Development of High-performance Hearing Test System / 中国医疗器械杂志

This paper analyzes the shortcomings of the existing pure tone audiometers, and proposes a system to realize pure tone audiometry and speech audiometry with a new DSP processor. The pure tone test signal produced by the system has accurate frequency, high signal-to-noise ratio, and small harmonic distortion. The noise generator that comes with DSP adds a band-pass filter to realize the generation of narrow-band noise. At the same time, due to the modular structure of software design, the system has good ease of use and scalability. The test results show that the hearing test system has excellent performance and can be better used in hearing medical diagnosis.

Relationship between normal serum uric acid levels and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in postmenopausal women / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the relationship between normal serum uric acid (SUA) levels and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among postmenopausal women, and determine the possible risk factors of NAFLD in this patient population.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Chinese postmenopausal women who participated in the annual health check-up program from March 2009 to February 2010 were retrospectively assessed to identify individuals with SUA within normal range for study inclusion. For the total 1425 study participants, the recorded data of anthropometric parameters, metabolic factors, and serum biochemical parameters were collected. Results from abdominal ultrasonography examination were used to group participants according to presence of fatty liver. Women with fatty liver were divided into NAFLD and non-NAFLD groups. Further sub-grouping was performed according to SUA quartiles, as follows: Q1 group: less than 226.1 mumol/L); Q2 group: 226.1 mumol/L less than or equal to SUA less than 267.8 mumol/L; Q3 group: 267.8 mumol/Lless than or equal to SUA less than 303.5 mumol/L); Q4 group: 303.5 mumol/Lless than or equal toSUAless than or equal to357.0 mumol/L. The independent-sample t-test was used to compare normally distributed variables between groups, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze variables with skewed distribution. Categorical variables were examined by the R * C x2 test. Binary logistic analysis was used to determine the risk factors for fatty liver and to adjust for possible confounders. The multiple non-parameter independent-sample test (Kruskal-Wallis test) was used to compare the differences of SUA levels among NAFLD groups with different disease severity.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The prevalence of NAFLD among Chinese postmenopausal women with normal SUA was 32.8%, with NAFLD prevalences of 20.4% (70/343) in women with Q1 SUA, 26.3% (104/395) with Q2 SUA, 35.2% (128/364) with Q3 SUA, and 51.4% (166/323) with Q4 SUA. The prevalence of fatty liver showed a significant increasing trend according to the SUA quartile (x2 = 76.470, P-trend less than 0.01). Women in the SUA Q3 and Q4 groups had significantly higher risk of fatty liver presence than women in the Q1 group (P less than 0.01 for both, with or without adjustment of confounders). Disease severity did not appear to be related to disease severity, as the SUA levels in women with mild, moderate or severe fatty liver were not significantly different (286.8+/-48.2 mumol/L vs. 277.9+/-53.0 mumol/L vs. 281.4+/-48.2 mumol/L, respectively; x2 = 3.025, P more than 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>SUA levels were independently correlated with NAFLD in Chinese postmenopausal women. SUA levels in the higher quartiles of the normal range may be an independent risk factor of NAFLD.</p>

Analysis of risk factors and body composition in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes complicated nonalcoholic fatty liver disease / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective To investigate the probable risk factors for type 2 diabetic patients complicated nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NFLD)in elderly, through comparing the body composition, serum lipid profile, incidences of abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS) between elderly type 2 diabetic patients with and without NFLD. Methods The enrolled elderly type 2 diabetic patients were divided into NFLD group (n=83) and non-NFLD group (n=85). Their clinical data including body composition, serum lipid profile, incidences of abdominal obesity and MS were analyzed retrospectively and compared. Results Compared with non-NFLD group, the BMI [(26.9±2.5) kg/m~2 vs. (24.1±2.5) kg/m~2, P=0.000], waist-hip ratios (WHR) ((0.92±0.07) vs. (0.87±0.06), P=0.000], total body fat percentage [(29.6%±6.6%) vs. (25.3%±5.5%),P=0.000], abdominal fat [(11.0±2.5) kg vs. (8.7±2.3) kg, P=0.000], visceral fat [(3.0±0.7) kg vs. (2.3±0.6)kg, P=0.000], visceral fat area [(97.6±22.2) cm~2 vs. (75.5±21.1) cm~2,P=0. 000], serum triglyceride [(1.98±0.94) mmol/L vs. (1.22±0.61) mmol/L, P=0.000]were all increased, while serum HDL [(1.23±0.32) mmol/L vs. (1.40±0.37) mmol/L, P=0.002]was decreased in NFLD group. The incidences of over-body fat (68.7% vs. 36.5%, P=0. 000),dyslipidemia (47.0% vs. 21.2%, P=0. 000), abdominal obesity (69.9% vs. 43.5%, P=0.001) and MS (49.4% vs. 9.6%, P=0.000) were obviously increased. But there were no statistical differences in serum TC [(4.93±0.94) mmol/L vs. (4. 73±1.07) mmol/L, P=0.219]and LDL [(3.23±0.80) mmol/L vs. (3. 07±0.89) mmol/L, P=0. 229]between the two groups. Logistic regression showed that high BMI (β=1.268, P=0.000, OR=3.56), over-total body fat percentage (β=0.902, P=0.023, OR=2.47)and the existence of MS (β=1. 664, P=0. 000, OR=5.28) were related to elderly type 2 diabetic patients complicated NFLD. Conclusions The high BMI, over-total body fat percentage are related to elderly type 2 diabetic patients complicated NFLD, and NFLD is probably one of components of metabolic syndrome.