Do ethnic and socio-economic inequalities in mortality vary by region in New Zealand? An application of hierarchical Bayesian modelling

We hypothesised that ethnic and socio-economic inequality in mortality might vary by region in New Zealand. Linked 2001–2004 census-mortality data were stratified by region (District Health Boards or DHBs), sex, age and ethnic groups, and income quintiles. To accommodate data sparseness, and to achieve accurate estimates of DHB-specific mortality rates and rate ratios by ethnicity and income, we used hierarchical Bayesian methods. To aid presentation of results, we used posterior mortality rates from the models to calculate directly standardised rates and rate ratios, with credible intervals. Māori-European/Other mortality rate ratios were often similar across DHBs, but Waitemata and Canterbury DHBs (both predominantly urban areas with low Māori population) had significantly lower rate ratios. In contrast, Bay of Plenty and Waikato DHBs (heterogeneous by both ethnicity and socio-economic position) had significantly higher rate ratios. There was little variation in mortality inequalities by income across DHBs. Examining the underlying rates for ethnic and income groups separately, there were significant variations across DHBs, but these were often correlated such that the ethnic or income rate ratio was similar across DHBs. The application of hierarchical Bayesian allowed more definitive conclusions than routine empirical methods when comparing small populations such as social groups across regions. The range of hierarchical Bayesian estimates of Māori mortality and Māori:European rate ratios across regions was considerably narrower than empirical standardisation estimates.     

不同年龄段壮族健康人群外周血细胞参数检测结果分析

目的：探讨百色地区壮族健康青年、老年人群外周血细胞各项参数的差异。方法对2012年9月至2013年10月于右江民族医学院附属医院体检的1712例壮族健康青年和老年人外周血细胞参数检测结果进行回顾性分析。结果老年男性和青年男性之间,红细胞计数（RBC）、血红蛋白（Hb）、红细胞平均体积（MCV）、红细胞平均血红蛋白含量（MCH）、血细胞比容（HCT）比较差异有统计学意义（P＜0．05）;老年女性与青年女女性之间, RBC、红细胞平均血红蛋白浓度（MCHC）比较差异有统计学意义（P＜0．05）;老年男性与老年女性之间,RBC、Hb、MCV、MCH、MCHC、血小板比容（PCT）、HCT 比较差异有统计学意义（P＜0．05）;青年男性与青年女性之间, RBC、Hb、MCV、MCH、血小板（PLT）、PCT、HCT比较差异有统计学意义（P＜0．05）。结论不同性别和年龄的百色地区壮族健康者外周血细胞部分参数存在明显差异,有必要根据年龄和性别建立适合本地群人群的血细胞参数参考区间。     

广西农村居民参加新型农村合作医疗的影响因素分析

采用入户调查方法、Logistic回归分析对广西2340家农户参加新型农村合作医疗的影响因素进行分析,结果表明家庭收入、家庭老年人口数等5个因素与农民参合有关,因此,应提高和培养农民的参合意识和健康投资观念。     

广西瑶族与汉族人多瘤病毒感染率的调查研究

目的研究广西瑶族与汉族健康成人外周血白细胞（PBLs）中人多瘤病毒（BKV）感染的发生率。方法采集广西瑶族及汉族健康人外周血标本各500份，提取淋巴细胞基因组DNA，用巢式PCR方法扩增BKV的保守区编码序列，统计分析不同民族、年龄、性别组BKV—DNA检出率。结果1000份健康人PBLs样品中BKV感染的发生率为61．3％，不同民族、性别、年龄组之间无显著性差异（P〉0．05）。结论BKV在广西瑶族及汉族健康人PBLs中存在较高的感染率，本研究证实了PBLs是BKV在体内的潜伏细胞及传播载体，应加强对BKV条件致病性的认识，积极防治、减少BKV相关的移植肾病（BKVN）的发生率。     

Expression and significance of DSCAM in the cerebral cortex of APP transgenic mice

Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (DSCAM) plays important roles in the regulation of synaptogenesis, neurite outgrowth, axon guidance and synapse formation. Overexpression of DSCAM in Down syndrome (DS) may be involved in the pathogenesis of mental retardation through an inhibitory action on synaptogenesis/neurite outgrowth, and in the precocious dementia associated with an amyloid precursor protein (APP) dosage effect with enhanced plaque formation. In this report we examined the expression of DSCAM in the cerebral cortex of APP transgenic mice versus age-matched wild-type mice. We found that the level of DSCAM expression increased with increasing age in both groups of mice, up to a maximum at 3 months old. The level of DSCAM expression in APP transgenic mice was significantly higher than in the age-matched wild types. We propose that overexpression of DSCAM in the cerebral cortex might play an important role in the learning and memory defects of APP transgenic mice.     

长沙地区无偿献血者HIV感染状况分析

目的分析长沙地区无偿献血者HIV感染状况,为无偿献血宣传、招募、体检征询、献血者管理和血液检测等方面采取有效措施提供依据。方法收集长沙地区2006-2010年无偿献血者人口学资料及其血液标本550 283份,采用ELISA初筛检测,反应性标本用免疫印迹法（WB）进行确认,对感染率的分析采用χ2检验。结果长沙地区无偿献血者HIV感染率为0.0102%。2006-2010年感染率分别为0.0067%、0.0032%、0.0036%、0.0117%、0.0211%,近两年呈急剧增长趋势（趋势卡方检验χ2=26.3,P〈0.05）。感染者年龄为28~37岁组感染率显著高于18~27岁组,分别为0.0227%、0.0089%（χ2=17.6,P〈0.05）。男性感染率显著高于女性,分别为0.0163%、0.0029%（χ2=23.9,P〈0.05）。职业分布中以无职业者感染率最高0.0303%,学生感染率最低0.0058%,职员、自由职业、公务员和工人的感染率分别为0.0182%、0.0185%、0.0208%、0.0215%,各组间感染率差异有统计学意义（χ2=25.5,P〈0.05）,感染者中无职业者、职员和学生阳性构成比分别占30.3%、21.1%和19.3%。WB检测结果P55、P39条带存在较大个体差异。结论长沙地区无偿献血者HIV感染率近两年呈急剧上升趋势,感染者均为18~37岁年龄段,男性献血者感染率显著高于女性。     

Anatomical Regurgitant Orifice Detection and Quantification from 3-D Echocardiographic Images

The vena contracta and effective regurgitant orifice area (EROA) are currently used for the clinical assessment of mitral regurgitation (MR) from 2-D color Doppler imaging. In addition to being highly user dependent and having low repeatability, these methods do not represent accurately the anatomic regurgitant orifice (ARO), which affects the adequate assessment of MR patients. We propose a novel method for semi-automatic detection and quantitative assessment of the 3-D ARO shape from 3-D transesophageal echocardiographic images. The algorithm was tested on a set of 25 patients with MR, and compared with EROA for validation. Results indicate the robustness of the proposed approach, with low variability in relation to different settings of user-defined segmentation parameters. Although EROA and ARO exhibited a good correlation (r = 0.8), relatively large biases were measured, indicating that EROA probably underestimates the real shape and size of the regurgitant orifice. Along with the higher reproducibility of the proposed approach, this highlights the limitations of current clinical approaches and underlines the importance of accurate assessment of the ARO shape for diagnosis and treatment in MR patients.     

自主开发建设西藏自治区人民医院网站

西藏自治区人民医院地处偏远地区，但经过长期发展，信息化建设已卓有成效。结合人民医院实际，自主开发建设医院网站，形成具有鲜明特色的网站，为医护人员及患者提供高质量的服务。