Objective To investigate the iodine nutritional level of 5 special groups (newly married women,pregnant women, lactating women, babies and infants, and students) in Ningxia, and to provide the basis for formulating prevention and control strategies. Methods Clustering and random sampling method were used. In 2008 and 2009, in the 22 counties investigated, in every county with 9 townships or more, nine townships were randomly selected according to their sub-area positions of east, west, south, north and center; four villages were randomly selected in each chosen township, four people with special needs and 2 infants were randomly selected for urine samples collection in each chosen village. In every county with 9 or less townships, one township was randomly selected respectively in east, west, south, north and center sub-areas; four villages were randomly sampled in each chosen township, eight people with special needs and 3 infants' urine samples were randomly collected in each chosen village. In the 22 counties, one township was randomly selected respectively in east, west,south, north and center sub-areas, one village elementary school was randomly sampled in each chosen township,twenty students aged 8 - 10 were randomly selected to collect their urine samples in each school. The iodine concentration was determined by arsenic-cerium contact method. Results A total of 6894 copied of urine samples from newly married women, pregnant women, lactating women, babies and infants, and students were examined, the urinary iodine medians were 209.3, 187.4, 184.0, 216.5, 216.3 μg/L, respectively. From low to high in the order was lactating women, pregnant women, newly married women, students, babies and infants. The level of urinary iodine of babies and infants, pregnant women and lactating women were appropriate, the one of newly married women and students were higher than appropriate. The proportion of less than 100 μg/L of urinary iodine of the 5 kinds special groups were 11.1% (53/475), 35.4% (308/871), 35.4% (659/1863), 19.1% (283/1483), 8.4%(185/2202), respectively, while the urinary iodine of the pregnant women and lactating women were relatively high. The urinary iodine medians of the 5 special groups were also very different among counties. Conclusions The urinary iodine of the 5 special groups in Ningxia presents obvious differences between populations and regions.Current iodized salt is sufficient to ensure iodine nutrition needs for the 5 special groups. But married women and students have higher levels of iodine nutrition, indicating that the salt iodine concentration of Ningxia residents have cut space, full consideration of the 5 special groups and regional differences should be taken.

BACKGROUNDRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic autoimmune inflammatory disorder. Many methods have been used to observe the progress of RA. The purpose of this study was to observe the progress of RA in rats with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and arthritis score, and analyze the relationships among different methods in evaluation of RA.

METHODSSixteen healthy Sprague Dawley (SD) rats about 8-week old were randomly assigned to a RA group and a control group. Bovine type II emulsified incomplete Freud's adjuvant was used to induce arthritis in the RA group. Arthritis score of the rats in two groups were recorded, and (18)F-FDG PET/CT, MR imaging were performed both on the corresponding rats every 3 days. All the rats were sacrificed at week 5, and histopathological examination was performed on rat knees stained with haematoxylin and eosin.

RESULTSThe arthritis score and the standard uptake value (SUV) of knee joints in RA rats increased with the progression of arthritis gradually. Both peaks of arthritis score and SUV appeared at 21 days after the first immune injection, then the arthritis score and SUV of knee joints decreased slowly. The arthritis scores of knee joints in RA rats were positively correlated with their SUV changes. The MR images were confirmed by the histopathological studies.

CONCLUSIONPET/CT can detect the earliest molecular metabolism changes of RA, and MR imaging can follow up the dynamical anatomical changes of RA, all of which indicated that PET/CT and MR imaging may be applied as useful tools to monitor the progress of RA.

Animals ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Radiopharmaceuticals ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) function after mandible reconstruction with free fibula flap and with different condyle treatment.

METHODSForty-one cases of mandible and condyle defects following benign tumor resection were reconstructed with fibula free flap, with the condyle being reconstructed by three methods: placement of the distal end of the fibula flap into the glenoid fossa, the fibula serving as the condyle (24 cases); attachment of the resected condyle as a nonvascularized transplant to the end of the fibula flap (5 cases); condyle preservation plus vascularized fibular reconstruction (12 cases). The postoperative TMJ function was evaluated by Fricton function index.

RESULTSNo TMJ ankylosis occurred in all patients. There were no significant differences in aesthetics, deglutition and speech function among the three groups; but there were significant differences in TMJ function index (DI, CMI) among different condyle treatments. Condylar preservation showed better TMJ function than fibula used as a substitute for condyle.

CONCLUSIONSPreservation of condyle during free fibula mandibular reconstruction can improve patients' TMJ function. The location and shape of fibular condyle were important factors that could influence the outcome the condyle reconstruction.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Bone Transplantation ; Female ; Fibula ; transplantation ; Free Tissue Flaps ; blood supply ; Humans ; Male ; Mandibular Condyle ; surgery ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; methods ; Temporomandibular Joint ; physiopathology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo establish an improved procedure for isolation and identification of epitopes from a random peptide library displayed on the bacterial surface.

METHODSEpitopes were screened from FliTrx random peptide library by a monoclonal antibody 3B9 against HBV-PreS2 protein. The enrichment was monitored in each round. Higher affinity clones were obtained by increasing the washing strength and randomly selected for sequencing and Western blot analysis.

RESULTSClones specifically binding to antibody were enriched in each round. Ten sequences were obtained from sixteen sequenced clones, seven of them contained the common motif RXRGXY with high homogeneity to 135-140 amio acids in HBV-PreS protein and have positive results in Western blot analysis. The other three sequences have no typical motif RXRGXY and showed different Western blot results.

CONCLUSIONSIt's easy and quick to drive epitopes from a random peptide library displayed on the bacterial surface.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Antigens, Viral ; immunology ; Bacterial Proteins ; immunology ; Flagellin ; immunology ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; genetics ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; Immunodominant Epitopes ; immunology ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Peptide Library ; Protein Precursors ; genetics ; immunology ; isolation & purification

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Retrospective Studies ; Solitary Pulmonary Nodule ; diagnosis ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVEErectile dysfunction (ED) is now recognized as a comorbid condition, especially in men with cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus. This randomized controlled trial was to examine the effect of long-term small-dose tadalafil in the treatment of ED.

METHODSA total of 98 men older than 18 years with at least a 6-month ED history were enlisted and divided into two groups to receive once-daily treatment with tadalafil at 5 mg (n = 60) and 20 mg (n = 38), respectively, for 12 months. The effects of medication were analyzed and compared using IIEF, Global Assessment Questionnaire (GAQ) and Sexual Encounter Profile (SEP), and so were the safety and tolerance of the two doses.

RESULTSThere were no statistically significant differences in the therapeutical results between the 5 mg and 20 mg groups (P < 0.05). The IIEF-5 score was raised by 8.1 points in the former and 7.9 points in the latter; the YES answers to SEP2 in the two groups were 51.3% and 49.2% before the treatment and 82.6% and 84.9% after it. No serious adverse events were observed, except some common ones, such as rubeosis (11.9% vs 8.7%) and headache (5.3% vs 4.9%) in the 5 mg and 20 mg groups.

CONCLUSIONOral tadalafil at 5 mg once daily is efficacious with good tolerance in the treatment of ED, and it can be an alternative to on-demand medication for some men to eliminate the inconvenience of planned intercourse within a limited timeframe.

Adult ; Carbolines ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Erectile Dysfunction ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Tadalafil ; Treatment Outcome

Femoral neck fracture (FNF) in the elderly patients is currently a major health challenge worldwide, with excessive consumption of medical resources, high incidence of complications as well as suboptimal outcome and prognosis. Hip joint arthroplasty (HJA) has been the mainstream treatment for FNF in the elderly, but the conventional surgical approaches and techniques are still confronted with a series of bottlenecks such as dislocation, limp and limb length discrepancy. In recent years, direct anterior approach (DAA) for HJA (DAA-HJA) has been a major new choice in the field of joint replacement, which achieves improved clinical effectiveness of HJA in the treatment of elderly FNF, due to the fact that DAA approach involves the neuromuscular interface and accords with the idea of soft tissue retention and enhanced recovery after surgery. However, there is still a lack of unified understanding of standard technique and procedure of DAA-HJA in the treatment of elderly FNF. Therefore, relevant experts from the Hip Joint Group of Chinese Orthopedics Association of Chinese Medical Association, Youth Arthrology Group of Orthopedic Committee of PLA, Orthopedic Committee of Chongqing Medical Association, Branch of Orthopedic Surgeons of Chongqing Medical Doctor Association and Sport Medicine Committee of Chongqing Medical Association were organized to formulate the " Chinese expert consensus on the technical standard of direct anterior hip arthroplasty for elderly femoral neck fracture ( version 2023)" based on evidence-based medicine. This consensus mainly proposed 13 recommendations covering indications, surgical plans, prosthesis selections, surgical techniques and processes, and postoperative management of DAA-HJA in elderly patients with FNF, aiming to promote standardized, systematic and patient-specific diagnosis and treatment to improve the functional prognosis of the patients.

OBJECTIVETo ascertain the causation of a pregnant woman with undefined pneumonia reported from the People's Hospital of Tongling city in Anhui province on November 2005.

METHODSEpidemiological and clinical information of the case was collected from the keypersons close to the case and referring to the medical record. A medical observation was carried out on the close contacts of the case and sick or dead poultry. Tracheal aspirates being collected were tested by both RT-PCR and real-time PCR to detect viral nucleic acids of A/H5N1, and were inoculated into special pathogen free (SPF) embryonated hens' eggs.

RESULTSThe pregnant woman was found to have been contacted with the sick/dead poultry directly on the 4th day before onset of illness. All the 122 close contacts were healthy after a 10-day medical observation. The major clinical features of the case were viral pneumonia with rapidly developed leukopenia and lymphopenia. The progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ dysfunction syndromes was found at clinical presentation. HA and NA gene of A/H5N1 virus were positive. The 8 gene fragments of A/Anhui/1/2005 (H5N1) isolated from the tracheal aspirates had not carried genes from a human virus through reassortment, and the receptor-binding site of the hemagglutinin was polybasic cleavage site.

CONCLUSIONThis was the first documented case of H5N1 infection in pregnant woman. The immunotolerant state of pregnancy might have predisposed to the fatal outcome of the patient.

Adult ; China ; Fatal Outcome ; Female ; Humans ; Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Influenza, Human ; complications ; pathology ; Multiple Organ Failure ; Pneumonia ; virology ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious ; virology ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; Trachea ; virology