Understanding congenital vertical talus

Congenital vertical talus (CVT) is a rare foot deformity that presents with a rigid flat foot at birth. CVT can present as an isolated abnormality in the newborn, however in at least 50% of cases in association with other conditions. Full neuro-axial imaging is essential to detect any associated neurologic problems. Radiographs of the foot, including forced plantar and dorsiflexion laterals, are diagnostic. Gold standard modern treatment uses the Dobbs method of serial manipulation and casting with minimally-invasive stabilization of the talonavicular joint and Achilles tendon tenotomy.     

中医健康状态辨识模式的研究现状与展望

健康状态的辨识是把握健康的前提。当前学界已存在专家辨识模式、标准辨识模式、数字辨识模式、智能辨识模式以及微观辨识模式等。联合多种辨识方法,构建健康状态辨识体系,形成常态与动态结合、主观与客观结合、人机互参的中医健康状态个体化辨识方法是研究的趋势所在。文章对未来的研究方向进行展望,探讨了多元辨识模式、远程辨识模式、终身辨识模式、自动辨识模式的思路方法,以期促进全民健康事业,助力"健康中国"战略。     

An analysis of underlying factors for seasonal variation in gonorrhoea in India: A 6-year statistical assessment

Purpose: A statistical assessment of a disease is often necessary before resources can be allocated to any control programme. No literature on seasonal trends of gonorrhoea is available from India. Objectives: The objectives were (1) to determine, if any, seasonal trends were present in India (2) to describe factors contributing to seasonality of gonorrhoea (3) to formulate approaches for gonorrhoea control at the national level. Materials and Methods: Seasonal indices for gonorrhoea were calculated quarterly in terms of a seasonal index between 2005 and 2010. Ratio-to-moving average method was used to determine the seasonal variation. The original data values in the time-series were expressed as percentages of moving averages. Results were also analyzed by second statistical method i.e. seasonal subseries plot. Results: The seasonally adjusted average for culture-positive gonorrhoea cases was highest in the second quarter (128.61%) followed by third quarter (108.48%) while a trough was observed in the first (96.05%) and last quarter (64.85%). The second quarter peak was representative of summer vacations in schools and colleges. Moreover, April is the harvesting month followed by celebrations and social gatherings. Both these factors are associated with increased sexual activity and partner change. A trough in first and last quarter was indicative of festival season and winter leading to less patients reporting to the hospital. Conclusion: The findings highlight the immediate need to strengthen sexual health education among young people in schools and colleges and education on risk-reduction practices especially at crucial points in the calendar year for effective gonorrhoea control.     

补肾纳气法治疗小儿支气管哮喘的临床分析

目的：探讨分析补肾纳气法治疗小儿支气管哮喘的临床效果。方法方便选取该院儿科于2013年3月—2014年11月收治的小儿支气管哮喘患者67例，根据随机数字法分为对照组33例和观察组34例，对照组患者予以氨茶碱片治疗，观察组患者实施补肾纳气法治疗，观察两组患者的治疗效果，进行临床对照性分析。结果对照组患者不良反应发生率24.2%，观察组患者不良反应发生率5.8%，观察组不良反应发生率明显低于对照组(P﹤0.05)；对照组患者总有效率60.6%，观察组患者总有效率85.3%。观察组患者治疗后总有效率明显高于对照组(P﹤0.05)。结论补肾纳气法治疗小儿支气管哮喘的临床效果好，应用价值高，值得在临床实践中推广应用。     

Comparison between a new platelet count drop method PL-11, light transmission aggregometry,VerifyNow aspirin system and thromboelastography for monitoring short-term aspirin effects in healthy individuals

Platelet function has been described by many laboratory assays, and PL-11 is a new point-of-care platelet function analyzer based on platelet count drop method, which counts platelet before and after the addition of agonists in the citrated whole blood samples. The present study sought to compare PL-11 with other three major more established assays, light transmission aggregometry (LTA), VerifyNow? aspirin system and thromboelastography (TEG), for monitoring the short-term aspirin responses in healthy individuals. Ten healthy young men took 100?mg/d aspirin for 3-day treatment. Platelet function was measured via PL-11, LTA, VerifyNow and TEG, respectively. The blood samples were collected at baseline, 2 hour, 1 day during the aspirin treatment and 1 day, 5?±?1 days, 8?±?1 days after the aspirin withdrawal. Moreover, 90 additional healthy subjects were recruited to establish a reference range for PL-11. Platelet function of healthy subjects decreased significantly 2 hours after 100?mg/d aspirin intake and began to recover during 4–6 days after the aspirin withdrawal. Correlations between methods were PL-11 vs. LTA (r?=?0.614, p?<?0.01); PL-11 vs. VerifyNow (r?=?0.829, p?<?0.01); PL-11 vs. TEG (r?=?0.697, p?<?0.001). There was no significant bias between PL-11 and LTA at baseline (bias?=?1.94%, p?=?0.804) using Bland-Altman analysis, while the data of PL-11 were significantly higher than LTA (bias?=?24.02%, p?<?0.001) during the aspirin therapy. The reference range for PL-11 in healthy young individuals was from 66.8 to 90.5% (95%CI). When aspirin low-responsiveness was defined as LTA?>?20%, the cut-off values for each method were, respectively: PL-11?>?50%, VerifyNow?>?533 ARU, TEG?>?60.2%. The results of different platelet function assays were uninterchangeable for monitoring aspirin response and correlations among them were also varied. Correlations among PL-11 and other three major assays suggested the ability of PL-11 to assess the treatment effects of aspirin. But a large cohort study is needed to confirm the cut-off value of aspirin response detected by PL-11.     

Redox active or thiol reactive? Optimization of rapid screens to identify less evident nuisance compounds

Compounds that exhibit assay interference or undesirable mechanisms of bioactivity are routinely encountered in assays at various stages of drug discovery. We observed that assays for the investigation of thiol-reactive and redox-active compounds have not been collected in a comprehensive review. Here, we review these assays and subject them to experimental optimization to improve their reliability. We demonstrate the usefulness of our assay cascade by assaying a library of bioactive compounds, chemical probes, and a set of approved drugs. These high-throughput assays should complement the array of wet-lab and in silico assays during the initial stages of hit discovery campaigns to pursue only hit compounds with tractable mechanisms of action.     

Developmental validation of the ANDE™ rapid DNA system with FlexPlex™ assay for arrestee and reference buccal swab processing and database searching

A developmental validation was performed to demonstrate reliability, reproducibility and robustness of the ANDE System with the FlexPlex assay, including an integrated Expert System, across a number of laboratories and buccal sample variations. Previously, the related DNAscan™/ANDE 4C Rapid DNA System using the PowerPlex^®16 assay and integrated Expert System Software received NDIS approval in March 2016. The enhanced ANDE instrument, referred to as ANDE 6C, and the accompanying 6-dye, 27-locus STR assay, referred to as FlexPlex, have been developed to be compatible with all widely used global loci, including the expanded set of the CODIS core 20 loci.Six forensic and research laboratories participated in the FlexPlex Rapid DNA developmental validation experiments, testing a total of 2045 swabs, including those obtained from 1387 unique individuals. The goal of this extensive and comprehensive validation was to thoroughly evaluate and document the ANDE System and its internal Expert System to reliably genotype reference buccal swab samples in a manner compliant with the FBI’s Quality Assurance Standards and the NDIS Operational Procedures.The ANDE System, including automated Expert System analysis, generated reproducible and concordant results for buccal swabs when testing various instruments at different laboratories by a number of different operators. When testing a number of non-human DNAs, including oral bacteria, the ANDE System and FlexPlex assay demonstrated limited cross-reactivity. Potential PCR inhibitors were evaluated as part of the validation and no inhibition was detected. Reproducible and concordant profiles were generated from buccal swab samples collected with a limit of detection appropriate for buccal swab collections from arrestees. The precision and resolution of the System met industry standards for detection of microvariants and single base resolution.The integrated Expert System appropriately demonstrated the ability to correctly pass or fail profiles for CODIS upload without human review. During this comprehensive developmental validation, the ANDE System successfully interpreted over 2000 samples tested with over 99.99% concordant alleles. The data package described herein led to the ANDE System with the FlexPlex assay receiving NDIS approval in June 2018.     

Daily skin-to-skin contact in full-term infants and breastfeeding: Secondary outcomes from a randomized controlled trial

This randomized controlled trial evaluated the effect of a 5-week daily skin-to-skin contact (SSC) intervention between mothers and their full-term infants, compared with care-as-usual, on exclusive and continued breastfeeding duration during the first post-natal year. Healthy pregnant women (n = 116) from a community sample were enrolled and randomly allocated to the SSC or care-as-usual condition. SSC mothers were requested to provide one daily hour of SSC for the first five post-natal weeks. Twelve months post-partum, mothers indicated the number of exclusive and continued breastfeeding months. Multiple regression analyses were conducted using intention-to-treat, per-protocol and exploratory dose–response frameworks. In intention-to-treat analyses, exclusive and continued breastfeeding duration was not different between groups (exclusive: 3.61 ± 1.99 vs. 3.16 ± 1.77 months; adjusted mean difference 0.28, 95% confidence interval [CI] ?0.33 to 0.89; p = 0.36; continued: 7.98 ± 4.20 vs. 6.75 ± 4.06 months; adjusted mean difference 0.81, 95% CI ?0.46 to 2.08; p = 0.21). In per-protocol analyses, exclusive and continued breastfeeding duration was longer for SSC than care-as-usual dyads (exclusive: 4.89 ± 1.26 vs. 3.25 ± 1.80 months; adjusted mean difference 1.28, 95% CI 0.31–2.24; p = 0.01; continued: 10.81 ± 1.97 vs. 6.98 ± 4.08 months; adjusted mean difference 2.33, 95% CI 0.13–4.54; p = 0.04). Exploratory dose–response effects indicated that more SSC hours predicted longer exclusive and continued breastfeeding duration. This study demonstrates that for the total group, the 5-week daily SSC intervention did not extend exclusive and continued breastfeeding duration. However, for mothers performing a regular daily hour of SSC, this simple and accessible intervention may extend exclusive and continued breastfeeding duration by months. Future studies are required to confirm these promising findings. Trial registration: Netherlands Trial Register (NTR5697).     

A Well-Balanced Positivity-Preserving Quasi-Lagrange Moving Mesh DG Method for the Shallow Water Equations

A high-order, well-balanced, positivity-preserving quasi-Lagrange moving mesh DG method is presented for the shallow water equations with non-flat bottom topography. The well-balance property is crucial to the ability of a scheme to simulate perturbation waves over the lake-at-rest steady state such as waves on a lake or tsunami waves in the deep ocean. The method combines a quasi-Lagrange moving mesh DG method, a hydrostatic reconstruction technique, and a change of unknown variables. The strategies in the use of slope limiting, positivity-preservation limiting, and change of variables to ensure the well-balance and positivity-preserving properties are discussed. Compared to rezoning-type methods, the current method treats mesh movement continuously in time and has the advantages that it does not need to interpolate flow variables from the old mesh to the new one and places no constraint for the choice of a update scheme for the bottom topography on the new mesh. A selection of one- and two-dimensional examples are presented to demonstrate the well-balance property, positivity preservation, and high-order accuracy of the method and its ability to adapt the mesh according to features in the flow and bottom topography.