Background Accurate measurement of corneal refractive parameters plays an important role in the diagnosis of eye diseases,design of refractive surgery and calculation of intraocular lens (IOL) power.Ophtha TOP is a new IOL calculator,so it is necessary to evaluate the repeatability and accuracy of Ophtha TOP in measuring corneal refractive parameters.Objective This study was to evaluate the repeatability of Ophtha TOP in measuring corneal refractive status in normal eyes and determine the agreement of the measuring outcomes between Ophtha TOP and Pentacam in pre-surgery cataract eyes.Methods A reliability evaluation method of diagnosis test was performed from September 2013 to October 2014.Sixty eyes of healthy volunteers aged (30.83 ±8.66) years old were examined in Tianjin Eye Hospital with Ophtha TOP for more than 5 times to evaluate the stability in measuring corneal refractive parameters.Corneal refractive parameters were measured by both Ophtha TOP and Pentacam for more than twice in 30 pre-surgery cataract eyes to assess the agreement with Pentacam.Keratometry and astigmatism parameters were recorded,including the flattest meridian (Kf),steepest meridian (Ks),mean keratometry (Km) and the astigmatism at J0 and J45.Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC),repeatability (2.77Sw) and coefficient of variation (CoVs) were used to assess the stability of Ophtha TOP,and Bland-Altman graphs were adopted to value the consistency of measuring outcomes between Ophtha TOP and Pentacam.This study complied with Helsinki declaration,and written informed consent was obtained from each patient prior to any medical examination.Results The ICC of Ks,Kf,Km,J0 and J45 by Ophtha TOP were all ≥0.90,and 2.77Sw were all ≤0.36,The CoVs of Kf,Ks,Km by Ophtha TOP were all ≤0.30.The measuring values of Kf,Ks and Km were significantly higher in the Ophtha TOP than those in the Pentacam,with the mean differences (0.18±0.28) D,(0.24±0.29) D and (0.21± 0.26) D,respectively(t =3.48,4.50,4.49,all at P=0.00).The mean difference of the J0 was (0.07±0.21) D and that of the J45 was (-0.02±0.18)D between Ophtha TOP and Pentacam,showing insignificant differences between them (both at P＞0.05).Bland-Altman graphs revealed that the 95％ limit of agreement (LoA) of Kf,Ks and Km between the two methods was-0.37 D to 0.73 D,-0.33 D to 0.81 D and-0.30 D to 0.72 D,respectively,and that of J0 and J45 was-0.34 D to 0.48 D and-0.37 D to 0.33 D,respectively.Conclusions Ophtha TOP shows an excellent repeatability.Compared with Pentacam,Ophtha TOP presents a good consistence for measurement of the corneal astigmatism and moderate consistence for corneal curvature.

3T3-L1 adipocytes transfected with TSH receptor (TSHR) shRNA were incubated with bovine TSH.The concentration of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in culture medium was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent asssy.Protein level of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) was quantified by Western blotting.Tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-1 was measured by immunoprecipitation.The results showed that 1 mIU/ml TSH significantly sitmulated TNF-α release in 3T3-L1 adipocytes [(341.85 ± 12.00 vs 522.67 ± 36.22) ng/L,P＜0.01],along with the decreases in IRS-1 protein expression and its tyrosine phosphorylation (P＜ 0.01).These effects disappeared when TSHR expression was down-regulated with RNA interference in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.In addition,WP9QY,a TNF-α antagonist,blocked TSH-decreased IRS-1 expresssion.These results suggest that TSH downregulates IRS-1 protein expression and its tyrosine phosphorylation through stimulating production of TNF-α,and thus contributes to the development of insulin resistance.

Objective:To optimize the water extraction technology of Xiaokeantangfang. Methods: The extraction technology of Xiaokeantangfang was optimized by orthogonal design with the content of astragaloside A and the extract yield as the indices and the a-mount of added water,extraction time and extraction times as the influencing factors,and the results were verified. Results:The amount of added water had significant effect on the content of astragaloside A(P<0. 05). The optimal extraction technology was as follows:12-fold amount of added water,extracting for 3 times with 0. 5 hour per time. The average extract yield was 38. 33%(RSD=1. 22%,n=3), and the average content of astragaloside A was 0. 0828 mg·g-1 for 3 batches of samples in the validation tests(RSD=3. 37%, n=3). Conclusion:The optimal water extraction technology of Xiaokeantangfang is stable and feasible, which can provide experimen-tal basis for the oral preparation of Xiaokeantangfang.

The association of non-HDL-cholesterol and non-HDL-C-to-HDL-cholesterol ratio (non-HDL-C-to-HDL-C ratio) with early diabetic nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus was investigated.Non-HDL-C and non-HDL-C-to-HDL-C ratio were positively related with microalbuminuria (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).Non-HDL-C-to-HDL-C ratio is an independent risk factor of early diabetic nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Objective · To compare urine sample collection methods for measuring urinary concentrations of phenolic endocrine disrupting chemicals including bisphenol A (BPA),triclosan (TCS),and 4-n-nonylphenol (4-n-NP) in pregnant women.Methods· Urine samples were collected from women at late pregnancy by two methods:urine catheter and collection bag (n=176),urine collecting containers made of polypropylene (PP) (n=642).Urinary concentrations of BPA,TCS and 4-n-NP were measured with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS)method.Confirmation experiment used PP containers,urine catheter and collection bags,as well as low-density polyethylene (LDPE) tubes and glass containers as both negative controls to collect urine samples from each of the 5 women.Results · Geometric mean (GM) of urinary BPA concentration collected by urine catheter and collection bags was 82.5 ng/mL (95％ CI 71.4-95.4 ng/mL),which was 63 times higher than that from PP containers (GM 1.3 ng/mL;95％ CI 1.3-1.5 ng/mL).Concentrations of urinary 4-n-NP and creatinine were similar between two collection methods.Confirmation experiment showed that urinary BPA concentration collected by urine catheter and collection bags was much higher than those collected by other three methods.Conclusion· In collection of urine samples for measuring phenolic chemicals,PP urine collection container as well as LDPE containers are adequate for use in epidemiologic studies,but urine catheter and collection bag is not.

Academic medical postgraduate recruitment and training is facing a new dilemma due to the overall implementation of resident standardization training and the combination of postgraduate education in professional master degree of clinical medicine and resident standardization training.We optimize and marry together journal club and lab meeting education methods in academic medical postgraduate training of obstetrics and gynecology on the basis of its teaching characteristics, and develop a new form of academic graduate student training of obstetrics and gynecology.This new method is expected to effectively improve the academic postgraduates' research interests, research capacity and the teaching quality of obstetrics and gynecology for academic postgraduates.

Analysis of neural stem cells' movements is one of the important parts in the fields of cellular and biological research. The main difficulty existing in cells' movement study is whether the cells tracking system can simultaneously track and analyze thousands of neural stem cells (NSCs) automatically. We present a novel cells' tracking algorithm which is based on segmentation and data association in this paper, aiming to improve the tracking accuracy further in high density NSCs' image. Firstly, we adopted different methods of segmentation base on the characteristics of the two cell image sequences in our experiment. Then we formed a data association and constituted a coefficient matrix by all cells between two adjacent frames according to topological constraints. Finally we applied The Hungarian algorithm to implement inter-cells matching optimally. Cells' tracking can be achieved according to this model from the second frame to the last one in a sequence. Experimental results showed that this approaching method has higher accuracy compared with that using the topological constraints tracking alone. The final tracking accuracies of average of sequence I and sequence II have been improved 10.17% and 4%, respectively.
Algorithms ; Animals ; Cell Count ; Cell Movement ; Cell Tracking ; statistics & numerical data ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Microscopy, Fluorescence ; Models, Theoretical ; Neural Stem Cells ; cytology

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics of early term and full term neonates, and analyze the risk factors associated with short term outcomes in early term neonates. Method: Neonates with birth weight (BW) ≥2 500 g from year 2013 were analyzed retrospectively based on American Congress of Obstericians & Gynecologists (ACOG) latest definition of term infants. According to inclusion and exclusion criteria, early term (gestational age 37-38 weeks) and full term(gestational age 39-40 weeks) neonates were included, whose morbidity constituent proportion was analyzed by χ² test or Fisher accuracy test or t test or Wilcoxon test. Risk factors associated with short term outcomes in early term population were analyzed by Logistic regression analysis. Result: There were 3 002 discharged term infants being investigated, among whom 1 303 cases were included(768 males and 535 females), and 37, 38, 39 and 40 weeks′ gestational age newborns were 160, 324, 450 and 369 respectively. Compared with full term neonates(n=819), early term neonates (n=484) had longer length of hospital stay (LOS)(6.0(5.0, 9.0) vs. 6.0(4.0, 8.0), Z=2.830, P=0.005), higher usage rate of intravenous antibiotics(86.4%(418/484) vs. 80.1%(656/819), χ²=8.009, P=0.005), higher assisted ventilation rate(9.5%(46/484) vs. 2.9%(24/819), χ²=25.528, P<0.01), higher pulmonary surfactant administration rate(4.3%(21/484) vs. 1.1%(9/819), χ²=14.006, P<0.01), as well as higher hypoglycemia incidence(3.9%(19/484) vs. 1.2%(10/819), χ²=10.226, P=0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in 1 min Apgar score (9(9, 10)vs. 9(9, 10), Z=0.860, P=0.390), 5 min Apgar score (10(9, 10) vs. 10(9, 10), Z=0.810, P=0.418), white blood cell count (15 (11, 21) ×10⁹ /L vs.15 (11, 22) ×10⁹ /L, Z=0.880, P=0.379), hemoglobin count(180 (159, 205) vs. 182 (160, 204) g/L, Z=0.560, P=0.576), or platelet count(303(234, 372) ×10⁹/L vs. 301(237, 391) ×10⁹/L, Z=0.550, P=0.584). BW between 2 500 g and 2 999 g(OR 1.69, 95% CI: 1.10-2.62, χ² =5.614, P=0.018), wet lung(OR=2.61, 95% CI: 1.61-4.24, χ²=15.023, P=0.000)and pneumonia(OR 1.88, 95% CI: 1.14-3.08, χ²=6.192, P=0.013) were risk factors in early term neonates′ short term adverse outcomes. Conclusion Early term newborns are still at their "immature" state, and respiratory disorders are major risk factors associated with short term outcomes. Hence, early delivery during 37-38 weeks should be avoided as possible as we can.

Objective:To investigate the role of follicular helper T(Tfh) cells and galactose deficiency IgA 1(Gd-IgA 1) in the children that were suffering from Henoch-Sch?nlein purpura(HSP) and Henoch-Sch?nlein purpura nephritis(HSPN)and the correlation between them. Methods:According to the presence or absence of renal injury, 62 children with HSP were divided into HSP group with 32 children and HSPN group with 30 children.Twenty children who underwent physical examination at outpatients were known as the healthy control group.Flow cytometry was used to measure the proportion of Tfh(CD4 + CXCR5 + PD-1 + ) in peripheral blood.Immunoturbidimetry and ELISA were used to measure the serum levels of IgA 1 and Gd-IgA 1 respectively. Results:(1) The proportion of Tfh cells in peripheral blood and the serum levels of Gd-IgA 1 in both HSP group and HSPN group had significantly increased than those in healthy control group( P<0.01). Compared result of the HSPN group with HSP group, the proportion of Tfh cells in peripheral blood and the serum levels of Gd-IgA 1 in HSPN group were higher than that in HSP group( P<0.05). (2) In the HSPN group, the proportion of peripheral blood Tfh cells and the serum levels of Gd-IgA 1 in group of renal pathology ≥ grade Ⅲ and heavy proteinuria were significantly elevated compared with group of renal pathology < grade Ⅲ and non-heavy proteinuria(<0.01). (3) In the healthy control group, the serum levels of Gd-IgA 1 was positively correlated with the proportion of Tfh cells in peripheral blood and the serum levels of Gd-IgA 1( P<0.05). Conversely, a non-positive correlation was shown in HSP and HSPN groups( P>0.05). Conclusion:The excessive activation of Tfh cells and the serum levels of Gd-IgA 1 may be one of the pathogenesis of HSP/HSPN, the degree of increment of the two factors may be related to the activity and severity of the disease.The mechanism of Tfh cells potentially leading to an increase of Gd-IgA 1 production requires further study.

Objective:To investigate the correlation between serum calcium levels and severity of novel coronavirus pneumonia(COVID-19).Methods:The clinical data of 165 COVID-19 patients diagnosed from January to February 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. Combined with clinical classification, the differences of various indexes between the critically ill group and the control group were compared, and the influencing factors of disease severity were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. According to the corrected serum total calcium levels, patients were divided into low calcium group and normal calcium group, and the related indexes of the 2 groups were compared for further analyzing the causes of hypocalcemia. Results:Compared with the control group, the age, diabetes, basic respiratory disease, and cardiovascular disease ratio, C-reactive protein(CRP), fasting blood glucose(FPG), interferon γ(IFN-γ), and interleukin 17(IL-17) levels increased while the lymphocyte percentage, serum albumin(ALB), corrected calcium levels, CD4 + T cells percentage, CD8 + T cell percentage decreased, the difference was statistically significant( P<0.05). There was no significant statistical difference in gender between the two groups, hypertension ratio, alanine aminotransferase(ALT), glomerular filtration rate(eGFR), CD4 +/CD8 + ratio and interleukin 4(IL-4) levels( P>0.05). The decrease of calcium level, age and eGFR were all risk factors for COVID-19 patients. Compared with the normal calcium group of COVID-19 patients, the level of ALB, CD4 + T cells percentage, CD8 + T cell percentage in low calcium group decreased and age, proportion of critically ill patients, diabetes, basic respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease ratio and CRP level all increased, the differences were statistically significant( P<0.05), and there was no statistical difference in the other biochemical indexes( P<0.05). Conclusion:There are obvious hypocalcemia and immune dysfunction in critically ill patients of COVID-19, and close monitoring of blood calcium levels may predict the severity of the disease more effectively