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Introduction To evaluate the correlation between macular integrity assessment (MAIA) and standard automated perimetry (SAP) in detecting macular function damage in glaucoma and to explore the relationship between macular structure and functional damage by using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Methods This was a cross-sectional study. Seventy patients with glaucoma, with hemifield defects verified by Humphrey 24-2 examination, and 60 normal subjects underwent Humphrey 10-2 and MAIA expert 10-2 examinations. Patients with glaucoma with normal hemifields, as detected by SAP, were divided into a normal hemifield group and a visual field (VF) defect group. The difference in the retina and ganglion cell complex (GCC) thicknesses was analyzed between the abnormal and normal hemifields. Results Among the 70 glaucoma eyes, the results of MAIA and SAP were consistent for 66 (66/70, 94.3%). The others showed SAP hemifield defects, while MAIA was normal (4/70, 5.7%). There was a good correlation of the mean sensitivity between MAIA and SAP (P

Ningli Wang,1 Da-Wen Lu,2 Yingzi Pan,3 Yury Astakhov,4 Tatyana Iureva,5 Adeniyi Adewale,6 Thomas M Walker6 1Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; 3Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 4Pavlov First Saint Petersburg State Medical University, Saint Petersburg, Russia; 5Irkutsk Branch of the Academician S.N. Fyodorov Eye Microsurgery Federal State Institution, Irkutsk, Russia; 6Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Fort Worth, TX, USACorrespondence: Ningli WangBeijing Tongren Eye Center, No. 1 Dongjiaomin Str., Dongcheng District, Beijing 100041, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +861058265922Email wningli@vip.163.comObjective: To demonstrate that the intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering efficacy of a twice-daily brinzolamide 10 mg/mL (BRINZ)/brimonidine 2 mg/mL (BRIM) fixed-dose combination (BBFC) was non-inferior to its individual components (BRINZ+BRIM) dosed concomitantly in patients with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) or ocular hypertension (OHT). Safety was also evaluated.Methods and Analysis: This was a Phase III, multicenter, observer-masked study in patients from China, Russia and Taiwan. Patients aged ≥ 18 years with a mean IOP ≥ 21 mmHg and ≤ 36 mmHg in the same eye after washout of other IOP-lowering medications were included. Eligible patients were randomized (1:1) to receive BBFC or BRIZ+BRIM eye drops twice daily for 3 months. The primary endpoint was the mean change in diurnal IOP (averaged over 09:00, +2 h, and +7 h) from baseline to Month 3. Adverse events (AEs) were recorded throughout the study.Results: The per-protocol set included 349 patients (BBFC, n=172; BRINZ+BRIM, n=177). The mean±standard deviation diurnal IOP at baseline was 24.6± 2.66 mmHg in both groups. At Month 3, the least square mean±standard error change in diurnal IOP from baseline was − 7.2± 0.34 mmHg and − 7.3± 0.34 mmHg with BBFC and BRINZ+BRIM, respectively (between-group difference: 0.1 mmHg [95% CI − 0.5, 0.7]). In the BBFC and BRINZ+BRIM groups, 53.3% and 55.0% of patients achieved a diurnal IOP < 18 mmHg, and 43.2% and 37.4% of patients, respectively, achieved a mean diurnal IOP reduction > 30% from baseline at Month 3. Ocular AEs were reported in 28.7% (BBFC) and 22.5% (BRINZ+BRIM) of patients; conjunctival hyperemia was the most frequent ocular AE (BBFC, 6.4%; BRINZ+BRIM, 6.8%). Non-ocular AEs were reported in 32.4% (BBFC) and 30.4% (BRINZ+BRIM) of patients.Conclusion: The study findings demonstrate that the efficacy of twice-daily BBFC was non-inferior to BRINZ+BRIM in patients with OAG/OHT. The safety profile of BBFC was similar to that of BRINZ+BRIM.Keywords: brinzolamide/brimonidine fixed-dose combination, intraocular pressure reduction, ocular hypertension, open-angle glaucoma

Purpose To analyze the differences in plasma cholinesterase (pChE) among patients with acute primary angle closure (APAC), patients with chronic primary angle closure glaucoma (CPACG) and normal people scheduled for cataract surgery and to analyze the relationship between intraocular pressure (IOP) and pChE in order to explore the significance of pChE in the pathogenesis of glaucoma. Methods Retrospective case series. Nighty-four patients with APAC, 72 patients with CPACG and 95 normal controls were enrolled in this study. All patients excluding those with diseases that may affect pChE underwent routine blood biochemical examination. Pearson correlation analysis was used to further analyze the correlation of IOP with pChE. Results There was no significant difference in age or sex among the three groups. The difference in IOP among the APAC (43.8 ± 12.2 mmHg), CPACG (25.6 ± 7.4 mmHg) and normal groups (13.6 ± 1.8 mmHg) was significant (P = 0.000). There was a significant difference in pChE between patients with APAC (7450.89 ± 1748.49 IU/L) and normal subjects (7994.68 ± 1321.90 IU/L) (P = 0.000) and between patients with APAC and those with CPACG (7969.44 ± 1572.14 IU/L) (P = 0.000). There was no significant difference in pChE between CPACG patients and normal subjects (P = 0.932). There was a moderate negative correlation between IOP and pChE in APAC patients (r = -0.410, P = 0.000), while there was no significant correlation in CPACG patients (P = 0.228) or normal subjects (P = 0.341). Conclusion APAC patients with higher IOP had lower pChE, which may have been related to IOP-induced neuroinflammation. It may provide a new strategy for optic nerve protection in glaucoma patients.

Osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) is limited in hypoxia, and HIF-1α is key to the response to hypoxia. However, its mechanisms remain largely unknown. This study discovered an osteogenesis-related gene sensitive to hypoxia in PDLSCs, and investigated the molecular mechanisms between HIF-1α and the gene. NOG, a gene that negatively regulates osteogenesis, was discovered by RNA-seq. Under normoxic conditions, HIF-1α overexpression led to enhanced expression of NOG/Noggin and inhibited the expression of osteogenesis-related genes, while inhibition of HIF-1α reversed this effect. The expression of HIF-1α, NOG/Noggin and the osteogenesis-related genes were detected by qRT-PCR or Western blot. Mechanistically, we verified that HIF-1α binds to the hypoxia response element (-1505 to -1502) in the promotor of NOG to enhance secretion of Noggin by chromatin immunoprecipitation and a dual-luciferase reporter assay. IHC staining findings in an animal model verified that Noggin-associated osteogenic differentiation was inhibited in hypoxia. NOG displayed a concordant relationship with HIF-1α, and secreted more with increasing of HIF-1α. Hypoxia stabilized HIF-1α, which bound to the HRE (-1505 to -1502) of the NOG promotor to enhance NOG transcription resulted in inhibiting osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs. This study offers a promising therapy for periodontitis.

Background Patients with primary angle closure/glaucoma (PAC/PACG) with extensive peripheral anterior synechiae (PAS), and coexisting cataract, increasingly have been treated with phacoemulsification combined with goniosynechialysis (Phaco-GSL). Since the mechanisms of acute and chronic PAC/PACG may differ, the treatment effect of this procedure also may differ. The purpose of this study was to establish whether there was a difference in the therapeutic effect of Phaco-GSL on these patients, which might provide clinical evidence for giving more accurate treatment for them. Methods This study was a retrospective cohort study. Twenty-seven patients, 13 with acute PAC/PACG and 14 with chronic PAC/PACG, were treated surgically by Phaco-GSL. The intraocular pressure (IOP), surgical success rate, the need of medication, the extent of PAS, the time and the rate of recurrence of PAS (re-PAS) and other indicators were observed post-operatively for at least three months. Results After surgery, IOP decreased (preoperative vs postoperative: 29.77±11.55 mmHg vs 14.92±1.66 mmHg in the acute group and 26.00±11.2 mmHg vs 14.93±2.7 mmHg in the chronic group), the extent of PAS reduced (preoperative vs. postoperative: 314.23±49.07° vs 116.54±73.78° in the acute group and 285.00±53.28° vs 156.43±56.35° in the chronic group), the topical and systemic anti-glaucoma drug requirements decreased, in both groups and in the acute group, respectively. Compared with the acute group, the success rate (acute vs chronic: 100% vs 64.3%) was lower in the chronic group, while the incidence of re-PAS (acute vs chronic: 30% vs 83.3%) were higher in the chronic group. All differences mentioned above were statistically significant (p < 0.05). In addition, there were five patients in total who showed re-PAS of more than 90° (4 in chronic group and 1 in acute group) and all these re-PASs formed within 1 week postoperatively. Conclusion Although Phaco-GSL is effective in both groups, there may be differences in the effect between the two groups. Chronic patients are more susceptible to re-PAS. Thus, these patients should be observed closely and treated appropriately in the early post-surgical time period.

AIM: To explore the diagnostic performance of isolated-check visual evoked potential (icVEP) for primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) in both highly myopic and non-highly myopic populations and compare it with those of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Heidelberg retinal tomography (HRT) parameters. METHODS: A total of 126 participants were recruited, including 31 highly myopic participants with POAG (HM-POAG), 36 non-highly myopic participants with POAG (NHM-POAG), 25 highly myopic participants without POAG (HM) and 34 controls without high myopia (Normal). All the participants underwent a complete ophthalmic examination. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was used to assess the icVEP. Both qualitative and quantitative diagnostic performances of OCT, HRT and the icVEP were analyzed and compared. RESULTS: Based on the criterion of SNR≤1, the diagnostic performance of the icVEP in highly myopic subjects [area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC)=0.862] was better than that in non-highly myopic subjects (AUC=0.789), and the SNR had fairly good specificity. In distinguishing the HM-POAG and HM groups, the AUC of the SNR was not different from those of the OCT and HRT parameters (P>0.05) in either the qualitative or quantitative comparison. In the qualitative analysis, the icVEP showed good consistency with damage to the central 10° of the visual field (kappa=0.695-0.747, P

Background To assess the diagnostic capability of novel Bruch’s membrane opening (BMO)-based disc parameters, the BMO-minimum rim width (BMO-MRW) and the BMO-minimum rim area (BMO-MRA) in the Chinese population and compare them to the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) from optical coherence tomography (OCT) and the rim area (RA) from the Heidelberg retinal tomograph-III (HRT-III). Methods In total, 200 eyes of 77 healthy and 123 primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) subjects were included in this cross-sectional study. All participants underwent the visual field test and structural measurements by OCT and HRT-III. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) of different structural parameters were calculated to assess their diagnostic power and compared using the DeLong test. Results In populations with different characteristics, the BMO-MRW and BMO-MRA had better diagnostic power than the RA. In discriminating between all POAG subjects and healthy controls and between early-stage patients and controls, the global BMO-MRW had comparable AUCs with the RNFL, but the BMO-MRA had lower AUCs than the RNFL. In healthy subjects with macrodiscs, both the global and sectoral BMO-MRW were thinner than those in healthy subjects with normal disc size. The AUCs of BMO-MRA, BMO-MRW and RNFL in subjects with macrodiscs were comparable. Additionally, in the myopic population, the BMO-MRA and BMO-MRW had comparable AUCs with the RNFL. Conclusions The BMO-MRW had comparable diagnostic power with the RNFL, and compared with BMO-MRW, the BMO-MRA might have advantages in certain populations, such as macrodiscs. All OCT-derived parameters exceeded the RA in diagnostic capability.

The Gymnocypris scleracanthus, a species of genus Gymnocypris belongs to Schizothoracinaein Cyprinidae. In this study, the complete mitochondrial DNA genome sequence of G. scleracanthus was determined. The 16,771 bp long circular molecule contains 13 protein-coding genes, two rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and two non-coding regions, showing a typical vertebrate pattern. These genes except ND6 and eight tRNA genes were encoded on the H-strand. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the G. scleracanthus was a part of genus Gymnocypris and had closer relationship with Gymnocypris dobula and was independent from other species of Psilorhynchus and Labeoninae in Cyprinidae.

The Gymnocypris chui, a new recorded species in Lange Lake, was grouped into genus Gymnocypris in Schizothoracinae, and had the rare quantity and limited resources on biology and genetics, especially in the mitochondrion. In this study, the complete mitochondrial sequence of G. chui was assembled and phylogenetic relationships with other species in Cyprinidae were analyzed. The whole mitochondrial sequence was 16,864 bp in length, which contained two control regions (D-loop regions), two rRNA genes (12S and 16S rRNA), 13 protein-coding genes and 22 tRNA genes. The D-loop region was separated by tRNAPro. The 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA located between tRNAPhe and tRNALeu and were separated by tRNAVal. The 13 mRNAs had three start codons, five termination codons and four overlap regions. The 22 tRNA scattered among the whole mitochondrion, and they were range from 66 (tRNACys) to 76 (tRNALys andtRNALeu) in length. To further explore the phylogenetic relationship of the G. chui, we constructed the phylogenetic tree and verified that the G. chui was a part of genus Gymnocypris and had closer relationship with Gymnocypris dobula and was independent from other species of Schizothoracinae, Barbinae and Labeoninae in Cyprinidae. This study provided the valuable evidence on phylogenetic relationship of the G. chui at the molecular level and essential resource for further research on this species.

To establish an effective nomogram for predicting in-hospital mortality of COVID-19, a retrospective cohort study was conducted in two hospitals in Wuhan, China, with a total of 4,086 hospitalized COVID-19 cases. All patients have reached therapeutic endpoint (death or discharge). First, a total of 3,022 COVID-19 cases in Wuhan Huoshenshan hospital were divided chronologically into two sets, one (1,780 cases, including 47 died) for nomogram modeling and the other (1,242 cases, including 22 died) for internal validation. We then enrolled 1,064 COVID-19 cases (29 died) in Wuhan Taikang-Tongji hospital for external validation. Independent factors included age (HR for per year increment: 1.05), severity at admission (HR for per rank increment: 2.91), dyspnea (HR: 2.18), cardiovascular disease (HR: 3.25), and levels of lactate dehydrogenase (HR: 4.53), total bilirubin (HR: 2.56), blood glucose (HR: 2.56), and urea (HR: 2.14), which were finally selected into the nomogram. The C-index for the internal resampling (0.97, 95% CI: 0.95-0.98), the internal validation (0.96, 95% CI: 0.94-0.98), and the external validation (0.92, 95% CI: 0.86-0.98) demonstrated the fair discrimination ability. The calibration plots showed optimal agreement between nomogram prediction and actual observation. We established and validated a novel prognostic nomogram that could predict in-hospital mortality of COVID-19 patients.

Purpose. To determine whether hypertriglyceridemic waist (HTGW) and high lipid accumulation product (LAP) preceded the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and to investigate the interactions of HTGW and LAP with other components of metabolic syndrome on the risk of T2DM. Methods. A total of 15,717 eligible participants without baseline T2DM and aged 35 and over were included from a Chinese rural cohort. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the association of HTGW and LAP with the incidence of T2DM, and the restricted cubic spline model was used to evaluate the dose-response association. Results. Overall, 867 new T2DM cases were diagnosed after 7.77 years of follow-up. Participants with HTGW had a higher hazard ratio for T2DM (hazard ratio (HR): 6.249, 95% confidence interval (CI): 5.199-7.511) after adjustment for potential confounders. The risk of incident T2DM was increased with quartiles 3 and 4 versus quartile 1 of LAP, and the adjusted HRs (95% CIs) were 2.903 (2.226-3.784) and 6.298 (4.911-8.077), respectively. There were additive interactions of HTGW (synergy index (SI): 1.678, 95% CI: 1.358-2.072) and high LAP (SI: 1.701, 95% CI: 1.406-2.059) with increased fasting plasma glucose (FPG) on the risk of T2DM. Additionally, a nonlinear ( P nonlinear < 0.001) dose-response association was found between LAP and T2DM. Conclusion. The subjects with HTGW and high LAP were at high risk of developing T2DM, and the association between LAP and the risk of T2DM may be nonlinear. Our study further demonstrates additive interactions of HTGW and high LAP with increased FPG on the risk of T2DM.

Background: High intraocular pressure (IOP) and low central corneal thickness (CCT) are important validated risk factors for glaucoma, and some studies also have suggested that eyes with more deformable corneas may be in higher risk of the development and worsening of glaucoma. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the association between corneal biomechanical parameters and asymmetric visual field (VF) damage using a Corvis-ST device in patients with untreated normal tension glaucoma (NTG). Methods: In this observational, cross-sectional study, 44 newly diagnosed NTG patients were enrolled. Of these, 31 had asymmetric VF damage, which was defined as a 5-point difference between the eyes according to the Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study scoring system. Corneal biomechanical parameters were obtained using a Corvis-ST device, such as time from start until the first and second applanation is reached (time A1 and time A2, respectively), cord length of the first and second applanation (length A1 and length A2, respectively), corneal speed during the first and second applanation (velocity A1 and velocity A2, respectively), time from start until highest concavity is reached (time HC), maximum amplitude at the apex of highest concavity (def ampl HC), distance between the two peaks at highest concavity (peak dist HC), and central concave curvature at its highest concavity (radius HC). Results: Time A1 (7.19 ± 0.28 vs. 7.37 ± 0.41 ms, P = 0.010), length A1 (1.73 [1.70–1.76] vs. 1.78 [1.76–1.79] mm, P = 0.007), length A2 (1.58 [1.46–1.70] vs. 1.84 [1.76–1.92] mm, P < 0.001), peak dist HC (3.53 [3.08–4.00] vs. 4.33 [3.92–4.74] mm, P = 0.010), and radius HC (6.20 ± 0.69 vs. 6.59 ± 1.18 mm, P = 0.032) were significantly lower in the worse eyes than in the better eyes, whereas velocity A1 and def ampl HC were significantly higher (0.156 [0.149–0.163] vs. 0.145 [0.138–0.152] m/s, P = 0.002 and 1.19 ± 0.13 vs. 1.15 ± 0.13 mm, P = 0.005, respectively). There was no significant difference in time A2, velocity A2, and time HC between the two groups. In addition, no difference was observed in IOP, CCT, and axial length. In the univariate and multivariate analyses, some of the Corvis-ST parameters, including time A1 and def ampl HC, were correlated with known risk factors for glaucoma, and there was also a significant positive correlation between def ampl HC and age. Conclusions: There were differences in dynamic corneal response parameters but not IOP or CCT between the paired eyes of NTG patients with asymmetric VF damage. We suggest that the shape of the cornea is more easily altered in the worse eyes of asymmetric NTG patients. Key words: Asymmetric Visual Field Damage; Corneal Biomechanical Parameters; Corvis-ST; Normal Tension Glaucoma; Untreated

To seek the threshold value of Bruch’s membrane opening-minimum rim width (BMO-MRW) where visual field (VF) damage occurs in open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and explore whether there are structural differences between primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and normal-tension glaucoma (NTG). We recruited 83 healthy and 106 glaucoma (49 with POAG and 57 with NTG) subjects for this study. All subjects underwent optical coherence tomography (OCT), BMO-MRW scans, and Humphrey visual field (VF) analyzer examination. Global and sectoral BMO-MRW was correlated with the corresponding VF according to the Garway-Heath map. Using a broken-stick statistical model, the structure–function relationship of VF values and BMO-MRW, the tipping point where VF defects were associated with a reduction in BMO-MRW and the slopes above and below the tipping point were determined and compared between POAG and NTG. The tipping point of global BMO-MRW for VF impairment was 234.38 μm, 228.09 μm, and 249.68 μm in the OAG, POAG, and NTG groups, respectively. The slope below the tipping point was significantly steeper than the slope above it in all quadrants of each group (p

AIM: To build a clinical diagnostic model of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) using the normal probability chart of frequency-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT). METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study. Total 133 eyes from 133 healthy subjects and 99 eyes from 99 early POAG patients were included in the study. The retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness parameters of optic nerve head (ONH) and RNFL3.45 scan were measured in one randomly selected eye of each subject using RTVue-100 FD-OCT. Then, we used these parameters to establish the diagnostic models. Four different diagnostic models based on two different area partition strategies on ONH and RNFL3.45 parameters, including ONH traditional area partition model (ONH-T), ONH new area partition model (ONH-N), RNFL3.45 traditional area partition model (RNFL3.45-T) and RNFL3.45 new area partition model (RNFL3.45-N), were built and tested by cross-validation. RESULTS: The new area partition models had higher area under the receiver operating characteristic (AROC; ONH-N: 0.990; RNFL3.45-N: 0.939) than corresponding traditional area partition models (ONH-T: 0.979; RNFL3.45-T: 0.881). There was no statistical difference among AROC of ONH-T, ONH-N, and RNFL3.45-N. Nevertheless, ONH-N was the simplest model. CONCLUSION: The new area partition models had higher diagnostic accuracy than corresponding traditional area partition models, which can improve the diagnostic ability of early POAG. In particular, the simplest ONH-N diagnostic model may be convenient for clinical application.

The measles epidemic was rather severe in Wujin 2015, and a seroprevalence survey of measles antibody was conducted during June to September 2015 in Wjin district of Changzhou city. Blood samples were collected from community health population and convenient samples of residual blood from hospitals. Measles-specific IgG levels were measured by ELISA assay. A total of 122 measles cases were reported 2015 in Wujin district with an incidence of 8.31 per 100000 populations. A large proportion of measles cases were adults ≥20years (62.30%) and infants aged18months (28.69%). Floating population accounted for 68.57% of all cases. 1070 blood samples aged from 9months to 49years old were collected and the overall seroprevalence and geometric mean titer (GMT) of measles were 82.71% and 551.19mIU/ml, respectively. Although the seroprevalence among children aged 9months to 4years was consistently over 90%, it began to decrease since 24months, and till the age of ≥10years, the seroprevalences were all80%, however, the seroprevalence rised to above 80% in people over 40years. There were no significant differences between the two blood sample sources in the level of seroprevalence and GMT. Also no significant differences were observed in the seroprevalence of measles and GMT levels between genders. The seroprevalence and GMT in people with measles vaccination were higher than those without measles vaccination or people whose measles vaccination are unknown (P0.001). Our study indicated that the adult measles cases have become a serious problem in Wujin district, which may mainly relate to the increasing size of the floating population with low measles vaccine coverage. The seroprevalence of measles decreased dramatically with increasing age since teenagers, which may mainly caused by waning vaccine-induced immunity. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen measles vaccine in these people especially floating population.

After the catastrophic floods along the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) in 1998, the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements and the State Environmental Protection Administration of China jointly developed a methodology for assessing flood vulnerability that would be user-friendly for policy-makers. This report discusses this methodology, described herein with a trial application to the critical Dongting Lake Region, using an applied analytical hierarchy process to establish vulnerability weights, and geographical information systems to present the results in a readily comprehensible manner. This study is the first vulnerability assessment undertaken in China specifically directed at flood prevention.

Background Previous study indicated a high prevalence of ocular fundus pathology among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), while the relationship between them has never been explored in a Chinese Population. Methods This cross-sectional study included 9 670 participants enrolled in a medical screening program. Ocular fundus examination was performed by ophthalmologists using ophthalmoscopes. The presence of eGFR less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and/or proteinuria was defined as CKD. Results Compared to participants without CKD, participants with CKD had higher prevalence of retinopathy (28.5% vs. 16.3%, P < 0.001), glaucoma suspect (3.1% vs. 1.8%, P = 0.004), age-related macular degeneration (1.7% vs. 0.9%, P = 0.01) and overall eye pathology (32.0% vs. 19.4%, P < 0.001). After adjusting for potential confounders, the odds ratio of proteinuria for overall eye pathology and retinopathy was 1.29 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07-1.55) and 1.37 (95% CI 1.12-1.67), respectively. The results were robust after excluding participants with hypertension or with diabetes. Conclusions Ocular fundus pathology is common among Chinese patients with CKD. Regular eye exam among persons with proteinuria is warranted.

View of current lack of health examination equipment in the rural area, we present a portable, integrated, multi-functional health examination package based on the Loogson-2F CPU for physical examination in the rural area. In this paper, we mainly described the overall design of the system and the architecture of the supporting software in the system. The health examination package is portable, integrated, inexpensive, low power, simplicity of operator, and can be easily extended. The system can check up the patient's state of health precisely, has good development and applied prospects.

Recent advances in wireless communication, semiconductor, embedded system and sensor technology have made it possible to build low cost, low power consumption, reconfigurable wireless vision sensor nodes. Wireless vision sensor networks, which consist of wirelessly connected embedded systems with vision capabilities, provide wide a variety of applications that are impossible to be realized with the vision systems with wired connection or the scalar-data based wireless sensor networks. In this paper, a novel wireless vision sensor node with the FPGA+microcontroller system on programmable chip (SOPC) architecture is presented. Especially, image compression problem of the wireless vision sensor node is discussed in detail. The experimental results show that the proposed technique is feasible.

In this paper we present a novel wireless acquisition system for the real ambulance field which could be equipped on ambulance vehicle to realize pre-hospital treatment for patients. The distinctive feature of the system is that it can not only provide biomedical information including the oxygen saturation, the ECG, the blood pressure, the temperature and the heart rate of patients, but also supply an interactive multimedia communication module including audio and video information. Several important techniques, e.g., the wireless sensor network, the audio and video compression and the CDMA telecommunication module, will be discussed in this paper.