Human health-risk assessment based on chronic exposure to the carbonyl compounds and metals emitted by burning incense at temples.

Health effects resulting from the smoke of carbonyl compounds (aldehydes and ketones) and metal-containing incense particles at temples during incense burning periods were evaluated at temple A (without incense reduction activities) and B (with incense reduction activities), Nantou County, in 2018. The predominant size fractions of particles were PM1, PM1-2.5, and PM2.5-10 at both temples. The total particle mass at temple A was approximately 1.1 times that of temple B due to incense reduction at temple B. The most abundant metal elements in all particle size fractions at both temples were Fe, Al, and Zn. Metal species of incense smoke are divided into three groups by hierarchical cluster analysis and heatmaps, showing higher metal contents in groups PM1, PM18-10, and PM18-2.5 at temple A. In contrast, higher metal contents were observed in PM18-10 and PM2.5-1 at temple B. Most of the carbonyl species were formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, released during incense burning periods, with concentrations ranging from 6.20 to 13.05 µg/m3 at both temples. The total deposited fluxes of particle-bound metals at temples A and B were determined to be 83.00% and 84.82% using the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) model. Health-risk assessments revealed that the risk values of metals and carbonyls were above recommended guidelines (10-6) at temple A. Since worshippers and staff are exposed to incense burning environments with poor ventilation over a long period, these toxic organic compounds and metals increase health risks in the respiratory tract. Therefore, incense reduction is important to achieve healthy temple environments.

Bisphenol A and Its Analogues in Chinese Total Diets: Contaminated Levels and Risk Assessment.

Bisphenol A (BPA) and its analogues (BPs) are suspected posing potential endocrine disrupting properties. They might migrate into foodstuffs through food packaging materials or contaminated water and soil. Dietary exposure is of paramount importance way for human health. European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) lowered the value of tolerable daily intake (TDI) from 50 µg/kg bw/day (d) to a temporary (t) TDI (t-TDI) of 4 µg/kg bw/d. In this study, the Chinese total dietary samples were analyzed for assessing the exposure risk of BPs by diets. BPA, bisphenol F (BPF), bisphenol S (BPS), and bisphenol AF (BPAF) were found in 12 kinds of food samples except for bisphenol B (BPB). A deterministic approach was used to calculate the dietary intakes of 4 kinds of compounds. For different age and gender groups, the exposure levels of BPA (178.440-403.672 ng/kg bw/d) was the highest, followed by BPS (21.372-52.112 ng/kg bw/d), BPF (20.641-50.507 ng/kg bw/d), and BPAF (0.434-1.210 ng/kg bw/d). Based on the t-TDI set by EFSA (4 µg/kg bw/d for BPA), the BPs through dietary intake pose low risks on the Chinese general population even summarization exposure levels of different BPs. However, human can be exposed to multiple endocrine disrupting chemicals rather than BPs alone; combined exposure risks should be further considered.

A novel three-dimensional tumorsphere culture system for the efficient and low-cost enrichment of cancer stem cells with natural polymers.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are considered to serve a key role in tumor progression, recurrence and metastasis. Tumorsphere culture is the most important method for enriching CSCs and is widely used in basic research and drug screening. However, the traditional suspension cell culture system has several disadvantages, including low efficiency, high cost and difficult procedure, making it difficult to produce tumorspheres on a large scale. In the present study, two biomaterials, methylcellulose (MC) and gellan gum (GG), were used to construct a novel culture system based on the traditional system. Subsequently, the characteristics of the novel three-dimensional (3D) culture system were evaluated, the design scheme was optimized, and the morphological and biological features of the tumorspheres cultured in this 3D system were compared with the traditional system. The results revealed that the tumorspheres cultured in the novel 3D system presented a higher seeding density and improved morphology, while maintaining stem-like properties. This evidence suggests that a simple, efficient and low-cost culture system that produces tumorspheres on a large scale was successfully constructed, which can be widely used in various aspects of stem cell research.

[Adverse events following immunization and causality assessment of an adverse event following immunization].

Several fatal events occurred in Hunan, Guangdong and Sichuan Province in December, 2013. The events were reported by the news media, which followed growing public concern. Currently, more and more vaccines were developed and the immunization was adopted for more objectives. The clinicians, especially pediatricians will face a growing number of clinical problems related to the vaccine. The clinicians should pay attention to learn more knowledge about vaccines. This article describes the definition and classification of "adverse events following immunization" and "serious vaccine product-related reactions", and the signifcance and conclusion of causality assessment following immunization.

Performance of a colorectal cancer screening protocol in an economically and medically underserved population.

The performance of combining fecal immunochemical tests (FITs) and a high-risk factor questionnaire (HRFQ) in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in economically and medically underserved populations is uncertain. This study investigated the performance of a CRC screening protocol of combining FITs and an HRFQ as primary screening methods in a rural Chinese population. A CRC mass screening was conducted using FITs and an HRFQ as the first and colonoscopy as the second stage of screening in Jiashan, 2007-2009. The target population was 31,963 residents in three communities. The compliance was 84.7% for HRFQ, 76.4% for FITs, and 78.7% for colonoscopy. The detected rates of cancer, adenoma, nonadenomatous polyps, and advanced neoplasm were 2.7%, 14.8%, 5.9%, and 8.9% by FITs, which were higher than those by HRFQ (0.5%, 9.2%, 4.8%, and 3.8%, respectively). There was no significant difference in detected rate for nonadenomatous polyps between FITs and HRFQ. A total of 41.2% adenomas, 53.2% nonadenomatous polyps, and 29.8% advanced neoplasms were detected by HRFQ but missed by FITs. Positive predictive value of the screening protocol of combining FITs and HRFQ for advanced neoplasm was 5.7%, which was higher than FITs alone. Men had a higher prevalence of advanced neoplasm than women. Results indicate that combining FITs and HRFQ as primary screening methods is an efficient CRC screening strategy in economically and medically underserved populations.

Predictors of health care needs in discharged patients who have undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

OBJECTIVE: The study objective was to explore the health care needs of patients who have undergone coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and identify the influential factors related to those needs. CABG is a current medical treatment for patients with ischemic heart disease. Discharged patients who have undergone CABG often have physical and psychosocial discomfort that can be intolerable. Understanding and meeting the health care needs of patients who have undergone CABG will facilitate their recovery. METHODS: Descriptive correlational research was performed. The participants were patients who underwent CABG and were discharged within the first month. A total of 103 subjects were recruited by purposive sampling from 1 medical center in the Taipei area of Taiwan. The structured questionnaires of the Symptom Distress Inventory and Health Care Needs Inventory of patients who underwent CABG were used for data collection. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t test, 1-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regressions. RESULTS: The frequent order of health care needs were physical, informational, and psychosocial. The stepwise multiple regressions showed that the most important predictors for overall health care needs were length of hospital stay after surgery, symptom distress, and gender. CONCLUSION: Clinical nursing care should focus on patients who have longer postsurgery hospitalization, patients with more severe symptom distress, and female patients after discharge. The results of this study will provide a reference for developing nursing interventions for patients who are discharged after CABG. The optimal goal is to enhance the quality care of these patients.