Monopolar spindle 1, also known as threonine and tyrosine kinase (TTK), is a key component of spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC). It is considered to be a monitoring mechanism to ensure mitotic fidelity and genomic stability. TTK is overexpressed in a variety of malignant tumors, and patients with low expression of TTK tend to have a longer survival time, suggesting that it may be used as a biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis. Abnormal expression of TTK often impairs the function of SAC, resulting in irregular mitosis, increased aneuploidy and mitotic disaster, thus promoting the occurrence of tumors. Current studies have shown that TTK inhibitors can inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells and increase the sensitivity of tumor cells to therapy in combination with chemotherapy or radiotherapy to achieve sensitization and attenuated effects. This article will review the research and application of TTK and its inhibitors in malignant tumors.

Objective: To examine the prevalence and trend of tobacco and e-cigarettes uses and identify the influencing factors for smoking behavior in junior middle school students in Shanghai, and provide data support and scientific basis for the development of tobacco control intervention strategy in adolescents. Methods: Multi-stage stratified random sampling method was used to select junior middle school students in 8 districts and 10 districts in Shanghai in 2013 and in 2019 respectively. Information about tobacco and e-cigarettes uses in the students were collected by using self-administrated questionnaire. The prevalence of tobacco and e-cigarettes uses were calculated, the difference between two years was compared with χ² test. The influencing factors were identified by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: In 2019, the current smoking rate was 0.6% in junior middle school students in Shanghai, and the smoking attempt rate was 2.9%, both were lower than the levels in 2013 (0.7% and 6.9%). The current use rate of e-cigarettes was 0.6% in 2019,with no significant change compared with 2013 (0.6%). The proportion of the students who had heard of e-cigarettes in 2019 (78.4%) was higher than that in 2013 (47.2%). In 2019, the second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure rate at home, in both indoor and outdoor public places and on public transportations was 72.5%, which was slightly lower than the level in 2013 (73.0%), the differences were all significant (P<0.05). In 2019, the students seeing close friend smoking (OR=27.381, 95%CI: 12.037-62.287), seeing someone smoking in school (OR=2.477, 95%CI: 1.155-5.312), believing that SHS may not be harmful (OR=8.471, 95%CI: 1.464-49.005) had higher possibility of smoking. Being aged ≥15 years (compared with being aged ≤12 years, OR=8.688, 95%CI: 1.922-39.266), exposure to SHS in outdoor public place (OR=8.608, 95%CI: 1.048-70.692), close friend smoking (OR=8.115, 95%CI: 1.754-37.545) were positively associated with e-cigarettes use, and believing that smoking results in uncomfortable social contact [compared with believing that smoking results in comfortable social contact (OR=0.105,95%CI: 0.018-0.615)] were negatively associated with e-cigarettes use, the difference was significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of tobacco and e-cigarette uses in junior middle school students in Shanghai remained at a low level in recent years. The SHS exposure rate in junior middle school students is high. Smoking behavior of junior middle school students is closely related to personal attitude and awareness of tobacco, exposure to SHS, peer smoking and the situation of tobacco control in schools. Prevention and intervention should be carried out from multi-dimensions to effectively protect teenagers from tobacco hazards.
Adolescent ; China/epidemiology* ; Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Students ; Tobacco ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution

Body Fluids ; Child ; Humans ; Middle Ear Ventilation ; Otitis Media ; Otitis Media with Effusion/surgery*

Objective To evaluate the 1-year follow-up effect of smoking cessation contest among government functionaries in Shanghai in 2015, providing evidence and basis for the effective intervention of smoking cessation. Methods A case-control study design was used for those who had quit smoking periodically, and their 1-year smoking cessation situation was investigated. Results At the 1-year follow-up after the contest, the relapse rate was 19.70%, of which 79.49% occurred within 2 months after quitting smoking.The main causes of relapse were the peer pressure and attack of smoking addiction. Conclusion After the smoking cessation contest, the 1-year follow-up relapse rate is at a low level, which indicates the contest among government functionaries in Shanghai in 2015 is effective.Education level is found to be a risk factor for relapse.

Objective To investigate the general situation, smoking status, smoking cessation status and one-month follow-up examination in Shanghai, providing scientific basis for further effective development of smoking cessation clinics in Shanghai. Methods A total of 841 smokers who visited the smoking cessation clinic from 2016 to 2018 were investigated and 725 patients were followed up one month later.The data thus obtained were analyzed by SPSS software. Results In general, of the visiting patients in 2018, 91.3% were male, 50.6% were 35-55 years old, 57.1% had educational background in primary school or below, and 60.2% were employees of enterprises, businesses and service industries.In terms of smoking, 44.1% of the patients smoked 10-20 cigarettes a day, 34.6% smoked for 10-20 years, and 38.6% smoked the first cigarette within 5 minutes after getting up.With regards to the situation of smoking cessation, 72.1% of the patients tried to quit smoking before going to the clinic; 14.8% of the patients used electronic cigarettes to help quit smoking; 33.9% learned about the smoking cessation clinic through the doctors; 61.4% decided to quit smoking because they were concerned about their health and the health of their family members.According to the follow-up, the rate of quitting smoking in one month in 2018 was 48.8%;44.0% of the patients believed that their own determination was the key to quit smoking; 46.2% of the patients who failed to quit smoking believed that if they tried to quit smoking again, the biggest obstacle was the onset of smoking addiction. Conclusion The establishment of smoking cessation clinics in Shanghai can help patients quit smoking.However, there are still some problems in this regard.In view of the characteristics of the patients going to the smoking cessation clinic, we should find out the weaknesses in the propaganda of the smoking cessation clinic in time.For example, it is found that there are fewer smoking women, less educated and less farmers visiting the clinic; according to the smoking situation of the patients, we should clearly focus on updating the service quality of the smoking cessation clinic; proceeding from the follow-up situation, we should find out the the approach to the construction and perfection of smoking cessation clinics in Shanghai.

Objective: Several COVID-19 patients have overlapping comorbidities. The independent role of each component contributing to the risk of COVID-19 is unknown, and how some non-cardiometabolic comorbidities affect the risk of COVID-19 remains unclear. Methods: A retrospective follow-up design was adopted. A total of 1,160 laboratory-confirmed patients were enrolled from nine provinces in China. Data on comorbidities were obtained from the patients' medical records. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratio ( Results: Overall, 158 (13.6%) patients were diagnosed with severe illness and 32 (2.7%) had unfavorable outcomes. Hypertension (2.87, 1.30-6.32), type 2 diabetes (T2DM) (3.57, 2.32-5.49), cardiovascular disease (CVD) (3.78, 1.81-7.89), fatty liver disease (7.53, 1.96-28.96), hyperlipidemia (2.15, 1.26-3.67), other lung diseases (6.00, 3.01-11.96), and electrolyte imbalance (10.40, 3.00-26.10) were independently linked to increased odds of being severely ill. T2DM (6.07, 2.89-12.75), CVD (8.47, 6.03-11.89), and electrolyte imbalance (19.44, 11.47-32.96) were also strong predictors of unfavorable outcomes. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease on admission (5.46, 3.25-9.19), while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes (6.58, 1.46-29.64) within two weeks. Conclusion Besides hypertension, diabetes, and CVD, fatty liver disease, hyperlipidemia, other lung diseases, and electrolyte imbalance were independent risk factors for COVID-19 severity and poor treatment outcome. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease, while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes.
Adult ; Aged ; COVID-19/virology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Severity of Illness Index ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE: To explore changes of biochemical indicators in maintenance hemodialysis patients in the last year of their survival.METHODS: Maintenance hemodialysis patients died from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2017 were screened for enrollment. They were divided into two groups according to the cause of death: CCVD group and non-CCVD group. For the enrolled patients, biochemical indexes were performed every 3 months within one year before the end of life. RESULTS: A total of 145 cases(80 males, 65 females, median age of death at age 71) were included. Patients were divided into two groups according to the causes of death: 74 cases died of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases(CCVD group) and 71 cases died of non-cardio-cerebrovascular diseases(non-CCVD group). Serum albumin and creatinine concentration were maintained at high levels in the CCVD group and serum phosphorus increased one month before death. The serum calcium compliance rate in the CCVD group was significantly lower than that in the non-CCVD group at 9 months and 6 months before death. The proportion of patients with serum calcium >2.5 mmol/L at 12 th-6 th month before death and with serum phosphorus >1.78 mmol/L at 6 th-1 st months before death was higher than that of non-CCVD group. Serum albumin and creatinine concentration remained lower level and the later decreased early and significantly in the non-CCVD group. The proportion of patients with serum phosphorus <1.13 mmol/L was higher than that of the CCVD group at 3 months and one month before death. Serum albumin in patients who died from infective diseases began to decline significantly at the time of 6 months before death and decreased by 8.57% during 6 months. Serum albumin was consistently lower than 38 g/L and 36 g/L in patients who died from cachexia syndrome and tumor respectively in the last year before death. CONCLUSION: Serum creatinine concentration, serum calcium, serum phosphorus,serum albumin and other indicators of MHD patients with different death causes within the last year of survival presented characteristic changes.

To establish a quality constant evaluation system of Alismatis Rhizoma decoction pieces,in order to provide reference for regulating the market circulation of this decoction pieces. A total of 18 batches of Alismatis Rhizoma decoction pieces were collected from different pharmaceutical factories,and the morphological parameters of each sample were tested. The content of alisol B 23-acetate in Alismatis Rhizoma decoction pieces was determined by HPLC in the 2015 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia,and the parameters such as quality constant and relative quality constant were calculated. The quality constant range of 18 batches of Alismatis Rhizoma decoction pieces was 0. 390-2. 076. If 18 batches of Alismatis Rhizoma decoction pieces were divided into 3 grades,taking 80% of the maximum quality constant as first grade,50% to 80% as second grade,and the rest as third grade,then the quality constant of firstgrade samples was ≥1. 66,the quality constant of second-grade samples was ≥1. 04 and <1. 66,and the quality constant of third-grade samples was <1. 04. The established quality constant evaluation method is objective and feasible,which can be used to classify the grade of Alismatis Rhizoma decoction pieces and provide a reference method to control the quality of this decoction pieces.
Alisma ; chemistry ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; standards ; Quality Control ; Rhizome ; chemistry

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of genipin on promoting brown adipose tissue activation and white adipose tissue browning. METHODS: The male C57BL/6J mice were divided into three groups: normal control group, genipin group and cold-stimulus group.Genipin group were treated consecutively with genipin at a dose of 15 mg/kg once a day for 9 days, normal control group were treated with the saline.The mice with cold-stimulus were exposed to 4℃ environment for 5 days.Daily food amount and body weight were measured.Morphological changes were observed in the subscapular region, inguinal region and epididymis around the adipose tissue.The expression of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) was determined by real-time PCR and Western blot respectively. RESULTS: The wet weight of white fat in genipin-treated mice was decreased by 16% , and 28% in that of cold-stimulus mice, compared with the normal control group (P＜0.05).After treatments of genipin and cold-stimulus, the color of white adipose tissues was darker, and the size of lipid droplets in adipocytes was smaller, whereas the number was increased.Compared with the normal control group, UCP1 expression was increased obviously in fat tissues, including the subcutaneous and visceral white adipose tissues, and brown adipose tissue after treated with genipin and cold-stimulus (P＜0.05). CONCLUSION Genipin promoted activation of brown adipose tissue and browning of white adipose tissue by upregulating UCP1 expression, which could contribute to the loss of body weight against obesity.
Adipose Tissue, Brown ; drug effects ; Adipose Tissue, White ; drug effects ; Animals ; Cholagogues and Choleretics ; pharmacology ; Iridoids ; pharmacology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Obesity ; drug therapy ; Uncoupling Protein 1 ; drug effects ; Up-Regulation

Objective To observe effects of warming acupuncture therapy on expressions of IL-6 and SOCS3 in spinal cord in rats with neuropathic pain; To discuss its mechanism for treating neuropathic pain. Methods Experimental rats were randomly divided into: normal group, model group, warming acupuncture and IL-6 group, with 6 rats in each group. Sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury neuralgia model was established in the model group, without intervention. After modeling for 5 days in the warming acupuncture group, "Pishu" and "Shenshu" acupoints were chosen for warming acupuncture therapy for 10 times. After modeling for 5 days in the IL-6 group, IL-6 group was successfully intrathecally injected 3 times with recombinant IL-6. After finishing all experiments, the mechanical pain behavior was measured with electronic Frye fibers. The mRNA levels of IL-6 and SOCS3 and protein concentration of spinal Iba-1were detected with ELISA and RT-PCR analysis. Results Compared with model group, mechanical withdrawal thresholdsin the warm acupuncture group significantly increased, and the content of Iba-1 decreased significantly (P<0.01); The mRNA level of IL-6 decreased significantly (P<0.01), and the mRNA level of SOCS3 significantly increased (P<0.01). Conclusion Warming acupuncture therapy can reduce the pain response in rats with neuropathic pain through inhibiting spinal cord microglial activation, down-regulating the gene expression of lL-6 and up-regulating the gene expression of SOCS3.