Objective To investigate the relationship between tooth loss and the occurrence of esophageal cancer in a natural village in Wenfeng District, Anyang City, Henan Province. Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted to observe the occurrence of tooth loss and esophageal cancer among the asymptomatic residents of the natural village for 16 years from January 2008 to July 2024. Data were analyzed by chi-square test, binary logistic regression, and restricted cubic spline. Results Among the total population of 711 cases, 136 cases were lost to follow-up and 575 cases were included in the final statistics, including 45 cases with esophageal cancer. Significant statistical difference was found between esophageal cancer patients with and without tooth loss (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that tooth loss was associated with the occurrence of esophageal cancer (OR=3.977, 95%CI: 1.543-10.255). After the adjustment for confounders, tooth loss remained significantly associated with the occurrence of esophageal cancer (OR=3.038, 95%CI: 1.035-8.914). A nonlinear dose-response relationship was observed between the number of teeth lost and the incidence of esophageal cancer. When the number of teeth lost was less than 12, the risk of esophageal cancer increased with the number of teeth lost. When more than 12 teeth were lost, the risk of esophageal cancer decreased as the number of teeth lost increased. Conclusion Tooth loss is a risk factor for the occurrence of esophageal cancer in this natural village. When the number of teeth lost is less than 12, the risk of esophageal cancer increases with the number of teeth lost.

OBJECTIVE: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major health concern in northwest China; however, the impact of particulate matter (PM) exposure during sand-dust storms (SDS) remains poorly understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between PM exposure on SDS days and COPD hospitalization risk in arid regions. METHODS: Data on daily COPD hospitalizations were collected from 323 hospitals from 2018 to 2022, along with the corresponding air pollutant and meteorological data for each city in Gansu Province. Employing a space-time-stratified case-crossover design and conditional Poisson regression, we analyzed 265,379 COPD hospitalizations. RESULTS: PM exposure during SDS days significantly increased COPD hospitalization risk [relative risk ( RR) for PM _2.5, lag 3:1.028, 95% confidence interval ( CI): 1.021-1.034], particularly among men and the elderly, and during the cold season. The burden of PM exposure on COPD hospitalization was substantially high in Northwest China, especially in the arid and semi-arid regions. CONCLUSION Our findings revealed a positive correlation between PM exposure during SDS episodes and elevated hospitalization rates for COPD in arid and semi-arid zones in China. This highlights the urgency of developing region-specific public health strategies to address adverse respiratory outcomes associated with SDS-related air quality deterioration.
Humans ; China/epidemiology* ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/chemically induced* ; Particulate Matter/analysis* ; Hospitalization/statistics & numerical data* ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Air Pollutants/analysis* ; Environmental Exposure/adverse effects* ; Spatio-Temporal Analysis ; Adult ; Sand ; Air Pollution

Aim To investigate the role of TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) - associated postinterstitial pulmonary fibrosis in mice. Methods The mouse model of RA was constructed by subcutaneous administration of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) and chicken II collagen (Col-II) to the tail root of mice. The blank group was given the same amount of distilled water, and the control group was given the same amount of glacial acetic acid (solvent). The degree of toe swelling (joint swelling degree and arthritis index) was monitored to evaluate the mouse modeling. The pathological changes of mouse lung tissues were observed by HE and Masson staining. The expression of TGF-β in lung tissues were observed by immunohistochemical staining. The level of hydroxyproline in lung tissues was measured by chemiluminescence method. The expressions of Smad2, Smad3 and phosphorylated p-Smad2 and phosphorylated p-Smad3 in lung tissues were detected by Western blot. Results Compared with blank group and solvent group, the joint swelling and arthritis index of model group significantly increased. Twenty-one days after administration, HE staining showed inflammatory changes in lung interstitium of the model group, Masson staining showed collagen fiber deposition and obvious fibrosis in lung interstitium of the model group, and immunohistochemical staining showed that the expression of TGF-β in cytoplasm of lung interstitial cells of the model group increased, which was brown and yellow. Meanwhile, hydroxyproline was significantly raised in lung tissue homogenate of the model group. Further WB analysis showed that compared with blank group and solvent group, the expression of p-Smad2 and pSmad3 in lung tissues of the model group was significantly up-regulated (P < 0. 05, P < 0. 01). Conclusions RA can give rise to pulmonary fibrosis, and the expressions of p-Smad2 and p-Smad3 are up-regulated, which is be pivotal in pulmonary fibrosis and RA-related post-interstitial pulmonary fibrosis.

Objective: To assess the prevalence, risk factors and treatment of anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods: A descriptive method was used to analyze the prevalence and treatment of anemia in CKD patients based on regional health data in Yinzhou District of Ningbo during 2012-2018. The multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent influence factors of anemia in the CKD patients. Results: In 52 619 CKD patients, 15 639 suffered from by anemia (29.72%), in whom 5 461 were men (26.41%) and 10 178 were women (31.87%), and anemia prevalence was higher in women than in men, the difference was significant (P<0.001). The prevalence of anemia increased with stage of CKD (24.77% in stage 1 vs. 69.42% in stage 5, trend χ² test P<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that being women (aOR=1.57, 95%CI: 1.50-1.63), CKD stage (stage 2: aOR=1.10, 95%CI: 1.04-1.16;stage 3: aOR=2.28,95%CI: 2.12-2.44;stage 4: aOR=4.49,95%CI :3.79-5.32;stage 5: aOR=6.31,95%CI: 4.74-8.39), age (18-30 years old: aOR=2.40,95%CI: 2.24-2.57, 61-75 years old: aOR=1.35,95%CI:1.28-1.42, ≥76 years old: aOR=2.37,95%CI:2.20-2.55), BMI (<18.5 kg/m²:aOR=1.29,95%CI: 1.18-1.41;23.0-24.9 kg/m²:aOR=0.79,95%CI: 0.75-0.83;≥25.0 kg/m²:aOR=0.70,95%CI: 0.66-0.74), abdominal obesity (aOR=0.91, 95%CI: 0.86-0.96), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (aOR=1.15, 95%CI: 1.09-1.22), cancer (aOR=3.03, 95%CI: 2.84-3.23), heart failure (aOR=1.44, 95%CI: 1.35-1.54) and myocardial infarction (aOR=1.54, 95%CI:1.16-2.04) were independent risk factors of anemia in CKD patients. Among stage 3-5 CKD patients with anemia, 12.03% received iron therapy, and 4.78% received treatment with erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) within 12 months after anemia was diagnosed. Conclusions: The prevalence of anemia in CKD patients was high in Yinzhou. However, the treatment rate of iron therapy and ESA were low. More attention should be paid to the anemia management and treatment in CKD patients.

Six new prenylated flavonoid glycosides, including four new furan-flavonoid glycosides wushepimedoside A-D (1-4) and two new prenyl flavonoid derivatives wushepimedoside E-F (5-6), and one know analog epimedkoreside B (7) were isolated from biotransformation products of the aerial parts of Epimedium wushanense. Their structures were elucidated according to comprehensive analysis of HR-MS and NMR spectroscopic data, and the absolute configurations were assigned using experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data. The regulatory activity of compounds 1-7 on the production of testosterone in primary rat Leydig cells were investigated, and 4 and 5 exhibited testosterone production-promoting activities. Molecular docking analysis suggested that bioactive compounds 4 and 5 showed the stable binding with 3β-HSD and 4 also had good affinity with Cyp17A1, which suggested that these compounds may regulate testosterone production through stimulating the expression of the above two key proteins.
Animals ; Epimedium/chemistry* ; Flavonoids/chemistry* ; Furans ; Glycosides/chemistry* ; Hydrolysis ; Male ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Molecular Structure ; Rats ; Testosterone ; beta-Glucosidase/metabolism*

Acupuncture regulating gastrointestinal motility has the characteristics of bidirectional benign regulation, acupoint specificity and immediacy. And its regulation is mainly achieved through the "neuro-endocrine-immune" network system. Acupuncture at Neiguan (PC 6) and Hegu (LI 4) to inhibit intestinal peristalsis may have good application value in colonoscopy.
Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Colonoscopy ; Gastrointestinal Motility ; Peristalsis

Ultrasonic bubble detection has been widely used in predicting the risk of decompression sickness and evaluating the efficiency and safety of decompression procedures. Currently, the widely used SPENCER scale is conducted by using Doppler ultrasound to monitor the bubble signal in the precordial region of subjects. KM grading system is a computerized system based on Doppler ultrasound. The grading score can be converted into SPENCER bubble grading scale score and the bubble grading is precise and suitable for the motion status. On the basis of the above two methods, the KISMAN integrated severity score, extended SPENCER bubble grading and simplified Doppler bubble grading system were established. They not only coordinated analysis of Doppler ultrasound bubble detection results with other risk factors of decompression disease, but also convenient to use computer for processing detection results. With the in-depth application of Fourier technique and empirical mode decomposition in Doppler audio bubble signal detection, methods such as three-parameter fuzzy analysis and energy operator method are playing an important role in automatic bubble analysis. Optimization of detection technology and improvement of sensitivity and accuracy of automatic analysis are important development directions in the field of decompression bubble Doppler grating technology.

Objective:To analysis the impact of public health emergencies on mood fluctuations of depression and the related factors in the elderly in Shanghai, in order to provide a new evidence for early psychological intervention.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 983 elderly in the Department of Geriatrics of Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University and two communities in Changning and Hongkou Districts of Shanghai by using a self-compiled social life questionnaire and Geriatric Depression Scale(GDS-30)during corona virus disease(COVID)-19 outbreak from 1 February to 15 February 2020.The mood fluctuations of depression and the related influencing factors were analyzed by comparing the current GDS-30 scores with the scores within previous six months.Results:Of 983 questionnaires, 867 were valid.The incidence of mild fluctuations of depression was increased from 20.9%(181/867)to 27.2%(235/867)during the public health emergencies( P<0.05), with 3 cases of newly emerged severe depression.The GDS-30 scores were higher during the public health emergencies than before the emergencies(9.88±3.85 vs.7.67±3.54, P<0.05). The four risk factors inducing fluctuations of depression in the elderly were the number of coexisted chronic diseases ≥2( P=0.036), the lack of visits or communication from families( P=0.015), the family members exposing a risk to COVID-19( P<0.01), and the daily viewing of epidemic news more than 4 h( P=0.023). Linear regression analysis showed that cough, sore throat, dizziness, sleep disturbance and dyspnea were significantly related to the aggravation of depression(based on the increase of GDS-30 score)( P<0.05). Conclusions:Public health emergencies may exacerbate depression in the elderly.They are more likely to experience the aggravation of depression when they suffer from multiple chronic diseases, lack the child visits or communications, have the family members exposing a risk to COVID-19 and pay excessive attention to the epidemic.

Resistance of tumor cells is a complex biological process involving multiple mechanisms and factors, in which anti-apoptosis is the most important cause of drug resistance. Previous studies have shown that the DNA binding activity of Runt related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) increased prominently in Herceptin resistant gastric cancer cells (NCI N87R) while the relevance of which to drug resistance has not yet been confirmed. In this study, we employed CRISPR/Cas9 to establish RUNX3 knock-out cell line (△RUNX3/NCI N87R) to investigate the functions of RUNX3 in Herceptin resistance of NCI N87R cells and its potential mechanisms. We investigated proteomics profiling of △RUNX3/NCI N87R cells based on label free quantitative proteomics. Differentially expressed proteins were screened out according to fold change and significance level between △RUNX3/NCI N87R and NCI N87R cells. Pathway enrichment analysis was done using GeneAnalytics database, and gene ontology analysis was conducted by DAVID Bioinformatics Resources database. Protein-protein interaction networks were constructed based on STRING database. The results showed that △RUNX3/NCI N87R cells increased the sensitivity to Herceptin. Proteomic data demonstrated that the expression of 577 genes changed significantly in △RUNX3/NCI N87R cells, among which 191 genes were up-regulated while 386 ones down-regulated comparing with NCI N87R cells. Pathway analysis showed that autophagy, cell cycle, apoptosis, mitochondrial fatty acid β oxidation, neurogenic locus notch homolog protein 1 (NOTCH1), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), Hedgehog and DNA damage response pathways exhibited notable changes based on pathway enrichment ratio and significance level (P < 0.05). These results indicated that RUNX3 knock-out altered multiple signaling pathways of NCI N87R cells. Western blotting manifested that the expression of autophagy regulatory molecules autophagy-related protein (ATG) 13, 7 and BECN1 increased remarkably while cell cycle molecules serine/threonine-protein kinase Chk2 (CHEK2) and apoptosis regulator Bcl-2 (BCL2) decreased prominently in △RUNX3/NCI N87R cells. The p-AKT expression decreased significantly in △RUNX3/NCI N87R cells compared with NCI N87R cells (P < 0.01) and was suppressed by Herceptin. These results indicated that RUNX3 knock-out altered cell cycle, increased inhibition to p-AKT by Herceptin, promoted autophagy and induced cell apoptosis of NCI N87R cells. These results suggested that RUNX3 may be a potential therapeutic target for reversing or reducing Herceptin resistance in gastric cancer cells.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mechanism of Radix Kansui (RK) stir-fried with vinegar (VRK) decreased hepatotoxicity in mice. METHODS: According to a random number table, 40 mice were randomly divided into negative control group (0.5% carboxymethylcellulose sodium, 20 mL/kg), positive control group (0.1% mixture of carbon tetrachloride in soybean oil, 20 mL/kg), RK group (the ethyl acetate extracts of RK, 250 g crude drug/kg) and VRK group (the ethyl acetate extracts of VRK, 250 g crude drug/kg) with 10 mice per group. All mice were administered orally by gavage daily for 7 continuous days. The morphology of liver tissues was examined to assess the liver injury by a transmission electron microscope. Hepatocyte apoptosis in vivo was determined by terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nickend labeling (TUNEL) assay. Immunohistochemical technique was adopted to detect the expression of particular antiapoptotic and proapoptotic proteins in the mitochondrial pathways, including B-cell lymphoma (Bcl-2) and caspase-3, as well as the expression of inflammatory mediators, including nuclear factor kappa B (NF- κ B) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). RESULTS: Liver injury and hepatocyte apoptosis were observed in RK mice, and the liver injury were significantly reduced in VRK-treated mice. In immunohistochemistry study, compared with the negative control group, RK inhibited dramatically the Bcl-2 protein expression and significantly increased the expression of caspase-3, NF- κ B and ICAM-1 (all P<0.01). Compared with the RK group, VRK group induced significant increase on Bcl-2 protein expression, and decreased the caspase-3, NF- κ B and ICAM-1 protein expression (P<0.05 or P<0.01). CONCLUSION The mechanism of reduced hepatotoxicity of VRK may be associated with the reduced inflammation, regulation of antiapoptotic and proapoptotic mediators in the mitochondrial pathway.