Objective To explore the applicability of four risk assessment methods in evaluating occupational health risks associated with low-level benzene homologues exposure in key work sites within the automobile manufacturing industry. Methods The work sites (paint mixing and spray painting) with exposure to benzene homologues among six automobile manufacturing enterprises in Guangdong Province were selected as the study subjects using the judgmental sampling method. Qualitative risk assessment, exposure index method, non-carcinogenic risk assessment, and the International Council on Mining and Metals risk rating method were independently applied to evaluate the occupational health risks of benzene homologues at these work sites. Accuracy, consistency, and correlation of the four methods were compared. Results The air levels of benzene, toluene, xylene, and ethylbenzene in work sites of paint mixing and spray painting across all six enterprises met national occupational health standards. The median ratios of occupational exposure limits for benzene and toluene in spray painting site were higher than those in paint mixing site (0.017 vs 0.010, P<0.05). Using this ratio as a reference for evaluating method accuracy, the non-carcinogenic risk assessment method could distinguish paint mixing site from spray painting site in terms of risk level (P<0.05), whereas the other three methods could not (both P>0.05). The result of consistency testing revealed that the Kappa coefficients between the four methods ranged from -0.13-0.26, indicating poor consistency. The result of Spearman correlation analysis showed that the non-carcinogenic risk assessment and exposure index methods had higher correlation with occupational exposure limits ratios (Spearman correlation coefficients were 0.501 and 0.656, respectively, all P<0.05). Conclusion Occupational health risk assessment can serve as a supplementary tool to evaluate the hazard level of key work sites in the automobile manufacturing industry. Non-carcinogenic risk assessment shows higher accuracy.

Objective To analyze the status of occupational disease hazards in Shantou City for 2019 to 2022 and propose corresponding management measures. Methods Technical reports on various occupational-disease-specific activities in Shantou City from 2019 to 2022 were collected and the data were comprehensively analyzed. Results Among the 3 066 enterprises surveyed in the 2020 occupational disease hazard investigation in Shantou City, occupational hazards were reported in 2 982 enterprises (accounting for 97.3%), with 2 955 being small and micro enterprises, accounted for 99.1%(2 955/2 982). The exposure rate of occupational hazards was 58.7% (42 894/73 054) among workers in the surveyed enterprises, with dust and noise exposure rates of 59.7% and 77.8%, respectively. The reported rate of occupational disease hazard projects by employers, regular detection rate of workplace occupational hazards, detection rate of occupational medical examination among workers, and occupational health training rate of key responsible personnel and occupational health management staff were 8.4%, 1.4%, 2.4%, and 4.3%, respectively. The results of occupational hazards monitoring of workplace in key industries from 2019 to 2022 showed that noise had the highest rate of exceeding national standards workplace, followed by silica dust, accounting for 34.2% and 13.8%, with the on-site exceedance rate of 32.2% and 10.0%, respectively. From 2019 to 2022, 31 suspected occupational disease cases were identified in key occupational disease monitoring, including 27 suspected cases of occupational pneumoconiosis and four suspected cases of occupational noise-induced deafness. Conclusion The workers in Shantou City have a high exposure rate to occupational hazards, and the occupational health management level of employers remains low, with noise and silica dust being the most severe occupational hazards. It is essential to improve technical support and service system development for occupational disease prevention and treatment, strengthen supervision and management in key industries and positions, explore occupational health assistance mechanisms for small and micro enterprises, and enforce employers' responsibility in occupational disease prevention to protect workers' occupational health and safety.

Objective:To investigate the phenotypes of Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RSTS) caused by variants in the CREBBP or EP300 gene, and the correlation between genotype and phenotype.Methods:This case series study was performed on pediatric patients who were referred to the Children′s Hospital of Capital Institute of Pediatrics between January 2013 and July 2022. Both point variant and copy number deletion in CREBBP or EP300 gene were detected by whole exome sequencing, chromosomal microarray analysis, or copy number variation sequencing (CNV-seq). The variant categories were summarized and phenotype numbers were re-visited for RSTS patients. Based on variant types, the patients were divided into different groups (point variant or copy number deletion, EP300 or CREBBP point variant, and loss of function or missense variant). Phenotype counts between different groups were compared using the rank-sum test of two independent samples.Results:A total of 21 RSTS patients were recruited, including 12 males and 9 females, with ages ranging from 1 month to 14 years and 2 months. Among them, 67% (14/21) had point variants, and 33% (7/21) had copy number deletions. Out of these, 20 variants (95%) were de novo. Among 20 patients finishing phenotype count during re-visit, 95% (19/20) of the patients exhibited developmental delays before the age of 2 years. Additionally, 80% (16/20) of the patients had distinctive facial features. Considering phenotype count, no statistically significant difference was found between point variant (14 cases) and copy number deletion (6 cases) (5.0 (3.0, 7.0) vs. 5.0 (2.5, 5.3), Z=0.75, P=0.452), CREBBP (10 cases) and EP300 gene (4 cases) point variant (5.0 (3.8, 7.0) vs. 4.0 (2.0, 6.0), Z=1.14, P=0.253), and loss of function (9 cases) and missense (5 cases) variant (6.0 (4.5, 7.0) vs. 3.0 (2.5, 5.5), Z=1.54, P=0.121). Conclusions:Patients with RSTS primarily exhibit developmental delays in early childhood. Specific facial features serve as suggested signs of genetic testing. However, no significant genotype-phenotype correlation is found.

IgA nephropathy is a common primary glomerular disease,and autophagy plays an important role in maintaining the homeostasis of the internal environment.Dysfunction of cellular autophagy can affect the occurrence and development of IgA nephropathy.This article focused on the molecular mechanism of TCM regulating autophagy in renal intrinsic cells,and found that TCM extracts and formulas mainly regulate autophagy through PI3K/Akt/mTOR,TLR4/NF-κB,MAPK,Nrf2/HO-1,NLRP3 and other signaling pathways.Furthermore,it could intervene in pathological damage such as renal fibrosis,inflammation,and oxidative stress,delaying the progression of IgA nephropathy,in order to provide reference for the clinical treatment and new drug development of IgA nephropathy.

Objective To analyze the survival status, distribution characteristics and social security of newly diagnosed occupational pneumoconiosis patients in Guizhou Province from 2006 to 2021. Methods The newly diagnosed pneumoconiosis cases reported in Guizhou Province from 2006 to 2021 were collected from the “Occupational Diseases and Hazards Monitoring Information System” under “National Health Insurance Disease Prevention and Control Information System”. Telephone or face-to-face surveys were conducted to investigate these patients. Results A total of 12 413 newly diagnosed pneumoconiosis patients were reported in Guizhou Province from 2006 to 2021, with 11 192 cases included in the follow-up, and 10 631 cases were followed-up successfully. According to the follow-up study, 10 565 cases (accounting for 99.4%) were survived, and 66 cases (accounting for 0.6%) died. The number of pneumoconiosis showed an increasing trend followed by a sharp decline from 2006 to 2021, reaching its peak in 2016. The main industry of the newly pneumoconiosis cases was concentrated in the mining industry (accounting for 90.6%). The top three regions with surviving cases in the follow-up were Bijie City, Zunyi City, and Qiannan Prefecture, accounting for 34.0%, 25.4% and 12.0%, respectively. The main types of pneumoconiosis were coal workers' pneumoconiosis and silicosis, accounting for 67.1% and 30.8%, respectively. Most cases were in the age group of 50 to <60 years old, accounting for 59.1%, and the majority of the workers had worked in dusty environments for 5 to <25 years, accounting for 91.5%. In terms of social security, about 89.5% of cases were in the basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents which was the most popular social security. The employer's compensation rate was 67.7%, and the work-related injury insurance participation rate was 51.5%. Conclusion Pneumoconiosis cases in Guizhou Province exhibit significant regional disparities. It has a high concentration in the industry, a younger age profile, and limited social security coverage. It is necessary to strengthen the special management of dust and industry supervision in mining industry, intensify follow-up work for pneumoconiosis cases, reinforce the construction of pneumoconiosis rehabilitation station in key regions, and improve the quality of life of pneumoconiosis cases.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics and spectrum of SPTB gene variants among 16 Chinese children with Hereditary spherocytosis (HS) and explore their genotype-phenotype correlation. METHODS: Sixteen children who were diagnosed with HS at the Affiliated Hospital of Capital Institute of Pediatrics from November 2018 to July 2022 were selected as the research subjects. Genetic testing was carried out by whole exome sequencing. Candidate variants were verified by Sanger sequencing and subjected to bioinformatic analysis and prediction of 3D structure of the protein. Correlation between the SPTB genotypes and clinical phenotypes was analyzed using Chi-squared test. RESULTS: The male-to-female ratio of the HS patients was 6 : 10, with the median age being 7-year-and-10-month. Clinical features of the patients have included anemia, reticulocytosis and gradual onset of splenomegaly. Mild, moderate and severe anemia have respectively occurred in 56.25% (9/16), 31.25% (5/16) and 12.50% (2/16) of the patients. SPTB gene variants were detected in all patients, among which 10 were unreported previously and 7 were de novo in origin. Loss of function (LOF) variants accounted for 93.75% (15/16). Only one missense variant was detected. Eleven, 4 and 1 of the variants had occurred in the repeat domain, CH1 domain, and dimerization domain, respectively. There was no significant correlation between the type or domain of the SPTB gene variants with the clinical features such as severity of anemia (x² = 3.345, P > 0.05). All of the variants were predicted to be pathogenic or likely pathogenic based on the guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. CONCLUSION Mild to moderate anemia are predominant clinical features of the HS children harboring a SPTB gene variant, for which LOF variants are the main mutational type. The clinical feature of HS is unaffected by the type of the variants.
Child ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Computational Biology ; Genetic Testing ; Genomics ; Genotype ; Spherocytosis, Hereditary/genetics* ; East Asian People/genetics* ; Spectrin/genetics*

Although somatic cells can be reprogrammed to pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) with pure chemicals, authentic pluripotency of chemically induced pluripotent stem cells (CiPSCs) has never been achieved through tetraploid complementation assay. Spontaneous reprogramming of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) was another non-transgenic way to obtain PSCs, but this process lacks mechanistic explanation. Here, we reconstructed the trajectory of mouse SSC reprogramming and developed a five-chemical combination, boosting the reprogramming efficiency by nearly 80- to 100-folds. More importantly, chemical induced germline-derived PSCs (5C-gPSCs), but not gPSCs and chemical induced pluripotent stem cells, had authentic pluripotency, as determined by tetraploid complementation. Mechanistically, SSCs traversed through an inverted pathway of in vivo germ cell development, exhibiting the expression signatures and DNA methylation dynamics from spermatogonia to primordial germ cells and further to epiblasts. Besides, SSC-specific imprinting control regions switched from biallelic methylated states to monoallelic methylated states by imprinting demethylation and then re-methylation on one of the two alleles in 5C-gPSCs, which was apparently distinct with the imprinting reprogramming in vivo as DNA methylation simultaneously occurred on both alleles. Our work sheds light on the unique regulatory network underpinning SSC reprogramming, providing insights to understand generic mechanisms for cell-fate decision and epigenetic-related disorders in regenerative medicine.
Male ; Mice ; Animals ; Cellular Reprogramming/genetics* ; Tetraploidy ; Pluripotent Stem Cells/metabolism* ; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells/metabolism* ; DNA Methylation ; Spermatogonia/metabolism* ; Germ Cells/metabolism*

Diabetic kidney disease is one of the complications of diabetes,which can progress to end-stage renal disease.In recent years,it has been found that miRNAs have become a research hotspot,with miRNA-21 regulating transforming growth factor β1(TGF-β1)/Smads,phosphoinositide 3-kinase(PI3K)/protein kinase B(AKT),Wnt/β-catenin and other signaling pathways to promote the progress of diabetic kidney disease.Studies have showed that traditional Chinese medicine has a regulatory effect on the expression of miRNA-21 and can target miRNA-21 to regulate TGF-β1/Smads,phosphatase and tensin homolog/PI3K/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR),peroxisome proliferator activated receptors and other signal transduction pathways to trigger signal cascade reactions,which intervene in pathological processes such as fibrosis,inflammation,oxidative stress and autophagy.In this article,the role of miRNA-21 in diabetic kidney disease and the intervention of traditional Chinese medicine were summarized,in order to provide some reference for the treatment of diabetic kidney disease and the development of new drugs.

Cervical cancer is a common malignant tumor of female reproductive system. The treatment of cervical cancer is based on surgery and radiotherapy (or concurrent chemoradiation). Lower extremity lymphedema (LEL) is a frequent complication after cervical cancer treatment, which significantly affects the quality of life of patients. Both pelvic surgery and radiation for cervical cancer can lead to LEL. The risk factors for LEL are complicated and involving characteristics regarding patient (age, comorbidities, lifestyle, etc.), tumor [International Federation of gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, lymph node metastasis, etc.], and treatment (number of resected lymph nodes, removal of circumflex iliac nodes, adjuvant therapy, etc.). Comprehensive measures are proposed to prevent cervical cancer patients from LEL, and further investigations in terms of effectiveness are warranted.

Copy number variants (CNVs) are common causes of human genetic diseases. CNVs detection has become a routine component of genetic testing, especially for pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders, multiple congenital abnormalities, prenatal evaluation of fetuses with structural anomalies detected by ultrasound. Although the technologies for CNVs detection are continuously improving, the interpretation is still challenging, with significant discordance across different laboratories. In 2020, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) and the Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) developed a guideline for the interpreting and reporting of constitutional copy number variants, which introduced a quantitative, evidence-based scoring framework. Here, we detailed the key points of interpreting the copy number gain based on the guideline, used six examples of different categories to illuminate the scoring process and principles. We encourage a professional understanding and application of this guideline for the detected copy number gains in China in order to further improve the clinical evaluation accuracy and consistency across different laboratories.
Child ; DNA Copy Number Variations ; Female ; Genetic Testing ; Genetics, Medical ; Genome, Human/genetics* ; Genomics ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; United States