Association of the Taq I allele in vitamin D receptor with degenerative disc disease and disc bulge in a Chinese population.

STUDY DESIGN: Large scale, case-control study. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of the Taq I alleles in vitamin D receptor on the risk of developing degenerative disc disease in a Southern Chinese population. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Previous studies in Finns and Japanese suggest that the Taq I polymorphism of vitamin D receptor is associated with the development of degenerative disc disease in the lumbar spine. However, sample sizes were small, and the results need to be confirmed in other populations. METHOD: Lumbar degenerative disc disease was defined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on 804 Southern Chinese volunteers between 18 and 55 years of age. Restriction enzyme digestion of polymerase chain reaction products was used to analyze the Taq I alleles. The resulting genotypes were correlated with the presence of lumbar disc degeneration and bulge on MRI. RESULTS: Using logistic regression analysis and adjusting for age and sex, the t allele of Taq I in vitamin D receptor gene was significantly associated with degenerative disc disease, with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.61 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.15-5.90, P = 0.041). Further subgroup analysis showed that in individuals younger than 40 years, the OR was even higher, at 5.97 (95% CI 1.69-21.15, P = 0.002). Similarly, disc bulge was significantly associated with t allele (OR = 7.17, 95% CI 1.43-36.01, P = 0.001) in individuals younger than 40 years. Anular tears and the Schmorl nodes were not associated with the t allele of Taq I polymorphism. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the largest scale genetics study to date using MRI to define precisely degenerative disc disease in the Southern Chinese population. We showed that the t allele of vitamin D receptor Taq I is associated with a high risk of degenerative disc disease and disc bulge developing, especially in individuals younger than 40 years.

Lesbians in China's mainland: a brief introduction.

This paper describes and introduces lesbians' lives and the relevant research in China's Mainland. The first part shows the slow development of lesbian culture in the form of literature, films and documentaries. Although lesbians' lives were reflected more or less in modern literature, the "true" lesbian novel was published only recently. Relevant films and documentaries were never shown to the public in China. Lesbian culture is still unevenly developed and remains negligible. The first part also describes lesbian research in the field of literature, psychiatry and sociology. The relevant research in literature is relatively systematic and rich, while that in psychiatry is fraught with discrimination and that in sociology is relatively weak. The second part presents the observation and analysis of lesbian Internet communities. It deals with lesbians' self-identity, role differentiation, sentiments and sexuality. Among them, role differentiation plays an important part in lesbians' lives though few researchers have studied it. Most lesbian organizations founded on the strength of Internet communication lack experience and resources and have little influence on the masses. Some lesbians are accepted by the public, but in return, they compromise to some popular values. This is extremely disadvantageous to those who are unwilling to give in. At the end of the paper, the first author expresses her future plan that she will continue her study on lesbian culture under the help of Internet observation and various activities. doi:10.1300/J155v10n03_08.