Effect of artificial natural light on the development of myopia among primary school-age children in China: a three-year longitudinal study.

AIM: To assess the efficacy of artificial natural light in preventing incident myopia in primary school-age children. METHODS: This is a prospective, randomized control, intervention study. A total of 1840 students from 39 classes in 4 primary schools in Foshan participated in this study. The whole randomization method was adopted to include classes as a group according to 1:1 randomized control. Classrooms in the control group were illuminated by usual light, and classrooms in the intervention group were illuminated by artificial natural light. All students received uncorrected visual acuity and best-corrected visual acuity measurement, non-cycloplegic autorefraction, ocular biometric examination, slit lamp and strabismus examination. Three-year follow-up, the students underwent same procedures. Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent refraction ≤ -0.50 D and uncorrected visual acuity <20/20. RESULTS: There were 894 students in the control group and 946 students in the intervention group with a mean±SD age of 7.50±0.53y. The three-year cumulative incidence rate of myopia was 26.4% (207 incident cases among 784 eligible participants at baseline) in the control group and 21.2% (164 incident cases among 774 eligible participants at baseline) in the intervention group [difference of 5.2% (95%CI, 3.7% to 10.1%); P=0.035]. There was also a significant difference in the three-year change in spherical equivalent refraction for the control group (-0.81 D) compared with the intervention group [-0.63 D; difference of 0.18 D (95%CI, 0.08 to 0.28 D); P<0.001]. Elongation of axial length was significantly different between in the control group (0.77 mm) and the intervention group [0.72 mm; difference of 0.05 mm (95%CI, 0.01 to 0.09 mm); P=0.003]. CONCLUSION: Artificial natural light in the classroom of primary schools can result in reducing incidence rate of myopia during a period of three years.

[Human microbiome and chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome: An update].

The significance of symbiotic microorganisms in the human body was recognized with the advancing of the concept of human microbiome and the development of related studies and technologies. These microorganisms play important roles in metabolism, immune regulation, the maintenance of health, and the development and progression of diseases in the human body. Recent studies show that chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is related with human microbiome, mainly involving the urogenital tract, intestinal canal, and oral cavity. This review summarizes the studies on the relationship between the human microbiome and CP/CPPS in recent years.

Quantitative assessment and determinants of the papillary microvasculature in healthy subjects.

BACKGROUND: It is critical to monitor the optic disc's vessel density using Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and evaluate its determinants. In the current study, we investigate the superficial vessel density (VD) of the papillary microvasculature and its determinants in healthy subjects of Southern China. METHODS: This was a prospective, cross-sectional study. Superficial VD in healthy individuals' optic disc region was measured by OCTA. The factors associated with ocular and systemic parameters were analyzed using a generalized estimation equation (GEE) model. RESULTS: A total of 510 eyes of 260 healthy subjects were analyzed in the study. The total VD in the optic disc area was 17.21 ± 2.15 mm- 1 (95% CI, 17.02-17.40 mm- 1). The VD in the inner ring and the outer ring of the optic disc were significantly higher compared with the central ring, while the VD of the superior quadrant and inferior quadrant was significantly higher compared with the temporal and nasal quadrant. After adjusting for the ocular factors and systemic factors, AL (ß = - 0.4917, P = 0.0003), disc area (ß = - 0.3748, P = 0.0143), CMT (ß = - 0.0183, P = 0.0003) and SSI (ß = 1.0588, P < 0.001) were significantly associated with total VD of the optic disc. CONCLUSION: The mean total VD in the optic disc area was 17.21 ± 2.15 mm- 1 in healthy subjects, and the superior and inferior VD was significantly higher than the temporal and nasal VD. AL, disc area, CMT, and SSI may affect the total VD in the optic disc area and should be considered in clinical practice.

[Genes associated with hypospadias: an update].

Hypospadias is one of the most common congenital malformations, and its main clinical manifestation is the abnormal opening of the urethra. Etiologically, it can be attributed to many factors, mainly including genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors. Recently studies about its genetic etiologies have found a variety of hypospadias-associated genes from the aspects of epidemiology and polymorphism, mainly those involving the formation of the penis, the development of the testis, the anabolism of androgens, and so on. This review focuses on the progress in the studies on the genetic etiology of hypospadias.

Blockade of epithelial sodium channels improves sperm motility in asthenospermia patients.

Epithelial Na(+) channels (ENaCs) are ion channels that play important roles in physiology as well as pathophysiology. Inhibiting ENaCs using amiloride and its derivatives has been suggested in treatment of cardiovascular disease and hypertension. By immunoblotting, we demonstrated the presence of ENaC-alpha protein in the flagellar midpiece of both rat and human sperm. Immunohistochemistry analyses in rat testis localized ENaC-alpha expressed in the Leydig cell, Sertoli cell, Ap spermatogonium, spermatocyte, spermatid and residual body. Importantly, using computer-assisted sperm motility analysis, we first observed that EIPA [5-(N-ethyl-N-isopropyl)-amiloride hydrochloride] inhibition of ENaCs, possibly including ENaC-alpha and ENaC-delta, significantly improved the sperm motility in healthy donors by 14.23% (mean +/- SEM, 68.75 +/- 9.76% vs. 78.53 +/- 6.20%, p < 0.001) and in asthenospermia patients by 115.89% from 9.50 +/- 6.11% to 20.51 +/- 12.13% (mean +/- SEM, p < 0.001). The improved sperm motility by EIPA has important clinical implications in the treatment of asthenospermia and certainly warrants further investigation.

[Effects of soil use along Yellow River basin on the pollution of soil by heavy metals].

Because of the decrease in pasture and woodland proportion, soil loss is severe along the Yellow River basin. The Yellow River delta has been one of the deltas that form land most quickly. Research on the pollution of new land is important for its use and appraising the environment and food pollution along Yellow River basin. The contents of heavy metals (Mn, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb, Hg and Cr) in new soils (2006) and old soils (1996) from Yellow River delta, were analyzed by the method of ICP-MS/ICP-AES, in order to determine the level of pollution along Yellow River basin. The results showed that the heavy metals pollution along Yellow River basin is increasingly severe, especially the concentrations of Mn, Cu, Zn, Cr and Cd in soil forming in 2006 are significantly higher than those in 1996, which should be noticed by our government.

[Optimization of real time RT-PCR system for the quantitative estimation of CatSper1 mRNA levels in human and mouse mature spermatozoa].

OBJECTIVE: To establish and optimize a real time RT-PCR system for determining the transcript levels of CatSper1 in human and mouse mature spermatozoa containing microamount of RNA. METHODS: Total RNA of human and mouse mature spermatozoa was isolated by using TRIzol reagent and reversely transcribed to complementary DNA respectively. Primers for real time RT-PCR were designed in the homologous area of the human and mouse CatSper1 mRNAs. Human sperm complementary DNA was used as the template to the optimize the conditions for SYBR Green I real time RT-PCR, including annealing temperature, Mg2+ concentration, fluorescence measurement temperature and the ratio between forward and reverse primers. The standard curve was constructed with serial dilutions of complementary DNA from human sperm to ascertain the amplification efficiency of SYBR Green I real time PCR and to quantitate the CatSper1 mRNA levels in the human and mouse mature spermatozoa. RESULTS: The optimal conditions for real time RT-PCR, that is, annealing temperature, Mg2+ concentration and the ratio between forward and reverse primers were 63 degrees C, 3.0 mmol/L and 1:1 respectively. The fluorescence measurement temperature was 88 degrees C. The standard curves were Y = -3.402 log (X) + 25.99 and Y = -3.409 log(X) + 24.09 in the human sperm cDNA and mouse sperm cDNA as the template, with amplification efficiency of 96.8% and 96.5% respectively. The R2 value (an indicator of the quality of the fit of the standard curve to the standard data points plotted) of both standard curves was 0.998. The CatSper1 mRNA levels in the human and mouse mature spermatozoa could be determined according to the standard curve. CONCLUSION: The general RT-PCR system, by adding SYBR Green I and optimizing its conditions, could be used to quantitate the mRNA levels in both human and mouse mature spermatozoa.

[Application of ICP-MS to detection of heavy metals in soil from different cropping systems].

With the rapid development of the society, more and more attention has been paid to the influence of human activity on environment and food pollution. Soils of different cropping systems, sampled from Daxing district of Beijing, were analyzed in terms of the contents of heavy metals (Ti, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb) by the method of ICP-MS to determine the influence of cropping system on environment. The results showed that the contents of nine heavy metals in soils from the cropping systems (fruits and maize/wheat) were several times higher than those from vegetable system. Contents of Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, As and Cd were the highest in soils from fruit system, while Ti and Pb the highest in soils from maize/wheat system. The causes of the above differences could be the different harvest organs for different crops.