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Background and Purpose The management of older aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH) cases is a clinical challenge. This study aimed to analyse the survival and functional outcomes in older aSAH patients (age ≥ 70 years) to provide evidence for making treatment decisions for such patients. Methods We performed a 2-year follow-up analysis of the Chinese Multi-Centre Cerebral Aneurysm Database for older patients suffering from aSAH from 2017 to 2020. A survival analysis was used to investigate the mean survival and hazard ratios for death. Binary logarithmic regression was performed to investigate the odds ratio for independent survival and dependent survival. Results A total of 1,136 consecutive older patients with aSAH were assessed in this study, and 944 patients (83.1%) were followed up. The overall mean survival was 37.79 ± 1.04 months. A total of 380 (40.25%) patients died within 2 years after aSAH. In survival analysis, the predictors of mortality were older age, intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) history, Hunt-Hess (H-H) grade, World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) grade and operative treatment decreased the risk of mortality compared to conservative treatment. In binary logarithmic regression, the predictors of dependent survival were hypertension, diabetes, WFNS grade. Conclusions The risk for 2-year mortality after aSAH increases markedly with older age, ICH history, H-H grade and WFNS grade. Risk factors for 2-year dependent survival were associated with hypertension, diabetes and WFNS grade in older patients with aSAH. Operative treatment markedly decreased mortality but did not significantly decrease the morbidity of dependent survival compared to conservative treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To evaluate the improvement of superficial temporal artery -middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA) bypass combined with encephalo-myo-synangiosis (EMS) on cognitive function in patients with moyamoya disease (MMD). Methods Total 37 patients with MMD treated with STA-MCA + EMS in Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from July 2017 to June 2020 were reviewed. Mini - Mental State Examination (MMSE), Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), Trail Making Test - A (TMT - A), Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B), Verbal Fluency Test (VFT) and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT) were used to evaluate overall cognitive function, memory, attention, executive function, language function and visuospatial function in all patients one week before surgery and 6 months after surgery. Results Compared with one week before surgery, the MMSE score [24 (23, 26) score vs. 25.00 (23.50, 27.00) score; Z = - 4.201, P = 0.000] and ROCFT score [28 (23, 30) score vs. 31.00 (28.50, 32.00) score; Z = - 3.968, P = 0.004] increased, while the TMT-A test [69.00 (56.00, 87.50) s vs. 42 (37, 48) s; Z = - 5.144, P = 0.002] and TMT - B test [177 (168, 190) s vs. 138 (133, 144) s; Z = - 5.309, P = 0.001] decreased at 6 months after surgery. There was no statistic difference of AVLT-1R (Z = - 1.595, P = 0.113), AVLT-5R (Z = - 1.573, P = 0.121) and VFT (Z = - 1.616, P = 0.124) before and after surgery. Conclusions STA -MCA + EMS can improve the overall cognitive function, attention, executive function and visuospatial ability of patients with MMD, but has no significant effect on short-term memory, long-term memory and language function, and can improve cognitive function and the quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence in the literature suggests that air pollution exposure affects outcomes of patients with COVID‐19. However, the extent of this effect requires further investigation. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between long‐term exposure to air pollution and the case fatality rate (CFR) of patients with COVID‐19. The data on air quality index (AQI), PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, and O3 from 14 major cities in China in the past 5 years (2015–2020) were collected, and the CRF of COVID‐19 patients in these cities was calculated. First, we investigated the correlation between CFR and long‐term air quality indicators. Second, we examined the air pollutants affecting CFR and evaluated their predictive values. We found a positive correlation between the CFR and AQI (1, 3, and 5 years), PM2.5 (1, 3, and 5 years), and PM10 (1, 3, and 5 years). Further analysis indicated the more significant correlation for both AQI (3 and 5 years) and PM2.5 (1, 3, and 5 years) with CFR, and moderate predictive values for air pollution indicators such as AQI (1, 3, and 5 years) and PM2.5 (1, 3, and 5 years) for CFR. Our results indicate that long‐term exposure to severe air pollution is associated with higher CFR of COVID‐19 patients. Air pollutants such as PM2.5 may assist with the prediction of CFR for COVID‐19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clubroot has recently become one of the main diseases of oilseed rape and cruciferous crops in China, which seriously affected the yield of cruciferous crops. Therefore, an efficient method with a high efficiency for molecular detection of P. brassicae was developed for accurate diagnosis in various samples using a pair of specific primers (PbITS1) designed on ITS (internal transcribed spacer) sequence, and the molecular detection of P. brassicae and disease assessment were carried out by PCR procedure. The results indicated that PCR system could specifically detect P. brassicae without any amplification product from representative soil - borne pathogenic fungi, bacteria, nematodes and endophytes. Sensitivity assay showed that the minimum concentration of template DNA was 1 x 10-3 ng/µL, the minimum number of spores in the contaminated soil was 1 x 10 spores/g soil, and the minimum level of spore with seeds was 1 x 10 spores/g seeds. Moreover, rape and other cruciferous plants (e. g., tissues and seeds) and soils could be applied in this detection system, meanwhile roots and surrounding soils collected from the different growth stages could be used for disease assessment. The benefit of this detection system was convenient, sensitive and specific with a wide range of detectable samples, which provided insights on detection of P. brassicae as well as the diagnosis, monitoring epidemic pattern, and integrated management of clubroot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose. The vascular morphology in crowd with family history of stroke remains unclear. The present study clarified the characteristics of the intracranial vascular CoW and prevalence of intracranial aneurysms in subjects with family history of stroke. Methods. A stratified cluster, random sampling method was used for subjects with family history of stroke among rural residents in Jixian, Tianjin, China. All the subjects underwent a physical examination, head computed tomography (CT) scan, and cephalic and cervical computed tomography angiography (CTA) scan. Anatomic variations in the Circle of Willis and cerebrovascular disease in this population were analyzed. Results. In the crowd with similar living environment, stable genetic background, and family history of stroke and without obvious nerve function impairment (1) hypoplasia or absence of A1 segment was significantly different in gender (male versus female: 9.8% versus 18.8%, p=0.031), especially the right-side A1 (male versus female: 5.9% versus 16.4%, p=0.004). (2) Hypoplasia or absence of bilateral posterior communicating arteries was more common in men than women (58.2% versus 45.3%, p=0.032). Unilateral fetal posterior cerebral artery was observed more often in women than men (17.2% versus 8.5%, p=0.028). (3) The percentage of subjects with incomplete CoW did not increase significantly with age. Compared to healthy Chinese people, the crowd had a higher percentage of incomplete CoW (p<0.001). (4) No obvious correlation between risk factors and CoW was found. (5) The prevalence of aneurysm was 10.3% in the special crowd. Conclusions. The certain variations of CoW showed significant relation to gender, but not to age in people with family history of stroke. The incomplete circle may be a dangerous factor that is independent of common risk factors for stroke and tend to lead to cerebral ischemia in the crowd with family history of stroke. The prevalence of intracranial aneurysm is comparatively high in the present subjects compared to other people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the morbidity and pathological features of incidental prostate cancer and their clinical significance., Methods: 1483 prostate specimens obtained during operation, including transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) and total resection of the prostate, for the diagnoses of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) or bladder cancer between January 1999 and August 2005 underwent pathological examination and 34beta12 and p63 immunohistochemical staining so as to detect incidental prostate cancer. The volume of incidental prostate cancer was calculated by the image analysis system. The clinical data were analyzed retrospectively. Comparison between the clinical and pathological feature of incidental prostate cancer was made., Results: 53 cases of incidental prostate cancer, with the Gleason scores from 2 (1+1) to 9 (4+5) and the volumes from 0.18 to 1440.00 mm(3) were detected. The morbidity of incidental prostate cancer was 3.6%. The volume of 47 cases (88.7%) were less than 0.5 cm(3) as the threshold of insignificant cancer, and the volumes of 6 cases (11.3%) were more than 0.5 cm(3). All incidental prostate cancers of clinical significance were detected in the TURP samples. Among the incidental prostate cancers found in the TURP samples 20% were clinically significant cancers. The clinically significant incidental cancers were located in the central or transitional zone with the Gleason scores of 3 + 4 (2 cases), 4 + 2 (1 case), or 4 + 5 (3 cases). These clinically significant cancers were of diffuse distribution, and their preoperative clinical features were negative in palpation/image examination, elevation of serum PSA, and negative in puncture examination., Conclusion: Nowadays, the morbidity of incidental prostate cancer is lower than that of 1980s'. Among the incidental cancers 11.3% were of clinical significance. That the preoperative clinical examination cannot find these clinical significant cancers is partially caused by the pathological features of these tumors.