Objective: To analyze the causes of death in Keqiao District, Shaoxing City in 2020, so as to provide the evidence for formulating the disease control strategy. Methods: The dead cases' gender, age and causes of death in Keqiao District, 2020, were collected from Shaoxing Municipal Public Health Information System, and the mortality was estimated and standardized by the 2020 Chinese standard population. The gender- and age-specific mortality and distribution of causes of death were analyzed, and the years of potential life lost (YPLL), average years of potential life lost per death (AYLL) and YPLL rate (YPLLR) were calculated to evaluate the life lost. Results: The crude and standardized mortality rates of registered residents in Keqiao District were 636.97/105 and 494.72/105, respectively. The crude and standardized mortality rates were 712.67/105 and 512.23/105 in men and 564.75/105 and 473.25/105 in women, and a higher mortality rate was seen in men than in women (χ2=59.628, P<0.001). The mortality reduced and then increased with age, and peaked among residents at ages of 85 years and older (13 910.90/105). Chronic disease was the main cause of death, accounting for 85.60% of all causes of death and showing a mortality rate of 545.27/105. Cancer, cardiopathy, cerebrovascular disease, injury and poisoning, and respiratory diseases were the five leading causes of death, and lung cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer and pancreatic cancer were the five leading causes of cancer-related mortality. The highest YPLL was caused by cancers (13 015.00 person-years), with a YPLLR of 1.88%, and the highest AYLL was caused by injury and poisoning (10.37 years). Conclusion Chronic non-communicable diseases, such as cancer and cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, were main causes of death among residents in Keqiao District in 2020. The management of chronic diseases requires to be reinforced to improve the quality of life.

Objective:To investigate the value of serum insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and bone morphogenetic protein 6 (BMP-6) in prediction of rapidly progressive puberty(RPP) in girls.Methods:The data of 750 girls who visited the Department of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Genetic Disorders, Children′s Hospital of Soochow University from August 2017 to October 2018 because of breast development were retrospectively analyzed.After following up these girls for 6 months to 1 year, those who were lost to follow up, received early treatment and failed to meet the inclusion criteria were excluded.The remaining 138 girls were divided into the central precocious puberty group (CPP, 32 cases), the early puberty with RPP group (EP-RPP, 33 cases), the early puberty with slow progression puberty group (EP-SPP, 32 cases) and RPP group (41 cases) according to the inclusion criteria.The healthy control group consisted of 33 undeveloped girls aged 8 to 9 who underwent physical examination in the same hospital over the same period.The serum concentrations of IGF-1, DHEAS, AMH and BMP-6 were measured.The general information, clinical manifestations, laboratory examination results and radiological features were compared among different groups.Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS 22.0, and the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn to investigate the value of IGF-1, DHEAS, AMH and BMP-6 in prediction of RPP.Results:(1)The serum follicle stimulating hormone(FSH) peak value was 15.10(13.86-19.80) IU/L in the EP-SPP group, 11.99(9.18-16.16) IU/L in the EP-RPP group and 11.43(9.37-15.63) IU/L in the RPP group.The ratio of serum FSH/luteinizing hormone(LH) peak values was 3.20(2.44-4.58) in the EP-SPP group, 1.86(1.05-3.16) in the EP-RPP group and 0.76(0.49-0.99) in the RPP group.The serum FSH peak value and the ratio of serum FSH/LH peak values in the EP-SPP group were significant higher than those in the EP-RPP group(all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the serum FSH peak value between the EP-RPP group and the RPP group( P>0.05). (2)The serum IGF-1 levels of the healthy control group, EP-SPP group, EP-RPP group, CPP group and RPP group were 166.00(126.50-188.00) μg/L, 199.00(170.50-262.50) μg/L, 252.00(233.00-291.50) μg/L, 288.00(252.00-376.00) μg/L and 382.00(264.0-499.50) μg/L, respectively.The serum IGF-1 levels of the EP-SPP group, EP-RPP group, CPP group and RPP group were all significantly higher than those in the healthy control group (all P<0.05). The serum IGF-1 levels in the EP-RPP group were higher than those in the EP-SPP group( P<0.01). As the puberty rapidly progressed, the serum IGF-1 levels gradually increased.The RPP group had the highest IGF-1 levels, and the difference in IGF-1 levels between the RPP group and EP-RPP group was statistically significant( P<0.01). (3)The serum DHEAS levels were 41.65(14.80-59.88) μg/L in the healthy control group, 42.50(30.15-79.83) μg/L in the EP-SPP group, 52.32(43.08-98.54) μg/L in the CPP group, 63.30(34.00-81.55) μg/L in the EP-RPP group and 70.89(51.85-100.02) μg/L in the RPP group.The DHEAS levels of the healthy control group, EP-RPP group and RPP group gradually increased.The RPP group had the highest DHEAS levels.There was significant difference in DHEAS levels among the healthy control group, EP-RPP group and RPP group ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference in DHEAS levels among the EP-SPP group, CPP group and EP-RPP group( P>0.05). (4)The serum AMH and BMP-6 levels in the EP-RPP group, EP-SPP group, RPP group, CPP group and healthy control group were not significantly different( P>0.05). (5)The area under the ROC curve of serum IGF-1 levels was 0.765, the cut-off value was 232.5 μg/L, the specificity for the cut-off value was 83.30%, and the sensitivity was 75.00%.The combined area under the ROC curve of the serum FSH peak value and the ratio of serum FSH/LH peak values was 0.795. Conclusions:Serum IGF-1 levels and the combination of the serum FSH peak value and the ratio of serum FSH/LH peak values can be used as effective indicators of slowly and rapidly progressive puberty in early adolescent girls.Serum DHEAS cannot be used as an early warning index of RPP, but it plays a critical role in the regulation of puberty initiation and process.Serum DHEAS levels may be related to the Tanner stage.

Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is a catalytic subunit of polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2). It acts as a histone methylation transferase and plays a key role in oncogenesis, development, metastasis, and drug tolerance. Studies have found that the expression of EZH2 is regulated by a variety of carcinogenic transcription factors, anti-cancer microRNA, tumor-related non-coding RNA and post-translational modifications. Moreover, the effect of EZH2 in silencing target genes is mainly through trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine 27 (H3K27me3). This article summarizes the main regulatory roles and functions of EZH2 in tumorigenesis, and reviews the progress of target therapies based on EZH2.

Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes(MELAS) is one of the most common inherited mitochondrial diseases. This paper reports a rare mutation associated with MELAS syndrome, the m. 3252 A>G mutation in the MT-TL1 gene encoding the mitochondrial tRNALeu(UUR). The 6-year-old girl suffered from recurrent convulsion and lactic acidemia. The mtDNA sequencing detected a variant m. 3252A>G(MT-TL1 gene) in the proband and her maternal relatives. The heteroplasmic levels in peripheral blood and urine sediment were 66.53% and 97.42%, respectively, which were obviously higher than those of her maternal relatives. Together with 3 previously reported cases, the variant m. 3252A>G could be classified pathogenic. All the reported pathogenic variants in MT-TL1 gene were reviewed to explore the genotype-phenotype correlations of pathogenic variants in MT-TL1 gene.

To analyze the clinical features and genetic variants of a child with type 4 familial partial lipodystrophy (FPLD4) and the initial manifestation of diabetes.The male patient with the age of 13 years and 5 months, and the diabetes course was about 3 years, the patient was admitted to Children′s Hospital of Soochow University on November 10, 2021(4 th hospitalization at the hospital), in the course of diabetes, the children repeatedly suffered from diabetes ketoacidosis, and lipid metabolism complications gradually emerged.The gene sequencing showed that the proband and his mother carried dual gene mutations of PLIN1 c. 1325delG(p.G442Afs*99) and SPINK1 c. 194+ 2T>C(p.? ). The PLIN1 gene was the causal gene of FPLD4.The mutations of c. 1325delG in the PLIN1 gene had not been previously reported.Based on the clinical phenotype, family history and genetic testing findings, the patient was diagnosed as FPLD4.In addition, the mutation of SPINK1 c. 194+ 2T>C(p.? ) might increase the risk of chronic pancreatitis.This case report enriched the clinical characteristics and genotype data of FPLD4.Gene sequencing assisted the accurate diagnosis of the type of diabetes.The effects of dual gene mutations on disease progression should be concerned, which were of great significance to develop treatment regimen and disease management.

Viral infectious diseases are a class of major diseases that seriously affect human life and health, and the causes of emerging infectious diseases are mostly viral pathogens. Rapid and accurate viral pathogen tests are of great significance for the clinical diagnosis and control of such infectious diseases. As an indispensable auxiliary diagnostic method, viral nucleic acid tests have the advantages of high sensitivity and specificity, etc., and have become an important method to identify the cause, determine the treatment schedule, and evaluate the treatment effect and prognosis. A series of method based on polymerase chain reaction, isothermal amplification technology or genome sequencing, respectively, have been successfully applied to viral nucleic acid detection. In this review, we will discuss the tests and applications of viral nucleic acid detection commonly used in clinical practice, as well as the issues that need attention in the interpretation of the result, to help the accurate diagnosis and treatment of viral infectious diseases.

Objective:This study aimed to introduce droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) for monitoring Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) in children and assess its viability as a complementary detection method in clinical settings.Methods:A total of 290 blood samples from 47 children undergoing alloHSCT were collected. Both ddPCR and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) were employed to detect EBV DNA load in plasma, with a comparison of detection efficiencies between the two methods. Continuous monitoring of 39 children was conducted to observe dynamic changes in EBV DNA load in plasma and analyze the merits and drawbacks of both methods.Results:The EBV positive detection rate of ddPCR was significantly higher than that of qPCR ( χ2=20.25, P<0.001), particularly in samples with low viral loads. Among the children monitored continuously for EBV DNA, 14 out of 39 exhibited positive ddPCR result. Notably, in two cases where patients displayed rash and fever symptoms with positive ddPCR result but negative qPCR result, ddPCR demonstrated heightened sensitivity in early EBV infection detection. Conclusions:ddPCR holds certain advantages in monitoring EBV infection post-alloHSCT in children, especially for samples with low viral loads. However, as this method is still in the exploratory stage of clinical application, further research and practice are needed to validate its utility.