Background Recent upsurge of syphilis infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) is one of the major challenges that facing China. However, the overall burden is still not clear. This study aims to summarize the incidence of syphilis among MSM in China by using meta-analysis. Methods We comprehensively searched PubMed-MEDLINE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Chinese Wanfang databases. Articles published between December 2009 and March 2015 that met the inclusion criteria were considerably involved in this meta-analysis. Two reviewers performed a quality assessment of the studies and extracted data for estimating the overall syphilis incidence. STATA 12.0 was used to summarize the overall incidence of syphilis. Results 14 studies from 13 papers were included in this study. Follow-up duration of these studies ranged from 6 to 36 months, while drop-out rates ranged from 11.9% to 83.6%. The individual incidence rates of the included studies varied from 3.1/100 person-years (PYs) (95% CI, 0.8–5.3/100 PYs) to 38.5/100 PYs (95% CI, 28.9–48.1/ 100 PYs), with a pooled incidence of 9.6/100 PYs (95% CI, 7.0–12.2 /100 PYs). The subgroup meta-analysis revealed that incidence estimates were 38.5/100 PYs (95% CI, 28.9–48.1/100 PYs), 12.1/100 PYs (95%CI, 7.0–17.2/100 PYs), 11.2/100 PYs (95%CI, 0.7–23.1/100 PYs), 8.9/100 PYs (95%CI, 6.5–11.2/100 PYs), 5.7/100 PYs (95%CI, 3.4–8.0/100 PYs), and 3.1/100 PYs (95%CI, 0.8–5.3/100 PYs) in Northeast, North, Southwest, East, South and Northwest China, respectively. Conclusion Syphilis incidence among Chinese MSM is high, and this may increase the spread of other sexual transmitted infections (STIs), including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It is essential to integrate syphilis control programs with HIV control programs. This can be achieved by establishing public health response systems to monitor and control the epidemic of syphilis and HIV together in China.

Yuan M, Gao AT, Wang TM, Liang JH, Aihemati GB, Cao Y, Xie X, Miao LY, Lin ZT. Using Meglumine Diatrizoate to improve the accuracy of diagnosis of cracked teeth on Cone-beam CT images. International Endodontic Journal, 53, 709-714, 2020. Aim To explore in a laboratory setting the feasibility of using Meglumine Diatrizoate (MD) to improve the accuracy of diagnosis of cracked teeth on cone-beam CT (CBCT) images. Methodology Twenty-four teeth were cracked artificially by soaking them cyclically in liquid nitrogen and hot water. The number and position of crack lines were evaluated with a dental operating microscope and used as the gold standard. The artificially cracked teeth were then examined using routine scanning (RS) and enhanced scanning (ES) modes, respectively. For the ES mode, MD was painted on the surface of the crack lines, and then, CBCT scanning with the same parameters was performed after 10 min. A radiological graduate student and an experienced radiologist evaluated the presence or absence of crack lines, respectively. The differences between the RS and ES modes were determined and assessed using McNemar's test. Inter-examiner agreement and intra-examiner agreement were assessed using kappa analysis. Results Fifty-seven crack lines were found in the 24 cracked teeth. In the RS mode, the accuracy of detection of crack lines was 23% (radiological graduate student) and 32% (experienced radiologist), whereas in the ES mode, the accuracy was 61% (radiological graduate student) and 65% (experienced radiologist). The inter-examiner agreement was 0.693 in RS mode and 0.849 in ES mode. The intra-examiner agreement was 0.872 and 0.949 for the radiological graduate student in RS and ES mode respectively; and one for the experienced radiologist both in RS and ES mode. Conclusions Compared with routine scanning mode, more crack lines could be detected in enhanced scanning mode using Meglumine Diatrizoate as a contrast medium. MD could be a potential contrast medium to improve the accuracy of detection of crack lines on CBCT images.

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This study aimed to find true facture lines in endodontically treated teeth on CBCT images using digital subtraction and to evaluate the influence of width of facture lines in the diagnosis. Thirty‐two endodontically treated teeth with vertical root fractures (VRFs) from 30 patients were included in this study. The CBCT images of the patients and the micro‐CT images of extracted teeth were imported into our digital subtraction software to distinguish the true facture lines from the streak artefacts. Of them, 23(71.87%) teeth did not present true fracture lines on the CBCT images (CBCT negative), and 9 (28.13%) teeth presented true fracture lines on the CBCT images (CBCT positive). The width of the facture lines was significantly different between these two groups (P < 0.05). To summarise, for in vivo endodontically treated teeth with subtle VRFs, many true fractures lines could not be demonstrated on CBCT images and wider fractures could be better distinguished.

Signal transducers and activators of transcription-3 (STAT3), a central cytoplasmic transcription factor, is frequently overexpressed and constitutively activated during malignant transformation. The overexpression of STAT3 in melanoma cells is often observed and is suggested to be involved in tumorigenesis and development. In this study, a novel antisense RNA oligonucleotides targeting the STAT3 mRNA was 2'-O-methyl modified with a 3'-butanol tag was designed, and found this uniquely modified strategy dramatic increased the stability of the RNA oligonucleotides. The results showed that the RNA oligonucleotides, namely STT-33 and STT-34, strongly inhibited the target gene expression in the melanoma cells and resulted in increase cell apoptosis. Furthermore, the RNA oligonucleotides could significantly inhibit melanoma cell proliferation and xenografts growth in nude mice. Thus, the novel modified RNA oligonucleotides targeting STAT3 may serve as a useful tool to study the involvement of STAT3 in melanoma and potentially as an anti-cancer agent for melanoma.