OBJECTIVETo explore the incidence, degree, and pattern of rib cartilage calcification in congenital microtia patients, in order to provide reference for harvesting the rib cartilage, sculpturing cartilage framework.

METHODSFrom Jun. 2013 to Nov. 2014, 383 patients (age range, 6-45 years) underwent CT scans of the chest. 11 patients with bony diseases or traumatic history were excluded. The remaining 372 patients were divided by age into four groups as 6-15, 16-25, 26-35, 36-45 years old. Twenty patients (10 male and 10 female) were selected by the order of patient identification number in each age group, thus selecting a total of 80 patients (40 male and 40 female). Retrospective study of CT scans of the chest in 80 patients and the incidence, degree, and pattern of cartilage calcification of the sixth to eighth ribs were noted. A chi-square test is conducted to test whether there are significant difference between the variables through the SPSS 19.0 software.

RESULTSOverall, 40.4% (194/480) cartilage was calcified; female patients (47.50%, 114/240) showed higher frequency of calcification than male patients (33.33%, 80/240, P = 0. 025). Calcification rates of all age groups are 1.7% (2/120), 46.7% (56/ 120), 49.2% (59/120), 64.2% (77/120). Calcification rate of 6-15 years group is lowest in all groups (P < 0.05) while other three groups have no statistical significance (P > 0.05). Calcification rates of the sixth and sevent rib cartilage were higher than those of the eighth rib cartilage in all age groups except 6-15 years group, who had a similar rate of all three ribs. Calcification rate of all three rib cartilage was significantly increased with age. Calcification rates of the amle's rib cartilage and the female's in all age groups are 3.3% (2/60) and 0.0% (0/60) (6-15 years): 33.3% (20/60) and 60.0% (36/60) (16-25 years): 40.0% (24/60) and 58.3% (35/60) (26-35 years), 56.7% (34/60) and 71.2% (43/60) (36-45 years). In 6-15 years group calcification rates of male and female had a similar rate, while female's rates were higher than male's rates in other three groups. Male and females mainly had the granular type of calcification [70.0% (56/80), 63.2% (72/114)].

CONCLUSIONSFemales who are over 16 years old should pay more attention to the possibility of middle-severe calcification before harvesting rib cartilage. These patients should take CT examination if necessary. In addition, the patients who had previous operation, or traumatic history, rib deformity, or spine deformity should select the CT examination.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Age Factors ; Calcinosis ; diagnostic imaging ; epidemiology ; Cartilage Diseases ; diagnostic imaging ; epidemiology ; Child ; Congenital Microtia ; Costal Cartilage ; diagnostic imaging ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Factors ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

An on-site method for the determination of sulfur mustard ( SM) was developed based on pinhole shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. By using 0. 1 mol/L MgSO4 as effective agglomeration reagent, more Raman “hot spots” were induced, and thus a limit of detection for SM at 10 μg/L was achieved with a linearity of 10-1000 μg/L and an analytical enhanced factor of 1. 1×106. This method can be directly applied in the measurement of SM in environmental water samples with good sensitivity and reproducibility, and the standard addition recovery was between 88%-114%. Good differentiation of four SM related compounds, 2-chloroethyl ethylsulfide, thiodiglycol, bis-β-chloroethyl sulphoxide and bis-β-chloroethyl sulphone, was also obtained.

Objective: To analyze the factors influencing the occurrence of preterm birth among single live birth neonates in Xi'an so as to provide theoretical basis for the prevention of premature infants. Methods: From July to December 2013, a questionnaire survey was conducted among the childbearing aged women, selected through multistage stratified random sampling method in Xi'an from 2010 to 2013. All of the childbearing aged women under study had definite pregnancy outcomes. The Logistic regression model was adopted to analyze the influencing factors of premature infants. Results: The incidence of preterm birth among single live birth neonates in the last pregnancy in Xi'an was 2.81%. From 2010 to 2013, the incidence of preterm birth was 3.51%, 3.13%, 3.18% and 2.21%, respectively, without significant difference (P=0.248). The incidence of premature delivery in Baqiao District, Beilin District, Lianhu District, Xincheng District, and Yanta District was 3.10%, 2.41%, 2.14%, 3.70% and 2.64%, respectively. There was no significant difference (P=0.259). The incidence of premature delivery in urban residents and rural residents was 2.96% and 2.69%, respectively, with no significant difference (P=0.581). Logistic regression results showed that the occupation as workers [OR=4.06, 95% CI (1.69,9.75)], the history of abnormal pregnancy and delivery [OR=10.68, 95% CI (6.92,16.48)], occupational exposure to risk factors [OR=1.96, 95% CI (1.08,3.57)], drinking [OR=6.31, 95% CI(1.21, 32.99)], radiological examination [OR=6.13, 95% CI (1.64,22.85)], PIH [OR=4.80, 95% CI(2.17, 10.61)], and having disease[OR=0.64, 95% CI (0.43,0.95)] during periconception were the influencing factors of premature infants. Conclusion: The incidence of premature infants in Xi'an from 2010 to 2013 was lower than the national average. Factors such as occupation as workers, the history of abnormal pregnancy and delivery, occupational exposure to risk factors, drinking, radiological examination and PIH during periconception can increase the risk of preterm birth.

Domestic and overseas studies onthe prominent eartreatment were reviewed and analyzed.Current progress of clinical therapy for prominent ear was summarized.The uniform clinical diagnosis and therapy of prominent earhave not been determined, due to its complicated and various therapeutic methods and unclear etiology. Reported therapies mainly include: (1)surgical therapy, which attains satisfactory therapeutic effect by adopting improved approaches, i. e. the combination of operations or the innovative methods based on Mustarde′s, Sterstrom′s and Converse′s surgical methods. (2)Non-surgical therapy, including ear splinting or molding, and laser-assisted cartilage reshaping(LACR). The non-surgical therapyisa hot research field, and is going to bepopularizedin the future.Research of etiology and non-surgical treatments may be helpful to provide abetter therapy strategy for prominent ear.

The temporoparietal fascia (TPF) is a robust and distinct layer between the deep temporal fascia and the subcutaneous fat in the temporal region. The TPF is richly vascularized by superficial temporal vessels. Besides, its thin and pliable characteristics with secluded incision and minimal donor site morbidity provide a good option for the plastic and reconstructive surgeons. Recently, the TPF flap was employed to treat some rare diseases such as the laryngotracheal stenosis and pharyngocutaneous fistula. This article extensively reviewed relevant researches on the application of the fascial flaps in recent years.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between maternal disease in early pregnancy of women of childbearing age and congenital heart disease of neonates. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used in this study and stratified multistage random sampling method was used. A questionnaire survey was conducted in the childbearing-aged women during 2010-2013 in Shaanxi province. Propensity score (PS) matched (1∶1) analysis was used to match participants with diseases to those without disease in early pregnancy. Through the control of the confounders step by step, a logistic regression model was established to evaluate the ORs of congenital heart disease according to the independent variable of maternal disease. Results: A total of 28 680 pairs of mothers and infants were included in this study, the proportion of the women with disease in early pregnancy was 20.25% (5 807). After PS matching, 5 436 pairs were matched. After adjusting all confounding factors, the multivariable logistic regression analysis results showed that maternal disease (OR=1.86, 95%CI: 1.23-2.81), especially cold (OR=2.19, 95%CI: 1.46-3.28), gynecological disease (OR=4.74, 95%CI: 2.03-11.09) and diabetes (OR=14.00, 95%CI: 1.64-119.21), in early pregnancy were the risk factors for congenital heart disease of neonate. Conclusion In women of childbearing age, disease in early pregnancy, especially cold, gynecological disease and diabetes, can increase the risk of congenital heart disease in neonates.

Objective: To explore the association between the frequency of prenatal care in childbearing aged women and risk of small for gestational age (SGA) among neonatal twins in Shaanxi Province. Methods: From July to December 2013, a total of 30 027 childbearing aged women, who were pregnant from January 2010 to November 2013 and had definite outcomes, were selected from 30 districts (counties) of Shaanxi Province by using the multi-stage random sampling method. The questionnaires with a face-to-face survey method were used to retrospectively collect demographic information, pregnancy history, lifestyle during pregnancy, disease history, nutritional supplements, and health care during pregnancy. Information on the gestational age and birth weight of the newborn were obtained by consulting the medical certificate of birth and were registered as twin A and twin B by birth order. Finally, 356 childbearing aged women and their twin babies with complete data were included in the analysis. A generalized estimation equation model was used to analyze the association between the frequency of prenatal care and the risk of SGA among neonatal twins. Results: The age of childbearing aged women was (27.44±4.68) years old, of which 79.49% (283 women) were rural residents and 44.38% (158 women) had seven or more times prenatal care. The gestational age and birth weight were (37.64±2.51) weeks and (2 510±497) g, respectively. The prevalence of SGA was 51.40% (183/356) for twin A and 53.37% (190/356) for twin B, respectively. The prevalence of SGA was 44.30% (70/158) for twin A with seven or more times prenatal care and 42.41% (67/158) for twin B with seven or more times prenatal care, which was lower than that for twins with less than seven times prenatal care, respectively [57.07% (113/198) and 62.12% (123/198)] (P values were 0.017 and <0.001). The results of generalized estimation equation model suggested that compared to those with less than seven times prenatal care, after adjusting for parity, birth order, place of residence, maternal age, occupation, education, family wealth index, passive smoking, pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome, folic acid, and iron supplement during perinatal period, and gender of the newborn, the OR (95%CI) of risk of SGA among childbearing aged women with seven or more times prenatal care was 0.60 (0.40-0.91). Conclusion Seven or more times prenatal care could reduce the risk of SGA among neonatal twins in Shanxi Province.