ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To establish a database and to understand the molecular epidemiological features of non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) isolates from different animal reservoirs and patients. METHODS: Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was performed according to the PulseNet protocol with minor modifications. A dendrogram was constructed using the BioNumerics. RESULTS: Under the PulseNet protocol, 62 PFGE patterns were obtained from 76 non-O157 STEC isolates and then divided into A to M groups. Isolates from different sources were widely distributed in different groups, but were predominant seen in certain groups. CONCLUSION: The non-O157 STEC isolates in China were highly polymorphic. PulseNet protocol seemed to be suitable for the typing of Chinese non-O157 STEC isolates.
Subject(s)
Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field , Escherichia coli O157/isolation & purification , Feces/microbiology , Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli , Animals , China/epidemiology , DNA, Bacterial , Escherichia coli Infections/epidemiology , Escherichia coli Infections/microbiology , Escherichia coli O157/genetics , Genotype , HumansABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Rubidium is a putative anticancer agent, but no studies have been performed on the association of rubidium levels in biospecimen with breast cancer risk and the potential as a biomarker of the risk assessment. METHODS: Survey data and urine specimens were collected from 240 women with incident invasive breast cancer before their treatments and 246 age-matched female controls between October 2009 and July 2010. Urinary concentrations of rubidium were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Creatinine-adjusted levels [median (25th, 75th) ug/g] of rubidium in cases [2253.01(1606.81, 3110.46)] were significantly lower than that in the controls [2921.85 (2367.94, 4142.04)]. After adjustment for potential risk factors of breast cancer, women in the second and highest tertile decreased risk of breast cancer in a dose-dependent manner as compared with those in the lowest tertile [ORs and 95% CIs were 0.45 (0.27-0.73) and 0.22 (0.13-0.38), respectively]. The area under the receive-operating-characteristic curve for urinary rubidium level was 0.697 (95% CI: 0.650-0.743). CONCLUSIONS: The urinary levels of rubidium were significantly and inversely associated with risk of breast cancer and had potential to be a biomarker for breast cancer risk assessment.
