The 1997 Nationwide Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey in the Philippines.

SETTING: The Philippines is a developing country where tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant public health problem. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of TB as a basis for setting the targets of the National Tuberculosis Control Program. STUDY POPULATION AND METHODS: A multi-stage cluster survey of a random sample of 21960 subjects from 36 clusters nationwide was undertaken from 2 April to 31 July 1997. BCG scar verification and tuberculin testing was performed for subjects aged 2 months and over, and chest radiography screening was done on subjects 10 years and older. Sputum samples were collected from individuals who were initially assessed to have abnormal chest radiographs to determine the prevalence of bacillary tuberculosis. Acid-fast smear by modified Kinyoun's technique and culture on L?wenstein Jensen were done to demonstrate Mycobacterium tuberculosis. RESULTS: The prevalence of active pulmonary TB was 42/1000 population. The prevalence of culture-positive and smear-positive cases was 8.1 and 3.1/1000, respectively. The prevalence was similar in urban and rural areas. CONCLUSION: Morbidity from TB remains high. Allowing for methodological differences from the survey in 1981-1983, the prevalence of active pulmonary TB was unchanged. There was only a minimal decrease, of 37% for smear-positive cases and 25% for culture-positive cases, in the 14-year interval.     

Systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials: In–hospital use of sensors for prevention of falls

Background:Intra-hospital falls have become an important public health problem globally. The use of movement sensors with alarms has been studied as elements with predictive capacity for falls at hospital level. However, in spite of their use in some hospitals throughout the world, evidence is lacking about their effectiveness in reducing intra-hospital falls. Therefore, this study aims to develop a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing scientific literature exploring the impact of using sensors for fall prevention in hospitalized adults and the elderly population.Methods:We explored literature based on clinical trials in Spanish, English, and Portuguese, assessing the impact of devices used for hospital fall prevention in adult and elderly populations. The search included databases such as IEEE Xplore, the Cochrane Library, Scopus, PubMed, MEDLINE, and Science Direct databases. The critical appraisal was performed independently by two researchers. Methodological quality was assessed based on the ratings of individual biases. We performed the sum of the results, generating an estimation of the grouped effect (Relative Risk, 95% CI) for the outcome first fall for each patient. We assessed heterogeneity and publication bias. The study followed PRISMA guidelines.Results:Results were assessed in three randomized controlled clinical trials, including 29,691 patients. A total of 351 (3%) patients fell among 11,769 patients assigned to the intervention group, compared with 426 (2.4%) patients who fell among 17,922 patients assigned to the control group (general estimation RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.04, 1.37, P = .02, I² = 0%; Moderate GRADE).Conclusion:Our results show an increase of 19% in falls among elderly patients who are users of sensors located in their bed, bed-chair, or chair among their hospitalizations. Other types of sensors such as wearable sensors can be explored as coadjutants for fall prevention care in hospitals.     

Genome-Wide Analysis of Disordered Eating Behavior in the Mexican Population

Alterations in eating behavior characterized eating disorders (ED). The genetic factors shared between ED diagnoses have been underexplored. The present study performed a genome-wide association study in individuals with disordered eating behaviors in the Mexican population, blood methylation quantitative trait loci (blood-meQTL), summary data-based Mendelian randomization (SMR) analysis, and in silico function prediction by different algorithms. The analysis included a total of 1803 individuals. We performed a genome-wide association study and blood-meQTL analysis by logistic and linear regression. In addition, we analyzed in silico functional variant prediction, phenome-wide, and multi-tissue expression quantitative trait loci. The genome-wide association study identified 44 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) associated at a nominal value and seven blood-meQTL at a genome-wide threshold. The SNPs show enrichment in genome-wide associations of the metabolic and immunologic domains. In the in silico analysis, the SNP rs10419198 (p-value = 4.85 × 10⁻⁵) located on an enhancer mark could change the expression of PRR12 in blood, adipocytes, and brain areas that regulate food intake. Additionally, we found an association of DNA methylation levels of SETBP1 (p-value = 6.76 × 10⁻⁴) and SEMG1 (p-value = 5.73 × 10⁻⁴) by SMR analysis. The present study supports the previous associations of genetic variation in the metabolic domain with ED.     

Parallel-plate compression test for soft materials: confocal microscopy-assisted ferrule-top nanoindentation

The parallel-plate compression test is one of the simplest ways to measure the mechanical properties of a material. In this test, the Young’s modulus ( E ) and the Poisson’s ratio ( ν ) of the material are determined directly without applying any additional modelling and parameter fitting in the post-processing. This is, however, limited when dealing soft biological materials due to their inherent properties such as being inhomogeneous, microscopic, and overly compliant. By combining an interferometry-assisted parallel-plate compression system and a confocal microscope, we were able to overcome these limitations and measure the E (315 ± 52 Pa) and ν (0.210 ± 0.043) of fixated and permeabilized bovine oocytes.     

Preoperative Diabetes Mellitus and Long-Term Survival After Resection of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Purpose  

To assess clinicopathologic features and postresection survival of diabetes mellitus (DM)-associated pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).     

肺不藏魄型失眠模型大鼠相关脏器多巴胺D1、D2受体表达差异研究

目的:探讨肺不藏魄型失眠模型大鼠相关脏器中多巴胺D1、D2受体的表达差异。方法:将16只大鼠用随机数字表法分为对照组和失眠模型组,每组8只。失眠模型组采用小平台水环境法进行造模,造模9 d。造模成功后,取两组大鼠的肺、大肠、脑、心、肝、脾和肾组织,采用HE染色观察肺和脑的病理变化,免疫组化法观察各组织中多巴胺D1、D2受体的表达。结果:失眠模型组肺组织HE染色可见肺泡壁毛细血管轻微扩张充血、纤维结缔组织增生致使肺泡壁增厚、肺泡腔可见巨噬细胞;脑组织未见明显病理改变。与对照组比较,在肺、大肠、脑、心中,失眠模型组D1受体表达明显升高(P<0.05),D2受体表达明显降低(P<0.05)。结论:肺不藏魄型失眠模型大鼠肺、大肠、脑、心中多巴胺D1受体表达明显增加,D2受体表达明显降低,说明D1受体表达增加,D2受体表达降低与肺不藏魄型失眠机制密切相关,是该型失眠模型的失眠机制之一。     

急性百草枯中毒大鼠肺组织MMP-2和TIMP-1的基因表达

目的 利用实时荧光定量PCR法测定急性百草枯中毒大鼠肺组织中基质金属蛋白酶-2(MMP-2)、基质金属蛋白酶组织因子抑制剂-1(TIMP-1)基因的表达,探讨其在急性百草枯中毒所致的大鼠急性肺损伤及纤维化中的作用.方法 80只SD大鼠,随机分为对照组(n:8)、染毒组(n:72);对照组一次性腹腔注射与染毒组等体积的生理盐水,染毒组一次性腹腔注射百草枯溶液(18mg/kg)染毒;分别于1、3、5、7、14、28 d光镜下观察两组大鼠的肺组织病理变化,同时利用实时荧光定量PCR法动态测定MMP-2、TIMP-1的mRNA表达量.结果 与对照组相比,染毒组大鼠早期主要表现为肺脏的急性炎症反应,肺水肿和出血明显,染毒5 d后观察到肺纤维化变化,第28天纤维化最明显;染毒组肺组织中的MMP-2的mRNA表达较对照组从第1天开始即明显增强,第7天达到高峰,为对照组的2.83倍,以后逐渐下降,但28 d时仍高于对照组,差异无统计学意义(P<0.01);TIMP-1的mRNA表达第1天也明显高于对照组,逐渐增强至14 d达到峰值,为对照组的7.28倍,后开始缓慢下降,28 d时仍明显高于对照组(P<0.01).结论 MMP-2、TIMP-1在急性百草枯中毒所致的急性肺损伤中起了重要的作用,同时大鼠的肺纤维化进程与MMPs/TIMPs的基因表达比例失调有很大的关系.