Objective:To make an assessment on the genotoxicity caused by black carbon ( BC ) and ozonized black carbon (O3-BC).Methods: In this study, 74 healthy male ICR mice [weighed (28 ± 1.5) g] were randomly divided into 7 groups, including one phosphate buffer solution ( PBS) control group and six particles exposed groups by intratracheal instillation with either BC or O 3-BC at the doses of 50, 100, 200 μg/mouse, respectively.There were 12 mice in the groups of 200μg/mouse and 10 mice in others.The mice were sacrificed 24 h after four intratrachealinstillations .The activities of catalase ( CAT) in serum and the levels of malondialdehyde ( MDA) in lung tissue homogenate were measured . As the DNA damage mark , 8-hydroxyguanosine ( 8-OHdG ) in urine and serum were quantified with ELISA method.Micronucleus test was used for potential genotoxicity of BC and O 3-BC.Hematoxylin and eosin staining was used to stain lung paraffin section .Results:The mice were in good condition during instillation , and the liver coefficient of the test groups was significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05).The activities of CAT in serum significantly increased in the 100 μg/mouse and 200μg/mouse groups after being exposed to these two kinds of particles .The micronucleus rate in allthe BC and O3-BC exposed groups increased ( P <0.05), but there was no statistically significant difference among the groups in the levels of 8-OHdG in serum and urine and MDA in lung tissue homogenate .In-flammatory response was found in the lung tissue under the microscope after exposure to BC and O 3-BC. Conclusion:Intratracheal instillation of BC and O 3-BC induced increasing of oxidative stress and genetic damage in mice .But there was no significant difference between these two particles in toxicity .Whether the genotoxicity of O 3-BC is higher than that of BC or not is uncertain .Further research is needed .

Objective:To describe the experience of nurses in general hospital operating room for specialist management.Methods:A questionnaire survey was conducted among 226 operating room nurses using the questionnaire of specialist nurses' work obstruction factors. Eighteen of the operating room nurses were interviewed by phenomenological research methods in qualitative research.Results:The obstacles to the professional management of nurses in the operating room were mainly reflected in the difficulty of doing only the work of specialist nurses (96.46%,218/226), "there is no clear role positioning (93.81%, 212/226)", and "responsible for the work of several departments(89.82%, 203/226)." The refinement and analysis of the interview data showed that the management of specialist equipment could not be arranged and managed in a coordinated manner; the surgeons were over-reliant on the specialist nurses; the problem of setting up the positions of the senior nurses was outstanding; the nurses who were not the specialists have insufficient competence. With the sense of belonging; specialist nurses would have a slack situation.Conclusions:There are still many problems in the implementation of specialist management in the operating room of general hospitals. It is suggested that the rotation training of the operating room nurses should be carried out from the fixed professional group, the standardized training and the establishment of the mobile nurse database should be set up to promote the smooth implementation of the specialist management of the nurses in the operating room of the general hospital.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in both urban and rural areas of China. The current evidence regarding CVD risk factors was primarily established in Western countries, with limited generalizability to the Chinese population. In China, a growing number of population-based prospective cohort studies have emerged that have yielded substantial research data on CVD risk factors in the past five years. The research studies have covered biological risk factors (e.g., blood lipids, blood pressure, blood glucose, adiposity), lifestyle risk factors (e.g., smoking, alcohol, diet, physical activity), environmental risk factors (e.g., ambient and indoor air pollution), and risk prediction. This study aimed to systematically review the research progress on CVD risk factors in the Chinese population in the past five years. Prospective studies in China have identified biological, lifestyle, and environmental risk factors for CVD and its main subtypes, along with some protective factors unique to the Chinese (e.g., spicy food and green tea). This review aimed to provide high-quality evidence for achieving the Outline of Healthy China 2030, developing disease prevention guidelines and measures, and deepening efforts for popularization of health knowledge.

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is an infectious disease that most often affects the lungs. China is still among the high-burden tuberculosis countries in the world. Although the estimated incidence of tuberculosis in China has declined in recent years, the declining rate is slow. It still faces major issues such as a slower rate of decline, a widening gap between estimated and notified incidence, higher risk among middle-aged and older adults, a high number of cases among agriculture and related workers, and a heavier disease burden in the country's western regions. In addition, latent tuberculosis infection, drug-resistant tuberculosis, tuberculosis coinfection with HIV, and extrapulmonary tuberculosis have also exacerbated the disease burden of tuberculosis to some extent. This paper reviewed the epidemic characteristics of tuberculosis, the epidemiological triad, three links and two factors in the transmission process, the disease burden, and other aspects to provide a reference for formulating prevention and control strategies on tuberculosis.

Biological age (BA) is a marker to accurately assess aging, facilitating the prediction of age-related diseases and promoting healthy aging. In recent years, first- and second-generation organ-system-specific BA has been developed using chronological age (CA) or aging-related outcomes (mortality) as training phenotypes and data from questionnaires, physical examinations, clinical biochemistry, imaging, and multi-omics to investigate the specificity of organ systems aging. Here, we review the methodologies for constructing BA, current efforts to assess organ system-specific BA, and related genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Previous studies predominantly used the first-generation BA method, using CA as training phenotypes. Organ-system-specific BA can accurately predict the disease risk of corresponding organ systems. We propose the development of organ system-specific BA through second-generation BA models and conducting GWAS and Mendelian randomization studies to explore organ system-specific aging processes, which will provide a theoretical foundation for the clinical application of organ system-specific BA.

Metabonomics is a life science research that uses high-throughput omics technology to identify and quantify all metabolites and has been widely used to examine the etiology of cardiometabolic diseases in recent years. As a significant component of systemic epidemiology, metabolomics provides insights into disease etiology from the perspective of metabolic changes. Research questions of metabolomics include assessing the associations of metabolites with cardiometabolic diseases, discovering novel biomarkers, and constructing risk prediction models. This article reviews the applications of metabolomics in the etiological research on type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and subclinical atherosclerosis, as well as recent advance and future perspectives.

Objective:To investigate whether it is by regulating interleukin 1β ( IL-1β) gene expression that androgen receptor (AR) in macrophages affects hyperphosphate-induced vascular smooth muscle cell calcification. Methods:The chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiment was used to determine whether AR was bound to the androgen receptor element (ARE) sequence of IL-1β promoter in THP-1 cells. Whether the AR regulated IL-1β gene expression was detected by luciferase assay experiments. AR of THP-1 cells was silenced and transfected by lentivirus with vector or shRNA. Flow cytometry was used to select positive transfected cells THP-1ARsc (control) and THP-1ARsi (AR silencing) with fluorescent markers. Western blotting was used to detect AR protein levels of THP-1ARsc (control) and THP-1ARsi cells (AR silencing in monocytes). Macrophages MФARsc (control) or MФARsi (AR silencing) were induced by 50 ng/ml phorbol ester. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect IL-1β expression levels of MФARsc or MФARsi conditioned medium. The human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMC) were cultured in MФARsc or MФARsi conditioned medium with phosphate (2.5 mmol/L final concentration of sodium dihydrogen phosphate), and Alizarin red S staining was used to analyze HASMC calcification degree. Western blotting was used to detect the expression levels of RUNX2 (osteoblast marker) and SM22α (HASMC marker), and neutralization assay was performed to test IL-1β-mediating effect of macrophages AR on HASMC calcification. Results:AR was bound to ARE sequence of IL-1β promoter and regulated IL-1β gene expression. The expression level of IL-1β protein in conditioned medium of MФARsi cells decreased significantly compared to MФARsc cells ( P<0.001). Compared with MФARsc conditioned medium group, HASMC calcium deposition in MФARsi conditioned medium group decreased significantly, RUNX2 protein decreased and SM22α protein increased (all P<0.05). The degree of HASMC calcification in the MФARsi conditioned medium+IgG antibody group decreased than that in the MФARsc conditioned medium+IgG antibody group significantly, and the degree of HASMC calcification in the MФARsc conditioned medium+IL-1β antibody group decreased significantly than that in the MФARsc conditioned medium+IgG antibody group; while the degree of HASMC calcification in the MФARsi conditioned medium+IgG antibody group and MФARsi conditioned medium+IL-1β antibody group decreased than that in the MФARsc conditioned medium+IL-1β antibody group (all P<0.05). Conclusions:Macrophage AR regulates IL-1β expression by binding to ARE sequence within IL-1β promoter, and IL-1β mediates the effect of macrophage AR on hyperphosphate-induced HASMC calcification.

Objective:To explore the relationship between BMI and levels of plasma amino acids and acylcarnitines in Chinese adults.Methods:Based on 2 182 individuals with targeted mass spectrometry metabolomic measurements from the first resurvey of the China Kadoorie Biobank, we assessed the linear and nonlinear associations between BMI and plasma levels of 20 amino acids and 40 acylcarnitines using linear regression models and restricted cubic spline models, and identified BMI-related metabolic pathways. We conducted one-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) with BMI genetic risk scores as the instrumental variable further to explore the potential causal relationships between BMI and 20 amino acids and 40 acylcarnitines, and tested for horizontal pleiotropy using the MR-Egger method.Results:Observational analyses found that BMI was associated with increased plasma levels of 3 branched-chain amino acids (isoleucine, leucine, and valine), 2 aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine and tyrosine), 3 other amino acids (cysteine, glutamate, lysine), and 7 acylcarnitines (C3, C4, C5, C10, C10:1, C14, and C16), and with decreased circulating levels of asparagine, serine, and glycine. Pathway analysis identified 7 BMI-related amino acids metabolic pathways (false discovery rate corrected all P<0.05), including branched-chain amino acids and aromatic amino acids biosynthesis, glutathione metabolism, etc. BMI showed a nonlinear relationship with leucine, valine, and threonine, and a linear relationship with other amino acids and acylcarnitines. One-sample MR analyses revealed that BMI was associated with elevated levels of tyrosine and 4 acylcarnitines [C5-DC(C6-OH), C5-M-DC, C12-DC, and C14], with tyrosine and acylcarnitine C14 positively correlated with BMI in both observational [the β values (95% CIs) were 0.057 (0.044-0.070) and 0.018 (0.005-0.032), respectively] and One-sample MR analyses [the β values (95% CIs) were 0.102 (0.035-0.169) and 0.104 (0.036-0.173), respectively]. The MR analyses of the current study satisfied the 3 core assumptions of instrumental variable. Conclusions:BMI was associated with circulating 11 amino acids and 7 acylcarnitines in Chinese adults, involving several pathways such as branched-chain amino acid and aromatic amino acid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, and oxidative stress. There may be a causal relationship between BMI and tyrosine and acylcarnitine C14.

Epidemiology and medical statistics are essential courses for undergraduate students majoring in clinical medicine. By studying the two courses, they can obtain the core skills for their future clinical practice. High-level medical schools both at home and abroad have accumulated successful experiences in curriculum, teaching methods and teaching models of the two disciplines. These colleges have also carried out the exploration of the curriculum reform centering on "organ systems integration". This paper summarizes the current status of epidemiology and medical statistics teaching and curriculum integration in representative medical schools both at home and abroad, and puts forward suggestions for deepening teaching reform and optimizing the curriculum system to provide reference for the integration of epidemiology and medical statistics curriculums for undergraduate students majoring in clinical medicine in China.

One of the main aims of chronic disease epidemiology is to explore the etiological factors of diseases. Multi-omics includes all genes (genomics), extensive changes in gene expression (epigenetics), ribonucleic acids (transcriptomics), and proteins (proteomics) generated during the process of DNA replication, transcription, translation, and post-translational modification, as well as small molecule metabolites downstream (metabolomics). Multi-omics platforms provide technical support for assessing omics biomarkers including genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, while systems epidemiology provides theoretical and methodological support for using multi-omics to conduct etiological research. Multi-omics research not only reveals the interaction network between molecules, but also contributes to causal inference from the molecular level. With the global exponential growth of publicly available data, analysis platforms, and consortia, resources for multi-omics research will become more abundant, and the depth and breadth of research will be greatly expanded. This article will review the applications of multi-omics approach in the etiologic research on non-communicable diseases, representative research in the past three years, opportunities and challenges for large-scale cohort studies, advantages and issues of multi-omics research in the Chinese population, and future perspectives.