[Analysis of language of children with autism spectrum disorder at different developmental levels].

Objective: To explore the language characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at different developmental levels. Methods: The clinical data of 103 children with ASD who attended the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from January 2018 to December 2020 was analyzed retrospectively. They were divided into typical development and abnormal development (including mild and moderate or severe) groups based on developmental diagnostic scale results, and also devided into 2-3, 4-6, and 7-8 years of age groups based on age. The language characteristics of children with ASD at different developmental levels and different ages were compared by Pearson's chi-square or Fisher's exact probabilty test, t test, analysis of variance, or Kruskal-Wallis H test. The relationship between language ability and core symptoms of ASD was analyzed by Pearson correlation test. Results: Among 103 children with ASD, 86 were males and 17 were females, with an age of (5.5±1.5) years. A total of 61 children were charactered as typical development and 42 as abnormal (32 mild and 10 moderate or severe). There were no significant differences in developmental scale, overall language, receptive, expressive, syntax, and semantics scores among the three different age groups (all P>0.05). The detection rate of abnormal language ability in the typical development group was significantly lower than that in the abnormal development group (49.2% (30/61) vs. 100.0% (42/42), P<0.01). Receptive, expressive, semantics, and syntax scores of the typical development groups were significantly higher than those of the mildly and moderately or severely abnormal group (89±13 vs. 76±11 vs.71±8, F=18.61, P<0.01; 80±12 vs. 66±8 vs. 58±7, F=29.69, P<0.01; 92±14 vs.78±14 vs. 71±11, F=17.26, P<0.01; 83±10 vs. 71±8 vs. 64±5, F=29.35, P<0.01). Within the abnormal development group, there were no significant correlations between language ability and the core symptoms of ASD (r=-0.02-0.58, all P>0.05). Within the typical development group, there were no significant correlations between language ability and social interaction, repetitive stereotypes, and limited interests (r=0--0.22, all P>0.05). However, overall language, receptive, semantics, and expressive language abilities were negatively correlated with communication (r=-0.28--0.36, all P<0.05), and there was no significant correlation between syntax and communication (r=-0.24, P>0.05) in typical developmental group. Conclusions: The majority of children with ASD manifest language development disorders, mainly in the aspects of expressive and syntax language. Children with ASD with more delayed developmental level have more severe language disorder. About half children with ASD with normal development have language development disorders. The language ability of children with ASD is minimally correlated with ASD core symptoms.

[Real world research on the growth pattern of preterm children with different birth weight].

Objective: To investigate the physical indices and growth status of preterm children aged 0 to 4 years with different birth weight. Methods: Following the real world research approach, the current study retrospectively collected e-chart information of 8 496 preterm children from the child health care system of the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from December 2010 to December 2017, with 203 123 full-term children followed up during the same period as controls. Premature children were divided into normal birth weight (NBW) group, low birth weight (LBW) group, and very low birth weight (VLBW) group based on their birth weights. The weight and length development within 48 months of age of preterm boys and girls in each group were measured and recorded to establish a numerical table and analyze the growth levels, growth rate, and proportionality. The t-test or chi-square test was used for between-group comparison. Results: Of the 8 496 preterm children, 4 839 were girls and 3 657 boys, including 525 in the VLBW group, with an average birth weight of (1.28±0.14) kg, 3 862 in the LBW group, with an average birth weight of (2.07±0.28) kg, and 4 109 in the NBW group, with an average birth weight of (2.86±0.35) kg. The weight at the actual age of 2-<3 months ((5.61±0.96) vs. (5.64±0.78) kg in boys, (5.11±0.67) vs. (5.18±0.71) kg in girls) and the length at the actual age of 8-<10 months ((70.3±2.4) vs. (70.6±2.4) cm in boys, (68.9±2.2) vs. (68.9±2.4) cm in girls) in the NBW group reached the average weight and length of full-term children. The difference of physical growth before 24 months of age between LBW and control group decreased as children age, with that of LBW group approaches the average of full-term children after 24 months of age, with a weight difference of 0.64-0.95 kg and height difference of 1.3-1.7 cm. The weight and height of the VLBW group were lower than those of full-term infants (2.80-2.86 kg and 3.3-4.3 cm, respectively) at 48 months of age. During 2-12 months of age, the corresponding values of the VLBW group were higher than that of the LBW and NBW groups by 0.35 kg and 0.71 kg, respectively. However, the corresponding values of the VLBW group were lower than that of the LBW and NBW groups(0.64 kg and 0.76 kg at 0-2 months of age, 1.04 kg and 1.49 kg at 12-48 months of age, respectively). The rates of delayed development, underweight, and emaciation were the highest in the VLBW group (all P<0.01), while the rates of overweight and obesity were the highest in the NBW group, with that of the VLBW group being lower than LBW group (P<0.01) at the age of 24-<36 months. Conclusions: Prior to 4 years of age, the time for preterm children to reach the average physical indices of full-term children differ by birth weights, hence warranting further examination of the corrected gestational age for preterm children. Normal birth weight preterm children present with the highest incidence of overweight and obesity and very low birth weight preterm children present with the highest incidence of growth disorders, marking both groups at high risks of malnutrition.

Effects of fixed-time artificial insemination using triptorelin on the reproductive performance of pigs: a meta-analysis.

Triptorelin (TRI), a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist allowing ovulation synchronization in pigs, is indispensable for fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI) protocols. However, the effect of FTAI using TRI (FTAI-TRI) on the reproductive performance is controversial. We performed a meta-analysis to determine whether FTAI-TRI affects reproductive performance of pigs, including pregnancy rate (PR), number of pigs born alive per litter (NBA), farrowing rate (FR) and total number of pigs born per litter (TNB). A total of 37 trials from 15 studies were extracted and analysed in Stata. A weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated for NBA and TNB, and risk ratio (RR) with 95% CI was calculated for PR and FR. Pregnancy rate, TNB and NBA data were applied to a fixed-effect protocol, and FR data were applied to a random-effect protocol. We found that for weaned sows, the FTAI-TRI group had comparable reproductive performance to the artificial insemination (AI) following oestrus detection (EDAI) group. Fixed-time AI has many advantages, including the elimination of the need to heat-check twice daily, so that FTAI-TRI is a good substitute for EDAI. Subgroup analysis indicated that the optimal timing of triptorelin treatment was 96 h after weaning, which gave significant positive effects on PR (RR = 1.08, P = 0.000) and non-significant positive effects on TNB (WMD = 0.12, P = 0.452). Triptorelin at a dose of 100 µg showed better effects than 200 µg, with significant positive effects on PR (RR = 1.09, P = 0.005) and FR (RR = 1.06, P = 0.036). So a single dose of 100 µg was recommended. The optimal protocol was insemination at 24 h and again at 48 h after triptorelin administration if they remained in standing oestrus, and this provided a significantly higher NBA (WMD = 0.59, P = 0.013) that increased by 0.59. For gilts, the FTAI-TRI group showed decreased (not significant) PR (RR = 0.96, P = 0.127) and significantly decreased FR (RR = 0.93, P = 0.013), TNB (WMD = -0.85, P = 0.006) and NBA (WMD = -0.98, P = 0.000), which were inferior to those in the EDAI group. In conclusion, the effects of FTAI-TRI on the reproductive performance of pigs were parity-, treatment timing-, insemination timing-, and dosage-dependent. Fixed-time AI using triptorelin could effectively replace the EDAI protocol for sows, but not for gilts.

Grain boundary dynamics under mechanical annealing in two-dimensional colloids.

Two-dimensional (2D) colloids embedded in a soap film are employed to study the structures and dynamics of grain boundaries (GBs). While a soap film is drawn vertically from a concentrated bulk suspension, the colloidal particles self-assemble to form polycrystalline structures with a typical grain size of about 100 lattice spaces. Studies of these grain boundaries reveal that the GB lines are faceted at "atomic" scale, leading to a constant energy per unit length along each line. The measured GB energy as a function of misfit angle is in agreement with Reed-Shockley's theoretical predictions. When an external mechanical vibration is applied to the bulk suspension, the grain boundaries are observed to migrate and grains to rotate under the stress field induced by the vibration. The total length of the grain boundaries is found to diminish logarithmically with time, with the rate constant being a function of the excitation strength. This phenomenon, called "mechanical annealing," provides a robust means to grow large 2D single-domain crystals.

[Effect of fu-fang si-shen yin on cellular immunity in patients with viral myocarditis].

In order to study the effect of the Fu-Fang Si-Shen Yin (FFSSY) on cellular immunity, the natural killer (NK) cell activity of 60 patients with viral myocarditis, while the lymphocyte subsets consisted of OKT3, OKT4, OKT8, OKT4/OKT8 of other 20 patients were determined. The pretreatmental results were 25.25 +/- 0.46%, 59.11 +/- 8.72%, 30.72 +/- 6.94%, 29.72 +/- 5.35% and 1.04 +/- 0.24 respectively, which were significantly lower than that of the normal value (P < 0.01) except OKT8 However, after the treatment with FFSSY, NK cell activity and OKT3, OKT4, OKT4/OKT8 were elevated to 30.96 +/- 10.13% (P < 0.05), 62.33 +/- 7.78% (P < 0.05), 33.67 +/- 5.50% (P < 0.05) and 1.14 +/- 0.20 (P < 0.01) respectively. The Syndrome Differentiation of TCM indicated that NK cell activity decreased obviously in the Qi-Yin-Deficiency group, while T lymphocyte subsets changed significantly in the Qi-Deficiency group. There existed negative correlation between NK cell activity and OKT4/OKT8 (r = -0.60, P < 0.05). The patients with high NK cell activity in the early stage could have a favourable prognosis, while unfavourable with low NK cell activity.

[Pharmacognosy of Ranunculus chinensis Bge].

Ranunculus chinensis is a folk herb popular in some districts of Yunnan Province. The paper deals with the plant resources, macroscopic shape and microscopic characteristics of this herb so as to provide referential information for clinics, research institutes and herbal market.