Difference and consistency of corneal refractive power and astigmatism in cataract patients measured by CASIA2 and IOL Master 700 / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

AIM: To compare the difference and consistency of corneal refractive power and astigmatism measured by CASIA2 and IOL Master 700 in patients with age-related cataract.METHODS: Retrospective study. A total of 153 patients(232 eyes)with age-related cataract admitted to Daping hospital from November to December 2021 were selected. The flat keratometry(Kf), steep keratometry(Ks), mean keratometry(Km), degree and axis of astigmatism(vector representation J0 and J45)of the anterior, posterior surfaces together with the total cornea from cataract patients were measured by CASIA2 and IOL Master 700, respectively. The difference, correlation and consistency of the two instruments were analyzed.RESULTS:There was no significant difference in J45 values of posterior corneal surface measured by CASIA2 and IOL Master 700(-0.006±0.038D vs. -0.005±0.044D, P>0.05), but there were significant differences in other parameters(all P<0.05). All parameters measured by the two instruments were significantly positive correlated(all r/rs>0.7, P<0.001); Bland-Altman analysis showed that the refractive power and astigmatism of the anterior cornea surface measured by the two facilities were in good consistency, while the refractive power of the posterior surface and the whole cornea showed poor consistency.CONCLUSION: CASIA2 and IOL Master 700 showed little differences and good consistency in the refractive power and astigmatism of the anterior, posterior and total corneal surface in cataract patients, which seems interchangeable. However, the refractive power of the posterior surface and the whole cornea has significant differences and poor consistency, which should not be interchange casually.

A comparative study of vaccination with inactivated SARS-COV-2 vaccine on the clinical manifestations and serological responses of COVID-19 patients infected by Delta and Alpha variants / 中国热带医学

@#Abstract: Objective　To investigate the impacts of vaccination with inactivated SARS-COV-2 vaccine on the clinical manifestations and serological responses of COVID-19 patients infected by Delta and Alpha variants. Methods　Clinical and experimental data of 341 confirmed SARS-COV-2 patients were collected from The Eighth Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University May 1- September 30, 2021. The subjects were divided into Delta and Alpha variant group according to virus variants, and were divided into vaccinated group and unvaccinated group according to whether they had received inactivated COVID-19 vaccine or not. The clinical manifestations and serological responses of patients with Delta and Alpha variant, and vaccinated and unvaccinated patients with Delta and Alpha variants were compared. Results　Totally 253 patients were infected with Delta variant (103 vaccinated and 150 unvaccinated patients), and 88 patients were infected with Alpha variant (21 vaccinated and 67 unvaccinated patients). The proportion of asymptomatic infection in Delta variants group was significantly lower than that in Alpha variants group (P<0.01). Delta variant group of vaccination rates and vaccine breakthrough infection rate was 40.7% (103/253) and 22.9% (58/253), were higher than Alpha variant group was 23.9% (21/88) and 8.0% (7/88), difference was statistically significant (χ2= 8.009, 9.484, P<0.01). The proportion of cough and fever in Delta variant group was higher than that in Alpha variant group (both P<0.01), the peak viral load was higher than that of Alpha variant group (P<0.01), the virus duration was longer than that of Alpha variant group (P<0.01), the levels of SAA, CRP and IFN were higher than those of Alpha variant group (all P<0.05), CD4+T cell count was lower than that of Alpha variant group (P<0.05), IgG and IgM levels were lower than those of Alpha variant group (both P<0.01). The proportion of moderate COVID-19 in the vaccinated group was lower than that in the unvaccinated group (P<0.01). In these two variants, the peak viral load of vaccinated group was lower than that of the unvaccinated group (both P<0.01), the duration of virus was shorter than that of unvaccinated group (both P<0.01). The levels of SAA, CRP and IL-6 in the vaccinated group were lower than those in the unvaccinated group (all P<0.05), CD4+T cell level was higher than that of unvaccinated group (both P<0.05), IgG and IgM level were higher than those in unvaccinated group (both P<0.05). Conclusions　Delta variant can lead to higher viral load and more severe disease course, which is associated with vaccine breakthrough infection. Inactivated vaccines for COVID-19 can reduce severe illness and death by reducing viral load, disease duration and inflammatory response through humoral and cellular immune mechanisms.

Prediction on postoperative visual acuity of cataract patients by objective quality analysis system / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

@#AIM: To assess the accuracy of optical quality analysis system Ⅱ(OQAS Ⅱ)in predicting postoperative visual acuity of cataract patients.<p>METHODS: Prospective study, patients underwent cataract surgery in Daping Hospital from June 2019 to November 2019 were recruited. According to predicted visual acuity 100%(PVA100%)and best corrected visual acuity(BCVA), patients were dichotomized into group A(PVA100% worse than BCVA, 145 eyes)and group B(PVA100% equal to or better than BCVA, 114 eyes). Visual acuity improvement was compared between the two groups 1mo after surgery.<p>RESULTS: In group A, visual acuity of 112 eyes(77.2%)improved at least 2 lines. While in group B, 93 eyes(81.6%)improved at least 2 lines. There was no significant difference in visual acuity improvement ratio between the two groups(<i>P</i>=0.394). The average BCVA improvement of group A was 0.3(0.2, 0.4)LogMAR, and that of group B was 0.4(0.2, 0.5)LogMAR, revealed statistically significant differences(<i>P</i>=0.001). No significant correlation was found between preoperative PVA100% and postoperative BCVA in both of the two groups(<i>P</i>=0.888,0.304). In patients combined with preoperative ocular comorbidity, 17 eyes(94.4%)in group A and 26 eyes(65.0%)in group B improved at least 2 lines with significant difference between the two groups(<i>P</i>=0.041). BCVA improved 0.3(0.2, 0.4)LogMAR in group A and 0.3(0.1, 0.5)LogMAR in group B, there was no significant difference between the two groups(<i>P</i>=0.597).<p>CONCLUSION: The binary classification method based on the value of preoperative PVA100% and BCVA failed to accurately predict who shall benefit more from cataract surgery. In patients diagnosed with preoperative ocular comorbidity, BCVA is likely to be significantly improved if preoperative PVA100% were worse than BCVA. More data are needed to determine the clinical value of PVA100%.

Application of the guidewire-assisted biopsy and balloon dilatation cytology smear through ERCP in diagnosis of patients with hilar cholangiocarcinoma / 中国内镜杂志

Objective?To evaluate the application of guidewire-assisted biopsy and balloon dilatation cytology smear through ERCP in diagnosis of patients with hilar cholangiocarcinoma.?Methods?During the ERCP procedure, 52 patients with hilar cholangiocarcinoma were treated with balloon dilatation, and cytology smear from the surface of the balloon. At the same time, biopsy forceps assisted by guidewire inserted into the bile duct to biopsy the lesion and obtain specimens.?Results?Success rate of obtaining histopathological through ERCP guidewire assisted biopsy in biliary bile duct was 100.0%, 31 cases were histological diagnosed by forceps biopsy in 52 cases, positive diagnosis rate was 59.6%; The patient with balloon dilatation in 52 cases give cytology smears obtained diagnosis in 22 cases, the positive rate was 42.3%; cytology smear combined with biopsy, a total of 34 cases were diagnosed, the positive rate was 65.4%. There was no serious complications occurred.?Conclusion?Biopsy assisted by guidewire through ERCP is a safe, simple, easy technique and an effective means of obtaining pathological, meanwhile, the cytology smear after balloon dilatation can be used as a supplement to biopsy, and provides an effective means in pathological diagnosis of hilar cholangiocarcinoma.

Surface electromyogram denoising using adaptive wavelet thresholding / 生物医学工程学杂志

Surface electromyogram (sEMG) may have low signal to noise ratios. An adaptive wavelet thresholding technique was developed in this study to remove noise contamination from sEMG signals. Compared with convention- al wavelet thresholding methods, the adaptive approach can adjust thresholds based on different signal to noise ratios of the processed signal, thus effectively removing noise contamination and reducing distortion of the EMG signal. The advantage of the developed adaptive thresholding method was demonstrated using simulated and experimental sEMG recordings.

Identification of a GJA3 mutation in a Chinese family with congenital nuclear cataract using exome sequencing.

Congenital cataract, a clinically and genetically heterogeneous lens disorder is defined as any opacity of the lens presented from birth and is responsible for approximately 10% of worldwide childhood poor vision or blindness. To identify the genetic defect responsible for congenital nuclear cataract in a four-generation Chinese Han family, exome and direct Sanger sequencings were conducted and a missense variant c.139G>A (p.D47N) in the gap junction protein-alpha 3 gene (GJA3) was identified. The variant co-segregated with patients of the family and was not observed in unaffected family members or normal controls. The above findings indicated that the variant was a pathogenic mutation. The mutation p.D47N was found in the first extracellular loop (E1) domain of GJA3 protein. Our data suggest that exome sequencing is a powerful tool to discover mutation(s) in cataract, a disorder with high genetic heterogeneity. Our findings may also provide new insights into the cause and diagnosis of congenital nuclear cataract and have implications for genetic counseling.

Genetic analysis of a Chinese Han family with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A.

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2) is an autosomal dominant disorder that can be distinguished as three different syndromes: multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A (MEN2A), MEN2B and familial medullary thyroid carcinoma (FMTC). This disorder is usually caused by the mutations of the rearranged during transfection protooncogene gene (RET) or the neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor type 1 gene (NTRK1). To investigate the genetic cause in a Chinese Han family with MEN2A and the genotype-phenotype correlations, nine members belonging to 3 generations of MEN2A family with 5 affected subjects underwent genetic analysis. Standard GTG-banded karyotype analysis and sequencing of the RET and NTRK1 genes were performed to identify the genetic cause of this family. A heterozygous mutation p.Cys634Arg in the RET gene was identified in 5 patients with MEN2A and one asymptomatic family member. The phenotype of patients was that of classic MEN2A, characterized by medullary thyroid carcinoma and phaeochromocytoma. The clinical features of all cases with RET mutations varied greatly, including onset age of clinical manifestations, severity and comorbidities. Thus, this study not only identified the hereditary nature of the MEN2A in the cases, but also discovered a family member harboring the same p.Cys634Arg mutation, who was unaware of his condition. These finding may provide new insights into the cause and diagnosis of MEN2A and have implications for genetic counseling.

The relationship between the variants in 5' upstream core promoter A(-6)G and A(-20)C of angiotensinogen gene and essential hypertension in Kazakans of Xinjiang / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate whether the variants A(-6)G and A(-20)C of angiotensinogen (AGT) gene are involved in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension in Kazakans.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>T his case control study recruited 125 subjects with hypertension and 74 normotensive subjects from Kazakans of Xinjiang. Genomic DNA from leukocytes was analyzed for genetic variants A(-6)G and A(-20)C in 5' upstream core promoter of AGT gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and automatic sequencing.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1)There were only A(-6)G and A(-20)C variants in the -164 to +73 region of Kazakans' AGT gene. (2) The distributions of genotypes AA, AG, GG at locus -6 of AGT gene showed significant difference between the hypertensive group (0.39, 0.45, 0.16) and the normotensive group (0.49, 0.49, 0.02; Chi2=8.56, P=0.014). There were evident differences in the frequencies of the -6A and the -6G allele of the two groups (0.62, 0.38 and 0.73, 0.27; Chi2=5.35, P=0.021). (3) No significant difference was observed in the distribution of genotypes AA, AC, CC at locus -20 of AGT gene between the hypertensive group (0.69, 0.26, 0.05) and the normotensive group (0.65, 0.32, 0.03; Chi2=2.42, P=0.30). There was no distinct difference in the frequencies of the -20A allele and the -20C allele of the two groups (0.82, 0.18 and 0.82, 0.18; Chi2=0, P=0.99). (4) No significant difference was found at the levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure between the groups corresponding to genotypes at the loci -6 and -20 of AGT gene.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results suggest that the polymorphism of A(-6)G in 5' upstream core promoter of the AGT gene may be involved in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension in Kazakans, while the A(-20)C variant may not play an important role in the etiology of essential hypertension in Kazakans.</p>