Objective To investigate the basic data of risk estimation of lung cancer among non-uranium miners in China.Methods 2836 workers from 24 mines in 9 provinces/regions were face-to-face interviewed to collect information including age at exposure,exposure duration,cigarette smoking among others.Results Age of the investigated non-uranium miners ranged from 17 to 72(36.9±8.0)years.The miners received low and poor education,3% of them were illiterate,58% with primary and middle school education,only 7% with junior college and higher education.Seventy-five percent of the uranium miners are migrant rural workers.Ethnic minority miners accoungted for 16% of all the investigated miners.Among the migrant rural workers age at initial exposure was estimated to be 29.6±8.0 years.By the time of the investigation,46.7% of the miners had worked in the mine for five years and longer,working years in the mine was 6.7±6.8 years with a median of 4.1years.3.4% of the non-uranium miners began the initial radon exposure in mines before their 18 years of old.17.5% of the investigated miners reported working more than 8 h every working day.Among the males,58.0% were current smokers with a median of 16 cigarettes per day.Age to begin the cigarette smoking was 20 years on average.Current smoking rate was age-dependent,the rate as high as 69.2% for the males aged 15-19 years.Current smoking rate was significantly statistically lower in coal mines than that in other mines,49.0% vs 62.5%.Compared with other miners,more frequent mechanical ventilations were reported by coal miners,Conclusions In China non-uranium mines,75% were migrant rural workers,by the time of the investigation about half of them had worked in the mines for at least five years.Non-uranium miners began their mining at 30 years on average,with a very small percentage of 3%,exposed to the mining radon before their 18 years.Current cigarette smoking rate in non-uranium male miners was the same as the general male population in China.

Objective To identify a new miRNA combination that could be used as a diagnostic marker for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or acute cerebral infarction (ACI).Methods We surveyed the literatures and databases and selected miRNAs with a high frequency in AMI or ACI as candidate genes.We collected peripheral blood samples from 13 patients with AMI,11 patients with ACI,and 20 healthy volunteers.RNA was extracted from these samples,and gene expression levels were determined by reverse transcription and real-time quantitative PCR.The differences in the expression of the candidate miRNAs were then analyzed.Results The frequencies of miRNA1,miRNA499a,and miRNA 133a were higher in the AMI group,whereas the frequencies of let7i,miRNA16,and miRNA223 were higher in the ACI group.These six miRNAs were significantly higher in the two disease groups than in the control group (P ＜ 0.01).The levels of miRNA1 and miRNA499a were 4.82-and 3.50-times higher in the AMI group,respectively (both P ＜ 0.01),when compared with the ACI group.The levels of let7i in the ACI group were 2.61-times higher than that in the AMI group (P ＜ 0.05).There were no significant differences in the expression levels of miRNA 133a,miRNA16,and miR-NA233 between the AMI and ACI groups (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion The abnormal increase in six miRNAs in human peripheral blood could be used as a marker for the diagnosis of AMI or ACI.The expression levels of miRNA 1 and miRNA499a were 11-to 20-times higher than control levels,and the expression levels of let7i were 6-times higher than control levels,which could be used to predict the risk of AMI and ACI,respectively.