ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs), such as hookworm, roundworm and whipworm, and food-borne trematodiases, including Clonorchis sinensis, remain a public health problem worldwide, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the current prevalence of these parasites in Guangxi, China, which is located in a subtropical region. METHODS: A cross-sectional study and a 4-year longitudinal surveillance study were carried out. Stool samples were collected and examined microscopically for parasite eggs using the modified Kato-Katz thick smear method. RESULTS: The study subjects selected using stratified random cluster sampling for the cross-sectional study and longitudinal surveillance study numbered 15,683 and 24,429, respectively. In the cross-sectional study, hookworm, roundworm, whipworm, pinworm, C. sinensis, and tapeworm were found. The total prevalence of soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) was 6.4% (95% CI, 6.0-6.8). The prevalences of C. sinensis, hookworm, roundworm, whipworm, and pinworm were 10.6%, 4.2%, 0.3%, 0.3%, and 1.8%, respectively. The prevalence of C. sinensis in males (14.0%, 95% CI, 13.3-14.8) was significantly higher than in females (7.2%, 95% CI, 6.7-7.8) (P = 0.0001). The prevalence also was significantly higher in the medical worker group (20.8%, 95% CI, 12.9-28.7) than in all other occupational groups (10.5%, 95% CI, 10.0-11.0) (P = 0.0001). The prevalence of hookworm in females (5.3%, 95% CI, 4.8-5.8) was significantly higher than in males (3.0%, 95% CI, 2.6-3.3) (P = 0.0001). In the longitudinal surveillance study, the prevalence of C. sinensis and STHs in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 were 12.0%, 6.0%, 11.0%, and 10.0% and 2.6%, 2.8%, 1.5%, and 1.5%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Adult male and occupation of and medical workers are risk factors for infection with C. sinensis and hookworm. The prevalence rate of C. sinensis remains high while those of the other STHs are decreasing, suggesting that enhanced health education should be focused on C. sinensis in Guangxi.
ABSTRACT
A large-scale meta-analysis of 14 genome-wide association studies has identified and replicated a series of susceptibility polymorphisms for coronary artery disease (CAD) in European ancestry populations, but evidences for the associations of these loci with CAD in other ethnicities remain lacking. Herein we investigated the associations between ten (rs579459, rs12413409, rs964184, rs4773144, rs2895811, rs3825807, rs216172, rs12936587, rs46522 and rs3798220) of these loci and CAD in Southern Han Chinese (CHS). Genotyping was performed in 1716 CAD patients and 1572 controls using mass spectrography. Both allelic and genotypic associations of rs964184, rs2895811 and rs3798220 with CAD were significant, regardless of adjustment for covariates of gender, age, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, blood lipid profiles and smoking. Significant association of rs12413409 was initially not observed, but after the adjustment for the covariates, both allelic and genotypic associations were identified as significant. Neither allelic nor genotypic association of the other six polymorphisms with CAD was significant regardless of the adjustment. Our results indicated that four loci of the total 10 were associated with CAD in CHS. Therefore, some of the CAD-related loci in European ancestry populations are indeed susceptibility loci for the risk of CAD in Han Chinese.
Subject(s)
Asian People/genetics , Coronary Artery Disease/genetics , Genetic Association Studies , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide , Alleles , Case-Control Studies , China , Coronary Artery Disease/diagnosis , Gene Frequency , Genome-Wide Association Study , Genotype , Humans , Odds Ratio , RiskABSTRACT
The first genome-wide association study for coronary artery disease (CAD) in the Han Chinese population, we reported recently, had identified rs6903956 in gene ADTRP on chromosome 6p24.1 as a novel susceptibility locus for CAD. The risk allele of rs6903956 was associated with decreased mRNA expression of ADTRP. To further study the correlation of ADTRP expression and CAD, in this study we evaluated the associations of eight common variants in the expression-regulating regions of ADTRP with CAD in the Southern Han Chinese population. Rs169790 in 3'UTR, rs2076189 in 5'UTR, four SNPs (rs2076188, rs7753407, rs11966356 and rs1018383) in promoter, and two SNPs (rs3734273, rs80355771) in the last intron of ADTRP were genotyped in 1716 CAD patients and 1572 controls. The correlations between these loci and total or early-onset CAD were investigated. None of these loci was discovered to associate with total CAD (P > 0.05). However, with early-onset CAD, significant both allelic and genotypic associations of rs7753407, rs11966356 and rs1018383 were identified, after adjustment for risk factors of age, gender, hypertension, diabetes, lipid profiles and smoking (adjusted P < 0.05). A haplotype AGCG (constructed by rs2076188, rs7753407, rs11966356 and rs1018383) was identified to protect subjects from early-onset CAD (OR = 0.332, 95% CI = 0.105-0.879, adjusted P = 0.010). Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay showed that the risk alleles of the associated loci were significantly associated with decreased expression of ADTRP mRNA. Moreover, the average level of ADTRP mRNA expression in early-onset CAD cases was significantly lower than that in controls. Our results provide new evidence supporting the association of ADTRP with the pathogenesis of early-onset CAD.
Subject(s)
Asian People/ethnology , Coronary Artery Disease/genetics , Ethnicity/genetics , Membrane Proteins/genetics , Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide , Promoter Regions, Genetic/genetics , 3' Untranslated Regions/genetics , 5' Untranslated Regions/genetics , Aged , Asian People/genetics , Cohort Studies , Female , Genetic Predisposition to Disease/genetics , Genotyping Techniques , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
The molecular mechanisms of multiple myeloma are not well defined. EEN is an endocytosis-regulating molecule. Here we report that EEN regulates the proliferation and survival of multiple myeloma cells, by regulating IGF-1 secretion. In the present study, we observed that EEN expression paralleled with cell proliferation, EEN accelerated cell proliferation, facilitated cell cycle transition from G1 to S phase by regulating cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) pathway, and delayed cell apoptosis via Bcl2/Bax-mitochondrial pathway. Mechanistically, we found that EEN was indispensable for insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) secretion and the activation of protein kinase B-mammalian target of rapamycin (Akt-mTOR) pathway. Exogenous IGF-1 overcame the phenotype of EEN depletion, while IGF-1 neutralization overcame that of EEN over-expression. Collectively, these data suggest that EEN may play a pivotal role in excessive cell proliferation and insufficient cell apoptosis of bone marrow plasma cells in multiple myeloma. Therefore, EEN may represent a potential diagnostic marker or therapeutic target for multiple myeloma.