An automatic ash-removal heat-sensitive moxibustion device was developed, which could keep relatively constant temperature of heat-sensitive moxibustion, and realize the automatic ignition and automatic ash removal of moxa sticks during heat-sensitive moxibustion. The automatic ash-removal heat-sensitive moxibustion device comprises a bracket and a moxibustion box fixed on the top of the bracket; the bracket is composed of a base and a movable telescopic arm. This device can solve the problems of temperature instability, moxa ash blocking heat transfer and moxa ash falling during heat-sensitive moxibustion, avoiding the scalding caused by moxa ash falling, and reduce the workload of medical staff.
Humans ; Hot Temperature ; Moxibustion ; Temperature

A moxibustion device with the functions of auricular fumigation moxibustion and heat-sensitive moxibustion is designed. The smoke of the ignited moxa stick is used for the fumigation moxibustion at the external auditory canal, while the heat generated works on Dazhui (GV 14) for heat-sensitive moxibustion. The device consists of five parts, i.e. combustion chamber, smoke pipe, smoke processing chamber, power module and connector. It solves the limitations such as unpleasant experience in treatment, unfavorable temperature control, easy scalding and excessive manual dependence induced by usual fumigation moxibustion and during heat-sensitive moxibustion. This moxibustion device may improve the safety and convenience when delivering the treatment with fumigation moxibustion and heat-sensitive moxibustion, as well as the work efficiency of medical staff.
Humans ; Moxibustion ; Hot Temperature ; Fumigation ; Smoke ; Temperature

Objective: To investigate the association between the urinary arsenic level and serum total testosterone in Chinese men aged 18 to 79 years. Methods: A total of 5 048 male participants aged 18 to 79 years were recruited from the China National Human Biomonitoring (CNHBM) from 2017 to 2018. Questionnaires and physical examinations were used to collect information on demographic characteristics, lifestyle, food intake frequency and health status. Venous blood and urine samples were collected to detect the level of serum total testosterone, urinary arsenic and urinary creatinine. Participants were divided into three groups (low, middle, and high) based on the tertiles of creatinine-adjusted urinary arsenic concentration. Weighted multiple linear regression was fitted to analyze the association of urinary arsenic with serum total testosterone. Results: The weighted average age of 5 048 Chinese men was (46.72±0.40) years. Geometric mean concentration (95%CI) of urinary arsenic, creatinine-adjusted urinary arsenic and serum testosterone was 22.46 (20.08, 25.12) μg/L, 19.36 (16.92, 22.15) μg/g·Cr and 18.13 (17.42, 18.85) nmol/L, respectively. After controlling for covariates, compared with the low-level urinary arsenic group, the testosterone level of the participants in the middle-level group and the high-level group decreased gradually. The percentile ratio (95%CI) was -5.17% (-13.14%, 3.54%) and -10.33% (-15.68%, -4.63). The subgroup analysis showed that the association between the urinary arsenic level and testosterone level was more obvious in the group with BMI<24 kg/m² group (P_interaction=0.023). Conclusion: There is a negative association between the urinary arsenic level and serum total testosterone in Chinese men aged 18 to 79 years.
Humans ; Male ; Arsenic/urine* ; Creatinine ; East Asian People ; Testosterone/blood* ; Urinalysis ; Adolescent ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Aged

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate myocardial injury in neonates born to pregnant women with pregnancy complicated by severe preeclampsia by myocardial work indices. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was performed on 25 preterm infants born to the pregnant women with severe preeclampsia from June 2020 to April 2021 (severe preeclampsia group), and 25 preterm infants born to the pregnant women without severe complications in pregnancy were enrolled as the control group. Echocardiography was performed within 24 hours and at 48-72 hours and 14-28 days after birth to measure conventional parameters. Two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography was performed to construct a noninvasive left ventricular pressure-strain loop based on two-dimensional myocardial strain and left ventricular systolic pressure noninvasively measured, so as to calculate myocardial work indices. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the severe preeclampsia group had significant reductions in left ventricular global work index and global constructive work within 24 hours after birth (P<0.05), a significant reduction in left ventricular global work efficiency and a significant increase in global waste work at 48-72 hours after birth (P<0.05), and a significant reduction in left ventricular global work efficiency at 14-28 days after birth (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Subclinical myocardial injury persists in the neonatal period in preterm infants born to pregnant women with severe preeclampsia.
Echocardiography/methods* ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Pre-Eclampsia ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women ; Prospective Studies

【Objective】 To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of T2DM patients with renal involvement. 【Methods】 We conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical and pathologic data from T2DM patients who received renal biopsy(n = 120), and these patients were followed up. Renal outcome is defined as receiving renal replacement therapy or progression to ESRD. 【Results】 Among the 120 patients with T2DM, 57(47.5%) were diagnosed as DN, and 63(52.5%) as non diabetic renal disease(NDRD). The most common subtype of NDRD is membranous nephropathy. Compared with the NDRD group, the DN group had longer course of diabetes, worse renal function and higher proportion of diabetic retinopathy. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the renal survival rate in DN group was significantly lower than that in NDRD group. The 1-year, 5-year renal survival rate of DN group was only 81%, 41% Vs NDRD group 95, 84%. After multivariate adjustment, the risk of ESRD in DN patients was 3.81 times higher than that of NDRD patients(95%CI 1.61-9.01, P=0.002) . 【Conclusions】 There is a risk of misdiagnosis DN by clinical manifestations, and accurate diagnosis depends on renal biopsy. The prognosis of DN patients is significantly worse than NDRD, so it is of great clinical significance to distinguish the pathological types of diabetic patients with kidney disease.

【Objective】 To explore the main causes of death and the risk factors for death in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients. 【Methods】 A retrospective study was carried out in 210 MHD patients in The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. Of the 210 patients, 68 dead were designated as the experimental group and the other 142 survivals as the control. Single factor and binary logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the effects of clinical indicators on the prognosis of patients. We further performed subgroup analysis in experimental group, examined the patients died of cardiovascular diseases and those died of non-cardiovascular diseases, and then compared their results of color Doppler echocardiography. 【Results】 The age of the patients was(56.6±16.6) years and 125 of them were male. Compared with those in the control group, the patients in the death group had elder average age, higher rates of complications such as hypertension, diabetes, cardio-cerebro-vascular diseases, lower levels of hemoglobin, albumin, creatinine and uric acid and significantly elevated level of hypersensitive C-reactive protein(P < 0.05). The top three causes of death were cardiocerebro-vascular disease(33 cases, 48.5%), infection(16 cases, 23.5%), malnutrition(8 cases, 11.8%). Logistic regression analysis showed that age, cardio-cerebro-vascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, hypersensitive C-reactive protein and serum creatinine were independent risk factors for death in MHD patients. Subgroup analysis revealed the patients died of CVD diseases had higher incidences of left ventricular hypertrophy and cardiac valve calcification than those died of non-CVD diseases.【Conclusion】Cardio-cerebro-vascular diseases, infection and malnutrition are the main causes of death in MHD patients. Patients died of CVD diseases exhibit significantly higher incidences of left ventricular hypertrophy and cardiac valve calcification compared with those died of non-CVD diseases.

An ideal animal model of azoospermia would be a powerful tool for the evaluation of spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) transplantation. Busulfan has been commonly used to develop such a model, but 30%-87% of mice die when administered an intraperitoneal injection of 40 mg kg^-1. In the present study, hematoxylin and eosin staining, Western blot, immunofluorescence, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction were used to test the effects of busulfan exposure in a mouse model that received two intraperitoneal injections of busulfan at a 3-h interval at different doses (20, 30, and 40 mg kg^-1) on day 36 or a dose of 40 mg kg^-1 at different time points (0, 9, 18, 27, 36, and 63 days). The survival rate of the mice was 100%. When the mice were treated with 40 mg kg^-1 busulfan, dramatic SSC depletion occurred 18 days later and all of the germ cells were cleared by day 36. In addition, the gene expressions of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), chemokine (C-X-C Motif) ligand 12 (CXCL12), and colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF1) were moderately increased by day 36. A 63-day, long-term observation showed the rare restoration of endogenous germ cells in the testes, suggesting that the potential period for SSC transplantation was between day 36 and day 63. Our results demonstrate that the administration of two intraperitoneal injections of busulfan (40 mg kg^-1 in total) at a 3-h interval to mice provided a nonlethal and efficient method for recipient preparation in SSC transplantation and could improve treatments for infertility and the understanding of chemotherapy-induced gonadotoxicity.
Adult Germline Stem Cells/transplantation* ; Animals ; Azoospermia/chemically induced* ; Busulfan/toxicity* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Infertility, Male/chemically induced* ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Male ; Mice ; Spermatogenesis/drug effects* ; Spermatogonia/drug effects* ; Stem Cell Transplantation/methods*

【Objective】To evaluate the feasibility of magnetization transfer（MT）magnetic resonance（MR）imaging for predicting the risk of intestinal fistula in patients with Crohn disease （CD）. 【Methods】 The study prospectively enrolled 12 consecutive patients with CD and abdominal MT imaging were performed before elective surgery. The bowel wall MT ratio normalized to skeletal muscle was calculated；region- by- region correlations with the surgical specimen were performed. Histopathologic evaluation of fibrosis was executed by using Masson trichrome. Wilcoxon rank test ， Spearman rank correlation， and receiver operating characteristic curve （ROC） were used for statistical analysis.【Results】Among 15 surgical intestinal segments from 12 patients，5 lesions were found with intestinal fistula and of them 12 bowel specimens were obtained. The other 10 intestinal segments were without complications and 23 bowel specimens were enrolled. The intestinal fistula bowel showed a significant higher （P=0.045） normalized MT ratio. ROC analysis revealed an area under the curve of 0.674（95%CI：0.537-0.811）for differentiating intestinal fistula bowel from the non- fistula one. The sensitivity，specificity was 93.3% and 51.1% with a cut-off value of 76.8%，respectively. For the Masson score，significant difference（P=0.012）was found between the complicated intestinal specimens and the non-complicated ones. Additionally， the normalized MT ration was statistical correlated with Masson score （r=0.708，P<0.001）.【Conclusion】MT imaging could be a potential method to predict the risk of intestinal fistula in patients with CD.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical pregnancy rates between two types of endometrial preparation protocolsnatural cycle（NC）and hormone replacement cycle（HRT）-in patients with thin endometrium in the frozen-thawed embryo transfer（FET）cycles.METHODS: From January 2012 to December 2018,FET patients with endometrial thickness ≤7 mm on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin（h CG）trigger in Reproductive Medicine Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University were selected as research subjects.According to the endometrial preparation protocols,they were divided into NC group and HRT group.Totally 117 pairs were successfully matched using the propensity score matching method.The matching variables were age,embryo type and number of transferred embryos,and the embryo implantation rate and clinical pregnancy rate of the two matched groups were compared.RESULTS: There was no significant difference in embryo implantation rate（36.47% vs. 39.03%）or clinical pregnancy rate（44.40% vs. 52.10%）between NC group and HRT group（P> 0.05）.CONCLUSION: NC group and HRT group had similar pregnancy rate in patients with thin endometrium in FET cycles.Individualized protocols can be adopted according to the characteristics of patients with thin endometrium.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the viral etiology and allergen distribution in infants and young children at high risk of asthma during a wheezing episode. METHODS: A total of 135 infants and young children at high risk of asthma were enrolled who were admitted due to asthmatic bronchitis or asthmatic bronchopneumonia between April 2016 and August 2017. Fluorescent probe PCR was used to measure influenza A (Flu A), respiratory syncytium virus (RSV), adenovirus (ADV), parainfluenza virus (PinF), human rhinovirus (HRV), human partial lung virus (hMPV) and human bocavirus (HBoV) in nasopharyngeal aspirates. ImmunoCAP was used to measure inhaled allergens, food allergens, and total IgE concentration. RESULTS: Among the 135 patients, the overall virus detection rate of nasopharyngeal aspirates was 49.6%, and HRV had the highest detection rate of 25.2%, followed by HBoV (9.6%), RSV (8.1%), PinF (5.9%), Flu-A (3.7%), ADV (1.5%) and hMPV (0.7%). The 1-3 years group had a significantly higher detection rate of HRV than the <1 year group (P<0.05). The positive rate of allergen screening was 59.3%, with 44% for inhaled allergens and 89% for food allergens. Among the inhaled allergens, dust mites had the highest positive rate of 77%, followed by mould (37%), pollen (26%) and animal dander (9%). Among the food allergens, egg white had a positive rate of 73% and milk had a positive rate of 68%. The <1 year group had a significantly higher positive rate of inhaled allergens than the 1-3 years group (P<0.05). The 1-3 years age group had a significantly higher level of T-IgE than the <1 year group (P<0.05). The positive virus group had a significantly higher positive rate of inhaled allergens than the non-virus group (P<0.05). The children with the second wheezing episode had significantly higher positive rates of inhaled allergens and food allergens and level of T-IgE than those with the first wheezing episode (P<0.05). The children with the second wheezing episode also had significantly higher positive rates of dust mites and mould than those with the first wheezing episode (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Early HRV infection and inhaled allergen sensitization are closely associated with the development of wheezing in infants and young children at high risk of asthma.
Allergens ; Animals ; Asthma ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Egg Hypersensitivity ; Humans ; Infant ; Pyroglyphidae ; Respiratory Sounds