OBJECTIVETo find out the distribution of noniodized salt and related affecting factors in Xinjiang.

METHODUsing NTTST's iodized salt inspection Plan.

RESULTSA total number of 17 973 house holds being surveyed in which 69.4% of those used iodized salt and 30.5% used noniodizd salt. In northern Xinjiang, 7 672 households being surveyed in which 83.9% used iodized salt while in eastern Xinjiang 1 200 house holds being surveyed in which 62.2% used iodized salt. In southern Xinjiang, 9 101 house holds being surveyed in which 58.2% used iodized salt. Data showed a statistically significant difference (chi(2) = 1 329.87, P < 0.01). The noniodized salt comes from shop-on-wheels (57.4%) and rock salt (23.0%). The source of iodine was different in different areas. In eastern and southern Xinjiang it came from shop-on-wheels, while in northern Xinjiang came from retail sites. Factors related to the use of iodized salt were awareness about iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) and income.

CONCLUSIONPrograms on fighting against iodine deficiency in Xinjiang needs more attention, especially in the following aspects as publicity on IDD, administration of salt market and supervision system.

China ; Female ; Humans ; Iodine ; deficiency ; pharmacology ; Male ; Thyroid Gland ; drug effects

Objective:To explore the expression levels, clinical significances and prognostic evaluation value of T-cell immunoglobulin mucin-3 (Tim-3) and galectin-9 (Gal-9) in bone marrow cells of patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).Methods:Bone marrow samples from 30 newly diagnosed ALL patients admitted to First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from September 2016 to September 2018 were selected, and peripheral blood samples from 20 healthy volunteers during the same period in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University were treated as the controls. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect mRNA relative expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9. Differences in mRNA expression of Tim-3 and Gal-9 among ALL patients with varied clinicopathological characteristics were compared. Overall survival (OS) analysis was performed by using the Kaplan-Meier method, Cox proportional hazards model was used to make univariate and multivariate survival analysis.Results:mRNA relative expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9 in 30 newly diagnosed ALL patients were higher than those in the healthy control group (2.86±0.47 vs. 0.45±0.05, t = 21.65, P<0.05; 9.79±0.58 vs. 0.96±0.23, t = 63.24, P<0.05). mRNA relative expression level of Tim-3 had statistically significant differences in patients with different ages, France-America-Britain (FAB) Cooperative Group classification, hazard grades and central nervous system invasion (all P<0.01). There were statistically significant differences in mRNA relative expression level of Gal-9 for patients with different ages, FAB Cooperative Group classification, white blood cell count (WBC), central nervous system invasion and NOTCH1 mutation (all P<0.01). All patients were grouped by mRNA relative expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9, and patients in high Tim-3 expression group (≥2.86) had worse overall survival (OS) compared with that for patients in low Tim-3 expression group (<2.86) ( P = 0.048). Patients in high Gal-9 expression group (≥9.79) had worse OS compared with that for patients in low Gal-9 expression group (<9.79) ( P = 0.031). Moreover, the OS in Tim-3 and Gal-9 both high expression group was worse than that in Tim-3 and Gal-9 both low expression group and in the low expression group of either of them (all P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in OS between the high Tim-3 expression with low Gal-9 expression group and the high Gal-9 expression with low Tim-3 expression group ( P > 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that peripheral blood WBC≥11.4×10 9/L, BCR-ABL gene mutation, central nervous system invasion, and high expression of Tim-3 and Gal-9 were independent risk prognostic factors of OS for newly diagnosed ALL patients (all P<0.05) . There was a positive correlation between the expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9 ( r = 0.788, P<0.01). Conclusions:The high expression of Tim-3 and its ligand Gal-9 are independent effecting factors of poor prognosis in newly diagnosed ALL patients. The expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9 can be served as a potential prognostic indicator for ALL patients.