Birth Outcomes of Pregnant Women Infected with COVID-19 in Highland Areas of China from 2020 to 2022: A Retrospective Analysis.

Purpose: To explore the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection on neonates in plateau regions. Methods: Cases of newborns born to pregnant women infected with COVID-19 who received prenatal care or treatment at the Women and Children's Hospital of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Lhasa People's Hospital between January 2020 and December 2022 (infected group) and newborns born to healthy pregnant women (non-infected group) who were included by age, underlying disease and length of hospital stay were retrospectively collected. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 381 patients in the infected group and 314 patients in the non-infected group were included in the study. Results: The results of multivariate analysis showed that admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (OR = 3.342, 95% CI = 1.564-6.764), shortness of breath (OR = 2.853, 95% CI = 1.789-3.154), irregular breathing (OR = 2.465, 95% CI = 1.879-4.112) and neonatal jaundice (OR = 2.324, 95% CI = 1.989-2.445) were the factors influencing the low Apgar scores of neonates in the infected group (all P < 0.05). Conclusion: Neonates born to pregnant women infected with COVID-19 had lower Apgar scores and higher incidences of complications, such as shortness of breath, groaning, irregular breathing and neonatal jaundice, than newborns born to pregnant women not infected with COVID-19.

Stability of two internal control blood nucleic acid detection systems in plateau area / 中国输血杂志

【Objective】 To analyze the difference of the internal control (IC) Ct value of two sets of blood nucleic acid detection(NAT) systems for individual donation and explore the feasibility of the IC Ct value used as stability evaluation index of NAT system. 【Methods】 A total of 4342 blood samples were randomly selected from our center from June to November 2020, and the IC Ct values of NAT system were classified into three categories: 1) classified by detection items: HBV, HCV and HIV; 2) classified by sample type: negative control (NC), positive control (PC), internal quality control (QC), blood donor sample (S); 3) classified by different instruments: system A and system B, and the differences of IC Ct value were analyzed and compared. 【Results】 A total of 14 196 IC Ct values of NAT were collected, showing a non-normal distribution. 1) classified by detection items: there were differences in the median of overall IC Ct values of HBV, HCV and HIV (H=859.6, P0.05), except for HBV QC (Z=1 635)and S (Z=1 848 560), HCV S (Z=1 957 844), HIV S (Z= 2 217 855) (P<0.01). No difference in IC values (P<0.01) was noted for any detection items (NC, PC, QC and S) in the same set of detection system. 【Conclusion】 Although IC values trended to be different due to types of sample, the NC, PC, and QC samples that come with the original reagents were identical in the two detection systems. The change of IC Ct value may be used as an evaluation index for the stability of the detection system.

Profiling and relative quantification of phosphatidylethanolamine based on acetone stable isotope derivatization.

Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is considered to be one of the pivotal lipids for normal cellular function as well as disease initiation and progression. In this study, a simple, efficient, reliable, and inexpensive method for the qualitative analysis and relative quantification of PE, based on acetone stable isotope derivatization combined with double neutral loss scan-shotgun electrospray ionization tandem-quadrupole mass spectrometry analysis (ASID-DNLS-Shotgun ESI-MS/MS), was developed. The ASID method led to alkylation of the primary amino groups of PE with an isopropyl moiety. The use of acetone (d0-acetone) and deuterium-labeled acetone (d6-acetone) introduced a 6 Da mass shift that was ideally suited for relative quantitative analysis, and enhanced sensitivity for mass analysis. The DNLS model was introduced to simultaneously analyze the differential derivatized PEs by shotgun ESI-MS/MS with high selectivity and accuracy. The reaction specificity, labeling efficiency, and linearity of the ASID method were thoroughly evaluated in this study. Its excellent applicability was validated by qualitative and relative quantitative analysis of PE species presented in liver samples from rats fed different diets. Using the ASID-DNLS-Shotgun ESI-MS/MS method, 45 PE species from rat livers have been identified and quantified in an efficient manner. The level of total PEs tended to decrease in the livers of rats on high fat diets compared with controls. The levels of PE 32:1, 34:3, 34:2, 36:3, 36:2, 42:10, plasmalogen PE 36:1 and lyso PE 22:6 were significantly reduced, while levels of PE 36:1 and lyso PE 16:0 increased.

The mixture of procyanidins extracted from the lotus seed pod and bilobalide ameliorates scopolamine-induced memory impairment in mice.

OBJECTIVE: To study the co-effect of procyanidins extracted from the lotus seed pod (LSPC) and bilobalide (BIL) on ameliorating scopolamine-induced learning and memory impairment in young mice. METHODS: Fifty male Kunming mice with similar learning and memory capabilities were selected by Morris water maze test and were randomized into 5 groups (n=10 in each group): control group, scopolamine group, L-(LSPC+BIL) group (50 mg/kg LSPC+10 mg/kg BIL), M-(LSPC+BIL) group (100 mg/kg LSPC+20 mg/kg BIL), H-(LSPC+BIL) group (150 mg/kg LSPC+30 mg/kg BIL). Scopolamine model with impaired learning and memory was established by scopolamine treatment (1 mg/kg), and after 10 min mice were tested. In L-, M-, and H-(LSPC+BIL) groups, mice were treated with LSPC and BIL ig. for 30 days, while mice in the other 2 groups were treated with normal saline ig. instead. After the 30-day's treatment, the co-effect of LSPC and BIL on learning and memory was tested by Morris water maze and the step-down avoidance tests. RESULTS: The memory impairment caused by scopolamine in young mice could be ameliorated by co-treatment of LSPC and BIL, as indicated by significantly shorter escape latency and swimming distance in the Morris water maze test, when compared with those in the scopolamine group. In the step-down avoidance test, mice in all the 3 dose groups showed significantly smaller number of errors and longer latency than mice in the scopolamine group did. CONCLUSION: Co-treatment of LSPE and BIL can ameliorate scopolamine-induced learning and memory impairment in young mice.

[Application of uniform design in optimizing the condition of arsenic determination by atomic fluorescence spectrometry].

In the present paper, uniform design U10* (10(8)) was used to optimize the condition of arsenic determination in vegetable samples by hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Mathematical model was established and regression analysis was done, and the optimized solutions to those equations were obtained by making use of the UD3.0 software. Combining the life-span of hollow cathode filament, noise of negative voltage and other factors, the optimal condition was obtained as follows: negative voltage was 280-360 V; lamp current was 50-70 mA; carrier gas flow rate was 500-700 mL x min(-1); KBH4 concentration was 15.0-20.0 g x L(-1); HCL concentration was 0.6-1.2 mol x L(-1); sample size was 0.5-1.0 mL. Two samples of vegetable were analyzed under the optimized condition. The results showed that the relative standard deviation was less than 3.6%, and the recovery was within 94.1%-101.3%, with their detection limits of 0.42 microg x L(-1). In this paper, as an effective method of experiment design, uniform design was introduced to hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry analysis with multifactors, which offered a good idea for the optimization of experiment conditions.

The establishment and evaluation of the subjective measuring instrument for tonic accommodation / 中国医疗器械杂志

An instrument for subjective measurement of tonic accommodation has been established based on the Badal system and Scheiner principle. The results of tonic accommodation between subjective measurement and objective measurement have no significant difference. Its establishment is important for the measurement of accommodation parameter in the myopia research center.