The effect of residential greenness on cardiovascular mortality from a large cohort in South China: An in-depth analysis of effect modification by multiple demographic and lifestyle characteristics.

BACKGROUND: The potential for residential greenness to improve cardiovascular health through both physical and psychological mechanisms is well recognized. However, evidence from rapidly urbanizing developing countries and cohort-based causal inference approaches, remains limited. We aim to examine the effect of residential greenness and time to cardiovascular mortality in South China. METHODS: We utilized data from a community-based population survey involving 748,209 participants at baseline from 2009 to 2015, followed up until 2020. Residential greenness exposure was assessed by the annual Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in the 500 m radius of each participant's residence. We used time-varying proportional hazard Cox models coupled with inverse probability weighting to fit marginal structural models and obtain hazard ratios (HRs) for cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality after adjusting for confounders. Multiple effect modifiers on both additive and multiplicative scales were further explored. RESULTS: A total of 15,139 CVD-related deaths were identified during a median of 7.9 years of follow-up. A protective effect was found between higher greenness exposure and reduced CVD mortality, with a 9.3 % lower rate of total CVD mortality (HR 0.907, 95 % CI 0.859-0.957) based on a 0.1 increase in annual average NDVI. Demographic (age, marital status) and lifestyle factors (smoking, drinking status) were found to modify the association between residential greenness and CVD mortality (all P interaction values < 0.05 or 95 %CI for RERI excluded the value 0). Notably, this effect was more pronounced among older adults, married, and individuals having healthier lifestyles, indicating a greater benefit from greenness for these subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support a causal link between increased residential greenness exposure and a reduced risk of CVD mortality in South China with marked heterogenous effects, which has public health implications for cultivating greener urban environments to mitigate the impact of CVD within the context of rapid urbanization.

The joint impact of PM2.5 constituents on the risk of cerebrovascular diseases hospitalization: A large community-based cohort study.

Air pollution poses significant health risks to urban areas, with limited focus on the chronic association of PM2.5 and its constituents on cerebrovascular diseases (CERs), especially regarding the joint associations. This study explores the individual and joint associations between PM2.5 constituents and CER hospitalization risks through a cohort analysis of 36,271 adults in the Pearl River Delta, South China, from 2015 to 2020. Cox proportional hazards regression and quantile-based g-computation models were used to quantify the individual and joint associations of annual mean concentrations of PM2.5 constituents with hospitalization for CERs. 1151 participants were hospitalized due to CERs during the five-year follow-up period. Joint associations analyses identified that one quartile increase in co-exposure may result in hazard ratios of 1.530 (1.441-1.623), 1.840 (1.710-1.980), and 1.609 (1.491-1.737) for CERs, total, and ischemic stroke hospitalization, respectively. The adverse effect was primarily driven by organic matter and chlorine. Men, those with a history of tobacco or alcohol use or with low residential greenness, were more susceptible to CERs hospitalization following PM2.5 constituents co-exposure. Upcoming strategies should focus on monitoring and regulating PM2.5 constituents, encouraging healthy lifestyles, and enhancing urban greenery.

Potential causal links of long-term exposure to PM2.5 and its chemical components with the risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma recurrence: A 10-year cohort study in South China.

There is a lack of evidence from cohort studies on the causal association of long-term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and its chemical components with the risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) recurrence. Based on a 10-year prospective cohort of 1184 newly diagnosed NPC patients, we comprehensively evaluated the potential causal links of ambient PM2.5 and its chemical components including black carbon (BC), organic matter (OM), sulfate (SO4 2-), nitrate (NO3 -), and ammonium (NH4 +) with the recurrence risk of NPC using a marginal structural Cox model adjusted with inverse probability weighting. We observed 291 NPC patients experiencing recurrence during the 10-year follow-up and estimated a 33% increased risk of NPC recurrence (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.33, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.74) following each interquartile range (IQR) increase in PM2.5 exposure. Each IQR increment in BC, NH4 +, OM, NO3 -, and SO4 2- was associated with HRs of 1.36 (95%CI: 1.13-1.65), 1.35 (95%CI: 1.07-1.70), 1.33 (95%CI: 1.11-1.59), 1.32 (95%CI: 1.06-1.64), 1.31 (95%CI: 1.08-1.57). The elderly, patients with no family history of cancer, no smoking history, no drinking history, and those with severe conditions may exhibit a greater likelihood of NPC recurrence following exposure to PM2.5 and its chemical components. Additionally, the effect estimates of the five components are greater among patients who were exposed to high concentration than in the full cohort of patients. Our study provides solid evidence for a potential relationship between long-term exposure to PM2.5 and its components and the risk of NPC recurrence.

Progress in using cross-linking technologies to increase the thermal stability of colloidal delivery systems.

In recent years, crosslinking technology has been found and widely used in food, textile, pharmaceutical, bioengineering and other fields. Crosslinking is a reaction in which two or more molecules bond to each other to form a stable three-dimensional network structure to improve the strength, heat resistance and other properties of substances. The researchers found that the cross-linking technology has a significant effect on improving the thermal stability of the colloidal delivery system. In this paper, crosslinking techniques that can be used to improve the thermal stability of colloidal delivery systems are reviewed, including enzyme-, ion-, chemical-, and combined cross-linking. Initially, the underlying mechanisms of these crosslinking technologies is reviewed. Then, the impacts of crosslinking on the heat-stability of colloidal delivery systems are discussed. Finally, the application of crosslinked delivery systems in improving the thermal stability of probiotics, polyphenols, pigments, and nutrients in foods and food packaging materials is introduced. The ability of proteins and polysaccharides to form heat-stable colloidal delivery systems can be improved by crosslinking. Nevertheless, more research is required to establish the impact of different crosslinking on the thermal stability of a broader range of different delivery systems, as well as to ensure their safety and efficacy.

Potential causal links and mediation pathway between urban greenness and lung cancer mortality: Result from a large cohort (2009 to 2020).

Urban greenness, as a vital component of the urban environment, plays a critical role in mitigating the adverse effects of rapid urbanization and supporting urban sustainability. However, the causal links between urban greenness and lung cancer mortality and its potential causal pathway remain poorly understood. Based on a prospective community-based cohort with 581,785 adult participants in southern China, we applied a doubly robust Cox proportional hazard model to estimate the causal associations between urban greenness exposure and lung cancer mortality. A general multiple mediation analysis method was utilized to further assess the potential mediating roles of various factors including particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5-1, and PM10-2.5), temperature, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI). We observed that each interquartile range (IQR: 0.06) increment in greenness exposure was inversely associated with lung cancer mortality, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.89 (95 % CI: 0.83, 0.96). The relationship between greenness and lung cancer mortality might be partially mediated by particulate matter, temperature, and physical activity, yielding a total indirect effect of 0.826 (95 % CI: 0.769, 0.887) for each IQR increase in greenness exposure. Notably, the protective effect of greenness against lung cancer mortality could be achieved primarily by reducing the particulate matter concentration.

Integrated analysis reveals Atf3 promotes neuropathic pain via orchestrating JunB mediated release of inflammatory cytokines in DRG macrophage.

The dorsal root ganglion (DRG) is actively involved in the development of neuropathic pain (NP), serving as an intermediate station for pain signals from the peripheral nervous system to the central nervous system. The mechanism by which DRG is involved in NP regulation is not fully understood. The immune system plays a pivotal role in the physiological and pathological states of the human body. In recent years, the immune system has been thought to play an increasingly important role in the pathogenesis of NP. The immune system plays a key role in pain through specific immune cells and their immune-related genes (IRGs). However, the mechanism by which IRGs of DRG regulate NP action has not been fully elucidated. Here, we performed Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses of IRGs in DRG bulk-RNA sequencing data from spared nerve injury (SNI) model mice and found that their IRGs were enriched in many pathways, especially in the immune response pathway. Subsequently, we analyzed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from DRGs extracted from the SNI model and identified eight cell populations. Among them, the highest IRG activity was presented in macrophages. Next, we analyzed the scRNA and bulk-sequencing data and deduced five common transcription factors (TFs) from differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network suggested that Atf3 and JunB are closely related. In vitro experiments, we verified that the protein and mRNA expressions of Atf3 and JunB were up-regulated in macrophages after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. Moreover, the down-regulation of Atf3 reduced the release of inflammatory cytokines and decreased the protein and mRNA expression levels of JunB. The down-regulation of JunB also reduced the release of inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, overexpression of JunB attenuated the effect of Atf3 down-regulation in reducing the release of inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, we speculated that Atf3 might promote NP through JunB-mediated release of inflammatory factors in DRG macrophages.

Interactions between long-term ambient particle exposures and lifestyle on the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes: insight from a large community-based survey.

INTRODUCTION: Evidence on the interaction of lifestyle and long-term ambient particle (PM) exposure on the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, particularly their combined condition is limited. We investigate the associations between PM and these outcomes and whether the associations were modified by various lifestyles. METHODS: This was a large population-based survey during 2019-2021 in Southern China. The concentrations of PM were interpolated and assigned to participants by the residential address. Hypertension and diabetes status were from questionnaires and confirmed with the community health centres. Logistic regression was applied to examine the associations, followed by a comprehensive set of stratified analyses by the lifestyles including diet, smoking, drinking, sleeping and exercise. RESULTS: A total of 82 345 residents were included in the final analyses. For each 1 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5, the adjusted OR for the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and their combined condition were 1.05 (95% CI 1.05 to 1.06), 1.07 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.08) and 1.05 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.06), respectively. We observed that the association between PM2.5 and the combined condition was greatest in the group with 4-8 unhealthy lifestyles (OR=1.09, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.13) followed by the group with 2-3 and those with 0-1 unhealthy lifestyle (P interaction=0.026). Similar results and trends were observed in PM10 and/or in those with hypertension or diabetes. Individuals who consumed alcohol, had inadequate sleep duration or had poor quality sleep were more vulnerable. CONCLUSION: Long-term PM exposure was associated with increased prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and their combined condition, and those with unhealthy lifestyles suffered greater risks of these conditions.

Stressful Life Events, Social Support, and Incident Breast Cancer by Estrogen Receptor Status.

Chronic stress affects immune function and hormonal signaling and has been hypothesized to be associated with breast cancer, although results from the few prior studies are mixed and have not examined potential differences by estrogen receptor (ER) status. Using the Women's Health Initiative study, we included 76,951 postmenopausal women followed for events for a median of 16.7 years to investigate the association between baseline self-reported stressful life events and incident breast cancer by ER status and whether the association was modified by social support. We generated Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for demographic, clinical, lifestyle/behavioral, and social factors to estimate HRs and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). The mean age was 63 (SD, 7.3), and majority of participants were White race (83.5%) and married or in a marriage-like relationship (63.0%). In analyses stratified by ER status, there was no relationship between stressful life events and ER-positive breast cancer. In contrast, compared with women in the lowest quartile, those in higher quartiles had an increased risk of ER-negative breast cancer, where those in quartile 4 had the highest risk (Quartile 4 vs. Quartile 1; HR = 1.30; 95%CI, 1.01-1.68; Ptrend = 0.050). Moreover, associations were stronger for the highest versus lowest quartile of stressful life events among widowed women (HR = 2.39; 95%CI, 1.29-4.44; Pinteraction<0.001). Association between stressful life events and ER-negative breast cancer was not modified by social support. In this cohort of postmenopausal women, higher experiences of prediagnostic stressful life events were associated with increased risk of ER-negative breast cancer. PREVENTION RELEVANCE: Epidemiologic studies on the association between psychosocial stress and breast cancer risk remain inconsistent, while investigation of whether the association differs by ER status is limited. In this prospective cohort of postmenopausal women, high experiences of stressful life events were positively associated with ER-negative disease but not ER-positive.

Compositional isotemporal substitution analysis of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and cardiometabolic biomarkers in US adults: A nationally representative study.

Substantial evidence links physical activity and sedentary behaviour (SB) with cardiovascular health. However, studies usually examine time-use behaviours independently, rather than considering daily activities as a 24-hour time-use composition. This study aimed to use compositional data models to investigate how time reallocations from SB to moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA)/ light physical activity (LPA) were associated with changes in cardiometabolic biomarkers. Compositional isotemporal substitution analysis was conducted using data from a representative cross-sectional sample of adults aged 20 years or older (n = 5213 full sample; n = 2221 fasting subsample) from the 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Overall as well as gender- and age-specific estimates were obtained for reallocating time between the behaviours associated with cardiometabolic outcomes. Replacing SB with MVPA was associated with decreased levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cells (WBCs), red blood cell distribution width (RDW), insulin, insulin resistance homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) and 2-hour glucose, and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), except for WBCs in older adults, insulin and HOMA-IR in females and older adults, 2-hour glucose in young and older adults, and HDL-C in older adults. Substituting LPA for SB resulted in lower CRP in older adults, lower RDW in males and older adults, lower insulin in young and middle-aged adults, lower HOMA-IR in females and middle-aged adults, and higher HDL-C in males and young adults. Our findings provide new evidence for the potential benefits of LPA and MVPA in cardiovascular health and help make population-specific recommendations for physical activity.HighlightsShorter sedentary behaviour (SB) time and longer active behaviours time are associated with a lower cardiovascular disease risk profile.Although replacing SB with MVPA has stronger positive health effects, LPA, as a simpler and more feasible activity, may has greater potential in promoting cardiovascular health.The expected changes in cardiometabolic biomarkers caused by time reallocations from SB to MVPA/LPA vary with gender and age, and physical activity guidelines with specific recommendations should be tailed to the subpopulations.

High-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy during anesthesia recovery for older orthopedic surgery patients: A prospective randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Hypoxemia is a common complication in older patients during postoperative recovery and can cause pulmonary complications. Therefore, reducing the incidence of postoperative hypoxemia is a clinical concern. AIM: To investigate the clinical efficacy of high-flow nasal cannula oxygen (HFNCO) in the resuscitation period of older orthopedic patients. METHODS: In this prospective randomized controlled trial, 60 older patients who underwent orthopedic surgery under general anesthesia were randomly divided into two groups: those who used conventional face mask and those who used HFNCO. All patients were treated with 60% oxygen for 1 h after extubation. Patients in the conventional face mask group were treated with a combination of air (2 L) and oxygen (2 L) using a traditional mask, whereas those in the HFNCO group were treated with HFNCO at a constant temperature of 34 °C and flow rate of 40 L/min. We assessed the effectiveness of oxygen therapy by monitoring the patients' arterial blood gas, peripheral oxygen saturation, and postoperative complications. RESULTS: The characteristics of the patients were comparable between the groups. One hour after extubation, patients in HFNCO group had a significantly higher arterial partial pressure of oxygen (paO2) than that of patients in conventional face mask group (P < 0.001). At extubation and 1 h after extubation, patients in both groups showed a significantly higher arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (paCO2) than the baseline levels (P < 0.001). There were no differences in the saturation of peripheral oxygen, paO2, and paCO2 between the groups before anesthesia and before extubation (P > 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in paO2 between the two groups before anesthesia and 1 h after extubation and immediately after extubation and 1 h after extubation (P < 0.001). However, there were no significant differences in the oxygen tolerance score before leaving the room, airway humidification, and pulmonary complications 3 d after surgery between the two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: HFNCO can improve oxygen partial pressure and respiratory function in elderly patients undergoing orthopedic surgery under general endotracheal anesthesia. Thus, HFNCO can be used to prevent postoperative hypoxemia.

The mediating effect of engagement in physical activity over a 24-hour period on chronic disease and depression: Using compositional mediation model.

BACKGROUND: Popular mediation method only considers a single activity as a mediator instead of all 24-hour physical activity, such as a four-way decomposition method. We investigated the mediation of 24-hour movement continuum between chronic diseases (cardiovascular disease [CVD] and diabetes) and depression using a novel compositional mediation model. METHODS: 24-hour activity data measured by accelerometer were obtained from NHANES 2005-2006. Adjusted coefficient with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for PHQ-9 total score and adjusted odds ratio (OR) with 95% CI for depression were computed from compositional mediation models. RESULTS: In total, 2,375 participants aged ≥ 20 were included in our analysis. Both diabetes and CVD were associated with increased sedentary behavior (SB) and sleep and reduced moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and light-intensity physical activity (LPA), leading to an increased likelihood of depression. Although not all component indirect effects were associated with PHQ-9 total score and depression, the total indirect effect was significantly associated with both PHQ-9 total score (coefficient (95% CI) for diabetes: 0.162 (0.081, 0.261); coefficient (95% CI) for CVD: 1.139 (1.061, 1.240)) and depression (OR (95% CI) for diabetes: 0.235 (0.126, 0.362); OR (95% CI) for CVD: 1.200 (1.088, 1.346)) using the compositional mediation model. CONCLUSION: We developed a compositional mediation model for continuous and binary outcomes, which can handle entire compositional mediators as a unit. The mediation of 24-hour movement continuum mediated the association between diabetes, CVD, and depression. Our findings present potential interventions for reducing risk of depression among patients with CVD and diabetes.

The effect of triglycerides in the associations between physical activity, sedentary behavior and depression: An interaction and mediation analysis.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies reported that there were associations between physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB), triglycerides (TG) and depression. However, it is unclear whether there is an interaction and/or mediation effect of TG in the associations between PA, SB and depression. This study was to explore the effects of TG in the associations between PA, SB and depression, respectively. METHODS: Our study included 7,728 adults (aged ≥20 years) participating in the 2009-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which was a nationally representative survey. With higher TG as a mediator, a four-way decomposition method was used to decompose the total effects of insufficient PA and prolonged SB on depression, respectively. RESULTS: There were statistically significant associations between moderate-to-vigorous recreational activity (MVRA), SB, TG and depression (all P < 0.05), respectively. With higher TG as a mediator, there were interaction and mediation effects in the association between SB and depression, and the excess relative risk (95% CI) of reference interaction effect (INTref) and the total mediation effect were 0.15(0.01,0.29) and 0.03(0.00,0.06), respectively. While insufficient MVRA attributed a proportion of 80.42% for the controlled direct effect (CDE) and 6.28% for total mediation effect. In addition, similar findings were observed in those with hypertension, overweight/obesity, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndromes. LIMITATION: This was a cross-sectional study, and the ability to make causal inference was limited. CONCLUSION: The controlled direct effect of MVRA, the mediation of TG, and the interaction between SB and TG played the vital roles in increasing the risk of depression.

Predicting environmental risk factors in relation to health outcomes among school children from Romania using random forest model - An analysis of data from the SINPHONIE project.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have simultaneously assessed the health impact of school and home environmental factors on children, since handling multiple highly correlated environmental variables is challenging. In this study, we examined indoor home and school environments in relation to health outcomes using machine learning methods and logistic regression. METHODS: We used the data collected by the SINPHONIE (Schools Indoor Pollution and Health: Observatory Network in Europe) project in Romania, a multicenter European research study that collected comprehensive information on school and home environments, health symptoms in children, smoking, and school policies. The health outcomes were categorized as: any health symptoms, asthma, allergy and flu-like symptoms. Both logistic regression and random forest (RF) methods were used to predict the four categories of health outcomes, and the methods prediction performance was compared. RESULTS: The RF method we employed for analysis showed that common risk factors for the investigated categories of health outcomes, included: environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), dampness in the indoor school environment, male gender, air freshener use, residence located in proximity of traffic (<200 m), stressful schoolwork, and classroom noise (contributions ranged from 7.91% to 23.12%). Specificity, accuracy and area under the curve (AUC) values for most outcomes were higher when using RF compared to logistic regression, while sensitivity was similar in both methods. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that ETS, dampness in the indoor school environment, use of air fresheners, living in proximity to traffic (<200 m) and noise are common environmental risk factors for the investigated health outcomes. RF pointed out better predictive values, sensitivity and accuracy compared to logistic regression.

The association of lncRNA SNPs and SNPs-environment interactions based on GWAS with HBV-related HCC risk and progression.

BACKGROUND: Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plays an essential role in hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-related HCC) occurrence and development. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) may affect HBV-related HCC susceptibility by altering the function of lncRNA. However, the relationship between lncRNA SNPs and HBV-related HCC occurrence and development is still unclear. METHODS: In the present study, based on HBV-related HCC genome-wide association studies, eight potentially functional SNPs from two lncRNAs were predicted using a set of bioinformatics strategies. In 643 HBV-related HCC patients, 549 CHB carriers, and 553 HBV natural clearance subjects from Southern Chinese, we evaluated associations between SNPs and HBV-related HCC occurrence or development with odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) under credible genetic models. RESULTS: In HBV-related HCC patients, rs9908998 was found to significantly increase the risk of lymphatic metastasis under recessive model (Adjusted OR = 1.95, 95% CI = 1.20-3.17). Lnc-RP11-150O12.3 rs2275959, rs1008547, and rs11776545 with cancer family history may show significant multiplicative and additive interactions on HBV-related HCC susceptibility (all pAdjusted < .05). The associations of rs2275959, rs1008547, and rs11776545 with distant metastasis of HBV-related HCC patients were observed in additive model (Adjusted OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.06-1.97 for rs2275959; Adjusted OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.06-1.98 for rs1008547; Adjusted OR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.03-1.91 for rs11776545). CONCLUSION: Taken together, lnc-ACACA-1 rs9908998, lnc-RP11-150O12.3 rs2275959, rs1008547, and rs11776545 might be predictors for HBV-related HCC risk or prognosis.

The effects of physical activity and sedentary behavior in the associations between cardiovascular diseases and depression: A four-way decomposition.

BACKGROUND: Negative effects of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) on depression have been reported, but the relative contribution of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) to such effects remains unclear. Our objective was to precisely quantify the effects modified or mediated by PA and SB using the recently developed four-way effect decomposition. METHODS: Our analysis included 22,117 adults (aged≥20 years) participating in the 2007-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Depression was assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Moderate recreational activity (MRA), moderate work activity (MWA), and walk or bicycle for transportation, were measured by the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ). A four-way decomposition was applied with PA and SB as mediator to decompose the total effects of CVDs on depression into four components: controlled direct effect (CDE), pure indirect effect (PIE), reference interaction (INTref), and mediated interaction effect (INTmed). RESULTS: There were statistically significant associations between CVDs, MRA, and depression, with the adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of being 1.73 (1.42~2.30), 1.81 (1.42~2.30), respectively. With MRA as a mediator, there were interaction and mediation effects in the associations between CVDs and depression, and the proportions attributable of INTref, INTmed, and PIE were 94.08% (P<0.001), 3.92% (P = 0.007), and 1.68% (P = 0.006), respectively. Furthermore, the mediation effect was statistically significant in females rather than males. CONCLUSIONS: MRA strongly modified and mediated the effects of CVDs on depression, especially in females. Our results suggested that sufficient MRA (at least 150 min per week) was considered as requirement for preventing depression in CVDs patients in females.

Association of tagSNPs at lncRNA MALAT-1 with HCC Susceptibility in a Southern Chinese Population.

As a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) and a transcriptional regulator, Metastasis associated lung adenocarcioma transcript-1 (MALAT-1) has been reported to be associated with proliferation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the effects of MALAT-1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on HCC remains poorly understood. This study, including 624 HCC cases and 618 controls, aimed to explore the potential associations between three common tagSNPs at MALAT-1 and HCC risk in a Southern Chinese population. No significant associations were observed between the three tagSNPs and HCC risk under any genetic models after adjusting for potential confounders. Additionally, there were no any significant associations in the stratified analysis, combined effect analysis, and multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) analysis. Unification analysis of mediation and interaction on HCC risk further showed that four decomposition of total effects ((controlled direct effect (CDE), the reference interaction effect (INTref), the mediated interaction effect (INTmed), or the pure indirect effect (PIE)) were also not significant. Neither was the association between the MALAT-1 SNPs and progression factors of HCC, including TNM staging, metastasis, and cancer embolus; Overall, this study suggested that tagSNPs rs11227209, rs619586, and rs3200401 at MALAT-1 were not significantly associated with HCC susceptibility. Nevertheless, large population-based studies are warranted to further explore the role of MALAT-1 SNPs in HCC incidence and development.

Combined Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse and Conventional Ultrasound in the Quantitative Assessment of Immunoglobulin a Nephropathy.

We investigated the value of combined acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging and conventional ultrasound (US) in identifying renal histopathological fibrosis with immunoglobulin A nephropathy. A total of 146 patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy, pathologically confirmed by renal biopsy were grouped according to Oxford classification and Katafuchi grading, were included in the test group, and 39 healthy volunteers were included in the control group. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of ARFI, renal lengths, parenchymal thicknesses and interlobular arterial resistance index (RI) and their combinations in identifying Katafuchi grading at renal biopsy. Shear wave velocity (SWV), renal length, renal parenchyma thickness and the interlobular arterial RI were correlated with Katafuchi grading, mesangial hypercellularity (M) and tubular atrophy/interstitial fibrosis (T) (r = -0.504 to -0.407, p < 0.01) but were not correlated with endocapillary hypercellularity (E) or segmental glomerulosclerosis (S). The area under the curves of SWV value + conventional US index (renal length, renal parenchyma thickness and interlobular arterial RI) was higher than those of the SWV value or of the conventional US index alone. The combination of ARFI imaging and conventional US can improve the diagnostic performance in quantitative evaluation pathologic damage in patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy.

SNP-SNP and SNP-environment interactions of potentially functional HOTAIR SNPs modify the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma.

HOX transcript antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR) has been widely regarded as a functional lncRNA contributing to multiple cancers. However, few studies have examined the effect of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in HOTAIR on the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, three potentially functional HOTAIR SNPs (rs17105613, rs12427129, and rs3816153) were selected using bioinformatic tools. A case-control study including 1262 cases and 1559 controls was conducted to explore the association of HOTAIR SNPs with the risk of HCC in a Southern Chinese population. We found that SNPs rs12427129 and rs3816153 were associated with the risk of HCC in dominant genetic models (CC: CT + TT, adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.72, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.57-0.90 and GG: GT + TT, adjusted OR = 1.30, 95%CI = 1.08-1.57). Additionally, SNP-environment interactions for rs12427129, rs3816153, and HBsAg status were found to enhance the risk of HCC, with FDR-P as an additive interaction equal to 0.0006 and 0.0144, respectively. In multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) analysis, the three-factor model (HBsAg status, rs12427129 and rs3816153) yielded the highest test accuracy of 77.74% (permutation P < 0.001). Interestingly, the effect of rs12427129 and rs3816153 on the risk of HCC could be modified by HBsAg status, while the rs12427129 CT/TT genotype could antagonize the detrimental effect of rs3816153 GT/TT genotype on HCC. Our findings suggest that rs12427129 and rs3816153, including their SNP-SNP and SNP-environment interaction with HBsAg status, potentially play important roles on the susceptibility to HCC.

Evidence from SINPHONIE project: Impact of home environmental exposures on respiratory health among school-age children in Romania.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to indoor air pollutants at home was found to be associated with respiratory diseases. As lifestyle changes with rapid economic growth in Romania, the aim of our study is to describe the characteristics of Romanian homes and their impact on children's respiratory health. METHODS: Self-reported information on respiratory symptoms was collected from 280 Romanian elementary school students in 2011, and the symptoms were categorized into allergy, asthma-like, and flu-like symptoms. Home characteristics and demographic information were collected from questionnaires answered by parents. The association between home characteristics and respiratory health was assessed through multivariate logistic regression controlling for school indoor exposure. RESULTS: As compared to U.S. households, Romanian homes have a higher percentage of smokers, limited use of indoor climate control, and higher use of iron stoves. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke was associated with both asthma and allergy symptoms. Additional risk factors identified for allergy symptoms include living in apartments, near pesticide sprayed areas, and the use of incense sticks. The significantly higher risk of flu-like symptoms was associated with mold and dampness issues, the use of air conditioner, gas heater/iron stove in children's bedroom. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that an increase in respiratory symptoms among Romanian school-age children can be partly related to their environmental exposure at home. Since most of the identified risk factors are preventable, our results provide critical information and evidence for policymakers, to develop target intervention and education strategies.

Teacher respiratory health symptoms in relation to school and home environment.

PURPOSE: Few studies have evaluated teachers' respiratory health, especially its relationship with school/home environment, and school policies. This study assessed asthma and smoking prevalence among teachers in Romania, teacher's perception and knowledge of the school environment, policies and asthma management, and how school and home environment affected asthma, allergy, and respiratory infection symptoms. METHODS: This cross-sectional study obtained information from 104 Romanian teachers utilizing teacher questionnaire data for Romania only, as part of the Schools Indoor Pollution and Health: Observatory Network in Europe (SINPHONIE) study, a multicenter European research project conducted between 2010 and 2012. The SINPHONIE questionnaire collected comprehensive information on school and home environment, respiratory symptoms, smoking, and school policies. We used unconditional logistic regression analysis to examine environment-outcome relationships while controlling for socio-demographics and co-exposures. RESULTS: Our results showed the prevalence of asthma-like symptoms and smoking among teachers in Romania was higher than in other SINPHONIE schools and among US teachers. Factors statistically associated with asthma, allergy, and respiratory infection (all p < 0.05) include perception of health related to poor air quality in school, inappropriate cleaning of ventilation systems, dwelling proximity to busy traffic, and multiple school/home exposures. We also found lack of asthma management and environmental policies in the investigated Romanian schools. CONCLUSION: We concluded that multiple school and home environmental factors were related to respiratory and allergic symptoms. High asthma burden and smoking are important public health problems in Romania. Future studies including larger sample size and exposure measurements are needed to confirm our findings.