Medicine
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Few studies have paid attention to the performances of non-invasive models in diagnosing stages of liver fibrosis and inflammation, which are critical for early and accurate assessment of prognostication and decisions on antiviral treatment in chronic hepatitis B infection patients with high hepatitis B virus DNA and normal or mildly elevated alanine transaminase levels (≤2 times upper limit of normal (ULN)). This study aimed to investigate the value of routine serum markers in evaluation of liver inflammation and fibrosis in these patients. A total of 370 consecutive chronic hepatitis B virus-infected patients who underwent liver biopsy were retrospectively analyzed. ⋯ To predict severe fibrosis (≥ S3), the AUROC of FIB-4 was higher than that of RPR (0.805 vs 0.750, P = .006) and GP (0.805 vs 0.755, P = .046), comparable to that of APRI (0.805 vs 0.785, P = .550) and GPR (0.805 vs 0.818, P = .694). As for significant liver histological changes (G ≥ 2 or/and S ≥ 2), the performance of APRI was higher than that of RPR (0.717 vs 0.652, P = .006), GP (0.717 vs 0.659, p = .011), equivalent to that of FIB-4 (0.717 vs 0.692, P = .254) and GPR (0.717 vs 0.680, P = .166). We found that APRI, GPR, and FIB-4 were more effective than RPR and GP for diagnosing liver inflammation and fibrosis.
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Comparative Study Observational Study
Injectable calcium sulfate vs mixed bone graft of autologous iliac bone and allogeneic bone: Which is the better bone graft material for unicameral bone cyst in humerus?
Unicameral bone cyst (UBC) is a benign fluid-filled lesion, mainly located in the metaphyses of long bones in children and adolescents. Elastic stable intramedullary nail (ESIN) is adopted in our institute for UBCs since 2010, and bone grafting was performed simultaneously. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of ESIN decompression combined with different bone graft materials. ⋯ As for the Capanna classification, there was no significant difference between these 2 groups (P = .78). Intramedullary nailing has the advantage of a minimally invasive procedure, immediate stability, and continuous decompression. ICS showed similar results as a mixture of the autologous iliac bone and allogeneic bone.
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Comparative Study Observational Study
Comparisons on perinatal depression between the first-child women and the second-child women in West China under the universal 2-child policy: A STROBE compliant prospective cohort study.
Universal 2-child policy was proposed in 2015 in China, but it was still uncertain whether having a second child would have any impacts on maternal health, especially mental health. So, the aim of this study was to compare the incidence of perinatal depression between the first-child women and the second-child women and to describe the patterns of perinatal depression from the first and third trimesters to 6 weeks postpartum. ⋯ The risk of perinatal depression for the second-child women was no higher than for the first-child women, and the EPDS scores of the second-child women were decreasing during the perinatal period. So couples in West China are recommended to consider having a second child without much worry about its negative effects on mental health under the universal 2-child policy.
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Some muscular dystrophies may have a negative impact on fertility. A decreased ovarian reserve is 1 of the factors assumed to be involved in fertility impairment. AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone) is currently considered the best measure of ovarian reserve. ⋯ The MD1 group shows a significant decrease of AMH values (median 0.7 ng/mL; range 0 - 4.9 ng/mL) compared with age-matched healthy controls (P < .01). AMH levels were similar between patients and controls in terms of females with MD2 (P = .98), FSHD (P = .55) and cDMD (P = .60). This study suggests decreased ovarian reserve in women with MD1, but not in MD2, FSHD and cDMD.
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This study aimed to further understand the role of relative telomere length (RTL) in susceptibility to gastric carcinoma (GC) and investigate the association between genetic polymorphisms in the telomere length related genes and GC risk. RTL was measured using the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction from 1000 patients and 1100 healthy controls. Genotyping was performed using the Agena MassARRAY platform. ⋯ The association analysis of telomere length and GC showed that the RTL in the case group was shorter than in the controls, and the shorter RTL was associated with an increased risk of GC. The association analysis between telomere length related genes polymorphisms and genetic susceptibility to GC indicated that: In the allele models and genetic models, TERT (rs10069690, rs2242652 and rs2853676) and TN1F1 (rs7708392 and rs10036748) were significantly associated with an increased risk of GC. In addition, the haplotype 'Grs10069690Crs2242652" of TERT and the haplotype 'Grs7708392Trs10036748" of TNIP1 were associated with an increased risk of GCOur results suggested that shorter RTL was associated with an increased risk of GC; The association analysis have identified that the TERT (rs10069690, rs2242652 and rs2853676) and TN1P1 (rs7708392 and rs10036748) were associated with GC risk.