Control of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in urban populations: findings from a cross-sectional prevalence survey in Shenzhen, China.

The prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among urban populations is generally lower than rural residents, but the disease burden is still high. We conducted a cross-sectional prevalence survey of COPD among residents aged ≥40 years in an emerging city Shenzhen, China from September 2018 to June 2019. Through multi-stage stratified random sampling, a total of 4157 eligible participants were invited to complete a questionnaire and to take the spirometry test; 3591 with available data were enrolled in the final analysis. Individuals were diagnosed with COPD if the post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio was less than 0.7. The estimated standardized prevalence of COPD among residents over 40 years old in Shenzhen was 5.92% (95% confidential intervals [CI] 4.05-8.34). Risk factors for COPD included elder age (adjusted odds ratio 1.206, 95% CI 1.120-1.299 per 10-year increase), smoking over 20 pack-years (1.968, 1.367-2.832), history of chronic bronchitis (1.733, 1.036-2.900) or asthma (4.920, 2.425-9.982), and exposure to higher annual minimum concentrations of ambient SO2 (1.156, 1.053-1.270 per 1-µg/m3 increase). Among 280 spirometry-diagnosed patients, most (221, 78.93%) patients were classified as mild COPD (GOLD stage I). This survey found that the prevalence of COPD in Shenzhen is low and most patients had mild symptoms, thus recommended screening using spirometry in primary health care to detect early-stage COPD. Increased risk from the exposure to air pollutants also indicated the urgent need for environmental improvement in city settings.

Genome array of hair follicle genes in lambskin with different patterns.

Hu sheep lambskin comes from a specific breed of sheep of China. Hu sheep are considered a protected breed by the Chinese government. The hair follicles of these sheep have three types of waves, large, medium, and small. There are only few histological reports of Hu sheep lambskin, and there are no modern molecular or biological studies, so the molecular mechanisms underlying the formation of hair follicles with different patterns are not currently known. The aim of this article was to study the molecular mechanism of the formation of these types of hair follicles in Hu sheep. Histological and microscopic analysis indicated that the number of follicles with small waves was not significantly higher than the number of follicles with large waves (P>0.05). The diameters of primary and secondary small-wave follicles were significantly smaller than those of large-wave follicles (P<0.05; P<0.01). The ratio between the number primary follicles and the number of secondary follicles was significantly higher among small-wave follicles than among large-wave follicles (P<0.05). Differentially expressed genes in the skin tissue were screened using an Agilent gene chip and RT-PCR. Differential expression analysis revealed 3 groups of large waves and small waves; 1067, 2071, and 3879 differentially expressed genes; and 137 genes common to all 3 groups. Differentially expressed genes were classified using gene ontology. They were found to be mainly involved in cell differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis, growth, immune response, and ion transport. RT-PCR results of 4 differentially expressed genes were consistent with gene chip results. Combined with related literature, our results suggest that BMP7, MMP2, SNAI1, SFXN1, CDKNIC, MT3, and POU1F1 may have important effects on the formation of large-wave and small-wave hair follicles. This study may enrich knowledge of hair follicle development, and may identify the genes responsible for the formation of hair follicles with different patterns.