Objective:To analyze the external quality control assessment results of fluoride testing laboratories in endemic disease prevention and control institutions nationwide from 2006 to 2023, investigate the quality control capabilities of these laboratories in various provinces, prefectures, cities, and counties nationwide, and ensure the accuracy and reliability of surveillance data on endemic fluorosis nationwide.Methods:Using retrospective analysis, the external quality control assessment results of all participating fluoride testing laboratories of national endemic disease prevention and control institutions from 2006 to 2023 were summarized and analyzed. The assessment results from 2006 to 2008 were tested for outliers using Grubbs method, homogeneity of variance using Cochran method, excluding the assessment data of unqualified laboratories, calculating the total mean and total standard deviation, Z-score method was used to test the assessment of laboratories, and statistical analysis and judgment were done when the result of │Z│ < 3. The assessment results from 2009 - 2023 were obtained from all laboratories. In 2010, two tests were conducted in the first and second half of the year, and the Z-ratio scores of each laboratory were calculated using robust statistics. When │Z│≤2, the assessment was qualified; when 2 < │Z│ < 3, the assessment was basically qualified; when│Z│≥3, the assessment was unqualified, and the consensus value came from all participating laboratories in the assessment.Results:From the beginning of quality control operation in 2006 to 2023, the number of laboratories participated in external quality control assessments had significantly increased. The number of laboratories participated in water fluoride assessment increased from 30 in 2006 to 1 277 in 2023, and the number of laboratories participated in urine fluoride assessment increased from 29 to 497. The number of laboratories participated in the brick tea fluorine assessment had increased from 43 in 2014 to 193 in 2023. The assessment results showed that when │Z│ < 3, the total qualified rate of fluoride external quality control in fluoride testing laboratories of national endemic disease control institutions was 95.2%, with the lowest being 87.1% (27/31) in 2008 and the highest being 100.0% (394/394) in 2014. When │Z│≤2, the total feedback pass rate was 88.4%, with the lowest being 79.3% (288/363) in the first half of 2010 and the highest being 99.5% (392/394) in 2014. The assessment results showed that when │Z│ < 3, the total pass rate of urine fluoride external quality control in fluoride testing laboratories of national endemic disease control institutions was 98.0%, with the lowest being 86.2% (25/29) in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and the highest being 100.0% (68/68) in 2014. When │Z│≤2, the total qualification rate was 93.7%, with the lowest being 86.5% (64/74) in the second half of 2010 and the highest being 100.0% (68/68) in 2014. The assessment results showed that when│Z│ < 3, the total pass rate of extra-fluoride quality control of brick tea in fluoride testing laboratories of national endemic disease control institutions was 95.4%, with the lowest being 85.0% (164/193) in 2023, and the highest being 100.0% (43/43, 51/51, 79/79) in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. When │Z│≤2, the total pass rate was 89.2%, with the lowest being 72.7% (32/44) in 2017 and the highest being 100.0% (43/43) in 2014. From 2009 to 2023, there were a total of 21 provincial-level laboratories that passed the water fluoride detection assessment, including 3 provinces where all prefecture level and county-level laboratories were qualified. The assessment results of urinary fluorine showed that there were 11 qualified provincial-level laboratories and 1 prefecture-level laboratory. From 2014 to 2023, the assessment results of brick-tea fluorine showed that there were 5 provincial-level laboratories that passed the tea fluorine testing assessment and no prefecture-level laboratory.Conclusions:Conclusion: From 2006 to 2023, the number of fluoride testing laboratories participating in external quality control assessment has increased year by year, and most provincial, municipal and county-level laboratories have good fluoride testing capabilities, which can meet the testing needs of endemic disease prevention and monitoring. For some laboratories with problems, targeted rectification should be carried out to improve the quality of detection, in order to provide better technical support for the monitoring of endemic fluorosis areas.

Objective:To explore the association between triglyceride glucose index (TyG)- waist to height ratio (WHtR)(TyG-WHtR) and cognitive impairment in middle-aged and elderly population.Methods:A cohort database was constructed using the data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, with 8 946 participants in 2011 and 2015 as the baseline population. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the association between TyG-WHtR levels at baseline and the risk of cognitive impairment in middle-aged and elderly population. The analysis was stratified by age and gender, respectively.Results:A total of 8 946 participants were included, with an average follow-up of 7.08 person-years and incidence density of cognitive impairment for 21.15 per 1 000 person-years. Compared with the Q1 level of TyG-WHtR, its Q3 and Q4 level increased the risk of cognitive impairment by 32% ( HR=1.32, 95% CI: 1.09-1.60) and 47% ( HR=1.47, 95% CI: 1.14-1.91), respectively. Trend test showed that the risk of cognitive impairment increased with the increase of TyG-WHtR level, and there was a dose-response relationship ( P=0.001). Stratified analysis showed that in the population aged 45-59 years, compared with the Q1 level of TyG-WHtR, its Q3 level increased the risk of cognitive impairment by 34% ( HR=1.34, 95% CI: 1.02-1.78). In the population aged 60 years and above, compared with the Q1 level, its Q3 and Q4 level increased the risk of cognitive impairment by 31% ( HR=1.31, 95% CI: 1.01-1.72) and 63% ( HR=1.63, 95% CI: 1.15-2.31), respectively. In the male group, there was no significant association between TyG-WHtR level and the risk of cognitive impairment ( P>0.05). In the female group, compared with the Q1 level of TyG-WHtR, its Q4 level increased the risk of cognitive impairment by 76% ( HR=1.76, 95% CI: 1.26-2.46). Conclusions:Middle-aged and elderly population with a higher TyG-WHtR level may increase the risk of cognitive impairment, and there were age and sex differences. Early cardiovascular health management and scientific and reasonable weight management are of great significance to preventing cognitive impairment.

Objective:To analyze the trend of dementia mortality rate among individuals aged 60 to 94 years in China from 1982 to 2021.Methods:Utilizing data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, the Joinpoint regression model was employed to analyze the trend in the dementia mortality rate among Chinese older adults from 1982 to 2021. The age-period-cohort analysis method was used to decompose the age effect, period effect and cohort effect of dementia mortality data in Chinese elderly people.Results:From 1982 to 2021, the crude mortality rate of dementia in elderly women aged 60-94 in China (133.67/100 000-214.02/100 000) was higher than that in men (70.92/100 000-119.70/100 000), and the age-standardized mortality rate of dementia in women (230.74/100 000-246.87/100 000) was also higher than that in men (132.88/100 000-140.19/100 000). The age-standardized mortality rate of dementia in both genders showed an N-shaped fluctuation trend. The average annual percent change (AAPC) of dementia mortality rate in elderly males aged 60-94 was 0.07% (95% CI: 0.01%-0.13%), and the AAPC of dementia mortality rate in elderly females was -0.01% (95% CI:-0.08%-0.07%). Age effect analysis showed that from the age of 60, the risk of dementia death in males and females increased with age, especially among elderly people aged 75-94 who experienced a rapid increase in dementia mortality rate. The period effect analysis showed that the overall risk of dementia death in elderly men and women aged 60-94 was decreasing, but it had increased from 2017 to 2021. The cohort effect analysis showed that the risk of dementia death was lower in later birth cohorts. Conclusion:From 1982 to 2021, the dementia mortality rate among Chinese older adults aged 60 to 94 years exhibited fluctuations. Particularly, there has been a notable rebound in recent years. Special attention should be directed towards female seniors and those aged 75 to 94 years.

Objective To investigate the relationship between the levels of serum neuron-specific enolase(NSE)and tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNF-α)and the attack stage and prognosis of children with epilepsy secondary to viral encephalitis(VE).Methods A total of 96 children with VE admitted to the People's Hospital Affiliated to Inner Mongolia Medical University from January 2015 to January 2020 were selected as the research subjects,and they were divided into the control group(children with VE,n=30)and the observation group(children with epilepsy secondary to VE,n=66).In addition,30 healthy children who underwent physical examination in the hospital during the same period were selected as the health group.The levels of serum NSE and TNF-α in the health group,control group and observation group were compared.Children in the observation group were further divided into the 24h relapse group(n=48)and 24h non-relapse group(n=18)according to the attack of disease within 24h after admission.The levels of serum NSE and TNF-α were compared between the two groups.Pearson correlation was used to analyze the relationship between the levels of NSE,TNF-α and the attack stage of epilepsy secondary to VE.Children in the observation group were divided into the good prognosis group(n=45)and the poor prognosis group(n=21)according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale score at discharge.The serum levels of NSE,TNF-α and other possible prognostic factors were compared between the two groups.Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to explore the prognostic factors of children with epilepsy secondary to VE,and the predictive value of serum NSE and TNF-αlevels on the prognosis of children with epilepsy secondary to VE was analyzed by drawing the receiver operating characteristic curve.Results The level of serum NSE in the control group was significantly higher than that in the health group(P＜0.05),and there was no significant difference in the level of serum TNF-α between the control group and the health group(P＞0.05).The serum levels of NSE and TNF-α in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group(P＜0.05).The serum levels of NSE and TNF-α in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group(P＜0.05).The levels of serum NSE and TNF-α in the 24 h relapse group were significantly higher than those in the 24 h non-relapse group(P＜0.05).The proportion of severe abnormal EEG,severe abnormal brain images and complicated respiratory failure,and serum levels of c-reactive protein,NSE and TNF-α in the good prognosis group were lower than those in the poor prognosis group(P＜0.05);there were no significant differences in sex,age,body mass,brain injury site,fever,hypokalemia,hyponatremia,previous convulsions,stress hyperglycemia,complicated organ dysfunction,viral infection,first episode of epilepsy,Glasgow Coma Scale score at admission,duration of convulsion,length of hospital stay,white blood cell count,aspartate transaminase,creatine kinase and cardiac troponin levels between the two groups(P＞0.05).The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that complicated respiratory failure,serum NSE and TNF-α levels were correlated with the prognosis of children with epilepsy secondary to VE(P＜0.05).The area under the curve(AUC)of serum NSE and TNF-α levels in predicting the prognosis of children with epilepsy secondary to VE was 0.724(95％confidence interval:0.672-0.776)and 0.689(95％confidence interval:0.637-0.734),respectively,with a sensitivity of 82.22％and 75.56％and a specificity of 76.19％and 71.43％;the AUC of the combination of the two in predicting the prognosis of children with epilepsy secondary to VE was 0.826(95％confidence interval:0.774-0.873),with a sensitivity of 73.33％and a specificity of 80.95％.Conclusion The serum levels of NSE and TNF-α are abnormally high in children with epilepsy secondary to VE.Both of them are factors affecting the prognosis of children with epilepsy secondary to VE,showing a good predictive value for the prognosis of epilepsy secondary to VE.

Objective:To analyze the trend of dementia mortality rate among individuals aged 60 to 94 years in China from 1982 to 2021.Methods:Utilizing data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, the Joinpoint regression model was employed to analyze the trend in the dementia mortality rate among Chinese older adults from 1982 to 2021. The age-period-cohort analysis method was used to decompose the age effect, period effect and cohort effect of dementia mortality data in Chinese elderly people.Results:From 1982 to 2021, the crude mortality rate of dementia in elderly women aged 60-94 in China (133.67/100 000-214.02/100 000) was higher than that in men (70.92/100 000-119.70/100 000), and the age-standardized mortality rate of dementia in women (230.74/100 000-246.87/100 000) was also higher than that in men (132.88/100 000-140.19/100 000). The age-standardized mortality rate of dementia in both genders showed an N-shaped fluctuation trend. The average annual percent change (AAPC) of dementia mortality rate in elderly males aged 60-94 was 0.07% (95% CI: 0.01%-0.13%), and the AAPC of dementia mortality rate in elderly females was -0.01% (95% CI:-0.08%-0.07%). Age effect analysis showed that from the age of 60, the risk of dementia death in males and females increased with age, especially among elderly people aged 75-94 who experienced a rapid increase in dementia mortality rate. The period effect analysis showed that the overall risk of dementia death in elderly men and women aged 60-94 was decreasing, but it had increased from 2017 to 2021. The cohort effect analysis showed that the risk of dementia death was lower in later birth cohorts. Conclusion:From 1982 to 2021, the dementia mortality rate among Chinese older adults aged 60 to 94 years exhibited fluctuations. Particularly, there has been a notable rebound in recent years. Special attention should be directed towards female seniors and those aged 75 to 94 years.

Epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is an oncogene involved in tumour genesis and progression. It is expressed in 7% of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and is associated with drug resistance of epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibodies. With the emergence of the therapeutic dilemma of CRC and the survival benefits of targeting HER2 for patients with breast cancer and gastric cancer, the significance of HER2 in CRC and the prognostic value of anti-HER2 therapy have been widely concerned, clinical researches on HER2-positive CRC have been continuously carried out. Currently, the diagnostic criteria for HER2 positive CRC have gradually been unified. HER2-targeting therapies such as monoclonal antibodies, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, antibody-drug coupling and HER2-related immunotherapy alone or in combination have shown good efficacy and brought significant survival benefits for HER2 positive CRC. This paper reviews the research progress of HER2 in CRC.

Accurate segmentation of pediatric echocardiograms is a challenging task, because significant heart-size changes with age and faster heart rate lead to more blurred boundaries on cardiac ultrasound images compared with adults. To address these problems, a dual decoder network model combining channel attention and scale attention is proposed in this paper. Firstly, an attention-guided decoder with deep supervision strategy is used to obtain attention maps for the ventricular regions. Then, the generated ventricular attention is fed back to multiple layers of the network through skip connections to adjust the feature weights generated by the encoder and highlight the left and right ventricular areas. Finally, a scale attention module and a channel attention module are utilized to enhance the edge features of the left and right ventricles. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method in this paper achieves an average Dice coefficient of 90.63% in acquired bilateral ventricular segmentation dataset, which is better than some conventional and state-of-the-art methods in the field of medical image segmentation. More importantly, the method has a more accurate effect in segmenting the edge of the ventricle. The results of this paper can provide a new solution for pediatric echocardiographic bilateral ventricular segmentation and subsequent auxiliary diagnosis of congenital heart disease.
Adult ; Humans ; Child ; Heart Ventricles/diagnostic imaging* ; Echocardiography ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted

Over the past decade, remarkable progress has been made in prevention and control of endemic diseases in China through implementation of the 12th and the 13th Five-Year National Plans for Prevention and Control of Endemic Diseases and the Three-Year Action Plan for Special Prevention and Control of Endemic Diseases. Based on the latest monitoring data of endemic diseases and the evaluation results of the control and elimination of endemic diseases of the 13th Five-Year Plan, this paper analyzed current main problems in prevention and control of endemic diseases in China, focusing on implementation of prevention and control measures for iodine deficiency disorders, endemic fluorosis, and endemic arsenicosis, as well as the treatment and management of patients. Accordingly, corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward from three aspects, including prevention and control mechanism, implementation of prevention and control measures, and scientific research, so as to provide scientific basis for the country and various regions to consolidate the achievements of prevention and control of endemic diseases and accurately implement the prevention and control measures of endemic diseases.

Objective:To depict the long-term trends of prevalence and disease burden of preterm birth from 1990 to 2019.Methods:Data was from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study. The prevalence rate (%) and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) rate of preterm birth were adopted and were further stratified by sex. China's prevalence rate and DALYs rate were compared with those of high-income, middle and high-income, middle and low-income, and low-income countries, defined by the World Bank. Joinpoint log-linear regression model was used to analyze the trend.Results:In 2019, the prevalence of preterm birth in China was 6.34% [95% uncertainty interval ( UI): 6.23%-6.44%], lower than the global average level (11.24%,95% UI: 11.16%-11.32%) or the average level of low-income (13.15%, 95% UI: 12.97%-13.33%), lower-middle income (12.53%, 95% UI: 12.39%-12.68%), upper-middle income (8.22%, 95% UI: 8.15%-8.29%) and high-income (8.75%, 95% UI: 8.67%-8.84%) countries. The DALYs rate (person-year /100 000) of preterm birth in China was 217.12 (95% UI: 191.30-246.69), lower than the average level of the world (886.81, 95% UI: 762.12-1 034.49), low-income (1 905.24, 95% UI: 1 542.35-2 377.54), lower-middle-income (1 349.98, 95% UI: 1 154.04-1 583.81) and upper-middle-income (366.56, 95% UI: 321.51-416.88) countries, but higher than the average level of high-income countries (206.21,95% UI: 179.96-234.90). From 1990 to 2019, the prevalence and DALYs rate of preterm birth in China showed a downward trend, with an average annual decline of 0.56% (95% CI:0.54%-0.58%) and 5.87% (95% CI:5.54%-6.19%), respectively. In general, the prevalence rate of preterm birth in men declined faster than that in women (men:0.64%, 95% CI: 0.62%-0.66%; women: 0.46%, 95% CI: 0.44%-0.48%), so as the DALYs rate (men:5.90%, 95% CI: 5.56%-6.24%; women:5.81%,95% CI: 5.50%-6.13%). Conclusions:From 1990 to 2019, the prevalence and DALYs rate of preterm birth in China showed an overall downward trend, and the decline rate was higher in men than in women. The etiological research on the risk factors of preterm birth, especially spontaneous preterm birth, should be further pursued, and a more comprehensive and precise monitoring, prevention, and health care system for preterm birth needs to be formulated.

In the past 10 years, remarkable progress has been made in prevention and control of endemic diseases in China through implementation of the National Plan for Prevention and Control of Endemic Diseases during the "12th Five Year Plan" and the "13th Five Year Plan" and the Three-year Action Plan for Tackling Key Problems in Prevention and Control of Endemic Diseases. Based on analysis of the monitoring data of endemic diseases in China for 10 consecutive years, this paper summarized the progress made in prevention and control of endemic diseases in China, discussed the main problems faced at present, and put forward key tasks of prevention and control of the diseases in the future.