OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture based on "status-target coherence" theory combined with Kegel exercises for vaginal laxity syndrome (VLS). METHODS: Sixty-six patients with VLS were randomized into an observation group (33 cases, 2 cases dropped out, 1 case was discontinued) and a control group (33 cases, 5 cases dropped out). The observation group was treated with acupuncture combined with Kegel exercises, acupuncture was applied to bilateral Ciliao (BL32), Zhongliao (BL33), Sanyinjiao (SP6), etc. The control group was treated with Kegel exercises. Both acupuncture and Kegel exercises were performed once every other day, three times a week for 12 weeks. Before and after treatment, the vaginal laxity questionnaire (VLQ) score, pelvic floor muscle strength (vaginal resting pressure, vaginal systolic pressure, vaginal contraction duration), degree of vaginal laxity and sexual satisfaction questionnaire (SSQ) grade were observed in both groups. RESULTS: After treatment, the VLQ score, vaginal resting pressure, vaginal systolic pressure, vaginal contraction duration in the observation group were elevated compared with those before treatment (P<0.05), and SSQ grade was improved (P<0.05); and the above indexes in the observation group were better than those in the control group (P<0.05). There were no significant difference before and after treatment in the degree of vaginal laxity in the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION Acupuncture based on "status-target coherence" theory combined with Kegel exercises can effectively enhance the strength of pelvic floor muscles, improve the symptoms of vaginal laxity, and improve the satisfaction of sexual life, and its therapeutic effect is better than Kegel exercises alone.
Humans ; Female ; Adult ; Vagina/physiopathology* ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Exercise Therapy ; Young Adult ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Acupuncture Points ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Vaginal Diseases/therapy*

To explore the feasibility of using UAV-LiDAR for measuring the leaf area index (LAI) of crop canopies, we employed UAV-LiDAR to scan sugarcane canopies during the tillering and elongation stages, acquiring canopy point cloud data. Subsequently, features such as average row height, projected row area, point cloud density at different canopy layers, and the ratios between these parameters were extracted. Three feature selection methods-partial least squares regression (PLSR), XGBoost feature importance (XGBoost-FI), and random forest-recursive feature elimination (RF-RFE)-were adopted to evaluate and identify the optimal input variables for modeling. With these selected variables, LAI inversion models were developed based on random forest (RF) and adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) algorithms, and their performance was assessed. Among the extracted features, the projected row area S_p and the total row point count C_total exhibited strong correlations with LAI, with correlation coefficients of 0.73 and 0.72, respectively. The AdaBoost-based LAI inversion model, using the projected row area S_p, average height H_avg, mid-layer point cloud density C_m, and total row point count C_total as input variables, achieved the best performance, with a coefficient of determination (R_v²) of 0.713 and a root mean square error (RMSE_v) of 0.25 on the validation set. This study provides an effective method for high-throughput acquisition of LAI in field crops, offering valuable scientific support for sugarcane field management and breeding efforts.
Plant Leaves/growth & development* ; Saccharum/growth & development* ; Algorithms ; Unmanned Aerial Devices ; Remote Sensing Technology/methods* ; Crops, Agricultural/growth & development*

Objective:To investigate the development of receptive and expressive vocabulary in Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CI) during the first year after CI activation.Methods:A total of 827 children (411 boys and 416 girls) who were implanted CI before 2.5 years of age from October 2019 to December 2022 in the Department of Auditory Implantation, Shandong Provincial ENT Hospital were included in this study. The Infant Checklist of the Mandarin Early Vocabulary Inventory (EVI) was used to assess the quantity and content of receptive and expressive vocabulary at the time of CI activation and at the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th months post-activation. SPSS 22.0 was used to describe the receptive and expressive vocabulary of CI children at the first year after activation.Results:During the first year after CI activation, CI children′s receptive and expressive vocabulary consistently increased with the CI usage. The average number of receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary respectively increased from 0 to 178, and from 0 to 97. At the first year of post-activation, the number of receptive and expressive vocabulary of CI children were superior to that of hearing-age matched typical-hearing children, but fell behind of that of chronological age matched typical-hearing children. In terms of lexical categories, receptive and expressive vocabulary was acquired in the following order: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and pronouns. Among the top 50 words that CI children could express, nouns were the most common, then followed by verbs, adjectives, and pronouns. Father′s education level can significantly and positively predictethe receptive vocabulary of CI children at the first year post-activation. At the first year after CI activation, the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles were 113, 149, 178, 202, 223 for the receptive vocabulary, and 9, 37, 97, 148, 188 for expressive vocabulary.Conclusion:For Mandarin speaking children with CI, the receptive and expression vocabulary continuely increased within the first year after CI activation. The ability to grasp receptive vocabulary precedes the ability to express expressive vocabulary. Compared to hearing-age matched typical-hearing children, CI children showed faster rate of the vocabulary growth, and earlier and more frequently verb expression. However, it still larged behind that of chronological age matched hearing normal children. CI children respectively understood and expressed nouns and verbs the first. In children with CI, the first concepts understood and expressed were nouns and verbs. Among the first 50 words expressed, nouns were the most numerous, and the age at which verbs were acquired was earlier than that for hearing-age matched typical-hearing children.

Humans ; Asthma/drug therapy* ; Biological Therapy

Objective:To analyze the effects of electrical acoustic stimulation (EAS) on speech and tone recognition as well as music perception in children with low-frequency residual hearing (LFRH) after cochlear implant (CI).Methods:A total of twelve Mandarin patients with LFRH who underwent unilateral CI from January 2017 to October 2020 were recruited, including 8 males and 4 females. There were 5 cases of pre-lingual deafness and 7 cases of post-lingual deafness. The median age at implantation was 12 years old (3-62 years). All patients had residual hearing (RH) before surgery, wore hearing aid (HA) timely, had an effective rehabilitation and the duration of use of electrical stimulation was 37.0±16.2 months. On the implanted side, the thresholds of 125 Hz and 250 Hz were less than and equal to 80 dB HL after implantation. A two-month follow-up clinical study was conducted with the EAS devices. The EAS effects were evaluated before, immediately after and 2 months after upgrade, including speech recognition rate, tone recognition and music tests. SPSS 23.0 software was used for statistical analysis.Results:A total of ten patients completed a two-month clinical follow-up and efficiency evaluation. Compared to the electrical stimulation, the recognition rate of spondee word significantly decreased after the immediate use of EAS (71.7±4.3 vs 79.6±3.1, P=0.018). Compared to the electrical stimulation as well as immediate use of EAS, the results of sentence in noise, tone in noise, and SRT of sentence in noise were all significantly improved at 2 months after use of EAS ( P<0.05). The pitch discrimination was significantly improved at 2 months after the use of EAS compared with that before the use of EAS ( P=0.042). Compared with before ( P=0.021) and immediately ( P=0.017) use of EAS, the ability of rhythm resolution was significantly improved. There were no significant differences in other test results ( P>0.05). Conclusions:The low-frequency acoustic information provided by EAS as well as the electrical-acoustic stimulation mode can provide rich auditory cues of speech perception in noise, tone recognition in noise, and musical discrimination for CI subjects. It can promote the improvement of complex listening ability of CI patients undergoing long-term electrical stimulation in a short time and comprehensively improve their hearing capacities.

Objective:To explore the lesion characteristics and predictors of invasive coronary angiography (ICA)-verified obstructive lesions with fractional flow reserve (FFR)>0.80, that is, anatomy-function mismatch.Methods:A total of 515 obstructive vessels in 419 coronary disease patients from 11 Chinese medical centers undergoing coronary CT angiography and ICA and FFR were retrospectively analyzed. All vessels had one target lesion with diameter stenosis ≥50 % by ICA. There were 229 vessels in the match group (FFR≤0.80) and 286 vessels in the mismatch group (FFR>0.80). The lesion characteristics including lesion territory, the distance of the coronary artery ostium to the proximal end of the lesion, minimum lumen area, reference lumen area, plaque length and burden, plaque volume and component volume, remodeling index and plaque morphological complexity were measured and compared between the two groups. Optimal thresholds of quantitative plaque characteristics were defined by Yoden index. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the predictors of anatomy-function mismatch. Area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to analyze the ability of different lesion features to predict mismatched lesions.Results:The coronary stenosis, plaque burden and length, plaque volume (including each component volume) in the mismatch group were smaller than those in the match group, and FFR, minimum lumen area were larger (all P<0.05). Left anterior descending artery (LAD) lesion and severe complex plaque were more common in the match group than the mismatch group with a statistically significant difference. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that LAD lesion, minimum lumen area>4 mm 2, plaque burden and length, plaque calcification volume<27 mm 3, plaque lipid volume<30 mm 3, plaque fiber volume<150 mm 3 and plaque morphological complexity were predictiors of anatomic function mismatched lesions; Multivariate logistic regression showed that the minimum lumen area>4 mm 2 (OR=3.371, 95%CI 1.903-5.973, P<0.001), plaque lipid volume<30 mm 3 (OR=3.014, 95%CI 1.691-5.373, P<0.001), plaque morphological complexity (mild OR=17.772, 95%CI 8.072-39.128, P<0.001, moderate OR=6.383, 95%CI 3.739-10.896, P<0.001) were independent predictors of mismatched lesions. The AUC of the model based on the minimum lumen area, plaque lipid volume and morphological complexity was 0.824, which was superior to either of the plaque feature alone ( P<0.001). Conclusions:The minimum lumen area, lipid volume and plaque morphological complexity are independent predictors of the anatomical-functional mismatch lesions, and the combination can significantly improve the prediction value.

Objective:The aMAP score is a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk prediction model based on an international cooperative cohort, which can be applied to various liver diseases. The aim of this study is to use the aMAP score to stratify the risk of HCC in patients with chronic liver disease (combined or non-combined metabolic diseases) admitted to People's Hospital of Yudu County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, in order to guide personalized HCC screening.Methods:The demographic information, laboratory test results (platelets, albumin, and total bilirubin) and combined disease information of patients with chronic liver disease who were admitted to People's Hospital of Yudu from January 2016 to December 2020 were collected, and the aMAP score was calculated to stratify HCC risk in this population.Results:A total of 3629 cases with chronic liver disease were included in the analysis, including 3 452 (95.1%) cases with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, 177 (4.9%) cases with fatty liver, and 22 (0.6%) cases with HBV infection and fatty liver. There were 2 679 (73.8%) male and the median age was 44 (35, 54). In the overall population, low, medium and high risk of HCC accounted for 52.6%, 29.0%, and 18.4% respectively. In the HBV-infected population, the proportion of high risk of HCC was significantly higher than that of fatty liver (18.9% vs. 9.6%, P = 0.001). The proportion of chronic liver disease patients with combined hypertension or diabetes was significantly higher than that of those with non-combined metabolic diseases (combined hypertension: 32.3% vs. 17.9%, P < 0.001; combined diabetes: 36.5% vs. 18.1%, P < 0.001). Moreover, the proportion of high-risk population with two metabolic diseases was significantly higher than that with one and no metabolic diseases (40.9% vs. 31.8% vs. 17.7%, P < 0.001). Conclusion:The aMAP score can be used as a simple tool for HCC screening and management of chronic liver disease in primary hospitals, and it is helpful to improve the personalized follow-up management system of chronic liver disease population. Chronic liver disease patients with metabolic diseases have a higher risk of HCC, and people with high risk of HCC should be given special priority in follow-up visits, so as to improve the rate of HCC early diagnosis and reduce the mortality rate.

Objective:To investigate the changes of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with subacute 1, 2-dichloroethane (DCE) poisoning.Methods:Ten patients with subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning hospitalized in Guangzhou 12th Municipal People's Hospital from December 2014 to March 2019 were taken as the subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning group, 34 typical acute toxic encephalopathy patients hospitalized at the same time as typical acute toxic encephalopathy group, 40 healthy physical examinees as normal control group. The levels of serum NSE in patients of subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning and typical acute toxic encephalopathy group during onset and improvement were detected by chemiluminescence method, and the results were analyzed statistically. The level of NSE in cerebrospinal fluid of subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning group was detected and analyzed its correlation with the level of NSE in serum. Using receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of NSE in subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning and typical acute toxic encephalopathy (area under curve, AUC) .Results:There was no significant difference between the serum NSE level of the patients with subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning in the onset group and the normal control group and the improvement group ( P>0.05) . The serum NSE level of subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning in the improvement group was lower than those in the normal control group ( P<0.01) . The serum NSE level of the subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning in the onset group was lower than those in the typical acute toxic encephalopathy in the onset group ( P<0.01) . There was no linear correlation between cerebrospinal fluid NSE and serum NSE in patients with subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning ( r=-0.183, P=0.52) . ROC curve showed that the AUC of serum NSE in diagnosing subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning and typical acute toxic encephalopathy were 0.661 and 0.726, respectively. Conclusion:There is no significant change in serum NSE in patients with subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning.

Objective:To investigate the changes of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with subacute 1, 2-dichloroethane (DCE) poisoning.Methods:Ten patients with subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning hospitalized in Guangzhou 12th Municipal People's Hospital from December 2014 to March 2019 were taken as the subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning group, 34 typical acute toxic encephalopathy patients hospitalized at the same time as typical acute toxic encephalopathy group, 40 healthy physical examinees as normal control group. The levels of serum NSE in patients of subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning and typical acute toxic encephalopathy group during onset and improvement were detected by chemiluminescence method, and the results were analyzed statistically. The level of NSE in cerebrospinal fluid of subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning group was detected and analyzed its correlation with the level of NSE in serum. Using receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of NSE in subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning and typical acute toxic encephalopathy (area under curve, AUC) .Results:There was no significant difference between the serum NSE level of the patients with subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning in the onset group and the normal control group and the improvement group ( P>0.05) . The serum NSE level of subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning in the improvement group was lower than those in the normal control group ( P<0.01) . The serum NSE level of the subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning in the onset group was lower than those in the typical acute toxic encephalopathy in the onset group ( P<0.01) . There was no linear correlation between cerebrospinal fluid NSE and serum NSE in patients with subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning ( r=-0.183, P=0.52) . ROC curve showed that the AUC of serum NSE in diagnosing subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning and typical acute toxic encephalopathy were 0.661 and 0.726, respectively. Conclusion:There is no significant change in serum NSE in patients with subacute 1, 2-DCE poisoning.

Objective: To investigate the clinical featuresand related factors of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody associated vasculitis (AVV) with interstitial lung disease (ILD), and to explore the high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the chest features between different anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) serotypes. Methods: Clinical date of 125 patients diagnosed with AAV by Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from January 1, 2010 to April 30, 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. Clinical manifestations between AAV patients with ILD or those without ILD (NILD) were compared. Patients who were complicated with ILD were divided into myeloperoxidase (MPO)-ANCA positive subset and proteimase (PR3)-ANCA positive subset, and the pulmonary computed tomographic mani-festation was compared among the two subsets. The count data was analyzed by t test, chi-square test/Fisher exact probality. Logistic regression model was applied to analyze the related factors. Results: Of the 125 AAV patients, 86(68.8%) patients were complicated with inter-stitial lung disease, and the mean age of ILD subgroup was higher than that of the NILD subgroup [(66±11) years vs (56±15) years, t=-3.78, P=0.001]. Com-pared with NILD patients, ILD patients had more symptoms (χ²=4.676, P=0.031). The serum levels of carcinoe-mbryonic antigen (t=-1.908, P=0.012), carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (t=-2.286, P=0.025) and carbohydrate antigen 153 (t=-2.857, P=0.007) were higher than the NILD pa-tients. In addition, MPO-ANCA positivesubgroup was more likely to present with pulmonary fibrosis (χ²=7.736, P=0.005), reticular shadow (χ²=9.762, P=0.002) and honeycombing (χ²=4.278, P=0.039) than PR3-ANCA positive subgroup on CT images of all ILD patients. Multivariate Logistic regressive analysis showed that patients who were older than 65 years [OR(95%CI): 3.305(1.280, 8.531), P=0.013], and Birmin-gham vasculitis activity(BVAS) score higher than or equal to 15 [OR(95%CI): 3.249(1.280, 8.247), P=0.013] were risk factors for AAV patients with ILD, while the probability of PR3-ANCA positive patients complicated with ILD was low [OR(95%CI): 0.063(0.005, 0.851), P=0.037]. Conclusion ILD is a very common clinical feature in AAV, especially for elders. The increase of serum CEA, CA199 and CA153 levels may be an early warning sign of interstitial lung disease. Pulmonary HRCT may more likely to present with pulmonary fibrosis in patients with MPO-ANCA positive.