Objective To investigate the effectiveness of longitudinal preputial pedicled flap urethroplasty for chordee of Donnahoo IV type. Methods Between June 1994 and October 2011, 30 patients with chordee (Donnahoo type IV) underwent longitudinal preputial pedicled flap urethroplasty. The patients’ age ranged from 2 to 16 years (mean, 5.8 years). The morphology of the balanus-navicular fossa-external urethral orifice ranged normal; the penis length was 2.5-6.8 cm (mean, 4.3 cm); the penis bending angle was 35-70° (mean, 40.1°). Primary and secondary operation was 27 cases and 3 cases, respectively. The size of flap ranged from 1.5 cm × 1.3 cm to 4.0 cm × 2.0 cm. Results After correction, the penis length was 3.0-8.5 cm (mean, 6.6 cm); the penis bending angle was 0-10° (mean, 1.2°). All patients were followed up 6 months to 12 years (mean, 33 months). No recurrence, stabbing pain of the balanus, or foreign body sensation occurred during follow-up. Of them, 4 patients (13.33%) had urinary fistular, they had satisfactory results after the second operation; 2 patients (6.67%) had urethral stricture 1 month after operation, they also had satisfactory results after arethral dilatation. The other patients showed no scattering urinary flow and good direction without complication. Six patients had satisfactory sexual function after puberty without erection disorder, pain, or dyspareunia. Conclusion Longitudinal preputial pedicled flap urethroplasty can achieve maximum utilization of prepuce and aesthetic and functional improvement with less complication, so it is a relatively ideal mean for treating chordee of Donnahoo type IV.
Objective To analyze longitudinal motion of infarcted myocardium and ischemic myocardium with a new echocardiographic technology of velocity vector imaging (VVI), and to assess its accuracy. Methods From December2007 to January 2008, 6 patients suffered acute anterior myocardial infarction (MI group), 9 patients had myocardial ischemia (over 70% stenosis of anterior descending branch, MS group) and 16 healthy subjects (control group) were included. The long axis view and 2-chambers view of left ventricle at the apex of heart were acquired with Siemens Sequoia 512 ultrasound system. The longitudinal velocity, displacement, strain and strain rate were analyzed with off-l ine Syngo US workplace software. Results In normal myocardial group, longitudinal peak systol ic velocity (Vs) and peak displacement (D) decreased progressively from base level to apex level in anterior wall and anterior septum (P lt; 0.05), while peak strain (S) and peak systol ic strain rate (SRs) kept the same in three levels (P gt; 0.05). S and SRs significantly decreased in all segments of infarcted myocardium (P lt; 0.05), compared with normal and ischemic myocardium. In ischemic myocardium, only base and middle segmental S of anterior wall decreased (P lt; 0.05). A myocardial S lower than —6.94% in at least one ventricular segment showed best sensitivity (100%) and specificity (100%) for detecting an infarcted left ventricle. A myocardial SRs lower than —0.81% at least in one ventricular segment showed 100% sensitivity and 80% specificity, and lower than —0.46% showed 83% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Conclusion VVI is a useful tool for assessing myocardial regional function. Especially, S and SRs are useful predictors of the presence of regional dysfunction in infarcted myocardium.
ObjectiveTo explore the methods of data management and statistical analysis for longitudinal big data collected from mobile health management applications (APP). MethodsThe data management process and statistical analysis method were proposed by summarizing the characteristics of the data from mobile health management APPs. The methods would be clarified by a practical case: an APP recording female menstruation. ResultsThe data from health management APPs belong to longitudinal big data and the original record of the APP should be reprocessed or computed before conducting statistical analysis. A two-step data cleaning procedure was suggested for data management of the original records and reprocessed data, and longitudinal models such as mixed models was recommended for statistical analysis. ConclusionsThe data from health management APPs could be used for medical research via specific data management and statistical analysis after removing suspicious data. Cloud computing could be a viable method to improve efficiency of the big data analysis of health management APPs.
Longitudinal data had intrinsic correlation problems at different time points, and traditional meta-analysis techniques cannot resolve this problem. Regression coefficients based on multi-level models can fully consider the correlations of longitudinal data at various time points. This paper uses SAS software to perform multi-level regression coefficient model meta-analysis and provides programming code which is simple and easy to operate.
ObjectivesTo examine the cognitive performance among the elderly and associated influencing factors.MethodsUsing data from the six issues of Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) conducted from 1998 to 2011, selecting adults aged 80 years or above, multilevel hierarchical model was utilized to estimate the trend of the elderly's cognitive performance and its influencing factors.ResultsA total of 128 cases were studied. The descent in MMSE was not significant with the growth of age (P=0.834). Female's MMSE scores were lower than male's (P=0.011) and descended quicker (P=0.015). Furthermore, ADL status and level of leisure activity were significantly related to the cognitive performance of both male and female (P<0.05).ConclusionsParticipation in leisure activities were the crucial protective factor for cognitive performance. It's recommended that measures be taken respectively for elderly males and females, and policies be stressed to enhance their cognitive performance, thus to guarantee their healthy aging.
ObjectiveTo observe the dynamic characteristics of visual acuity after vitrectomy in different sizes of idiopathic macular hole, and analyze the influencing factors.MethodsA retrospective study. From August 2016 to June 2018, 302 patients (302 eyes) with monocular idiopathic macular hole who underwent 25G vitrectomy combined with the internal limiting membrane peeling in Tianjin Eye Hospital were included in the study. There were 130 males and 172 females, with the mean age of 63.36±6.91 years. There were 158 left eyes and 144 right eyes. The logMAR BCVA was 1.13±0.45. The minimum diameter (422.92±211.73 μm) and basal diameter (835.47±366.42 μm) of macular hole and choroid thickness under fovea (244.84±60.68 μm) were measured by OCT. According to the minimum diameter, the holes were divided into small hole group (≤250 μm), middle hole group (＞250 μm and ≤400 μm) and large hole group (＞400 μm). The logMAR BCVA at 1, 3 and 6 months after surgery in 3 groups were observed. Two-factor repeated measure ANOVA was used to compare the visual acuity of the 3 groups. The generalized estimation equation (GEE) was used to analyze the influencing factors of postoperative visual recovery.ResultsOne month after surgery, all the holes were closed. One, 3 and 6 months after surgery, the logMAR BCVA were 0.33±0.25, 0.23±0.18, 0.16±0.17 in the small hole group; the logMAR BCVA were 0.46±0.25, 0.35±0.26, 0.27±0.28 in the middle hole group; the logMAR BCVA were 0.81±0.51, 0.61±0.48, 0.53±0.37 in the large hole group. Through repeated measurement variance analysis of two factors, it was found that there was an interaction between different groups and different time nodes (F=23.133, P＜0.01). All data were segmented and one-way repeated measure ANOVA was performed. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference in visual acuity between the small hole group and the middle hole group among preoperative and 1 month after surgery (P＜0.05), while there was no statistically significant difference in visual acuity between 1, 3 and 6 months after surgery (P＞0.05). In the large hole group, among preoperative, 1 months after surgery, 3 months after surgery, the visual acuity difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05), while the visual acuity difference between 3 months after surgery and 6 months after surgery was not statistically significant (P＞0.05). The results of GEE analysis showed that hole size (χ2=4.17, P=0.04), basal diameter (χ2=7.25, P=0.01), disease course (χ2=19.26, P=0.00), and choroid thickness (χ2=4.19, P=0.04) were the influencing factors of postoperative visual acuity.ConclusionsAfter vitrectomy of macular holes of different sizes, the visual recovery trend is different. The visual recovery of small holes and middle holes is faster and basically restored at 1 month. The large holes requires a slow recovery process and stabilizes vision at 3 months. Hole size, basal diameter, course of disease and choroid thickness are the influencing factors of visual acuity recovery.
Objective To analyze the effects of hyperuricemia (HUA) on the prevalence of dyslipidemia in the elderly. MethodsA total of 5 990 elderly people with complete and important variables from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) public database in 2015 were extracted. Their blood lipids, related physiological and biochemical indices, and basic demographic information were collected. The effects of HUA on the prevalence of dyslipidemia in the elderly were analyzed using the probit model, and empirical analysis was performed using the propensity score matching method (PSM). Results Among the 5 990 subjects, 13.6% of the elderly had HUA and the prevalence of dyslipidemia was 37.5%. After correcting the endogeneity among variables, the probability of dyslipidemia in elderly patients with HUA increased by 9.5%-11.7% (P<0.01), in which the probability of high triglyceridemia (TG), high total cholesterol (TC), high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) increased by 10.4%-11.5% (P<0.01), 2.7%-3.8% (P<0.01), 1.7%-2.3% (P<0.05), and 4.3%-4.9% (P<0.05), respectively. Conclusion HUA is associated with various types of dyslipidemia, among which its relationship with high TG and low HDL-C is strong. Targeted interventions should be taken for elderly HUA patients, aiming to reduce the rate of dyslipidemia and promote the goal of "healthy ageing" in China.
ObjectiveTo observe and analyze the rate of visual acuity progression and binocular symmetry in patients with choroideremia (CHM). MethodsA single-center retrospective longitudinal cohort study. From April 2009 to August 2022, 38 eyes of 19 patients diagnosed with CHM through clinical and genetic testing at the Department of Ophthalmology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, were included in this study. All patients underwent at least 2 follow-up visits with a minimum interval of 1 year between visits, and binocular best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) results were recorded at each follow-up visit. Decimal visual acuity was converted into logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) for analysis. The patient group consisted of 19 males from 16 unrelated families. The age at initial visit was (39.52±13.24) years, with a (2.63±1.61) follow-up visits over a duration of (4.95±2.68) years. A total of 50 binocular BCVA data were included. Annual progression rate of visual acuity was calculated based on longitudinal and cross-sectional data. Spearman correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman method were used to evaluate the binocular symmetry. ResultsThe rate of visual acuity progression was (0.095±0.148) logMAR units/year based on longitudinal data and (0.018±0.009) logMAR units/year based on cross-sectional data. The binocular symmetry for BCVA of the baseline values was strong; however, the binocular symmetry of progression rates for BCVA was moderate. Spearman correlation analysis showed that binocular symmetry in baseline BCVA was high (r=0.881, P＜0.001). The symmetry of binocular vision progression rates based on longitudinal data was moderately symmetric (r=0.528, P=0.020). Bland-Altman analysis showed that 94.7% of binocular baseline BCVA differences were within 95% confidence interval (CI) of 95% limit difference (LOA), indicating good symmetry of binocular baseline BCVA. The number of binocular BCVA progression rate differences within 95%CI of 95%LOA was 89.5%, suggesting moderate symmetry in binocular BCVA progression rate. The results of Spearman correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman analysis of binocular symmetry were basically consistent. ConclusionsThe rate of visual acuity progression of patients with CHM based on longitudinal and cross-sectional data is (0.095±0.148) and (0.018±0.009) logMAR units/year, respectively. Cross-sectional data from patients of different ages should not be used to infer the progression rate of the natural history. Binocular eyes with highly symmetrical baseline visual acuity may differ in the rate of visual acuity progression.