Morphology and epidemiological study of idiopathic scoliosis among primary school students in Chaozhou, China

BACKGROUND@#Idiopathic scoliosis (IS) affects patients' quality of life, yet there have been few reports of its morphology and epidemiological study in the southeast region of China. The aim of this study is to access the curve characteristics, prevalence, and factors associated with IS in Chaozhou city.@*METHODS@#A cross-sectional study was performed in 2018, in which scoliosis screening was conducted among 5497 primary school students in Chaozhou city. Then, a case-control study based on the screening involving 2547 children was followed for the exploration of the associated factors. The questionnaires covering demographic characteristics, postural habits, cognition and self-sensation of scoliosis, and physical conditions were addressed for the investigation. ORs with 95%CIs were calculated based on logistic regression analysis to evaluate the factors associated with scoliosis.@*RESULTS@#The prevalence of IS among primary school students was 6.15% in Chaozhou city, with 4.04% for males and 8.71% for females. The average Cobb angle was 15° (range 8 to 37°). Multiple logistic regression analysis suggested that female (OR=2.45), BMI (OR=0.67), having myopia (OR=1.49), self-sensation of scoliosis with symptoms (OR=5.52), insufficient sleep time (OR=2.65, 3.33), and less exercise time (OR=7.09, 7.29) were significantly associated with IS.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The prevalence of IS among primary school students in Chaozhou was at an average level, and it was significantly higher in females than in males. Lower body mass, having myopia, insufficient sleep time, and lower physical activity were associated with IS.

The role of IL-23/IL-17 inflammatory axis in viral myocarditis in mice / 临床儿科杂志

Objective To observe the dynamic changes of interleukin-23 (IL-23)/interleukin-17 (IL-17) inflammatory axis expression in the myocardium of mice with viral myocarditis (VM) and further to explore its significance. Methods A total of 60 BALB/c mice were randomly divided into VMC group (n=50) and control group (n=10). Mice in VMC group were intraperito-neally inoculated with 0.1ml Eagle's solution containing coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) to establish VM model and 10 mice were sacri-ficed each time at days 7, 14 and 28 after inoculation. Mice in control group were treated with 0.1ml Eagle's solution without CVB3 and all the 30 mice were killed on day 28 after inoculation. Myocardial histopathologic changes were detected with hema-toxylin and eosin (HE) staining and myocardial histopathological scores were calculated. The expression levels of myocardial IL-23/IL-17 mRNA and protein were determined by real-time quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Serum IL-23 and IL-17 concentrations were examined using ELISA. Also, the relationship between serum IL-23 and IL-17 concentra-tions and myocardial histopathological scores was analyzed in VMC group. Results At days 7, 14 and 28 after inoculation, the myocardial histopathological scores, mRNA and protein expressions of myocardial IL-23/IL-17 and serum IL-23 and IL-17 con-centrations were significantly higher in VMC group than those in control group (P<0.01). Each of the above indicators reached its highest level on 7th day after inoculation (P<0.01) and then gradually decreased. There were significant differences among dif-ferent time points (P<0.05). Serum IL-23 and IL-17 concentrations showed significantly positive correlation with the myocardi-al histopathologic scores in VMC group, respectively (r=0.73 and 0.76, P<0.05). Conclusions IL-23/IL-17 inflammatory axis may play an important role in the process of VMC and is closely associated with the severity of VMC.