Effect of diurnal temperature range on the number of elderly inpatients with ischemic stroke in Hunan Province / 中华预防医学杂志

Objective: To study the effect of diurnal temperature range on the number of elderly inpatients with ischemic stroke in Hunan Province. Method: Demographic and disease data, meteorological data, air quality data, population, economic and health resource data of elderly inpatients with ischemic stroke were collected in 122 districts/counties of Hunan Province from January to December 2019. The relationships between the diurnal temperature range and the number of elderly inpatients with ischemic stroke were analyzed by using the distributed lag non-linear model, including the cumulative lag effect of the diurnal temperature range in different seasons, extremely high diurnal temperature range and extremely low diurnal temperature range. Results: In 2019, 152 875 person-times were admitted to the hospital for ischemic stroke in the elderly in Hunan Province. There was a non-linear relationship between the diurnal temperature range and the number of elderly patients with ischemic stroke, with different lag periods. In spring and winter, with the decrease in diurnal temperature range, the risk of admission of elderly patients with ischemic stroke increased (Ptrend<0.001, Ptrend=0.002);in summer, with the increase in diurnal temperature range, the risk of admission of elderly patients with ischemic stroke increased (Ptrend=0.024);in autumn, the change in the diurnal temperature range would not cause a change in admission risk (Ptrend=0.089). Except that the lag effect of the extremely low diurnal temperature range in autumn was not obvious, the lag effect occurred in other seasons under extremely low and extremely high diurnal temperature ranges. Conclusion: The high diurnal temperature range in summer and the low diurnal temperature range in spring and winter will increase the risk of admission of elderly patients with ischemic stroke, and the risk of admission of elderly patients with ischemic stroke will lag under the extremely low and extremely high diurnal temperature ranges in the above three seasons.

Validity of different methods to prenatal screening for Down's syndrom during first and second trimester pregnancy of Chinese-women / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To identify and determine the optimal method to screening for fetal Down's syndrome (DS).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Three large cohorts with 17 118, 39 903, 16 646 subjects were enrolled for the first trimester double marker (pregnancy-associated plasma protein A and free β-human chorionic gonadotropin) screening (FTDMS), second trimester double marker (α-fetoprotein and free β-human chorionic gonadotropin) screening (STDMS), and second trimester triple marker (α-fetoprotein, free β-human chorionic gonadotropin and unconjugated estriol 3) screening (STTMS), respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, false positive rate (FPR), false negative rate (FNR) and the areas under ROC curves (AUCs) were estimated in order to determine the optimal screening method in women under or above 35 years old.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>For women under 35 years old, STTMS was the best method with a detection rate of 68.8% and FPR of 4.3% followed by the STDMS with a detection rate (sensitivity) of 66.7% and FPR of 4.9%. The FTDMS had a lower detection rate of 61.1% and FPR of 6.3%. For women above 35 years old, the detection rate of all the methods was similar, but STTMS method had a lowest FPR of 15.9%. For women under 35 years old AUCs were 0.77 (95% CI, 0.64 to 0.91), 0.81 (95% CI, 0.71 to 0.91), and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.69 to 0.96) for FTDMS, STDMS, and STTMS methods, respectively; for those above 35 years old, AUCs were 0.70 (95% CI, 0.56 to 0.83), 0.70 (95% CI, 0.59 to 0.82), 0.78 (95% CI, 0.58 to 0.97) for FTDMS, STDMS and STTMS , respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Findings from our study revealed that STDMS is optimal for the detection of fetal DS in pregnant women aged under 35. For individual women, if economic condition permits, STTMS is the best choice, while for women aged above 35, STTMS is the best choice in this regard.</p>

Imaging and clinical characteristics of patients with coronary artery stenosis located proximally to myocardial bridging / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the imaging and clinical characteristics and related risk factors of patients with coronary artery stenosis located proximally to myocardial bridging.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This study enrolled 603 patients with angiography evidenced myocardial bridging-mural coronary artery between May 2004 to May 2009. Angiographic and clinic data were collected according to uniform protocol and standard questionnaires were used to obtain patients' demographic and clinical information. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to explore related risk factors.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Chest pain was present in 247 cases (41.0%). Dynamic ST-T changes were found in 229 cases (38%). A total of 644 myocardial bridging-mural coronary arteries were detected including 382 (62.4%) segments located proximally to myocardial bridging. Diastolic vessel diameters in the myocardial bridging segment were significantly smaller than reference segments (all P < 0.01). Stepwise multiple regression analysis suggested that vascular bifurcation lesions, the degree of narrowing and the number of diseased coronary vessels of non- myocardial bridging-mural coronary arteries, age, LDL-C/HDL-C, male gender, diabetes, and systolic narrow rate of myocardial bridging-mural coronary arteries were positively related with the narrowing degree of the first coronary artery stenosis located proximally to myocardial bridging (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Vascular bifurcation lesions, the degree of narrowing and the number of diseased coronary vessels of non- myocardial bridging-mural coronary arteries, age, LDL-C/HDL-C, male, diabetes and dyslipidemia were positively related with the narrowing degree of the most severe coronary artery stenosis located proximally to myocardial bridging (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Myocardial ischemia is common in patients with myocardial bridging and the artery segments located proximally to myocardial bridging are prone to stenosis. Systolic narrow rate of myocardial bridging-mural coronary arteries is one of major determinants of coronary artery stenosis located proximally to myocardial bridging. Whereas the other coronary heart disease risk factors are likely to play more important roles.</p>

Development of the quality of life scale specific for patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia / 中南大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To develop a specific quality of life (QOL) scale for Chinese patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).@*METHODS@#The scale was developed with the programmed decision methods. The item pool was certified by experts. Five methods were used in item selection after a pilot study for which 256 BPH patients had been recruited. The scale was evaluated by its reliability and validity.@*RESULTS@#We formed a 27-item quality of life scale specific for patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia prior test version (BPHSQL). The test-retest correlation coefficient and Cronbach's alpha coefficient of BPHSQL were 0. 774 and 0. 945. The structure of the scale was similar to the theory construction. The scale's correlation coefficients with criteria ranged from 0.531 to 0.700. BPHSQL could well discriminate the quality of life between BPH and non-BPH patients as well as patients with different degrees of symptoms, different sources and patients with or without urethral catheters.@*CONCLUSION@#BPHSQL is reliable, valid and sensitive, and will be a convenient tool in clinical research to provide advice on different treatments for different patients.