Using quantile regression to re-evaluate the epidural labor analgesia under new partogram: a prospective cohort study / 中华围产医学杂志

Objective To investigate the influence of epidural analgesia on labor duration under the new partogram recommendations using quantile regression.Methods In this study,we recruited 300 nulliparous women at full term who were hospitalized in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,Tongji Medical College,Huazhong University of Science and Technology from May to September,2018.The participants who were willing to receive epidural analgesia during labor were assigned to the epidural group (n=150),and those who were not to the control group (n=150).Labor duration and delivery outcomes were analyzed by Student's t test,Mann-Whitney U test,Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test.Quantile regression models were also used to investigate the effect of epidural analgesia on labor duration.Results The median durations of first-and second-stage labor in the epidural group were 600(400-840) and 66(45-98) min,respectively,which were significantly longer than those of the control group [420(320-610) and 52(33-87) min] (Z=-4.273,P＜0.001;Z=-3.210,P=0.001).Quantile regression analysis showed that,for the first stage of labor,epidural analgesia was associated with labor prolongation,and had significant effects on all the percentiles (all P＜0.05).The regression coefficients increased (95.630-285.000) correspondingly as the percentiles of the labor duration (from 10th to 90th percentiles) increased.For the second stage of labor,epidural analgesia showed a significant impact on prolongation only between the 25th and 75th percentiles (coefficients:10.000～18.143;all P＜0.05).Although the epidural group had a significant higher episiotomy rate [46.8％(65/139) vs 33.3％(48/144),x2=5.318,P=0.021],more times of urine catheterization during labor [1(0-1) vs 0(0-1),Z=-0.974,P=0.001]and higher rate of oxytocin administration during labor [48.7％(73/150) vs 30.0％(45/150),x2=10.952,P=0.001],when compared with the control group,there was no significant difference in cesarean section rate,assisted vaginal delivery rate and neonatal outcomes between the two groups (all P＞0.05).Conclusions Epidural analgesia may associated with the prolongation of the first and second stage of labor,especially with the first stage of labor,but has no adverse effects on maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Alteration of heat shock protein 20 expression in preeclamptic patients and its effect in vascular and coagulation function / 医学前沿

Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy-specific, multi-system disorder and the leading cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in obstetrics worldwide. Excessive vasoconstriction and dysregulated coagulation function are closely associated with PE. Heat shock protein 20 (HSP20) is ubiquitously expressed under normal physiological conditions and has important roles in vascular dilatation and suppression of platelet aggregation. However, the role of HSP20 in the pathogenesis of PE remains unclear. In this study, we collected chorionic plate resistance arteries (CPAs) and serum from 118 healthy pregnant women and 80 women with PE and detected the levels of HSP20 and its phosphorylated form. Both HSP20 and phosphorylated HSP20 were downregulated in CPAs from women with PE. Comparison of the vasodilative ability of CPAs from the two groups showed impaired relaxation responses to acetyl choline in preeclamptic vessels. In addition to the reduced HSP20 in serum from women with PE, the platelet distribution width and mean platelet volume were also decreased, and the activated partial thromboplastin time and thromboplastin time were elevated.With regard to the vital roles of HSP20 in mediating vasorelaxation and coagulation function, the decreased HSP20 might contribute to the pathogenesis of PE.

Correlation between 24 h urinary protein quantitation and pregnancy outcome in patients with pre-eclampsia / 新乡医学院学报

Objective To investigate the correlation between 24 h urinary protein quantitation and pregnancy outcome in patients with pre-eclampsia.Methods A total of 332 pre-eclampsia patients were selected in Tongji Hospital from January 2014 to December 2016.The patients were divided into microalbuminuria group(24 h urinary protein quantification ＜ 0.3 g,n =46),mild proteinuria group (0.3 g ≤ 24 h urinary protein quantification ＜ 2.0 g,n =98),moderate proteinuria group (2.0 g ≤ 24 h urinary protein quantification ＜ 5.0 g,n =71) and severe proteinuria group(24 h urinary protein quantification ≥ 5.0 g,n =117) according to the results of 24 h urinary protein quantification.The pregnancy outcomes were compared between the four groups.Results The 24 h urinary protein quantification and the serum creatinine,urea nitrogen,uric acid levels in the mild proteinuria group,moderate proteinuria group and severe proteinuria group were significantly higher than those in the microalbuminuria group (P ＜ 0.05);and gestational week was significantly shorter than that in the microalbuminuria group (P ＜ 0.05).The 24 h urinary protein quantification and serum urea nitrogen,uric acid levels in the moderate proteinuria group were significantly higher than those in the mild proteinuria group (P ＜ 0.05);and gestational week was significantly shorter than that in the mild proteinuria group (P ＜ 0.05);but there was no significant difference in serum creatinine level between the two groups (P ＞ 0.05).The 24 h urinary protein quantification,serum creatinine,urea nitrogen and uric acid levels in the severe proteinuria group were significantly higher than those in the mild proteinuria group (P ＜ 0.05);and the gestational week was significantly lower than that in the mild albuminuria group (P ＜ 0.05).The 24 h urinary protein quantification in the severe proteinuria group was significantly higher than that in the moderate proteinuria group (P ＜ 0.05),but there was no significant difference in the gestational week and serum creatinine,urea nitrogen,uric acid levels between the two groups (P ＞0.05).There was no significant difference in the rates of cesarean section and spontaneous labor between the four groups (P ＞0.05).The rate of induced labor in the moderate proteinuria group and the severe proteinuria group was significantly higher than that in the mild albuminuria group and the microalbuminuria group (P ＜ 0.05).There was no significant difference in the rate of induced labor between the mild proteinuria group and the microalbuminuria group (P ＞ 0.05).There was no significant difference in the rate of induced labor between the severe proteinuria group and the moderate proteinuria group (P ＞ 0.05).The incidence of complications in microalbuminuria group,mild proteinuria group,moderate proteinuria group and severe proteinuria group was 30.43％ (14/46),47.96％ (47/98),74.65％ (53/71) and 74.36％ (87/117) respectively;the incidence of complications in the moderate proteinuria group and the severe proteinuria group was significantly higher than that in the microalbuminuria group and the mild albuminuria group (P ＜ 0.05),but there was no significant difference in the incidence of complications between microalbuminuria group and mild albuminuria group (P ＞ 0.05),there was no significant difference in the incidence of complications between the moderate proteinuria group and the severe proteinuria group (P ＞0.05).The incidences of premature birth and neonatal asphyxia in the mild proteinuria group were significantly higher than that in the microalbuminuria group (P ＜ 0.05),and the body mass of the neonates was significantly lower than that in the microalbuminuria group (P ＜0.05),but there was no significant difference in the perinatal mortality rate and the incidences of fetal growth restriction(FGR) and poor neonatal resuscitation between the two groups (P ＞ 0.05).The incidences of FGR,premature birth,neonatal asphyxia,poor neonatal resuscitation and the perinatal mortality in the moderate proteinuria group and severe proteinuria group were significantly higher than those in the microalbuminuria group (P ＜ 0.05);and neonatal body mass was significantly lower than that in the mieroalbuminuria group (P ＜ 0.05).The incidences of FGR,premature birth and poor neonatal resuscitation and perinatal mortality in the moderate proteinuria group were significantly higher than those in the mild proteinuria group (P ＜ 0.05);and the neonatal body mass was significantly lower than that in the mild proteinuria group (P ＜ 0.05);but there was no significant difference in the neonatal asphyxia incidence between the two groups (P ＞ 0.05).The incidences of FGR,premature birth,neonatal asphyxia,poor neonatal resuscitation and perinatal mortality in the severe proteinuria group were significantly higher than those in the mild proteinuria group (P ＜ 0.05);and the body mass of the newborns was significantly lower than that in the mild albuminuria group (P ＜ 0.05).The incidence of neonatal asphyxia in the severe proteinuria group was significantly higher than that in the moderate proteinuria group (P ＜ 0.05),but there was no significant difference in the incidences of FGR,premature birth,poor neonatal resuscitation,perinatal mortality and neonatal body mass between the two groups (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions The of 24 h urinary protein quantitation is closely related to the pregnancy outcome in patients with pre-eclampsia,the 24 h urinary protein quantification should be regularly detected in the patients with pre-eclampsia.When the urinary protein quantitation is more than 2.0 g,the incidences of maternal complications and poor prognosis of the perinatal infants is significantly higher,but the boundary value of the 24 h urinary protein quantitation for the diagnosis of severe pre-eclampsia still needs further large sample study.

Suppression of EphB4 improves the inhibitory effect of mTOR shRNA on the biological behaviors of ovarian cancer cells by down-regulating Akt phosphorylation / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of suppression of EphB4 and/or mTOR on the biological behaviors of ovarian cancer cells, and the potential regulatory pathways. Antisense EphB4 vectors and shRNA vectors targeting mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) were constructed and transfected into A2780 and SKOV3 cells (two ovarian cancer cell lines). The effects of the antisense EphB4 vectors and the shRNA vectors on the proliferation, apoptosis and invasion of ovarian cancer cells were measured, and the expression of EphB4, mTOR and Akt detected. The results showed that transfection with mTOR shRNA could inhibit growth, induce apoptosis, and reduce invasive ability of ovarian cancer cells, which was accompanied by downregulation of EphB4, mTOR and Akt. The inhibitory effects on cell growth caused by mTOR shRNA alone were weaker than those by antisense pEGFP-C1-EphB4. In the antisense pEGFP-C1-EphB4-transfected cells, it was found that EphB4 knockdown could decrease the mTOR expression and slightly reduce the Akt phosphorylation. Significant suppressive effects on cell growth were observed in cells co-transfected with antisense pEGFP-C1-EphB4 and mTOR shRNA. In co-transfection group, the expression levels of EphB4, mTOR and Akt were distinctly lower than those in other groups. It was concluded that suppression of EphB4 may inhibit the growth of ovarian cancer cells by downregulation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, and reverse Akt phosphorylation induced by mTOR shRNA. Inhibition of EphB4 and mTOR combined may cooperatively suppress the biological behaviors of ovarian cancer cells.

Correlation between physical status of human papilloma virus and cervical carcinogenesis / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

The prevalence of human papilloma virus (HPV)-16 in patients with cervical cancer, the physical status of HPV-16 in patients with cervical lesions, and the role of HPV-16 integration in cervical carcinogenesis were investigated. HPV genotyping was performed by using PCR approach with the primer GP5+/GP6+ and type-specific primer on biopsy specimens taken operatively from 198 women. Multiple PCR was done to detect physical status of HPV-16 in a series of cervical liquid-based cytology samples and biopsy specimens obtained from different cervical lesions with HPV-16 infection, including 112 specimens with cervical cancer, 151 specimens with CIN I, 246 specimens with CIN and 120 specimens with CINIII. The results showed that there were 112 cervical cancer samples (56.57% of total cervical cancer patients) with HPV-16 infection. The frequency of HPV-16 pure integration was 65.18% (73/112), 56.57% (47/120), 23.58% (58/246) and 7.95% (12/151) in cervical cancer, CINIII, CINII and CINI patients respectively. In situ hybridization was performed on some paraffin-embedded sections of CINII, CINIII and cervical cancer to verify the physical status of HPV-16 infection. Significant difference was observed between cervical cancer and CIN I, CINII, CINIII in the frequency of HPV-16 integration (P<0.01). It is suggested that HPV-16 is the most prevalent type and is associated with cervical cancer. In the case of HPV-16 infection there are close associations between the severity of cervical lesions and the frequency of HPV-16 integration. The application of testing HPV genotyping and physical status based on detection of HC-II HPV DNA would be in favor of predicting the prognosis of cervical precancerosis and enhancing the screening accuracy of cervical cancer.

Suppression of EphB4 improves the inhibitory effect of mTOR shRNA on the biological behaviors of ovarian cancer cells by down-regulating Akt phosphorylation / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of suppression of EphB4 and/or mTOR on the biological behaviors of ovarian cancer cells, and the potential regulatory pathways. Antisense EphB4 vectors and shRNA vectors targeting mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) were constructed and transfected into A2780 and SKOV3 cells (two ovarian cancer cell lines). The effects of the antisense EphB4 vectors and the shRNA vectors on the proliferation, apoptosis and invasion of ovarian cancer cells were measured, and the expression of EphB4, mTOR and Akt detected. The results showed that transfection with mTOR shRNA could inhibit growth, induce apoptosis, and reduce invasive ability of ovarian cancer cells, which was accompanied by downregulation of EphB4, mTOR and Akt. The inhibitory effects on cell growth caused by mTOR shRNA alone were weaker than those by antisense pEGFP-C1-EphB4. In the antisense pEGFP-C1-EphB4-transfected cells, it was found that EphB4 knockdown could decrease the mTOR expression and slightly reduce the Akt phosphorylation. Significant suppressive effects on cell growth were observed in cells co-transfected with antisense pEGFP-C1-EphB4 and mTOR shRNA. In co-transfection group, the expression levels of EphB4, mTOR and Akt were distinctly lower than those in other groups. It was concluded that suppression of EphB4 may inhibit the growth of ovarian cancer cells by downregulation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, and reverse Akt phosphorylation induced by mTOR shRNA. Inhibition of EphB4 and mTOR combined may cooperatively suppress the biological behaviors of ovarian cancer cells.

Expression of Pin1 and Ki67 in Cervical Cancer and Their Significance / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

In order to investigate the expression levels of Pin1 mRNA and protein in cervical cancer and its association with Ki67 and their clinical significance, amplification of Pin1 gene was examined by RT-PCR, and the expression of both Pin1 and Ki67 protein was detected by immunohistochemistry in cervical cancer tissues. It was shown that the expression levels of Pin1 were higher in cervical cancer than in normal cervical tissues (P＜0.05). The expression of Pin1 protein was increased progressively along with the disease process from normal cervix to CIN and to cervical cancer (P＜0. 05). No significant difference in the Pin1 expression was found between disease stages (FIGO),pathological grades or pelvic lymph node metastasis status (P＞0.05). The expression of Pin1 was significantly higher in adenocarcinoma than insquamous carcinoma of the uterine cervix (P＜0.05).In cervical cancer, the overexpression of Pin1 was positively correlated with that of Ki67 (P＜0.05). These results suggested that the overexpression of Pin1 was closely related with cancer cell proliferation or progression of cervical cancer and contributed to oncogenesis. Pin1 may serve as a potential marker for cervical cancer diagnosis.

Expression of Pin1 and Ki67 in cervical cancer and their significance / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

In order to investigate the expression levels of Pin1 mRNA and protein in cervical cancer and its association with Ki67 and their clinical significance, amplification of Pin1 gene was examined by RT-PCR, and the expression of both Pin1 and Ki67 protein was detected by immunohistochemistry in cervical cancer tissues. It was shown that the expression levels of Pin1 were higher in cervical cancer than in normal cervical tissues (P 0.05). The expression of Pin1 was significantly higher in adenocarcinoma than in squamous carcinoma of the uterine cervix (P < 0.05). In cervical cancer, the overexpression of Pin1 was positively correlated with that of Ki67 (P < 0.05). These results suggested that the overexpression of Pin1 was closely related with cancer cell proliferation or progression of cervical cancer and contributed to oncogenesis. Pin1 may serve as a potential marker for cervical cancer diagnosis.

Asymptomatic genital infection of human papillomavirus in pregnant women and the vertical transmission route / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

To further investigate the vertical transmission route of human papillomavirus (HPV) and the indication for the choice of mode of delivery, the infective status of 152 asymptomatic pregnant wemen and the maternal-fetal transmission were studied. By using general primers in polymerase chain reaction (GP-PCR) combined with restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, HPV DNA positive rate in cervical secretions and venous blood in asymptomatic pregnant women was 36.21% and 52.78%, respectively, and the identified genotypes were mainly HPV16 and 18. The maternal-fetal transmission rate of HPV via genital tract as well as blood was 40.91% and 57. 89%, respectively. It was concluded that besides the transmission route of genital tract and amniotic fluid, there was also transplacental transmission of HPV in utero. Therefore,in our opinion, it is not an absolut indication to perform a cesarean delivery for the pregnant women with HPV asymtomatic genital infection.

Asymptomatic Genital Infection of Human Papillomavirus in Pregnant Women and the Vertical Transmission Route / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

Summary: To further investigate the vertical transmission route of human papillomavirus (HPV) and the indication for the choice of mode of delivery, the infective status of 152 asymptomatic pregnant wemen and the maternal-fetal transmission were studied. By using general primers in polymerase chain reaction (GP-PCR) combined with restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, HPV DNA positive rate in cervical secretions and venous blood in asymptomatic pregnant women was 36.21 % and 52.78 %, respectively, and the identified genotypes were mainly HPV16 and 18. The maternal-fetal transmission rate of HPV via genital tract as well as blood was 40.91 % and 57.89 %, respectively. It was concluded that besides the transmission route of genital tract and amniotic fluid, there was also transplacental transmission of HPV in utero. Therefore,in our opinion, it is not an absolut indication to perform a cesarean delivery for the pregnant women with HPV asymtomatic genital infection.

A Study on HSV Infection between Pregnant Women and Their Fetus/Newborns / 中国医师杂志

Objective To study the state of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection and the vertical transmission between pregnant women and their fetus/newborns. Methods ELISA was applied to screen HSV specific antibodies in 455 pregnant women. HSV type 2 DNA was detected by PCR technique in the tissues and appendages of fetus, whose mothers had positive HSV IgM and/or type 2 IgG antibodies. Results The infective rate of HSV types1 and 2 during pregnancy were 85.27% and 47.69%, respectively. The intrauterine infective rate was 4.24%. The positive rate of HSV type 2 IgG in the pregnant women with history of abnormal pregnancy was significantly higher than that in the control group. HSV type 2 DNA was found in the amniotic fluid and tissues of placenta and fetus. Conclusion The HSV infection was common during pregnancy. HSV type 2 infection was closely related to the abnormal pregnancy, such as abort, premature delivery and malformation. ELISA combined with PCR technique is a valuable method for the diagnosis of HSV infection.