Objective To accurately depict the actual tongue position of vowels in pinyin based on ultrasound tongue image(UTI),and accordingly propose targeted pronunciation training strategies to improve speech rehabili-tation and teaching quality.Methods Forty-five pieces of pronunciation material containing the six vowels a,o,e,i,u,ü(covering all the rhymes in Mandarin)were selected,and 16 subjects aged 20～25 years old with a proficien-cy level of Mandarin 2A or above were recruited to collect speech and ultrasonic data simultaneously.When process-ing the data,segmental labelling was first performed with Praat,then AAA was used to extract the coordinates of the tongue shape and palatal line of the target segments.Finally,the actual tongue positions of the six pinyin letters were determined based on articulatory tongue position comparison.Results Vowel a has[A]and[ε]2 types of tongue positions;o has[o]1 type of tongue position;e has[?],[e]and[?]3 types of tongue positions;i has[i],[(ι)]and[(ι)]3 types of tongue positions;u has[u]1 type of tongue position;and ü has[y]1 type of tongue posi-tion.A retroflex vowel is a vowel target tongue position followed by a tongue curl stroke.Conclusion ① The rhymes are classified into 11 categories,which allowing for a more accurate and systematic teaching.② The six vowel ultrasonic data provides a visual means for learning vowels,which is more intuitive than the traditional pinyin teaching.

Objective:For tympanosclerosis patients with ossicular chain fixation, we use ossicular chain bypass technique and evaluate its long-term effects. Methods:From June 2017 to June 2019, 147 patients with tympanosclerosis who underwent middle ear surgery with otoscopy in Yinchuan First People's Hospital were reviewed. The subjects were divided into three groups according to the implemented operation plan, 51 cases in the ossicular chain mobilization group（OCM）, 56 cases in the ossicular chain bypass reconstruction group（OCB）, and 40 cases in the malleus-incus complex resection reconstruction group（MICR）. Through a three-year follow-up, the medium and long-term effects of different operation plans were compared and analyzed. Results:There was no significant difference among the three groups in the incidence of tympanic membrane perforation, delayed facial nerve palsy, and the dispatch and displacement of PORP. The incidence of tympanic membrane retraction pocket or cholesteatoma after operation in OCB group（0） was significantly lower than that in OCM group（11.76%） and MICR group（7.5%）（P<0.05）. At 12 months after operation, ΔABG of OCB group and MICR group were better than that in the OCM group（P<0.05）. At 36 months after operation, ΔABG of OCB group was better than that in the OCM group（P<0.05）, and there was no significant difference between OCB group and MICR group. The audiological performance of patients with epitympanic sclerosis（ETS） at 12, 24 and 36 months after operation was better than that of patients with posterior tympanosclerosis（PTS） and total tympanosclerosis（TTS）（P<0.05）. Conclusion:Compared with patients undergoing ossicular chain mobilization and malleus-incus complex resection for ossicular chain reconstruction, patients with tympanosclerosis undergoing bypass technique have better and stable hearing prognosis in medium and long term. This technique can effectively prevent the formation of retracted pocket and cholesteatoma in patients with tympanosclerosis after operation.
Humans ; Tympanosclerosis ; Ear Ossicles/surgery* ; Ear, Middle ; Malleus/surgery* ; Cholesteatoma ; Retrospective Studies ; Ossicular Prosthesis ; Treatment Outcome

Objective    To analyze the risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) after off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCABG). Methods     The PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Wanfang data, CBM, VIP, CNKI were searched by computer for researches on risk factors associated with the development of AKI after OPCABG from the inception to March 2022. The meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to evaluate the quality of included studies. Results    A total of 18 researches were included, involving 9 risk factors. The NOS score of all included studies was≥6 points. Meta-analysis results showed that age [OR=1.03, 95%CI (1.01, 1.06), P=0.020], body mass index (BMI) [OR=1.10, 95%CI (1.05, 1.15), P<0.001], history of hypertension [OR=1.45, 95%CI (1.27, 1.66), P<0.001], history of diabetes [OR=1.50, 95%CI (1.33, 1.70), P<0.001], preoperative serum creatinine level [OR=2.05, 95%CI (1.27, 3.32), P=0.003], low left ventricular ejection fraction [OR=4.51, 95%CI (1.39, 14.65), P=0.010], preoperative coronary angiography within a short period of time [OR=2.10, 95%CI (1.52, 2.91), P<0.001], perioperative implantation of intra-aortic balloon pump [OR=3.42, 95%CI (2.26, 5.16),  P<0.001], perioperative blood transfusion [OR=2.00, 95%CI (1.51, 2.65), P<0.001] were risk factors for AKI after OPCABG. Conclusion    Age, BMI, history of hypertension, history of diabetes, preoperative serum creatinine level, low left ventricular ejection fraction, preoperative coronary angiography within a short period of time, perioperative implantation of intra-aortic balloon pump, perioperative blood transfusion are risk factors for AKI after OPCABG. Medical staff should focus on monitoring the above risk factors and early identifying, in order to prevent or delay the onset of postoperative AKI and promote early recovery of patients.

Objective To investigate the prevalence and genotypes of Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia lamblia in dogs and cats from a pet hospital in Shanghai Municipality. Methods A total of 145 fresh fecal samples were collected from pet dogs and cats in a pet hospital in Shanghai Municipality during the period from November 2021 to June 2022, including 99 dog fecal samples and 46 cat fecal samples. The small subunit ribosomal ribonucleic acid (SSU rRNA) gene of Cryptosporidium and the triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) gene of G. lamblia were amplified using nested PCR assay, and the positive amplification products were sequenced from both directions. The sequence assembly was performed using the software Clustal X 2.1, and sequence alignment was conducted using BLAST. A phylogenetic tree was created with the Neighbor-Joining method using MEGA 11.0 to identify parasite species or genotype. Results The overall prevalence of Cryptosporidium and G. lamblia was 20.00% (29/145) in 145 pet dog and cat fecal samples, with the prevalence of 0.69% (1/145) and 19.31% (28/145) in Cryptosporidium and G. lamblia, respectively. G. lamblia was only detected in dog fecal samples, with prevalence of 18.18% (18/99), while the detection rates of Cryptosporidium and G. lamblia were 2.17% (1/46) and 21.74% (10/46) in cat fecal samples. Nucleotide sequence analysis showed that one Cryptosporidium positive sample was characterized as C. felis, and 28 G. lamblia positive samples were all characterized as Giardia assemblage A, which showed 100% sequence homology with human isolates of Giardia. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the sequences obtained in this study belonged to the same branch with the reported Giardia assemblage A. Conclusions Cryptosporidium and G. lamblia infection was prevalent in pet dogs and cats from the study pet hospital in Shanghai Municipality, and there is a zoonotic risk for the species and genotype. Intensified surveillance of Cryptosporidium and Giardia infection is recommended in pets and their owners, and improved management of pet keeping is required.

BACKGROUND: Little was known about the association among time in range (TIR), time above range (TAR), time below range (TBR), and cancer mortality among patients with type 2 diabetes. We aimed to investigate the association among TIR, TAR, TBR, and the risk of cancer mortality among patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: A total of 6225 patients with type 2 diabetes were prospectively recruited in Shanghai, China. TIR was measured with continuous glucose monitoring at baseline and was defined as the average percentage of time in the target glucose range during a 24 h period. Cox proportion hazard regression analysis was used to determine the association between TIR and the risk of cancer mortality. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 7.10 years, we confirmed 237 death events related to cancer. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for cancer mortality was 1.32 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-1.75) in patients with TIR ≤70% compared with those with TIR >70%. When TIR was considered as a continuous variable, the multivariable-adjusted HR for cancer mortality associated with each 10% decrease in TIR was 1.07 (95% CI: 1.02-1.14). In the site-specific analysis, a significant association between TIR as a continuous variable and the risk of hepatocellular cancer was found (HR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.09-1.41). However, no relationship between hemoglobin A1c and cancer mortality was observed (HR: 1.04; 95% CI: 0.97-1.10). CONCLUSIONS The present study found an inverse association of TIR with the risk of cancer mortality among patients with type 2 diabetes. New evidence of TIR was added into the clinical practice that TIR may be an optimal target of glycemic control among patients with type 2 diabetes.
Blood Glucose ; Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring ; China ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/complications* ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; Prospective Studies

Copy number variations(CNV)is an important part of genomic structural variation, including deletions, insertions, duplications and complex multi-site variants of DNA.Numerous studies have shown that CNV is closely related to diseases, such as congenital metabolic disease, neuro-developmental disease, and cancers.With the development of arrays and sequencing technology, a large number of CNV have been found in patients with congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract(CAKUT). CNV has been found to be an important component of the patient′s cause.This review mainly discusses the definition of CNV, the mutation mechanisms, the detection techniques and the pathogenesis of CAKUT.

Objective: To investigate the duration of Norovirus (NoV) shedding among infected school children during a NoV outbreak in a kindergarten,and to provide scientitic basis for epidemic prevention and control. Methods: Specimens and epidemiological data were collected from suspected cases, and specimens were detected using real-time RT-PCR to determine whether or not infecting with NoV. Specimens were collected every 3-7 days from NoV-infected children until specimens became negative for NoV. Results: A total of 14 suspected cases were reported, and 12 of them were infected with NoV. The average duration of NoV shedding was (26.58±17.94)d. The specimens among 9 from 12 Nov-infected cases were positive at 7 days, 8 NoV-intected cased remained positive at 14 days and 7 Non-infected cased at least 21 days. Conclusion Since NoV shedding duration among NoV-infected children tends to longer than their isolation time during outbreaks, reinforcement of hygiene practices among these school children is especially necessary to reduce the risk of virus secondary transmissions after their return to school.

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate whether PRDM16 gene polymorphisms were associated with dyslipidemia. Methods The polymorphisms of rs2651899, rs2236518, rs870171, and rs2282198 in PRDM16 gene in 528 participants were genotyped by the method of snapshot or ligase detection reaction. The genotype differences and the allele differences between the case group and the control group were analyzed. Linkage disequilibrium analysis was performed with SHE-sis online software. The interaction between rs2651899, rs2236518, rs870171, rs2282198 and gender, age, BMI were analyzed by MDR software. Results The frequency of allele A in rs2651899 locus was significantly higher in low HDL-C group compared with that in control group[OR(95%CI)=1.32(1.02-1.71), P=0.033]. The frequency of A/C genotype in rs870171 was significantly different between LDL-C abnormal group and control group[OR(95% CI)=1.97(1.01-3.86), P=0.037]. There may be interaction between rs2236518 and sex, which is a risk factor for low HDL-C[Model Ⅱ: OR(95% CI)=1.958(1.366-2.809), P<0.01]. There may be interactions among rs2651899, rs2236518, rs870171, and rs2282198, which seemed to be risk factors for lower HDL-C[Model Ⅳ: OR(95% CI)=3.991(2.707-5.884), P<0.01]. rs870171, rs2282198 may have interaction with age, which is a risk factor for high LDL-C [Model Ⅶ: OR(95%CI)=3.991(2.707-5.884), P<0.01]. Conclusion Allele A of rs2651899 may be a risk factor to low HDL-C. Under the codominant inheritance patterns, genotype A/C of rs870171 may be a risk factor to high LDL-C. In addition, there may be interaction between SNPs with gender and age.

Objective: To explore the effect of the aortic arch type on technical indicators in patients with carotid artery stent implantation.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 224 consecutive patients treated in Fu Wai hospital for unilateral carotid artery stent implantation from 2011-01 to 2012-12. We summarized the catheter category, type and the operating techniques including ① retracement, turn and insertion of the catheter, ② retracement, turn of catheter+the guidance of guide wire,③ retracement, turn of catheter+the guidance of guide wire+the supporting of another catheter, ④ using special graphic catheter+the guidance of guide wire+the supporting of another catheter. The procedural X-ray exposure time, dosage of contrast agent and operation related complications were recorded. According to Myla classiifcation, the aortic arches were divided into Myla I, Myla II and Myla III types.
Results: There were 7/224 (3.1%) patients with Myla I aortic arch, 113 (50.4%) with Myla II aortic arch and 104 (46.4%) with Myla III aortic arch. A total of 48/104 (46.2%) Myla III patients used special techniques (tech③, tech④), it was more than the patients with Myla I, (1/7,14.3%) and Myla II (17/113, 15.0%), P<0.01. The patients with Myla III aortic arch had the longer X-ray exposure time and used the higher dose of contrast agent, all P<0.01. The procedural success rate in patients with
Myla III was 96.2%, it was lower than those with Myla I (100%) and Myla II (100%), P=0.045. The procedural complication rate in patients with Myla III was 22.1%, it was higher than those with Myla I (0%) and Myla II (8.9%), P=0.007.
Conclusion: The aortic arch type is the important inlfuential factor for the techniques used in carotid stent implantation. There were more dififculties and complications for stent implantation in patients with Myla III aortic arch.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between the genetic polymorphisms of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) (-735) and matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) (-1171) and the susceptibility to silicosis.

METHODSA case-control study was conducted in 113 patients diagnosed with stage I silicosis (case group) and 115 dust-exposed workers without silicosis (control group); the two groups had the same sex, ethnic group, and type of dust and similar age and cumulative exposure time. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was used to determine the genotypes of MMP-2 (-735) and MMP-3 (-1171).

RESULTSNo significant difference was observed in age, cumulative exposure time, or smoking rate between cases and controls (P > 0.05). The frequencies of genotypes C/C, C/T, and T/T at MMP-2 C-735T in the case group were 57.5% (65/113), 31.0% (35/113), and 11.5% (13/113), respectively, which were significantly different from those of the control group (69.6% (80/115), 26.9% (31/115), and 3.5% (4/115)), χ² = 6.542, P < 0.05). The frequencies of T allele in cases and controls were 27.0% and 17.0%, respectively, which were significantly different from each other χ² = 6.704, P < 0.05). Carriage of T allele at MMP-2 C-735T increased the risk of silicosis (OR = 1.811, 95% CI: 1.151-2.847). The frequencies of genotypes 6A/6A, 5A/6A, and 5A/5A at MMP-3 A-1171A were 67.2% (76/113), 24.8% (28/113), and 8.0% (9/113), respectively, in the case group, versus 59.1% (68/115), 37.4% (43/115), and 3.5% (4/115) in the control group (χ² = 5.519, P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONGenetic polymorphism at MMP-2 C-735T is significantly associated with the development of silicosis. Carriage of T allele increases the risk of silicosis among workers exposed to dust. No significant association was found between MMP-3 A-1171A polymorphism and silicosis in this study.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Case-Control Studies ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genotype ; Humans ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 ; genetics ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 3 ; genetics ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Silicosis ; genetics