Effect of smoking and genetic polymorphisms interaction on the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma / 上海预防医学

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma （ESCC） is a malignant tumor caused by both environmental and genetic factors. Epidemiology studies have identified smoking as a major environmental risk factor. In recent years， the advancement of genomics research has led to the recognition of the influence of genetic variation in ESCC. We reviewed the research progress in smoking， genetic polymorphism and their interaction on susceptibility to ESCC. Reducing exposure time to tobacco was found to be the most effective way to reduce the risk. At the genetic level， mutations in DNA repair genes， regulation genes of carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes， cell cycle regulation genes， folate metabolism related genes， and alcohol metabolism related genes were found to significantly increase the risk of ESCC. However， studies on the interaction between smoking and genetic polymorphisms in ESCC risk are still limited， more studies are needed for better screening of the high-risk populations and the prevention.

Effect of smoking and genetic polymorphisms interaction on the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma / 上海预防医学

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma （ESCC） is a malignant tumor caused by both environmental and genetic factors. Epidemiology studies have identified smoking as a major environmental risk factor. In recent years， the advancement of genomics research has led to the recognition of the influence of genetic variation in ESCC. We reviewed the research progress in smoking， genetic polymorphism and their interaction on susceptibility to ESCC. Reducing exposure time to tobacco was found to be the most effective way to reduce the risk. At the genetic level， mutations in DNA repair genes， regulation genes of carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes， cell cycle regulation genes， folate metabolism related genes， and alcohol metabolism related genes were found to significantly increase the risk of ESCC. However， studies on the interaction between smoking and genetic polymorphisms in ESCC risk are still limited， more studies are needed for better screening of the high-risk populations and the prevention.

Correlation analysis of takeaway food consumption and sleep disturbance among college students in Jiangxi Province / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate the correlation between takeaway food consumption and poor sleep status of college students in Jiangxi Province, to provide a theoretical basis for poor sleep prevention and intervention among college students.@*Methods@#A total of 2 610 college students were selected from a university in Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province by cluster stratified random sampling in May of 2018. The frequency and type of takeaway food consumption, sleep quality and drowsiness were investigated.@*Results@#The detection rate of takeaway food consumption behavior(≥4 times in a week) for college students was 74.8%. The detection rates of poor sleep quality and drowsiness were 17.0% and 18.3%, respectively. The difference of sleep quality was statistically significant with sex, college, different self rated family conditions, study burden, physical activity level, depression and daily smoking ( χ 2=4.33，8.67，23.14，39.03，12.89，313.37，15.23， P <0.05). There were statistically significant differences between drowsiness and college, grade, learning burden, physical activity and depression ( χ 2=12.81，6.57，20.61，8.42，228.06， P <0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that takeaway consumption (≥4 times in a week) had statistical significance with poor sleep quality and drowsiness ( P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#College students takeaway consumption (≥4 times in a week) of rice noodles, malatang, fragrant pot hot pot increase the risk of poor sleep. It is suggested that schools should strengthen nutrition and health education for college students.

Relationship between behavior and lifestyle of left-behind children and anxiety symptoms in Shangrao City / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To analyze the correlation between behavior and lifestyle factors and anxiety symptoms of left-behind children, and to provide evidence for mental health intervention of left-behind children.@*Methods@#1 188 children aged from 13 to 18 (617 non-left-behind children and 571 left-behind children) in B County of Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province were evaluated with Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7). Meanwhile, physical activity, TV watching time, computer usage time, dietary behavior, sleep and other behavioral lifestyle factors of left-behind children were investigated by questionnaire.@*Results@#The detection rate of anxiety among left-behind children (66.0%) was higher than that of non-left-behind children (60.5%). The detection rates of mild, moderate, and severe anxiety were 26.3%, 15.4% and 24.3%, respectively. Under the condition of controlling age and gender, Logistic regression analysis showed that left-behind childrens anxiety symptoms and computer usage time>3 h/d (mild anxiety, OR=3.00, 95%CI=1.27-4.16; moderate anxiety, OR=4.09, 95%CI=1.55-10.78; severe anxiety, OR=3.44, 95%CI=1.46-8.11), mobile phone usage time >3 h/d (mild anxiety, OR=4.93, 95%CI=2.71-8.94; moderate anxiety, OR=5.93, 95%CI=2.98-11.79; severe anxiety, OR=7.11, 95%CI=3.85-13.15), skipping breakfast behavior (moderate anxiety, often skipping, OR=6.09, 95%CI=1.59-23.36; severe anxiety, often skipping, OR=5.49, 95%CI =1.68-7.97, sometimes eat breakfast, OR=2.68, 95%CI=1.10-6.53) was positively correlated; with appropriate sleeping time (moderate anxiety, OR=0.28, 95%CI=0.13-0.60) was negatively correlated.@*Conclusion@#The unhealthy behavior and lifestyle of left-behind children may be a potential risk factor for anxiety symptoms.

Effect of artemisinin-piperaquine treatment on the electrocardiogram of malaria patients

Abstract INTRODUCTION: Concern regarding the cardiotoxicity of antimalarials has been renewed because of their potential to cause QT/QTc interval prolongation related to torsade de pointes (TdP). Artemisinin-piperaquine (AP) is considered an effective artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for malaria. METHODS: This study involved a retrospective analysis of clinical data of 93 hospitalized malaria patients who had received AP orally. Electrocardiograms (ECGs) were obtained at specific time points in the original study. RESULTS: Some cases of QT prolongation were observed. However, no TdP was found. CONCLUSIONS: AP may cause QT interval prolongation in some malaria patients but may not lead to TdP.

Exploration of gene functions for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma using network-based guilt by association principle

Gene networks have been broadly used to predict gene functions based on guilt by association (GBA) principle. Thus, in order to better understand the molecular mechanisms of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), our study was designed to use a network-based GBA method to identify the optimal gene functions for ESCC. To identify genomic bio-signatures for ESCC, microarray data of GSE20347 were first downloaded from a public functional genomics data repository of Gene Expression Omnibus database. Then, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between ESCC patients and controls were identified using the LIMMA method. Afterwards, construction of differential co-expression network (DCN) was performed relying on DEGs, followed by gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis based on a known confirmed database and DEGs. Eventually, the optimal gene functions were predicted using GBA algorithm based on the area under the curve (AUC) for each GO term. Overall, 43 DEGs and 67 GO terms were gained for subsequent analysis. GBA predictions demonstrated that 13 GO functions with AUC>0.7 had a good classification ability. Significantly, 6 out of 13 GO terms yielded AUC>0.8, which were determined as the optimal gene functions. Interestingly, there were two GO categories with AUC>0.9, which included cell cycle checkpoint (AUC=0.91648), and mitotic sister chromatid segregation (AUC=0.91597). Our findings highlight the clinical implications of cell cycle checkpoint and mitotic sister chromatid segregation in ESCC progression and provide the molecular foundation for developing therapeutic targets.

Effects of formyl peptide receptor 1 antagonist Boc2 on malignant biological behaviors of human lung adenocarcinoma cells under hypoxia conditions / 中国肿瘤生物治疗杂志

@#[Abstract] Objective: To investigate the effects of FPR1 (formyl peptide receptor 1) antagonist Boc2 on migration, invasion, proliferation and tumorigenicity of human lung adenocarcinoma cells under hypoxia conditions. Methods: The protein expressions of hypoxia inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) and FPR1 in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells induced by hypoxia was detected by Western blotting. FPR1 antagonist Boc2 was used to treat the hypoxia-induced A549 cells in vitro. The cells were divided into three groups: control group (cultured under normoxic condition), hypoxia group and hypoxia+Boc2 treatment group. Cell scratch test, transwell matrigel invasion assay and MTT method were used to detect the migration, invasion and proliferation of each group of cells, respectively. The A549 cells of each group were inoculated into nude mice to prepare xenograft model.After 4 weeks, the nude mice were sacrificed, and the differences in average tumor volume and mass, tumor formation rate, the expression of migration-related protein-E-cadherin (E-cad) and invasion-related protein-matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) were analyzed. Results: Hypoxia induction can promote the expression of FPR1 protein in A549 cells in a time-dependent manner (P<0.05). The results of cell experiments showed that the ability of migration, invasion and proliferation of cells in hypoxia group were significantly higher than those in control group (P<0.01); while compared with hypoxia group, Boc2 treatment significantly inhibited the migration, invasion and proliferation of A549 cells (P<0.05). The results of nude mice experiments showed that the average volume and mass of nude mice in hypoxia group were significantly higher than those in the control group (all P<0.01). But the mean volume and mass of nude mice in hypoxia+Boc2 treatment group were significantly lower than those in the hypoxia group (all P<0.01). The rate of tumor formation in nude mice of hypoxia group was 100.0% (15/ 15), which was significantly higher than 60.0% (9/15) in the control group (χ2=7.500, P=0.006) and 73.3% (11/15) in the hypoxia + Boc2 treatment group (χ2=4.615, P=0.032). The expression of E-cad and MMP-9 protein in hypoxia group was significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.01), while Boc2 treatment significantly decreased the expression of E-cad and MMP-9 protein in hypoxia group (P<0.05). Conclusions: FPR1 antagonist Boc2 can significantly inhibit the migration, invasion, proliferation and tumorigenicity of hypoxia-induced human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells, indicating that FPR1 plays an important role in the development and progression of human lung adenocarcinoma and may become a potential target of human lung adenocarcinoma treatment.

Psychological Factors Are Closely Associated with the Bell's Palsy: A Case-control Study / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

To observe the differences in psychological status between Bell's palsy (BP) patients and healthy subjects,and to examine the relationship between psychological factors and the severity of BP,we conducted a case-control,multi-center clinical investigation.A total of 695 subjects were assigned to the case group (n=355) and the control group (n=340).House-Brackmann grading system and Facial Disability Index (FDI) were adopted to assess the BP patients; Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and 16 Personality Factor (16PF) scale were employed to evaluate the psychological distress and personality profiles of all subjects.Two independent samples t test was used to compare the differences between cases and controls,and to compare the differences among different BP patients.Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between psychological factors and severity of facial paralysis.The results showed that psychological distress (K1 0) in case group (27.09±5.80) was significantly higher than that in control group (13.43±3.02) (t-37.219,P0.000).The scores of personality factor Warmth (A),Openness to Change (Q1),Self-Reliance (Q2) were lower in cases than in the controls (P＜0.01,P＜0.05,P＜0.05,respectively),whereas the scores of Sensitivity (I),Vigilance (L),Apprehension (O),and Tension (Q4) were significantly higher in cases than in the controls (P＜0.05,P＜0.01,P＜0.01,P＜0.01,respectively).In addition,the psychological distress was significantly higher in female patients,severe (HB score Ⅳ-Ⅵ) patients,and subacute (onset time 72-168 h) patients compared with that in male patients,mild (HB score Ⅰ -Ⅲ) patients,and acute (onset time≤72 h) patients (P＜0.05).The scores of personality factor in female patients,severe patients,and subacute patients were also significantly different from male patients,mild patients,and acute patients (P＜0.05).The result of Pearson correlation analysis showed that psychological factors (K10,personality A,F,L,N,O,Q4) were closely related to HB scores.We are led to conclude that the psychological status between BP patients and healthy people are different; psychological distress and personality factors are closely associated with severity of facial paralysis.