Breakfast consumption behaviors of senior primary school students from agricultrual and pastoral areas of Qinghai Province / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To examine breakfast consumption among primary school students in grades 4 and 5 in Qinghai Province, China, and to provide evidence for nutrition education and intervention strategies.@*Methods@#We used a multistage stratified cluster random sampling method to select the participants. A total of 969 students were selected from 10 primary schools in four counties and districts of three cities, namely Haidong City, Hainan Prefecture and Haixi Prefecture in Qinghai Province. A self rated questionnaire was administered to investigate breakfast consumption.@*Results@#The proportion of students who consumed breakfast 5 to 7 times per week, 3 or 4 times per week, and 1 or 2 times per week were 82.0%, 9.7%, and 6.7%, respectively, while 1.5% never ate breakfast. In descending order, the breakfast food types consumed were cereals and tubers; milk, legumes and nuts; vegetables and fruits; fish and poultry; and meat and eggs (84.1%, 69.8%, 66.8%, and 37.7%, respectively). The proportion of vegetables and fruits in the breakfast of grade 5 students was higher than that of grade 4 students( χ 2=4.81, P = 0.03 ), the proportion of fish, poultry,meat and eggs in county urban areas was higher than that of students in rural( χ 2=6.94, P =0.03), while the proportion of vegetables and fruits in urban areas was lower than that of students in suburban areas( χ 2=53.33, P <0.01). The proportion of breakfast food containing fish,poultry,meat and eggs of boarding students was higher than that of non boarding students( χ 2=41.26, P <0.01), while the proportion of breakfast food containing vegetables and fruits, milk & legumens & nuts was lower than that of non-boarding students( χ 2=21.11, 4.41, P <0.01). A total of 44.8% of students had a poor quality breakfast, and only 16.3% had a good quality breakfast. Moreover, 47.5% of breakfasts were prepared by mothers, followed by the school canteen which prepared 29.9%. Except for students in different grades, there were statistically significant differences in the distribution of breakfast preparers in other groups( P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#In Qinghai Province,breakfast skipping is observed in some senior primary school students, and the quality of breakfast is poor. Diet and nutrition education should be provided for students, parents, and school canteen staff to improve the frequency and nutritional quality of children s breakfasts.

Status of snack behavior of senior primary school students in agricultural and pastoral areas of Qinghai Province / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To understand the current situation regarding snack food consumption among grade 4 and grade 5 primary school students in agricultural and pastoral areas of Qinghai Province, China, and to provide a scientific basis for nutrition education and intervention strategies.@*Methods@#Multistage stratified cluster random sampling was employed. The research included 969 fourth and fifth grade students were selected from 10 primary schools in four counties and districts of three cities in Haidong City, Hainan Prefecture and Haixi Prefecture in Qinghai Province. The self report questionnaire method was used to investigate the current status regarding snack food consumption in this population.@*Results@#The proportion of students who consumed snack food at home, school and elsewhere were 98.2%, 88.5% and 75.4%, respectively. Male students reported a lower rate of snack consumption at school than female students ( χ 2=9.66). The fifth grade students reported a higher rate of snack consumption at home and other places than the fourth grade students ( χ 2=10.31, 6.77). The reported rate of snack consumption of students in the rural was higher than that in the county( χ 2=6.03,100.53, 24.77). The reported rate of snack consumption of boarding students at home was lower than that of non-boarding students ( χ 2=7.22), while the reported rate of snack consumption at school was higher than that of non-boarding students ( χ 2=9.04）（ P <0.01). The most popular snacks consumed at home included fruits and vegetables, cereals and nuts (76.9%, 67.2%, 63.7%), while the most popular snacks consumed at school were fruits and vegetables, cereals and candies (45.1%, 36.9%, 24.4%). The most popular snacks consumed in other settings included ice cream, candies and beverages(54.7%, 51.6%, 42.9%). The top three reasons for snacking were that snacks were regarded as delicious, healthy/nutritious and clean (76.9%, 65.5% and 59.0%, respectively).@*Conclusion@#Snacking is popular among students, although many snacks are unhealthy. Therefore, there is a need to improve food environments and nutrition education, so as to help students to choose healthy beverages and adopt healthy eating behaviors.

Arbuscular mycorrhiza mitigates zinc stress on Eucalyptus grandis through regulating metal tolerance protein gene expression and ionome uptake.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are symbionts of most terrestrial plants and enhance their adaptability in metal-contaminated soils. In this study, mycorrhized and non-mycorrhized Eucalyptus grandis were grown under different Zn treatments. After 6 weeks of treatment, the growing status and ionome content of plants as well as the expression patterns of metal tolerance proteins and auxin biosynthesis-related genes were measured. In this study, mycorrhized E. grandis showed higher biomass and height at a high level of Zn compared with non-mycorrhized plants. In addition, AM plants accumulated P, Mg, and Mn in roots and P, Fe, and Cu in shoots, which indicate that AM fungi facilitate the uptake of ionome nutrients to promote plant growth. In addition, mycorrhiza upregulated the expression of EgMTP1 and EgMTP7, whose encoding proteins were predicted to be located at the vacuolar membrane. Meanwhile, Golgi membrane transporter EgMTP5 was also induced in AM shoot. Our results suggest that AM likely mitigates Zn toxicity through sequestrating excess Zn into vacuolar and Golgi. Furthermore, the expression of auxin biosynthesis-related genes was facilitated by AM, and this is probably another approach for Zn tolerance.

Genetic polymorphisms of CYP2D6*10 and the effectiveness of combined tamoxifen citrate and testosterone undecanoate treatment in infertile men with idiopathic oligozoospermia.

Tamoxifen citrate, as the first line of treatment for infertile men with idiopathic oligozoospermia, was proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO), and testosterone undecanoate has shown benefits in semen values. Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of treatment with tamoxifen citrate and testosterone undecanoate in infertile men with idiopathic oligozoospermia, and whether the results would be affected by polymorphisms of CYP2D6*10. A total of 230 infertile men and 147 controls were included in the study. Patients were treated with tamoxifen citrate and testosterone undecanoate. Sex hormone, sperm parameters, and incidence of spontaneous pregnancy were detected. There were no significant differences between the control and patient groups with respect to CYP2D6*10 genotype frequencies (P>0.05). The follicle-stimulation hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and testosterone (T) levels were raised, and sperm concentration and motility were increased at 3 months and became significant at 6 months, and they were higher in the wild-type allele (C/C) than in the heterozygous variant allele (C/T) or homozygous variant allele (T/T) subgroups (P<0.05). In addition, the percentage of normal morphology was raised at 6 months, and represented the highest percentage in the C/C subgroup (P<0.05). The incidence of spontaneous pregnancy in the C/C subgroup was higher than that in the C/T or T/T subgroups (P<0.01). This study showed that the CYP2D6*10 variant genotype demonstrated worse clinical effects in infertile men with idiopathic oligozoospermia.

[Clinical evaluation of BTAstat, NMP22, HA, survivin, CD44v6, vEGF and VUC in bladder cancer diagnosis].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of BTAstat, NMP22, HA, Survivin, CD44v6, VEGF, and VUC in detection of bladder cancer. METHODS: We detect VUC, BTAstat, NMP22, HA, Survivin, CD44v6, VEGF in the urine of 10 normal case (healthy volunteers), 11 benign urological diseases patients and 52 bladder cancer patients. The sensitivity, specificity the coefficient of variation, the examining time duration and the checking costs of each marker and combined markers were assessed to evaluate the clinical value. RESULTS: There is a significant difference between the cancer group and the two control groups. The overall sensitivity and specificity of urinary tumor markers were: 42.3% and 100% for VUC; 78.8% and 90.5% for BTAstat; 76.9% and 81.0% for NMP22; 86.5% and 90.5% for HA; 67.3% and 85.7% for Survivin; 50.5% and 85.7% for CD44 and 69.2% and 95.2% for VEGF. The highest sensitivity of combined markers was 96.2% for NMP22 + HA and HA + CD44v6, whereas the lowest sensitivity of combined markers was 67.3% for VUC + CD44v6. The highest specificity (95.2%) was the combined use of VUC + NMP22 and combined use of VUC + VEGF, whereas, method that achieved the lowest specificity (66.7%) was the combined use of HA + Survivin. The most convenient examining method was the detection for BTAstat; the lowest cost examining method was the detection for HA; methods which had the best repeatability were the detection for BTAstat and urine cytology examination. CONCLUSION: Each marker had achieved its obvious clinical value in diagnosis of bladder cancer. The sensitivity of all the markers was increased with the progression of tumor grades and clinical stages, except the CD44v6. The combined use of BATstat and HA is the best examining method concerning sensitivity, specificity, feasibility and cost in each different method.