[Application of a light-weighted convolutional neural network for automatic recognition of coal workers' pneumoconiosis in the early stage].

Objective: To construct and verify a light-weighted convolutional neural network (CNN), and explore its application value for screening the early stage (subcategory 0/1 and stage Ⅰ of pneumoconiosis) of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) from digital chest radiography (DR) . Methods: A total of 1225 DR images of coal workers who were examined at an Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Institute in Anhui Province from October 2018 to March 2021 were retrospectively collected. All DR images were collectively diagnosed by 3 radiologists with diagnostic qualifications and gave diagnostic results. There were 692 DR images with small opacity profusion 0/- or 0/0 and 533 DR images with small opacity profusion 0/1 to stage Ⅲ of pneumoconiosis. The original chest radiographs were preprocessed differently to generate four datasets, namely 16-bit grayscale original image set (Origin16), 8-bit grayscale original image set (Origin 8), 16-bit grayscale histogram equalized image set (HE16) and 8-bit grayscale histogram equalized image set (HE8). The light-weighted CNN, ShuffleNet, was applied to train the generated prediction model on the four datasets separately. The performance of the four models for pneumoconiosis prediction was evaluated on a test set containing 130 DR images using measures such as the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and Youden index. The Kappa consistency test was used to compare the agreement between the model predictions and the physician diagnosed pneumoconiosis results. Results: Origin16 model achieved the highest ROC area under the curve (AUC=0.958), accuracy (92.3%), specificity (92.9%), and Youden index (0.8452) for predicting pneumoconiosis, with a sensitivity of 91.7%. And the highest consistency between identification and physician diagnosis was observed for Origin16 model (Kappa value was 0.845, 95%CI: 0.753-0.937, P<0.001). HE16 model had the highest sensitivity (98.3%) . Conclusion: The light-weighted CNN ShuffleNet model can efficiently identify the early stages of CWP, and its application in the early screening of CWP can effectively improve physicians' work efficiency.

[Effects of heat exposure and vitamin C intervention on oxidative stress and blood pressure changes in treadmill rats].

Objective: To investigate the effect of oxidative stress caused by heat exposure on the blood pressure increase of treadmill rats and the intervention of antioxidants. Methods: In June 2021, Twenty-four healthy SD male rats were randomly divided into four groups: normal temperature feeding, normal temperature treadmill, high temperature treadmill and high temperature treadmill supplementation with vitamin C groups, 6 rats in each group. The rats run on the platform in normal temperature or heat exposure environment for 30 min in the morning and in the afternoon daily, 6 days per week. The daily vitamin C supplement dose of high temperature treadmill supplementation with vitamin C group was 10 mg/kg. BP recordings were done at the end of the week. The rat vascular lipofuscin (LF) was detected by ELISA, the rat serum nitric oxide (NO) was detected by nitrate reductase method, the serum malondialdehyde (MDA) was detected by thibabituric acid method, the serum glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were detected by chemiluminescence method, and the serum catalase (CAT) was detected by ammonium molybdate method. The total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) of serum was measured by iron reduction/antioxidant capacity method, and the content of nuclear erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) in vascular tissue was measured by Western blot. The intra-group mean was compared by repeated measurement analysis of variance, and the inter-group mean was compared by single-factor analysis of variance and post-event LSD-t test. Results: Compared with the previous time point, the systolic BP and diastolic BP of the high temperature treadmill group were significantly increased at 7, 14 and 21 d, and decreased at 28 d which were higher than the initial level (P<0.05), and the systolic BP and diastolic BP values at each experimental time point were significantly higher than those of normal temperature treadmill group (P<0.001). The changes of thickening of the artery wall, no smoothing of the endodermis and irregular arrangement of muscle cells in high temperature treadmill group were observed. Compared with the normal temperature treadmill group, the content of MDA in serum, and LF in vascular tissue were significantly increased, the activities of SOD, CAT, T-AOC, the content of NO in serum, and the expression of Nrf2 in vascular tissue were significantly decreased in high temperature treadmill group (P<0.05). Compared with the high temperature treadmill group, the systolic BP and diastolic BP values at 7, 14, 21 and 28 d, the content of serum MDA and LF in vascular tissue were significantly decreased, the activities of CAT and T-AOC, and the expression of Nrf2 in vascular tissue significantly increased (P<0.05), the histopathological changes of the artery wall improved in high temperature treadmill supplementation with vitamin C group. Conclusion: Heat exposure has effect on oxidative stress, which may be related to the increase of BP. Vitamin C as an anti-oxidative enhancer can prevent those negative effects, which could alleviate the pathological changes of vessel intima in heat-exposed rats. And the Nrf2 may be a regulated factor to vascular protection.

[Correlation between intestinal and respiratory flora and their metabolites in a rat pneumoconiosis model].

Objective: Differential flora and differential metabolites shared by the intestinal and respiratory tracts of rats were screened to analyze the possible role of changes in intestinal flora and metabolites in the progression of pneumoconiosis in rats. Methods: In April 2020, 18 SD rats were randomly divided into three groups (control group, coal mine dust group and silica group, 6 in each group) , rats in the coal mine dust group and silica group were perfused with 1 ml of 50 mg/ml coal mine well dust suspension and silica suspension by nontracheal exposure, respectively. While rats in the control group were perfused with an equal dose of sterilized normal saline. Twenty four weeks after dust staining, rat feces, throat swabs, and lung lavages were collected. 16SrDNA gene sequencing and UHPLC-QTOF-MS untargeted metabolomics were used to analyze the flora and metabolites in feces, throat swabs and lung lavage fluid of rats in each group, to screen for shared differential flora and shared differential metabolites in intestinal and respiratory tract, and the correlation analysis between the differential flora and metabolites was performed using Spearman's statistics. Results: Compared with the control group, a total of 9 species shared differential flora between intestinal and respiratory tract were screened at phylum level, and a total of 9 species shared differential genus between intestinal and respiratory tract were screened at genus level in the coal mine dust group, mainly Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, etc. Compared with the control group, a total of 9 shared differential flora were screened at the phylum level, and a total of 5 shared differential genus were screened at the genus level in the silica group, mainly Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Allobactera, Mucilaginibacter, etc. Compared with the control group, a total of 7 shared differential metabolites were screened for up-regulation of Stigmatellin, Linalool oxide and Isoleucine-leucine in both intestinal and respiratory tract in the coal mine dust group. Compared with the control group , a total of 19 shared differential metabolites werescreened in the silica group, of which Diethanolamine, 1-Aminocyclopropanecarboxylic acid, Isoleucine-leucine, Sphingosine, Palmitic acid, D-sphinganine, 1, 2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine, and 1-Stearoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycerol 3-phosphocholine were up-regulated in both the intestinal and respiratory tract. Conclusion: There is a translocation of intestinal and respiratory flora in pneumoconiosis rats, and rats have an imbalance of lipid metabolism during the progression of pneumoconiosis.

[Analysis on the rationality of input and output of occupational health funds in an iron and steel enterprise].

Objective: To analyzes the various occupational health investment and occupational health output of a steel enterprise, and propose a reasonable occupational health investment plan for this enterprise. Methods: In march 2016, various occupational health input and output data of various branches of an iron and steel company in 2015 were collected, and the efficiency of occupational health inputs and outputs of each branch was evaluated using data envelopment analysis (DEA) , and the branches with non-optimal efficiency were adjusted to propose a reasonable occupational health investment plan. Results: Among the branch plants investigated by this steel company, the occupational health input-output efficiency values of ironmaking north plant, power plant, hot rolling plant and stainless steel plant were 1, while the occupational health input-output efficiency of gas making plant, cold rolling plant, metallurgical furnace charge plant, coking plant, ironmaking south plant and long product plant were not the best, and the cold rolling plant has the lowest efficiency value of 0.759. For the cold rolling plant, only the parameters of acid rolling plant satisfy α=1 and s(-)=0, s(+)=0, while the remaining four workshops do not meet. After adjusting the inputs of each part according to the parameters, the occupational health output of the remaining four workshops can reach 1.7044, 2.0238, 1.3152 and 1.2136 times of the current workshop, respectively. Adjustment plans for other branch factories with unreasonable investment structures are also presented in the corresponding tables. Conclusion: The occupational health investment structure of the ironmaking south plant and other branches in this steel enterprise is unreasonable, and the adjustment using data envelopment analysis can maximize the benefits of its occupational health output.

[Progress of researches on symbionts in the management of mosquito-borne infectious diseases].

Mosquitoes are the main vectors of many infectious diseases, including malaria and yellow fever, which seriously threaten human health across the world. In addition to the use of chemical insecticides, genetic control is a new attempt to currently available interventions used for mosquito vector control. In terms of ecological safety, however, symbiotic control as a novel approach has been proposed for mosquito control. Since there are multiple symbiotic microflora inhabiting in a variety of tissues of mosquitoes, including the digestive tract, they may affect the transmission of mosquito-borne infectious diseases through affecting the lifespan, reproductive competence, and vector competence of the host. In this review, the interactions between symbionts in mosquitoes were summarized, and the research progress of mosquito-associated symbionts in the management of mosquitoborne infectious diseases was reviewed.

[Differential expression of PRDX4 in alveolar macrophages of patients with silicosis].

Objective: To identify the differential expression of Peroxiredoxin 4 (PRDX4) in alveolar macrophages (AMs) from patients with silicosis in different phases using Western blot. Methods: From June 2017 to June 2018, Twelve pneumoconiosis patients in the pneumoconiosis Department of Beidaihe Sanitarium were selected by random sampling. A msong them, there were 4 groups, that was lung with dust, silicosis with grade one, silicosis with grade two, silicosis with grade three. There were 3 persons in each group, a total of 12. AMs was obtained by filtration and centrifugation. The intracellular protein was extracted and PRDX4 was detected by using Western blot method. Results: It results showed that PRDX4 was expressed in AMs in 4 groups; with the increase of fibrosis, the average relative expression of PRDX4 in AMs was 0.258±0.026, 0.214±0.012, 0.180±0.004, 0.165±0.008. The highest expression level was in the lung with dust group, and the lowest was in the silicosis with grade three group. The difference of the expression level of PRDX4 protein in AMs between groups was statistically significant (P<0.05) . Conclusion: This experiment verified that PRDX4 expressed differentially in AMs in patients with silicosis. With the development of silicosis, PRDX4 expression in AMs reduced significantly.

[Analysis of occupational health input-output of a iron mine in Hebei province].

Objective: To explore the relationship between input and output of occupational health funds, and to provide basis for relevant departments to make decisions. Methods: In September 2018, a state-owned iron ore in Hebei Province (mining history of more than 10 years, which can represent the general type of iron ore) was selected as the research object. Through the investigation and collection of enterprise general situation, occupational health input, loss and output related indicators, the iron mine occupational health expenditure input-output table and model were established, and the digital relationship between the investment and output was solved by MATLAB software. Results: The labor consumption in the departments of underground mining, open pit mining, crushing and rock discharging, transportation, tailings and mineral processing (taking labor wages as reference) were 756.46, 1.281.78, 987.61, 1 570.71, 50.956 and 18.9116 million yuan/year respectively. The output value of each sector is 11 207.19, 18 989.95, 15 176.40, 25 294.00, 7.704.94 and 280.1797 million yuan/year respectively. The ratio of health input to total output was 0.004 5, and the ratio of occupational health input to output was 1/0.046. Conclusion: The input-output table model of occupational health in iron mine can reflect the relationship between input and output of occupational health funds. The input situation of the coal mine is poor, and the input does not bring obvious occupational health benefits.

[Analysis of the burden of coal worker's pneumoconiosis disease in a mining group].

Objective: To provide scientific basis for the prevention and control of pneumoconiosis and the formulation of relevant policies, this paper discusses the loss of health life and economic loss caused by coal worker's pneumoconiosis in a mining group. Methods: From March to October 2017, 1262 cases of coal worker's pneumoconiosis were diagnosed in a mining group from 1972 to 2013. The direct and indirect economic losses are calculated by the step-by-step model method. Direct economic losses include medical expenses, one-time disability allowance, disability allowance, funeral allowance, one-time work death allowance, living and nursing expenses, food allowance, pension for supporting relatives and transportation expenses, etc. Indirect economic losses includes loss of social productivity, additional training fee for new employees, transportation fee for accompanying family members, loss of social productivity of accompanying family members, loss of production suspension and production reduction, etc. Life table method was used to calculate the loss of social productivity caused by coal worker's pneumoconiosis. Results: All 1262 coal worker's pneumoconiosis patients were male. In the stage of pneumoconiosis, 95.40% (1204/1262) of the first stage of pneumoconiosis and 42.62% (538/1262) of the seventh stage of disability. The age of diagnosis (22.02-71.33) was 47.38 years on average. 1262 coal worker's pneumoconiosis patients caused a total of 9068.54 years of health life loss, of which YLD accounted for 93.56% (8484.69/9068.54) . The loss of YLD (0.06-33.30) years in 1262 coal worker's pneumoconiosis patients was 6.70 years per capita. The total economic loss of 1262 coal workers with pneumoconiosis was 2842185447.70 yuan, with a per capita of 2252127.93 yuan. The direct economic loss accounted for 81.59% (2318990168.46/2842185447.70) , which was 4.42 times of the indirect economic loss. Among the direct economic loss per capita, medical expenses accounted for a large proportion of 50.04% (919510.84/1837551.64) . The per capita indirect economic loss is 414576.29 yuan. The loss of social productivity accounted for 56.18% (232908.95/414576.29) . Conclusion: Coal worker's pneumoconiosis causes heavy economic burden and serious loss of social productivity.

[Association between polymorphisms of interleukin-17 genes and pneumoconiosis susceptibility].

Objective: To explore the relationship between polymorphisms of interleukin 17(IL-17) gene (rs4711998, rs763780) and the susceptibility of pneumoconiosis, and to provide a basis for prevention of high-risk groups of pneumoconiosis. Methods: A total of 219 pneumoconiosis patients and 242 workers without pneumoconiosis were enrolled in the study. All subjects were photographed with high undulating X-rays anterior chest radiographs, diagnosed according to diagnostic criteria for pneumoconiosis. We collected 3 ml of peripheral venous blood of the study subjects. Polymorphism in IL-17A rs4711998 and IL-17F rs763780 locus were evaluated by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Results: The IL-17A rs4711998 locus has AA, AG and GG genotypes, there was no the significant difference between case and control groups (P>0.05). IL-17F rs763780 had AA, AG and GG genotypes, there was a significant difference between case and control groups (P<0.05). Allele A and allele G were statistically significant difference between the case group and the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: No relationship was found between IL-17A gene polymorphisms at rs4711998 and silicosis. IL-17F rs763780 locus gene polymorphism is associated with susceptibility to pneumoconiosis. AG genotype and G allele may have a protective effect.

[Comprehensive rehabilitation of individualized exercise program for coal workers pneumoconiosis in Huaibei Coal Mine Group].

Objective: To explore the effect of comprehensive rehabilitation treatment of individualized exercise program on lung function, exercise ability, quality of life and biochemical indexes of coal workers' pneumoconiosis patients, and to provide scientific and effective methods for rehabilitation treatment of coal workers' pneumoconiosis. Methods: In Huaibei Coal Mine Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Hospital, the data of pneumoconiosis patients treated by pneumoconiosis department in the hospital were collected and sorted out. 80 patients were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Using a random number table, they were randomly divided into two groups with 40 cases in each group. The data investigated in this study include the results before and after treatment. Pulmonary function index, BMI index, six-minute walking distance (6MWD) , quality of life questionnaire (SF-36) , hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) , st George's breathing questionnaire (sgrq) , c-reactive protein (CRP) and blood oxygen saturation (SpO(2)) were used to evaluate and compare the efficacy of the two groups. Results: The lung function indexes of the test group were significantly higher than those of the control group after treatment (P<0.05) , including forced vital capacity, forced vital capacity in the first second, maximum expiratory flow, expiratory flow when vital capacity was 75% and expiratory flow when vital capacity was 25%. The forced vital capacity, the first-second forced vital capacity and the maximum expiratory flow of the patients in the test group were higher after treatment than before (P<0.05) . The six-minute walking distance of the test group was greater than that of the control group after treatment (P<0.05) . After treatment, the scores of st George's breathing questionnaire in the test group were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05) . The scores of quality of life questionnaire in the test group were higher than those in the control group after treatment (P<0.05) . Conclusion: The comprehensive rehabilitation treatment of individualized exercise program improved the endurance and exercise ability of pneumoconiosis patients, improved the respiratory status and quality of life of pneumoconiosis patients in Huaibei Coal Mine, improved the lung function of pneumoconiosis patients, and improved the forced vital capacity of patients, but the small airway function has not been significantly improved.

Clearance of theophylline by hemodialysis in one patient with chronic renal failure.

The clearance of theophylline by hemodialysis was determined in one patient who had polycystic kidney with chronic renal failure and bronchial asthma. The serum levels of theophylline were determined by enzymatic immunoassay on two consecutive days, once on a dialysis day and again on a nondialysis day. Clearance of theophylline by hemodialysis was 119 ml/min, and the extraction efficiency was 0.56. The elimination half-life of theophylline shortened from 5.7 h to 1.6 h during hemodialysis. The dialysis rate constant (Kd) was 0.32/h, and 79 percent of the total body store of the drug was removed during a 4-h dialysis. Patients receiving theophylline who are maintained on hemodialysis should be closely monitored for bronchospasm during and after the hemodialysis procedure. Measurement of serum concentrations of theophylline should be employed to facilitate increases in dosage during hemodialysis.

Abnormal pre-drainage serum creatinine as a prognostic indicator in acute cholangitis.

Two hundred and twenty-five patients diagnosed as having non-malignant acute cholangitis were studied to evaluate the incidence and prognostic significance of pre-drainage acute renal failure. Thirty-seven patients (16.4%) were found to have serum creatinine greater than, or equal to, 1.5 mg/dl before the drainage procedure. The risk factors for impaired renal function evaluated by multivariate analysis were advanced age, low albumin, low globulin, and clinical presentation of Charcot's triad or Reynold's pentad. The mortality rate in the abnormal pre-drainage serum creatinine group was 21.6%, which was much higher than the mortality (3.7%) seen in the normal serum creatinine group (p less than 0.0001). The other risk factors of mortality evaluated by multivariate analysis were the bilirubin level, combined common bile duct stones and intrahepatic duct stones, and bile duct stricture. We conclude that abnormal pre-drainage serum creatinine is not an uncommon finding in acute cholangitis. It is of prognostic significance, and should be considered as important as the clinical findings of Reynold's pentad.

Controlled comparison of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis: Veterans Administration multicenter study.

We measured mortality and morbidity among 114 patients assigned randomly to home hemodialysis (HD) and home intermittent peritoneal dialysis (IPD). Data were collected during the time of home training and for 12 months after initiation of home dialysis. Training time was shorter for the IPD than for the HD patients (P less than 0.001) with median time 1.8 months for IPD and 3.9 months for HD. Switching to the alternative mode of treatment was more frequent for the IPD group (29/59 vs. 5/55, P less than 0.001). Survival time was not different, perhaps because of the modality change. More IPD patients were hospitalized in the first 6 months (20 for IPD vs. 9 for HD, P = 0.02), but they had fewer troublesome cardiovascular events in the first year (0 vs. 12, P less than 0.001). The HD patients maintained better nutritional status as reflected in body weight and arm muscle circumference and possibly in urea appearance rate. Thus, these data suggest that for most patients, IPD is a less satisfactory form of therapy than HD, but certain advantages of IPD did emerge. Applications of this information to the currently more popular mode of CAPD await further study.

Effects of oxygen administration on the manifestation of acetate intolerance in dialysis patients.

In a prospective double-blind study. 12 patients were dialyzed four times each with nasal oxygen (O2) and 4 times each with air throughout acetate dialysis. Fewer symptoms (p less than 0.01), improved postdialysis task performance (p less than 0.04) and a tendency for less mean blood pressure drop (p less than 0.07 two-sided) were noted on O2 dialyses than on air dialyses. The rate of acetate metabolism was increased during O2 dialyses since serum acetate levels were significantly lower at 2, 3 and 4 h. Significant hypoxemia was demonstrated in 10 of these patients on acetate dialysis without O2. These results clearly demonstrate that: (1) prevention Of hypoxemia during dialysis reduces acetate intolerance, and (2) compromised tissue O2 availability may be partly responsible for dialysis morbidity.

Increased immunoreactive calcitonin in idiopathic hypercalciuria.

Serum immunoreactive calcitonin concentration (iCT) was determined in nine subjects with idiopathic hypercalciuria (IH), prior to and during oral phosphate supplementation (500 mg qid) to test the hypothesis that a renal phosphate leak was the primary defect resulting in IH in these patients. Prior to the oral phosphate supplementation, serum iCT was significantly elevated in the IH group, when compared to 26 normal individuals (75 +/- 7 vs 45 +/- 4 pg/ml, mean +/- SE, P less than .001). During oral phosphate treatment, however, serum iCT decreased to levels not significantly different from normals (39 +/- 3 and 50 +/- 5 pg/ml after 4 and 8 weeks, respectively). When data prior to and during phosphate supplementation were pooled, there was a significant correlation (r = .70, N = 26, P less than .001) between serum iCT and serum calcium. These observations suggest that the increased serum iCT in these subjects was a response to slight elevations in serum calcium, which are the result of normal physiological mechanisms to correct the renal phosphate leak.

Methods for assessing nutritional status of patients with renal failure.

Since wasting and malnutrition are common problems in patients with renal failure, it is important to develop techniques for the longitudinal assessment of nutritional status. This paper reviews available methods for assessing the nutritional status; their possible limitations when applied to uremic patients are discussed. If carefully done, dietary intake can be estimated by recall interviews augmented with dietary diaries. Also, in a stable patient with chronic renal failure, the serum urea nitrogen (N)/creatinine ratio and the rate of urea N appearance reflect dietary protein intake. A comparison of N intake and urea N appearance will give an estimate of N balance. Anthropometric parameters such as the relationship between height and weight, thickness of subcutaneous skinfolds, and midarm muscle circumference are simple methods for evaluating body composition. Other methods for assessing body composition, such as densitometry and total body potassium, may not be readily applicable in patients with renal failure. More traditional biochemical estimates of nutritional status such as serum protein, albumin, transferrin, and selected serum complement determinations show that abnormalities are common among uremic patients. Certain anthropometric and biochemical measurements of nutritional status are abnormal in chronically uremic patients who appear to be particularly robust; thus, factors other than altered nutritional intake may lead to abnormal parameters in such patients. Serial monitoring of selected nutritional parameters in the same individual may improve the sensitivity of these measurements to detect changes. Standards for measuring nutritional status are needed for patients with renal failure so that realistic goals can be established optimal body nutriture.

Septic arthritis in hemodialyzed patients.

Six episodes of septic arthritis involving 5 patients and eleven joints were documented in the last 7 years in a population receiving 450 patient-years of dialysis treatment. The same micro-organisms were often cultured simultaneously from the joint, blood and/or arteriovenous fistula, suggesting hematogenous spread. A tendency toward multiarticular involvement was also observed. Early diagnosis is mandatory to avoid severe joint damage. Since such patients have other potential causes of arthritis and periarticular pain not due to infection, it is important to culture the joint fluid promptly whenever the possibility of infection exists.