An evaluation of pelvic organ prolapses in perimenopausal and menopausal Chinese females

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and correlate the various factors including, but not limited to, educational status, socio-economic condition, body mass index (BMI), menstrual history, with the status and severity of POP.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted between August 2021 and September 2022 and suspected patients of POP were considered from the outpatient Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics. The study has mainly used 3 indicators of socio-economic status, namely, occupation, education, and income. These factors were correlated and statistically analyzed with that of POP.

RESULTS

The study findings revealed that there are more symptomatic patients who are illiterate as compared to asymptomatic POP and with increasing education status, there is a decrease in symptomatic POP patients (p<0.05). Also, there is a significant proportion of symptomatic POP patients in the lower class and lower middle class as compared to asymptomatic patients in each class, respectively (p<0.05). It also found that micturition difficulty and vaginal bulging are significantly correlated with the stages of POP (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Educational status and socio-economic condition are significant indicators of the presence of symptoms or severity of POP. The study further concluded that menopausal females have more symptomatic POP as compared to pre-menopausal females.

Efficacy of Kanglaite against radiotherapy-induced mucositis in head and neck cancer, a phase II trial

PURPOSE

To explore the potential protective effect of Kanglaite injection against radiotherapy-induced mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This was an open-label, single-arm, and phase II trial. The primary endpoint was the incidence of grade 3-4 radiation-induced mucositis. The secondary endpoints were hematological toxicity, non-hematological toxicity, nutritional status, and quality of life. All patients received 20g Kanglaite daily concurrently with radiotherapy.

RESULTS

The data of 46 patients were available for analysis. The incidence rates of grade 3 mucositis, pain, dysphagia, and neutropenia were 10.9%, 2.2%, 10.9%, and 6.5%, respectively, while the incidence of grade 4 acute toxicities was zero. The rate of opioid use was 2.2%. Radiotherapy dose reduction was 2.2% and no irradiation field was modified. The nutritional supports were oro-enteral nutritional supplements (13.0%), TPN (10.9%), and feeding tubes (0%) during radiotherapy. After radiotherapy, 52.2% of patients lost weight, and the weight loss was <10%. The mean pain score in the QLQ-H&N35 and QLQ-C30 was <50. Patients had nearly normal physical, emotional, and cognitive functions.

CONCLUSIONS

A low incidence of grade 3-4 radiation-induced mucositis and no severe acute toxic events, with favorable nutritional status and quality of life, were observed in cancer patients after Kanglaite injection. Our findings highlight the need for a prospective, multicenter, and randomized study to investigate the effect of Kanglaite injection on the reduction of radiation-induced mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer.

On-Site Fluorination for Enhancing Utilization of Lithium in a Lithium-Sulfur Full Battery

The rechargeability of the lithium anode in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries is an issue for this type of battery. In this work, we demonstrate a Li-S full battery comprising a protected anode scaffold and a Li₂S cathode. The stabilized performance is attained by an on-site fluorination strategy, using BiF₃ for the interfacial coating of the anode. Unlike previously reported LiF protective coating derived from the vapor/solution depositions, BiF₃ nanocrystals would be lithiated on-site to the anode surface and server as the protective layer. The chemically inertial Li₃Bi alloy can provide additional ion-conductive paths and stitch the LiF to form a seamless protective layer, thereby suppressing the dendrite propagation and parasitic reactions effectively. With the designed anode structures and compositions, the high-loading full battery (8.05 mg cm^-2) can achieve an exceptional utilization of both sulfur (898 mAh g_S^-1) and lithium (1533 mAh g_Li^-1) over 200 cycles, marking a step toward cyclable Li metal batteries at a high capacity.

Lamin B1 deficiency promotes malignancy and predicts poor prognosis in gastric cancer

Gastric cancer (GC) is a kind of global malignancy. However, the expression pattern and clinical relevance of lamin B1 in GC remain to be elucidated. We endeavored to investigate how GC is influenced by lamin B1 and the related mechanisms. The lamin B1 expression in GC tissues from 71 patients was assessed by using immunohistochemistry (IHC). The expression of lamin B1 was connected with the clinical stage, depth of invasion, and poorer overall survival. Colony formation assays and methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) were used to assess cell viability. The migration ability of GC cells was determined by cell scratch assay and Transwell invasion assay. Moreover, we used two cell lines of GC to explore the underlying mechanism of lamin B1 in boosting the GC cells proliferation and invasion in vitro by assessing the effects on related signal transduction pathways. Our data demonstrated that the expression level of lamin B1 was downregulated in GC tissues, and low expression level of lamin B1 was significantly correlated with higher clinical stage, depth of invasion, nodal stage, and poor prognosis. Moreover, in vitro experiments demonstrated that lamin B1 knockdown promoted, whereas lamin B1 overexpression inhibited, gastric cancer cell proliferation and migration. We also observed that lamin B1 knockdown could promote the activity of the PI3K/PTEN/Akt and MAPK/ERK pathway with a decrease in the p53/p21WAF1/CIP1 expression, whereas lamin B1 overexpression contributed to the opposite results. In conclusion, our studies indicate that lamin B1 deficiency is crucial in GC progression. Furthermore, the results elucidating the biological mechanisms of lamin B1 may potentially contribute to current GC treatment modalities.

Rational design of spontaneous reactions for protecting porous lithium electrodes in lithium-sulfur batteries

A rechargeable lithium anode requires a porous structure for a high capacity, and a stable electrode/electrolyte interface against dendrite formation and polysulfide crossover when used in a lithium-sulfur battery. Here, we design two simple steps of spontaneous reactions for protecting porous lithium electrodes. First, a reaction between molten lithium and sulfur-impregnated carbon nanofiber forms a fibrous network with a lithium shell and a carbon core. Second, we coat the surface of this porous lithium electrode with a composite of lithium bismuth alloys and lithium fluoride through another spontaneous reaction between lithium and bismuth trifluoride, solvated with phosphorous pentasulfide, which also polymerizes with lithium sulfide residual in the electrode to form a solid electrolyte layer. This protected porous lithium electrode enables stable operation of a lithium-sulfur battery with a sulfur loading of 10.2 mg cm-2 at 6.0 mA cm-2 for 200 cycles.

[Primary thyroid paraganglioma: a case report]

Primary thyroid paraganglioma (PTPG) is rare,we report a case of 55 years old women with PTPG, which describes the clinical features, diagnosis and treatment. A possible diagnosis, treatment and follow-up strategy was proposed by reviewing relevant reports. It aims to improve the cognitive of PTPG and standardize its treatment.

A case of Diphyllobothrium latum infection in Dalian and a brief review of diphyllobothriasis in China

Diphyllobothrium latum infection in human is not common in China and only 15 cases have been reported since 1927. We document a case of Diphyllobothrium latum infection caused by the ingestion of raw fish in a 23-year-old woman in Dalian (Liaoning Province), and diphyllobothriasis latum in China is briefly reviewed. The patient experienced abdominal discomfort for about 6 months with a history of discharging proglottids in the feces. The morphologic characteristic of the gravid proglottids and eggs were identified as that of Diphyllobothrium latum. The patient was treated with pumpkin seed powder (100g) and betel nut(100g) on an empty stomach. The majority of reported human cases occurred due to the ingestion of raw or uncooked fish, such as pikes, burbots, trouts, perch and salmons. The patient is the first case reported in Dalian (Lianning Province).

SRAP analysis of DNA base sequence changes in lotus mutants induced by Fe⁺ implantation

Ion implantation, a new biophysically mutagenic technique, has shown great potential for crop breeding. To reveal the mutation effect of low-energy ion implantation on Baiyangdian red lotus, sequence-related amplified polymorphism markers were used to amplify and detect the DNA sequence differences in mutants induced by Fe(+) ion implantation. A total of 121 primer combinations were tested in 6 mutants and a control. Seven primer combinations (me1 + em3, me1 + em14, me9 + em3, me8 + em2, me6 + em1, me11 + em5, and me6 + em5) generated clear bands with high polymorphism and good repeatability. The results showed that among 15,317 bases cloned, 146 bases in 6 mutants were different from those of the wild type, showing a variation frequency of 0.95%. The types of base changes included deletion, insertion, transversion, and transition. Adenine was more sensitive to the irradiation than were the other bases. The results suggested that mutational "hotspots" probably exists in lotus and are induced by low-energy ion implantation.

Inoculation of phosphate solubilizing bacteria for the improvement of lead accumulation by Brassica juncea

Two phosphate-solubilizing bacterial strains were isolated and identified as Acinetobacter calcoaceticus YC-5a and Enterobacter agglomerans KMC-7 based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. A. calcoaceticus YC-5a is less well known as a phosphate-solubilizing plant-associated bacterium. The plant growth-promoting properties of the phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) were characterized in vitro, including their phosphate-solubilizing activities and their capabilities for producing indole-3-acetic acid and siderophores. A pot experiment was conducted to elucidate the effects of inoculating both strains on the growth and Pb uptake of Brassica juncea grown in different concentrations of Pb-contaminated soils. Inoculation with both PSB not only stimulated the growth of B. juncea, but it also influenced the accumulation of Pb in the shoots and roots of the host plant. The present study demonstrates that PSB are a valuable microbial resource that can be exploited to improve the efficiency of phytoextraction.

A promising approach of reject water treatment using a tidal flow constructed wetland system employing alum sludge as main substrate

This study examined a novel reuse of alum sludge, an inescapable by-product of drinking water treatment process when aluminium salt is added as a coagulant, as the main medium in a laboratory-scale multi-stage constructed wetland (CW) system for reject water treatment. Such reject water is a main concern in municipal wastewater treatment plant (MWWTP) for increasing the organic and nutrient loading. A 'tidal flow' strategy was employed to enhance the wetland aeration to stimulate organic matters (OM) and ammoniacal-nitrogen (N) oxidation while the 'step feed' operation was adopted to supply the necessary amount of carbon source for denitrification. The results reveal that alum sludge acting as P adsorbent can secure the P removal. Meanwhile, high removals of N and OM can also be obtained due to the active bacteria growth on the alum sludge surface. The results show that average removal efficiencies of 65.4 +/- 12.3% for chemical oxygen demand (COD), 67.8 +/- 9.2% for five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), 33.6 +/- 17.0% for N and 99.5 +/- 0.49% for P can be achieved over a period of 190 days. This indicates that novel reuse of alum sludge as medium in CW system can provide a promising approach for reject water treatment. Therefore, it will significantly reduce the amount of pollutant feedback through reject water recycling in a MWWTP.

Towards the development of a novel construction solid waste (CSW) based constructed wetland system for tertiary treatment of secondary sewage effluents

This study was conducted to examine the possibility of using construction solid waste (CSW), an inevitable by-product of the construction and demolition process, as the main substrate in a laboratory scale multi-stage constructed wetland system (CWs) to improve phosphorus (P) removal from secondary sewage effluent. A tidal-flow operation strategy was employed to enhance the wetland aeration. This will stimulate aerobic biological processes and benefit the organic pollutants decomposition and nitrification process for ammoniacal-nitrogen (NH(+)(4)-N) removal. The results showed that the average P concentration in the secondary sewage effluent was reduced from 1.90 mg-P/L to 0.04 mg-P/L. CSW presents excellent P removal performance. The average NH(+)(4)-N concentration was reduced from 9.94 mg-N/L to 1.0 mg-N/L through nitrification in the system. The concentration of resultant nitrite and nitrate in the effluent of the CSW based CWs ranged from 0.1 to 2.4 mg-N/L and 0.01 to 0.8 mg-N/L, respectively. The outcome of this study has shown that CSW can be successfully used to act as main substrate in CWs. The application of CSW based CWs on improving N and P removals from secondary sewage effluent presents a win-win scenario. Such the reuse of CSW will benefit both the CSW disposal and nutrient control from wastewater. More significantly, such the application can transfer the CSW from a 'waste' to 'useful' material and can ease the pressure of construction waste solid management. Meanwhile, the final effluent from the CSW-based CWs can be used as non-potable water source in landscape irrigation, agriculture and industrial process.