ObjectiveTo conduct comprehensive assessment of internal and external cadmium exposure and health risks for Shanghai residents. MethodsCadmium levels in food samples were calculated by employing two dietary exposure assessment methods， total diet study （TDS） and food frequency questionnaire （FFQ）， to estimate the daily dietary cadmium exposure of Shanghai residents. The provisional tolerable monthly intake （PTMI） of cadmium set by joint food and agriculture organization/WHO expert committee on food additives （JECFA） was applied to evaluate the health risk. Differences in dietary and urinary cadmium were compared by rank-sum test among different regions， age， gender， smoking status， and BMI groups， and the association between internal and external cadmium exposure was investigated by correlation analysis. ResultsThe mean value of urinary cadmium for 1 300 respondents was 0.542 μg·L^-1. Urinary cadmium was higher in the population in central urban and urban-rural fringe areas than in the suburban area， higher in the older age group than in the younger age group， and higher in the smoking group than in the non-smoking group （all P<0.01）. The two assessment methods showed that the mean values of daily dietary cadmium exposure for Shanghai residents were 0.306 and 0.090 μg·kg^-1， with 3.69% and 0.85% of Shanghai residents exceeding the PTMI， respectively. Correlation analyses showed that dietary exposure to cadmium based on the FFQ method was positively correlated with the urinary cadmium level when smoking status， age， gender， and BMI were adjusted. ConclusionDietary exposure to cadmium of Shanghai residents is mainly derived from vegetables， aquatic products， cereals and potatoes， and is overall at a low-risk level. Dietary exposure assessment based on FFQ and risk monitoring data can effectively estimate long-term cadmium exposure.

Caspase-2, a highly conserved member of the caspase family, is considered an initiator caspase that triggers apoptosis in response to some cellular stresses. Previous studies suggest that an intracellular multi-protein complex PIDDosome, induced by genotoxic stress, serves as a platform for caspase-2 activation. Due to caspase-2's inability to process effector caspases, however, the mechanism underlying caspase-2-mediated cell death upon PIDDosome activation remains unclear. Here, we conducted an unbiased genome-wide genetic screen and identified that the Bcl2 family protein BID is required for PIDDosome-induced, caspase-2-mediated apoptosis. PIDDosome-activated caspase-2 directly and functionally processes BID to signal the mitochondrial pathway for apoptosis induction. In addition, a designed chemical screen identified a compound, HUHS015, which specifically activates caspase-2-mediated apoptosis. HUHS015-stimulated apoptosis also requires BID but is independent of the PIDDosome. Through extensive structure-activity relationship efforts, we identified a derivative with a potency of ~60 nmol/L in activating caspase-2-mediated apoptosis. The HUHS015-series of compounds act as efficient agonists that directly target the interdomain linker in caspase-2, representing a new mode of initiator caspase activation. Human and mouse caspase-2 differ in two crucial residues in the linker, rendering a selectivity of the agonists for human caspase-2. The caspase-2 agonists are valuable tools to explore the physiological roles of caspase-2-mediated cell death and a base for developing small-molecule drugs for relevant diseases.
Caspase 2/genetics* ; Humans ; BH3 Interacting Domain Death Agonist Protein/metabolism* ; Apoptosis/drug effects* ; Death Domain Receptor Signaling Adaptor Proteins/metabolism* ; Animals ; Mice ; Cysteine Endopeptidases

The co - existence of lower extremity varicose veins and non - thrombotic iliac vein lesions is not uncommon in clinical practice. The clinical manifestations of the two are similar, but there is no linear correlation between their severity. Therefore, a thorough examination is required to individually analyze the causes of patients, and then formulate treatment strategies. Treating the two diseases simultaneously can resolve both superficial and deep venous issues, accelerate the improvement of clinical symptoms, especially the healing of venous ulcers. However, the overall cost is high, and there are issues such as exceeding medical insurance limits. Treating the two diseases in stages allows for a decision on whether to treat the other disease after close follow - up, but there is a risk of disease progression. This article reviewed the literature on the etiology, diagnosis, grading, and treatment of lower extremity varicose veins and non - thrombotic iliac vein lesions, and explored the optimal treatment strategies.

Background Chloropropanol esters (MCPDE) have attracted much attention in recent years as a kind of new contaminant found in various refined oils. The pollution of 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol esters (3-MCPDE) is the most prominent. 3-MCPDE is hydrolyzed in organisms to 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol which has been shown to have reproductive toxicity, nephrotoxicity, and potential carcinogenicity. Infant formula powders can be polluted by 3-MCPDE when refined edible oils are added during production. Objective To assess the risk of exposure to 3-MCPDE related to the consumption of infant formula powders for children aged 0-3 years in Shanghai market using the food consumption data and the data of 3-MCPDE contamination in these foods. Methods Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to determine 3-MCPDE in 133 samples of infant formula powders in Shanghai. Using a multistage stratified random sampling method, a total of 807 infants and toddlers aged 0-3 years were randomly selected from each district/rural/town in Shanghai, including 208 children aged 0-6 months, 276 children aged 6-12 months, and 323 children aged 12-36 months. The food consumption data was investigated using food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) distributed by combining telephone inquiries and face-to-face interviews among guardians. Population's probability distributions of 3-MCPDE exposure were assessed by @Risk 7.5 software and Monte Carlo simulation algorithm. According to the dietary intake assessment model and the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 3-MCPDE of 2.00 μg·(kg·d)⁻¹ proposed by the European Food Safety Authority (ESFA), a risk assessment of exposure to 3-MCPDE was conducted for infants and toddlers aged 0 to 3 years old in Shanghai who consumed 3-MCPDE via infant formula powders. Results The average concentration of 3-MCPDE in 133 samples of infant formula powders was 0.115 mg·kg⁻¹ with a positive rate of 100.00%. Among different types of formula powders, infant formula powders for infants of 0-6 months had the highest concentrations of 3-MCPDE and fat [0.136 mg·kg⁻¹ and 25.2 g (per 100 g sample) in average respectively]. There was a positive correlation between fat concentration and 3-MCPDE concentration in the samples (r=0.438, P<0.05). The average consumption of infant formula powders of 807 infants aged 0-3 years was 88.3 g·d⁻¹. Among all investigated age groups, the average consumption of infant formula powders by infants aged 0-6, 6-12, and 12-36 months was 87.7, 98.3, and 80.1 g·d⁻¹ respectively. The dietary exposure to 3-MCPDE from infant formula powders of infants aged 0-3 years averaged 0.83 μg·(kg·d)⁻¹ for general intake level or valued 1.44 μg·(kg·d)⁻¹ using the 95 percentile for high intake level. Exposure decreased with increasing age and was highest in infants 0-6 months of age, whose general and high intake levels were 1.41 and 2.34 μg·(kg·d)⁻¹, respectively. The risk population defined with the exposure higher than the TDI proposed by EFSA were proportioned to be 13.90% and 0.50% in infants aged 0-6 months and 6-12 months respectively, indicating a risk that cannot be ignored, and no risk in infants aged 12-36 months. Conclusion Among the investigated infants aged 0-3 years in Shanghai, those aged 0-6 months are at a high risk of exposure to 3-MCPDE. In view of the sensitivity of infants to pollutant exposure, the risk of exposure to 3-MCPDE should be highly concerned.

Objective: To explore the occurrence rate of permanent pacemaker implantation (PPI) with relevant risk factors in patients after mechanical aortic valve replacement. Methods: A total of 1986 consecutive patients with mechanical aortic valve replacement were enrolled in this study. According to PPI conduction caused by severe arrhythmia , the patients were divided into 2 groups: PPI group,n=61 including 27 male with the average age of (53.6 ± 9.03) years and Non-PPI group,n=1925. The median follow-up time was (4.47 ± 4.36) years after valve replacement. Results: The patients in PPI group were with the elder age and higher ratio of pre-existing atrial ifbrillation (AF) than those in Non-PPI group,P<0.05. The overall PPI occurrence rate was 3.07% after valve replacement and the short term incidence rate (within 30 days) was 0.55%, midterm (from 30 day to 1 year) was 0.03%, long term (>1 year) was 2.22%. For PPI indications, there were 70.5% patients with high degree A-V block including 30 of AF combining long intervals, 12 of high degree A-V block, 1 of complete left bundle branch block (LBBB) and 14.8% patients with sick sinus syndrome/sinus arrest/ sinus bradycardia. Conclusion: PPI incidence was at a relative low level, the long term occurrence rate was higher than both short term and midterm; elder age, pre-existing AF could be the high risk factors for PPI requirement, and the major PPI indication was high degree AV block in clinical practice.

OBJECTIVETo explore whether the tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within EPHX1 gene were involved in the genetic susceptibility to coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP) by case-control study.

METHODSThis study consisted of 697 CWP patients and 694 controls. All the subjects were Han Chinese, underground coal miners and recruited from coal mines of Xuzhou Mining Business Group Co Ltd.. The venous blood samples were obtained from all subjects and extracted genome DNA from the isolated leucocytes. Three SNPs were selected from the HapMap and the genotyping was done by the TaqMan method with the ABI 7900HT Real Time PCR system.

RESULTSThe Single SNP analyses showed that the genotype frequencies of EPHX1 (rs2234922) was significantly associated with decreased risk of CWP under co-dominant model (OR = 0.22, 95% CI = 0.06~0.79, P = 0.020), recessive model (OR = 0.23, 95% CI = 0.06~0.82, P = 0.023), and addictive model (OR = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.58~0.96, P = 0.022). The further stratification analysis showed that the risk of CWP will significantly decreased in non-smoking groups (OR = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.01~0.83, P = 0.033).

CONCLUSIONSOur results suggest that individuals with the EPHX1 (rs223492) GG genotype was associated with a dereased risk of CWP, and it has a protective effect on the developing CWP.

Anthracosis ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; Coal ; Epoxide Hydrolases ; genetics ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genotype ; Humans ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Risk Factors ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

Humans ; Laminin ; Pulmonary Fibrosis