Objective To explore the relationship between digit ratio and personality among male college students of Han nationality. Methods 162 male college students of Han nationality were surveyed with Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Measurements were taken from the middle of the basal crease to the tip of the finger by electronic vernier caliper. Personality factors scores were compared between male college students of Han nationality and normal. Finger length and digit ratio of the left hand and the right hand were compared among male college students of Han nationality. Correlation coefficient between digit ratio and personality was calculated.Results The male college students of Han nationality showed significantly lower psychoticism (4.53 ± 2. 55 ) and lie (9.64 ± 3. 55 ) than normal ( 5. 96 ± 2.84,12. 17 ± 3.57; t = - 7. 135, - 9. 085 ) , but higher neuroticism ( 12.67 ±3.94) than normal ( 10.63 ±4.44, t=6.573). The length of index finger(2D) & ring finger(4D) and ently higher than those of the right hand (71.74 ± 4. 01 ,74.85 ± 4.41,0. 8973 ± 0. 0306; P ＜ 0.05 ). There was an association of psychoticism with index finger(2D), middle finger(3D), ring finger(4D) and little finger(5D)among male college students of Han nationality ( r=0. 263,0.254,0.248,0.287,0.235,0.243,0.246,0. 283; P＜ 0. 01 ). There was an association of lie with index finger( 2D ), middle finger( 3D), the right ring finger( 4D ) & little finger(5D) among male college students of Han nationality ( r= -0. 208, -0. 213, -0. 185, -0. 226,-0.165, -0. 185; P＜ 0. 05 ). There was an association of neuroticism with the left second to fourth digit ratio ratio is found among male introvert college students of Han nationality. Digit ratio may be correlated with personality among male college students of Han nationality.

AIM To determine the contents of chemical consituents in Lycii Fructus from Qaidam Basin.METHODS Spectrophotometry was adopted in the content determination of polysaccharides,total flavonoids and carotenoid.HPLC was applied to the content determination of betaine and scopoletin.Kjeldahl method was used for the content determination of protein.Then principal component analysis was performed.RESULTS The contents of carotenoid,betaine and scopoletin in samples from six growing areas showed obvious differences (P ＜ 0.05),while those of polysaccharides,total flavonoids and protein exhibited no obvious differences (P ＞ 0.05).The contents of various constituents in samples at three picking time also had no obvious differences (P ＞ 0.05).The comprehensive score of principal components of samples from Delingha City was the highest,followed by that from Ulan County.CONCLUSION The quality of Lycii Fructus from Qaidam Basin from Delingha City is the best.

BACKGROUND: Polymorphism in promoter region can change the expression of genes, which may be associated with susceptivity of diseases. Gene polymorphism of interleukin-6 (IL-6) promoter is associated with nationality and many diseases. Different nationalities often display different characteristics of gene polymorphism.OBJECTIVE: To observe the distribution of polymorphism at sites -597 and -572 in IL-6 promoter region in Tibet Tibetan population and to provide the theoretical data for Tibetan population genetics and background of immunity.DESIGN: Randomized investigation.SETTING: Institute of Anthropology, Jinzhou Medical College.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 108 healthy Tibetan teenagers were selected from Lasa and Naqu region in Tibet autonomous region from October 2003 to July 2004, including 60 males and 48 females, aged from 14-21 years. Inclusive criteria:The parents of the volunteers were healthy Tibetans after body examination. The volunteers knew the fact, agreed to participate into the trail and signed the informed consent.METHODS: 5 mL peripheral vein blood was collected from 108 Tibetan teenagers. DNA from human leucocytes was extracted by salt fractionation. IL-6 promoter including -597 and -572 fragments was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Representative fragments were cloned then sequenced after restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP).MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Distribution of polymorphism in Tibet Tibetan population; Results after comparison with those of other nationalities including Han population.RESULTS: Data of 108 Tibetan teenagers were involved in the result analysis. ①Distribution of polymorphism on -572C/G site of IL-6 promoters in population of either sex: There were no GA and AA genotypes at site -597, but only GG genotype appeared. There were CC, CG and GG genotypes at site -572, and the frequencies were 0.63, 0.35 and 0.02 in order. Distribution of genotype with representativeness met the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Allele frequencies were 0.81 and 0.19, respectively. There was no significant difference of either sex in genotype and allele frequency (P ＞ 0.05). ②Distribution of polymorphism on -597 G/A and -572 C/G in different nationalities: GG, GA, AA genotypes appeared on -597 site in England and France, and G and A allele frequencies were 0.60 and 0.40,respectively. It was significantly different from that of Tibetan in Tibet. Furthermore, Japanese had no polymorphism,which was similar to that of Hans in China (P ＞ 0.05). ③Genotype of different straps and results of DNA sequencing:Only GG genotype was found on -597 site (without the restriction site, one fragment after restriction, PCR amplification products), no GA and AA genotypes. CC, CG and GG genotypes appeared at site -572, and frequencies were 0.64,0.35 and 0.01, respectively. Distribution of genotype with representativeness met the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P ＞0.05). Allele frequencies were 0.81 and 0.19, respectively. There was no significant difference of either sex in genotype and allele frequency. Distribution of gene frequency and allele frequency in IL-6 were similar between Tibetan and that of Hans, but it was significantly different from that of population in England, France and America.CONCLUSION: There are nationality differences of IL-6 gene polymorphism at sites -597 and -572. No polymorphism is found at site -597 in Tibetan. Race differences are seen at site -572, having CC, CG and GG genotypes and G allele is rate. Compared with white population, there is significant difference in genotype and allele frequency at site -572. Their characteristics are close to Hah population and Japanese, which may be associated with genetic gene of persons living in plateau.

Steroid-induced femoral head necrosis is claimed to be an ischemic femoral head disease. But there is no discussion on the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the idiopathic disease. The concentration of NO indirectly in serum with steroid induced avascular necrosis of femoral head (ANFH) and in controls are studied in this article.

Objective　To investigate the correlation between red cell distribution width to platelet ratio and short-term prognosis in acute ischemic stroke.Methods　The patients with ischemic stroke admitted in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University during the initial 24 hours after the onset of disease between 2015-2017 were recruited prospectively.Red cell distribution width (RDW),platelet and clinical characteristics were recorded.Functional outcome at 90 days after ischemic stroke was evaluated by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS).Results　Totally 1106 patients were included.Patients with poor functional outcome were older (P＜0.001=and had more frequent histories of hypertension (P=0.015),diabetes (P=0.001),atrial fibrillation (P＜0.001=,coronary heart disease (P=0.041),stroke (P＜0.001=and higher National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS)(P＜0.001=,white blood cell count (P＜0.001=,RDW (P＜0.001=and RDW to platelet ratio (RPR) (P=0.034).Higher RPR levels were associated with poor functional outcome at 90 days after ischemic stroke［(odds ratio,OR) 1.09,(confidence interval,CI) 1.03~1.16，P=0.005］. Conclusion　Higher RPR levels were associated with poor short-term outcome after acute ischemic stroke.

Objective To compare seminal carnitine levels between normal males and asthenozoospermic patients,evaluate its correla-tion with progressive motility(PR)of sperm,and observe the effects of exogenous carnitine supplementation on asthenozoospermic pa-tients.Methods Semen samples were collected from 511 normal fertile males and asthenozoospermic patients.Seminal was measured using a fixed-time assay kit and the levels of carnitine were compared between the two groups.The consistency between seminal carni-tine and PR was assessed.Additionally,77 asthenozoospermic patients received L-carnitine(1 g/time,3 times/day,30 days/course).The levels of seminal carnitine and PR alteration pre-and post-treatment were monitored.Results The seminal L-carnitine level in the patients with asthenospermia([194.34±65.41]μmol/L)was significantly lower than that in normal fertile males([405.43±72.12]μmol/L)(P＜0.01).When the seminal L-carnitine level ≥325 μmol/L was set as the threshold,the statistical results showed that Kappa value was 0.81,with a diagnostic coincidence rate of 93.74％.After one course of administration of L-carnitine,the concentra-tion of seminal L-carnitine([356.03±84.87]μmol/L)and PR([32.69±8.35]％)were significantly higher those that before treat-ment([183.61±79.54]μmol/L and[16.56±7.74]％,P＜0.01).Conclusion The seminal carnitine assay kit could be used for ac-curate and high-throughput quantification of clinical samples,facilitating asthenozoospermia diagnosis and therapeutic efficacy evalua-tion.Exogenous carnitine supplementation may elevate seminal carnitine levels and sperm motility in asthenozoospermic patients and po-tentially improve their fertility.

Objective To investigate the situation and the causes of neonatal death in Henan Province.Methods This study retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 277 neonates who died at 18 hospitals in Henan Province in 2017.Distribution and causes of neonatal deaths,differences between perinatal conditions of premature and term/post-term infants,causes of early (＜ 7 d) and late (7-28 d) neonatal deaths and the differences in neonatal death cases between Maternal and Child Health Care Hospitals and General/Children's Hospitals were analyzed.We used t,rank-sum and Chi-square test (or corrected Chi-square test,or Fisher's exact test) for statistical analysis.Results (1) A total of 50 993 newboms were admitted to the 18 hospitals in 2017,297 of which died with a mortality of 5.82‰.After excluding 20 cases with uncertain birth or maternal pregnancy history or clinical data,277 cases with complete data were analyzed.Among them,168 (60.6％) were preterm neonates and 109 (39.4％) were term/post-term ones.Early and late neonatal deaths accounted for 74.0％ (205 cases) and 26.0％ (72 cases),respectively.(2) The top five causes of neonatal deaths were infection (78 cases,28.2％),asphyxia (54 cases,19.5％),neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS,33 cases,11.9％),severe congenital malformations (26 cases,9.4％) including cyanotic congenital heart diseases,digestive malformations,airway malformations and neural tube defects and pulmonary hemorrhage (23 cases,8.3％).Among them,the top three causes of early neonatal deaths were asphyxia (48 cases,23.4％),infection (43 cases,21.0％) and NRDS (33 cases,16.1％),while the main causes of late neonatal deaths were infection (35 cases,48.6％),major congenital malformations (9 cases,12.5％) and chromosome abnormities/inherited metabolic diseases (7 cases,9.7％).(3) Maternal complications during pregnancy accounted for 79.1％ (219 cases) and the predominant types were pregnancy-induced hypertension (43 cases,19.6％),followed by infection (36 cases,16.4％),placental-related conditions (32 cases,14.6％),gestational diabetes mellitus (23 cases,10.5％),hypothyroidism (20 cases,9.1％),fetal distress (18,8.2％),twin-twin transfusion syndrome (10 cases,4.6％) and cholestasis syndrome (9 cases,4.1％).(4) Compared with the term/post-term cases,the preterm cases had higher proportions of multiple births [27.4％ (46/168) vs 6.4％ (9/109),x2=14.016,P ＜ 0.05],assisted reproduction [7.1％ (12/168) vs 0.9％ (1/109),x2=4.421,P ＜ 0.05] and maternal hypertensive disorders of pregnancy [21.4％ (36/1 68) vs 6.4％ (7/109),x2=11.353,P ＜ 0.05],infection [16.7％ (28/168) vs 7.3％ (8/109),x2=4.295,P ＜ 0.05] and twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome [6.0％ (10/168) vs 0.0％ (0/109),x2=6.707,P ＜ 0.05].(5) Among all the early neonatal deaths,preterm cases had a higher incidence of NRDS than term/post-term neonates [20.3％ (27/133) vs 8.3％ (6/72),x2=1 1.937,P ＜ 0.05],but lower incidence of meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS),severe congenital malformations and chromosome abnormalities/inherited metabolic diseases [0.8％ (1/133) vs 5.6％ (4/72),x2=4.508;3.8％ (5/133) vs 16.7％ (12/72),x2=10.233;1.5％ (2/133) vs 6.9％ (5/72),~=4.172;all P ＜ 0.05].Among the late neonatal deaths,the incidence of severe intracranial hemorrhage in preterm infants was higher than that in term/post-term neonates [7.1％ (3/42) vs 0.0％ (0/30),x2=2.205,P ＜ 0.05].(6) Compared with the cases in General/Children's Hospitals,those in Maternal and Child Health Care Hospitals showed a higher proportion of preterm neonatal deaths [67.3％ (105/156) vs 52.1％ (63/121),x2=6.010,P ＜ 0.05],younger gestational age [(32.8±5.3) weeks vs (34.6±4.9) weeks,t=3.072,P ＜ 0.05],lower birth weight [(2 132.6± 1 014.5) g vs (2 409.4±987.3) g,t=-2.513,P ＜ 0.05],and higher average age of death [M(P25-P75),3 (1-8) d vs 2 (1-4) d,Z=3.710,P ＜ 0.05].Conclusions Neonatal death occurs mainly within one week after birth in those with maternal complications.Late preterm deaths and term/post-term cases account for nearly half of total neonatal deaths.The causes of death for preterm and term/post-term newborns vary with postnatal age.Infection,asphyxia and severe congenital malformations are important causes of neonatal deaths.

Malignant tumors are diseases that seriously threaten human health and social development. Traditional tumor therapies such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapy cannot fully meet the needs of clinical treatment, and emerging immunotherapy has become a research hotspot in the field of tumor treatment. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been approved as a tumor immunotherapy method for the treatment of various tumors, such as lung cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer and colorectal cancer, etc. However, during the clinical use of ICIs, only a small number of patients experienced durable responses, which also led to drug resistance and adverse reactions. Therefore, the identification and development of predictive biomarkers is crucial to improve the therapeutic efficacy of ICIs. The predictive biomarkers of tumor ICIs mainly include tumor biomarkers, tumor microenvironment biomarkers, circulation-related biomarkers, host environmental biomarkers and combinatorial biomarkers. They are of great significance for screening, individualized treatment and prognosis evaluation of tumor patients. This article reviews the advances of predictive markers for tumor ICIs therapy.
Humans ; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors/therapeutic use* ; Lung Neoplasms ; Biomarkers ; Immunotherapy/methods* ; Biomarkers, Tumor/genetics* ; Prognosis ; Tumor Microenvironment

OBJECTIVE To study the effects of methimazole on the urinary metabolomics of hyperthyroidism rats， and to preliminarily investigate its possible mechanism. METHODS Thirty SD rats were randomly divided into control group， model group and methimazole group， with 10 rats in each group. Except for the control group， the rats in the other two groups were given Levothyroxine sodium tablets 160 mg/kg by intragastric administration for 15 days； at the same time， methimazole group was additionally given methimazole 3.6 mg/kg daily by intragastric administration every day. The basic condition of the rats was observed， and the body weight and anal temperature were measured. After the last medication， the serum levels of triiodothyronine （T3）， tetraiodothyronine （T4）， free triiodothyronine （FT3）， free tetraiodothyronine （FT4）， and thyroid stimulating hormone （TSH） were determined； 24-hour urine was collected on the 15th day after administration. UPLC-TOF-MS was used to analyze the urine metabolomics of rats. Principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis were used to screen out related differential metabolites， and potential metabolic pathways were analyzed by using HMDB and KEGG. RESULTS Compared with the control group， the rectal temperature， serum levels of T3， T4， FT3 and FT4， the expressions of differential metabolites sebacic acid， cholic acid 3-O-glucuronic acid and N6， N6， N6-trimethyl-L-lysine in urine were significantly up-regulated， while body weight， serum level of TSH， the expressions of deoxycytidine and 2-oxo-4-methylthiobutanoic acid in urine were significantly down-regulated （P＜0.01）. Compared with model group， above indexes of rats were reversed significantly in methimazole group （P＜0.01 or P＜0.05）. Above five differential metabolites were mainly involved in four signaling pathways: pentose and glucuronate interaction， lysine degradation， cysteine and methionine metabolism， and pyrimidine metabolism. CONCLUSIONS Methimazole might improve hyperthyroidism by modulating the four pathways of pentose and glucuronate interaction， lysine degradation， cysteine and methionine metabolism， and pyrimidine metabolism.

The estimated new cases of breast cancer (BC) patients were 2.26 million in 2020, which accounted for 11.7% of all cancer patients, making it the most prevalent cancer worldwide. Early detection, diagnosis and treatment are crucial to reduce the mortality, and improve the prognosis of BC patients. Despite the widespread use of mammography screening as a tool for BC screening, the false positive, radiation, and overdiagnosis are still pressing issues that need to be addressed. Therefore, it is urgent to develop accessible, stable, and reliable biomarkers for non-invasive screening and diagnosis of BC. Recent studies indicated that the circulating tumor cell DNA (ctDNA), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 15-3 (CA15-3), extracellular vesicles (EV), circulating miRNAs and BRCA gene from blood, and the phospholipid, miRNAs, hypnone and hexadecane from urine, nipple aspirate fluid (NAF) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled gas were closely related to the early screening and diagnosis of BC. This review summarizes the advances of the above biomarkers in the early screening and diagnosis of BC.
Humans ; Female ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Breast Neoplasms/diagnosis* ; Prognosis ; MicroRNAs/genetics*