BackgroundAntenatal depression (AD) is considered as one of the major health burdens and has adverse effects on the outcome of expectant mothers and newborns. The present study aims to investigate the prevalence of antenatal depression (AD), and to explore the potential risk factors of AD among pregnant women in Chengdu, including personal background, related social factors, family factors and cognitive factors.MethodsThe prospective nested case-control study included pregnant women who were in their second pregnancy and attended prenatal care at three tertiary hospitals and one regional hospital in Chengdu, China, between March 2015 and May 2016. Self-designed questionnaires were given to participants in their second and third trimesters to collect information on clinical and demographic characteristics, and a modified edition of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) were used to measure AD. The logistic regression was applicated in analyses.ResultsA total of 996 pregnant women were included in analysis. Ninety-three women suffered from AD symptoms only in their second trimester, 96 only in their third trimester, and 107 displayed persistent depression in both trimesters. In the univariate analyses, age and marital relationships were linked with AD occurrence in both second and third trimester. In addition, increasing age, full-time job, higher education level, and no gender preference of spouse were associated with reduced persistent depression. Multivariate analysis showed that gender preference and marital relationship were the potential risk factors of persistent depression.ConclusionsAge, marital relationship relationships, with parents-in-law, the negative recognition of this pregnancy and husband’s gender preference were found as risk factors of AD occurrence in some specific trimester. Gender preference of husbands and marital relationships were independently associated with persistent depression. These findings suggest that stronger family support can help improve mental health of pregnant women.

Serum BPA may be positively associated with women with PCOS and BPA might be involved in the insulin-resistance and hyperandrogenism of PCOS. More evidence from high quality studies, advanced detection methods, and larger cohorts for observational trials are needed to further confirm the association between BPA and PCOS.

Previous studies have suggested that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number was associated with cancer risk. However, no solid conclusion revealed the potential predictive value of mtDNA copy number for cancer prognosis. The present meta-analysis was performed to clarify the problem. Hence, we performed a systematic search in PubMed, EmBase, Web of Science databases independently and a total of eighteen studies comprising 3961 cases satisfied the criteria and finally enrolled. Our results didn’t show the association between them but significant heterogeneity in overall analysis (OS: HR = 0.923, 95% CI: 0.653–1.306, p = 0.652; DFS: HR = 0.997, 95% CI: 0.599–1.659, p = 0.99). However, subgroup analysis stratified by sample came to the opposite conclusion. High level mitochondrial DNA copy number in peripheral blood predicted a poor cancer prognosis (OS: HR = 1.624, 95% CI: 1.211–2.177, p = 0.001; DFS: HR = 1.582, 95% CI: 1.026–2.439, p = 0.038) while patients with high level mitochondrial DNA copy number in tumor tissue exhibited better outcomes (OS: HR = 0.604 95% CI: 0.406–0.899, p = 0.013; DFS: HR = 0.593, 95% CI: 0.411–0.857, p = 0.005). These findings were further proved in detailed analyses in blood or tissue subgroup. In conclusion, our study suggested the elevated mtDNA copy number in peripheral blood predicted a poor cancer prognosis while the better outcome was presented among patients with elevated mtDNA copy number in tumor tissue.

BackgroundTo appraise critically whether published trials of ShenXiong glucose injection for patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) are of sufficient quality, and in addition to rate the quality of evidence by using the GRADE approach (grading of recommendations, assessment, development, and evaluation, GRADE).MethodsA literature search was performed in the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CBM, Chinese TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) Database, CNKI, VIP, WanFang Databases until January 2015. The limits were patients with AIS and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-RCTs. Studies by which patients suffering intracerebral haemorrhage were excluded.ResultsTwelve studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. We found significant benefits of ShenXiong glucose injection compared with conventional treatment in improving activities of daily living function at 4 weeks (MD = 34.12, 95 % CI: 29.07, 39.17), neurological function deficit at 2 weeks (MD = −5.39, 95 % CI: −6.90, −3.87), 4 weeks (MD = −5.16, 95 % CI: −6.49, −3.83), and clinical effects at 4 weeks (RR = 1.17, 95 % CI: 1.10, 1.24). No trials reported the effects of ShenXiong glucose injection on the risk of early, deterioration, or quality of life. No adverse events were reported within the whole follow-up period.ConclusionsThe use of ShenXiong glucose injection may improve rehabilitation for patients with acute ischemic stroke, however, as the GRADE approach indicated low to moderate quality of available evidence as well as insufficient information about harm and patients preference, the recommendations were not provided for ShenXiong glucose injection taking as a therapeutic intervention to patients with acute ischemic stroke.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12906-016-1038-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.