To summarise evidence about the effectiveness of home blood pressure telemonitoring (HBPT) and identify the key components of intervention. We comprehensively searched PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library for relevant studies. The authors were contacted for additional information. Two authors independently extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias. 46 randomised controlled trials including a total of 13 875 cases were identified. Compared with usual care, HBPT improved office systolic blood pressure (BP) and diastolic BP by 3.99 mm Hg (95% confidence interval (CI): 5.06-2.93; P<0.001) and 1.99 mm Hg (95% CI: -2.60 to -1.39; P<0.001), respectively. A larger proportion of patients achieved BP normalisation in the intervention group (relative risk (RR): 1.16; 95% CI: 1.08-1.25; P<0.001). For HBPT plus additional support (including counselling, education, behavioural management, medication management with decision, adherence contracts and so on) versus HBPT alone (or plus less intense additional support), the mean changes in systolic and diastolic BP were 2.44 mm Hg (95% Cl, 4.88 to 0.00 mm Hg; P=0.05) and 1.12 mm Hg (95% CI, -2.34 to 0.1 mm Hg; P=0.07), respectively. For those surrogate outcomes, low-strength evidence failed to show difference. In subgroup analysis, high strength evidence supported a lower BP with HBPT that lasted for 6 or 12 months and was accompanied with counselling support from study personnel. HBPT can improve BP control in the hypertensive patients. It may be more efficacious when a proactive additional support is provided during the intervention process.

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Photochemical crystal ↔ liquid transitions (PCLTs) are interesting phenomena that couple reversible photochemical transformations with thermophysical phase transitions. A potential application of PCLTs is the development of photoresponsive smart materials capable of exerting reversible adhesion capacities on specific surfaces at a desired timing, which are unattainable for conventional adhesives. However, PCLT-based adhesives generally use UV light as the stimulus, which could lead to degradation of materials and health problems. Here, visible-light-controlled smart and robust adhesives are developed using small-molecule azo photoswitches. These azo molecules can undergo very efficient trans-crystal → cis-liquid and cis-liquid → trans-crystal transitions under 405 and 532 nm light irradiations, respectively. Their trans-crystal state displays strong adhesion strengths on various substrates, e.g., 1.13 MPa on quartz/quartz and 1.58 MPa on wood/wood, and very fast light-induced separation of glued substrates can be accomplished within 1 s along with the loss of adhesion strength in the cis-liquid state. Robust switching of the adhesion strength is demonstrated in multiple cycles, and these adhesives can also work well in underwater environments. Visible-light-controlled reversible PCLTs can be a very promising strategy in the pursuit of high-performance photoresponsive adhesives.

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Aim: To investigate the diagnostic performance of shear wave velocity (SWV) using virtual touch tissue quantification (VTQ) of acoustic radiation force impulse imaging (ARFI) technology in differentiating malignant and benign thyroid nodules by conducting a meta-analysis. Material and methods: The Cochrane library, Embase, Pubmed, and Web of Science were searched for relevant studies through December 2014. Studies evaluating the diagnostic accuracy of SWV in the identification of malignant and benign thyroid nodules by using VTQ of ARFI technology were selected. The cytology or histology was used as the reference standard. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio, likelihood ratio, and the area under the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve were used to examine the diagnostic accuracy of SWV. Results: A total of 13 cohort studies involving 1617 thyroid nodules from 1451 patients were identified. Of 13 studies, one was a retrospective study and others were prospective studies. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratio of SWV in differentiating malignant and benign thyroid nodules were 86.3% (95%CI: 78.2-91.7), 89.5% (95%CI: 83.3-93.6), 7.04 (95%CI: 4.40-11.26), 0.17 (95%CI: 0.10-0.31), and ), respectively. The area under the SROC curve was 94% (95% CI: 92-96). Conclusions: This meta-analysis indicates that VTQ is useful in evaluating the stiffness of thyroid nodules and differentiating between malignant and benign nodules. Due to the high sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio, SWV can be considered as a useful complement for conventional ultrasonography.

The aim of this study was to understand the androgen-related factors which may regulate concentrations of the tumour marker, prostate-specific antigen (PSA). We therefore measured the serum concentrations of total and free testosterone and of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and determined the androgen receptor (AR) gene CAG repeat length, then compared these values to total and free PSA concentrations in 91 subjects with proven fertility, and 112 subfertile men with defective spermatogenesis. Concentrations of free testosterone and total testosterone, adjusted for SHBG, were 17-20% lower in subfertile men compared with those in their fertile counterparts. This subtle, but highly significant (P < 0.001), difference in testosterone between fertile and subfertile men was accentuated by the positive correlation between testosterone and AR gene CAG repeat length in fertile, but not subfertile, subjects. In subfertile subjects, testosterone strongly correlated (r = 0.354, P < 0.001) with PSA concentrations, and independent of testosterone, total PSA negatively correlated (r = -0.229, P = 0.011) with AR CAG length. Overall our data suggest that, firstly, PSA correlates with testosterone only in an environment of relatively low androgenicity, such as in subfertile men. Secondly, in such a low androgenic environment, short CAG tracts (associated with high AR activity) correlate positively with PSA concentrations. These results suggest that interpretation of PSA is best made in conjunction with testosterone concentrations and AR CAG length.

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