Morphology and epidemiological study of idiopathic scoliosis among primary school students in Chaozhou, China

BACKGROUND@#Idiopathic scoliosis (IS) affects patients' quality of life, yet there have been few reports of its morphology and epidemiological study in the southeast region of China. The aim of this study is to access the curve characteristics, prevalence, and factors associated with IS in Chaozhou city.@*METHODS@#A cross-sectional study was performed in 2018, in which scoliosis screening was conducted among 5497 primary school students in Chaozhou city. Then, a case-control study based on the screening involving 2547 children was followed for the exploration of the associated factors. The questionnaires covering demographic characteristics, postural habits, cognition and self-sensation of scoliosis, and physical conditions were addressed for the investigation. ORs with 95%CIs were calculated based on logistic regression analysis to evaluate the factors associated with scoliosis.@*RESULTS@#The prevalence of IS among primary school students was 6.15% in Chaozhou city, with 4.04% for males and 8.71% for females. The average Cobb angle was 15° (range 8 to 37°). Multiple logistic regression analysis suggested that female (OR=2.45), BMI (OR=0.67), having myopia (OR=1.49), self-sensation of scoliosis with symptoms (OR=5.52), insufficient sleep time (OR=2.65, 3.33), and less exercise time (OR=7.09, 7.29) were significantly associated with IS.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The prevalence of IS among primary school students in Chaozhou was at an average level, and it was significantly higher in females than in males. Lower body mass, having myopia, insufficient sleep time, and lower physical activity were associated with IS.

The effect of paclitaxel on the peripheral blood lymphocytes in early stage breast cancer / 中国癌症杂志

Background and purpose:Immunity function is one of the most profound factors in affecting the prognosis of breast cancer patients. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes counts in the peripheral blood and focal tumor tissue could indicate the overall survival time of these patients. On the other hand, adjuvant chemotherapy is also an important part in improving both the disease free survival and overall survival time of breast cancer patients. Selecting chemotherapy regime which is both able to kill all the tumor cells and reserve the immunity function to the greatest extent is of great importance in improving the survival rate of breast cancer patients. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of two chemotherapy regimens CEF (cyclophosphamide, epirubicin and lfuorouracil) and EC followed by P (paclitaxel) on the peripheral blood lymphocytes in early stage breast cancer. Methods:The clinicopathological characteristics and peripheral blood lymphocyte parameters before and after chemotherapy of CEF or EC-P regimen were retrospectively analyzed in post-operate patients with early stage breast cancer during the period from Nov. 2012 to May 2013. The lymphocyte parameters included: total blood lymphocytes count, percentages of T lymphocytes, cytotoxic T lymphocytes, helper T lymphocytes, active T lymphocytes and nature killer (NK) cells. Results: Patients undertook EC-P regimen were those at comparably high risk (signiifcant differences of clinical stage, tumor size, axillary lymph node status, estrogen/progestogen receptor and histological subtype were observed). There was no difference of lymphocyte parameters between these two groups before adjuvant chemotherapy. However, during the process of chemotherapy, peripheral blood lymphocytes counts decreased signiifcantly after 4 and 5 cycles of chemotherapy of CEF regime (1 077±359/μL;1 181±271/μL) compared with the level before chemotherapy (1 607±322/μL, P0.05). Percentage of active T lymphocyte increased signiifcantly along with the chemotherapy in both groups (CEF group:11.8±7.1 vs 23±9.3, P<0.05;EC-P group:11.8±5.8 vs 17.6±8.2, P<0.05) (pre-chemotherapy vs after 5 cycles of chemotherapy). In EC-P group, the percentage of helper T lymphocyte (37.8±5.7) decreased significantly compared with the levels before chemotherapy (41.3±4.3) and before paclitaxel was undertaken (41.9±5.6, P<0.05) and the percentage of NK cells (21.5±5.2) increased significantly compared with the levels before chemotherapy (15.3±7.6) and before paclitaxel was undertaken (14.9±5.9, P<0.01) after one cycle of paclitaxel therapy. Conclusion:The effect of chemotherapy on peripheral blood lymphocyte is less profound in EC-P group compared to CEF group. Furthermore, paclitaxel can increase the NK cells without any effect to the levels of T lymphocytes and cytotoxic T lymphocyte. It is superior over other drug in conserving immune function in early stage breast cancer.