Assessment of migration regularity of phthalates from food packaging materials.

Phthalate acid esters (PAEs) are one of the essential plastic additives which may lead to plenty of harmful effects, including reproductive toxicity, teratogenicity, and carcinogenicity. Increasing attention has been paid to the migration of plasticizer. In this article, the disposable plastic lunch boxes were taken as the research object. The result showed that dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP) have been mainly found, whose content was 1.5 mg/kg and 2.4 mg/kg, respectively. The LOD was 2 ng/g, and LOQ was 6.7 ng/g. We further investigated the migration of PAEs into the simulated liquid at different temperature conditions. Then, the linear fitting performing by first-order kinetic migration model revealed that the lower the polarity of the simulated liquid, the larger the rate constant K 1 and initial release rate V 0. The higher the temperature, the bigger the K 1 and V 0.

Type D personality is associated with delaying patients to medical assessment and poor quality of life among rectal cancer survivors.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research was to explore quality of life (QoL), mental health status, type D personality, symptom duration, and emergency admissions of Chinese rectal cancer patients as well as the relationship between these factors. METHODS: Type D personality was measured with the 14-item Type D Personality Scale (DS14). Mental health status was measured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The QoL outcomes were assessed longitudinally using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CR38 questionnaires at the baseline and 6 months after diagnosis. RESULTS: Of the 852 survivors who responded (94 %), 187 (22 %) had a type D personality. The proportion of patients with duration of symptoms >1 month and being diagnosed after emergency admissions in type D group is significantly higher than that in non-type D group. At both of the time points, type D patients reported statistically significant lower scores on most of the functional scales, global health status/QoL scales, and worse symptom scores compared to patients without a type D personality. At the 6-month time point, a higher percentage of patients in the type D group demonstrated QoL deterioration. Clinically elevated levels of anxiety and depression were more prevalent in type D than in non-type D survivors. CONCLUSIONS: Type D personality was associated with poor QoL and mental health status among survivors of rectal cancer, even after adjustment for confounding background variables. Type D personality might be a general vulnerability factor to screen for subgroups at risk for longer symptom duration and emergency admissions in clinical practice.

Factors associated with delaying medical assessment of patients and impacting the prognosis of rectal cancer.

The aims of this study were (a) to compare the clinical presentations and outcomes of patients referred to the hospital from the emergency department (ED) and those referred from non-ED facilities in a Chinese population and (b) to identify the factors influencing delays in medical assessment and prognosis for patients with rectal cancer (RC). Eligible Chinese patients newly diagnosed with RC, admitted to the hospital from the ED, or referred from non-ED sources between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2009 were enrolled in this prospective study. Associations between symptoms, symptom duration, tumor stage at diagnosis, and 3-year survival were proposed to identify factors associated with delay in the diagnosis of RC and emergency admission. Compared with patients in the non-ED group, patients in the ED group had a significantly longer hospital stay, greater in-hospital mortality, a higher proportion of advanced stage tumor, lower rate of undergoing potentially curative surgery, and a higher proportion of symptom duration longer than 1 month. There was a statistically significant difference in the 3-year overall survival between the patients who underwent emergency operation within 24 h of admission and the patients presenting as emergency who underwent an operation longer than 24 h from admission to operation. Patients who endured symptoms longer than 1 month had a significantly higher proportion of emergency admissions, higher proportion of advanced stage tumor, and lower rate of undergoing potentially curative surgery compared with patients whose symptom duration was less than 1 month. In conclusion, (a) ED referral patients endured significantly longer symptom duration before diagnosis. (b) Emergency operation within 24 h of admission was an independent prognostic indicator of overall survival in patients with RC. A two-stage approach for the management of patients with RC who presented as emergency could enable patients to be transferred to a specialist department of surgical oncology for a definitive radical oncological operation and improve the prognosis.