Exposure to Electronic Media, Smoking and Alcohol Drinking Among Guyanese Adults.

Use of electronic media has been shown to be associated with tobacco and alcohol consumption behavior among adult population. Currently, not much is known about the risk factors of tobacco and alcohol consumption in Guyana. The present study aimed to explore the association between exposure to electronic media and tobacco and alcohol consumption by adjusting for the sociodemographic correlates. Methods: Data were obtained from the sixth round of Guyana Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2019-20). Sample population were 2,208 men and 5,872 women aged between 15 and 49 years. Outcome variables were self-reported lifetime use of tobacco and alcohol, and the main explanatory variables were the use of electronic media such as internet, television and radio. Data were analyzed using descriptive and multivariable regression analysis in Stata version 17. Results: Overall, 55.5% (95% CI = 53.4, 57.6) men and 44.5% (95% CI = 42.4, 46.6) women reported ever smoking tobacco, while the percentage of ever drinking alcohol was 34.2% (95% CI = 32.9, 35.4) and 65.8% (95% CI = 64.6, 67.1) among men and women, respectively. Internet users had significantly higher odds of ever consuming tobacco and alcohol, however, the association was not uniform across the sociodemographic variables. For smoking, the positive association with internet use was observed for women only (OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.09, 1.59), whereas, for alcohol consumption the association with internet use was significantly positive among both men (OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.58, 2.09) and women (OR = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.22, 2.70). Men and women who ever tried alcohol drinking had (OR = 4.64, 95% CI = 3.16, 6.82) and (OR = 10.62, 95% CI = 7.83, 14.40) times higher odds of trying tobacco smoking. Conclusion: Current findings indicate over a quarter of the participants reported ever smoking tobacco and more than three-fifths ever drinking alcohol. Electronic media use, especially that of internet, is a strong predictor of tobacco and alcohol consumption among Guyanese adults. Results also revealed a strong interrelation between alcohol and tobacco smoking, and suggesting that strengthening the tobacco prevention programs may reduce the prevalence of alcohol drinking as well.

LncRNA MAGI2-AS3 is downregulated in the distant recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after surgical resection and affects migration and invasion via ROCK2.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second most lethal cancer around the world, with poor survival rate and high metastasis rate in patients. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to modulate the initiation and development of liver cancer. We aimed to investigate the role of lncRNA MAGI2-AS3 in HCC and underlying mechanisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expression levels of MAGI2-AS3 in plasma of HCC patients and the control participants were measured by qPCR. Hep3B and MHCC97-H cells were transfected with MAGI2-AS3 and ROCK2 expression vectors. Cell migration and invasion of HCC cells transfected with the vectors were investigated by transwell assay. In addition, flow cytometry and western blot were performed for apoptosis detection. RESULTS: We found that MAGI2-AS3 was downregulated in plasma of early stage HCC patients compared to healthy controls. After surgical resection, the expression levels of MAGI2-AS3 were increased compared to pretreatment levels on the day of discharge. During the follow-up, MAGI2-AS3 was downregulated in patients developed distant recurrence, but not in other patients compared to the levels measured on the day of discharge. In HCC cells, overexpression of MAGI2-AS3 mediated the downregulation of ROCK2. Cell invasion and migration assay showed that overexpression of MAGI2-AS3 mediated the decreased cell invasion and migration rate, while ROCK2 played an opposite role and attenuated the effects of overexpression of MAGI2-AS3. CONCLUSION: Our study indicated that MAGI2-AS3 was downregulated in the distant recurrence of HCC after surgical resection and affected the invasion and migration of HCC cells via ROCK2.