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The treatment strategy for blast injuries is closely linked to the clinical outcome of blast injury casualties. However, the application of military surgery experience to blast injuries caused by production safety accidents is relatively uncommon. In this study, the authors present 2 cases of blast injuries caused by one gas explosion, both cases involved individuals of the same age and gender and experienced similar degree of injury. The authors highlight the importance of using a military surgery treatment strategy, specifically emphasizing the need to understand the concept of damage control and disposal. It is recommended that relevant training in this area should be strengthened to improve the clinical treatment of such injuries. This study provides a valuable reference for healthcare professionals dealing with blast injuries., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Purpose: Cerebral edema (CE) is the main secondary injury following traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by road traffic accidents (RTAs). It is challenging to be predicted timely. In this study, we aimed to develop a prediction model for CE by identifying its risk factors and comparing the timing of edema occurrence in TBI patients with varying levels of injuries., Methods: This case-control study included 218 patients with TBI caused by RTAs. The cohort was divided into CE and non-CE groups, according to CT results within 7 days. Demographic data, imaging data, and clinical data were collected and analyzed. Quantitative variables that follow normal distribution were presented as mean ± standard deviation, those that do not follow normal distribution were presented as median (Q 1 , Q 3 ). Categorical variables were expressed as percentages. The Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were used to identify risk factors for CE. Logistic curve fitting was performed to predict the time to secondary CE in TBI patients with different levels of injuries. The efficacy of the model was evaluated using the receiver operator characteristic curve., Results: According to the study, almost half (47.3%) of the patients were found to have CE. The risk factors associated with CE were bilateral frontal lobe contusion, unilateral frontal lobe contusion, cerebral contusion, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and abbreviated injury scale (AIS). The odds ratio values for these factors were 7.27 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.08 - 25.42, p = 0.002), 2.85 (95% CI: 1.11 - 7.31, p = 0.030), 2.62 (95% CI: 1.12 - 6.13, p = 0.027), 2.44 (95% CI: 1.25 - 4.76, p = 0.009), and 1.5 (95% CI: 1.10 - 2.04, p = 0.009), respectively. We also observed that patients with mild/moderate TBI (AIS ≤ 3) had a 50% probability of developing CE 19.7 h after injury (χ 2  = 13.82, adjusted R 2  = 0.51), while patients with severe TBI (AIS > 3) developed CE after 12.5 h (χ 2  = 18.48, adjusted R 2  = 0.54). Finally, we conducted a receiver operator characteristic curve analysis of CE time, which showed an area under the curve of 0.744 and 0.672 for severe and mild/moderate TBI, respectively., Conclusion: Our study found that the onset of CE in individuals with TBI resulting from RTAs was correlated with the severity of the injury. Specifically, those with more severe injuries experienced an earlier onset of CE. These findings suggest that there is a critical time window for clinical intervention in cases of CE secondary to TBI., (Copyright © 2024 Chinese Medical Association. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

We investigated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) environmental contamination in 2 rooms of a quarantine hotel after 2 presymptomatic persons who stayed there were laboratory-confirmed as having coronavirus disease. We detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA on 8 (36%) of 22 surfaces, as well as on the pillow cover, sheet, and duvet cover.

The clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 were analysed to determine the factors influencing the prognosis and virus shedding time to facilitate early detection of disease progression. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationships among prognosis, clinical characteristics and laboratory indexes. The predictive value of this model was assessed with receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, calibration and internal validation. The viral shedding duration was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the prognostic factors were analysed by univariate log-rank analysis and the Cox proportional hazards model. A retrospective study was carried out with patients with COVID-19 in Tianjin, China. A total of 185 patients were included, 27 (14.59%) of whom were severely ill at the time of discharge and three (1.6%) of whom died. Our findings demonstrate that patients with an advanced age, diabetes, a low PaO2/FiO2 value and delayed treatment should be carefully monitored for disease progression to reduce the incidence of severe disease. Hypoproteinaemia and the fever duration warrant special attention. Timely interventions in symptomatic patients and a time from symptom onset to treatment <4 days can shorten the duration of viral shedding.

Tea is the world's oldest and most popular caffeine-containing beverage with immense economic, medicinal, and cultural importance. Here, we present the first high-quality nucleotide sequence of the repeat-rich (80.9%), 3.02-Gb genome of the cultivated tea tree Camellia sinensis. We show that an extraordinarily large genome size of tea tree is resulted from the slow, steady, and long-term amplification of a few LTR retrotransposon families. In addition to a recent whole-genome duplication event, lineage-specific expansions of genes associated with flavonoid metabolic biosynthesis were discovered, which enhance catechin production, terpene enzyme activation, and stress tolerance, important features for tea flavor and adaptation. We demonstrate an independent and rapid evolution of the tea caffeine synthesis pathway relative to cacao and coffee. A comparative study among 25 Camellia species revealed that higher expression levels of most flavonoid- and caffeine- but not theanine-related genes contribute to the increased production of catechins and caffeine and thus enhance tea-processing suitability and tea quality. These novel findings pave the way for further metabolomic and functional genomic refinement of characteristic biosynthesis pathways and will help develop a more diversified set of tea flavors that would eventually satisfy and attract more tea drinkers worldwide., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In this Letter, a direct method is proposed to measure the electron number density distribution for high-temperature complex flow fields. The experimental system of two-wavelength moiré tomography is established, while four key issues are solved and well clarified. The argon arc plasma is adopted as an example for experiment, while 532 and 808 nm are chosen as the two probe wavelengths. The results indicate that the electron number density's distribution of the measured argon arc plasma can be directly obtained by two-wavelength moiré tomography, which can avoid the imprecision of the indirect methods. This Letter can provide some reference for various high-temperature and high-density gradient flow field optical measurement and diagnosis.

Cervical cancer is among the most prevalent forms of cancer worldwide. C-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5) is hypothesized to be a key functional protein involved in tumorigenesis. However, the role of CCR5 in cervical cancer remains unclear. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis were used to evaluate the mRNA and protein expression levels of CCR5 in human cervical carcinoma tissues. Furthermore, a small interfering RNA was employed to knockdown CCR5 in HeLa and C33A cells. MTT, colony formation and Transwell assays were performed to determine the effects of this knockdown on cell viability, proliferation and invasion. In addition, micro RNA (miR)-107 was identified as a potential candidate regulator of CCR5 using miR prediction algorithms, and the effects of miR-107 and its antisense miR on CCR5 mRNA expression were determined. The results of the present study indicated that CCR5 is overexpressed in human cervical cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues, and its downregulation inhibits cervical cancer cell growth and proliferation. Furthermore, the downregulation of CCR5 appears to suppress cervical cancer cell invasion. Finally, the tumor suppressor miR-107 was able to directly target CCR5 and inhibit its expression. These results suggest that the upregulation of CCR5, which is inhibited by miR-107, may play a carcinogenic role in cervical cancer and could provide a novel therapeutic target in the future.

Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics of fatal cases with confirmed A H1N1 influenza so as to improve the diagnosis and treatment of this severe disease., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 11 fatal cases with A H1N1 influenza in Tianjin between September 1 and November 4 2009., Results: There were 6 males and 5 females with a median age of 25 (21 - 36) years old. Two cases were pregnant women and 3 patients suffered such concurrent disorders as dilated cardiomyopathy, multiple myeloma or atrophic gastritis. Over 3 lung fields were involved on chest imaging studies and the oxygenation index was less than 300 mm Hg at admission. The therapies of oseltamivir and methylprednisolone were administered and mechanical ventilation was initiated within 24 hours. Refractory hypoxemia and a higher level of lactate dehydrogenase were present during treatment. Pneumothorax or mediastinal emphysema occurred in 4 patients, acute renal failure in 1 and pneumopyothorax in 1. The culture of airway secretion at 3 - 7 days after mechanical ventilation showed Staphylococcus aureus in 4 patients and Aspergillus in 2. The progress of disease was so quick that the duration from onset of clinical symptoms to hospitalization was a median of 4 (3 - 6) days and the duration from onset of clinical symptoms to death a median of 12 days., Conclusion: The fatal cases with A H1N1 influenza in Tianjin occurred mostly in young individuals and pregnant women. This severe disease had a rapid progression. And bacterial co-infections were quite common. Refractory hypoxemia resulting in respiratory failure was the main mortality reason.

In the present paper, the authors measured the Raman spectra of YAG/Nd : YAG single crystal, Nd : YAG precursor and the powder sintered at different temperatures. The bands of these Raman spectra were assigned and analyzed. The results show that there is a structure transformation process in the course of sintering Nd : YAG precursor. The powder sintered at 700 degrees C was amorphous and it is of AlO4 tetrahedron structure. With the increase in sintering temperatures, the Raman spectra varied mainly in two respects. One is the decrease in FWHM with the increase in the bands intensity; the other is the bands shift. These should be due to the increase in the order degree of the interface component. Additionally, the difference in the lattice vibration modes between the powders sintered at 800 degrees C and the Nd : YAG single crystal powder was caused by the contribution of the interface component.

Objective: To explore the characteristics on molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from hospitals in Tianjin area., Methods: One hundred M. tuberculosis isolated strains were collected in succession from August 16th-December 25th, 2005 in Tianjin Haihe Hospital and genotyped by spoligotyping and multiple locus variable number-tandem repeat(VNTR). Data was analyzed by cluster software. Based on the concept of Beijing lineage, it was determinate two sub-groups: atypical Beijing strains and W strain/typical family strains by multiplex and real-time PCR. The associations of subgroups with drug resistance and age were assessed by the chi2 test., Results: 96 M. tuberculosis strains were genotyped in which 91.7% (88/96) strains belonged to Beijing genotype (including 3 Beijing-like strains) by spoligtyping. VNTR typing could differentiate 60 genotypes among the 88 Beijing genotype strains. 93.2% of the Beijing lineage M. tuberculosis strains of this study belonged to W strain/typical Beijing family strains (82/88). No statistically significant differences were observed in the proportions of the two sub-groups in patients of different age, or drug resistance (P > 0.05)., Conclusion: The M. tuberculosis Beijing genotype strains were dominated on tuberculosis hospital patients of Tianjin area. The discriminatory power of VNTR typing was higher than that of spoligtyping. The two sub-groups of Beijing lineage had been prevalent in Tianjin, however W strain/typical Beijing family strains were of preponderance.

38 patients with functional microadenoma were investigated with high-resolution computed tomography and only coronal scan was done. All patients were documented with surgery and pathology. On coronal CT scan, the density, height and the shape of the pituitary gland, as well as the bony structure of the sellar floor could be displayed clearly. Our results indicated that these four criteria were reliable in the diagnosis of microadenoma. If coronal CT demonstrates a normal pituitary gland, in our opinion, it is not necessary to take other X-ray examinations.