An analysis of 1256 cases of sporadic ruptured cerebral aneurysm in a single Chinese institution

Background: To review the epidemiology of sporadic ruptured cerebral aneurysm. Methods: This is a retrospective study of consecutive 1256 Chinese patients between January 2006 and January 2013, who were admitted to the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, China, for spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage due to a rupture of cerebral artery aneurysm. In 288 males and 478 females, the size of aneurysms was measured by a neuroradiologist on DSA. In 123 males and 184 females, the size of the ruptured aneurysms was not measured. The remaining patients, with 61 males and 122 females, had multiple aneurysms, and the medical record could not reliably determine the specific aneurysm responsible for the rupture. Results: In total there were 784 females and 472 males with a female/male ratio of 1.66. The female/male ratio was down to 0.50 for patients younger than 35 yrs. For both males and females, aneurysm rupture was most common during the age of 50-59 yrs. Ruptured aneurysms were mostly of 2 mm-5 mm in size (47.1%), followed by 5 mm-10 mm (39.7%). Ruptured single cerebral aneurysm occurred in anterior circulation in 95.0% of the cases, with 5.0% occurred in posterior circulation. Ruptured aneurysm most commonly occurred at posterior communicating artery (34.9%) and anterior communicating artery (29.5%). 183 cases (14.6%) had multiple aneurysms. Conclusions: With younger patients, there is a male predominance in our series. Ninety percent of patients have ruptured aneurysms less than 10 mm in size. © 2014 Zhao et al.published_or_final_versio

Differential effects of source-specific particulate matter on emergency hospitalizations for ischemic heart disease in Hong Kong

Background: Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a major public health concern. Although many epidemiologic studies have reported evidence of adverse effects of particulate matter (PM) mass on IHD, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding the potential impacts of different PM sources. Much the same as PM size, PM sources may influence toxicological characteristics. Objectives: We identified contributing sources to PM10 mass and estimated the acute effects of PM10 sources on daily emergency IHD hospitalizations in Hong Kong. Methods: We analyzed the concentration data of 19 PM10 chemical components measured between 2001 and 2007 by positive matrix factorization to apportion PM10 mass, and used generalized additive models to estimate associations of interquartile range (IQR) increases in PM10 exposures with IHD hospitalization for different lag periods (up to 5 days), adjusted for potential confounders. Results: We identified 8 PM10 sources: vehicle exhaust, soil/road dust, regional combustion, residual oil, fresh sea salt, aged sea salt, secondary nitrate, and secondary sulfate. Vehicle exhaust, secondary nitrate, and secondary sulfate contributed more than half of the PM10 mass. Although associations with IQR increases in 2-day moving averages (lag01) were statistically significant for most sources based on single-source models, only PM10 from vehicle exhaust [1.87% (95% CI: 0.66, 3.10); IQR = 4.9 μg/m3], secondary nitrate [2.28% (95% CI: 1.15, 3.42); IQR = 8.6 μg/m3], and aged sea salt [1.19% (95% CI: 0.04, 2.36); IQR = 5.9 μg/m3] were significantly associated with IHD hospitalizations in the multisource model. Analysis using chemical components provided similar findings. Conclusion: Emergency IHD hospitalization was significantly linked with PM10 from vehicle exhaust, nitrate-rich secondary PM, and sea salt-related PM. Findings may help prioritize toxicological research and guide future monitoring and emission-control polices.published_or_final_versio

Characteristics of High Risk People with Cardiovascular Disease in Chinese Rural Areas: Clinical Indictors, Disease Patterns and Drug Treatment

Background and Aims: Current cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention is based on diagnosis and treatment of specific disease. Little is known for high risk people with CVD at the community level. In rural China, health records of all residents were established after the recent health reforms. This study aims to describe the characters of the rural population with high CVD risk regarding their clinical indicators, disease patterns, drug treatment and adherence. Methods and Results: 17042 (87%) of all the 19500 rural residents in the two townships had valid health records in 2009. We employed a validated tool, the Asian Equation, to screen 8182 (48%) resident health records of those aged between 40-75 years in 2010. Those who were identified with a CVD risk of 20% or higher were selected for a face-to-face questionnaire survey regarding their diagnosed disease and drug treatment. 453 individuals were identified as high risk of CVD, with an average age of 53 years, 62% males, 50% smoking rate and average systolic blood pressure of 161 mmHg. 386 (85%) participated in the survey, while 294 (76%) were diagnosed with and 88 (23%) were suspects of CVD, hypertension, diabetes or hyperlipidaemia. 75 (19%) took drug regularly and 125 (32%) either stopped treatment or missed drugs. The most often used drugs were calcium channel blockers (20%). Only 2% used aspirins and 0.8% used statins. The median costs of drugs were 17 RMB (USD2.66) per month. Conclusion: The majority of the high risk population in our setting of rural China had already been diagnosed with a CVD related disease, but very few took any drugs, and less still took highly effective drugs to prevent CVD. A holistic strategy focused on population with high risk CVD and based on the current China public health reform is suggested in the context of primary care. © 2013 Wei et al.published_or_final_versio

Toxic Effects of Silica Nanoparticles on Zebrafish Embryos and Larvae

Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) have been widely used in biomedical and biotechnological applications. Environmental exposure to nanomaterials is inevitable as they become part of our daily life. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the possible toxic effects of SiNPs exposure. In this study, zebrafish embryos were treated with SiNPs (25, 50, 100, 200 μg/mL) during 4-96 hours post fertilization (hpf). Mortality, hatching rate, malformation and whole-embryo cellular death were detected. We also measured the larval behavior to analyze whether SiNPs had adverse effects on larvae locomotor activity. The results showed that as the exposure dosages increasing, the hatching rate of zebrafish embryos was decreased while the mortality and cell death were increased. Exposure to SiNPs caused embryonic malformations, including pericardial edema, yolk sac edema, tail and head malformation. The larval behavior testing showed that the total swimming distance was decreased in a dose-dependent manner. The lower dose (25 and 50 μg/mL SiNPs) produced substantial hyperactivity while the higher doses (100 and 200 μg/mL SiNPs) elicited remarkably hypoactivity in dark periods. In summary, our data indicated that SiNPs caused embryonic developmental toxicity, resulted in persistent effects on larval behavior. © 2013 Duan et al.published_or_final_versio

Effects of coarse particulate matter on emergency hospital admissions for respiratory diseases: A time-series analysis in Hong Kong

Background: Many epidemiological studies have linked daily counts of hospital admissions to particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm (PM 10) and ≤ 2.5 μm (PM 2.5), but relatively few have investigated the relationship of hospital admissions with coarse PM (PM c; 2.5-10 μm aerodynamic diameter). Objectives: We conducted this study to estimate the health effects of PM c on emergency hospital admissions for respiratory diseases in Hong Kong after controlling for PM 2.5 and gaseous pollutants. Methods: We conducted a time-series analysis of associations between daily emergency hospital admissions for respiratory diseases in Hong Kong from January 2000 to December 2005 and daily PM 2.5 and PM c concentrations. We estimated PMc concentrations by subtracting PM 2.5 from PM 10 measurements. We used generalized additive models to examine the relationship between PM c (single- and multiday lagged exposures) and hospital admissions adjusted for time trends, weather conditions, influenza outbreaks, PM 2.5, and gaseous pollutants (nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and ozone). Results: A 10.9-μg/m 3 (interquartile range) increase in the 4-day moving average concentration of PM c was associated with a 1.94% (95% confidence interval: 1.24%, 2.64%) increase in emergency hospital admissions for respiratory diseases that was attenuated but still significant after controlling for PM 2.5. Adjusting for gaseous pollutants and altering models assumptions had little influence on PM c effect estimates. Conclusion: PM c was associated with emergency hospital admissions for respiratory diseases in Hong Kong independent of PM 2.5 and gaseous pollutants. Further research is needed to evaluate health effects of different components of PM c.published_or_final_versio

Small and mighty: adaptation of superphylum Patescibacteria to groundwater environment drives their genome simplicity.

BackgroundThe newly defined superphylum Patescibacteria such as Parcubacteria (OD1) and Microgenomates (OP11) has been found to be prevalent in groundwater, sediment, lake, and other aquifer environments. Recently increasing attention has been paid to this diverse superphylum including > 20 candidate phyla (a large part of the candidate phylum radiation, CPR) because it refreshed our view of the tree of life. However, adaptive traits contributing to its prevalence are still not well known.ResultsHere, we investigated the genomic features and metabolic pathways of Patescibacteria in groundwater through genome-resolved metagenomics analysis of > 600 Gbp sequence data. We observed that, while the members of Patescibacteria have reduced genomes (~ 1 Mbp) exclusively, functions essential to growth and reproduction such as genetic information processing were retained. Surprisingly, they have sharply reduced redundant and nonessential functions, including specific metabolic activities and stress response systems. The Patescibacteria have ultra-small cells and simplified membrane structures, including flagellar assembly, transporters, and two-component systems. Despite the lack of CRISPR viral defense, the bacteria may evade predation through deletion of common membrane phage receptors and other alternative strategies, which may explain the low representation of prophage proteins in their genomes and lack of CRISPR. By establishing the linkages between bacterial features and the groundwater environmental conditions, our results provide important insights into the functions and evolution of this CPR group.ConclusionsWe found that Patescibacteria has streamlined many functions while acquiring advantages such as avoiding phage invasion, to adapt to the groundwater environment. The unique features of small genome size, ultra-small cell size, and lacking CRISPR of this large lineage are bringing new understandings on life of Bacteria. Our results provide important insights into the mechanisms for adaptation of the superphylum in the groundwater environments, and demonstrate a case where less is more, and small is mighty

Air quality changes after Hong Kong shipping emission policy:An accountability study

Background On July 1st, 2015, Hong Kong became the first city in Asia to implement a policy regulating sulfur dioxide (SO2) in shipping emissions. We conducted an accountability study assessing the improvement in ambient air quality and estimating the effect on health outcomes of the policy.MethodWe used interrupted time series (ITS) with segmented regression to identify any change in ambient concentrations of SO2 in contrast to other ambient pollutants (particulate matter <10 μm in diameter (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3)) at 10 monitoring stations in Hong Kong from 2010 to 2017. We validated these findings using cumulative sum control (CUSUM) charts. We used a validated risk assessment model to estimate effects of changes in air quality on death for natural causes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.ResultsMean monthly concentrations of SO2 fell abruptly at the monitoring station closest to the main shipping port (Kwai Chung (KC)) by −10.0 μgm3 p-value = 0.0004, but not elsewhere. No such changes were evident for the other pollutants (PM10, NO2, O3). CUSUM charts confirmed a change in July 2015. Estimated deaths avoided per year as a result of the policy were 379, 72, 30 for all natural causes, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases respectively.ConclusionImplementation of the shipping emission policy in Hong Kong successfully reduced ambient SO2, with the potential to reduce mortality. However, to gain full benefits, restrictions on shipping emissions need to be implemented throughout the region

Personal exposure to fine particles (PM2.5) and respiratory inflammation o common residents in Hong Kong

Background: Given the lack of research on the personal exposure to fine particles (PM2.5) in Hong Kong, we examined the association between short-term personal exposure to PM2.5 and their constituents and inflammation in exhaled breath in a sample of healthy adult residents

Carbon-Centered Free Radicals in Particulate Matter Emissions from Wood and Coal Combustion

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy was used to measure the free radicals in the particulate matter (PM) emissions from wood and coal combustion. The intensity of radicals in PM dropped linearly within two months of sample storage and stabilized after that. This factor of storage time was adjusted when comparing radical intensities among different PM samples. An inverse relationship between coal rank and free radical intensities in PM emissions was observed, which was in contrast with the pattern of radical intensities in the source coals. The strong correlation between intensities of free radical and elemental carbon in PM emissions suggests that the radical species may be carbon-centered. The increased g-factors, 2.0029−2.0039, over that of purely carbon-centered radicals may indicate the presence of vicinal oxygen heteroatom. The redox and biology activities of these carbon-centered radicals are worthy of evaluation