Prevalence of short stature among children in China:A systematic review

Importance The prevalence and characteristics of short stature(SS)among children in China should be assessed to provide guidance for planning and implementation of nationwide public health policies.Thus far,there have been no accurate estimates of the prevalence of SS in China.Objective To analyze the prevalence of SS among children in China and to explore the influences of sex,area,age,study year,and study site on prevalence rates.Methods Relevant literature was identified by searching the following databases:PubMed,Embase,The Cochrane Library,Chinese Biomedical Literature,China Knowledge Resource Integrated,WeiPu,and WanFang databases.Meta-analysis was carried out using STATA 11.2.Results This meta-analysis included 39 studies with 348326 Chinese participants;the studies covered 20 provinces,municipalities,and autonomous regions.The pooled prevalence of SS was 3.2%(95%confidence interval[CI],2.6%–3.7%;I2=99.8%).The prevalence of SS in boys and girls were 3.1%(95%CI,2.5%–3.7%)and 3.2%(95%CI,2.6%–3.9%),respectively.The sex difference was not statistically significant(P>0.05).The prevalence of SS was higher in rural areas than in urban areas(4.7%[95%CI,3.6%–5.8%]vs.2.8%[95%CI,2.2%–3.4%];P<0.001).The prevalence of SS was higher in West China(5.2%;95%CI,4.4%–6.0%)than in Northeast China(0.6%;95%CI,0.3%–0.8%),East China(2.3%;95%CI,1.9%–2.8%),or Central China(2.9%;95%CI,1.9%–3.9%).Interpretation The prevalence of SS among children was higher in western and rural areas of China.Close attention to children’s growth and development is needed to prevent the occurrence of SS.

Protein-based functional hydrogel improves cutaneous nerve repair and diabetic wound healing

Cutaneous nerve regeneration in diabetic wounds remains a challenge for current clinical treatment.Herein,a natural protein-based functional hydrogel is developed using keratin as the sole matrix,and protocatechuic aldehyde(PA)and zinc ions as the building blocks through dual-dynamic crosslinking reactions of thiol-aldehyde addition and catecholzinc ions coordination.The unique structural design endows the hydrogel with excellent injectability,skin adhesion,self-healing and antibacterial ability,and biocompatibility.In addition,this hydrogel acts as a drug carrier for the loading and sustained release of phellopterin(PP),a natural compound extracted from traditional Chinese medicine Angelica dahurica.Our findings demonstrate that the PP-loaded hydrogel promotes cutaneous nerve regeneration,angiogenesis and tissue remodeling in the full-thickness wounds in both db/db and streptozotocin-induced C57BL/6 diabetic mice,notably by the synergistic effect of zinc ions and PP,showing a great potential in diabetic wound therapy.