Objective To investigate and analyze the resources and application frequency of radiological diagnosis and treatment in Jinan City in 2023 and provide a basis for the rational application of radiological diagnosis and treatment resources and strengthening radiological health protection management. Methods The health administrative department issued a work plan. A general survey was conducted on radiological diagnosis and treatment institutions (excluding dental clinics) in Jinan City using a questionnaire. The survey covered the basic information of the radiological diagnosis and treatment institutions, the distribution of the radiological diagnosis and treatment equipment, the number of radiological workers, and the frequency of radiological diagnosis and treatment. Results There were 301 radiological diagnosis and treatment institutions in Jinan City, with 1603 sets of radiological diagnosis and treatment equipment and 5789 radiological workers. These institutions included 41 (13.62%) tertiary hospitals, 57 (18.94%) secondary hospitals, 110 (36.54%) primary hospitals, and 93 (30.90%) ungraded hospitals. Tertiary hospitals had the highest proportions of radiological diagnosis and treatment equipment and workers, accounting for 49.53% and 69.10% of the total, respectively. The frequencies of radiological diagnosis and treatment were 868.86 X-ray diagnostic imaging examinations per 1000 population, 5.07 radiotherapies per 1000 population, 14.19 interventional diagnostic and therapeutic procedures per 1000 population, 7.36 nuclear medical diagnostic procedures per 1000 population, and 0.56 nuclear medical therapeutic procedures per 1000 population. The frequency of CT diagnosis was the highest, reaching 407.76 procedures per 1000 population. Conclusion The radiological diagnosis and treatment resources and activities in Jinan City were mainly concentrated in tertiary hospitals, with unbalanced distribution among hospitals of different grades. It is necessary to apply various medical radiations correctly and reasonably and strengthen radiation protection to reduce the frequency of radiation and the collective effective dose.

BACKGROUND: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of birth defect-related mortality. However, more recent CHD mortality data for China are lacking. Additionally, limited studies have evaluated sex, rural-urban, and region-specific disparities of CHD mortality in China. METHODS: We designed a population-based study using data from the Dataset of National Mortality Surveillance in China between 2008 and 2021. We calculated age-adjusted CHD mortality using the sixth census data of China in 2010 as the standard population. We assessed the temporal trends in CHD mortality by age, sex, area, and region from 2008 to 2021 using the joinpoint regression model. RESULTS: From 2008 to 2021, 33,534 deaths were attributed to CHD. The period witnessed a two-fold decrease in the age-adjusted CHD mortality from 1.61 to 0.76 per 100,000 persons (average annual percent change [AAPC] = -5.90%). Females tended to have lower age-adjusted CHD mortality than males, but with a similar decline rate from 2008 to 2021 (females: AAPC = -6.15%; males: AAPC = -5.84%). Similar AAPC values were observed among people living in urban (AAPC = -6.64%) and rural (AAPC = -6.12%) areas. Eastern regions experienced a more pronounced decrease in the age-adjusted CHD mortality (AAPC = -7.86%) than central (AAPC = -5.83%) and western regions (AAPC = -3.71%) between 2008 and 2021. Approximately half of the deaths (46.19%) due to CHD occurred during infancy. The CHD mortality rates in 2021 were lower than those in 2008 for people aged 0-39 years, with the largest decrease observed among children aged 1-4 years (AAPC = -8.26%), followed by infants (AAPC = -7.01%). CONCLUSIONS CHD mortality in China has dramatically decreased from 2008 to 2021. The slower decrease in CHD mortality in the central and western regions than in the eastern regions suggested that public health policymakers should pay more attention to health resources and health education for central and western regions.
Humans ; Heart Defects, Congenital/mortality* ; Male ; Female ; China/epidemiology* ; Infant ; Child, Preschool ; Adult ; Child ; Adolescent ; Infant, Newborn ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult ; Aged ; Rural Population

Objective To investigate the exposure level of radioactive hazard factors and the health management of radiation workers in non-medical radiation institutions (excluding military institutions) in Jinan, China through radioactive hazard factor monitoring, to identify the weak links, and to provide a scientific basis for future work priorities. Methods According to the monitoring plan formulated by Jinan Municipal Health Commission, the task undertaking institutions at all levels in Jinan investigated the types of radioactive hazard factors, detection, training, and health monitoring of 101 non-medical radiation institutions in Jinan. In addition, the workplace radiation levels were detected in 25 institutions of 6 types of monitoring objects, including industrial flaw detection, non-medical accelerator, non-sealed radioactive material workplace, nuclear instrument, baggage detector, and others. Results The investigation objects included institutions engaged in industrial flaw detection, nuclear instrument, luggage detector, non-medical accelerator, non-sealed source workplace, and others. Of these institutions, 91.84% were equipped with radiation protection detectors, 92.86% were equipped with personal dose alarm, 97.73% were equipped with personal protective equipment, 94.36% performed radiation protection training, 92.69% employed radiation workers with certificates, 95.77% performed personal dose detection, 94.83% performed occupational health examination, and 100.00% were qualified for radiation protection detection in workplace. Conclusion There is still a gap between the radiation protection status of non-medical institutions in Jinan and the national regulations and standards, so it is necessary to further strengthen supervision and law enforcement and make greater efforts in training and publicity.

Objective:To quantify the associations between periconceptional maternal homocysteine (HCY) and offspring′s birth weight and risk of small for gestational age (SGA) infant.Methods:The 19 984 mother-child pairs in this prospective cohort study were recruited from the Shanghai preconception cohort; the infants were delivered from 1 st September 2016 to 11 th November 2022. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect the mothers′ demographic information, medical history, dietary supplement use, and maternal complications during pregnancy, and their serum samples were collected. Serum HCY, folate, and vitamin B 12 were measured using chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay based on serum sample drawn at enrollment. Birth weight data were obtained from medical records. Multiple imputation methods were applied to handle missing data in key variables. Multivariable linear regression and Poisson regression models were used to analyze the relationship between maternal HCY concentration during the periconceptional period and the birth weight and SGA risk of the offspring. Results:A total of 9 452 pairs were enrolled preconceptionally and the remaining 10 532 pairs were enrolled in early pregnancy. The proportion of mothers whose pregnancy age was greater than 35 years was 9.2% (1 832/19 984), the proportion of primiparous women was 76.5% (15 283/19 984), the proportion of pre-pregnancy overweight and obesity was 14.0% (2 804/19 984), the proportion of using folic acid supplements before pregnancy was 21.4% (4 272/19 984), and the proportion of those who supplemented with folic acid during early pregnancy was 85.2% (8 976/10 532); gestational diabetes mellitus was in 6.2% (1 245/19 984), gestational hypertensive syndrome in 3.6% (711/19 984). The birth weight of the offspring was (3 297±468) g, and there were 1 962 SGA children (9.8%). The HCY concentration in the overall population in appropriate for gestational age during the periconceptional period was (7.9±3.2) μmol/L, with (8.3±3.7) μmol/L in the preconception subgroup and (7.3±2.4) μmol/L in the early pregnancy subgroup. After adjustment for the covariates of perinatal demographic information, adverse pregnancy outcomes, serum folate and vitamin B 12, increased maternal periconceptional HCY was significantly associated with lower offspring birth weight ( β=-2.30, 95% CI -4.43--0.16, P=0.035). Only the early pregnancy subgroup was significantly associated with lower offspring birth weight ( β=-7.39, 95% CI-11.50--3.21, P<0.001). No association was found between peripregnancy HCY and offspring SGA risk. However, elevated HCY in early pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of SGA in the offspring ( RR=1.05, 95% CI 1.01-1.08, P=0.002). Periconceptional vitamin B 12 was a mediator of the association between HCY and offspring birth weight, accounting for 16.5%, 41.2% and 5.4% of its total effect in the overall periconceptional population, the pre-pregnancy subgroup and the early pregnancy subgroup, respectively. Conclusions:Maternal periconceptional HCY level is associated with lower birth weight in offspring, but not with the risk of SGA. Elevated maternal HCY in early pregnancy subgroup may be associated with increased risk of SGA in offspring.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical characteristics and genetic basis of a child with Teebi hypertelorism syndrome 1 (TBHS1). METHODS: A child with TBHS1 who was admitted to the Children's Medical Center Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine on July 13, 2021 was selected as the study subject. Clinical data of the child was collected. Peripheral blood samples of the child and his parents were collected and subjected to whole exome sequencing (WES). Candidate variant was verified by Sanger sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. RESULTS: The child, a 13-year-old male, had manifested delayed growth and development. WES results revealed that he has harbored a heterozygous c.1244A>G variant of the SPECC1L gene, which was verified to be de novo in origin. The variant has not been included in the HGMD and gnomAD databases. As predicted by online software including PolyPhen-2, SIFT, and Mutation Taster, the variant may affect the function of protein domain. And PyMOL software has predicted that the structural stability of SPECC1L protein (p.Gln415Arg) might be reduced. Based on the guidelines of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), the variant was classified as pathogenic (PM6+PM1+PP4+PM2_Supporting+PP3). CONCLUSION The heterozygous c.1244A>G variant of the SPECC1L gene probably underlay the TBHS1 in this child. Above finding has expanded the genotypic and phenotypic spectrum of the SPECC1L gene and provided a basis for the clinical diagnosis of this child.
Adolescent ; Humans ; Male ; China ; Computational Biology ; Genomics ; Genotype ; Mutation

Objective: To perform an epidemiological survey of the first case with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Pinghu City of Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province on March 13, 2022, so as to provide insights into the management of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemics. Methods: According to the requirements of the Protocol on Prevention and Control of COVID-19 (8th Edition), epidemiological investigations were performed among 39 cases with SARS-CoV-2 infections in Pinghu City from March 13 to 20, 2022. Cases' demographics, clinical symptoms, history of immunization and exposure were collected, and close contacts were identified. Pharyngeal swabs were sampled from infected cases for detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid and whole-genome sequencing, and the source of infection and transmission route were investigated. Results: The index case for this COVID-19 epidemic was an imported case from Shanghai Municipality, who infected 6 persons via aerosol transmission when playing in the badminton venue of Pinghu National Fitness Center on March 9; subsequently, one of these infected cases infected another 18 persons when playing in the badminton venue of Jiadian Village Resident's Fitness Center in Zhapu Township on March 12. Sixteen confirmed cases were reported, and all cases were mild; another 23 asymptomatic cases were diagnosed, with no death reported. This epidemic occurred from March 11 to 20, with 3 generations of spread and a median incubation period of 3 days. The SARS-CoV-2 infected cases had a median age of 33.5 (interquartile range, 12.0) years and included 36 cases with a history of COVID-19 vaccination. There were 16 cases with fever, cough, runny nose and sore throat, and 13 cases with imaging features of pneumonia. The effective reproductive number (Rt) of the COVID-19 epidemic was 7.73 at early stage, and was less than 1 since March 21. Whole-genome sequencing identified Omicron BA.2 variant among 33 cases, which had high homology with the index cases. Conclusion This epidemic was a cluster of COVID-19 caused by imported Omicron BA.2 variant infection from Shanghai Municipality, and the COVID-19 transmission was mainly caused by indoor aerosols.

OBJECTIVETo analyze clinical manifestations and genetic mutation in a child with severe short stature and other malformations.

METHODSThe child has undergone history taking and physical examination. Genome DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples of the proband and her family members. Candidate genes were captured with Agilent SureSelect and sequenced on an Illumina platform. Suspected mutation was verified by Sanger sequencing.

RESULTSThe patient, a six-year-and-10-month old girl, presented with non-symmetrical short stature, dysmorphism, abnormalities of limbs and spine, amblyopia of left eye, and cataract of right eye, in addition with frequent respiratory infection and micturition. Laboratory testing suggested 25-hydroxy vitamin D deficiency (18.9 ng/mL). Spine X-ray showed multiple malformations with centrums. Her mother also featured short stature (138 cm). Her aunt had short stature (130 cm) and limb-length discrepancy. Her little brother was 2.5 years old, and his height was 81 cm (-3.4 SD). Exome sequencing revealed a heterozygous mutation c.184C to T (p.Arg62Trp) in the proband and her mother. The same mutation was not found in her father and brother.

CONCLUSIONThe patient was diagnosed with X-linked chondrodysplasia punctata 2. Mutation of the EBP gene probably underlied the disease in this family.

Objective To evaluate the effect of aminolevulinic acid-based photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) on the expression of protein kinase D1 (PKD1) in a cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cell line A431,and to explore the mechanism underlying ALA-PDT-induced apoptosis of A431 ceils.Methods A431 cells were cultured in vitro,and cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was performed to select the optimal combination of ALA concentration and PDT dose with the strongest proliferation inhibitory effect.A431 ceils at exponential growth phase were randomly divided into 4 groups:control group receiving no treatment,ALA group treated with ALA solution alone,PDT group treated with PDT alone,and ALA-PDT group treated firstly with ALA solution and then with PDT.After 12-,24-,36-and 48-hour additional culture,CCK-8 assay was conducted to evaluate the cellular proliferation inhibition,and the apoptosis rate at the time point of the strongest proliferation inhibitory effect was measured by flow cytometry.RT-PCR was performed to determine the expression of protein kinase D1 gene (PRKD1) in A431 cells at different time points after the ALA-PDT treatment,and Western blot analysis to measure protein expression of PKD 1 and its phosphorylation at Tyr463 (pTyr463) and Ser916 (pSer916) in A431 cells.Results The combination of ALA at the concentration of 1.5 mmol/L with PDT at an irradiation dose of 2 J/cm2 was optimal due to its strongest proliferation inhibitory effect.After 12-,24-,36-and 48-hour additional culture,there were significant differences in the proliferation inhibition rate among the 4 groups (F =39.56,P ＜ 0.05).At 24 hours after the treatment,the ALA-PDT group showed significantly higher proliferation inhibition rate (46.26％ ± 1.25％) compared with the ALA group (14.65％ ± 0.33％,P ＜ 0.05),PDT group (14.96％ ± 0.68％,P ＜ 0.05) and control group (11.98％ ± 0.32％,P ＜ 0.05),as well as compared with that at 12 hours (P ＜ 0.05).At 24 hours after the treatment,the apoptosis rate significantly differed among the 4 groups (F =16.32,P ＜ 0.05),and the ALA-PDT group showed a significantly higher apoptosis rate (41.92％ ± 3.23％) compared with the control group (4.67％ ± 0.88％,P ＜ 0.05),ALA group (7.02％ ± 1.52％,P ＜ 0.05) and PDT group (8.37％ ± 0.59％,P ＜ 0.05).At 0,6,12,24,36 and 48 hours after the treatment,there were significant differences in the mRNA expression of PRKD 1 among the 4 groups (F =22.24,P ＜ 0.05),and the mRNA expression of PRKD1 at 24 hours was significantly lower than that at 0,6,12 hours (all P ＜ 0.05),but was not significantly different from that at 36 and 48 hours (both P ＞ 0.05).No significant difference in the Ser916-phosphorylated PKD1 expression was found among the 4 groups (F =1.53,P ＞ 0.05),while there were significant differences in the expression of PKD1 and Tyr463-phosphorylated PKD 1 among the 4 groups (F =10.04,8.27,both P ＜ 0.05).Additionally,the ALA-PDT group showed significantly lower expression of PKD 1 and Tyr463-phosphorylated PKD 1 compared with the control group,ALA group and PDT group (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion PKD1 may be involved in the photochemical process of A431 cell apoptosis induced by ALA-PDT,and may promote the occurrence of squamous cell carcinoma by Tyr463 phosphorylation.

Objective To investigate the neurodevelopmental toxicity of ACR by studying the expression of DCX and GAP-43 in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of rats after maternal exposure to acrylamide. Methods Pregnant rats were randomly divided into low-dose ACR(4.5 mg/kg),medium-dose(9 mg/kg),high dose groups(18 mg/kg)and the control group(0 mg/kg),8 in each group,and were exposed to toxicant from gestation-al day 15 to postnatal day 13. All rats and their pups were killed on postnatal day 14. ABC immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of GFAP in the hippocampus of mother rats and offspring. Results Compared with the control group,the expression of DCX and GAP-43 in hippocampus dentate gyrus of the pregnant rats in middle and high dose groups was significantly decreased(P < 0.05). Conclusion ACR may interfere with the growth and development of neurons by reducing the expression of DCX and GAP-43.

Objective To measure the expression of protein kinase D1 (PKD1),tyr463-phosphorylaed PKD1 (pPKD1-tyr463) and ser916-phos-phorylaed PKD1 (pPKD1-ser916) in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC),Bowen's disease (BD) and actinic keratosis (AK),and to explore their significance.Methods Fresh tissue samples were resected from lesions of patients with SCC (SCC group),BD (BD group) and AK (AK group),as well as from normal skin of healthy human controls (control group),and each group had a sample size of 10.Real-time RT-PCR was performed to measure the mRNA expression of protein kinase D1 gene (PRKD1),and Western blot analysis to determine the protein expression of PKD1,pPKD1-tyr463 and pPKD1-ser916.In addition,immunohistochemical study was conducted to determine the expression of PKD1,pPKD1-tyr463 and pPKD1-ser916 in another 50 paraffin-embedded skin samples of SCC,20 samples of BD,20 samples of AK and 10 normal skin samples.Results PRKD1 mRNA expression significantly differed among the control group (0.64 ± 0.09),SCC group (5.37 ± 1.06),BD group (2.69 ± 0.72) and AK group (2.43 ± 0.46) (F =21.37,P ＜ 0.05),and was significantly higher in the SCC,BD and AK groups than that in the control group (P ＜ 0.05),as well as in the SCC group than that in the AK and BD groups (both P ＜ 0.05).However,no significant difference in the PRKD1 mRNA expression was observed between the BD group and AK group (P ＞ 0.05).Immunohistochemical study showed that the total PKD1 protein and pPKD1-tyr463 in the SCC and BD groups were mainly expressed in the cytoplasm and cell membrane of spinous layer cells and atypical cells,and their expression rates were significantly higher than those in the AK group and control group (all P ＜ 0.01).The pPKD1-ser916 was only slightly expressed in some cancer nests of well-differentiated SCC tissues,but not in poorly-differentiated SCC,AK,BD tissues and normal skin tissues.In the SCC group,the expression rate of PKD1 increased with the increase of the pathological grade of SCC,and the PKD1 expression was positively correlated with pPKD1-tyr463 expression (rcc =0.479,P ＜ 0.05).Western blot results were consistent with immunohistochemical findings.Conclusion PKD1 and pPKD1-tyr463 may be involved in the development and differentiation of skin tumors derived from stratified squamous epithelium,and PKD1 may exert promotive effects on the formation of cutaneous SCC by activating the Tyr463 phosphorylation site.