The Relationship Between Health Insurance Status and Diabetic Retinopathy Progression.

Objective: To determine if baseline diabetic retinopathy (DR) severity mediates the relationship between health insurance status and DR progression. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Subjects: Seven hundred sixteen patients aged ≥ 18 years with a diagnosis of type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus, and a diagnosis of nonproliferative DR (NPDR) were identified from the electronic health record of a tertiary academic center between June 2012 and February 2022. Methods: NPDR severity at baseline was the proposed mediator in the relationship between insurance status and proliferative DR (PDR) progression. Logistic regression was used to determine the association between insurance status and NPDR severity at baseline, and Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the association between insurance status and time to PDR progression. To analyze the mediation effect of NPDR severity at baseline, a counterfactual approach, which decomposes a total effect into a natural direct effect and a natural indirect effect was applied. Main Outcome Measures: Time to progression from first NPDR diagnosis to first PDR diagnosis. Results: Of the 716 patients, 581 (81%) had Medicare or private insurance, 107 (15%) had Medicaid, and 28 (4.0%) were uninsured at their baseline eye visit. Uninsured or Medicaid patients had a higher proportion of moderate or severe NPDR at their baseline eye visit and a higher proportion of progression to PDR. After adjusting for confounders and NPDR severity at baseline, patients who were uninsured had significantly greater risk of progression to PDR compared with that of patients with Medicare/private insurance (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.63; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10-6.25). Patients with Medicaid also had an increased risk of progression to PDR compared with that of patients with Medicare/private insurance, although not statistically significant (HR: 1.53; 95% CI: 0.81-2.89). NPDR severity at baseline mediated 41% of the effect of insurance status (uninsured vs. Medicare/private insurance) on PDR progression. Conclusions: Patients who were uninsured were more likely to have an advanced stage of NPDR at their baseline eye visit and were at significantly greater risk of progression to PDR compared with patients who had Medicare or were privately insured. Mediation analysis revealed that differences in baseline NPDR severity by insurance explained a significant proportion of the relationship between insurance status and DR progression. Financial Disclosures: Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.

Developing and Validating Models to Predict Progression to Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy.

Purpose: To develop models for progression of nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) to proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and determine if incorporating updated information improves model performance. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Participants: Electronic health record (EHR) data from a tertiary academic center, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and a safety-net hospital, Zuckerberg San Francisco General (ZSFG) Hospital were used to identify patients with a diagnosis of NPDR, age ≥ 18 years, a diagnosis of type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus, ≥ 6 months of ophthalmology follow-up, and no prior diagnosis of PDR before the index date (date of first NPDR diagnosis in the EHR). Methods: Four survival models were developed: Cox proportional hazards, Cox with backward selection, Cox with LASSO regression and Random Survival Forest. For each model, three variable sets were compared to determine the impact of including updated clinical information: Static0 (data up to the index date), Static6m (data updated 6 months after the index date), and Dynamic (data in Static0 plus data change during the 6-month period). The UCSF data were split into 80% training and 20% testing (internal validation). The ZSFG data were used for external validation. Model performance was evaluated by the Harrell's concordance index (C-Index). Main Outcome Measures: Time to PDR. Results: The UCSF cohort included 1130 patients and 92 (8.1%) patients progressed to PDR. The ZSFG cohort included 687 patients and 30 (4.4%) patients progressed to PDR. All models performed similarly (C-indices ∼ 0.70) in internal validation. The random survival forest with Static6m set performed best in external validation (C-index 0.76). Insurance and age were selected or ranked as highly important by all models. Other key predictors were NPDR severity, diabetic neuropathy, number of strokes, mean Hemoglobin A1c, and number of hospital admissions. Conclusions: Our models for progression of NPDR to PDR achieved acceptable predictive performance and validated well in an external setting. Updating the baseline variables with new clinical information did not consistently improve the predictive performance. Financial Disclosures: Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found after the references.

Clinical characteristics and genetic analysis of two children with Autosomal dominant mental retardation type 21 due to variants of CTCF gene / 中华医学遗传学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the clinical and genetic characteristics of two children with developmental delay.@*METHODS@#Two children who had presented at the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University on August 18, 2021 were enrolled as the study subjects. Clinical and laboratory examination, chromosomal karyotyping and high-throughput sequencing were carried out for both children.@*RESULTS@#Both children had a 46,XX karyotype. High-throughput sequencing showed that they have respectively carried a c.489delG (p.Q165Rfs*14) and a c.1157_1158delAT (p.Y386Cfs*22) frameshifting variant of the CTCF gene, both had a de novo origin and were unreported previously.@*CONCLUSION@#The CTCF gene variants probably underlay the development delay in the two children. Above discovery has enriched the mutational spectrum of the CTCF gene and has important implications for revealing the genotype-phenotype correlation for similar patients.

Examining the Association between Cigarette Smoking Quantity and Subjective Salt Taste Preference and Salt-Related Eating Behavior / 가정의학회지

Background@#Smoking can reduce taste sensitivity, the ability to sense various tastes, and diet quality and can increase the incidence of diseases such as hypertension. This study aimed to analyze the association between the smoking amount, subjective salt preference, and salt-related eating behaviors. @*Methods@#Data of more than 16 million individuals from the Korean Community Health Survey were used. Forest plots were drawn to compare the cumulative odds ratios of salt taste preference and salt-related eating behaviors, adjusted for sex, age, body mass index, education level, household income, marital status, and drinking status at various smoking levels. @*Results@#Subjective salt preference and salt-related eating behaviors increased with smoking amount; the adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for smoking >20 cigarettes were higher than those for smoking <20 cigarettes. For daily smokers, the AOR was 1.27 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22–1.31) for 1–5 cigarettes per day and 1.68 (95% CI, 1.65–1.71) for 16–20 cigarettes per day (P<0.001). Smokers were more likely to have more frequent salt-related eating behaviors than nonsmokers. @*Conclusion@#The subjective salt preference of smokers was higher than that of nonsmokers. Additionally, smokers used salt or soy sauce and dipped fried food in soy sauce more frequently than nonsmokers, which was also related to smoking amount.

Neural Integration of Audiovisual Sensory Inputs in Macaque Amygdala and Adjacent Regions / 神经科学通报·英文版

Integrating multisensory inputs to generate accurate perception and guide behavior is among the most critical functions of the brain. Subcortical regions such as the amygdala are involved in sensory processing including vision and audition, yet their roles in multisensory integration remain unclear. In this study, we systematically investigated the function of neurons in the amygdala and adjacent regions in integrating audiovisual sensory inputs using a semi-chronic multi-electrode array and multiple combinations of audiovisual stimuli. From a sample of 332 neurons, we showed the diverse response patterns to audiovisual stimuli and the neural characteristics of bimodal over unimodal modulation, which could be classified into four types with differentiated regional origins. Using the hierarchical clustering method, neurons were further clustered into five groups and associated with different integrating functions and sub-regions. Finally, regions distinguishing congruent and incongruent bimodal sensory inputs were identified. Overall, visual processing dominates audiovisual integration in the amygdala and adjacent regions. Our findings shed new light on the neural mechanisms of multisensory integration in the primate brain.

Construction of cell factories for production of valencene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae / 药学学报

Valencene, a kind of sesquiterpenoid with a citrus flavor, is mainly found in Valencia orange and is commonly used in cosmetics and food additives, as well as industrial synthetic nootkatone. In this study, synthetic biology was used to create a Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell factory to produce valencene. Fistly, valencene synthase gene (CnVS) from Callitropsis nootkatensis was inserted into the chromosome of the chassis strain YTT-T5. The resulting strain VAL-01 could produce 1.1 mg·L-1 valencene. Protein fusion technique was used, different valencene synthases were compared and the copy number of key genes was adjusted, yielding valencene to 436.4 mg·L-1. Then, knocking-out the transcription factor ROX1 resulted in valencene improvement by 17.4%. Moreover, the induction system of galactose was regulated, transcription factor PDR3 and INO2 were overexpressed. The engineered strain VAL-10 could produce 2 798.6 mg·L-1 valencene by high cell density fermentation method (nearly 2 500 times higher than VAL-01). This study provides a basis for green production of valencene.

The effects of cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking on salty taste preferences based on Korean Community Health Survey data

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES@#Excessive sodium intake, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption are risk factors for a wide range of diseases. This study aimed to determine whether smokers and drinkers are more likely to enjoy their food with more salt, and whether the combination of smoking and drinking is associated with salty taste preferences. @*SUBJECTS/METHODS@#This study analyzed the data of over 16 million Koreans from two four-year Korean Community Health Survey cycles (i.e., 2010 to 2013 and 2014 to 2017). The respondents’ preferences for salty foods (i.e., their salt intake levels, whether they added salt or soy sauce to foods served on the table, and whether they dipped fried foods in salt or soy sauce), and the odds ratio (OR) of their preference were examined among smokers and drinkers when adjusted for sex, age, body mass index, educational level, household income, marital status, and cigarette smoking or alcohol consumption status. @*RESULTS@#Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption were correlated with the consumption of salty food. Based on the adjusted model, cigarette smokers and alcohol drinkers preferred adding salt or soy sauce or dipping fried foods in soybean more than non-smokers and nondrinkers. In addition, people who smoked and consumed alcohol reported a more significant stacking effect regarding the salty taste preference. @*CONCLUSION@#This large population-based study found that both cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption were correlated with salty taste preferences, which may cause excessive sodium intake.

Evaluation of PET Mainstream Scattering Correction Methods / 中国医疗器械杂志

OBJECTIVE@#Current mainstream PET scattering correction methods are introduced and evaluated horizontally, and finally, the existing problems and development direction of scattering correction are discussed.@*METHODS@#Based on NeuWise Pro PET/CT products of Neusoft Medical System Co. Ltd. , the simulation experiment is carried out to evaluate the influence of radionuclide distribution out of FOV (field of view) on the scattering estimation accuracy of each method.@*RESULTS@#The scattering events produced by radionuclide out of FOV have an obvious impact on the spatial distribution of scattering, which should be considered in the model. The scattering estimation accuracy of Monte Carlo method is higher than single scatter simulation (SSS).@*CONCLUSIONS@#Clinically, if the activity of the adjacent parts out of the FOV is high, such as brain, liver, kidney and bladder, it is likely to lead to the deviation of scattering estimation. Considering the Monte Carlo scattering estimation of the distribution of radionuclide out of FOV, it's helpful to improve the accuracy of scattering distribution estimation.

Additions to hyphomycetes from Yungui Plateau, China with three new species (Ascomycota, Sordariomycetes).

Background: Yungui Plateau is rich in fungal diversity. Hyphomycetes, growing on submerged wood, can promote the degradation of organisms and the reuse of rotten wood energy. During an investigation of hyphomycetes in this region, 19 species of dematiaceous hyphomycetes were collected in Yungui Plateau. New information: Both morphological identification and multi-gene phylogenetic analyses of ITS, tef1 and LSU sequences supported Coryneumsevenseptatis as a new species. Phaeoisariaguizhouensis and Pleurotheciumyunanensis were introduced, based on morphology. Morphological descriptions and illustrations of the new species were detailed. Known species are listed with notes.

Diagnosis of a case with Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome type 5 through high-throughput sequencing and a literature review / 中华医学遗传学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the clinical and genetic characteristics of a patient with Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome type 5 (HPS-5).@*METHODS@#A child with HPS-5 who had attended the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University on October 3, 2019 was selected as the study subject. Clinical data of the child were collected. Genetic variant was analyzed through high-throughput sequencing. A literature review was also carried out.@*RESULTS@#The child, a 1-year-and-5-month-old girl, had nystagmus since childhood, lost of retinal pigmentation by fundus examination and easy bruising. High-throughput sequencing revealed that she has harbored compound heterozygous variants of the HPS5 gene, namely c.1562_1563delAA (p.F521Sfs*27) and c.1404C>A (p.C468X), which were inherited from his father and mother, respectively. Based on the guidelines from the American College for Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), both variants were predicted to be pathogenic (PVS+PM2_Supporting+PM3+PP4). Among 18 previously reported HPS-5 patients, all had had eye problems, and most of them had tendency for bleeding. Eight cases had carried compound heterozygous variants of the HPS5 gene, 8 carried homozygous variants, 2 carried double homozygous variants, and most of them were null mutations.@*CONCLUSION@#The c.1562_1563delAA(p.F521Sfs*27) and c.1404C>A (p.C468X) compound heterozygous variants of the HPS5 gene probably underlay the HPS-5 in this child. High-throughput sequencing has provided an important tool for the diagnosis. HSP-5 patients usually have typical ocular albinism and/or oculocutaneous albinism and tendency of bleeding, which are commonly caused by compound heterozygous and homozygous variants of the HPS5 gene, though serious complications have been rare.

Intranasal delivery of NS1-deleted influenza virus vectored COVID-19 vaccine restrains the SARS-CoV-2 inflammatory response

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2) variants and "anatomical escape" characteristics threaten the effectiveness of current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines. There is an urgent need to understand the immunological mechanism of broad-spectrum respiratory tract protection to guide broader vaccines development. In this study, we investigated immune responses induced by an NS1-deleted influenza virus vectored intranasal COVID-19 vaccine (dNS1-RBD) which provides broad-spectrum protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants. Intranasal delivery of dNS1-RBD induced innate immunity, trained immunity and tissue-resident memory T cells covering the upper and lower respiratory tract. It restrained the inflammatory response by suppressing early phase viral load post SARS-CoV-2 challenge and attenuating pro-inflammatory cytokine (IL-6, IL-1B, and IFN-{gamma}) levels, thereby reducing excess immune-induced tissue injury compared with the control group. By inducing local cellular immunity and trained immunity, intranasal delivery of NS1-deleted influenza virus vectored vaccine represents a broad-spectrum COVID-19 vaccine strategy to reduce disease burden.

Treatment Strategy in Atrial Tachycardia Originating From the Atrial Appendage.

Background: Atrial appendage tachycardia (AAT) originating from the atrial appendage (AA) is extremely difficult to eliminate using radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA). The optimal management strategy for AAT refractory to RFCA remains unclear. Objective: This study aims to investigate the long-term result of ablative therapy and the optimal alternative management for AAT refractory to RFCA. Methods: A total of 51 patients with AAT originating from the AA undergoing RFCA were recruited. Video-assisted atrial appendectomy and oral ivabradine were performed on those with AATs refractory to RFCA, and this study aimed to evaluate their safety and long-term efficacy. Results: We included 51 patients (51/586, 8.7%) with AATs confirmed by activation mapping and contrast venography. Among them, there were 28 (54.9%) AATs originating from the distal AA. In total, 14 (27.4%) AATs were refractory to RFCA, including 13 originating from the distal AA and one arising from the proximal AA. Ten of 11 (90.9%) AATs originating from the distal AA were eliminated after an atrial appendectomy, and the other three AATs were suppressed using oral ivabradine. Origins from the distal AA refractory to RFCA and early age of AAT onset ≤26.5 years indicated the need for atrial appendectomy. No major complications occurred, and nine patients with tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy fully recovered. Long-term success was achieved in 98.0% of patients with multiple treatment managements. Conclusion: AATs originating from the distal AA were more refractory to RFCA. RFCA was the cornerstone of AAT catheter ablation. Video-assisted thoracoscopic atrial appendectomy was an effective strategy for those origins at the distal AA and the age of AAT onset ≤26.5 years. Ivabradine represents a promising treatment for AAT temporarily in pediatric and young adult patients.

Lineage-mosaic and mutation-patched spike proteins for broad-spectrum COVID-19 vaccine

The widespread SARS-CoV-2 in humans results in the continuous emergence of new variants. Recently emerged Omicron variant with multiple spike mutations sharply increases the risk of breakthrough infection or reinfection, highlighting the urgent need for new vaccines with broad-spectrum antigenic coverage. Using inter-lineage chimera and mutation patch strategies, we engineered a recombinant monomeric spike variant (STFK1628x), which showed high immunogenicity and mutually complementary antigenicity to its prototypic form (STFK). In hamsters, a bivalent vaccine comprised of STFK and STFK1628x elicited high titers of broad-spectrum antibodies to neutralize all 14 circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron; and fully protected vaccinees from intranasal SARS-CoV-2 challenges of either the ancestral strain or immune-evasive Beta variant. Strikingly, the vaccination of hamsters with the bivalent vaccine completely blocked the within-cage virus transmission to unvaccinated sentinels, for either the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 or Beta variant. Thus, our study provides new insights and antigen candidates for developing next-generation COVID-19 vaccines.

Efficacy of percutaneous curved kyphoplasty in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture / 中华创伤杂志

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of percutaneous curved kyphoplasty (PCKP) for the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF).Methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of 70 patients with OVCF admitted to Third People′s Hospital of Datong from May 2020 to December 2021, including 32 males and 38 females, aged 60-89 years [(73.0±8.7)years]. The patients were treated with PCKP (PCKP group, n=20) or percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) (PVP group, n=50). The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, length of hospital stay, excellent rate of bone cement distribution at postoperative 1 day, and leakage rate of bone cement were compared between the two groups. In addition, anterior height ratio of the injured vertebrae, upper and lower Cobb angle, visual analogue scale (VAS), and Oswestry dysfunction index (ODI) were measured preoperatively and at postoperative 24 hours and 3 months. Results:All patients were followed up for 3-4 months [(3.0±0.6)months]. There were no significant differences in the operation time, intraoperative blood loss, and length of hospital stay between the two groups (all P>0.05). At postoperative 1 day, the excellent rate of bone cement distribution was 100% in PCKP group (excellent in 13 patients, good in seven, poor in zero), significantly higher than 82% in PVP group (excellent 21 patients, good in 20, and poor in nine). The leakage rate of bone cement was 0%(0/20) in PCKP group, lower than 20% (10/50) in PVP group ( P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the anterior height ratio of injured vertebrae, upper Cobb angle, lower Cobb angle, VAS and ODI between the two groups before operation (all P>0.05). At postoperative 1 day, PCKP group showed significantly higher anterior height ratio of injured vertebrae and significantly lower upper Cobb angle, lower Cobb angle, VAS, and ODI than those in PVP group ( P<0.05 or 0.01). At postoperative 3 months, PCKP group still showed significantly higher anterior height ratio of injured vertebrae and significantly lower upper Cobb angle and lower Cobb angle than those in PVP group ( P<0.05 or 0.01), but there was no significant difference in VAS and ODI between the two groups (all P>0.05). In PCKP group, the anterior height ratio of the injured vertebrae was significantly increased and the upper Cobb angle, lower Cobb angle, VAS, and ODI index were significantly decreased at postoperative 1 day and 3 months when compared with those before operation (all P<0.05). In PVP group, there were no significant changes in the anterior height ratio of the injured vertebrae, upper Cobb angle, and lower Cobb angle at postoperative 1 day and 3 months when compared with those before operation (all P>0.05), but the VAS and ODI were significantly lowered at postoperative 1 day and 3 months when compared with those before operation (all P<0.05). Conclusion:Compared with PVP, PCKP has better diffusion effect of bone cement in the injured vertebrae and lower incidence of bone cement leakage in the treatment of OVCF, which can effectively promote height recovery of the injured vertebrae, relieve the pain early, and improve spinal function.

Experience on prevention and control management of the pediatric emergency department during the pandemic of Omicron variant of novel coronavirus in Shanghai in 2022 / 中国小儿急救医学

Objective:To summarize the experience on accurate prevention and control of children′s emergency department during the epidemic of novel coronavirus Omicron variant.Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the strategies and management experience of emergency prevention and control of novel coronavirus infection in emergency department at Children′s Hospital of Fudan University from March to May 2022.Results:As a designated hospital for treating pediatric patients who contracted novel coronavirus in Shanghai, the emergency department in our hospital was confronted with the dual pressure of critical patients treatment and pandemic prevention and control.We carefully studied a series of laws and regulations, as well as the newest edition of Chinese clinical guidance for novel coronavirus pneumonia diagnosis and treatment, and combined with the characteristics of novel coronavirus infection in children, then formulated the independent emergency department, fever clinics and novel coronavirus clinics; Updated the emergency department pre-examination triage process, the precautions pratice of clinical stuffs and disfection strategy, and established the second emergency department.From the beginning of March to the end of May 2022, a total of about 12 000 patients were admitted to the emergency department in our hospital, including 704 patients in the resuscitation room, 652 patients in the observation room, and 164 patients in the emergency ward.There were six patients with novel coronavirus infection in the emergency department.Neither nosocomial infection nor occupational exposure occurred.Conclusion:After 3 months of practice, the results showed that it can fully guarantee the timely treatment of critically ill children and achieved zero cross-infection in the hospital, which has important reference significance for the treatment of children, epidemic prevention, control during the novel coronavirus epidemic.

Experience on prevention and control management in PICU during the epidemic of novel coronavirus Omicron variant in Shanghai / 中国小儿急救医学

Objective:To summarize the experience of the precise prevention and control strategy of novel coronavirus infection in the pediatric intensive care unit(PICU)during the epidemic of the Omicron variant.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on the strategies and management experience of precise prevention and control of novel coronavirus infection in PICU at Pediatric Hospital of Fudan University from March 1 to May 10, 2022.Results:According to the national and Shanghai novel coronavirus infection prevention and control standards, the PICU in our hospital, in accordance with the specialty characteristics of PICU, cooperated with the hospital′s department of infection and medical department to jointly construct a precise ward management strategy for the outbreak of the omicron mutants infection.Precise prevention and control management strategies were formulated from four aspects: the admission process of critically ill children, the division of PICU ward areas and nosocomial infection protection, the reception management system for children′s family members, and the " bubble management" system for PICU staff, and run them for 3 months.During the epidemic, there was no nosocomial infection of novel coronavirus infection in children or medical staff.During the period, a total of 140 critically ill children were admitted, including 87 cases transferred from the general ward in the hospital, 48 cases from the emergency department(non-febrile, 3 cases transferred by the transfer team), four cases from fever clinic, and one case from control ward.Four of the critically ill children had no emergency nucleic acid test report when they were admitted to the PICU.Among the 140 critically ill children, 54 patients received mechanical ventilation, 18 patients received blood purification, and two patients were monitored after liver transplantation.Seventy-eight (55.7%) children had underlying diseases.Conclusion:During the current round of novel coronavirus epidemic in Shanghai, PICU in our hospital formulated the admission and ward management procedures for critically ill children, which ensured the prevention and control of nosocomial infection of novel coronavirus, and at the same time ensured the treatment of critically ill children to the greatest extent.

The application and value evaluation of assisted diagnosis system for five fundus lesion based on artificial intelligence combined with optical coherence tomography / 中华眼底病杂志

Objective:To establish an artificial intelligence robot-assisted diagnosis system for fundus diseases based on deep learning optical coherence tomography (OCT) and evaluate its application value.Methods:Diagnostic test studies. From 2016 to 2019, 25 000 OCT images of 25 000 patients treated at the Eye Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine were used as training sets and validation sets for the fundus intelligent assisted diagnosis system. Among them, macular epiretinal membrane (MERM), macular edema, macular hole, choroidal neovascularization (CNV), and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) were 5 000 sheets each. The training set and the verification set are 18 124 and 6 876 sheets, respectively. Through the transfer learning Attention ResNet structure algorithm, the OCT image was characterized by lesion identification, the disease feature was extracted by a specific procedure, and the given image was distinguished from other types of disease according to the statistical characteristics of the target lesion. The model algorithms of MERM, macular edema, macular hole, CNV and AMD were initially formed, and the fundus intelligent auxiliary diagnosis system of five models was established. The performance of each model-assisted diagnosis in the fundus intelligent auxiliary diagnostic system was evaluated by applying the subject working characteristic curve, area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity.Results:With the intelligent auxiliary diagnosis system, the diagnostic sensitivity of the MERM was 93.5%, the specificity was 99.23%, and AUC was 0.983 7; the diagnostic sensitivity of macular edema was 99.02%, the specificity was 98.17%, and AUC was 0.994 6; the diagnostic sensitivity of macular hole was 98.91%, the specificity was 99.91%, AUC was 0.996 2; the diagnostic sensitivity of CNV was 97.54%, the specificity was 94.71%, AUC was 0.987 5; the diagnostic sensitivity of AMD was 95.12%, the specificity was 97.09%, AUC was 0.985 3.Conclusions:The artificial intelligence robot-assisted diagnosis system for fundus diseases based on deep learning for OCT images has accurate and efficient diagnostic performance for assisting the diagnosis of MERM, macular edema, macular hole, CNV, and AMD.

Study on mechanisms of Th17/Treg imbalance in patients with cystic echinococcosis based on miRNA expression profiles / 中国血吸虫病防治杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the serum microRNA (miRNA) expression and examine the impact of miRNA expression profiles on T helper type 17 (Th17)/regulatory T cells (Treg) imbalance among patients with cystic echinococcosis, so as to provide insights into the illustration of the mechanisms underlying chronic Echinococcus granulosus infections, and long-term pathogenesis.@*METHODS@#Total RNA was extracted from the sera of cystic echinococcosis patients and healthy controls, and subjected to high-throughput sequencing with the Illumina sequencing platform. Known miRNAs were annotated and new miRNAs were predicted using the miRBase database and the miRDeep2 tool, and differentially expressed miRNAs were identified. The target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs were predicted using the software miRanda and TargetScan, and the intersection was selected for Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis. Among the differentially expressed miRNAs with the 20 highest fold changes, miRNAs that targeted genes relating to key transcription factors RORC and FOXP3 that determine the production of Th17 and Treg cells or their important regulatory pathways (PI3K-Akt and mTOR pathways) were matched.@*RESULTS@#A total of 53 differentially expressed miRNAs were screened in sera of cystic echinococcosis patients and healthy controls, including 47 up-regulated miRNAs and 6 down-regulated miRNAs. GO enrichment analysis showed that these differentially expressed miRNA were involved DNA transcription and translation, cell components, cell morphology, neurodevelopment and metabolic decomposition, and KEGG pathway analysis showed that the differentially expressed miRNA were mainly involved in MAPK, PI3K-Akt and mTOR signaling pathways. Among the differentially expressed miRNAs with the 20 highest fold changes, there were 3 miRNAs that had a potential for target regulation of RORC, and 15 miRNAs that had a potential to target the PI3K-Akt and mTOR signaling pathways.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Significant changes are found in serum miRNA expression profiles among patients with E. granulosus infections, and differentially expressed miRNAs may lead to Th17/Treg imbalance through targeting the key transcription factors of Th17/Treg or PI3K-Akt and mTOR pathways, which facilitates the long-term parasitism of E. granulosus in hosts and causes a chronic disease.

Sodium content changes between 2015 and 2019 in restaurant menu items selected for sodium reduction in Daegu

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES@#South Korea has been conducting the Sodium Reduction Restaurant Project since 2015 to reduce sodium contents in restaurant menus. The purpose of this study was to analyze changes in the sodium content of menus as determined by the Daegu Sodium Reduction Restaurant Project between 2015 and 2019.MATERIALS/METHODS: Intervention was aimed at reducing the sodium contents of over 10% of menu items in participating restaurants. On-site inspections and evaluations were conducted using a checklist, and reductions in sodium contents were determined by analyzing the salinities and sodium contents of menus after intervention. @*RESULTS@#Post-intervention salinities and sodium contents were significantly lower than baseline values in 2016 (P < 0.001), 2017 (P < 0.001), 2018 (P < 0.001), and 2019 (P < 0.001). However, sodium contents and salinities differences before and after intervention were not significant in 2015. Sodium contents of more than 20% of menu items offered by restaurants that participated in the Sodium Reduction Restaurant Project for 2 yrs starting in 2016 declined by 28.9%. On the other hand, the sodium reduction rate achieved by restaurants that participated for 4 yrs from 2015 reached 55.4%. The percentage of restaurants that participated in the project increased annually, though some failed to be designated as Sodium Reduction Restaurants because they did not meet sodium reduction rate requirements. @*CONCLUSIONS@#Positive correlations were found between duration of participation in the project and sodium reduction and designation rates. Sustainable long-term support at the national level is required to expand the project to other regions.

Effect of Jiuwei Zhuhuang Powder on Cough Resolution in Children with Upper Respiratory Tract Infections: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial / 中国结合医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To assess the effectiveness of Jiuwei Zhuhuang Powder (JWZH), a Tibetan patent medicine in treating upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) associated cough in children.@*METHODS@#The study was a multicenter, randomized, open-label, controlled trial. A total of 142 children aged 2 to 14 years old, with URTI-associated cough within 48 h of onset, were randomly assigned to two groups at a 1:1 ratio by computer-generated randomization sequence. Children were treated with JWZH (1 to 1.5 g, twice to thrice daily) in the treatment group or conventional treatment (Pediatric Paracetamol, Artificial Cow-bezoar and Chlorphenamine Maleate Granules, 0.25 to 1 g, thrice daily) in the control group for 5 days. The primary endpoints were the time to cough resolution and 4-day cough resolution rate. The secondary endpoints were the daily improvement in symptom scores and cough resolution rate during the study period.@*RESULTS@#A total of 138 children were included in the intention-to-treat analysis, with 71 cases in the treatment group and 67 cases in the control group. Compared with the conventional treatment, the children receiving JWZH had a shorter time to cough resolution [hazard ratio, 2.10; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.29-3.40; P=0.003]. The median time to cough resolution for children receiving JWZH was shorter than that of the conventional treatment (2 days vs. 3 days; P<0.001). The 4-day cough resolution rate in the JWZH group was higher than that of the control group (94.4% vs. 74.6%; risk difference: 19.8%, 95% CI: 8.1%-31.5%; relative risk: 1.265, 95% CI: 1.088-1.470; P=0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in the improvement of other symptoms caused by URTI (P>0.05). Adverse events was reported in 5.6% (4/71) and 4.5% (3/67) in participants of JWZH and PPACCM groups (P>0.05), respectively, which were all mild and resolved without treatment.@*CONCLUSION@#JWZH seemed to be a safe and effective therapy for URTI-associated cough in children. (Trial registration No. ChiCTR2000039421).