Objective:To investigate the carriage status of Neisseria meningitidis ( Nm) among the healthy population in Hebei Province for the prevention and control of meningitis. Methods:From 2015 to 2022, throat swabs were collected from health people, which were selected by cluster random sampling in 11 cities of Hebei.The positive rate of Nm was detected by bacterial culture. The serogroups of isolated strains were identified.The laboratory detection results of Nm strains, combined with epidemiological survey data, were synthetically analyzed. Results:A total of 20 245 people were investigated; 249 strains of Nm were isolated; the overall Nm carriage rate was 1.23%. The carriage rate was significantly higher in men than in women(χ 2=28.831, P<0.05). The positive rates of Nm in different age groups were significantly different(χ 2=428.018, P<0.05), with the highest rates in the 15-19 year-old group(4.90%, 149/3 042). The positive rates of Nm were significantly different in different regions(χ 2=177.512, P<0.05), with the highest positive rate of Nm in Xingtai, Shijiazhuang, Chengde and Baoding city in sequence. Among the isolated Nm strains, ungroupable serogroups, serogroup B, serogroup C, and serogroup W accounted for 71.49%(178/249), 13.65%(34/249), 6.83%(17/249) and 4.42%(11/249), respectively. Conclusions:The carriage rate of Nm among healthy population is generally low in Hebei Province. It is recommended to continue to strengthen monitoring, pay attention to the changes and distribution characteristics of Nm, and formulate scientific and targeted prevention and control measures of meningococcal disease.

Objective:To analyze the spatial-temporal epidemiological characteristics of pertussis from 2013 to 2022 in Hebei Province and to provide a reference for improving prevention and control measures.Methods:Based on the data of pertussis reported in Hebei Province during 2013-2022 to analyze the popular characteristic, the ArcGIS 10.8 software was used to construct a ring map and to perform spatial autocorrelation analysis; the SaTScan 10.1 software was used for spatial-temporal scan statistics.Results:There were 6 715 cases of the cumulative report in Hebei Province from 2013 to 2022 without death. The annual report incidence was 0.90/100 000. The overall incidence rate showed an upward trend from 2013 to 2019, and during 2020-2021, it showed a sharp decline, but in 2022, it showed a sharp increase. Summer and autumn are the peak seasons of the epidemic. The incidence was highest in age group <1 year (48.67%), and the lowest age group in age group ≥15 years (0.45%) and mainly scattered children (78.03%); the incidence about men is higher than women. Spatial autocorrelation analysis showed that the onset of pertussis has spatial clustering, and high-high clusters were found in Langfang, Baoding, and Cangzhou, the top three countries with reported incidence. The area covered by a low-low cluster was consistent with the distribution of the corresponding low-incidence areas in this study. Space-time scan detects five statistically significant areas, and three zones were concentrated in 2022.Conclusions:The incidence of pertussis in Hebei had obvious season, population, and area-specific differences. There was obvious spatiotemporal and clustering, so the control of key areas should target the characteristics of time and space.

Objective:To investigate the application status of emergency radiology in China, and to provide data support for the standardized development, scientific management and big data research of emergency radiology.Methods:From August 12th to October 19th, 2022, a questionnaire survey was conducted through WeChat"Questionnaire Star"to send targeted questionnaires to investigate the relevant data of the current status of emergency radiology in China, mainly including digital radiography (DR) and computed tomography (CT). This study was initiated by the Chinese Emergency Radiology Database Collaboration Group, and comprehensively investigated emergency imaging personnel, equipment, workload, critical value reporting process, and artificial intelligence (AI) application status.Results:There were 123 hospitals in the study. The survey showed that emergency DR/CT reports were mainly completed by residents and above (69.1%). There were 21 DR brands, 10 CT brands and 8 MR brands used for emergency imaging examinations. The median number of DR examinations in tertiary hospitals and secondary hospitals investigated from January to June 2022 was 4 642 and 2 015 cases respectively, and the median number of CT examinations was 16 512 and 3 762 cases respectively. The average single-shift workload of DR in the emergency radiology department during the day and night shift in tertiary hospitals was mainly ≤20 copies and 21-50 copies, and the average single-shift workload of CT in the emergency radiology department during the day and night shift was mainly 21-50 copies and 51-100 copies, while the average single-shift workload of DR/CT in the emergency radiology department during the day/night shift in secondary hospitals was mainly ≤20 copies. In terms of critical value reporting process, 74.8% of emergency imaging doctors and 84.6% of emergency imaging technicians took the way of phone/text message to notify the clinical doctor or the patients′ family. The overall deployment rate of AI in emergency imaging was about 60.2%. 75% of the respondents believed that in the future, AI can improve emergency radiology work from aspects such as emergency screening, aided diagnosis and process optimization.Conclusions:The emergency medical imaging mainly based on DR and CT has the current situations such as generally low seniority of doctors, diverse brands of imaging equipments, large volume of examinations and intense workload per doctor, especially in tertiary hospitals, and dependence on traditional means for critical value reporting. At present, AI is emerging in the field of emergency imaging, and there is still a long way to go to play the huge potential of AI in the intelligent whole process of emergency imaging in the future.

Abstract: Objective To evaluate the impact of meningococcal vaccine immunization on the incidence of meningococcal meningitis, aiming to refine the local immunization strategies and programs. Methods Data on the reported incidence of meningococcal meningitis in Hebei province for 1970-2023 were collected, and interrupted time-series( ITS) analysis was used to quantitatively analyze the levels and slope change of the incidence of meningococcal meningitis before and after vaccine immunization and before and after inclusion in the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI). Results The annual average reported incidences of meningococcal meningitis in Hebei province before vaccination (1970-1979), before (1980-2007) and after (2008-2023) the inclusion of the vaccine in the EPI were respectively 20.79 per 100 000, 1.66 per 100 000, and 0.018 per 100 000. The interrupted time-series analysis from 1970 to 2023 showed an initial meningitis incidence rate of 24.12 per 100 000 (t=9.86, P<0.05), with an average annual decrease of 1.07 per 100 000 (t=-2.42, P<0.05). After the introduction of the meningococcal vaccine in 1980, the incidence of meningococcal meningitis decreased quickly with an annual average decline of 18.39 per 100 000, showing a significant short-term intervention effect (t=-2.70, P<0.05); however, the rate of decrease slowed over the long term to 0.13 per 100 000, with the long-term intervention effect not being significant (P>0.05). And the incidence was significantly increased due to the outbreak (t=7.80, P<0.05). From 1980 to 2023, the initial level of incidence was 5.13 per 100 000 (t=8.70, P<0.05), and decreased by 0.23/100 000 per year on average (t=-6.42, P<0.05). After the inclusion of the vaccine in the EPI in 2008, the rate of decrease further slowed down to an average of 0.008 per 100,000 per year, with the long-term intervention effect being significant (t=2.50, P<0.05); the impact of epidemic outbreaks on incidence during this period was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Conclusions Meningococcal meningitis vaccination has led to a general downward trend in the incidence of meningitis in Hebei Province, and has flattened the trend of increased incidence caused by outbreaks. Therefore, long-term maintenance in immunization programs on the meningococcal meningitis is necessary. In addition, it is important to strengthen the monitoring of the distribution of epidemic serogroups in patients and healthy carriers, and to adjust immunization strategies timely based on changes in bacterial populations, selecting and promoting vaccines accordingly for the prevalent strains.

The detection of electrocardiogram (ECG) characteristic wave is the basis of cardiovascular disease analysis and heart rate variability analysis. In order to solve the problems of low detection accuracy and poor real-time performance of ECG signal in the state of motion, this paper proposes a detection algorithm based on segmentation energy and stationary wavelet transform (SWT). Firstly, the energy of ECG signal is calculated by segmenting, and the energy candidate peak is obtained after moving average to detect QRS complex. Secondly, the QRS amplitude is set to zero and the fifth component of SWT is used to locate P wave and T wave. The experimental results show that compared with other algorithms, the algorithm in this paper has high accuracy in detecting QRS complex in different motion states. It only takes 0.22 s to detect QSR complex of a 30-minute ECG record, and the real-time performance is improved obviously. On the basis of QRS complex detection, the accuracy of P wave and T wave detection is higher than 95%. The results show that this method can improve the efficiency of ECG signal detection, and provide a new method for real-time ECG signal classification and cardiovascular disease diagnosis.
Algorithms ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Electrocardiography ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Wavelet Analysis

Objective:To study the respiratory morbidity and the risk factors of respiratory complications in late-preterm infants.Methods:The data of 959 late-preterm infants in 21 hospitals in Beijing from October 2015 to April 2016 were collected.These infants were divided into the respiratory morbidity group (237 cases) and the control group (722 cases) according to whether they had short-term respiratory morbidity after birth.Clinical data of the two groups were compared.Results:Among the 959 late-preterm babies, 530 were male and 429 were female.Two hundred and thirty-seven cases (24.7%) developed short-term respiratory morbidity after birth.Infectious pneumonia developed in the most cases (81 cases, 8.4%), followed by transient tachypnea (65 cases, 6.8%), amniotic fluid aspiration (51 cases, 5.3%), and respiratory distress syndrome (24 cases, 2.5%) successively.All the infants recovered and discharged.There were no differences between gender and maternal age between 2 groups (all P>0.05). Compared with the control group, more late-preterm infants were delivered by cesarean section (73.4% vs.59.7%, χ2=14.43, P<0.001) and the 1-minute Apgar score was lower [(9.41±1.66) scores vs.(9.83±0.53) scores, t=5.40, P<0.001] in the respiratory morbidity group.The differences were statistically significant.There were more cases with maternal complications in the respiratory morbidity group that in the control group (66.7% vs.58.6%, χ2=4.877, P=0.027), but no difference in various complications between 2 groups was observed ( P>0.05). In the respiratory morbidity group, the most frequent complications were maternal hypertension and preeclampsia (27.8% vs.22.6%, χ2=2.728, P=0.099). There were no differences between 2 groups in gestational age, birth weight and birth length (all P>0.05). There were more infants small for gestational age and large for gestational age in the respiratory morbidity group than in the control group (18.8% vs.14.1%, 6.3% vs.2.4%, χ2=8.960, P=0.011). The duration of hospitalization of the respiratory morbidity group was significantly longer than that of the control group [(9.00±4.42) d vs.(6.82±4.19) d, t=6.676, P<0.001] since the infants with respiratory morbidity needed to be hospita-lized. Conclusions:Respiratory diseases occur in about 1/4 of late-preterm infants.Infants who are delivered by cesarean section and whose mothers are complicated with the maternal hypertension and preeclampsia should be monitored closely.Respiratory support should be provided for infants not appropriate for gestational age who are more likely to suffer from respiratory diseases, so that they can successfully pass through the transition period.

Objective To investigate the risk factors of hyperbilirubinemia in late preterm infants. Methods The clinical data of 815 late preterm infants (449 males and 366 females) from 25 hospitals in Beijing were collected from October 2015 to April 2016, including 340 cases(41.7％) with hyperbilirubinemia (hyperbilirubinemia group), and 475 cases without hyperbilirubinemia (control group). The clinical data of two groups were compared, and the maternal factors influencing hyperbilirubinemia in late preterm infants were analyzed with logistic regression. Results There were no significant differences in gender ratio (M:F 1.39 vs. 1.12, t=1.811,P=0.172)and birth weight[(2502.6±439.6)g vs. (2470.2±402.9)g,χ2=2.330,P=0.127)]between two groups. The incidence rates of hyperbilirubinemia in infants of 34 wks, 35 wks and 36 wks of gestational age were 22.9％(87/174), 35％(119/300) and 42.1％(143/341) respectively (χ2=1.218,P=0.544). The multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the maternal age(OR=1.044,95％ CI:1.010-1.080,P=0.011)was independent risk factor and multiple births(OR=1.365,95％CI:0.989-1.883,P=0.048), premature rupture of membranes(OR=2.350,95％ CI:1.440-3.833,P=0.001), cesarean section(OR=1.540,95％CI:0.588-4.031,P=0.014)were risk factors for hyperbilirubinemia in late preterm infants. Conclusions The incidence of hyperbilirubinemia in late preterm infants is relatively high. Maternal age, multiple births, premature rupture of membranes and cesarean section are risk maternal factors related to hyperbilirubinemia in late preterm infants.

Objective To type Streptococcus pneumoniae(S.pneumoniae) isolated from children, and provide scientific basis for the correct selection of S.pneumoniae vaccine.Methods 182 strains of S.pneumoniae were collected from Children's Hospital of Hebei Province in 2014, species of strains were identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), types of strains were analyzed with multiplex PCR.Results PCR detection showed that cpsA gene amplification of 182 strains were all positive;multiplex PCR detection revealed that except 8 strains were not typed, the main types of the remaining 174 strains were 19 F (n=68, 37.36%), 19A(n=33, 18.13%), and 6A/6B (n=26,14.28%), the other types were 35B, 14, 6C/6D, 23F, 15B/15C, and so on.Conclusion The main types of 182 strains of S.pneumoniae are 19 F, 19A, and 6A/6B, which provide scientific basis for the correct selection of S.pneumoniae vaccine for this province.

Objective To investigate whether activation of protein kmase C (PKC) can induce the activation and nuclear translocation of nuclear factor enthroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells in vitro,and explore whether PKC activation may affect the expression of Nrf2 in RPE cells.Methods PKC-specific activator phorbol ester PMA was used to culture rabbit RPE cells and RPE cells pretreated with Nrf2 inhibitor for 24 hours.Immunofluorescence and Western blot were used to detect Nrf2 in the nucleus of the expression of the situation,the data were obtained for statistical analysis.Results The expression of Nrf2 protein in the nucleus of PRE cells was detected by immunofluorescence.Compared with the control group,the expression of Nrf2 protein in the nucleus of RPE cells increased in the experimental group,and the increase of PMA + Nrf2 inhibitor group was lower than that of PMA group.The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P ＜0.05).Western blot analysis showed that the Nrf2 protein in the nucleus of PRE was quantitatively analyzed by image analysis.The gray value of the control group was significantly different (0.286 ± 0.013 in the control group,1.304 ± 0.033 in the PMA group and 0.671 ± 0.087 in the PMA + Nrf2 inhibitor group,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion PKC can activate nuclear translocation of Nrf2 in rabbit RPE cytoplasm,and Nrf2 inhibitor can attenuate the effect of PKC.

Objective A suspected strain of Brucella canis isolated in Hebei Province in 2015 was identified and its genetic characteristics were analyzed.Methods After conventional identification of the bacteria strain,multiplex polymerase chain reaction (M-PCR) and multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) were conducted to determine its species and genetic characteristics.Results The strain was identified as Brucella canis by conventional subtyping and M-PCR.Using Panel 1,the strain was genotype 3,using Panel 2A,the strain was genotype 28.It was closely clustered with Brucella canis,and differences of repeated numbers at variablenumber tandem-repeat (VNTR) loci Bruce04,Bruce07,Bruce09 and Bruce16 were also displayed.Conclusions The conventional subtyping and molecular methods can improve the stability and accuracy of the identification.Genetic characteristics of the strain is closely related to that of Brucella canis.