ABSTRACT
Objective@#To analyze the prevalence of elevated blood pressure among primary and middle school students in Anhui Province in 2022, as well as its influencing factors, so as to provide scientific evidence for the development of effective measures to prevent and control elevated blood pressure among children and adolescents.@*Methods@#Using data from the 2022 "Monitoring of Common Diseases and health Influencing Factors of Students" in Anhui Province, a total of 210 360 primary and middle school students aged 7 to 17 with complete information. Statistical analysis, including independent sample t tests, analysis of variance, and Chi square tests, were conducted to compare blood pressure differences and prevalence rates among students with different characteristics. Generalized linear mixed models were established to analyze the influencing factors of elevated blood pressure in children and adolescents.@*Results@#The overall prevalence of elevated blood pressure among primary and middle school students in Anhui Province was 22.3%, higher among high school students (25.6%) and junior high school students ( 23.7%) than elementary school students (20.4%) ( χ 2=528.49, P < 0.01 ); higher among obese(33.3%) and overweight students (24.9%) than that of normal students (18.6%) ( χ 2=3 704.52, P <0.01), higher among rural students (23.1%) than urban students (21.4%) ( χ 2=83.39, P <0.01), and higher in the northern part of Anhui Province (26.9%) than in the central part (21.9%) and southern part (17.6%) ( χ 2=1 777.51, P <0.01). The generalized linear mixed models revealed that girls, high school stage, overweight, obese, living in the northern part of Anhui Province, and living in rural were all positively correlated with elevated blood pressure( OR =1.11，1.25，1.47，1.45，2.24，1.21，1.67， P <0.01).@*Conclusions@#The prevalence of elevated blood pressure among children and adolescents in Anhui Province is the highest in the country. It is recommended that relevant departments promptly formulate corresponding measures to curb the increasing trend of elevated blood pressure and protect the physical and mental health of children and adolescents.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Cancer-testis antigen (CTA) is a family of the most noticeable tumor antigens which could be potential tumor markers for cancer diagnosis. In this research we aimed to investigate the expression of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA, two members of the CTA family, in tissue and peripheral blood of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to assess their feasibility for the immunotherapy and diagnosis of HCC and the association of their expression levels with diverse clinical indicators.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty-six north Chinese patients with HCC and 30 normal controls were enrolled in this study. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA in tumor tissues and corresponding levels in peripheral blood of patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positive rates of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA expression were 61.1% (22/36) and 11.1% (4/36), respectively, in cancer tissues; 38.9% (14/36) and 5.6% (2/36), respectively, in the corresponding peripheral blood samples. No positive expression of either SSX-1 or NY-ESO-1 mRNA was detected in the samples of cancer-adjacent tissues, cirrhotic tissues, normal liver tissue or the peripheral blood of control patients. No significant relationship was found between the expression of these two genes and clinical indicators such as age, gender, tumor size, extent of differentiation, serum a-fetoprotein (AFP) level or infection with hepatitis B virus (P > 0.05). The short term recurrence rate was 46.2% (6/13) in patients whose peripheral blood expressed SSX-1 mRNA, while the recurrence rate in patients with negative SSX-1 mRNA was 28.6% (4/14).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 antigens might be new potentially promising targets for antigen-specific immunotherapy for HCC. High specific expression of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA suggested that we could apply them as tumor markers. The short term recurrence rate was significantly higher in patients whose peripheral blood expressed SSX-1 mRNA, suggesting that SSX-1 mRNA could be used as indicator for recurrence, metastasis and prognosis of HCC.</p>