Being an undisputed risk factor of cancer, air pollution is posing a huge threat to the health on human beings. In this article, we introduced the composition of air pollution, and the standards on air quality which was set by both World Health Organization and the Chinese government. We also summarized the most recent research findings on the association between air pollution and the risk of lung, breast, bladder and other major cancers.
Air Pollutants/toxicity* ; Air Pollution/adverse effects* ; Humans ; Neoplasms/epidemiology* ; Prevalence ; Research/trends* ; Risk Factors

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic inflammatory vascular disorder that predominantly affects children and is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children. Although the etiology of this disease remains unclear, genome-wide association and genome-wide linkage studies have shown that some susceptible genes and chromosomal regions are associated with the development and progression of KD. With the advancement of high-throughput DNA sequencing techniques, more and more genomic information related to KD is being discovered. Understanding the genes involved in the pathogenesis of KD may provide novel insights into the diagnosis and treatment of KD. By analyzing related articles and summarizing related research advances, this article mainly discusses the T cell activation-enhancing genes that have been confirmed to be closely associated with the development and progression of KD and reveals their association with the pathogenesis of KD and coronary artery lesions.
Child ; Humans ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome/complications* ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Coronary Vessels/pathology* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

Humans ; Oligodendroglioma ; Brain Neoplasms

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of beta-protein 1 (BP(1)) gene, a novel member of DLX homeobox gene family, in lung cancer tissue and its relationship with clinical features of lung cancer.

METHODSRT-PCR was employed for detecting BP(1) gene expression in the lung cancer tissues, adjacent tissues, non-cancer lung tissues of 46 lung cancer patients.

RESULTSThirty-six lung cancer tissues and 6 adjacent tissues but none of the normal tissues were found to have BP(1) gene overexpression, showing significant difference in BP(1) expression between the tissues (P<0.01). Significant difference in BP1 gene overexpression was noted between well differentiated cancers (13 of out 21) and poorly differentiated cancers (22 of the 25), but not between cancers of different stages or between squamous carcinoma and adenocarcinoma.

CONCLUSIONBP(1) gene expression is up-regulated in human lung cancer in related to the differentiation level of lung cancer but not to the clinical stage.

Adenocarcinoma ; genetics ; pathology ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; genetics ; pathology ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Homeodomain Proteins ; genetics ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; Male ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Transcription Factors ; genetics

Objective: To explore the associations between maternal and prenatal depressive symptoms and children's behavioral problems at 2 years old. Methods: In the present study, a total of 491 mother-child pairs were selected from the Shanghai-Minhang Birth Cohort Study (S-MBCS) which was conducted in Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Minhang District in Shanghai between April and December, 2012. Data from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies on Depression was gathered to assess the maternal depressive symptoms in the second and third trimester of pregnancy, as well as at 6 months and 12 months postpartum. Neurodevelopment at 2 years was assessed, using the Child Behavior Checklist. We used generalized linear models with a log-link function and a Binomial distribution to estimate the risk ratios (RRs) and 95%CIs, on children's behavioral problems at 2 years of age. Sensitivity analyses were performed among participants without postpartum depressive symptoms. Results: After adjustment on factors as maternal age, gestation week, average monthly income per person, parental education and children's gender etc., maternal depression in second trimester of pregnancy was found associated with higher risk of both developing emotional (RR=2.61, 95%CI: 1.36-4.99) and internalizing problems (RR=1.94, 95%CI: 1.22-3.08). However, maternal depression in third trimester was found to be associated with higher risks of developing emotional (RR=6.46, 95%CI: 3.09-13.53), withdrawn (RR=2.42, 95%CI: 1.16-5.02), aggressive (RR=2.93, 95%CI: 1.45-5.94), internalizing (RR=1.79, 95%CI: 1.01-3.16) or externalizing problems (RR=2.56, 95%CI:1.49-4.42). In sensitivity analysis, antenatal maternal depression was found positively associated with children's emotional, internalizing and externalizing problems and the differences all statistically significant. Conclusions: Maternal depression during pregnancy might increase the risks of children's behavioral problems. In order to decrease the incidence of children's behavioral problems and promoting both maternal and child health status, monitoring program regarding maternal mental health care should be strengthened.
Adult ; Child ; Child Behavior Disorders/psychology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Depression/epidemiology* ; Depressive Disorder ; Emotions ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Maternal Age ; Mothers/psychology* ; Pregnancy ; Problem Behavior/psychology* ; Prospective Studies ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Objective: This study was designed to conduct a retrospective and systematic occupational health risk assessment (OHRA) of enterprises that used benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) in Shanghai, China. Methods: All data for the study were obtained from 1,705 occupational health examination and evaluation reports from 2013 to 2017, and a semiquantitative model following Chinese OHRA guidelines (GBZ/T 298-2017) was applied for the assessment. Results: The selected enterprises using BTX were mainly involved in manufacturing of products. Using the exposure level method, health risk levels associated with exposure to BTX were classified as medium, negligible, or low. However, the risk levels associated with benzene and toluene were significantly different according to job types, with gluers and inkers exhibiting greater health risks. For the same job type, the health risk levels assessed using the comprehensive index method were higher than those using the exposure level method. Conclusion Our OHRA reveals that workers who are exposed to BTX still face excessive health risk. Additionally, the risk level varied depending on job categories and exposure to specific chemicals. Therefore, additional control measures recommended by OHRA guidelines are essential to reduce worker exposure levels.
Air Pollutants, Occupational/analysis* ; Benzene/analysis* ; China ; Humans ; Occupational Exposure/adverse effects* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Assessment ; Toluene/analysis* ; Xylenes/analysis*

Objective: To investigate the association between maternal body height and risk of preterm birth. Methods: A total of 11 311 pregnant women who gave birth of live singletons were recruited from the Healthy Baby Cohort Study in Hubei province, China from September 2012 to October 2014. Finally 11 070 pregnant women were selected as study subjects. Data were collected by using questionnaires, their prenatal care records and medical records. The women were divided into 4 groups according to the quartiles distribution (<158 cm, 158- cm, 160- cm, and >164 cm). Gestational age was estimated according to maternal last menstrual time. Preterm birth was defined as delivering a live singleton infant at 28-37 weeks' gestational age. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between body height and preterm birth. Results: Among the 11 070 pregnant women, the incidence of preterm birth was 5.9%. Logistic regression analysis indicated that women in group with body height <158 cm had 46% (OR=1.46, 95%CI: 1.16-1.83) higher risk of giving preterm birth than those in group with body height >164 cm after adjustment for potential confounders. Every 1- cm increase in body height was associated with 3% lower risk of preterm birth (OR=0.97, 95%CI: 0.95-0.99). Conclusion: Shorter body height was a risk factor for preterm birth. It is necessary to strengthen the monitoring in pregnant women with short body height to reduce the risk of preterm birth.
Body Height ; China/epidemiology* ; Cohort Studies ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Odds Ratio ; Pregnancy ; Premature Birth/epidemiology* ; Prenatal Care ; Risk Factors

Objective: To evaluate the effect of health literacy and exercise-focused interventions on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in China. Methods: In this cluster randomized controlled trial, a total of 799 T2DM patients with most recent hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) ≥ 7.5% (or fasting plasma glucose level ≥10 mmol/L) were recruited from 8 communities in Minhang and Changning districts of Shanghai, and randomized into a health literacy intervention group, an exercise intervention group, a comprehensive intervention group and a control group. After baseline survey and examination, a one-year intervention and 3 times (at 3(rd), 6(th), and 12(th) month) follow-up surveys were conducted. Results: The follow-up rates for all the subjects were 99.4%, 98.4% and 95.2%, respectively, at 3(rd), 6(th) and 12(th) month. Patients in intervention groups were more likely to achieve a goal HbA1c level (HbA1c <7.0%) than those in control group, with the highest glycemic control rate (25.3%) observed in comprehensive intervention group at 3(rd) month and then in exercise intervention group (25.3% and 34.6%) respectively, at 6(th) month and 12(th) month. The average levels of HbA1c in three intervention groups were lower at each follow-up time point than those at baseline survey. However, the decreases in HbA1c were obvious only at 6(th) month (P<0.001), with ls-mean (95%CI) of -0.48% (-0.71%, -0.25%), -0.33% (-0.55%, -0.11%) and -0.70% (-0.92%, -0.48%), respectively, in comprehensive, health literacy and exercise intervention groups, but it increased slightly by 0.03% (-0.19%, 0.25%) in control group. Compared with control group, the interventions were significantly associated with the decrease of HbA1c level, with the most improvement observed in comprehensive group (β=-0.47, 95% CI: -0.73, -0.20) at 3(rd) month, and in exercise intervention group at 6(th) month (β=-0.73, 95%CI: -0.98, -0.47) and at 12(th) month (β=-0.75, 95%CI: -1.05, -0.45) of follow-up. Stratified analyses showed that patients with lower health literacy level could benefit from any intervention, while those with higher numeracy skill benefited more from exercise intervention. Conclusion: Both health literacy and exercise-focused interventions may decrease HbA1c level in patients with T2DM, which would be helpful in reducing the risks of complications and deaths in diabetes patients.
Blood Glucose/analysis* ; China ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/therapy* ; Disease Management ; Exercise ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glycated Hemoglobin/analysis* ; Health Literacy ; Humans ; Patient Education as Topic ; Self Care ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Treatment Outcome

The purification of parasite-infected erythrocytes from whole blood containing leucocytes is crucial for many downstream genetic and molecular assays in parasitology. Current methodologies to achieve this are often costly and time consuming. Here, we demonstrate the successful application of a cheap and simple Non-Woven Fabric (NWF) filter for the purification of parasitized red blood cells from whole blood. NWF filtration was applied to the malaria-parasitized blood of three strains of mice, and one strain of rat, and to Babesia gibsoni parasitized dog blood. Before and after filtration, the white blood cell (WBC) removal rates and red blood cell (RBC) recovery rates were measured. After NWF filter treatment of rodent malaria-infected blood, the WBC removal rates and RBC recovery rates were, for Kunming mice: 99.51%±0.30% and 86.12%±8.37%; for BALB/C mice: 99.61%±0.15% and 80.74%±7.11%; for C57 mice: 99.71%±0.12% and 84.87%±3.83%; for Sprague-Dawley rats: 99.93%±0.03% and 83.30%±2.96%. Microscopy showed WBCs were efficiently removed from infected dog blood samples, and there was no obvious morphological change of B. gibsoni parasites. NWF filters efficiently remove leukocytes from malaria parasite-infected mouse and rat blood, and are also suitable for filtration of B. gibsoni-infected dog blood.