Backgrounds: Limited data was reported for the frequency of SLE in China. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency, geographical, and ethnic distributions of hospitalized SLE patients with data from the Hospital Quality Monitoring System (HQMS) in China.Methods: Hospitalized patients were investigated from a national inpatient database covering 46.0% of tertiary hospitals in China from 2013 to 2017. Data regarding the diagnosis of SLE were extracted based on ICD-10 codes. We collected and analyzed data from the front page of the records of inpatients, including frequency, demographic characteristics, and geographic distributions of SLE.Results: Among 158.3 million inpatients attended during the study period, 0.31% (491, 225) were diagnosed with SLE. The frequency of SLE decreased during the study period (from 0.30% in 2013 to 0.27% in 2017). The frequency of SLE increased with latitude (0.21% in northern China and 0.39% in southern China in 2017). Hospitalizations mostly occurred in winter (31.24%). The Li population had the highest frequency of patients with SLE (0.76%). The all-cause in-hospital mortality rate of SLE decreased from 0.74% (255/34,746) in 2013 to 0.54% (295/54,168) in 2017. The percentage of SLE patients with infections increased from 3.14% in 2013 to 4.72% in 2017. The percentage of SLE patients with tumors and thrombosis also increased slightly from 0.85 and 1.43% in 2013 to 1.27 and 2.45% in 2017, respectively.Conclusion: This study provided epidemiological information of SLE in hospitalized patients in China for the first time. An ethnic and spatial clustering trend of SLE was observed.

Background Data on long-term maternal outcomes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are lacking. The study aimed to explore the relationships among SLE, pregnancy, outcomes of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and overall mortality. Methods We established a retrospective cohort study consisting of four cohorts: pregnant (case cohort) and nonpregnant SLE patients, as well as pregnant and nonpregnant non-SLE patients. One case cohort and three comparison cohorts were matched by age at first pregnancy and index date of pregnancy by using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Dataset. All study subjects were selected based on the index date to the occurrence of ESRD or overall death. Cox proportional hazard regression models and Kaplan–Meier curves were used in the analysis. Results SLE pregnant patients exhibited significantly increased risk of ESRD after adjusting for other important confounders, including immunosuppressant and parity (HR = 3.19, 95% CI: 1.35–7.52 for pregnant non-SLE； and HR = 2.77, 95% CI: 1.24–6.15 for nonpregnant non-SLE patients). No significant differences in ESRD incidence were observed in pregnant and nonpregnant SLE patients. Pregnant SLE patients exhibited better clinical condition at the baseline and a significantly lower risk of overall mortality than nonpregnant SLE patients. Conclusions Our data support current recommendations for SLE patients to avoid pregnancy until disease activity is quiescent. Multicenter recruitment and clinical information can be used to further examine the association of SLE and ESRD (or mortality) after pregnancy.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease of multifactorial origin that can affect any organ or organ system, resulting in a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from dermatological involvement to multi-organ failure with episodes of relapses and remissions. Because of its dynamic nature, this disease has an unpredictable natural course leading to high rates of morbidity and even death (Bertsias, Cervera and Boumpas, 2012; Bhattacharya et al., 2011). Lupus nephritis (LN) or lupus glomerulonephritis is a complication of SLE in which the kidneys are affected. LN is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality among SLE patients (Bhattacharya et al., 2011; O’Neill and Cervera, 2010). Read More

The percentage of lupus patients hospitalized every year by gender, age category, and hospital mortality and mean length of stay in Washington State from years 2003 through 2011.

Free-ranging dogs are a ubiquitous part of human habitations in many developing countries, leading a life of scavengers dependent on human wastes for survival. The effective management of free-ranging dogs calls for understanding of their population dynamics. Life expectancy at birth and early life mortality are important factors that shape life-histories of mammals. We carried out a five year-long census based study in seven locations of West Bengal, India, to understand the pattern of population growth and factors affecting early life mortality in free-ranging dogs. We observed high rates of mortality, with only ~19% of the 364 pups from 95 observed litters surviving till the reproductive age; 63% of total mortality being human influenced. While living near people increases resource availability for dogs, it also has deep adverse impacts on their population growth, making the dog-human relationship on streets highly complex.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to identify the presence of psychiatric comorbidities as well as investigate the relationship between psychiatric interventions for mental symptoms and mortality in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).MethodWe retrospectively evaluated the records of 160 inpatients with SLE who required psychiatric consultation for further therapeutic intervention from 2013 to 2020 in a tertiary general hospital. We collected clinical data, including diagnoses, medications, and mortality rate. We compared clinical characteristics among the diagnosis groups and correlations between variables.ResultsA total of 138 (86.3%) patients met the diagnostic criteria for at least one mental disorder, with the most common being delirium (54.4%). The average Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K) score significantly differed among the diagnosis groups (p = 0.003). The mortality rate among patients with delirium was significantly higher than that in the other patient groups (x2 = 12.967, p = 0.024). SLEDAI-2K score was not significantly correlated with mortality (r = 0.123, p = 0.087). Antipsychotics use was associated with mortality (odds ratio 0.053, p = 0.021).ConclusionAntipsychotic use may decrease death risk for patients with NPSLE. Early psychiatric consultation is necessary for patients with SLE who have developed or have suspected psychiatric symptoms in order to establish a comprehensive intervention plan.

This dataset contains gray wolf (Canis lupus) survival and cause-specific mortality data from radiocollared wolves (n=756 collared-wolf tenures) from 1968-2018 in the USGS Wolf Project study area (2,060 km2) of the Superior National Forest, USA, an area that also includes the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Also, included are the annual resident winter wolf counts for the study area.

Here we describe the oldest, most complete wolf pup mummy discovered to date: "Zhùr", as she was named by the local indigenous Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in community was discovered in 2016 in Yukon, Canada, and is complete with skin, fur, and other soft tissues. We infer that Zhùr died ~57,000 years ago and was ~7 weeks old at death. Her mitochondrial genome falls within a clade comprising ancient Beringian and Russian wolf mitochondrial genomes, and isotopic analyses show her diet was composed of mostly aquatic resources. Although mummies like Zhùr will, unfortunately, become more common as the permafrost thaws, their analysis can provide unprecedented insights into extinct ecosystems.

Background: Rabies is a serious yet neglected public health threat in resource-limited communities in Africa, where the virus is maintained in populations of owned, free-roaming domestic dogs. Rabies elimination can be achieved through the mass vaccination of dogs, but maintaining the critical threshold of vaccination coverage for herd immunity in these populations is hampered by their rapid turnover. Knowledge of the population dynamics of free-roaming dog populations can inform effective planning and implementation of mass dog vaccination campaigns to control rabies. Methodology/Principal Findings: We implemented a health and demographic surveillance system in dogs that monitored the entire owned dog population within a defined geographic area in a community in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. We quantified demographic rates over a 24-month period, from 1st January 2012 through 1st January 2014, and assessed their implications for rabies control by simulating the decline in vaccinat...

ObjectiveSystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex auto-immune disease. Gene expression studies have been conducted to identify SLE-related genes in various types of samples. It is unknown whether there are common marker genes significant for SLE but independent of sample types, which may have potentials for follow-up translational research. The aim of this study is to identify common marker genes across various sample types for SLE.MethodsBased on four public microarray gene expression datasets for SLE covering three representative types of blood-born samples (monocyte; peripheral blood mononuclear cell, PBMC; whole blood), we utilized three statistics (fold-change, FC; t-test p value; false discovery rate adjusted p value) to scrutinize genes simultaneously regulated with SLE across various sample types. For common marker genes, we conducted the Gene Ontology enrichment analysis and Protein-Protein Interaction analysis to gain insights into their functions.ResultsWe identified 10 common marker genes associated with SLE (IFI6, IFI27, IFI44L, OAS1, OAS2, EIF2AK2, PLSCR1, STAT1, RNASE2, and GSTO1). Significant up-regulation of IFI6, IFI27, and IFI44L with SLE was observed in all the studied sample types, though the FC was most striking in monocyte, compared with PBMC and whole blood (8.82–251.66 vs. 3.73–74.05 vs. 1.19–1.87). Eight of the above 10 genes, except RNASE2 and GSTO1, interact with each other and with known SLE susceptibility genes, participate in immune response, RNA and protein catabolism, and cell death.ConclusionOur data suggest that there exist common marker genes across various sample types for SLE. The 10 common marker genes, identified herein, deserve follow-up studies to dissert their potentials as diagnostic or therapeutic markers to predict SLE or treatment response.

BackgroundChronic systemic inflammatory diseases (CSIDs) such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are reportedly associated with an increased risk of ischemic cardiovascular events including acute myocardial infarction (MI). However, data are limited on clinical characteristics and ischemic and bleeding outcomes after acute MI in patients with CSIDs.MethodsThis bi-center registry included a total of 1001 patients with acute MI undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. CSIDs included inflammatory rheumatological conditions (RA, systemic lupus erythematosus, vasculitis, etc.) and organ-specific diseases (chronic hepatitis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, etc.). The primary endpoint was net adverse clinical events (NACE), a composite of ischemic (all-cause death, MI, and ischemic stroke) and major bleeding (Bleeding Academic Research Consortium type 3 or 5) events, during hospitalization and after discharge.ResultsOf the 1001 patients, 58 (5.8%) had CSIDs. The proportion of women was higher in patients with CSIDs than those without (37.9% vs. 22.1%, p = 0.009). During the hospitalization, no significant differences in the primary endpoint of NACE were observed between patients with and without CSIDs (10.3% vs. 12.7%, p = 0.84). During the median follow-up of 42.6 months after discharge, patients with CSIDs had a higher risk of NACE (22.5% vs. 10.1%, p = 0.01) than those without, mainly driven by an increased risk of ischemic events (18.4% vs. 8.4%, p = 0.03).ConclusionsA small but significant proportion of patients with acute MI (5.8%) had CSIDs. While the incidence of in-hospital events was similar, patients with CSIDs had worse outcomes after discharge, suggesting that further clinical investigations and therapeutic approaches are needed in this patient subset.

Organ damage occurrence in SLE patients until death.