BACKGROUND: Spicy food consumption has been reported to be inversely associated with mortality from multiple diseases. However, the effect of spicy food intake on the incidence of vascular diseases in the Chinese population remains unclear. This study was conducted to explore this association. METHODS: This study was performed using the large-scale China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) prospective cohort of 486,335 participants. The primary outcomes were vascular disease, ischemic heart disease (IHD), major coronary events (MCEs), cerebrovascular disease, stroke, and non-stroke cerebrovascular disease. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to assess the association between spicy food consumption and incident vascular diseases. Subgroup analysis was also performed to evaluate the heterogeneity of the association between spicy food consumption and the risk of vascular disease stratified by several basic characteristics. In addition, the joint effects of spicy food consumption and the healthy lifestyle score on the risk of vascular disease were also evaluated, and sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the reliability of the association results. RESULTS: During a median follow-up time of 12.1 years, a total of 136,125 patients with vascular disease, 46,689 patients with IHD, 10,097 patients with MCEs, 80,114 patients with cerebrovascular disease, 56,726 patients with stroke, and 40,098 patients with non-stroke cerebrovascular disease were identified. Participants who consumed spicy food 1-2 days/week (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.95, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = [0.93, 0.97], P <0.001), 3-5 days/week (HR = 0.96, 95% CI = [0.94, 0.99], P = 0.003), and 6-7 days/week (HR = 0.97, 95% CI = [0.95, 0.99], P = 0.002) had a significantly lower risk of vascular disease than those who consumed spicy food less than once a week ( Ptrend <0.001), especially in those who were younger and living in rural areas. Notably, the disease-based subgroup analysis indicated that the inverse associations remained in IHD ( Ptrend = 0.011) and MCEs ( Ptrend = 0.002) risk. Intriguingly, there was an interaction effect between spicy food consumption and the healthy lifestyle score on the risk of IHD ( Pinteraction = 0.037). CONCLUSIONS Our findings support an inverse association between spicy food consumption and vascular disease in the Chinese population, which may provide additional dietary guidance for the prevention of vascular diseases.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Prospective Studies ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Vascular Diseases/etiology* ; Risk Factors ; China/epidemiology* ; Adult ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Cerebrovascular Disorders/epidemiology* ; East Asian People

OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy of toric implantable collamer lens (Toric-ICL) and femtosecond laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (FS-LASIK) for myopia correction in patients with moderate to high myopia complicated with astigmatism. METHODS: We retrospectively collected data from 64 patients (aged 18-42 years) with moderate to high myopia complicated with astigmatism (128 eyes) undergoing either Toric-ICL (28 patients/56 eyes) or FS-LASIK (36 patients/72 eyes) at our department between January, 2019 and December, 2020. The changes of uncorrected distance visual acuity (UCVA), spherical equivalent (SE), mean astigmatism correction index (CI), corneal endothelial cell density (ECD) and intraocular pressure (IOP) following the procedures were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: In FS-LASIK group, all the eyes (72/72) achieved an UCVA≥1.0, similar to the rate in Toric-ICL group (55/56 eyes; P=0.2374). The postoperative SE was also comparable between FS-LASIK and Toric-ICL groups [0.43±0.06 D (range: -1.0 to 1.50 D) vs 0.38±0.05 D (range: -0.75 to 1.00 D); P=0.56]. The mean astigmatism CI was significantly higher in FS-LASIK group than in Toric-ICL group (0.8561 vs 0.7176; P<0.0001), and 88.89% of the eyes in FS-LASIK group and 69.64% in Toric-ICL group had postoperative astigmatism ≤0.50 D. No significant changes were observed in postoperative corneal ECD in FS-LASIK group, whereas ECD decreased significantly after the procedure in Toric-ICL group (P=0.0057). The patients undergoing Toric-ICL exhibited no significant changes of postoperative IOP, but the patients receiving FS-LASIK had significantly reduced IOP after the procedure (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Although the patients included in Toric-ICL group had higher myopia and astigmatism, Toric-ICL still showed better predictability and efficacy for astigmatic correction in Toric-ICL group. Toric-ICL is an effective and safe equivalent of FS-LASIK for correcting moderate myopia but can be more advantageous for correcting high myopia with astigmatism.
Humans ; Astigmatism/complications* ; Myopia/complications* ; Keratomileusis, Laser In Situ/methods* ; Retrospective Studies ; Adult ; Visual Acuity ; Adolescent ; Young Adult ; Treatment Outcome ; Male ; Lens Implantation, Intraocular/methods* ; Female ; Phakic Intraocular Lenses ; Intraocular Pressure

The COVID-19 epidemic has spread to the whole world for three years and has had a serious impact on human life, health and economic activities. China's epidemic prevention and control has gone through the following stages: emergency unconventional stage, emergency normalization stage, and the transitional stage from the emergency normalization to the "Category B infectious disease treated as Category B" normalization, and achieved a major and decisive victory. The designated hospitals for prevention and control of COVID-19 epidemic in Tianjin has successfully completed its tasks in all stages of epidemic prevention and control, and has accumulated valuable experience. This article summarizes the experience of constructing a hospital infection prevention and control system during the "Category B infectious disease treated as Category A" period in designated hospital. The experience is summarized as the "Cluster" hospital infection prevention and control system, namely "three rings" outside, middle and inside, "three districts" of green, orange and red, "three things" before, during and after the event, "two-day pre-purification" and "two-director system", and "one zone" management. In emergency situations, we adopt a simplified version of the cluster hospital infection prevention and control system. In emergency situations, a simplified version of the "Cluster" hospital infection prevention and control system can be adopted. This system has the following characteristics: firstly, the system emphasizes the characteristics of "cluster" and the overall management of key measures to avoid any shortcomings. The second, it emphasizes the transformation of infection control concepts to maximize the safety of medical services through infection control. The third, it emphasizes the optimization of the process. The prevention and control measures should be comprehensive and focused, while also preventing excessive use. The measures emphasize the use of the least resources to achieve the best infection control effect. The fourth, it emphasizes the quality control work of infection control, pays attention to the importance of the process, and advocates the concept of "system slimming, process fattening". Fifthly, it emphasizes that the future development depends on artificial intelligence, in order to improve the quality and efficiency of prevention and control to the greatest extent. Sixth, hospitals need to strengthen continuous training and retraining. We utilize diverse training methods, including artificial intelligence, to ensure that infection control policies and procedures are simple. We have established an evaluation and feedback mechanism to ensure that medical personnel are in an emergency state at all times.

Since the end of 2019, the COVID-19 caused by 2019-nCoV has emerged and the pandemic ravaged the world, which seriously threatens global public health security and economic development. 2019-nCoV vaccine is an effective weapon to combat the viral infection, however, studies have shown that vaccine-induced immune protection decreases over time, coupled with some novel and immune escape variants continual emerging. Therefore, it is urgent to complete booster immunization to improve protection. At present, 2019-nCoV vaccines based on a variety of technical platforms have been approved and available in China. Therefore, we developed this sequential vaccination strategy guide to provide documentation guidance for the prevention and control of the epidemic caused by 2019-nCoV and its variant strains.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the value of hand-held retinal optometer and optical coherence tomography (OCT) in predicting postoperative visual acuity in patients with age-related cataract and idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the data of patients undergoing phacoemulsification combined with intraocular lens implantation for age-related cataract in our hospital from January, 2019 to April, 2020.Preoperative examination detected idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane in 45 of the patients (52 eyes) with lens opacity grade C2N2P1 according to LOCSⅡ lens opacity classification criteria.Based on the thickness of the macular fovea, the eyes were divided into group A (9 eyes) with macular thickness < 300 μm by OCT examination, group B (25 eyes) with macular thickness of 300 to 400 μm, and group C (18 eyes) with macular thickness >400 μm.The best corrected visual acuity and retinal visual acuity before operation and the best corrected visual acuity on the first day and at 3 months after the surgery were compared among the 3 groups.The consistency between the preoperative retinal vision and the best corrected vision at 3 months after the surgery was analyzed. RESULTS: The best corrected visual acuity at one day and 3 months after the surgery differed significantly from that before the surgery in all the 3 groups ( CONCLUSIONS For patients with cataract and idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane, phacoemulsification combined with intraocular lens implantation can improve postoperative vision.Hand-held retinal optometer can accurately assess postoperative vision in patients with stage C2N2P1 cataract.Patients with a macular thickness >400 μm caused by idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane are likely to have poor postoperative visual outcomes.
Cataract/diagnostic imaging* ; Epiretinal Membrane/surgery* ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, Optical Coherence ; Visual Acuity ; Vitrectomy

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of β-arrestin1 overexpression on tumor progression in a NCG mouse model bearing T-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (T-ALL) Molt-4 cell xenograft. METHODS: Molt-4 cells were tagged with firefly-luciferase (F-Luc) by lentiviral infection, and fluorescence intensity of the cells was detected using a luminescence detector. Molt-4 cell lines with β-arrestin1 overexpression or knockdown were constructed by lentivirus infection and injected the tail vein in sub-lethal irradiated NCG mice. Body weight changes and survival time of the xenografted mice were observed, and the progression of T-ALL in the mice was evaluated using an fluorescence imaging system. Sixteen days after xenografting, the mice were euthanatized and tumor cell infiltration was observed in the slices of the liver and spleen. RESULTS: We successfully tagged Molt-4 cells with F-Luc and overexpressed or knocked down β-arrestin1 in the tagged cells. Bioluminescent imaging showed obvious luminescence catalyzed by F-Luc in Molt-4 cells. After injection of Molt-4-Luc cells into irradiated NCG mice, a gradual enhancement of luminescence in the xenografted mice was observed over time, while the body weight of the mice decreased. Compared with the control mice, the mice xenografted with β-arrestin1-overexpressing Molt-4 cells had significantly prolonged survival time ( < 0.001), while the survival time of the mice xenografted with Molt-4 cells with β- arrestin1 knockdown was significantly shortened ( < 0.001). Histological examination revealed fewer infiltrating tumor cells in the liver and spleen of the mice xenografted with β-arrestin1-overexpressing Molt-4 cells in comparison with the mice bearing parental Molt-4 cell xenografts. CONCLUSIONS β-arrestin1 overexpression suppresses tumor progression in mice bearing Molt-4 cell xenograft.
Animals ; Disease Progression ; Heterografts ; Humans ; Mice ; T-Lymphocytes ; Transplantation, Heterologous ; beta-Arrestin 1

This paper introduces the working flow of the installation and the check & acceptance of the medical equipment.The maior working flow includes the following item.(1)the time of accepting contract.(2)Auditing contract.(3)confirming the arrival time of the equipment.(4)preparing fabricating yard for the equipment installation.(5)the actual time of the equipment arriving.(6)unpacking and inspecting.(7)checking accessories of the equipment.(81collecting the manual of the equipment.(9)the procedure information of the importing equipment.(10)checking the eligibility of the equipment.(11)the operation and the training of the maintenance.(12)the measuring and auditing of the equipment.(13)the maintenance of equipment time.The working flow contributes a lot to our equipment checking & acceptance.In this article,we summarize the experience of the checking &acceptance of the medical equipment.

A multi-step method for extracting the heart image from visible human project (VHP) data was proposed in this paper. In the first step, Otsu's thresholding segmentation based on mathematical morphological techniques called opening-by-reconstruction and closing-by-reconstruction was used to preprocess the original image in order to effectively overcome the disadvantages of using only thresholding segmentation. The second step was to extract heart data from the proposed image. This multi-step method improved the computation efficiency and attained higher precision, suggesting its significant value for application in VHP.
Algorithms ; China ; Heart ; anatomy & histology ; Humans ; Image Enhancement ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Mathematics ; Visible Human Projects