We developed a microfluidic device to integrate sample introduction, bacteria culturing and results reading. The identification of multiple bacteria was achieved by combining the spatial resolution of the arrayed bacteria culture chambers and the color resolution benefited from the bacteria specific chromogenic media. A set of 4 common pathogenic bacteria responsible for urinary tract infection were used as a model to test the microfluidic assay. Our results showed that the bacteria identification assay can be completed in 15 h, with a limit of detection (LOD) of bacteria density down to 10 cfu / mL. Clinical sample testing using the microchip approach showed a coincidence rate of 96. 3% as compared with the conventional method. The developed microfluidic approach is simple and rapid, thus hold the potential to serve as a powerful tool for detection of multiple bacteria.

OBJECTIVETo study the feasibility, surgical technique and results of laryngeal function preservation in surgical treatment for medial wall pyriform sinus cancer.

METHODSFrom 1992 to 1999, 31 patients with medial wall pyriform sinus cancer including stage I 1, II 4, III 14 and IV 12 lesions were treated. Partial resection of pyriform sinus and partial laryngectomy were performed, then, the remains of epiglottis and uni-pedicled sternohyoid myofascial flap were used to restore the defects of larynx. At last, the remaining hypopharyngeal mucosa was sutured to cover the wound of hypopharynx and for artificial rebuild-up. All patients received postoperative radiotherapy.

RESULTSThe 3- and 5-year survival rates were 62.1% and 43.6% respectively, with 77.4% patients having laryngeal functions (voice, respiration and deglutition) completely restored and 32.6% partially restored (voice and deglutition).

CONCLUSIONConservative surgery so introduced is feasible for selected medial wall pyriform sinus cancer patients with the lesion completely resected.

Adult ; Aged ; Feasibility Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms ; mortality ; surgery ; Laryngectomy ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pharyngectomy ; methods

The paper describes how to develop a digital heart sound signal detection device based on high gain MEMS MIC that can accurately collect and store human heart sounds. According to the method of collecting heart sound signal by traditional stethoscope, the system improves the traditional stethoscope, and a composite probe equipped with a MEMS microphone sensor is designed. The MEMS microphone sensor converts the sound pressure signal into a voltage signal, and then amplifies, converts with Sigma Delta, extracts and filters the collected signal. After the heart sound signal is uploaded to the PC, the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is carried out to reconstruct the signal, and then the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) method is used for blind source separation and finally the heart rate is calculated by autocorrelation analysis. At the end of the paper, a preliminary comparative analysis of the performance of the system was carried out, and the accuracy of the heart sound signal was verified.
Heart ; Heart Sounds ; Humans ; Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Stethoscopes

OBJECTIVE: To detect variants of IVD gene among 4 neonates with suspected isovalerate acidemia in order to provide a guidance for clinical treatment. METHODS: 111 986 newborns and 7461 hospitalized children with suspected metabolic disorders were screened for acyl carnitine by tandem mass spectrometry. Those showing a significant increase in serum isovaleryl carnitine (C5) were analyzed for urinary organic acid and variants of the IVD gene. RESULTS: Four cases of isovalerate acidemia were detected, which included 2 asymptomatic newborns (0.018‰, 2/111 986) and 2 children suspected for metabolic genetic diseases (0.268‰, 2/7461). The formers had no obvious clinical symptoms. Analysis of acyl carnitine has suggested a significant increase in C5, and urinary organic acid analysis has shown an increase in isovaleryl glycine and 3-hydroxyisovalerate. Laboratory tests of the two hospitalized children revealed high blood ammonia, hyperglycemia, decreased red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and metabolic acidosis. The main clinical manifestations have included sweaty foot-like odor, feeding difficulty, confusion, drowsiness, and coma. Eight variants (5 types) were detected, which included c.158G>A (p.Arg53His), c.214G>A (p.Asp72Asn), c.548C>T (p.Ala183Val), c.757A>G (p.Thr253Ala) and 1208A>G (p.Tyr403Cys). Among these, c.548C>T and c.757A>G were unreported previously. None of the variants was detected by next generation sequencing of 2095 healthy newborns, and all variants were predicted to be likely pathogenic based on the guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. CONCLUSION The incidence of isovalerate acidemia in Liuzhou area is quite high. Screening of metabolic genetic diseases is therefore recommended for newborns with abnormal metabolism. The discovery of novel variants has enriched the mutational spectrum of the IVD gene.
Infant, Newborn ; Child ; Humans ; Acidosis ; Carnitine ; Erythrocytes ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing

OBJECTIVE：To stud y the effects of “green removing ”processing technology of fresh fruit of Schisandra chinensis after harvested on the quality of medicinal material ，and to provide new ideas for the scientific and rational processing of Chinese medicinal material. METHODS ：Fifteen fresh fruits of S. chinensis were used as samples ，with 3 samples in each group. The sample were processed preliminarily by 5 methods，such as drying at 50 ℃，drying in the sun ，drying at 50 ℃ after“green removing”processing with microwave ，drying at 50 ℃ after“green removing ”processing with blanching ，drying at 50 ℃ after “green removing ”processing with steaming. HPLC fingerprints of 15 batches of dried S. chinensis products were established and similarity evaluation was conducted according to Similarity Evaluation System of TCM Chromatographic Fingerprints （2012 edition）. Cluster analysis was used to evaluate the similarity of dried S. chinensis products with different processing methods. At the same time ，HPLC method was adopted to determine the content changes of seven lignans in dried products ，such as schisandrol A ， schisandrol B ，schisantherin A ，schisantherin B ，schizandrin A ，schisandrin B and schisandrin C. RESULTS ：A total of 7 common peaks were obtained in the fingerprints of 15 batches of dried S. chinensis products. Except that the similarity between the chromatograms of dried samples in the sun and the control fingerprint was relatively low ，the similarities of chromatograms of dried products by other processing methods were greater than 0.900. Cluster analysis showed that 6 samples dried at 50 ℃ after“green removing”processing with microwave and dried at 50 ℃ after“green removing ”processing with blanching were grouped into the first category ；3 samples dried at 50 ℃ after“green removing”processing with steaming were grouped into the second category ；6 samples dried at 50 ℃ and dried in sun were grouped into the third category. The content determination results showed that there was no significant difference in the total content of seven lignans in the samples dried at 50 ℃ and dried in the sun （P＞0.05）. The total contents of seven lignans in the samples dried at 50 ℃ after“green moving ” processing with microwave ，blanching and steaming were significantly higher than those dried at 50 ℃ and dried in sun （P＜0.01）. CONCLUSIONS：The quality of S. chinensis samples dried after “green moving ”processing with microwave and blanching is better than those directly dried in sun and dried in oven.

ObjectiveTo analyze the genetic characteristics of the hemagglutinin （H） gene of measles virus （MeV） in Shanghai， 2001‒2018. MethodsNasopharyngeal swab specimens were collected from suspected measles cases reported in Shanghai from 2001 to 2018， and the isolation of measles virus was conducted with Vero/hSLAM cell line. RT-PCR amplification and sequencing were conducted after RNA extraction to analyze the genetic characteristics of the complete H gene. ResultsIn total， 5 665 nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected by suspected measles case surveillance from 2001 to 2018， and 1 394 measles virus strains were isolated. The homology of nucleotide acid and amino acid among 349 representative measles virus isolates was 87.4%‒100.0% and 85.1%‒100.0%， respectively. The homology of nucleotide acid and amino acid between representative measles virus isolates and China vaccine strain （S191） was 85.7%‒100.0% and 84.1%‒100.0%， respectively. All the sub-genotype H1a MeV isolates had an amino acid substitution （Ser240Asn）， which removed a predicted N-linked glycosylation site. ConclusionMost of the MeV isolates are sub-genotype H1a analyzed based on H gene， which are identical to those of the N gene. The predicted amino acid sequences of the H protein are relatively conserved at most of the functionally significant amino acid positions.

Dual-energy computed tomography (CT) reconstruction imaging technology is an important development direction in the field of CT imaging. The mainstream model of dual-energy CT reconstruction algorithm is the basis material decomposition model, and the projection decomposition is the crucial technique. The projection decomposition algorithm based on projection matching was a general method. With establishing the energy spectrum lookup table, we can obtain the stable solution by the least squares matching method. But the computation cost will increase dramatically when size of lookup table enlarges and it will slow down the computer. In this paper, an acceleration algorithm based on projection matching is proposed. The proposed algorithm makes use of linear equations and plane equations to fit the lookup table data, so that the projection value of the decomposition coefficients can be calculated quickly. As the result of simulation experiment, the acceleration algorithm can greatly shorten the running time of the program to get the stable and correct solution.

Objectives:To explore health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and identify its associated variables in Chinese patients with Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) .Methods:In this cross-sectional study, anonymous questionnaires were distributed to adult patients with MPNs to assess symptom burden measured by MPN-10 and HRQoL measured by Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) .Results:The data from 1405 respondents with MPNs, including 645 (45.9%) with essential thrombocythemia (ET) , 297 (21.1%) with polycythemia vera (PV) , and 463 (33.0%) with myelofibrosis (MF) , were analyzed. 646 (46.0%) respondents were male. The median age was 56 (range, 18-99) years. The mean MPN-10 scores were 13.0±12.7, 15.0±14.7, and 21.0±16.6 ( P<0.001) , and the physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores were 48.0±8.5, 47.0±9.0, and 42.0±10.0 ( P<0.001) and 51.0±11.0, 50.0±10.8, and 49.0±11.1 ( P=0.002) for respondents with ET, PV, and MF, respectively. Respondents with MF reported the lowest score of physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, social function, and global health status (all P<0.01) and the highest score of fatigue, pain, dyspnea, appetite loss, diarrhea, and financial problems (all P<0.05) in EORTC QLQ-C30. Multivariate analyses revealed that higher MPN-10 scores were significantly associated with lower PCS (-0.220 to -0.277, P<0.001) and MCS (-0.244 to -0.329, P<0.001) scores; increasing age (-1.923 to -4.869; all P<0.05) , lower PCS score. Additionally, comorbidity (ies) , symptom at diagnosis, splenomegaly, anemia, unknown driver gene, and higher annual out-of-pocket cost were significantly associated with lower PCS and/or MCS scores. However, age ≥ 60 years, urban household registration, concomitant medication, and receiving ruxolitinib therapy in respondents with MF were associated with higher MCS scores. Weak correlations were found between MPN-10 score (except the subscale of appetite loss and constipation) and EORTC QLQ-C30 score in majority of subscales in respondents with ET (| r| = 0.193-0.457, all P<0.001) , PV (| r| = 0.192-0.529, all P<0.01) , and MF (| r| = 0.180-0.488, all P<0.001) , respectively. Conclusions:HRQoL in patients with MPN was significantly reduced, especially in patients with MF. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were significantly associated with the HRQoL in patients with MPNs.

Objectives:To investigate the clinical and genetic features of young Chinese patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) .Methods:In this cross-sectional study, anonymous questionnaires were distributed to patients with MPN patients nationwide. The respondents were divided into 3 groups based on their age at diagnosis: young (≤40 years) , middle-aged (41-60 years) , and elderly (>60 years) . We compared the clinical and genetic characteristics of three groups of MPN patients.Results:1727 assessable questionnaires were collected. There were 453 (26.2%) young respondents with MPNs, including 274 with essential thrombocythemia (ET) , 80 with polycythemia vera (PV) , and 99 with myelofibrosis. Among the young group, 178 (39.3%) were male, and the median age was 31 (18-40) years. In comparison to middle-aged and elderly respondents, young respondents with MPN were more likely to present with a higher proportion of unmarried status (all P<0.001) , a higher education level (all P<0.001) , less comorbidity (ies) , fewer medications (all P<0.001) , and low-risk stratification (all P<0.001) . Younger respondents experienced headache (ET, P<0.001; PV, P=0.007; MF, P=0.001) at diagnosis, had splenomegaly at diagnosis (PV, P<0.001) , and survey (ET, P=0.052; PV, P=0.063) . Younger respondents had fewer thrombotic events at diagnosis (ET, P<0.001; PV, P=0.011) and during the survey (ET, P<0.001; PV, P=0.003) . JAK2 mutations were found in fewer young people (ET, P<0.001; PV, P<0.001; MF, P=0.013) ; however, CALR mutations were found in more young people (ET, P<0.001; MF, P=0.015) . Furthermore, mutations in non-driver genes (ET, P=0.042; PV, P=0.043; MF, P=0.004) and high-molecular risk mutations (ET, P=0.024; PV, P=0.023; MF, P=0.001) were found in fewer young respondents. Conclusion:Compared with middle-aged and elderly patients, young patients with MPN had unique clinical and genetic characteristics.

Objective: To assess the associations of indoor fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) from outdoor and indoor sources with heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) of Beijing. Methods: A total of 40 male patients in a stable stage of COPD were recruited from a hospital in a panel study in Beijing with 5 consecutive days of measurement for each subject. General information and disease history of the participants from questionnaires were obtained prior to the study. HR and HRV were repeatedly examined using dynamic electrocardiograph. HRV included standard deviation of all NN intervals (SDNN), root mean square of successive differences between adjacent NN intervals (rMSSD), total power (TP) power in the low-frequency band (LF) and the high-frequency band (HF). Iron was used as tracer element to separate indoor-originated PM_2.5 and outdoor-originated PM_2.5. Mixed-effect models were applied to assess the associations of outdoor-originated PM_2.5 or indoor-originated PM_2.5 and health effects. Results: The P₅₀ (P₂₅, P₇₅) values of daily indoor PM_2.5, indoor-originated PM_2.5 and outdoor-originated PM_2.5 were 50.9 (26.8, 122.7), 16.0 (1.9, 43.7) and 27.3 (13.5, 61.8) μg/m³, respectively. The mean±SD of concentrations of real-time indoor PM_2.5, indoor-originated PM_2.5 and outdoor-originated PM₂.5 were (61.5±58.8), (25.3±39.1) and (36.2±42.7) μg/m³, respectively. Compared with outdoor-originated PM_2.5, indoor-originated PM_2.5 had significant associations with HRV and HR. Each 10 μg/m³ increase at 4 h indoor-originated PM_2.5 and outdoor-originated PM_2.5 moving average was associated with 3.4% (95%CI: -4.7%, -2.1%) and 0.6% (95%CI: -2.0%, -0.8%) reduction in TP (P<0.001). Each 10 μg/m³ increase at 12 h indoor-originated PM_2.5 moving average was associated with 7.6% (95%CI: -10.1%, -5.1%), 4.7% (95%CI: -6.7%, -2.7%), 3.3% (95%CI: -4.2%,-2.4%) and 3.0% (95%CI: -4.5%, -1.5%) reduction in HF, LF, SDNN and rMSSD, respectively. Each 10 μg/m³ increase at 12 h outdoor-originated PM_2.5 moving average was associated with 0.7% (95%CI: -2.7%, -1.4%), 0.2% (95%CI: -1.9%, 1.4%), 0.7% (95%CI: -1.4%, -0.1%) and 0.2% (95%CI: -1.3%, 0.9%) reduction in HF, LF, SDNN and rMSSD, respectively (P<0.001). Each 10 μg/m³ increase at 8 h indoor-originated PM_2.5 and outdoor-originated PM_2.5 moving average was associated with 0.7% (95%CI: 0.4%, 1.0%) and 0.4% (95%CI: 0.2%, 0.6%) increase in HR. Conclusion Exposure to indoor-originated PM_2.5 was more strongly associations with HRV indices and HR compared with outdoor-originated PM_2.5 in male COPD patients.