Aim To investigate effects of ZX-5 on the expression and activity of nitric oxide synthase ( NOS) in endothelial cells,and to confirm which kind of NOS increases NO production and promote choroidal blood flow in ZX-5 -induced HUVECs. Methods HUVECs ( human umbilical vein endothelial cells) were used to determine the expression of eNOS,iNOS and nNOS by Western blot; the activities of NOS were investigated by the corresponding kit. Results ( R,R) ZX-5 upregulated eNOS expression and increased NO production; ( S,S) ZX-5 upregulated iNOS expression and slightly increased NO release. Conclusions ( R,R) ZX-5 promotes choroidal blood flow via upregulating eNOS expression and activity and promoting NO production; the compound may be used for the prevention and treatment of age-related macular degeneration in the elderly.

Objective To investigate the effect of depression on the incidence of osteoporosis in patients with maintenance peritoneal dialysis (MPD).Methods We enrolled 80 MPD patients,who underwent peritoneal dialysis in our dialysis center.The clinical data and biochemical parameters of all patients were collected,bone mineral density was detected and the Self-rating depression scale was used to evaluate depression state.Results Among the 80 enrolled MPD patients,34 patients had osteoporosis (42.5％),48 patients had the presence of depression (60％).Logistic regression analysis showed that age,dialysis age,gender,diabetes history and depression state were the risk factors for osteoporosis in MPD patients,the depression state was negatively correlated with BMD of lumbar and femoral neck (r=-0.347,r=0.426,P＜0.05).Conclusion Depression state may be a risk factor for osteoporosis in clinic,it is of great significance to focus on the psychological state of MPD patients in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.

Objective To exclude false positivities in detection of IgM antibodies against hepatitis E vires of genotype 4 (HEV-4) using a truncated immunodominant polypeptide of HEV open reading frames (ORF2). Methods The recombinant ORF2 immunodominant polypeptide corresponding to amino acids (AA) 459-607 and a truncated polypeptide corresponding to AA 472-607 were separately applied to coat ELISA plates. Anti-HEV IgM from 35 serum samples with HEV RNA positive, 69 serum samples from healthy individuals and 117 clinically suspicious HEV RNA positive serum samples was detected by an indirect ELISA and was confirmed by western blot in protein level and RT-PCR detecting in RNA level. Results Western blot analysis showed that the sera from HEV patients reacted with the dimmer of peptide 459-607, but they didn't react with the monomer and peptide 472-607. The ELISA showed that all 35 serum HEV RNA positive samples reacted with peptide 459-607 but not with peptide 472-607 and none of the 69 serum samples from healthy individuals reacted with either polypeptide. Among 117 chnically suspicious HEV RNA serum samples, 5 samples reacted simultaneously with both polypeptides. But the difference between 450 nm absorbance (A450) value was less than 0. 5. Western blot analysis demonstrated that all the 5 serum samples were anti-HEV IgM- negative. The 5 serum samples was detected negative by RT-PCR, indicating that the false pesitivities were caused by non-specific absorption. Conclusions ORF2 peptide 459-607 may be used to detect anti-HEV lgM efficiently. The false positivities caused by non-specific absorption can be largely excluded according to the difference between 45Ohm absorbance (A450) value when serum reacts with both polypeptides.

Objective To characterize the dimerization and the antigenicity of the ORF2 polypep-tide of hepatitis E virus (HEV, genotype 4). Methods HEV ORF2 gene was cloned from the serum of a patient with hepatitis E. The genotype was determined by sequencing. Three ORF2 polypeptides differing in size and other polypeptides with point mutations were produced in E. coli. The recombinant polypeptides were purified and analyzed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. Results The ORF2 polypeptide containing 459-607 amino acid formed homedimer even in 8 mol/L urea. The truncated polypeptides containing amino acid 472-607 or 459-594 formed monomer only. The mutations at amino acid 562 or 595 disrupted the ho-modimer, whereas the mutations at amino acid 476 or 580 did not. Anti-HEV from hepatitis E patients only reacted with the homodimer form of the polypeptide 459-607 and did not react with monomer or tnmcated pol-ypeptides. Conclusion The amino acid 459-607 of HEV ORF2 is essential for dimerization of the ORF2 polypeptide. Residues at amino acid 562 and 595 are critical for the dimerization. The antigenicity of the polypeptide 459-607 mainly depends on its homodimer form.

Objective To evaluate the effect of health education path on advanced schistosomiasis patients with splenomega-ly in perioperative period. Methods A total of 60 advanced schistosomiasis patients with splenomegaly in perioperative period were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group (30 cases each group). The patients in the observation group were intervened by the nursing and health education from admission to discharge according to the standardized process of health education path,while those in the control group were implemented with the conventional health education. Then the satis-faction of nursing work,hospital stays,hospitalization expenses and mastery of health knowledge of the patients in the two groups were investigated and the results were compared. Results The satisfaction rates of nursing work of patients in the obser-vation group and the control group were 90%and 60%,respectively,the difference between them was statistically significant (χ2=7.57,P<0.05). The average hospitals stays of the above two groups were 14.0 ± 3.5 d and 19.0 ± 6.8 d(t=2.85,P<0.01),respectively,and the average hospitalization expenses were(1.5 ± 0.5)thousand Yuan and(2.2 ± 0.7)thousand Yuan (t=24.57,P<0.01),respectively,both of the differences were statistically significant. On the 10th day after surgery,the mas-tery rates of the health knowledge of the two groups were 96.7%and 50.0%,respectively,the difference was statistically signifi-cant(χ2=16.86,P<0.001). Conclusions The implementation of the health education path can promote the rehabilitation of advanced schistosomiasis patients with splenomegaly,and increase the satisfaction as well as improve the mastery of the health knowledge of the patients. Meanwhile,it also can cut down the hospital stays and save the hospitalization expenses.

Heart sound is a physiological parameter with individual characteristics generated by heart beat. To do the individual classification and recognition, in this paper, we present our study of using wavelet transform in the signal denoising, with the Mel-Frequency cepstrum coefficients (MFCC) as the feature parameters, and propose a research of reducing the dimensionality through principal components analysis (PCA). We have done the preliminary study to test the feasibility of biometric identification method using heart sound. The results showed that under the selected experimental conditions, the system could reach a 90% recognition rate. This study can provide a reference for further research.
Algorithms ; Artificial Intelligence ; Heart Sounds ; physiology ; Humans ; Individuality ; Pattern Recognition, Physiological ; physiology ; Principal Component Analysis ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Wavelet Analysis

Objective To study the relationship between serum betatrophin and early growth of macrosomia.Method Full-term macrosomia born in the Maternity and Children's Branch of Ruian People's Hospital of Zhejiang Province from January to June 2018 followed up to 6 months and their mother were enrolled in the prospective case-control study as the fetal macrosomia group.The full-term infants appropriate for gestational age,who met all the above requirements were randomly enrolled in the AGA group in a 1∶1 ratio.Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the level of blood betatrophin at birth and 6 months respectively,and the relationship between serum betatrophin level and the growth and development of infants was analyzed.Result A total of 4 823 live births were delivered during the study period,308 of them were full-term macrosomia,the incidence was 6.4％.30 cases were included in the macrosomia group and the AGA group,respectively.The level of blood betatrophin at birth and 6 months in the macrosomia group were higher than that in the AGA Group [(1 088.3 ± 67.8) ng/L vs.(929.5 ± 81.0) ng/L,(1 057.1 ± 114.2) ng/L vs.(976.4 ±76.6) ng/L],and the differences were statistically significant (P ＜ 0.01).The incidence of overweight was 26.7％ (8/30) in the macrosomia group and 6.7％ (2/30) in AGA group at 6 months of age,the difference was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).The level of blood betatrophin in overweight infants was statistically significantly higher than that in non-overweight infants (P ＜ 0.001).There was a positive correlation (P ＜ 0.001) between the level of blood betatrophin at the age of 6 months and the weight,body length,Z-score of weight/body length,triglyceride level at birth and the age of 6 months,and the level of umbilical blood betatrophin.But it was not correlated to gender,feeding pattern,other components of blood lipid,blood glucose and insulin in the cord blood and mother's blood,and the level of blood betatrophin in mother's blood (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion The betatrophin is involved in the regulation of infant growth and development,which is associated with the occurrence of overweight.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of bupivacaine pamoate for sciatic nerve block in rats.Methods:Forty-eight SPF healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats, weighing 300-400 g, were divided into 6 groups using a random number table method: bupivacaine pamoate vehicle group (group VE), bupivacaine HCl group (group BH), liposomal bupivacaine group (group BL), low-dose bupivacaine pamoate group (group HL), moderate-dose bupivacaine pamoate group (group HM) and high-dose bupivacaine pamoate group (group HH), with 8 animals in each group.In VE, BH, BL, HL, HM and HH groups, bupivacaine pamoate vehicle 0.4 ml, bupivacaine HCl solution 0.4 ml, liposomal bupivacaine suspension 0.4 ml, and 1, 3 and 10 mg/ml bupivacaine pamoate suspension 0.4 ml were injected around the left sciatic nerve, respectively.The thermal paw withdrawal latency were measured before administration (T 0) and at 0.5, 1.5, 3, 5, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 48 h after injection (T 1-9). The percentage of maximum possible effect (MPE) of thermal paw withdrawal latency was calculated, and motor function score was simultaneously performed to evaluate the efficacy of sensory and motor block.Five and three rats in each group were sacrificed at 2 and 7 days after administration (T 9, 10), respectively, and the sciatic nerve at the injection site and the surrounding muscle tissues were harvested for microscopic examination (with a light microscope) after Luxol fast blue and HE staining.Nerve damage and inflammatory responses were assessed and scored to evaluate neurotoxicity. Results:Compared with group VE, the MPE was significantly increased at T 1-4 in group HL, at T 1-8 in group HM and at T 1-8 in group HH, the motor function scores were decreased at T 1-4 in group HL, at T 1-5 in group HM and at T 1-7 in group HH ( P<0.05), and no significant change was found in inflammatory response scores for the sciatic nerve and surrounding muscles at each time point in HL, HM and HH groups ( P>0.05). Compared with group BH, the MPE was significantly increased at T 3-8, motor function scores were decreased at T 3-5, and inflammatory response scores for the muscles around the sciatic nerve were decreased at T 9 in group HM ( P<0.05). Compared with group BL, the MPE was significantly increased at T 3-7, motor function scores were decreased at T 4, 5, and inflammatory response scores for the sciatic nerve and surrounding muscles were decreased at T 9 in group HM ( P<0.05). The nerve damage score was 0 in the six groups. Conclusion:Bupivacaine pamoate can block the sciatic nerve of rats, the duration of block is prolonged with the increase in the concentration, and the duration of motor block is not longer than that of sensory block; compared with the same concentration and equal volume of bupivacaine HCl and liposomal bupivacaine, bupivacaine pamoate produces longer duration of sciatic nerve block and less neurotoxicity.

Objective To assess the efficacy of immunoprophylaxis against mother-to-infant transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in a real-world setting since the implementation of charge-free hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and hepatitis B vaccine in China. Methods The screening rate and the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in 61 790 puerperants, and the administration of combined immunoprophylaxis in infants of HBsAg-positive mothers in Rugao City of Jiangsu Province from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. HBV infection status of infants born to HBV infected mothers was followed up after 7 months of age. HBsAg-positive infants and their mothers were followed up again for HBV markers in April 2018. Fisher's exact test and Cochran-Armitage trend test were used to statistically analyze the differences between groups and various years, respectively. Results All 61 790 puerperants were screened for HBsAg and the prenatal screen rate was 98.6% (60 937/61 790) with an increasing trend over time (χ2trend=750.908, P<0.001). HBsAg-positive puerperants accounted for 5.5% (3 397/61 790) with a decreasing trend over time (χ2trend=32.667, P<0.001). In total, 778 offspring (399 boys and 379 girls) of 759 HBsAg-positive mothers were followed up at (13.7±6.9) months of age, among which 751 (96.5%) were administered and 25 (3.2%) were probably administered standard combined immunoprophylaxis after birth, and the rest two (0.3%) were not. Fourteen infants (1.8%) were HBsAg positive and all born to mothers with positive hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg). None of the 538 infants born to HBeAg-negative mothers was HBsAg-positive. HBsAg-positive rate in infants born since 2013 was lower than those in 2011 and 2012 (χ2trend=13.352, P=0.000 3). Eleven HBsAg-positive mothers and their children were followed up again 4–5 years later in April 2018. HBV DNA levels of all mothers were within the range of (7.34–28.2)×107 IU/ml except one case of spontaneous HBeAg seroconversion. One out of the 11 infected children also had HBeAg seroconversion. Phylogenetic analysis of HBV S gene showed that the 11 pairs of mothers and children were all infected with HBV of genotype C. Conclusions The implementation of charge-free HBIG and hepatitis B vaccine for newborns achieves fruitful results in Rugao city as the mother-to-infant transmission of HBV in the real-world had been further reduced to a similar level reported in literature survey.

Objective:To investigate the management of patients with intravenous misplacement of nephrostomy tube following percutaneous renal surgery.Methods:The data of 6 patients with intravenous misplacement of nephrostomy tube during percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) treated in the two hospitals of Chenzhou from January 2006 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The median age was 41.0(38.5, 53.0) years old. There were 4 males and 2 females. Three patients had undergone contralateral upper urinary tract operation. One patient had undergone ipsilateral upper urinary tract operation. Two patients had not undergone upper urinary tract operation. Two of the 6 patients had a solitary kidney. Two patients were diagnosed with staghorn calculi (combined with mild hydronephrosis in 1 patient, moderate hydronephrosis in 1 patient). Four patients were diagnosed with ureteral calculus (combined with mild hydronephrosis in 2 patients, moderate hydronephrosis in 1 patient, severe hydronephrosis in 1 patient). In all 6 patients, the tract was dilated with fascial dilators. Immediately after dilator removal, brisk venous bleeding was noted. A nephrostomy tube was inserted promptly through the sheath to tamponade the tract and was immediately closed. Five cases were diagnosed by CT after operation, and 1 case was early diagnosed by intraoperative injection of contrast medium through nephrostomy tube. The nephrostomy tube was misplaced in 5 patients with left upper urinary tract calculi, and in 1 patient with right upper urinary tract calculi. The tip of nephrostomy tube was located in ipsilateral renal vein in 3 patients with left upper urinary tract calculus, inferior vena cava in 2 patients with left upper urinary tract calculus, and contralateral renal vein in 1 patient with right upper urinary tract calculus. No venous thrombosis of renal vein or inferior vena cava was founded in the 6 patients. All 6 patients were managed with strict bed rest, intravenous antibiotics, and one-step or two-step tube withdrawal under close monitoring. One step method referred to total removal of nephrostomy tube under ultrasonic monitoring. Two step method referred to retracting the end of nephrostomy tube into the renal sinus under CT monitoring in the first step, then the nephrostomy tube was completely removed under ultrasound monitoring.Results:All 6 patients were successfully managed with strict bed rest, intravenous antibiotics, and one-step or two-step tube withdrawal under close monitoring. The tube was withdrew by one-step method in 1 patient, by two-step method in 5 patients. The original operations were performed successfully under close observation in 4 patients during the same hospitalization and in 1 patient during the next hospitalization. Other type of operation in 1 patient was performed during the next hospitalization. The all 6 patients were discharged uneventfully. The stone was cleared.Conclusions:Intravenous misplacement of a nephrostomy tube is mainly diagnosed by CT. The nephrostomy tube should be sealed immediately after diagnosis. The intravenously misplaced nephrostomy tube can be successfully removed by one-step or two-step withdrawing under close monitoring. Upper urinary tract stones can be successfully treated at the same time or by stages.