Medicine
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Observational Study
The incidence of mumps in Taiwan and its association with the meteorological parameters: An observational study.
Mumps is an acute and common childhood disease caused by paramyxovirus. It has been reported that the occurrence of mumps is influenced by seasonality. However, the role of meteorological variables in the incidence of mumps remains unclear. ⋯ The number of mumps cases was positively associated with temperature and relative humidity during the period preceding the infection. This study showed that the occurrence of mumps is significantly associated with increasing temperature and relative humidity in Taiwan. Therefore, these factors could be regarded as early warning signals and indicate the need to strengthen the intervention and prevention of mumps.
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Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one of the most prevalent head and neck cancer in southeast Asia. It is necessary to proceed further studies on the mechanism of occurrence and development of NPC. In this study, we employed the microarray dataset GSE12452 and GSE53819 including 28 normal samples and 49 nasopharyngeal carcinoma samples downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO) to analysis. ⋯ Besides, the effect of genes CDK1, CDC45, RSPH4A, and ZMYND10 on survival of NPC was validated in GEPIA database. The data revealed novel aberrantly expressed genes and pathways in NPC by bioinformatics analysis, potentially providing novel insights for the molecular mechanisms governing NPC progression. Although further studies needed, the results demonstrated that the expression levels of CDK1, CDC45, RSPH4A, and ZMYND10 probably affected survival of NPC patients.
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The purpose of this retrospective study was to explore the advantages of computed tomography (CT) nano-contrast agent in tumor diagnosis. A total of 100 patients with malignant tumor who were diagnosed in Shaanxi Province Public Hospital between January 2018 and January 2019 were included in this retrospective study. They were randomly divided into observation and control groups with 50 patients in each group. ⋯ The incidence of adverse reactions was 2% in the observation group and 30% in the control group, and the difference between the 2 groups was significantly different (χ2 = 12.683, P = .000). The radioactive concentration in the observation group was markedly higher than that in the control group (t = 19.692, P = .001). The use of CT nano-contrast agent in tumor diagnosis had higher detection rate of tumor and radioactive concentration, and it had lower misdiagnosis rate and adverse reaction rate than traditional iohexol contrast agent.
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The long-axis in-plane approach is amenable to ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization. However, the long-axis in-plane approach is considered difficult to learn because the needle should remain visible in the ultrasound beam during the procedure. We developed a novel competency-based modular system to acquire the skills for the long-axis in-plane approach. ⋯ Puncture accuracy significantly increased for needle tip distance (P = .03), but not shaft distance (P = .1). The needle tip visualization was significantly improved (P = .02). A novel competency-based teaching system was constructed in a step-by-step manner, which improved needle tip visualization and puncture accuracy, with a higher success rate.
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The aim of this study was to identify genes and functional pathways associated with damaged cartilage tissues of knee using microarray analysis. The gene expression profile GSE129147 including including 10 knee cartilage tissues from damaged side and 10 knee nonweight-bearing healthy cartilage was downloaded and bioinformatics analysis was made. ⋯ Furthermore, 10 hub differentially-expressed genes with a higher connectivity degree in protein-protein interactions network were found such as POSTN, FBN1, LOX, insulin-like growth factor binding proteins3, C3AR1, MMP2, ITGAM, CDKN2A, COL1A1, COL5A1. These hub genes and pathways provide a new perspective for revealing the potential pathological mechanisms and therapy strategy of cartilage injury.