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ObjectiveTo explore the effects and satisfaction of reference-induced blended teaching method in medical statistics teaching for undergraduate students in clinical medicine.MethodA total of 83 clinical medical undergraduate students from the class of 2018 at the Tongji University School of Medicine were enrolled into the study. The effect evaluation of blended teaching based on reference-induced self education （RISE） in the course of medical statistics was conducted. A self-designed questionnaire was used to assess student satisfaction.ResultsCompared with the traditional teaching method group， students’ distinguished achievement rate and pass rate in total score from RISE blended teaching group were 53.7% and 96.3%， respectively， and 83.3% students were satisfied with the overall effect. The RISE blended teaching method had higher satisfaction in stimulating learning interest （90.7% satisfaction rate， P=0.034） and cultivating scientific research ability （96.3% satisfaction rate， P=0.048）.ConclusionThe RISE blended teaching method， which integrates literature guidance with online and offline approaches， organically combines statistical knowledge with clinical research problems. It yields positive results in medical statistics education， stimulating learning interest， and fostering innovative scientific research abilities.

We investigated the prevalence and risk factors of prehypertension, as well as the predictors of progression from prehypertension to hypertension. To do this, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, after unrestricted searches of PubMed and The Cochrane Library through September 2010. In addition, we reviewed references, major textbooks, and review articles. Pooled prevalence, standardized mean differences, and odds ratios were estimated by using a random-effects model.Twenty-six articles met our inclusion criteria; these included 20 cross-sectional and 6 longitudinal studies, with a total sample of 250,741 individuals. The overall pooled prevalence of prehypertension was 36%. The pooled prevalence among males was higher than that among females (40% vs 33%). The pooled standardized mean difference for body mass index was 1.37 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20–1.55); for total cholesterol, 8.08 (95% CI, 6.71–9.46); for low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, 5.14 (95% CI, 3.09–7.18); and for fasting plasma glucose, 4.23 (95% CI, 3.28–5.18); all of which showed more significant results in females. The pooled odds ratio was 1.13 (95% CI, 0.93–1.37) for smoking and 0.98 (95% CI, 0.69–1.39) for drinking. In addition, factors such as older age at baseline, male sex, Mongolian race, and being overweight or obese were predictors of progression to hypertension, according to descriptive analysis.The prevalence of prehypertension was relatively high, especially for males. There were many modifiable risk factors associated with prehypertension, to which healthcare providers should pay more attention.

Background: Heart failure (HF) remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Multiple trials over the past several years have examined the effects of both angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) in the treatment of left ventricular dysfunction, both acutely after myocardial infarction and in chronic heart failure. Yet, there is still confusion regarding the relative efficacy of rennin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibition. Our study was conducted to assess efficacy of ACEIs and ARBs in reducing all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in heart failure patients.Methods: We included randomized clinical trials compared ACEIs and ARBs treatment (any dose or type) with placebo treatment, no treatment, or other anti-HF drugs treatment, reporting cardiovascular or total mortality with an observation period of at least 12 months. Data sources included Pubmed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Dichotomous outcome data from individual trials were analyzed using the risk ratio measure and its 95%CI with random-effects/ fixed-effects models. We performed meta-regression analyses to identify sources of heterogeneity. All-cause mortality and CV mortality were thought to be the main outcomes.Results: A total of 47,662 subjects were included with a mean/median follow-up ranged from 12 weeks to 4.5 years. Of all 38 studies, 32 compared ACEIs with control therapy (included 13 arms that compared ACEIs with placebo, 10 arms in which the comparator was active treatment and 9 arms that compared ACEIs with ARBs), and six studies compared ARBs with placebo. ACEIs treatment in patients with HF reduced all-cause mortality to 11% (risk ratio (RR): 0.89, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.83-0.96, p = 0.001) and the corresponding value for cardiovascular mortality was 14% (RR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.78-0.94, p = 0.001). However, ARBs had no beneficial effect on reducing all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. In head-to-head analysis, ACEIs was not superior to ARBs for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular deaths.Conclusions: In HF patients, ACEIs, but not ARBs reduced all-cause mortality and cardiovascular deaths. Thus, ACEIs should be considered as first-line therapy to limit excess mortality and morbidity in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To investigate the association between cognitive function and body composition in older adults., Methods: We collected data on 2080 older adults (>60 years of age) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for the years 1999-2000 and 2001-2002. Candidate variables included: demographic data (sex, age, race, education level, marital status, poverty-to-income ratio), alcohol consumption, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, total bone mineral density, and total fat mass. A logistic regression model was established to analyze the association between cognitive function and body composition in older adults. In addition, stratified logics regression analysis was performed by sex and age., Results: Bone mineral density significantly affects cognitive function in older adults ( p <0.01). When examining the data according to sex, this correlation is present for women ( p  < 0.01). For men, though, it is not significant ( p  = 0.081). Stratified by age, total bone mineral density was significantly correlated with cognitive function in 60-70 and 70-80 years old people, but not in older adults older than 80 years(for 60-70 years old, p  = 0.019; for 70-80 years old, p  = 0.022). There was no significant correlation between total bone mineral density and cognitive function ( p  = 0.575)., Conclusion: The decrease of total bone mineral density was significantly correlated with cognitive decline in the older adults, especially among women and older people in the 60 to 80 age group. There was no connection between total fat mass, total percent fat, total lean mass, appendicular lean mass, appendicular lean mass /BMI and cognitive function in the older adults., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Chen, Zou, Chen, Wang, Liu, Yin, Chen and Li.)

Hydrogen bonding interactions guided supramolecular self-assembly has been widely studied, which played important roles in the field of nanotechnology and nanodevices. Herein, an effective intermolecular hydrogen bonding mediated heating-up synthesis of high-quality fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) is developed based on hydrogen-bonding between trimesic acid and urea. Upon optimizing the hydrogen-bonding interaction, high quality of CDs with high monodispersity and stability could be obtained. Besides, these CDs could be used for sensitive and specific detection of ferric ions. The novel strategy may pave a new way in molecular engineering for the fabrication of high quality of CDs., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate the use of elastometry in healthy volunteers and patients with acute pancreatitis using virtual touch tissue quantification (VTQ) imaging technology performed on the pancreas., Material and Methods: We enrolled 210 healthy volunteers and 44 acute pancreatitis patients in the study between March 2012 and June 2013. Healthy subjects were divided into 3 groups: young (18-30 years), middle-aged (30-50 years), and elderly (>50 years). VTQ was performed on the pancreatic head and body regions to obtain shear wave velocity (SWV) measurements, which were used to evaluate the elasticity values of tissues., Results: The pancreatic head SWV value in the whole healthy group was 1.18±0.23 m/s, and that in the pancreatic body was 1.21±0.20 m/s. In patients with acute pancreatitis, the mean SWV measurements at the head were 1.18±0.20 m/s, compared to 1.25±0.19 m/s in the pancreatic body. There was no statistically significant difference between whole healthy volunteers and the acute pancreatitis group., Conclusions: VTQ is a new method that shows promise for the quantification of pancreatic elasticity, but further studies are warranted.

Background: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) increased recently and there was still not a screening index to predict MetS. The aim of this study was to estimate whether brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), a novel marker for systemic arterial stiffness, could predict MetS in Chinese community population., Methods: A total of 2 191 participants were recruited and underwent medical examination including 1 455 men and 756 women from June 2011 to January 2012. MetS was diagnosed according to the criteria of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Multiple Logistic regressions were conducted to explore the risk factors of MetS. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was performed to estimate the ideal diagnostic cutoff point of baPWV to predict MetS., Results: The mean age was (45.35±8.27) years old. In multiple Logistic regression analysis, the gender, baPWV and smoking status were risk factors to MetS after adjusting age, gender, baPWV, walk time and sleeping time. The prevalence of MetS was 17.48% in 30-year age population in Shanghai. There were significant differences (χ(2) = 96.46, P < 0.05) between male and female participants on MetS prevalence. According to the ROC analyses, the ideal cutoff point of baPWV was 1 358.50 cm/s (AUC = 60.20%) to predict MetS among male group and 1 350.00 cm/s (AUC = 70.90%) among female group., Conclusion: BaPWV may be considered as a screening marker to predict MetS in community Chinese population and the diagnostic value of 1 350.00 cm/s was more significant for the female group.