Objective An analysis was conducted to investigate the iodine nutrition level of children aged 8 - 10 in low-coverage area of iodized salt of Yushu Qinghai province for providing a scientific basis for the development of effective preventive measures. Methods Yushu, Chengduo, Nangqian and Zaduo counties with higher non-iodized salt coverage rate in Yushu Qinghai province were chosen as survey counties in 2009. Three townships were selected in each county, and 2 primary schools were selected in each township and 40 urine samples of children aged 8-10 were collected randomly in each primary school. The content of urinary iodine was analyzed by As-Ce catalytic spectrophotometery. Results Median urinary iodine of children aged 8 - 10 in Nangqian and Zaduo was < 100 μg/L. The percentage of median urinary iodine < 50 μg/L in Yushu was over 20%. Median urinary iodine of children aged 10 in Zaduo was 81.5 μg/L, the percentage of median urinary iodine < 50 μg/L of children aged 9 and 10 was over 20%. The percentage of median urinary iodine < 50 μg/L in children aged 9 and 10 of Yushu was over 20%. Median urinary iodine of girls in Zaduo was 87.1 μg/L, the percentage of median urinary iodine < 50 μg/L of boys in Zaduo was over 20%. The percentage of median urinary iodine < 50 μg/L of girls in Yushu was over 20%. Conclusions The iodine nutrition level of children aged 8 - 10 in Nangqian, Zaduo and Yushu counties were very low due to the impact of non-iodized salt. We propose salt market in the region to strengthen management and improve the coverage and consumption rates of iodized salt to improve the level of iodine nutrition for effective prevention of iodine deficiency disorders.

Objective To investigate the effects of down-regulation of Beclin 1, which is an autophagy regulatory molecule, expression induced by RNA interference on the proliferation and apoptosis in skin fibroblasts of naked mole rat. Methods The expression levels of Beclin 1 were detected after starvation or H2 O2 treatment.The fibroblasts were transi-ently transfected with specific siRNA targeting Beclin 1 and then screened by real-time PCR and Western blot.Cell prolifer-ation and apoptosis were determined using CCK-8 detection kit and flow cytometry ( FCM ) .The expressions of related genes were detected by Western blot.Results The expression of Beclin 1 gene at mRNA and protein levels was signifi-cantly lower in fibroblasts of the naked mole rat.Starvation and H2 O2 treatment induced changes of the Beclin 1 expression. Inhibition of Beclin 1 gene expression can inhibit cell proliferation and induce early and late apoptosis.The protein levels of p53, BAX, Bcl2, LC3B, p-AKT and mTOR were reduced after transient transfection with Beclin 1-siRNA.Conclusions The expression of Beclin 1 in fibroblasts of naked mole rat are changed in response to starvation or H2 O2 stimulation.Inhi-bition of Beclin 1 gene expression can inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis.Therefore, Beclin1 gene may play a regulatory role in autophagy, proliferation and apoptosis in the skin fibroblasts of naked mole rat.

Objective To understand the obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) and relative influencing factors among college students with left-behind experience. Methods College students with left-behind experience were selected from three universities in Anhui Province. The Chinese Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and self-edited basic situation questionnaires were used to measure the OCS, self-esteem, depression and left-behind experience. Multivariate logistic regressions model was applied to examine the influential factors of OCS. Results A total of 2 291 college students with left-behind experience were investigated. The detection rate for OCS in college students with left-behind experience were 26.5%. Regarding the OCS in college students with left-behind experience, significant differences were found in the following aspects: frequency of meeting with parents, parenting style, conflicts with caregivers, smoking and drinking (all P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that caregiver adopts strict parenting style (OR=1.300, 95%CI:1.025-1.649,P=0.030), indulgent parenting style (OR=1.372, 95%CI:1.017-1.852, P=0.038), smoking (OR=1.982, 95%CI:1.305-3.011, P=0.001), depressive symptoms (OR=2.423, 95%CI:1.954-3.005, P<0.001), medium self-esteem (OR=0.604, 95%CI:0.481-0.759, P<0.001) and high self-esteem (OR=0.488, 95%CI:0.362-0.659, P<0.001) were influencing factors of OCS. Conclusions The prevalence rate of OCS among college students with left-behind experience is high. Some interventions should be taken to reduce the OCS among college students with left-behind experience.

Objective Through a two-year follow up program,this study was to analyze the urinary iodine frequency of a cohort in the intervention trial,concerning different doses of salt iodization,so as to explore the selection of appropriate concentration of salt iodization.Methods A multistage cluster sampling method was used to select three townships in two countries for community intervention with different doses [ ( 15 ± 5 ) mg/kg,(25 ± 5 ) mg/kg,( 35 ± 5 ) mg/kg ] of salt iodization.Results After intervention,the median of urinary iodine was reduced among the population.The urinary iodine frequencies of (15 ± 5) mg/kg and (25 ± 5) mg/kg among groups of children were mainly concentrated in 100-200 μg/L and 200-300 μg/L paragraphs in A county.While the 300 μg/Lparagraph had an overall decline in B county,the 100 μtg/L and 200 μg/L paragraph ratio increased but the trend seemed to be slow.The 100-300 μg/L paragraph of the four treatment groups took a larger proportion and kept smooth in a more ideal state.However,the control group still maintained at above 250 μg/L level.Conclusion The iodine supplementation should be gradually implemented in Chongqing.The doses of salt iodization should be reduced from the current (35 ± 15)mg/kg to (25 ± 5) mg/kg in the economically developed areas.At the same time,we need to continuously follow the changes of the condition.

Humans ; Perineum ; Rhabdomyosarcoma/diagnosis*

An open-access microfluidic chip which enabled automatic cell distribution and complex multi-step operations was developed.The microfluidic chip featured a key structure in which a nanoporous membrane was sandwiched by a cell culture chamber array layer and a corresponding media reservoir array layer.The microfluidic approach took advantage of the characteristics of the nanoporous membrane.On one side, this membrane permitted the flow of air but not liquid, thus acting as a flow-stop valve to enable automatic cell distribution.On the other side, it allowed diffusion-based media exchange and thus, mimicked the endothelial layer.In synergy with a liquid transferring platform, the open-access microfluidic system enabled complex multi-step operations involving medium exchange, drug treatment, and cell viability testing.By using this microfluidic protocol, a 10 × 10 tissue arrays was constructed in 90 s, followed by schedule-dependent drug testing.Morphological and immunohistochemical assays results indicated that the resultant tumor tissue was faithful to that in vivo.Drug testing assays showed that the microfluidic tissue array promised multi-step cell assays under biomimetic microenvironment, thus providing an advantageous tool for cell research.

OBJECTIVETo establish a convenient realtime PCR which can detect microRNAs in the human hepatoma cell line, Huh7 cells.

METHODSTotal RNAs in Huh7 cells were extracted. MicroRNA 122, 24 and 146a were assayed by microRNA array, and then verified by Northern blot. Stem-loop RT-PCR and poly(A)-tailed RT-PCR were used to detect the above microRNAs. Data were analyzed with Quantity One software and 7500 system software.

RESULTSMicroarray signal intensity of microRNA 122, 24 and 146a in Huh7 cells was 2201.49, 410.20 and 4.70, whose relative expression was confirmed as 0.0383, 0.0249, 0.0001 through Northern blot. While the poly(A)-tailed RT-PCR might only measure microRNA 122, Stem-loop RT-PCR could detect microRNA 122, 24 and 146a, whose average dCt was 2.5, 5.8 and 12.1 in accordance with microRNA array and Northern blot.

CONCLUSIONStem-loop RT-PCR can specifically and sensitively quantity microRNA levels, regardless of their abundance.

Base Sequence ; Blotting, Northern ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; DNA Primers ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; MicroRNAs ; analysis ; genetics ; metabolism ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study was to investigate the association between urinary cadmium and clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer.

METHODSThe clinicopathological characteristics of 240 patients with breast cancer were obtained and urine specimens were collected from October 2009 to July 2010. The concentration of urinary cadmium was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). χ(2) test and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used to analyze whether urinary cadmium is associated with clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer.

RESULTSThe median concentration of urine cadmium of 240 patients was 1.99 µg/g (25th percentile, 1.32 µg/g; 75th percentile, 2.88 µg/g). HER-2 positive rate, regional/distant metastasis rate, and advanced stage rate in patients with the highest tertile of cadmium concentration were significantly higher than those in the patients with second and lowest Cd tertiles (P = 0.042, P = 0.028 and P = 0.017, respectively), and 28.2% vs. 16.5% for HER-2 and 47.2% vs. 32.0% for regional/distant metastasis, respectively. There were still significant associations between urinary cadmium levels and these clinicopathological parameters after being adjusted in age by unconditional logistic regression model, respectively (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe results of this study suggest that urinary cadmium levels are associated with the HER-2 status, regional/distant metastasis status and stages of breast cancer, respectively. Cadmium may induce highly aggressive breast cancer in humans.

Adult ; Age Factors ; Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; urine ; Cadmium ; urine ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Staging ; Receptor, ErbB-2 ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics and surgical treatment of esophageal carcinosarcoma.

METHODSThe patients with esophageal carcinosarcoma were divided into two types according to barium swallow: intraluminal carcinosarcoma (n=20) and fungating carcinosarcoma (n=2). Only one esophageal carcinosarcoma case was diagnosed by esophagoscopic biopsy preoperatively. Twenty patients underwent left thoracic approach esophagectomy and esophagogastrostomy above aortic arch, and two patients underwent esophagectomy and esophagogastrostomy below aortic arch.

RESULTSAll the cases survived during operation and had no severe complication. Post-operative biopsy revealed that 21 cases had definite boundary between the carcinoma and the sarcoma. Only one case showed the invasion of carcinomatous tissues into sarcomatous tissues and mixed growth. Four cases had lymph node metastases (18.2%). The 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rates were 90.9% (20/22), 77.3% (17/22) and 68.2% (15/22) respectively.

CONCLUSIONSEsophageal carcinosarcoma is a rare malignant tumor with little invasiveness, low lymph node metastasis, early clinical symptom occurrence, low preoperative accurate diagnostic rate and good prognosis. Surgical resection is the main treatment for esophageal carcinosarcoma.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinosarcoma ; pathology ; surgery ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Neoplasm Staging ; Prognosis