Correlation between mental status and prevalence of asthenopia in Chinese college students.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to identify the possible association between mental status and the risk of self-reported asthenopia among college students in China. METHODS: Ten thousand students were randomly assessed in the study using a self-reported asthenopia questionnaire. Their demographic characteristics and mental status were recorded. Univariate analysis was performed to preliminarily select potential risk and protective factors. Then, multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios for the selected risk factors of interest. RESULTS: Among the 8370 students who completed the survey, the prevalence of asthenopia was 61.0%. Multivariate analysis revealed a significant relationship between asthenopia and depressive symptoms (OR 1.511 95% CI: 1.350-1.691), obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OR 1.477, 95% CI: 1.338-1.632), gender and study load. The place college students spent their off-hours (OR 0.841, 95% CI: 0.784-0.902) was found to be the strongest factor for decreasing the occurrence of asthenopia complaints. CONCLUSION: Asthenopia appears common in Chinese college students. In addition to depressive symptoms, we should pay attention to obsessive-compulsive symptoms when considering means of preventing asthenopia. Harmonious social relationships, outdoor off-hour activities and exercising more than three times per week are crucial to relieving visual fatigue. Further study is still needed in this area.

A Novel 8-Gene Prognostic Signature for Survival Prediction of Uveal Melanoma.

BACKGROUND: Uveal melanoma (UM) has favorable local tumor control, but once metastasis develops, the prognosis is rather poor. Thus, it is urgent to develop metastasis predicting markers. OBJECTIVE: Our study investigated a novel gene expression-based signature in predicting metastasis for patients with UM. METHODS: In the discovery phase, 63 patients with UM from GEO data set GSE22138 were analyzed using the Weighted Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA) to identify metastasis-related hub genes. The Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (Lasso) Cox regression was used to select candidate genes and build a gene expression signature. In the validation phase, the signature was validated in The Cancer Genome Atlas database. RESULTS: Forty-one genes were identified as hub genes of metastasis by WGCNA. After the Lasso Cox regression analysis, eight genes including RPL10A, EIF1B, TIPARP, RPL15, SLC25A38, PHLDA1, TFDP2, and MEGF10 were highlighted as candidate predictors. The gene expression signature for UM (UMPS) could independently predict MFS by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Incorporating UMPS increased the AUC of the traditional clinical model. In the validation cohort, UMPS performed well in predicting the MFS of UM patients. CONCLUSIONS: UMPS, an eight-gene-based signature, is useful in predicting prognosis for patients with UM.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy in HIV-positive patients: a nationwide population-based analysis.

PURPOSE: To compare differences in clinical characteristics and outcomes between patients with and without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in light of robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALRP) as the most common surgical technique for prostate cancer. Previous data on perioperative complication rates of RALRP in HIV(+) patients are limited by small sample size. METHODS: The National Inpatient Sample database from 2008 to 2014 was used to query prostate cancer patients who underwent RALRP. HIV(+) patients were identified through ICD9 codes 042, 043, 044, V08 and 079.53. Intraoperative and postoperative complications, rate of blood transfusion, in-hospital mortality, prolonged length of stay and total cost were compared by univariate, multivariate regression and 1:4 propensity score matched analyses. RESULTS: Overall, 270,319 weighted patients undergoing RALRP were identified, among whom 546 (0.20%) patients were diagnosed with HIV. Patients with HIV were younger, less likely to be white and had more comorbidities. Multivariable regression analysis revealed that HIV(+) patients had significantly increased genitourinary complications (odds ratio [OR]: 3.31; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.03-10.68) and miscellaneous surgical events (OR 3.19; 95% CI 1.26-8.08). There were no differences in potentially life-threatening cardiac, respiratory and vascular events between patients with and without HIV after RALRP. Propensity score matched analysis yielded similar results. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that patients who underwent RALRP with HIV did not experience higher risk of potentially life-threatening postoperative complications. RALRP could be safely considered as a surgical treatment for HIV(+) patients with prostate cancer.

Combined and Relative Effect Levels of Perceived Risk, Knowledge, Optimism, Pessimism, and Social Trust on Anxiety among Inhabitants Concerning Living on Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil.

This research aims at combined and relative effect levels on anxiety of: (1) perceived risk, knowledge, optimism, pessimism, and social trust; and (2) four sub-variables of social trust among inhabitants concerning living on heavy metal contaminated soil. On the basis of survey data from 499 Chinese respondents, results suggest that perceived risk, pessimism, optimism, and social trust have individual, significant, and direct effects on anxiety, while knowledge does not. Knowledge has significant, combined, and interactive effects on anxiety together with social trust and pessimism, respectively, but does not with perceived risk and optimism. Social trust, perceived risk, pessimism, knowledge, and optimism have significantly combined effects on anxiety; the five variables as a whole have stronger predictive values than each one individually. Anxiety is influenced firstly by social trust and secondly by perceived risk, pessimism, knowledge, and optimism. Each of four sub-variables of social trust has an individual, significant, and negative effect on anxiety. When introducing four sub-variables into one model, trust in social organizations and in the government have significantly combined effects on anxiety, while trust in experts and in friends and relatives do not; anxiety is influenced firstly by trust in social organization, and secondly by trust in the government.