[Purpose]To analyze the incidence and mortality of oral and pharyngeal cancer in can-cer registration areas of Hunan Province in 2021 and the trend changes from 2012 to 2021.[Methods]Data on oral and pharyngeal cancer incidence and mortality from 2012 to 2021 were collected from 78 quality-controlled cancer registries in Hunan Province,with population data sourced from household registration statistics provided by public security authorities.Indicators such as crude incidence and mortality rates,age-standardized incidence and mortality rates by Chinese standard population(ASIRC/ASMRC),and world standard population(ASIRW,ASMRW)in 2021 were calculated.The Chinese standard population(2000 national census)and Segi's world standard population were used for standardization.Joinpoint Regression Program 4.9.0.0 software was used to fit a Log-linear regression model,and the average annual percentage change(AAPC)of ASIRC/ASMRC of oral and pharyngeal cancer from 2012 to 2021 was calculated to analyze the changing trends.[Results]In 2021,the crude incidence rate of oral and pharyngeal cancer in cancer registration areas of Hunan Province was 9.28/105(15.14/105 for males and 3.07/105 for fe-males),with an ASIRC of 6.10/105;the crude mortality rate was 3.75/105(6.19/105 for males and 1.16/105 for females),with an ASMRC of 2.16/105.Both the incidence and mortality rates in male were significantly higher than those in female.Age distribution analysis showed that the incidence rate of oral and pharyngeal cancer increased with age after 30 years old,peaking in the age group of 60～64 years old(22.29/105);the mortality rate continued to rise after 35 years old,reaching the peak in the population aged ≥85 years old(14.52/105).Trend analysis from 2012 to 2021 indicated that the crude incidence rate and ASIRC of oral and pharyngeal cancer increased from 3.50/105 and 2.63/105 in 2012 to 9.28/105 and 6.10/105 in 2021,with AAPC of 12.33％and 10.80％,re-spectively;the crude mortality rate and ASMRC also showed upward trends(AAPC of 9.87％and 7.21％,respectively);all trend changes were statistically significant(all P＜0.05).Sex stratification revealed that the AAPC of ASIRC and ASMRC of oral and pharyngeal cancer in male were higher than those in female(AAPC of ASIRC:12.65％for males vs 4.28％for females;AAPC of ASMRC:8.79％for males vs 4.13％for females).Age-specific trend analysis found that the ASIRC of oral and pharyngeal cancer in the population aged ≤ 44 years old showed an upward trend(AAPC=11.73％,P＜0.001),with the AAPC of male in this group reaching 14.57％;the AAPC of ASIRC for the age groups of 45～64 years old and ≥65 years old were 11.03％and 9.74％,respectively,and the AAPC of ASMRC for these two groups were 10.05％and 8.19％,respectively,with all trend changes being statistically significant(all P＜0.05);there was no statistically significant change in the ASMRC of the population aged ≤44 years old(AAPC=5.66％,P=0.087).[Conclusion]The incidence and mortality rates of oral and pharyngeal cancer in cancer registration areas of Hunan Province remain high and show an upward trend,with a tendency of younger onset.Males and middle-aged and elderly populations are the key focuses of prevention and control.

[Purpose]To analyze the incidence and mortality of oral and pharyngeal cancer in can-cer registration areas of Hunan Province in 2021 and the trend changes from 2012 to 2021.[Methods]Data on oral and pharyngeal cancer incidence and mortality from 2012 to 2021 were collected from 78 quality-controlled cancer registries in Hunan Province,with population data sourced from household registration statistics provided by public security authorities.Indicators such as crude incidence and mortality rates,age-standardized incidence and mortality rates by Chinese standard population(ASIRC/ASMRC),and world standard population(ASIRW,ASMRW)in 2021 were calculated.The Chinese standard population(2000 national census)and Segi's world standard population were used for standardization.Joinpoint Regression Program 4.9.0.0 software was used to fit a Log-linear regression model,and the average annual percentage change(AAPC)of ASIRC/ASMRC of oral and pharyngeal cancer from 2012 to 2021 was calculated to analyze the changing trends.[Results]In 2021,the crude incidence rate of oral and pharyngeal cancer in cancer registration areas of Hunan Province was 9.28/105(15.14/105 for males and 3.07/105 for fe-males),with an ASIRC of 6.10/105;the crude mortality rate was 3.75/105(6.19/105 for males and 1.16/105 for females),with an ASMRC of 2.16/105.Both the incidence and mortality rates in male were significantly higher than those in female.Age distribution analysis showed that the incidence rate of oral and pharyngeal cancer increased with age after 30 years old,peaking in the age group of 60～64 years old(22.29/105);the mortality rate continued to rise after 35 years old,reaching the peak in the population aged ≥85 years old(14.52/105).Trend analysis from 2012 to 2021 indicated that the crude incidence rate and ASIRC of oral and pharyngeal cancer increased from 3.50/105 and 2.63/105 in 2012 to 9.28/105 and 6.10/105 in 2021,with AAPC of 12.33％and 10.80％,re-spectively;the crude mortality rate and ASMRC also showed upward trends(AAPC of 9.87％and 7.21％,respectively);all trend changes were statistically significant(all P＜0.05).Sex stratification revealed that the AAPC of ASIRC and ASMRC of oral and pharyngeal cancer in male were higher than those in female(AAPC of ASIRC:12.65％for males vs 4.28％for females;AAPC of ASMRC:8.79％for males vs 4.13％for females).Age-specific trend analysis found that the ASIRC of oral and pharyngeal cancer in the population aged ≤ 44 years old showed an upward trend(AAPC=11.73％,P＜0.001),with the AAPC of male in this group reaching 14.57％;the AAPC of ASIRC for the age groups of 45～64 years old and ≥65 years old were 11.03％and 9.74％,respectively,and the AAPC of ASMRC for these two groups were 10.05％and 8.19％,respectively,with all trend changes being statistically significant(all P＜0.05);there was no statistically significant change in the ASMRC of the population aged ≤44 years old(AAPC=5.66％,P=0.087).[Conclusion]The incidence and mortality rates of oral and pharyngeal cancer in cancer registration areas of Hunan Province remain high and show an upward trend,with a tendency of younger onset.Males and middle-aged and elderly populations are the key focuses of prevention and control.

OBJECTIVES: Maternal periconceptional folic acid supplement is by far the most effective primary prevention strategy to reduce the incidence of congenital heart disease (CHD) in offspring. It was revealed that the underlying mechanisms are complex, including a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between periconceptional folic acid supplement, the genetic polymorphisms of maternal folic acid receptor 1 gene (FOLR1) and folic acid receptor 2 gene (FOLR2) and the impact of their interaction on the risk of CHD in offspring, and to provide epidemiological evidence for individualized folic acid dosing in hygienic counseling. METHODS: A case-control study on 569 mothers of CHD infants and 652 mothers of health controls was performed. The interesting points were periconceptional folate supplements, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of maternal FOLR1 gene and FOLR2 gene. RESULTS: Mothers who took folate in the periconceptional period were observed a decreased risk of CHD [adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=0.58, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.95]. Our study also found that polymorphisms of maternal FOLR1 gene at rs2071010 (G/A vs G/G: aOR=0.67, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.96) and FOLR2 gene at rs514933 (T/C vs T/T: aOR=0.60, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.84; C/C vs T/T: aOR=0.55, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.90; the dominant model: T/C+ C/C vs T/T: aOR=0.59, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.81; and the addictive model: C/C vs T/C vs T/T: aOR=0.70, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.88) were significantly associated with lower risk of CHD [all P<0.05, false discovery rate P value (FDR_P)<0.1]. Besides, significant interaction between periconceptional folate supplements and rs2071010 G→A (aOR=0.59, 95% CI 0.41-0.86) and rs514933 T→C (aOR=0.52, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.74) on CHD risk were observed (all P<0.05, FDR_P<0.1). CONCLUSIONS Periconceptional folate supplements, polymorphisms of FOLR1 gene and FOLR2 gene and their interactions are significantly associated with risk of CHD. However, more studies in different ethnic populations with a larger sample and prospective designs are required to confirm our findings.
Case-Control Studies ; Dietary Supplements ; Female ; Folate Receptor 1/genetics* ; Folate Receptor 2/genetics* ; Folic Acid/administration & dosage* ; Heart Defects, Congenital/genetics* ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Infant ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors

To evaluate whether the in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) procedures could increases the risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) in offspring.
 Methods: A hospital-based prospective cohort design was conducted, which contained a control group of singleton pregnancies with indicators of subfertility who were still conceived naturally after using simple medical treatment (e.g. minimal medical intervention or ovulation induction), and an exposure group consisted of singleton pregnancies who had a history of infertility and IVF-ET treatment. All factors different between two groups in the univariate analysis were included in the multivariable logistic regression to evaluate the independent effect of IVF-ET procedures themselves on APOs.
 Results: After controlling for confounding factors by using multivariate logistic regression analysis, our results showed that pregnancies after IVF-ET experienced a higher risk of preterm birth (OR=1.28, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.56), low birth weight (OR=1.69, 95% CI 1.27 to 2.31), perinatal mortality (OR=5.33, 95% CI 2.44 to 11.81), and congenital malformations (OR=1.83, 95% CI 1.12 to 2.94).
 Conclusion: The IVF-ET operational factors may increase the risk of APOs.
Cohort Studies ; Embryo Transfer ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Logistic Models ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Prospective Studies

The properties of Chinese materia medica are believed to be the summarization of the effects of biological performance on the various body states. Systemic discussion of chemical-factor elements, body-condition elements, biological-performance elements and their interrelationships is needed for research into the properties of Chinese materia medica. Following the practical characteristics of Chinese medicine, the three-element mathematical model was formed by introducing some mathematical concepts and methods and was used to study the cold or hot property of Chinese medicine, and to investigate the difference in biological performances of the two properties.

The theory of four properties (Qi) and five tastes (Wei) is the core of the property theory of Chinese materia medica. It is known that Qi and Wei are associated with the pharmacological effects (Xiao) of herbs. This study took records of all 365 Chinese herbs in Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica (Shennong Ben Cao Jing) as the data resource and established a three-dimensional data cube, in the purpose of finding out and analyzing the frequent patterns and valued association rules of Qi, Wei and Xiao based on Apriori algorithm. The results of this study may give rise to innovative ideas and methods in research of traditional Chinese materia medica.

Studying the essence of syndromes (Zheng) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a fundamental challenge in basic theoretical research of TCM. The relationship between any given syndrome and biochemical indicators is one of the important aspects of the study. As the indexes selected in each study are specific to a particular Western medical disease diagnosis, and the disease factor is inevitably introduced into the study, the effect of disease factor on the index changes cannot be assessed effectively by traditional data processing methods. This is known as "the same syndrome with different reasons", which has resulted in confusion in TCM research. This study aimed at providing a mathematical tool to address this issue. Based on information theory and the residual-split method, the syndrome information, which was covered in the index variation, was quantitatively calculated in this paper as an independent part of the disease factor. A mathematical model capable of objectively assessing and statistically testing the effect of the syndrome factor on the index changes was established. Applying this model to literature data of studies on the relationship between cyclic nucleotides and yang-deficiency syndrome showed following results. First, the values of yang-deficiency syndrome information were negative for cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) while positive for cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) in all included literature. This indicated that the group of yang-deficiency syndrome was correlated with an obvious trend of reduced cAMP levels and increased cGMP levels. Second, the statistical test results of yang-deficiency syndrome information of the two indexes were different among the literature included. The quality of original data was considered as a possible reason. Third, the significant differences between the yang-deficiency group of a specific disease and the normal group may, in some cases, be caused by a disease factor rather than a syndrome factor. The mathematical model provided a reasonable mathematical tool for the analysis of disease factor and syndrome factor in clinical research of TCM, suggesting that the mathematical model may give rise to innovative ideas and methods in the study of syndromes.

Hydrocortisone-induced yang-deficiency animal model has now become the generally accepted model of yang deficiency. However, assessing the most appropriate dose of hydrocortisone is a long-term challenge. For analyzing the modeling dose, the authors have built several kinds of yang-deficiency models induced by hydrocortisone at different doses, and analyzed the experimental data with various mathematical statistical methods. In order to discuss the effects of the modeling dose on the basis of previous research, the authors introduced Ridit analysis.

Evidence of the pharmacological activity of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) provides the basis for clinical prescription. Study of the classification of Chinese medicines according to these activities is key to understanding the general active tendencies of medicinal prescriptions, exploring their material basis, investigating their properties and searching for their alternatives. Taking the herbal classic Shennong's Materia Medica Classic (Shennong Bencao Jing) for the data source, this paper studied the classification of Chinese medicines based on semi-supervised incremental clustering algorithm using "micro-cluster" concept in order to investigate the complex similarity among Chinese medicines. The results showed that 253 Chinese medicines were reasonably classified into 14 types, such as invigoration, clearing heat, diuresis, dredging blockages in the channels, treating gynecological conditions and treating strange diseases caused by ghosts. The results also showed that the other 112 Chinese medicines were classified into 112 individual types and the same high similarity to different known types was the main reason for this. The semi-supervised incremental clustering algorithm employed in the study had a high quality and a good development for clustering which is suitable for classification of Chinese medicines. This study illustrated the diversity of Chinese medicines and their complex similarities, thus aiming to provide innovative ideas and methods for related research.

Based on information entropy theory, this study analyzes the experimental indicators of glucocorticoid-induced traditional Chinese medicine yang deficiency or yin deficiency syndrome in animal models, thus laying the foundation of defining and interpreting the model state.