Breast milk lead and cadmium levels in suburban areas of Nanjing, China / 中国医学科学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate levels of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) in the breast milk in the second postpartum month, to investigate the relationship between Pb/Cd levels in breast milk and some sociodemographic parameters, and to explore whether these levels affect the infants' physical status or the mothers' psychological status (postpartum depression).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2009 and December 2010. Altogether 170 healthy mothers were enrolled from Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital. The inclusion criteria were: voluntary to participate in this study, healthy, with no chronic disease, breastfeeding in the second postpartum month, living in a suburban but not non-industrial area of Nanjing, and not occupationally exposed to toxic metals. All the mothers completed a questionnaire and were evaluated based on the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) to identify the risk of postpartum depression. Pb and Cd levels in breast milk were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. The infants of these mothers were examined for their z scores of weight for age, length for age, head circumference for age, and body mass index for age.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The median breast milk levels of Pb and Cd were 40.6 μg/L and 0.67 μg/L, respectively. In 164 (96.5%) of the 170 samples, Pb levels were higher than the limit reported by the World Health Organization (> 5 μg/L). Breast milk Cd level was > 1 μg/L in 54 (31.8%) mothers. The mothers with a history of anemia had a higher breast milk Pb level than those without a history of anemia (41.1 μg/L vs. 37.9 μg/L, P = 0.050). The median breast milk Cd level in those who were active and passive smokers during pregnancy was significantly higher than that in non-smokers (0.88 μg/L vs. 0.00 μg/L, P = 0.025). The breast milk Cd level in the mothers not taking iron and vitamin supplements for 2 months postpartum was higher than in those taking the supplements (iron supplement: 0.74 μg/L vs. 0.00 μg/L, P = 0.025; vitamin supplement: 0.78 μg/L vs. 0.00 μg/L, P = 0.005). Breast milk Cd level at the second postpartum month was negatively correlated with the z scores of head circumference (r = - 0.248, P = 0.042) and weight for age at birth (r =- 0.241, P = 0.024) in girls. No correlation was found between the breast milk Pb/Cd levels and the EPDS scores.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Considering the high levels of Pb and Cd in breast milk in this study, breast milk monitoring programs are necessary.</p>

Professor XU Rui-Zheng's experience in clinical diagnosis and treatment of auricular acupuncture / 中国针灸

Professor XU Rui-Zheng's experience in clinical diagnosis and treatment of auricular acupuncture are introduced. He is good at using auricular acupuncture to treat various diseases and symptoms, and he has rich experience in treatment of difficult and complicated cases, reflecting both syndrome differentiation treatment and an organic conception of the human body in treatment, with obviously clinical effect. He sums up clinical experience of many years, attaining the experience of ten wards, i.e. observation, touching, searching, detection, questioning, treatment program, pressing, treatment, regulation, advance.

Inhibitory effect of KAI1 gene on breast cancer cell growth in vitro / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the inhibitory effect of KAI1 gene on breast cancer cell growth in vitro.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Highly metastatic human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 was transfected with pCMV-KAI1 or mock transfected plasmid pCMV with lipofectamine. Western blot was used to determine the expression of target protein of KAI1. The proliferative ability of cells was tested by MTT assay and colony-forming test. The cell cycle pattern was assayed by flow cytometry. The metastatic ability was investigated by cell adhesion and invasion assays.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A stable cell clone transfected with KAI1 gene was obtained and over-expression of KAI1 protein was observed. There was a significant decline in cell proliferative ability of pCMV-KAI1 transfected MDA-MB-231 cells in comparison with the mock-transfected ones and non-transfected ones, revealed by MTT assay and colony-forming test (P < 0.05). The ability of adherence and invasion of pCMV-KAI1 transfected cells was significantly reduced in comparison with the other two groups (P < 0.05). Also, flow cytometry analysis revealed that in KAI1 transfected cell group the number of cells in G0/G1 phase increased markedly from 36.78% +/- 0.61% to 64.00% +/- 7.56%, while the number of cells in G2/M phase decreased from 17.88% +/- 0.76% to 7.63% +/- 0.60%, comparing with the non-transfected ones.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>KAI1 gene suppresses the invasive ability of human breast cancer cells in vitro and may inhibit the proliferative ability by changing the cell cycle pattern.</p>