Hepatitis B virus infection is a major social and economic burden in developing countries, especially in China. We aimed to evaluate the effects of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive status ...on the pregnancy outcomes in the Chinese population.
This retrospective cohort study was performed using data from the Medical Birth Registry of Xiamen, China, from January 2011 to March 2018. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between the HBsAg status and pregnancy outcomes.
This study included 3,789 HBsAg-positive women and 29, 648 non-exposed women. The HBsAg-positive pregnant women were slightly older in age (29.3±4.3 vs. 28.9±4.4, P< 0.001). Additionally, pregnant women with a positive HBsAg status had higher odds of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) (adjusted odds ratio aOR, 1.13; 95% confidence interval CI, 1.03-1.23), and cesarean delivery (aOR, 1.12; 95%CI, 1.03-1.21). The risk of infants being large or small-for-gestational age, having low-birth weight, and of macrosomia, preterm birth, and stillbirth did not differ significantly between the HBsAg-positive and-negative women.
In Xiamen, China, the slightly higher risk of GDM and cesarean section in women positive for HBsAg should not be neglected. Further studies should be conducted to evaluate the effects of HBsAg positivity on the pregnancy outcomes in different ethnic populations.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Both pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone （GnRH） infusion and combined gonadotropin therapy （human chorionic gonadotropin and human menopausal gonadotropin HCG/HMG） are effective to induce ...spermatogenesis in male patients with congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism （CH H）. However, evidence is lacking as to which treatment strategy is better. This retrospective cohort study included 202 patients with CHH： twenty had received pulsatile GnRH and 182 had received HCG/HMG. Patients had received therapy for at least 12 months. The total follow-up time was 15.6 ± 5.0 months （range： 12-27 months） for the GnRH group and 28.7 ± 13.0 months （range： 12-66 months） for the HCG/HMG group. The median time to first sperm appearance was 6 months （95% confidence interval CI： 1.6-10.4） in the GnRH group versus 18 months （95% Ch 16.4-20.0） in the HCG/HMG group （P〈 0.001）. The median time to achieve sperm concentrations 〉5 x 106 m1-1 was 14 months （95% Ch 5.8-22.2） in the GnRH group versus 27 months （95% Ch 18.9-35.1） in the HCG/HMG group （P 〈 0.001）, and the median time to concentrations 〉10 x 106 m1-1 was 18 months （95% Ch 10.0-26.0） in the GnRH group versus 39 months （95% CI unknown） in the HCG/HMG group. Compared to the GnRH group, the HCG/HMG group required longer treatment periods to achieve testicular sizes of 〉4 ml, 〉8 ml, 〉12 ml, and 〉16 ml. Sperm motility （a ＋ b ＋ c percentage） evaluated in semen samples with concentrations 〉1 × 106 ml-1 was 43.7% ± 20.4% （16 samples） in the GnRH group versus 43.2% ± 18.1% （153 samples） in the HCG/HMG group （P= 0.921）. Notably, during follow-up, the GnRH group had lower serum testosterone levels than the HCG/HMG group （8.3 ±4.6 vs 16.2 ± 8.2 nmol 1-1, P 〈 0.001）. Our study found that pulsatile GnRH therapy was associated with earlier spermatogenesis and larger testicular size compared to combined gonadotropin therapy. Additional prospective randomized studies would be required to confirm these findings.
Knowledge about the clinical and laboratory characteristics and prognosis of
Talaromyces marneffei
infection in children is limited. A retrospective study was conducted on pediatric patients with ...disseminated
T. marneffei
infection in a clinical setting. Extracted data included demographic information (age and sex), clinical features, laboratory findings, treatment, and prognosis. Eleven HIV-negative children were enrolled. The male/female ratio was 8:3. The median age of onset was 17.5 months (3.5–84 months). The mortality rate in these children was 36.36% (4/11). Seven children had underlying diseases. All of the children had multiple immunoglobulin abnormalities and immune cell decline. Ten children received voriconazole treatment, and most of the children (7/10) had a complete response to therapy at primary and long-term follow-up assessment; only three children died of talaromycosis. One patient recovered from talaromycosis but died of leukemia. The child who received itraconazole treatment also showed clinical improvement. No adverse events associated with antifungal therapies were recorded during and after the treatment. Talaromycosis is an indicator disease for undiagnosed severe immunodeficiencies in children. Awareness of mycoses in children by pediatricians may prompt diagnosis and timely treatment. Voriconazole is an effective, well-tolerated therapeutic option for disseminated
T. marneffei
infection in non-HIV-infected children.
This study analyzed the
in vitro
drug sensitivity of
Cryptococcus
spp. from Guangxi, Southern China. One hundred three strains of
Cryptococcus
were recovered from 86 patients; 14 were HIV positive ...and 72 were HIV negative. Ninety-two strains were identified as
Cryptococcus neoformans
var.
grubii
, while 11 strains were identified as
Cryptococcus gattii
(5
C. gattii sensu stricto
and 6
Cryptococcus deuterogattii
). The recovered strains were tested against commonly used antifungal drugs (fluconazole, amphotericin B, 5-fluorocytosine, itraconazole, and voriconazole) and to novel antifungal drugs (posaconazole and isavuconazole) using CLSI M27-A4 method. The results showed that all isolates were susceptible to most antifungal drugs, of which the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranges were as follows: 0.05–4 μg/ml for fluconazole, 0.25–1 μg/ml for amphotericin B; 0.0625–2 μg/ml for 5-fluorocytosine, 0.0625–0.25 μg/ml for itraconazole, 0.0078–0.25 μg/ml for voriconazole, 0.0313–0.5 μg/ml for posaconazole, 0.0020–0.125 μg/ml for isavuconazole for
C. neoformans
var.
grubii
isolates, and 1–16 μg/ml for fluconazole, 0.125–1 μg/ml for 5-fluorocytosine, 0.25–1 μg/ml for amphotericin B, 0.0625–0.25 μg/ml for itraconazole, 0.0156–0.125 μg/ml for voriconazole, 0.0156–0.25 μg/ml for posaconazole, and 0.0078–0.125 μg/ml for isavuconazole for
C. gattii
isolates. Furthermore, some
C. neoformans
var.
grubii
isolates were found to be susceptible-dose dependent to 5-fluorocytosine and itraconazole. In addition, a reduction in the potency of fluconazole against
C. gattii
is possible. We observed no statistical differences in susceptibility of
C. neoformans
var.
grubii
and
C. gattii
in the tested strains. Continuous observation of antifungal susceptibility of
Cryptococcus
isolates is recommended to monitor the emergence of resistant strains.
Pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) may induce spermatogenesis in most patients with congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) by stimulating gonadotropin production, while the ...predictors for a pituitary response to pulsatile GnRH therapy were rarely investigated. Therefore, the aim of our study is to investigate predictors of the pituitary response to pulsatile GnRH therapy. This retrospective cohort study included 82 CHH patients who received subcutaneous pulsatile GnRH therapy for at least 1 month. Patients were categorized into poor or normal luteinizing hormone (LH) response subgroups according to their LH level (LH <2 IU l−1 or LH ≥2 IU l−1) 1 month into pulsatile GnRH therapy. Gonadotropin and testosterone levels, testicular size, and sperm count were compared between the two subgroups before and after GnRH therapy. Among all patients, LH increased from 0.4 ± 0.5 IU l−1 to 7.5 ± 4.4 IU l−1 and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) increased from 1.1 ± 0.9 IU l−1 to 8.8 ± 5.3 IU l−1. A Cox regression analysis showed that basal testosterone level (β = 0.252, P = 0.029) and triptorelin-stimulated FSH60min(β = 0.518, P = 0.01) were two favorable predictors for pituitary response to GnRH therapy. Nine patients (9/82, 11.0%) with low LH response to GnRH therapy were classified into the poor LH response subgroup. After pulsatile GnRH therapy, total serum testosterone level was 39 ± 28 ng dl−1 versus 248 ± 158 ng dl−1 (P = 0.001), and testicular size was 4.0 ± 3.1 ml versus 7.9 ± 4.5 ml (P = 0.005) in the poor and normal LH response subgroups, respectively. It is concluded that higher levels of triptorelin-stimulated FSH60minand basal total serum testosterone are favorable predictors of pituitary LH response to GnRH therapy.
Introduction
The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of vildagliptin as add-on therapy to short-term continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) with CSII monotherapy in hospitalized ...patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
Methods
A total of 200 hospitalized patients with inadequately controlled T2DM were randomized into groups, with one group receiving CSII monotherapy (CSII group,
n
=100) and the other group receiving CSII plus vildagliptin as add-on (CSII + Vig group,
n
= 100). Of these, 191 completed the 7-day trial (CSII group,
n
= 99; CSII + Vig group,
n
= 92) and included in the analysis. The glycemic control and variability of the patients were measured using all-day capillary blood glucose (BG) monitoring. Weight and fasting C-peptide levels were evaluated before and after the interventions.
Results
Mean BG concentrations during the whole treatment period were lower and the time to reach target BG was reduced in the CSII + Vig group compared with the CSII group (9.89 ± 3.37 vs. 9.46 ± 3.23 mmol/L,
P
< 0.01; 129 ± 4 vs. 94 ± 5 h,
P
< 0.01, respectively). Similarly, the indicators of glycemic variability, namely the standard deviation of BG and the largest amplitude of glycemic excursion, were significantly decreased in the CSII + Vig group compared with the CSII group (2.68 ± 1.05 vs. 2.39 ± 1.00 mmol/L,
P
< 0.01; 7.19 ± 2.86 vs. 6.23 ± 2.73 mmol/L,
P
< 0.01, respectively).
Conclusions
Short-term CSII with vildagliptin as add-on therapy may be an optimized treatment for hospitalized patients with T2DM compared with short-term CSII monotherapy.
Objective
To compare the analgesic effect of Jin Ling Zi Powder (JLZ) and its two single herbs.
Methods
The hot plate method was used to induce pain. Totally 36 mice were randomly divided into 6 ...groups by a complete random design, including control, model, aspirin (ASP, 0.14 g/kg body weight), JLZ (14 g/kg body weight),
Corydalis yanhusuo
(YHS, 14 g/kg body weight), and
Toosendan Fructus
(TF, 14 g/kg body weight) groups, 6 mice in each group. The mice in the control and model groups were given the same volume of saline, daily for 2 consecutive weeks. At 30, 60, 90, and 120 min after the last administration, the pain threshold of mice in each group was measured, and the improvement rate of pain threshold was calculated. Serum endogenous metabolites were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
Results
There was no statistical difference in pain threshold among groups before administration (
P
>0.05). After 2 weeks of administration, compared with the model group, the pain threshold in JLZ, YHS, TF and ASP groups were increased to varying degrees (
P
<0.05). JLZ had the best analgesic effect and was superior to YHS and TF groups. A total of 14 potential biomarkers were screened in serum data analysis and potential biomarkers levels were all reversed to different degrees after the treatment with JLZ and its single herbs. These potential biomarkers were mainly related to glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis, aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis and inositol phosphate metabolism.
Conclusions
The analgesic mechanism of JLZ and YHS was mainly due to the combination of glycine and its receptor, producing post-synaptic potential, reducing the excitability of neurons, and weakening the afferent effect of painful information.
To overcome the capture-range problem in phase-diversity phase retrieval (PDPR), a geometricaloptics initial-estimate method is proposed to avoid a local minimum and to improve the accuracy of ...laser-wavefront measurement. We calculate the low-order aberrations through the geometrical-optics model, which is based on the two spot images in the propagation path of the laser, and provide it as a starting guess for the PDPR algorithm. Simulations show that this improves the accuracy of wavefront recovery by 62.17% compared to other initial values, and the iteration time with our method is reduced by 28.96%. That is, this approach can solve the capture-range problem.
Nilestriol (NIL) has been applied to treat menopausal dysfunctions, yet its mechanism has remained unknown. To understand the relationship between the changes in homeostatic metabolites and ovarian ...oestrogen deficiency syndromes after NIL treatment, proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ((1)H NMR)-based metabonomic technologies were used to analyse a rat model of oestrogen deficiency. An orthogonal partial least-squares regression (OPLS) differentiation model was used on 12-week metabolic analyses of ovariectomised (OVX) rats treated or mock treated with NIL. Furthermore, data analysis using Chenomx software quantified results to identify the most significantly altered metabolite concentrations, allowing for metabolic explanations of the effects of NIL therapies. In this study, PLS results revealed that there are considerably distinct differences between treatment groups. Additionally, a total of 45 metabolites shown to have a high variation between groups were selected for target quantification. Using a one-way LSD ANOVA analysis, 32 metabolite concentrations were significantly altered in the OVX group. A total of 21 metabolites were altered significantly in the NIL-treatment group but later returned to normal. According to the OPLS VIP calculation, the metabolites most affected by NIL treatment were mostly involved in insulin resistance. In addition, abnormal concentration changes in lactate in the NIL-treatment group and 3-indoxylsulfate in the OVX group were observed. To our knowledge, this study is the first to address the molecular mechanism of NIL from a metabonomic perspective, and, more specifically, to establish a catalogue of endo-molecular changes effected by NIL in the regulation of oestrogen deficiency disorder.
Hypericum perforatum L. (HPL) has been used as a beneficial herb on menopause related syndromes for many years due to its antioxidant activity by inhibiting lipid oxidation. The major bioactive ...gradients of HPL are flavonoids. To date, extensive researches have been focused on its antioxidant effects, however, their exact antioxidant properties remain unclear. For this purpose, this study monitored the antioxidant ability of four common and representative HPL flavonols (rutin, hyperoside, quercitrin and quercetin) to interfere with the reaction of 2, 2′-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) free radical (ABTS+) based on the kinetic spectrophotometric free radical processing measurement method. In addition, to characterize the antioxidant reaction paths, the above-mentioned products were identified by high performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization/mass spectrometer triple quad (HPLC–ESI/MS QQQ) analysis, which was superior to gas chromatography–mass spectrometer (GC–MS) in that no derivation resulted. After the adduct products were identified in the MS2 scan mode, a multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) based LC–MS method for the ABTS+ scavenging determination was developed and validated. The results of free radical scavenging kinetic evaluation showed that the ABTS+ scavenging process of the four flavonols was relatively slow and steady. The degradation products of reactions between flavonols and ABTS+ were mainly a combination of flavonols with the ABTS molecule by reducing 3-ethyl-6-benzothiazolinone imine. Flavonols substituted by glycosides tended to follow a RDA cleavage fragmentation path. With a good linearity regression coefficient (r2=0.995) and a good accuracy of 96.5–106.2%, the free radical scavenging ability of rutin, hyperoside, quercitrin and quercetin was 19.0%, 36.1%, 40.2% and 39.5%, respectively. The kinetic scavenging features and specific fragment features deduced here of the four flavonols in vitro could shed light on HPL's antioxidant properties.
•A HPLC-MS method for free radical scavenging capacity of flavonols was proposed.•The adducts of four selected flavonols firstly identified by using HPLC-ESI/MS QQQ.•The reaction processes of ABTS·+ - flavonols were firstly observed dynamically.
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