucleic acid UV254 direct photolysis kinetics. Our results underscore the high resistance of dsRNA to UVC photolysis and demonstrate the role that nucleic acid structure and solution chemistry play in photoreactivity.

Surveillance of molecular characteristics of gyrA and parC among fluoroquinolone resistant Streptococcus agalatiae isolates in Suzhou hospitals / 国际检验医学杂志

Objective To investigate the molecular characteristic of fluoroquinolone resistant Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS) isolates in Suzhou.Methods Totally 46 fluoroquinolone resistant GBS strains were collected,and then subjected into PCR and two resistance genes were sequenced and their high frequency mutation sites,gyrA and parC were analysed.Results Among these isolates,the most frequent gyrA mutation was gyrA_S81L (TCA→TTA),which displayed 93.4％ (43/46) with substituted at No.81 site of amino acid from Ser to Leu.However,the most frequent parC mutation was mutated at No.79 site of amino acid from Ser to Tyr orPhe,with two mutations parC_S79Y (73.9％,34/46) and parC_S79F(17.4％,8/46).The analysis showed that the major mutation patterns are gyrA_S81L with parC_S79Y (73.9％,34/46),gyrA_S81L with parC(13.0％,6/46).Conclusion The most frequent mutations of fluoroquinolone resistant gene in Suzhou are gyrA and parC and the major mutation patterns are gyrA_S81L/parC_S79Y and gyrA_S81L/parC_S79F.

Multiscale multifractal properties between ground-level ozone and its precursors in rural area in Hong Kong.

In rural area, due to the reduction of NOx and CO emitted from vehicle exhausts, the ozone photochemical reaction exhibits relatively weak effect and ozone formation presents different pattern with its precursors in contrast to urban situation. Hence, in this study, we apply detrended cross-correlation analysis to investigate the multifractal properties between ozone and its precursors in a rural area in Hong Kong. The observed databases of ozone, NO2, NOx and CO levels during 2005-2014 are obtained from a rural monitoring station in Hong Kong. Based on the collected database, the cross-correlation analysis is carried out firstly to examine the cross-correlation patterns and the results indicate that close interactive relations exist between them. Then the detrended cross-correlation analysis is performed for further analysis. The multifractal characters occur between ozone and its precursors. The long-term cross-correlations behaviors in winter are verified to be stronger than that in other seasons. Additionally, the method is extended on daily averaged data to explore the multifractal property on various time scales. The long-term cross-correlation behavior of ozone vs NO2 and NOx on daily basis becomes weaker while that of ozone vs CO becomes stronger. The multifractal properties for all pairs in summer are found to be the strongest among the whole year. These findings successfully illustrate that the multifractal analysis is a useful tool for describing the temporal scaling behaviors of ozone trends in different time series in rural areas.

Predictive effect of neonatal morbidities on the poor outcomes at 12 months corrected age in very low birth weight premature infants / 中华儿科杂志

Objective@#To investigate the prognostic effect of neonatal morbidities on poor outcomes at 12 months corrected age in very low birth weight (VLBW) premature infants .@*Method@#From November 2013 to October 2014, a multi-center retrospective study was conducted in 8 tertiary Maternal and Children′s hospitals in Guangdong, Hunan and Fujian. The premature infants survived to a postmenstrual age (PMA) of 36 weeks with birth weight less than 1 500 g and without congenital diseases were included, and divided into two groups according to poor outcomes. The birth weight, gestational age, morbidities and poor outcomes (death, cerebral palsy, cognitive delay, et al) were recorded. Data were analyzed with Chi-square test to investigate the relationship between morbidities and poor outcomes. And the predictive effect of the top three morbidities were analyzed by Logistic regression analysis.@*Result@#Total of 834 VLBW premature infants (473 boys and 361 girls) finished the follow-up, whose average gestational age and birth weight were (30.6±1.8) weeks and (1 189±159)g. The incidences of BPD, severe ROP, NEC, brain injury and sepsis were 207 (24.8%), 119 (14.3%), 58 (7.0%), 281 (33.7%) and 124 (14.9%), respectively. There were significant differences between the two groups in the incidences of BPD, severe ROP, NEC, brain injury and sepsis(χ2=42.10, 47.20, 4.81, 44.28, 18.63, all P<0.01), which had significant correlation with poor outcomes at 12 months corrected age. The three top morbidities were severe ROP, BPD and brain injury(OR=3.82, 2.90, 2.80). Combined morbidities with BPD, severe ROP and brain injury correlated with higher risk of poor outcomes (one morbidity, OR=3.14, β=1.15; two morbidities, OR=7.31, β=1.99; three morbidities, OR=22.41, β=3.11; all P<0.01).@*Conclusion@#BPD, severe ROP, NEC, brain injury and sepsis were the risk factors of poor outcomes at 12 months corrected age in VLBW infants. And the more combined morbidities with severe ROP, BPD and brain injury, the higher risk of poor outcomes in this population. Trial registration Clinical Trails, NCT03104946.

The role of glutamate and peptidoglycan in nanotubes formation between adjacent bacteria / 中国人兽共患病学报

We investigated the formation mechanism and immediate constituents of nanotubes between adjacent bacteria,pre venting rapid increase of drug-resistant bacteria provide potential targets.We used scanning electron microscopy(SEM) to observe formation of nanotubes;glutamic was determined by surface desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry(SDAPCI-MS)and peptidoglycan was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) in the forma tion of nanotubes before and after.The results showed that Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli consumed more glutamic after formation of nanotubes;at the same time,the concentration of peptidoglycan in nanotubes formation of S.aureus and E.coli increased significantly.This study illuminated the glutamic and peptidoglycanin role mechanism of nanotubes form.We found that peptidoglycan is constituents of nanotubes and glutamic is the main energy source for the formation of nanotubes.

Direct and Indirect Photochemical Reactions in Viral RNA Measured with RT-qPCR and Mass Spectrometry.

RNA carries the genetic instructions for many viruses to replicate in their host cells. The photochemical reactions that take place in RNA and affect viral infectivity in natural and engineered environments, however, remain poorly understood. We exposed RNA oligomer segments from the genome of bacteriophage MS2 to UV254, simulated sunlight, and singlet oxygen (1O2) and analyzed the oligomer reaction kinetics with reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and quantitative matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS). Following UV254 exposure, quantitative MALDI-TOF-MS detected significantly more RNA modifications than did RT-qPCR, suggesting that certain chemical modifications in the RNA were not detected by the reverse transcriptase enzyme. In contrast, MALDI-TOF-MS tracked as much 1O2-induced RNA damage as RT-qPCR. After 5 h of simulated sunlight exposure (5100 J/m2 UVB and 1.2 × 105 J/m2 UVA), neither MALDI-TOF-MS nor RT-qPCR detected significant decreases in the oligomer concentrations. High-resolution electrospray ionization (ESI)-Orbitrap MS analyses identified pyrimidine photohydrates as the major UV254 products, which likely contributed to the discrepancy between the MS- and RT-qPCR-based results. Reactions between RNA oligomers and 1O2 resulted in an unidentified major product with a mass change of +6 Da. These results shed light on the photochemical reactions that take place in RNA and suggest that the analytical techniques used to detect RNA reactivity could bias the observed reaction kinetics.

Differential Effect of the Ratio of Right Ventricular Volume to Left Ventricular Volume in Children with Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot.

We aimed to compare the diagnostic value of indexed right ventricular end-diastolic volume (RVEDVi) and the ratio of right ventricle volume to left ventricle volume (RV/LV ratio) in prediction of the severity of pulmonary regurgitation (PR) expressed as the PR fraction (PRF) after surgery of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). Forty-one patients with repaired TOF were included in the study. RVEDVi, LVEDVi, RV/LV ratio, PRF and ejection fraction were measured with magnetic resonance imaging. A PRF of more than 20% was considered significant. The predictive capability of two markers (RVEDVi and RV/LV ratio) for significant PR was compared using multivariate linear regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Both the RV/LV ratio and RVEDVi showed a correlation with PRF (r = 0.526/0.321, p = 0.001/0.041) in the correlation analysis, but in multivariate regression analysis the only independent predictor of PRF was the RV/LV ratio (F = 14.890, p = 0.001). ROC analysis revealed that a better discrimination of significant PR (>20%) from slight types (=20%) PR can be reached with the RV/LV ratio than RVEDVi (AUC = 0.805/0.709, p = 0.01). The RV/LV ratio was better than RVEDVi at differentiating mild from moderate PR (p = 0.006 vs. p = 0.153), and proved superior over RVEDVi in predicting PR based on the PRF criterion.

The hazardous effects of tobacco smoking on male fertility.

The substantial harmful effects of tobacco smoking on fertility and reproduction have become apparent but are not generally appreciated. Tobacco smoke contains more than 4000 kinds of constituents, including nicotine, tar, carbonic monoxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals. Because of the complexity of tobacco smoke components, the toxicological mechanism is notably complicated. Most studies have reported reduced semen quality, reproductive hormone system dysfunction and impaired spermatogenesis, sperm maturation, and spermatozoa function in smokers compared with nonsmokers. Underlying these effects, elevated oxidative stress, DNA damage, and cell apoptosis may play important roles collaboratively in the overall effect of tobacco smoking on male fertility. In this review, we strive to focus on both the phenotype of and the molecular mechanism underlying these harmful effects, although current studies regarding the mechanism remain insufficient.

Focal nodular hyperplasia coexistent with hepatoblastoma in a 36-d-old infant.

Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) is a benign hepatic tumor characterized by hepatocyte hyperplasia and a central stellate scar. The association of FNH with other hepatic lesions, such as adenomas, hemangiomas and hepatocellular carcinoma, has been previously reported, but FNH associated with another hepatic tumor is rare in infants. Here we report a case of FNH coexistent with hepatoblastoma in a 36-d-old girl. Computed tomography (CT) imaging showed an ill-delineated, inhomogeneous enhanced mass with a central star-like scar in the right lobe of the liver. The tumor showed early mild enhancement at the arterial phase (from 40HU without contrast to 52HU at the arterial phase), intense enhancement at the portal phase (87.7HU) and 98.1HU in the 3-min delay scan. A central scar in the tumor presented as low density on non-contrast CT and slightly enhanced at delayed contrast-enhanced scanning. This infant underwent surgical resection of the tumor. Histopathology demonstrated typical FNH coexistent with a focal hepatoblastoma, which showed epithelioid tumor cells separated by proliferated fibrous tissue.

Successful embolization and long-term follow-up of a rare neonatal diaphragmatic hemangioma.

BACKGROUND: Congenital hemangioma of the diaphragm is an extremely rare disease in childhood. METHODS: We report a newborn presenting with progressive respiratory distress and massive right hydrothorax due to congenital diaphragmatic hemangioma, requiring sustained ventilation support and chest drainage. The angiography revealed that the giant diaphragmatic hemangioma was supplied by the right internal thoracic, inferior diaphragmatic, and intercostal arteries. The selective embolization of the main feeding vessels was successfully achieved using the Embosphere particulates. RESULTS: The clinical long-term follow-up demonstrated the resolution of the symptoms, pleural effusion, and nearly complete regression of the hemangioma at 18 months of age. CONCLUSION: Transcatheter embolization can provide an efficient therapy for symptomatic diaphramatic hemangioma.