Association between City-Level Particulate Matter Exposure and Frailty among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China.

INTRODUCTION: The effects of exposure to particulate matter and frailty, as well as its exposure-response relationship, have not been effectively explored. This study aimed to explore the association between long-term exposure to particulate matter and frailty state and each dimension in Chinese middle-aged and older adults, in addition to the exposure-response relationship. METHODS: The data were obtained from the National Urban Air Quality Real-Time Dissemination Platform and China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Frailty was measured by a frailty index containing 39 indicators. Annual averages of seven pollutants were calculated from hourly monitoring data. We used multilevel regression modeling to explore the association between long-term exposure to particulate matter and frailty. Meanwhile, we explored the exposure-response relationship based on a multilevel generalized summation model. We performed a sensitivity analysis using a multi-pollution model and a quantile-based g-computation (QGC) model. RESULTS: A total of 15,611 participants were included in the analysis. We find that long-term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with an increased risk of pre-frailty and frailty (all p < 0.05). PMc and PM10 exhibited similar associations. The exposure-response relationship between PM2.5 showed a linear relationship, whereas the exposure-response relationship between PM10, PMc showed a nonlinear relationship. Elevated PM2.5 concentrations showed significant positive associations with the number of chronic disease score, IADL score, and functional limitation status score (all p < 0.05). PM10 and PMc showed similar positive correlations. These results remained robust after sensitivity analyses using a multi-pollution model and QGC model. CONCLUSION: Chronic exposure to particulate matter was significantly associated with increased risk of frailty. The exposure-response relationship between PM2.5 concentration and frailty showed a linear relationship, and the exposure-response relationship between PM10 and PMc showed a nonlinear relationship. Exposure to a mixture of pollutants carried a higher risk of frailty than exposure to a single pollutant.

Identification of autophagy-related risk signatures for the prognosis, diagnosis, and targeted therapy in cervical cancer.

BACKGROUND: To rummage autophagy-related prognostic, diagnostic, and therapeutic biomarkers in cervical cancer (CC). METHODS: The RNA-sequence and clinical information were from the TCGA and GTEx databases. We operated Cox regression to determine signatures related to overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) respectively. The diagnostic and therapeutic effectiveness of prognostic biomarkers were further explored. RESULTS: We identified nine (VAMP7, MTMR14, ATG4D, KLHL24, TP73, NAMPT, CD46, HGS, ATG4C) and three risk signatures (SERPINA1, HSPB8, SUPT20H) with prognostic values for OS and RFS respectively. Six risk signatures (ATG4C, ATG4D, CD46, TP73, SERPINA1, HSPB8) were selected for qPCR. We screened five prognostic signatures(ATG4C, CD46, HSPB8, MTMR14, NAMPT) with diagnostic function through the GEO database. Correlation between our models and treatment targets certificated the prognostic score provided a reference for precision medicine. CONCLUSIONS: We constructed OS and RFS prognostic models in CC. Autophagy-related risk signatures might serve as diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers.

Vitamin B12 may play a preventive role in esophageal precancerous lesions: a case-control study based on markers in blood and 3-day duplicate diet samples.

PURPOSE: It is hypothesized that vitamin B12 may prevent tumor initiation during the early stage of carcinogenesis such as esophageal precancerous lesions (EPL), whereas an excessive level may promote tumor progression during the later stages of carcinogenesis. This study aimed to determine the role of vitamin B12 in EPL by detecting vitamin B12-related markers in both blood and diet. METHODS: This case-control study based on 3-day duplicated diet samples was conducted in a high-risk area of Huai'an, China. A 100 EPL cases and 100 healthy controls matched by gender, age (± 2 years) and villages were included. Dietary intake of vitamin B12 and cobalt, plasma cobalt level, the serum levels of vitamin B12 and transcobalamin II (TC II) were quantitatively analyzed. RESULTS: Dietary vitamin B12 intake (p for trend = 0.384) and plasma cobalt level (p for trend = 0.253) were not associated with EPL risk, but high dietary cobalt intake (p for trend = 0.034), increased serum levels of vitamin B12 (p for trend = 0.036) and TC II (p for trend < 0.001) were significantly associated with the reduced EPL risk. However, the significant negative association between dietary cobalt intake, plasma cobalt level or serum vitamin B12 level and EPL was only found in female or male subjects. CONCLUSION: Excellent transport capability of bio-active vitamin B12 in vivo and adequate levels of vitamin B12 and cobalt may play preventive roles in EPL. Additionally, the association between vitamin B12, cobalt and the risk of EPL may vary in different genders.

Genetic variants in microRNAs are associated with cervical cancer risk.

Because genetic variants in microRNAs (miRNAs) or their surrounding regions can alter miRNA processing, expression and final biological function, we investigated whether miRNA single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with cervical cancer (CC) susceptibility. Common miRNA SNPs (i.e. miR-146a rs2910164, miR-149 rs2292832, miR-196a2 rs11614913, miR-499 rs3746444, miR-605 rs2043556 and miR-618 rs2682818) were genotyped in the 954 patients and 1339 controls. The results showed that the miR-149 rs2292832 TC/CC genotypes were associated with a 21% increased risk of CC compared with the TT genotype [odds ratio (OR) = 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.00-1.47]. The association was more prominent among the subjects with age ≤ 48 years (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.16-2.06), having history of abortion (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.12-1.86), premenopausal status (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.08-1.85) and patients with clinical stage II of CC (OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.08-1.90). The expression plasmids containing the pre-miR-149 sequence with C allele of rs2292832 transcribed higher amount of mature miR-149-5p/3p than these with T allele in the HeLa and SiHa cells. Therefore, the rs2292832 polymorphism might influence CC susceptibility through modulation of the procession of pre-miR-149 to mature miRNAs.

A novel mechanism of rs763110 polymorphism contributing to cervical cancer risk by affecting the binding affinity of C/EBPß and OCT1 complex to chromatin.

Recently, several studies have showed that FAS (rs2234767, rs1800682) and FASL (rs763110) functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were associated with the risk of various cancers. However, the association between cervical cancer risk and the three SNPs above remained inconclusive. In this work, we performed a two-stage case-control study on 1155 cervical cancer patients and 1252 matched healthy controls to determine the roles of the mentioned SNPs in cervical cancer susceptibility. We genotyped the FAS rs2234767, rs1800682, and FASL rs763110 polymorphisms using PCR-TaqMan assays. Results revealed that the rs763110 TT genotype significantly increased the risk of cervical cancer compared with the CC/CT genotype (adjusted OR = 1.70, 95% CI = 1.19-2.42). However, we did not observe any association between the cervical cancer risk and the rs2234767 and rs1800682 polymorphisms. The immunohistochemistry assay showed that patients carrying the rs763110 TT genotype presented a lower cancerous FASL expression than that of the CC/CT genotypes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and Sequential Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays also demonstrated that OCT1 was recruited to the FASL promoter region and regulated the FASL gene transcription by interacting with C/EBPß. In conclusion, this study provided evidence indicating that the rs763110 variant in the FASL promoter was associated with the risk of cervical cancer by affecting the binding affinity of the C/EBPß/OCT1 complex to chromatin.

[Investigation of work-related acute pesticide poisoning among farmers in Jiangsu Province and the risk factors].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of work-related acute pesticide poisoning among farmers in Jiangsu Province and to identify the risk factors. METHODS: Multi-stage stratified sampling and cluster sampling methods were used to randomly select 1490 farmers from the south (Z village), centre (Y village) and north (X village) of Jiangsu Province. The database was established by EpiData 3.1. SPSS 17.0 and SAS 9.13 were used to do chi-square test, trend chi-square test, single factor and multi-factor logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Among 1490 farmers, 121 people had work-related acute pesticide poisoning in the past year. The incidence rate in Jiangsu Province was 8.1%. 118 farmers (97.5%) were mild pesticide poisoning.3 farmers (2.5%) were moderate pesticide poisoning. The incidence rate of Work-related acute pesticide poisoning in X village of North Jiangsu Province (13.5%, 68/505) is obviously higher than that in Y village of Central Jiangsu Province (4.8%, 19/399) and Z village of South Jiangsu Province (5.8%, 34/586), and the difference is statistically significant (χ(2) = 29.60, P < 0.01). The incidence rate of Work-related acute pesticide poisoning in female (10.4%, 58/557) is obviously higher than that in male (6.8%, 63/933), and the difference is statistically significant (χ(2) = 6.26, P < 0.05). There are lack of safety guidance, unsafety application methods (without alternate row spraying, without backward application, without down-wind application) and risk behaviors in the spraying (without read labels, preparing pesticides without gloves, wiping sweat with hand (s), equipment leakage, body pollution by pesticide, working when feeling sick, without bath after work). If farmers have risk behaviors above, the incidence rate of Work-related acute pesticide poisoning will be obviously higher than farmers who receive safety guidance and have no such dangerous behaviors, and all the differences are statistically significant (P < 0.05). The group of 24 ∼ 34 years old has the highest risk of work-related acute pesticide poisoning (OR = 7.15). CONCLUSION: The incidence rate of work-related acute pesticide poisoning among farmers in Jiangsu Province was higher. Effective measures are needed to prevent and reduce the occurrence of work-related acute pesticide poisoning. We can teach the farmers who spray pesticides about safety guidance, safety application methods and avoiding risky behaviors.

A Novel Signature for Predicting Prognosis of Smoking-Related Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Tobacco smoking is an established risk factor for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). We obtained smoking-related SCC, including cervical SCC (CSCC), esophageal SCC (ESCC), head and neck SCC (HNSC), and lung SCC (LUSC), from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database to investigate the association between smoking status (reformed and current smoking) and prognosis. We found that reformed smokers had a better prognosis than current smokers in CSCC (p = 0.003), HNSC (p = 0.019), and LUSC (p < 0.01) cohorts. Then, we selected LUSC cohorts as the training cohort and other SCC cohorts as the test cohorts. Function analysis revealed that homologous recombination (HR) was the most significant pathway involved in smoking-induced LUSC. Moreover, the effect of cross-talk between the smoking status and HR deficiency (HRD) on the prognosis was further evaluated, revealing that quitting smoking with high HRD scores could significantly improve patients' prognosis (p < 0.01). To improve prognosis prediction and more effectively screen suitable populations for platinum drugs and poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, we constructed a risk score model using smoking- and HRD-related genes in LUSC. The risk score model had high power for predicting 2-, 3-, and 5-year survival (p < 0.01, AUC = 0.67, 0.66, and 0.66). In addition, the risk scores were an independent risk factor for LUSC (HR = 2.34, 95%CI = 1.70-3.23). The practical nomogram was also built using the risk score, smoking status, and other clinical information with a good c-index (0.72, 95%CI = 0.70-0.74). Finally, we used other TCGA SCC cohorts to confirm the reliability and validity of the risk score model (p < 0.01 and AUC > 0.6 at 2, 3, and 5 years in CSCC and HNSC cohorts). In conclusion, the present study suggested that smoking cessation should be a part of smoking-related SCC treatment, and also provided a risk score model to predict prognosis and improve the effectiveness of screening the platinum/PARP population.

Fanconi Anemia Pathway Genes Advance Cervical Cancer via Immune Regulation and Cell Adhesion.

Fanconi anemia (FA) pathway is a typical and multienzyme-regulated DNA damage repairer that influences the occurrence and development of disease including cancers. Few comprehensive analyses were reported about the role of FA-related genes (FARGs) and their prognostic values in cancers. In this study, a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis on 79 FARGs was performed. According to the correlation analyses between HPV integration sites and FARGs, we found that FARGs played specific and critical roles in HPV-related cancers, especially in cervical cancer (CC). Based on this, a FARGs-associated prognostic risk score (FPS) model was constructed, and subsequently a nomogram model containing the FPS was developed with a good accuracy for CC overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) outcome prediction. We also used the similar expression pattern of FARGs by consensus clustering analysis to separate the patients into three subgroups that exhibited significant differential OS but not RFS. Moreover, differential expressed genes (DEGs) between the two risk groups or three clusters were identified and immune pathways as well as cell adhesion processes were determined by functional enrichment analysis. Results indicated that FARGs might promote occurrence and development of CC by regulating the immune cells' infiltration and cell adhesion. In addition, through the machine learning models containing decision tree, random forest, naïve bayes, and support vector machine models, screening of important variables on CC prognosis, we finally determined that ZBTB32 and CENPS were the main elements affecting CC OS, while PALB2 and BRCA2 were for RFS. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that bivariate prediction of CC outcome was reliable. Our study systematically analyzed the prognostic prediction values of FARGs and demonstrated their potential mechanism in CC aggressiveness. Results provided perspective in FA pathway-associated modification and theoretical basis for CC clinical treatments.

Development and Validation of a Tumor Mutation Burden-Related Immune Prognostic Signature for Ovarian Cancers.

Ovarian cancer (OC), one of the most common malignancies of the female reproductive system, is characterized by high incidence and poor prognosis. Tumor mutation burden (TMB), as an important biomarker that can represent the degree of tumor mutation, is emerging as a key indicator for predicting the efficacy of tumor immunotherapy. In our study, the gene expression profiles of OC were downloaded from TCGA and GEO databases. Subsequently, we analyzed the prognostic value of TMB in OC and found that a higher TMB score was significantly associated with a better prognosis (p = 0.004). According to the median score of TMB, 9 key TMB related immune prognostic genes were selected by LASSO regression for constructing a TMB associated immune risk score (TMB-IRS) signature, which can effectively predict the prognosis of OC patients (HR = 2.32, 95% CI = 1.68-3.32; AUC = 0.754). Interestingly, TMB-IRS is also closely related to the level of immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoint molecules (PD1, PD-L1, CTLA4, PD-L2) in OC. Furthermore, the nomogram combined with TMB-IRS and a variety of clinicopathological features can more comprehensively evaluate the prognosis of patients. In conclusion, we explored the relationship between TMB and prognosis and validated the TMB-IRS signature based on TMB score in an independent database (HR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.13-2.27; AUC = 0.639), which may serve as a novel biomarker for predicting OC prognosis as well as possible therapeutic targets.

Esophageal Cancer Associated Immune Genes as Biomarkers for Predicting Outcome in Upper Gastrointestinal Tumors.

Esophageal cancer (EC) is the seventh most common tumor in the world, ranking the sixth leading cause of cancer death, with a 5-year survival rate of 15-25%. Therefore, reliable prognostic biomarkers are needed to effectively predict the prognosis of EC. In this study, the gene profile information of the EC cohort served as a training set, which was derived from TCGA and Immport databases. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis was performed on the differential genes in normal and tumor groups of EC. The immune genes in differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were further obtained for univariate and multivariate Cox and Lasso regression analysis, and 6 independent immune genes (S100A3, STC2, HSPA6, CCL25, GPER1, and OSM) associated with prognosis were obtained to establish an immune risk score signature (IRSS). The signature was validated using head and neck cancers (HNSC) and gastric cancer (GC)in upper gastrointestinal malignancies as validation sets. The Kaplan-Meier results showed that the prognosis of the high-risk group was significantly favorable than that of the low-risk group in both the training set (P < 0.001; HR = 3.68, 95% CI = 2.14-6.35) and the validation set (P = 0.010; HR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.09-1.88). A nomogram combining multiple clinical information and IRSS was more effective than a single independent prognostic factor in predicting outcome. This study explored the potential link between immunity and EC, and established and validated prognostic biomarkers that can effectively predict the prognosis of EC, HNSC and GC based on six immune genes.

Nitrogen doped chiral carbonaceous nanotube for ultrasensitive DNA direct electrochemistry, DNA hybridization and damage study.

In the interest of developing novel electrocatalyst for high performance DNA biosensing, with distinctive chiral double helix nanostructure, nitrogen doped chiral carbonaceous nanotube (Chiral-CNT) was employed for ultrasensitive label-free DNA biosensing research. Chiral-CNT can quantitative detection of four DNA bases with high sensitivity and selectivity. Without any prehydrolysis and labeling process, direct electrochemistry of single-stranded DNA and double-stranded DNA, qualitative and quantitative detection of DNA hybridization (low detection limit: 0.0268 g L-1) were realized. Moreover, sensitive detection of DNA damage induced by fenton reagent was also realized with low detection limit of 0.0350 mg mL-1 and high sensitivity of 7.42 µA mg-1 mL. The high biosensing performance attributes to the unique chiral structure of Chiral-CNT, leads to efficient interreaction between Chiral-CNT and DNA molecule.

Road traffic crashes among farm vehicle drivers in southern China: A cross-sectional survey.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify the prevalence and potential risk factors of farm vehicle-related road traffic crashes among farm vehicle drivers in southern China. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was used to interview 1,422 farm vehicle drivers in southern China. Farm vehicle-related road traffic crashes that occurred from December 2013 to November 2014 were investigated. Data on farm vehicle-related road traffic crashes and related factors were collected by face-to-face interviews. RESULTS: The prevalence of farm vehicle-related road traffic crashes among the investigated drivers was 7.2%. Farm vehicle-related road traffic crashes were significantly associated with self-reported vision problem (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 6.48, 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.86-10.87), self-reported sleep disorders (AOR = 10.03, 95% CI, 6.28-15.99), self-reported stress (AOR = 20.47, 95% CI, 9.96-42.08), reported history of crashes (AOR = 5.40, 95% CI, 3.47-8.42), reported history of drunk driving (AOR = 5.07, 95% CI, 2.97-8.65), and reported history of fatigued driving (AOR = 5.72, 95% CI, 3.73-8.78). The number of road traffic crashes was highest in the daytime and during harvest season. In over 96% of farm vehicle-related road traffic crashes, drivers were believed to be responsible for the crash. Major crash-causing factors included improper driving, careless driving, violating of traffic signals or signs, and being in the wrong lane. CONCLUSION: Findings of this study suggest that farm vehicle-related road traffic crashes have become a burgeoning public health problem in China. Programs need to be developed to prevent farm vehicle-related road traffic crashes in this emerging country.

HOTAIR rs7958904 polymorphism is associated with increased cervical cancer risk in a Chinese population.

Previously, we have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs7958904 and rs4759314 in long non-coding RNA HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) were significantly associated with risk of colorectal and gastric cancer, respectively. Here, we aimed to investigate the association between HOTAIR SNPs and cervical cancer (CC) susceptibility. A total of 1209 cases and 1348 controls were enrolled for association study and genotyped with TaqMan allelic discrimination method. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was utilized for in vivo analysis of allele-specific HOTAIR expression. MTT assay was employed for evaluation of allele-specific cell proliferation. The rs7958904 CC genotype was related to an increased risk of cervical cancer compared with the GG/GC genotypes (OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.10-2.25). TCGA database showed the CC tissues with rs7958904 CC genotype had higher HOTAIR expression than those with GG genotype (P = 0.046). MTT assay demonstrated a growth-promoting role of rs7958904 C allele on CC cells. Further functional studies on the effect of rs7958904 on biological behavior of CC cells are needed to confirm and extend our findings. In conclusion, HOTAIR rs7958904 might influence CC susceptibility through modulation of CC cell proliferation, and could serve as a diagnostic biomarker.

Pesticide poisoning and neurobehavioral function among farm workers in Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.

Pesticides remain an integral part of agricultural activities worldwide. Although there have been a number of studies over the last two decades concerning the adverse effects of pesticide poisoning and chronic long term exposures on neurobehavioral function, the impact of recent pesticide poisoning and long term pesticide exposure on neurobehavioral function in Chinese farm workers has not been reported. China is the largest user of pesticides worldwide and figures suggest 53,300-123,000 Chinese people are poisoned every year. A case control study was conducted to examine the impact of recent pesticide poisoning on neurobehavioral function and the relationship between years worked in agriculture and lower performance on neurobehavioral tests. A total of 121 farm workers who self-reported recent pesticide poisonings within the previous 12 months (case group) and 80 farm workers who reported no pesticide poisoning in the previous 12 months (control group) were recruited from three areas of Jiangsu Province, China. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended neurobehavioral core test battery (NCTB) was used to assess neurobehavioral functioning among cases and controls. Student's t tests and two-way covariance analysis (ANCOVA) were used to test for significant differences in the neurobehavioral test results between the groups. Scores on the Profile of Mood States (POMS) in the recently poisoned group were significantly higher for anger-hostility, depression-dejection, tension-anxiety and lower for vigor-activity compared to controls (p < .05). Digit span, digit symbol, Benton visual retention and pursuit aiming scores were all significantly lower among the recently poisoned group compared to the controls (p < .05). Two-way ANCOVA indicated significantly lower performance in correct pursuit aiming and higher error pursuit aiming amongst the recently poisoned group and those who had worked for more than 30 years in agriculture (p < .05). These findings provide important preliminary epidemiological evidence regarding the association between occupational pesticide exposure and neurobehavioral functioning in Chinese farm workers.

The rs767649 polymorphism in the promoter of miR-155 contributes to the decreased risk for cervical cancer in a Chinese population.

Genetic variants in miRNAs have attracted more and more attention these years because they are capable of altering miRNA function and/or expression, consequently affecting downstream biological pathways and disease risk. The rs767649 polymorphism, locating in the promoter of miR-155, was recently reported to be able to alter transcriptional activity of miR-155 and relate to lung cancer risk. In this study, we aimed to assess the relationship between rs767649 and cervical cancer (CC) risk. We investigated the association of rs767649 with CC risk in a two-stage case-control study with 1157 cases and 1280 controls. Genotyping was determined with TaqMan allelic discrimination method. The results showed that the rs767649 TT genotype was associated with a significantly reduced risk of CC in both test (549 cases and 603 controls), validation (608 cases and 677 controls) and combined sets [adjusted odds ratio (OR)=0.67, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.51-0.87 for the combined set] compared with the AA/AT genotypes. Moreover, the association was more prominent among patients of age>49years and postmenopausal status (OR=0.56, 95% CI=0.38-0.83, and 0.60, 0.40-0.89, respectively) and patients with clinical stage I and II CC (OR=0.67, 95% CI=0.50-0.91, and 0.60, 0.40-0.92, respectively). Further analyses showed that miR-155 was overexpressed in the CC tissues as compared with normal tissues, suggesting an oncogenic role in CC. Luciferase assay indicated that the transition of A to T allele might lead to miR-155 downregulation at the transcriptional level. In conclusion, rs767649 might be a causal variant for CC susceptibility.

Forecasting mortality of road traffic injuries in China using seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model.

PURPOSE: Road traffic injuries have become a major public health problem in China. This study aimed to develop statistical models for predicting road traffic deaths and to analyze seasonality of deaths in China. METHODS: A seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model was used to fit the data from 2000 to 2011. Akaike Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion, and mean absolute percentage error were used to evaluate the constructed models. Autocorrelation function and partial autocorrelation function of residuals and Ljung-Box test were used to compare the goodness-of-fit between the different models. The SARIMA model was used to forecast monthly road traffic deaths in 2012. RESULTS: The seasonal pattern of road traffic mortality data was statistically significant in China. SARIMA (1, 1, 1) (0, 1, 1)12 model was the best fitting model among various candidate models; the Akaike Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion, and mean absolute percentage error were -483.679, -475.053, and 4.937, respectively. Goodness-of-fit testing showed nonautocorrelations in the residuals of the model (Ljung-Box test, Q = 4.86, P = .993). The fitted deaths using the SARIMA (1, 1, 1) (0, 1, 1)12 model for years 2000 to 2011 closely followed the observed number of road traffic deaths for the same years. The predicted and observed deaths were also very close for 2012. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that accurate forecasting of road traffic death incidence is possible using SARIMA model. The SARIMA model applied to historical road traffic deaths data could provide important evidence of burden of road traffic injuries in China.

Trends in electric bike-related injury in China, 2004-2010.

This study describes electric bike-related injuries from 2004 to 2010, and suggests injury prevention strategies to reduce electric bike-related injuries in China and other countries. Electric bike-related injuries data were obtained from the Bureau of Traffic Management at the Ministry of Public Security. Linear regression was used to identify statistically significant trends in electric bike-related injuries over the period. The results showed electric bike-related nonfatal injury rate had increased almost 4-fold and mortality rate increased 6-fold from 2004 to 2010. Linear regression showed a significant increase of 0.23 per 100 000 population per year (95% confidence interval = 0.18-0.29, P < .001) in the casualty rate from electric bike-related road traffic injuries. China will face new challenges arising from electric bike-related injuries. Programs need to be developed to prevent nonfatal injuries and fatalities caused by electric bike-related crashes in this country.

Needlestick and Sharps Injuries Among Nurses at a Teaching Hospital in China.

Needlestick and sharps injuries (NSIs) are a major occupational injury to health care workers worldwide. This study aimed to report the prevalence and risk factors of NSIs among nurses working at a Chinese teaching hospital. From 463 nurses, 402 completed questionnaires were obtained. A total of 261 (64.9%) nurses reported needlestick or sharps injuries. NSIs were more common among females, young nurses, surgical nurses, and junior nurses. Logistic regression analysis suggests that age and work department were independent risk factors for NSIs. By type of devices, syringe needles accounted for the highest proportion of all NSIs (59%), followed by glass items (22%), and trocar core/catheter wires (4%). NSIs remain an important occupational hazard issue or Chinese nurses. Programs must be developed to prevent injuries caused by needlesticks and sharps.

[Autoregressive integrated moving average model in predicting road traffic injury in China].

This research aimed to explore the application of autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model of time series analysis in predicting road traffic injury (RTI) in China and to provide scientific evidence for the prevention and control of RTI. Database was created based on the data collected from monitoring sites in China from 1951 to 2011. The ARIMA model was made. Then it was used to predict RTI in 2012. The ARIMA model of the RTI cases was Yt = e(Y˙t-1+0.456▿Yt-1+et) (et stands for random error). The residual error with 16 lags was white noise and the Ljung-Box test statistic for the model was no statistical significance. The model fitted the data well. True value of RTI cases in 2011 was within 95% CI of predicted values obtained from present model. The model was used to predict value of RTI cases in 2012, and the predictor (95%CI) was 207 838 (107 579-401 536). The ARIMA model could fit the trend of RTI in China.

Basic characteristics of road traffic deaths in china.

BACKGROUND: This study is to report characteristics of people killed in road traffic crashes and to describe major patterns of traffic crashes in China. METHODS: Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were conducted. Road traffic death national data, population denominator data and motor vehicles data of 2009 were obtained from the Bureau of Traffic Management at Ministry of Public Security and National Bureau of Statistics. The association between the fatalities from road traffic crashes and selected demographic factors, the time distribution, crash patterns, crash causes, and road user category were assessed in χ(2) analyses. RESULTS: ROAD TRAFFIC CRASHES IN CHINA DISPROPORTIONABLY AFFECTED THE FOLLOWING POPULATIONS: males, persons 21-65 yr of age and adults aged more than 65 yr, persons living in rural areas, pedestrians, passengers, motorcyclists and bicyclists. Approximately 50% of fatalities of road traffic crash occurred in Eastern regions. The number of road traffic deaths was higher in daytime than in nighttime. Road traffic deaths in frontal crashes, side-to-side crash and crashes with an object or a person were more common than in rear-end crashes. In about 92% of road traffic deaths, auto drivers were believed to be responsible for the fatal crash. Major crash causing factors were speeding, careless driving, driving without a license, driving in the wrong lane, and driving after drinking alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: Road traffic deaths accounted for about 70,000 premature deaths in China which should be taken into account.