OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) among Chinese children aged 12-17 years. METHODS: A semi-quantitative 72-food item FFQ was developed for children aged 12-17 years. The reliability and validity of this FFQ were evaluated against 24-h dietary recalls (24 h DRs) to measure the consumption of foods and nutrients. We administered two FFQs and three DRs to children (N = 160) over a period of 1 month to evaluate the reliability and validity. Reliability was examined by quartile agreement and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), and validity was examined by quartile agreement, Bland-Altman plots and correlation with DRs. RESULTS: For reliability, the ICCs between the two FFQs ranged from 0.21 to 0.76 for foods and nutrients, and the quartile agreement ranged from 70.0% to 95.0% in the same or adjacent quartiles. Spearman's correlation coefficients of foods and nutrients between the second FFQ and the 24 h DRs ranged from -0.04 to 0.59. The Bland-Altman plots demonstrated good agreement across the range of intakes among nutrients. The quartile agreement ranged from 50.0% to 100.0%, with infrequent misclassification. CONCLUSION The FFQ assessment of dietary intakes demonstrated acceptable relative validity and high reproducibility for Chinese children aged 12-17 years.
Adolescent ; Child ; Diet Records ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Reproducibility of Results ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo summarize the clinical characteristics of peripheral blood, immune phenotypes, fusion genes and cytogenetics of patients with t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia(AML) through the retrospective analysis of 586 patients with t(8;21) AML from 15 blood disease research centers in Northern area of China.

METHODSThe factors affecting prognosis of patients with t(8;21) AML were investigated by using univariate and multivariate COX regression.

RESULTSThe immune type of t(8;21) AML patients was mainly with HLA-DR, CD117, CD34, MPO, CD38, CD13and CD33(>95%), part of them with CD19and CD56; the most common accompanied mutation of t(8;21) AML patients was C-KIT mutation (37.8%); in addition to t(8;21) ectopic, the most common chromosomal abnormality was sex chromosome deletions (38.9%). The univariate analysis revealed a significant survival superiority of OS and PFS in t(8;21) AML patients of WBC≤3.5×10/L without C-KIT mutation, the newly diagnosed ones achieved HSCT(P<0.05), only survival superiority on OS in t(8;21) AML patients with extramedullary infiltration and CD19 positive; the results of multivariate analysis showed a significant survival superiority on OS and PFS in t(8;21) AML patients with WBC≤3.5×10/L(P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe clinical features of t(8;21) AML patients in China are similar to those in other countries, WBC≤3.5×10/L is a good prognostic factor while the C-KIT mutation is a poor one in t(8;21) AML patients.

Objective:To investigate the changes of plasma VEGF levels and its relationship with efficacy of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Staging (BCLC) stage B hepatocellular carcinoma, and also discuss its possible clinical significance.Methods:Peripheral blood samples were collected at 1 d before TACE and at 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 30 d after TACE from 17 patients with BCLC stage B HCC.The relationship between plasma VEGF level and biological or imaging characteristics pre-and post-TACE were analyzed.Results:Compared with 1 day before surgery, the VEGF level at 1 day after surgery was improved, and decreased at 3 and 5 days after surgery, but increased significantly at 14 days after surgery (P<0.05).Higher levels of plasma VEGF were observed in patients with fistula between hepatic artery and portal vein, or with tumor recurrence.Good response to TACE were observed in 10 patients, 7 patients with poor response.There were significant differences between two groups on plasma VEGF level at 14 d post-TACE(P<0.05).Conclusions:The plasma VEGF level can be regarded as index to evaluate the efficacy of TACE for patients with BCLC B stage.

OBJECTIVEInactivated Sendai virus particle [hemagglutinating virus of Japan envelope (HVJ-E)] has a potential oncolytic effect due to its ability to induce apoptosis in tumor cells. However, the molecular mechanism of apoptosis induction in cancer cells mediated by HVJ-E has not been fully elucidated. This paper aims to investigate the underlying mechanism of apoptosis induction by HVJ-E in prostate cancer cells (PC3).

METHODSPC3 cells were treated with HVJ-E at various MOI, and then interferon-β (IFN-β) production, and the cell viability and apoptosis were detected by ELISA, MTT-based assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Next, the roles of Jak-Stat, MAPK and Akt pathways played in HVJ-E-induced apoptosis in PC3 cells were analyzed by immunoblot assay. To further evaluate the cytotoxic effect of HVJ-E on PC3 cells, HVJ-E was intratumorally injected into prostate cancers on BALB/c-nude mice, and the tumor volume was monitored for 36 days.

RESULTSHVJ-E induced IFN-β production and activated Jak-Stat signaling pathway, which resulted in the activation of caspase-8, caspase-3, and PARP in PC3 prostate cancer cells post HVJ-E treatment. Furthermore, we observed for the first time that p38 and Jnk MAPKs in PC3 cells contributed to HVJ-E-induced apoptosis. In addition, intratumoral HVJ-E treatment displayed a direct inhibitory effect in an in vivo BALB/c nude mouse prostate cancer model.

CONCLUSIONOur findings have provided novel insights into the underlying mechanisms by which HVJ-E induces apoptosis in tumor cells.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; Cancer Vaccines ; immunology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Oncolytic Virotherapy ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Sendai virus ; immunology ; physiology ; Vaccines, Inactivated ; immunology

Objective To study distributions of the residual stresses on blood vessel, and to provide the biomechanical basis for the finite element research on stress changes in blood vessel. Methods The semi-inverse method was used for getting distributions of residual stresses on blood vessel and the result was compared with that from Commercial Software ABAQUS. On that basis, the interaction between the vessel and implanted stent was simulated to get the influence of residual stress on blood vessel. Results Distributions of three normal stresses on blood vessel obtained from the two methods were almost consistent. It is the residual stress that led to the change of vessel stress distributions, and the position of maximal stress was transformed from the inside to the outside of the vessel. Conclusions Assuming that the vessel has homogeneity and isotropic, both the semi-inverse method and the finite element method would get the similar residual stress distributions; significant differences existed between the stress states of vessel with or without considering residual stress. The stress at the inside of vessel was reduced obviously. Consideration of residual stress will be helpful for understanding the real stress state of vessel after stent deployment and providing references for the optimization design of stent.