Safety and efficacy of phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors in fetal growth restriction: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is associated with a higher risk of perinatal morbidity and mortality, as well as long-term health issues in newborns. Currently, there is no effective medicine for FGR. Phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors have been shown in pre-clinical studies to improve FGR. This study aimed to evaluate the latest evidence about the clinical outcomes and safety of PDE-5 inhibitors for the management of FGR. Methods: Eight databases (PubMed, Embase, Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Database and WangFang Database) were searched for English and Chinese articles published from the database inception to December 2023. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting the use of PDE-5 inhibitors in FGR were included. The quality of the RCTs was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Odds ratio and mean difference (MD) (95% confidence intervals) were pooled for meta-analysis. Results: From 253 retrieved publications, 16 studies involving 1,492 pregnant women met the inclusion criteria. Only sildenafil (15 RCTs) and tadalafil (1 RCT) were studied for FGR. Compared with the control group (placebo, no treatment, or other medication therapies), sildenafil increased birth weight, pregnancy prolongation and umbilical artery pulsatility indices. However, it also increased the risk of pulmonary hypertension in newborns, as well as headache and flushing/rash in mothers. There were no significant differences in gestation age, perinatal mortality or major neonatal morbidity, stillbirth, neonate death, infants admitted to neonatal intensive care unit, intraventricular hemorrhage and necrotizing enterocolitis in infants, as well as pregnancy hypertension and gastrointestinal side effects in mothers between the treatment and the control groups. Discussion: Sildenafil was the most investigated PDE-5 inhibitors for FGR. Current evidence suggests that sildenafil can improve birth weight and duration of pregnancy but at the same time increase the risk of neonatal pulmonary hypertension. It remains uncertain whether the benefits of sildenafil in FGR outweigh the risks and further high-quality RCTs are warranted. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=325909.

Post-pollination barriers contribute to coexistence of partially pollinator-sharing Arisaema species (Araceae).

Reproductive isolation plays an important role in maintaining the species integrity of sympatric close relatives. For sympatric Arisaema species, interspecific gene flow is expected to be effectively prevented by pre-pollination barriers, particularly strong pollinator isolation mediated by fungus gnats. However, due to the lack of quantitative studies combining multiple pre- and post-pollination barriers, it is not known whether pre-pollination isolation is complete, and whether post-pollination barriers also contribute to reproductive isolation among some Arisaema species. In this study, we quantified the individual strengths and absolute contributions of four pre- and post-pollination barriers (phenological isolation, pollinator isolation, hybrid fruit formation, and hybrid seed formation) among three sympatric Arisaema species (A. bockii, A. lobatum, and A. erubescens). Although phenological isolation and pollinator isolation reduced the frequencies of interspecific pollen transfer among these species, the partial overlap of flowering times and pollinator assemblages resulted in incomplete pre-pollination isolation. Post-pollination barriers also contributed to reproductive isolation at the hybrid fruit and seed formation stages. We propose that, although pre-pollination barriers are expected to contribute more to total isolation than post-pollination barriers in Arisaema, pre-pollination barriers may not completely prevent interspecific pollen transfer among some Arisaema species. Post-pollination barriers, which are generally ignored, may also have contributed significantly to reproductive isolation in Arisaema.

Clinical application and long-term safety of hydroxychloroquine in rheumatic diseases / 中华风湿病学杂志

Objective:To explore the clinical application and long-term safety of hydroxychloroquine sulfate (HCQ) in the treatment of rheumatic diseases.Methods:A multi-center cross-sectional study was conducted between August 2017 and August 2018 in a random sample of eleven medical institutions of rheumatology and immunology in China. Patients who took HCQ for more than 3 months were enrolled into this study. The cumulative dose and long-term side effects of HCQ were recorded. The changes of laboratory indexes before and after treatment with HCQ were analyzed. Categorical variables were presented with counts and proportions, and evaluated by Chi-square test. Continuous parametric data were presented as Mean±standard deviation, and evaluated by Student's t test or Mann-Whitney U test. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results:A total of 886 patients with rheumatic diseases were enrolled into this study, including 505 cases with systemic lupus erythematosus (57.0%), 210 cases with rheumatoid arthritis (23.7%), 80 cases with Sj?gren's syndrome (9.0%), 57 cases with undifferentiated connective tissue disease (6.4%), 12 cases of systemic vasculitis (1.4%), 10 cases of mixed connective tissue disease (1.1%), 7 cases of myositis (0.8%) and 5 cases with systemic sclerosis (0.6%). The most common long-term side effects of HCQ was skin or mucous lesions (12.4%) and vision problems (8.0%). Other adverse reactions included problems of digestive system (3.0%), nervous system (2.1%), musculoskeletal system (1.1%) and cardiovascular system (0.9%). 140 cases (15.8%) had stopped taking HCQ during the treatment. More than half of them decided to stop taking medicine by themselves. Fifty-four patients (6.1%) stopped using HCQ due to side effects while 24 of them took it again, and another 12 patients (1.4%) stopped the drug due to remission of illness. Patients were divided into three groups according to the cumulative dose of HCQ: less than 500 g, 500-1 000 g and more than 1 000 g respectively. There was significant difference in the incidence of long-term side effects among the three groups ( χ2=6.382, P=0.041). The last group (more than 1 000 g) suffered the highest incidence of long-term adverse reactions (37.1%). No severe adverse drug reactions were observed in this study. Conclusion:Hydroxychloroquine is widely used in the treatment of rheumatic diseases. The incidence of long-term side effects is 20.4%, is 6.1% lead to drug withdrawal, which are especially related to the cumulative doses. It should be adjusted properly according to the clinical application.

Analysis of clinical characteristics of Henoch-Schonlein purpura patients from different altitudes in plateau areas / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the clinical characteristics of Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) patients from different altitudes in Tibet plateau areas of China.@*METHODS@#A retrospective study was used to analyze the 190 HSP patients admitted to Tibet Autonomous Region People ' s Hospital form April 2014 to May 2021. The subjects were divided into 3 groups according to the altitude of long-term residence before onset and the clinical data at different altitudes were compared and analyzed.@*RESULTS@#There were no significant differences in the age of onset and gender in HSP patients at different altitudes (P>0.05). The HSP patients in high altitude areas were more likely to have digestive symptoms (P < 0.01). The patients were more likely to have kidney or joint involvement at higher altitudes. The platelets [(512.1±55.0)×109 /L] and C reactive protein [11.2 (5.7, 19.4) g/L] in high altitude areas were significantly higher than at medium altitudes [(498.3±76.9)×109 /L and 9.5 (4.6, 13.5) g/L] and lower altitudes [(456.4±81.2)×109/L and 3.7 (0.2, 8.9) g/L] respectively. The effective rate of treatment was 98.9%, while there was no significant difference of outcome from different altitudes (P>0.05). The patients who were repeatedly hospitalized all had kidney involvement and no immunosuppressive agents were added in the initial treatment.@*CONCLUSION@#HSP is common in high altitude areas. There was little difference in age of onset and gender at different altitudes. Abdominal pain was the most common clinical manifestation. Patients in high altitude areas were more likely to have severe abdominal problems. Kidney involvement may be poor prognostic factor. Early application of glucocorticoid combined with immunosuppressive agents can effectively control the disease and reduce the recurrence of HSP.

Clinical and immunological characteristics of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in Tibet plateau, China / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To describe the clinical, immunological characteristics and organ involvement of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Tibet plateau, China.@*METHODS@#We retrospectively investigated 70 patients admitted in the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Hospital between May 2014 and April 2016. In the study, 120 hospitalized patients with SLE from the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology of the Peking University People's Hospital were randomly selected as the control (plain) group. The major organ involvement, clinical and immunological characteristics were compared between the two groups.@*RESULTS@#The female to male ratio of Tibet plateau group was 10.7, while the corresponding ratio of plain group was 11.0. The mean age at disease diagnosis was (32.21±11.40) and (35.38±13.25) years, respectively. the most common initial manifestations of SLE were arthritis (78.6%), alopecia (55.7%) and malar rash (48.6%) in Tibet plateau group, the prevalence of arthritis and alopecia was significantly higher than in plain group (P<0.05). The incidence of neuropsychiatric and kidney involvement was significantly lower in Tibet plateau group compared with plain group (P<0.05). As for the serological manifestations, the positivity of anti-double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) (57.1%), anti-Smith (Sm) antibody (55.7%), anti-Sjögren syndrome A (SSA) antibody (72.3%), anti-Sjögren syndrome B (SSB) antibody (41.4%) and anti-u1-ribosenuclear protein (u1RNP) antibody (45.7%) was significantly higher in Tibet plateau group (P<0.05). While the incidence of low serum complement C3 (61.4%), C4 (38.6%) less frequent in Tibet plateau group. Mean SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) score was similar in the Tibet plateau group (12.18±5.58) and plain group (12.69±7.28). Moreover, there were 13 (18.6%) SLE patients suffering from tuberculosis and 7 (10%) SLE patients infected with hepatitis B virus in Tibet plateau group. The number of recent-onset SLE patients with lower 25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 (25-OH-VD3) in Tibet plateau group was fewer than that in the plain group (76.7% vs. 90.0%, P=0.046). Serum 25-OH-VD3 levels in Tibet plateau plateau group were (31.14±18.74) nmol/L, those in plain group were (26.91±14.27) nmol/L, and the difference was not significant.@*CONCLUSION@#The age, gender and SLEDAI scores in Tibet plateau group was similar to those in plain group. But there are significant differences in clinical manifestations, distributions of antibodies and immunological changes between Tibet plateau group and plain group. The patients with lower serum 25-OH-VD3 levels were more in plain group than in Tibet plateau group, while there was no significant difference in the 25-OH-VD3 level between the two groups.

Study of multi-freedom myoelectric prostheses with tactile sense.

This paper designs a bionic artificial hand that has a tactile sensing, two degrees of freedom, driven by surface electro-myography (SEMG). The tactile sensor applying PVDF as a sensitive material, fitted the finger of artificial hand, has a good dynamic response. The tactile sense is spread to the user by an electric shock generator. Using improved power spectrum ratio and data fusion method based on statistical decision-making of Bayes, the movements of hand are recognized from SEMG. The experiment proves that it is a good way that the hand is controlled by SEMG combining with tactile sensor.