OBJECTIVES: To investigate the risk factors for neonatal asphyxia in Hubei Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture and establish a nomogram model for predicting the risk of neonatal asphyxia. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted with 613 cases of neonatal asphyxia treated in 20 cooperative hospitals in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture from January to December 2019 as the asphyxia group, and 988 randomly selected non-asphyxia neonates born and admitted to the neonatology department of these hospitals during the same period as the control group. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk factors for neonatal asphyxia. R software (4.2.2) was used to establish a nomogram model. Receiver operator characteristic curve, calibration curve, and decision curve analysis were used to assess the discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness of the model for predicting the risk of neonatal asphyxia, respectively. RESULTS: Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that minority (Tujia), male sex, premature birth, congenital malformations, abnormal fetal position, intrauterine distress, maternal occupation as a farmer, education level below high school, fewer than 9 prenatal check-ups, threatened abortion, abnormal umbilical cord, abnormal amniotic fluid, placenta previa, abruptio placentae, emergency caesarean section, and assisted delivery were independent risk factors for neonatal asphyxia (P<0.05). The area under the curve of the model for predicting the risk of neonatal asphyxia based on these risk factors was 0.748 (95%CI: 0.723-0.772). The calibration curve indicated high accuracy of the model for predicting the risk of neonatal asphyxia. The decision curve analysis showed that the model could provide a higher net benefit for neonates at risk of asphyxia. CONCLUSIONS The risk factors for neonatal asphyxia in Hubei Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture are multifactorial, and the nomogram model based on these factors has good value in predicting the risk of neonatal asphyxia, which can help clinicians identify neonates at high risk of asphyxia early, and reduce the incidence of neonatal asphyxia.
Infant, Newborn ; Humans ; Male ; Pregnancy ; Female ; Nomograms ; Retrospective Studies ; Cesarean Section ; Risk Factors ; Asphyxia Neonatorum/etiology*

Recent population studies have significantly advanced our understanding of how age shapes the gut microbiota.However,the actual role of age could be inevitably confounded due to the complex and variable environmental factors in human populations.A well-controlled envi-ronment is thus necessary to reduce undesirable confounding effects,and recapitulate age-dependent changes in the gut microbiota of healthy primates.Herein we performed 16S rRNA gene sequenc-ing,characterized the age-associated gut microbial profiles from infant to elderly crab-eating maca-ques reared in captivity,and systemically revealed the lifelong dynamic changes of the primate gut microbiota.While the most significant age-associated taxa were mainly found as commensals such as Faecalibacterium,the abundance of a group of suspicious pathogens such as Helicobacter was exclusively increased in infants,underlining their potential role in host development.Importantly,topology analysis indicated that the network connectivity of gut microbiota was even more age-dependent than taxonomic diversity,and its tremendous decline with age could probably be linked to healthy aging.Moreover,we identified key driver microbes responsible for such age-dependent network changes,which were further linked to altered metabolic functions of lipids,carbohydrates,and amino acids,as well as phenotypes in the microbial community.The current study thus demon-strates the lifelong age-dependent changes and their driver microbes in the primate gut microbiota,and provides new insights into their roles in the development and healthy aging of their hosts.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect on essential hypertension of the topical application of TAT-Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase (TAT-SOD) at left acupoint Zusanli (ST 36), and to observe whether the change of electrical potential difference (EPD) can be related to the change of blood pressure. METHODS: Sixteen patients with essential hypertension and 16 healthy subjects were included in the study. EPD between the left acupoints of Yanglingquan (GB 34) and Qiuxu (GB 40) was firstly screened out for the EPD detection. An intracellular superoxide quenching enzyme, TAT-SOD, was topically applied to the acupoint ST 36 within an area of 1 cm once a day, and the influence on EPD was investigated. The dosage applied to TAT-SOD group (n=8) was 0.2 mL of 3000 U/mL TAT-SOD cream prepared by adding purified TAT-SOD to a vehicle cream, while placebo group (n=8) used the vehicle cream instead. The left acupoints of Yanglingquan (GB 34) and Qiuxu (GB 40) were selected for EPD measurement after comparing EPD readings between 5 acupoints on each of all 12 meridians. RESULTS: EPDs between the left acupoints of GB 34 and GB 40 for 16 patients of essential hypertension and 16 healthy subjects were 44.9±6.4 and 5.6±0.9 mV, respectively. Daily application of TAT-SOD for 15 days at ST 36 of essential hypertension patients significantly decreased systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 179.6 and 81.5 mm Hg to 153.1 and 74.1 mm Hg, respectively. Responding to the change in blood pressure, EPD between the left acupoints of GB 34 and GB 40 also declined from 44.4 to 22.8 mV with the same trend. No change was observed with SBP, DBP and EPD between the left acupoints of GB 34 and GB 40 with the daily application of the placebo cream. CONCLUSION Enzymatic scavenging of the intracellular superoxide at ST 36 proved to be effective in decreasing SBP and DBP. The results reconfirm the involvement of superoxide anions and its transportation along the meridians, and demonstrate that EPD between acupoints may be an indicator to reflect its functioning status. Moreover, preliminary results suggest a close correlation between EPD and blood pressure readings, implying a possibility of using EPD as a sensitive parameter for blood pressure and to monitor the effect of antihypertensive treatment.

The application of ArcGIS and Maxent modelto analyze the ecological suitability of Gardenia jasminoides.Taking 85 batches of Gardenia as the basis of analysis, the selection of ecological factors for the growth of Gardenia. The results showed that the average precipitation in April, the average precipitation in November and the average precipitation in August were the most important factors affecting the growth of Gardenia. The relative concentration of Gardenia suitable growth region,north to the south of Shaanxi province, south of Henan, central Anhui, south to the north of Hainan province, west to central Sichuan province, east of Zhejiang coastal area, northeast of Taiwan.

Protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) are attractive targets in searching for therapeutic agents against many diseases. In this study, a series of dehydroabietylamine derivatives were first determined to show PTK inhibitory activity using a high-throughput screening (HTS) method based on homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence (HTRF) technology. The structure-activity relationships of the dehydroabietylamine derivatives were established, and it was found that the compounds with a nitrogen-containing side chain had better inhibitory activity. Further studies showed that the compounds substituted with halogen in the phenyl ring resulted in higher inhibitory activity on the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and can be a guide to modify the structure of dehydroabietylamine derivatives. Dehydroabietylamine derivatives might be a new class of multi-targeted and effective PTK inhibitors with structure modifications.
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; Fluorescence ; High-Throughput Screening Assays ; Humans ; Kinetics ; Molecular Structure ; Protein Kinase Inhibitors ; chemistry ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; antagonists & inhibitors

OBJECTIVETo explore operative effect of lumbar intervertebral disc herniation accompanying with lumbar instability.

METHODSForm June 2000 to June 2006, 46 patients of lumbar intervertebral disc herniation accompanying with lumbar instability were treated with decompression through posterior approach, diskectomy, spinal fusion and vertebral pedicle internal fixation. Including 33 males and 13 females,the age was from 37 to 68 years with an average of 48 years. The course of disease was from 4 months to 20 years with an average of 3.5 years. There were simple segment in 21 cases, double segments in 22 cases, three segments in 3 cases.

RESULTSAll patients were followed up for 12-45 months with an average of 25 months. All cases got solid fusion and clinical symptom improved obviously. According to clinical standard to evaluation, 32 cases obtained excellent result, 8 good, 6 fair. The rate of excellent and good was 86.9%.

CONCLUSIONDiskectomy, spinal fusion and internal fixation can obtain satisfactory clinical effect for lumbar intervertebral disc herniation accompanying with lumbar instability.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; surgery ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Spinal Fusion ; Treatment Outcome

AIMTo identify the factors influencing diagnosis and treatment of chronic prostatitis (CP) among Chinese urologists.

METHODSA sample of 656 urologists from 29 provinces of China were asked to complete a questionnaire that explored attitudes towards CP as well as diagnosis and treatment patterns in the management of CP. Both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis schemes were used to determine the factors that influence the diagnosis and treatment of CP.

RESULTSA total of 656 questionnaires were given out. All were returned and 410 of those were included in the final univariate and multivariate analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that belief of bacterial infection in the etiology of CP (odds ratio [OR], 2.544; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.650-3.923; P < 0.001) was the most significant factor influencing the routine performance of bacterial culture test. Using the same model, the type of hospital (OR, 2.799; 95% CI, 1.719-4.559; P < 0.001) and the routine use of the 4- or the 2-glass test (OR, 3.194; 95% CI, 2.069-4.931; P < 0.001) were determined to be significant factors influencing the use of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) new classification system. According to the same model, belief of bacterial infection in the etiology of CP (OR, 3.415; 95% CI, 2.024-5.762; P < 0.001) and the routine use of bacterial culture test (OR, 2.261; 95% CI, 1.364-3.749; P < 0.01) were important factors influencing the routine prescription of antibiotics.

CONCLUSIONOur findings suggest that attitudes towards CP, and the characteristics of individual urologists' practices may influence the diagnosis and treatment of CP among Chinese urologists.

Adult ; Aged ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; therapeutic use ; China ; Chronic Disease ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Practice Patterns, Physicians' ; Prostatitis ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; microbiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

The method for analysis and determination the cleavage of soybean sterol, in which the soybean sterol was degraded and the products androst-1,4-diene-,17-dione (ADD) and androst-4-ene-3,17-dion (AD) were developed by Liquid Chromatography-mass Spectrometry. The HPLC conditions adopted were: a All- tima ODS-2 column (250 mm?4.6 mm, 5 ?m), a mobile phase consisted of menthanol-water (70:30), a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, a room column temperature. and the detective wavelength was 244 nm.The ZMD Micromass electrospray ionization (ESI)-mass spectrometer was employed. In such conditions the corre- sponding HPLC chromatogram and MS spectrum were obtained. The method has a linear ranger of 0.01 mg/mL ~ 0.09 mg/mL, R2 =0.9999, the recoveries of ADD and AD were 102.6% and 105.90%, the RSD of ADD and AD were 3.02%, 3.5% and 3.08%, 3.24%. This method showed high sensitivity, accuracyand easy to perform. It is suitable to analysis the process cleavage of soybean sterol as well as quality control of product.

OBJECTIVE: To detect the expression of Ki-67, Bcl-2, Bax and caspase-3 in simple benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and BPH combined with prostatitis,and to evaluate the effect of inflammation on the development and progression of BPH. METHODS: All specimens were obtained from patients undergoing surgical resection of the prostate. The paraffin section of the specimens was stained with hemotoxyline and eosin, and observed under light microscope to examine the inflammation hispathological changes. Sixteen patients with simple BPH (Group A) and 42 patients with BPH combined with prostatitis (Group B) were included. Immunohistochemical analysis and Western blot were used to examine the expression of Ki-67, Bcl-2, Bax and caspase-3. RESULTS: The expression of Ki-67 and Bcl-2 was significantly higher in Group B than that in Group A (P<0.05), and caspase-3 expression was significantly lower (P<0.05). There was no difference in Bax expression between the 2 groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION Prostatitis can up-regulate Ki-67, Bcl-2 expression, and down-regulate the expression of caspase-3 in BPH. Prostatitis appeared to play an important role in the development of BPH by affecting the proliferation and apoptosis of the prostatic cells.
Aged ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Humans ; Ki-67 Antigen ; biosynthesis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; complications ; metabolism ; Prostatitis ; complications ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; biosynthesis ; Up-Regulation ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; biosynthesis

OBJECTIVESTo analyze the survival rate of orthotopic liver retransplantation (Re-OLT) and identify the variables predicting the outcome.

METHODSA retrospective analysis of 74 Re-OLT patients from January 1999 to December 2005 was performed. The univariate analysis of Kaplan-Meier model was used to investigate the relativity between the factors and survival rate, and COX regression model was used in multivariate analysis to identify the prognostic factors for survival.

RESULTSThe total incidence rate of Re-OLT was 5.7%, and overall patient survival rates at 1 month, 3 month, 1 year and 2 year were 82.4%, 73.8%, 71.9% and 68.5%, respectively. There were 10 factors might influence the survival rate by Kaplan-Meier model, such as the period of Re-OLT, stage of hepatic encephalopathy, prothrombin time, total bilirubin, warm ischemia time, operative surgical procedure, quantity of blood lost during operation, days staying in the intensive care unit (ICU), infection and complications after Re-OLT. And three factors among them were identified as independent prognostic factors for survival by multivariate model: operative surgical procedure, days staying in the ICU and complications after Re-OLT.

CONCLUSIONThe surgical procedure, duration in ICU and complications after Re-OLT are strong predictors for survival after Re-OLT.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Liver Transplantation ; mortality ; statistics & numerical data ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Reoperation ; mortality ; statistics & numerical data ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Survival Rate