【Objective】 The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence status of neonatal congenital heart disease (CHD) in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province from 2017 to 2021, and to analyze the influencing factors, so as to provide reference for preventing the risk of CHD and reduce the prevalence of CHD. 【Methods】 Using cross-sectional survey method, the neonatal data from March 2017 to December 2021 were captured from Zhenjiang Neonatal Disease Screening Center, and were analyzed by linear trend chi-square test; binary Logistic regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of CHD. 【Results】 A total of 13 156 newborns screened positive for CHD in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, with CHD confirmed in 6 300 cases. Among these, 3 066 cases were boys (48.7%) and 3 234 cases were girls (51.3%). The prevalence rates of neonatal CHD in Ningbo city for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 were 2.07%, 1.10%, 2.00%, 2.04% and 1.08%, respectively, with an overall prevalence from 2017 to 2021 of 1.69%. The chi-square test for the linear trend indicated a decreasing prevalence of neonatal CHD over time(χ²=178.518,P<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that maternal age [36 to 45 years(OR=1.24), >45 years(OR=1.66)], male infants (OR=1.26), premature birth [<32 weeks (OR=1.13), 32 - 36 weeks(OR=1.54)], and being a second birth (OR=2.56) were independent risk factors for the development of CHD (P<0.05). 【Conclusions】 The prevalence of CHD in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province is higher than that of CHD in China and other cities of Zhejiang Province. Although the prevalence showed a decreasing trend over time, targeted prevention and control measures need to be implemented to reduce the prevalence of CHD.

Humans ; Dexmedetomidine/therapeutic use* ; Hypnotics and Sedatives ; Cognitive Dysfunction/drug therapy*

OBJECTIVETo study the clinical effect of pidotimod oral liquid as adjuvant therapy for infectious mononucleosis and its effect on T lymphocyte subsets.

METHODSA total of 76 children with infectious mononucleosis, who were admitted to the hospital between July 2016 and June 2017, were enrolled and randomly divided into two groups: conventional treatment and pidotimod treatment (n=38 each). The children in the conventional treatment group were given antiviral therapy with ganciclovir for injection and symptomatic treatment. Those in the pidotimod treatment group were given pidotimod oral liquid in addition to the treatment in the conventional treatment group. The course of treatment was two weeks for both groups. The two groups were compared in terms of the recovery of clinical indices and the changes in peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets.

RESULTSCompared with the conventional treatment group, the pidotimod treatment group had significantly shorter fever clearance time, time to the disappearance of isthmopyra, time to the relief of lymph node enlargement, time to the relief of hepatosplenomegaly, and length of hospital stay (P<0.05). After treatment, the pidotimod treatment group had significant reductions in the percentages of CD3 and CD8 T cells and had significantly lower percentages of CD3 and CD8 T cells than the conventional treatment group (P<0.001). The pidotimod treatment group had significant increases in the percentage of CD4 T cells and CD4/CD8 ratio after treatment, which was significantly higher than those in the conventional treatment group (P<0.001). The conventional treatment group had no significant changes in T lymphocyte subsets after treatment (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSPidotimod oral liquid has a good clinical effect as the adjuvant therapy for infectious mononucleosis and can improve cellular immune function, so it holds promise for clinical application.

Adjuvants, Immunologic ; administration & dosage ; Administration, Oral ; Antiviral Agents ; administration & dosage ; CD4-CD8 Ratio ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Ganciclovir ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Infectious Mononucleosis ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Male ; Pyrrolidonecarboxylic Acid ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets ; drug effects ; immunology ; Thiazolidines ; administration & dosage ; Treatment Outcome

Humans ; Stapes ; Otosclerosis/surgery* ; Ossicular Prosthesis ; Stapes Surgery ; Incus

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of IL-17A in promoting the activation of lung fibroblasts and the secretion of chemokine CXCL12, and to explore the possible mechanism. METHODS: Lung tissues of BALB/c mice were collected after intraperitoneal injection of recombinant mouse IL-17A (rmIL-17A). Real-time RT-PCR and Western blotting were used to detect the expression levels of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and collagen I in lung tissues, and immunohistochemical staining and real-time RT-PCR were used to determine the expression of CXCL12. Normal mouse primary lung fibroblasts were isolated and cultured, and identified by immunofluorescence staining with optical microscopy. Cells and supernatant of culture medium were collected after stimulation with rmIL-17A at different concentrations. mRNA levels of α-SMA, collagen I, and CXCL12 in the cells were determined by real-time RT-PCR, and the levels of collagen I and CXCL12 in the supernatant of culture medium were determined by ELISA. RESULTS: The mRNA and protein levels of α-SMA and collagen I in the lung tissue of mice injected with rmIL-17A were significantly increased compared with the control group (all CONCLUSIONS s: IL-17A can promote the activation of lung fibroblasts and translation into myofibroblast. The secretion of collagen is increased, which promote the deposition of extracullular matrix, and leads to the occurrence and development of lung fibrosis. CXCL12, a chemokine secreted by activated fibroblasts, may be involved in this process.
Actins/genetics* ; Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Chemokine CXCL12/metabolism* ; Fibroblasts/metabolism* ; Interleukin-17/pharmacology* ; Lung/metabolism* ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C

OBJECTIVE: To assess the value of genetic screening by high-throughput sequencing (HTS) for the early diagnosis of neonatal diseases. METHODS: A total of 2 060 neonates born at Ningbo Women and Children's Hospital from March to September 2021 were selected as the study subjects. All neonates had undergone conventional tandem mass spectrometry metabolite analysis and fluorescent immunoassay analysis. HTS was carried out to detect the definite pathogenic variant sites with high-frequency of 135 disease-related genes. Candidate variants were verified by Sanger sequencing or multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). RESULTS: Among the 2 060 newborns, 31 were diagnosed with genetic diseases, 557 were found to be carriers, and 1 472 were negative. Among the 31 neonates, 5 had G6PD, 19 had hereditary non-syndromic deafness due to variants of GJB2, GJB3 and MT-RNR1 genes, 2 had PAH gene variants, 1 had GAA gene variants, 1 had SMN1 gene variants, 2 had MTTL1 gene variants, and 1 had GH1 gene variants. Clinically, 1 child had Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), 1 had Glycogen storage disease II, 2 had congenital deafness, and 5 had G6PD deficiency. One mother was diagnosed with SMA. No patient was detected by conventional tandem mass spectrometry. Conventional fluorescence immunoassay had revealed 5 cases of G6PD deficiency (all positive by genetic screening) and 2 cases of hypothyroidism (identified as carriers). The most common variants identified in this region have involved DUOX2 (3.93%), ATP7B (2.48%), SLC26A4 (2.38%), GJB2 (2.33%), PAH (2.09%) and SLC22A5 genes (2.09%). CONCLUSION Neonatal genetic screening has a wide range of detection and high detection rate, which can significantly improve the efficacy of newborn screening when combined with conventional screening and facilitate secondary prevention for the affected children, diagnosis of family members and genetic counseling for the carriers.
Child ; Infant, Newborn ; Humans ; Female ; Prospective Studies ; Connexins/genetics* ; Connexin 26/genetics* ; Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency ; Mutation ; Sulfate Transporters/genetics* ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Genetic Testing/methods* ; Deafness/genetics* ; Neonatal Screening/methods* ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural/genetics* ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Solute Carrier Family 22 Member 5/genetics*

OBJECTIVE To assess the association of copy number variations (CNVs) in chromosome 17q with the overall survival(OS) of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC), and to screen for target genes contained in the OS-related CNVs. METHODS A total of 174 HCC cases were enrolled. For 66 patients, the follow-up data was available. High-resolution Agilent Hu-244A array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) and Affymetrix U133 Plus 2.0 expression arrays were used to detect CNVs and gene expression of genes from the 17q region, respectively. The association of CNVs and OS was assessed with Log-rank test, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazards models. The gene expression in HCCs with 17q gain, HCCs without, and non-tumor liver tissues were compared with a Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS Univariate association analysis showed that copy number gain in 17q25.1-25.3 was significantly associated with reduced OS (Log-rank test, P = 0.00002), and HCC cases with 17q25.1-25.3 gain had a 4.76-fold (95%CI: 2.31-9.81) increased hazard ratio (HR) for death from HCC, as compared to those without the gain. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model revealed 17q25.1-25.3 gain to be an independent prognostic marker for poor OS (HR = 3.17, 95%CI: 1.39-7.26, P = 0.006). The expression levels of 18 genes in 17q25.1-25.3 including SLC9A3R1, GRB2, and TK1 were significantly increased in HCCs with gain than in those without (all P < 0.01) and non-tumor liver tissues (all P < 0.01). CONCLUSION The association of 17q25.1-25.3 gain with reduced OS has indicated that it is a prognostic marker for poor patient survival in HCC, for which SLC9A3R1, GRB2, and TK1 are candidate genes.
Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; genetics ; mortality ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 17 ; DNA Copy Number Variations ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; genetics ; mortality ; Male ; Middle Aged

Objective:To determine the application effect of the "full chain" information-based health management model in the home care of children with bronchial asthma.Methods:Sixty children with bronchial asthma who were hospitalized in the Respiratory Department of Xuzhou Children's Hospital from January to June 2020 were selected and divided into a control group and an observation group according to a random number table with 30 cases in each group. The control group received routine nursing care, and the observation group implemented a "full-chain" informatized health management on the basis of the control group.The intervention time was 6 months. The condition control, medication compliance, self-management and airway function were observed and compared between the two groups.Results:After 6 months of intervention, the frequency of attacks, emergency cases, the medication compliance, the maximum expiratory flow rate, symptom days and peak expiratory flow days were 6.67%(2/30), 3.33%(1/30), 93.33%(28/30), (1.83±0.23) L, (163.00±6.74) d, (168.00±3.78) d in the observation group, and 26.67%(8/30), 20.00%(6/30), 66.67%(20/30), (1.67±0.24) L, (144.00±5.88) d, (157.00±4.08) d in the control group. The differences were statistically significant (χ 2 values were 4.320, 4.043, 6.667, t values were 2.636, 11.635, 10.833, P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the ratio of forced expiratory volume and forced expiratory volume in forced vital capacity in the first second after 6 months of intervention between the two groups ( P>0.05). Conclusions:"Full chain" information health management can reduce the number of attacks and emergency visits of children with asthma, effectively improve medication compliance, thus improving airway function and improving the quality of life of children.

ω-transaminase (ω-TA) is a natural biocatalyst that has good application potential in the synthesis of chiral amines. However, the poor stability and low activity of ω-TA in the process of catalyzing unnatural substrates greatly hampers its application. To overcome these shortcomings, the thermostability of (R)-ω-TA (AtTA) from Aspergillus terreus was engineered by combining molecular dynamics simulation assisted computer-aided design with random and combinatorial mutation. An optimal mutant AtTA-E104D/A246V/R266Q (M3) with synchronously enhanced thermostability and activity was obtained. Compared with the wild- type (WT) enzyme, the half-life t_1/2 (35 ℃) of M3 was prolonged by 4.8-time (from 17.8 min to 102.7 min), and the half deactivation temperature (T¹⁰₅₀) was increased from 38.1 ℃ to 40.3 ℃. The catalytic efficiencies toward pyruvate and 1-(R)-phenylethylamine of M3 were 1.59- and 1.56-fold that of WT. Molecular dynamics simulation and molecular docking showed that the reinforced stability of α-helix caused by the increase of hydrogen bond and hydrophobic interaction in molecules was the main reason for the improvement of enzyme thermostability. The enhanced hydrogen bond of substrate with surrounding amino acid residues and the enlarged substrate binding pocket contributed to the increased catalytic efficiency of M3. Substrate spectrum analysis revealed that the catalytic performance of M3 on 11 aromatic ketones were higher than that of WT, which further showed the application potential of M3 in the synthesis of chiral amines.
Transaminases/chemistry* ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Amines/chemistry* ; Pyruvic Acid/metabolism* ; Enzyme Stability