In September 2012, the US Chinese Anti-Cancer Association (USCACA) hosted two symposiums in Beijing. The USCACA hosted the first joint session at the 7th annual meetings of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association (CACA), themed on "Collaboration between the US and China in Cancer Research." Six experts from the United States and China presented their latest work on basic and translational cancer research. During this symposium, 5 young Chinese scholars, returnees after their training in the United States, were honored the"AFCR-USCACA Scholarships Award." The USCACA hosted a second symposium during the 15th annual meeting of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO), focused on the "US-China Collaboration in Cancer Drug Clinical Development." An international delegation of oncology experts presented the innovative clinical trial strategies and discussed the biomarkers for cancer early detection and clinical trials, targeted therapy, and new drug development. The Oncology Drug Clinical Development and Safety Evaluation Committee was also launched to promote an innovative environment and to provide a collaborative platform for anti-cancer drug development in China.
Awards and Prizes ; China ; Drug Discovery ; International Cooperation ; Medical Oncology ; Societies, Medical ; United States

OBJECTIVETo compare the characteristics of suicides in the four main demographic groups: urban males, urban females, rural males and rural females in order to help clarify the demographic pattern of suicides in China.

METHODSA detailed psychological autopsy survey instrument was independently administered to 895 suicide victims in family members and close associates from 23 geographically representative locations from around the country.

RESULTSPesticide ingestion accounted for 58% (519) of all suicides and 61% (318/519) of deaths were due to unsuccessful medical resuscitation. A substantial proportion (37%) of suicide victims did not have a mental illness. Among the 563 victims with mental illness, only 13% (76/563) received psychiatric treatment. Compared to other demographic groups, young rural females who died from suicide had the highest rate of pesticide ingestion (79%), the lowest prevalence of mental illness (39%), and the highest acute stress from precipitating life events just prior to the suicide.

CONCLUSIONMany suicides in China are impulsive acts of deliberate self-harm following acute interpersonal crises. Prevention of suicides in China must focus on improving awareness of psychological problems, improving mental health services, providing alternative social support networks for managing acute interpersonal conflicts, limiting access to pesticides, and improving the resuscitation skills of primary care providers.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Autopsy ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Disorders ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Middle Aged ; Rural Population ; Suicide ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; trends ; Urban Population

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the accuracy of reports of suicide in the national death registry systems and to estimate a more accurate suicide rate.

METHODSTwenty-three sites from the Disease Surveillance Points Network-one of the national death registry systems-were selected and 1 932 of the deaths that occurred at these sites from August 1995 through August 2000 in which the official cause was classified as "accidental" or "mental illness" were selected for detailed household surveys focusing on reassessing the cause of death. Valid interviews were completed in 1 653 of these cases. The original cause of death recorded on the death certificate was compared with the finding of the detailed household survey and the result was used to adjust the suicide rate.

RESULTSAfter detailed investigation, 16 of the 857 (1.87%) deaths reported on the death certificate as suicide were considered accidental deaths, 39 of the 721 (5.41%) accidental deaths were considered suicide, 17 of the 35 (48.57%) cases reported as undetermined accidents were considered suicide, and 6 of the 40 (15.00%) cases in which mental illness was the recorded cause of death were considered suicide. After adjustments for errors in the reported cause of death and for missing deaths, the reported crude suicide rate of 13.65/100 000 in China was adjusted to 22.99/100 000 (95% CI: 21.78/100 000 - 24.25/100 000).

CONCLUSIONAfter adjustments the actual suicide rate for China was higher than the reported rate indicating that suicide was an increasingly important public health problem for China.

China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Public Health ; Suicide ; statistics & numerical data

OBJECTIVETo assess the magnitude of overweight and obesity and its associated sociodemographic factors in adolescents attending junior high schools in Xi'an, Shanxi province.

METHODSA total of 1 804 adolescents attending junior high schools in Xi'an (age: 11-17 years) were enrolled randomly from 30 schools in 6 districts in Xi'an. Overweight and obesity was categorized with body mass index (BMI) cutoffs from Working Group of Obesity in China (WGOC). Underweight was defined by BMI-Z < or = -2 s. Sociodemographic information was collected from the parents of the survey participants using self-administered, structured and precoded questionnaires.

RESULTSOverall 17.4% of adolescents were overweight or obese (overweight 11.2%; obesity 6.2%), but there was a marked gender difference in the prevalence with 20.2% of boys versus 14.4% of the girls being overweight or obese. The prevalence of underweight was 2.7%. In a multivariate model, age, residence, household wealth, and parents' BMI were significantly associated with overweight and obesity (P < 0.05). After having been adjusted for age and gender, the odds ratio of an adolescent being overweight and obese was 2.7 (95% CI: 1.8-4.0) folds higher in urban areas than in rural areas, and was 1.6 (95% CI: 1.04-2.5) folds higher for adolescents from rich families than those from poor families. An adolescent with one or both parents overweight was 1.8 (95% CI: 1.3-2.5) more likely to be overweight themselves compared to those with normal weight parents.

CONCLUSIONSOverweight and obesity is a major public health problem in adolescents in Xi'an. Overweight and obesity is more prevalent in younger boys from richer families living in urban districts and those whose parents were either overweight or obese.

Adolescent ; Age Factors ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Income ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Nutritional Status ; Obesity ; epidemiology ; Overweight ; Parents ; Risk Factors ; Sex Factors

Methods: This is an Institutional Review Board-exempt review of 69 patients (static, n=32; expandable, n=37) diagnosed with DDD who underwent MIS-LLIF at 1–2 contiguous level(s) using static or expandable spacers. Radiographic and clinical outcomes were collected and compared at pre- and postoperative time points up to 12 months. Results: The expandable group had a significantly higher mean change in Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months vs. static (∆VAS at 12 months: expandable, 6.7±1.3; static, 5.1±2.6). Mean improvement of Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores at 3, 6, and 12 months were significantly better for the expandable group vs. static (∆ODI at 12 months: expandable, 63.2±13.2; static, 29.8±23.4). Mean DH and NH significantly increased at final follow-up for both groups, with no significant difference in DH improvement between groups. The expandable mean NH improvement at 6 weeks and 6 months was significantly greater vs. static. Segmental lordosis significantly improved in the expandable group at all time intervals vs static. Subsidence rate at 12 months was significantly lower in the expandable group (1/46, 2.2%) vs. static (12/37, 32.4%). Conclusions Expandable spacers resulted in a significantly lower subsidence rate, improve segmental lordosis, and VAS and ODI outcomes at 12 months vs. static.

Objective To describe the prevalence and risk factors for suicide ideation among college students in Chongqing city. Methods Data on suicide ideation and related factors were collected from 9808 college students at 11 colleges randomly selected in Chongqing. A multiple logistic regression model was used to identify risk factors for suicide ideation. Results 1279 (13.0%) of the 9808 students reported suicide ideation and the constituent ratio of boys and girls was 3:4 whileriskfactors for suicide ideation were ranked as follows: high frequency of feeling hopeless in prior year (OR=5.07,95%CI: 4.27-6.02); having psychological problems in recent 1 month that affecting daily lives and learning(2.07,1.79-2.38); relatives having suicide behavior (1.77,1.52-2.08); having had sexual experience (1.95,1.65-2.30); being female (1.66,1.45-1.90) and friends who had had suicide attempts(1.46,1.28-1.67);having diseases in the last 1 month that affecting daily lives and learning (1.29,1.08-1.52). Conclusion The prevalence of suicide ideation among these college students was high that calls the development,implementation and assessment of suicide prevention plans for college students that focusing on the risk factors identified for suicide ideation.

OBJECTIVETo identify the most common life events that occurred prior to suicide in elderly individuals and the relationship of these life events to depressive symptoms.

METHODSA detailed study considering life events in the year prior to death, the presence of mental illness at the time of death and the level of depressive symptoms in the 2 weeks prior to death was undertaken with the family members and other associates of 304 persons at 55 years of age and older who died of suicide.

RESULTSThe three most common negative life events were acute or chronic physical illness or injury (59.2%), major changes in diet, sleeping or other daily routines (37.8%) and financial difficulties (34.5%). The severity of depressive symptoms was significantly greater among persons who had experienced these life events both for persons with or without definite mental illness.

CONCLUSIONMost elderly persons who died of suicide events had experienced multiple negative life events in the year prior to death and these life events were closely related to the severity of depressive symptoms at the time of death.

Aged ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; China ; Depression ; psychology ; Humans ; Life Change Events ; Quality of Life ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Suicide ; psychology

Objective To explore the attitude towards 10 different populations with different characteristics on their social distance and acceptance among those people with or without suicidal attempts among college students in Chongqing.Methods 9808 college students were randomly selected from 11 universities in Chongqing and administered a self-constructed questionnaire"Suicide Attitude and Mental Health Status Questionnaire".A t-test was employed to analyze the social distance and degree of acceptance of college students with or without suicide attempts towards different groups as criminals,hypertensive,with suicide actions,homosexuals,depressive disorder,HIV infection,drug addiction,death of family members,hospitalization history in mental service and alcohol addiction.Results 169 college students had suicide attempts;the reporting rate of suicide attempts was 1.7%.Among college students.the scores higher than 50 on nine items related to social distance towards strangers with those 10 different characteristics and the top three were on those with HIV infection,drug addiction and hospitalization history in mental service.There were differences(P<0.05)in scores of social distance attitude towards strangers with drug addiction(with suicide attempts 83.38±21.82,without suicide attempts 78.55±21.55,t=2.88).hospitalization history in mental service(79.27±21.23,75.67±21.31,t=2.17),homosexuality(66.87±24.77,74.14±21.94,t=-4.25),alcohol addiction(66.72±21.80,61.00±22.80,t=3.23)and hypertension(56.65±20.40,53.36±21.05.t=2.01)between college students with or without suicide attempts.College students scored higher than 50 in 7 items of social rejective attitudes towards acquaintances,of those with hospitalization history in mental service,drug and alcohol addiction ranked the top three.It showed statistical significances in social rejection attitudes towards acquaintances with homosexuality(35.28±30.38,42.83±30.76,t=-3.14),severe depression(56.59±28.49,61.64±25.56,t=-2.53)and suicide behaviors(51.46±28.19,56.56±26.35,t=-2.48)between students with or without suicide attempts.Conclusion College students in Chongqing kept quite far social distance and restrictive behaviors in college students with or without suicide attempts.Targeted interventions on suicide attempters should be carried out accordingly.

To explore the relationship between the genetic diversity and biological functional site of human immunodeficiency virus HIV-1 gp120 and the pathogenesis of AIDS dementia complex (ADC), the full length sequences of gp120 gene was amplified with PCR from genomic DNA which was extracted from lymphoid and different brain department (periaortic lymphoid, temporal gray/white matter junction, periventricular tissue, choroids plexus, occipital white matter and occipital gray/white matter junction.) of a patient who died of ADC. PCR products were cloned into the pGEM-T vector and positive clones were sequenced. The analysis of neighbor-joining tree, N-glycosylation sites, values of ds/dn, and loop were then all performed. The samples were all identified as HIV-1 B and genetic variation existed in HIV-1 gp120 isolated from different tissues. Compared with standard HIV-1B gp120, biological functional sites of HIV-1 gp120 isolated from the patient changed to some extent. In addition, there were differences in some biological functional sites of HIV-1 gp120 between lymphoid and brain. Therefore, genetic diversity and alterations of some biological functional sites of HIV-1 gp120 might be associated with the pathogenesis of ADC.
AIDS Dementia Complex ; virology ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Genetic Variation ; genetics ; HIV Envelope Protein gp120 ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

BACKGROUNDStem cell transplantation has been shown to have beneficial effects on dilated cardiomyopathy. However, mechanism for stem cell homing to cardiac tissue in dilated cardiomyopathy has not yet been elucidated.

METHODSMesenchymal stem cells were obtained from rat bone marrow, expanded in vitro, and labeled with (99m)Tc. Cardiomyopathy model was induced by doxorubicin in rats. (99m)Tc labeled cells were infused into the left ventricles in cardiomyopathy and control rats. Sixteen hours after injection, animals were sacrificed and different tissues were harvested to measure specific radioactivity. By use of real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry, mRNA and protein expressions for stromal-cell-derived factor 1 in cardiac tissue were measured.

RESULTSLabeling efficiency of mesenchymal stem cells was (70.0 ± 11.2)%. Sixteen hours after mesenchymal stem cell transplantation, the heart-to-muscle radioactivity ratio was increased significantly in cardiomyopathy hearts as compared to control hearts. Both mRNA and protein expressions of stromal-cell-derived factor 1 were up-regulated in cardiomyopathy hearts as compared with control hearts.

CONCLUSIONIn dilated cardiomyopathy induced by doxorubicin up-regulated expression of stromal-cell-derived factor 1 in heart may induce mesenchymal stem cells home to the heart.

Animals ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; metabolism ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; therapy ; Cells, Cultured ; Chemokine CXCL12 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Immunohistochemistry ; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction