RATIONALE/OBJECTIVE

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) may be associated with meteorologic factors in temperate countries. The authors aimed to investigate the relationship between meteorologic factors and aSAH admissions in the Philippines, a tropical country with two seasons: rainy and dry.

A census review of aSAH admissions from 2015 to 2019 at a tertiary hospital was performed. Meteorologic data were collected for the same time period, and statistical analysis was performed.

A total of 660 patients were admitted for aSAH, 275 and 385 during the rainy and dry seasons, respectively. August and October had the greatest number of mean admissions (13.2) while February had the least (6.2). There was a moderate positive correlation between aSAH admissions and mean temperature. Negligible to weak negative correlations were seen between aSAH admissions and humidity, barometric pressure and precipitation. However, there was no correlation on regression analysis.

There were no significant differences in aSAH admissions between rainy and dry seasons. The authors found an increase in aSAH admissions during months with higher temperatures and HI, and weak to negligible negative correlations between aSAH admissions and humidity, barometric pressure, and precipitation. These findings may inform health care facilities in terms of readiness for aSAH admissions.

The chloroplast genome encodes many key proteins involved in photosynthesis and other metabolic processes, and metabolites synthesized in chloroplasts are essential for normal plant growth and development. Root-UVB (ultraviolet radiation B)-sensitive (RUS) family proteins composed of highly conserved DUF647 domain belong to chloroplast proteins. They play an important role in the regulation of various life activities such as plant morphogenesis, material transport and energy metabolism. This article summarizes the recent advances of the RUS family proteins in the growth and development of plants such as embryonic development, photomorphological construction, VB6 homeostasis, auxin transport and anther development, with the aim to facilitate further study of its molecular regulation mechanism in plant growth and development.
Female ; Pregnancy ; Humans ; Ultraviolet Rays ; Biological Transport ; Chloroplasts/genetics* ; Embryonic Development ; Plant Development/genetics*

YABBY proteins are important transcription factors that regulate morphogenesis and organ development in plants. In order to study the YABBY of strawberry, bioinformatic technique were used to identify the YABBY gene families in Fragaria vesca (diploid) and Fragaria×ananassa (octoploid), and then analyze the sequence characters, phylogeny and collinearity of the family members. The RNA-seq data and the quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) technique were used to assay the expression patterns of the family members. A green fluorescent protein (GFP) was fused with FvYABBYs and transiently expressed in tobacco leaf cells for the subcellular localization. As the results, six FvYABBY genes and 26 FxaYABBY genes were identified from F. vesca and F.×ananassa, respectively. The FvYABBY genes were grouped into five clades, and five family members were orthologous with AtYABBY genes of Arabidopsis. In F. vesca, all of the FvYABBYs were basically not expressed not expressed in root and receptacle, while FvYABBY1, FvYABBY2, FvYABBY5 and FvYABBY6 were highly expressed in leaf, shoot, flower and achene. In F.×ananassa, FxaYABBY1, FxaYABBY2, FxaYABBY5 and FxaYABBY6 were expressed in achene, and all FxaYABBY were poorly or not expressed in receptacle. Additionally, under the abiotic stresses of low temperature, high salt and drought, the expression of FvYABBY1, FvYABBY3, FvYABBY4 and FvYABBY6 were down-regulated, FvYABBY5 was up-regulated, and FvYABBY2 was up-regulated and then down-regulated. In tobacco leaf cells, the subcellular localization of FvYABBY proteins were in the nucleus. These results provides a foundation for the functional researches of YABBY gene in strawberry.
Fragaria/genetics* ; Arabidopsis ; Biological Assay ; Cold Temperature ; Computational Biology

BACKGROUND: There are few multi-city studies on the association between temperature and mortality in basin climates. This study was based on the Sichuan Basin in southwest China to assess the association of basin temperature with non-accidental mortality in the population and with the temperature-related mortality burden. METHODS: Daily mortality data, meteorological and air pollution data were collected for four cities in the Sichuan Basin of southwest China. We used a two-stage time-series analysis to quantify the association between temperature and non-accidental mortality in each city, and a multivariate meta-analysis was performed to obtain the overall cumulative risk. The attributable fractions (AFs) were calculated to access the mortality burden attributable to non-optimal temperature. Additionally, we performed a stratified analyses by gender, age group, education level, and marital status. RESULTS: A total of 751,930 non-accidental deaths were collected in our study. Overall, 10.16% of non-accidental deaths could be attributed to non-optimal temperatures. A majority of temperature-related non-accidental deaths were caused by low temperature, accounting for 9.10% (95% eCI: 5.50%, 12.19%), and heat effects accounted for only 1.06% (95% eCI: 0.76%, 1.33%). The mortality burden attributable to non-optimal temperatures was higher among those under 65 years old, females, those with a low education level, and those with an alternative marriage status. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggested that a significant association between non-optimal temperature and non-accidental mortality. Those under 65 years old, females, and those with a low educational level or alternative marriage status had the highest attributable burden.
Female ; Humans ; China/epidemiology* ; Cities ; Cold Temperature ; Hot Temperature ; Mortality ; Temperature ; Time Factors ; Middle Aged ; Male

BACKGROUND: It is crucial to understand the seasonal variation of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) for the detection and management of MetS. Previous studies have demonstrated the seasonal variations in MetS prevalence and its markers, but their methods are not robust. To clarify the concrete seasonal variations in the MetS prevalence and its markers, we utilized a powerful method called Seasonal Trend Decomposition Procedure based on LOESS (STL) and a big dataset of health checkups. METHODS: A total of 1,819,214 records of health checkups (759,839 records for men and 1,059,375 records for women) between April 2012 and December 2017 were included in this study. We examined the seasonal variations in the MetS prevalence and its markers using 5 years and 9 months health checkup data and STL analysis. MetS markers consisted of waist circumference (WC), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), fasting plasma glucose (FPG). RESULTS: We found that the MetS prevalence was high in winter and somewhat high in August. Among men, MetS prevalence was 2.64 ± 0.42 (mean ± SD) % higher in the highest month (January) than in the lowest month (June). Among women, MetS prevalence was 0.53 ± 0.24% higher in the highest month (January) than in the lowest month (June). Additionally, SBP, DBP, and HDL-C exhibited simple variations, being higher in winter and lower in summer, while WC, TG, and FPG displayed more complex variations. CONCLUSIONS This finding, complex seasonal variations of MetS prevalence, WC, TG, and FPG, could not be derived from previous studies using just the mean values in spring, summer, autumn and winter or the cosinor analysis. More attention should be paid to factors affecting seasonal variations of central obesity, dyslipidemia and insulin resistance.
Male ; Female ; Humans ; Metabolic Syndrome/epidemiology* ; Seasons ; Prevalence ; Climate ; Insulin Resistance ; Triglycerides

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases affecting the health of human beings. With limited therapeutic options available, complementary and alternative medicine has been widely adopted in cancer management and is increasingly becoming accepted by both patients and healthcare workers alike. Chinese medicine characterized by its unique diagnostic and treatment system is the most widely applied complementary and alternative medicine. It emphasizes symptoms and ZHENG (syndrome)-based treatment combined with contemporary disease diagnosis and further stratifies patients into individualized medicine subgroups. As a representative cancer with the highest degree of malignancy, pancreatic cancer is traditionally classified into the "amassment and accumulation". Emerging perspectives define the core pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer as "dampness-heat" and the respective treatment "clearing heat and resolving dampness" has been demonstrated to prolong survival in pancreatic cancer patients, as has been observed in many other cancers. This clinical advantage encourages an exploration of the essence of dampness-heat ZHENG (DHZ) in cancer and investigation into underlying mechanisms of action of herbal formulations against dampness-heat. However, at present, there is a lack of understanding of the molecular characteristics of DHZ in cancer and no standardized and widely accepted animal model to study this core syndrome in vivo. The shortage of animal models limits the ability to uncover the antitumor mechanisms of herbal medicines and to assess the safety profile of the natural products derived from them. This review summarizes the current research on DHZ in cancer in terms of the clinical aspects, molecular landscape, and animal models. This study aims to provide comprehensive insight that can be used for the establishment of a future standardized ZHENG-based cancer animal model.
Animals ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Hot Temperature ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/therapy* ; Models, Animal ; Syndrome

INTRODUCTION

Hysteroscopy is the gold standard procedure for the evaluation and diagnosis of intrauterine pathologies. The optimal time to do hysteroscopy is during the proliferative phase. However, for women with irregular bleeding, the optimal time is unpredictable. Besides pharmacological means, mechanical endometrial preparation could be done.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of suction curettage on visualization, operative time, fluid deficit, and histopathologic diagnosis among perimenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) and unprepared endometrium prior to operative hysteroscopy.

Thirty-four (34) perimenopausal women admitted for AUB with unprepared endometrium for operative hysteroscopy who consented to participate were recruited and randomly divided into two groups: 18 women had suction curettage done prior to operative hysteroscopy and 16 women had operative hysteroscopy done alone. The following data were obtained for each group: (1) improvement in clarity (i.e., visualization of fundus and both tubal ostia), (2) operative time from entry to withdrawal of the resectoscope (measured in minutes), (3) fluid deficit, and (4) final histopathological diagnosis. P 

Women who underwent suction curettage prior to operative hysteroscopy had improved visualization (72.2%, P < 0.001), shorter operative time (29.06 ± 7.06 min vs. 35.5 ± 7.2 min, P = 0.013), no difference in fluid deficit (P = 0.276), and the histopathologic diagnosis (P = 0.470).

Suction curettage prior to operative hysteroscopy among perimenopausal women with AUB and unprepared endometrium improved visualization and shortened operative time without affecting fluid deficit and histopathologic diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE: To detect the body surface temperature of the relevant back-shu points in patients with chronic persistent asthma by infrared thermal imaging technology, and observe the specific changes of the body surface temperature of the relevant back-shu points under the condition of lung disease. METHODS: Forty-five patients with chronic persistent asthma (observation group) and 45 healthy subjects (control group) were selected. The body surface temperature of bilateral Feishu (BL 13), Geshu (BL 17), Pishu (BL 20) and Shenshu (BL 23) were measured by BK-MT02A medical infrared thermography. RESULTS: The body surface temperature of bilateral Feishu (BL 13), Geshu (BL 17), Pishu (BL 20) and Shenshu (BL 23) in the observation group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.01, P<0.05). The body surface temperature of bilateral Feishu (BL 13) and Geshu (BL 17) was higher than that of ipsilateral Pishu (BL 20) and Shenshu (BL 23) in the two groups (P<0.01, P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in body surface temperature between ipsilateral Feishu (BL 13) and Geshu (BL 17), between ipsilateral Pishu (BL 20) and Shenshu (BL 23) (P>0.05). CONCLUSION The pathological increase of body surface temperature of Feishu (BL 13), Geshu (BL 17), Pishu (BL 20) and Shenshu (BL 23) in patients with chronic persistent asthma indicates that above acupoints have specificity in reflecting lung diseases. The Feishu (BL 13) and Geshu (BL 17), which have significantly increased body surface temperature, not only provide objective basis for the pathological pathogenesis of "deficiency in origin and excess in symptom" in patients with chronic persistent asthma, but also reflect the different expressions of different acupoints on the same meridian for the lung diseases.
Humans ; Temperature ; Asthma/diagnostic imaging* ; Meridians ; Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy/methods*

The paper reviews the inheritance, innovation and development of heat-sensitive moxibustion; and explores the path for the clinical development of moxibustion of traditional Chinese medicine moxibustion (TCM). Practice has shown that the laws of clinical research on TCM moxibustion refer to phenomenon discovery, exploration of rules, technological innovation, verification of curative effects, theory sublimation, returning to clinical practice, discipline construction, and experimental research. It is deeply realized that TCM research should be based on clinical practice, originated from classics, focused on theoretical innovation and in serve of clinical practice.
Moxibustion ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Hot Temperature

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of meridian sinew releasing technique on moxibustion sensation of heat-sensitive moxibustion in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). METHODS: A total of 60 patients with KOA were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 30 cases each group. In the observation group, on the basis of the meridian sinew releasing technique, moxibustion sensation exploration method was applied at Dubi (ST 35) area on the affected side. In the control group, moxibustion sensation exploration method was applied at Dubi (ST 35) area on the affected side. The meridian sinew releasing technique was performed for 20 min each time, the moxibustion sensation exploration method was performed for 60 min each time, once a day for 3 days. The excitation rate, latency, duration time and intensity value of moxibustion sensation of heat-sensitive moxibustion were recorded on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd days of exploration in the two groups. RESULTS: The excitation rate on the 3rd day of exploration and total excitation rate in the observation group were higher than the control group (P<0.05). On the 1st, 2nd and 3rd days of exploration, the latency of moxibustion sensation of heat-sensitive moxibustion in the observation group was shorter than the control group (P<0.05), the duration time was longer than the control group (P<0.05), and the intensity value was higher than the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION Meridian sinew releasing technique could improve the excitation rate of moxibustion sensation of heat-sensitive moxibustion in patients with KOA, shorten the latency, prolong the duration time, and improve the intensity value.
Humans ; Osteoarthritis, Knee/therapy* ; Hot Temperature ; Meridians ; Moxibustion ; Sensation