[Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soil and Wheat Grain in the Typical Sewage Irrigated Area of Shandong Province].

Sewage irrigation is a common alternative to make up for the shortage of agricultural irrigation in intensive agricultural areas. Abundant organic matter and nutrients in sewage can improve soil fertility and crop yield, but hazardous materials, such as heavy metals, will damage the soil environmental quality and threaten human health. To better understand the characteristics of heavy metal enrichment and potential health risk in a sewage irrigated soil-wheat system, a total of sixty-three pairs of topsoil and wheat grain samples were collected from the sewage irrigated area of Longkou City in Shandong Province. The contents of Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, As, Cd, and Hg were determined to analyze heavy metal contamination and calculate bio-accumulation factor (BAF), estimated daily absorption (EDA), as well as hazard quotient (HQ). The results showed that the average contents of the eight heavy metals were 61.647, 30.439, 29.769, 36.538, 63.716, 8.058, 0.328, and 0.028 mg·kg-1, respectively, which all exceeded the background values of corresponding heavy metals in the eastern Shandong Province. Especially, the average content of Cd was higher than the current standard value of soil environmental quality of agricultural land soil pollution risk control, indicating the apparent soil contamination. However, the correlations between the heavy metal contents in soil and wheat grains were not significant, suggesting that it is difficult to conclude the enrichment degree of heavy metals in wheat grains merely by the heavy metal contents in soil. The results of BAF showed that the high enrichment capacity of wheat grain was primarily obtained with Zn, Hg, Cd, and Cu. According to the national food safety limit standard, the over-limit ratios of Ni (100%) and Pb (96.8%) in wheat grains were the most serious. As a result, under the current consumption of local wheat flour, the EDAs of Ni and Pb were high, accounting for 28.278% and 1.955% of the acceptable daily intakes (ADI) for adults and 131.980% and 9.124% of the ADIs for children. The results of the health risk assessment exhibited that As and Pb were the main sources causing health risks, accounting for approximately 80% of the total risk. Although the sums of the HQ of the eight heavy metals for adults and children were below 10, the total HQ of children was 1.245 times higher than that of adults. The food safety of children should receive more attention. When considering spatial characteristics, the health risk in the southern study area was higher than that in the northern part of the study area. The prevention and control of heavy metal contamination in the southern area should be strengthened in the future.

Characteristics of initial symptoms in patients with dementia with Lewy body disease.

Background: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common neurodegenerative dementia. Although DLB is characterized by fluctuating cognitive impairment, some symptoms may appear before cognitive impairment, including rapid eye movement, sleep behavior disorder (RBD), psychiatric symptoms, autonomic symptoms, Parkinson's symptoms, etc. Therefore, DLB may be misdiagnosed as other diseases in its early stage. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of initial symptoms of DLB, which could potentially offer essential clues for the earliest diagnosis of this disorder. Methods: A total of 239 patients with probable DLB who visited the cognitive impairment outpatient department of Tianjin Huanhu Hospital from September 2015 to March 2021 were consecutively enrolled. We retrospectively evaluated the initial symptoms of all included participants. The time of onset of initial symptoms was also assessed. Results: The most frequent initial symptom was memory loss (53.9%), followed by psychiatric symptoms (34.7%), RBD (20.9%), parkinsonism (15.1%), and autonomic symptoms (10.1%). Significant gender and age differences existed in the initial symptoms of patients with DLB. Conclusions: Our study elucidated the initial symptoms in patients with probable DLB. RBD was significantly more reported by men than by women, whereas women showed a higher incidence of visual and auditory hallucinations. A better understanding of the initial symptoms of DLB could lead to a more accurate diagnosis.

Cross-dimensional formation control of second-order heterogeneous multi-agent systems.

This paper is concerned with the cross-dimensional formation control of a second-order multi-dimensional heterogeneous multi-agent system. Agents are first separated into several groups according to their position/velocity vector dimensions. Then the cross-dimensional formation control problem is formulated such that agents in the same group form a time-varying formation in their own dimension and agents in different groups cooperatively move in multiple dimensions. This can make follower agents in different dimensions cooperatively track a leader. Moreover, a cross-dimensional formation protocol is designed based on full or partial information of neighboring agents. For higher-dimensional agents, full information of lower-dimensional neighbors is adopted. For lower-dimensional ones, only partial information of higher-dimensional neighbors is used. Furthermore, a necessary and sufficient condition for the second-order heterogeneous multi-agent system to achieve cross-dimensional formation is provided. Accordingly, a criterion for designing cross-dimensional formation protocol is further derived. Finally, under an undirected graph, a lower-dimensional protocol design criterion is obtained if there is no data exchange between lower- and higher-dimensional followers. The effectiveness of the obtained results is demonstrated through cross-dimensional target enclosing performance analysis for multiple robots and quadrotors.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias.

Introduction: Numerous countries went into lockdown to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, which has impeded follow-up of chronic diseases, such as cognitive impairment (CI). Cognitive and neuropsychiatric changes during the COVID-19 pandemic are neglected in China, which is the world's whistleblower. To investigate the cognitive and neuropsychologic changes in CI, as well as the proportions of rapid cognitive decline (RCD) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide clinical evidence for CI intervention during a public health emergency. Methods: We performed a descriptive and retrospective study based on medical records from the memory clinic of Tianjin Dementia Institute collected through face-to-face evaluations. Information of 205 patients with CI, including patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia, of whom 131 with Alzheimer's disease (AD) were analyzed and compared to a control group before the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Among the 205 CI patients, the scores on the Chinese Mini Mental State Examination (C-MMSE), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), activities of daily living (ADLs), and the global Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) were significantly different at the baseline and follow-up evaluations (p < 0.05) after 14.07 (±2.87) months. The same findings were recorded among AD patients, and they exhibited more sleep disturbances at the follow-up than at baseline (32.8 vs. 20.6%, p = 0.035). When compared to the control group, slightly worse performance of cognitive, -1.00 (-4.00, 1.00) from the C-MMSE, -1.00 (-2.00, 0.00) on the MoCA, 1.00 (0.00, 9.00) on ADLs and neuropsychological 0.00 (-1.00, 3.50) on the global NPI profile, at the follow-up were presented, particularly for delusion, agitation, irritability, and appetite disturbances (p < 0.05). Twenty-five (19.1%) AD patients and 48 (36.6%) controls suffered RCD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, AD patients during the COVID-19 pandemic were 0.408 times (95% confidence interval: 0.232-0.716) less likely to suffer RCD than the control. Conclusion: Confinement might ease the cognitive and neuropsychiatric deterioration of AD patients compared to those not in crisis and help prevent RCD in AD patients.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdown on Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia With Lewy Bodies in China: A 1-Year Follow-Up Study.

Background: While the lockdown strategies taken by many countries effectively limited the spread of COVID-19, those were thought to have a negative impact on older people. This study aimed to investigate the impact of lockdown on cognitive function and neuropsychiatric symptoms over a 1-year follow-up period in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Methods: We enrolled consecutive patients with MCI, probable AD or DLB who were receiving outpatient memory care before the COVID-19 pandemic and followed-up with them after 1 year by face-to-face during the COVID-19 pandemic to assess changes in physical activity, social contact, cognitive function and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS). Results: Total 105 probable AD, 50 MCI and 22 probable DLB patients were included and completed the 1-year follow-up between October 31 and November 30, 2020. Among the respondents, 42% of MCI, 54.3% of AD and 72.7% of DLB patients had a decline in MMSE scores and 54.4% of DLB patients had worsening Neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) scores. Patients with DLB showed a more rapid decline of MMSE than those with AD. Diminished physical activity and social contact might have hastened the deterioration of cognition and the worsening of NPS. Conclusion: Social isolation and physical inactivity even after strict lockdown for at least 6 months were correlated with accelerated decline of cognitive function and NPS in patients with AD and DLB.

Current Progress in Investigating Mature T- and NK-Cell Lymphoma Gene Aberrations by Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS).

Despite efforts to abrogate the severe threat to life posed by the profound malignancy of mature natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL), therapeutic advances still require further investigation of its inherent regulatory biochemical processes. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is an increasingly developing gene detection technique, which has been widely used in lymphoma genetic research in recent years. Targeted therapy based on the above studies has also generated a series of advances, making genetic mutation a new research hotspot in lymphoma. Advances in NKTCL-related gene mutations are reviewed in this paper.

MicroRNA-182 improves spinal cord injury in mice by modulating apoptosis and the inflammatory response via IKKß/NF-κB.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one common neurological condition which involves primary injury and secondary injury. Neuron inflammation and apoptosis after SCI is the most important pathological process of this disease. Here, we tried to explore the influence and mechanism of miRNAs on the neuron inflammatory response and apoptosis after SCI. First, by re-analysis of Gene Expression Omnibus dataset (accession GSE19890), miR-182 was selected for further study because of its suppressive effects on the inflammatory response in the various types of injuries. Functional experiments demonstrated that miR-182 overexpression promoted functional recovery, reduced histopathological changes, and alleviated spinal cord edema in mice. It was also observed that miR-182 overexpression reduced apoptosis and attenuated the inflammatory response in spinal cord tissue, as evidenced by the reduction of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-1ß, and the induction of IL-10. Using a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced SCI model in BV-2 cells, we found that miR-182 was downregulated in the BV-2 cells following LPS stimulation, and upregulation of miR-182 improved LPS-induced cell damage, as reflected by the inhibition of apoptosis and the inflammatory response. IκB kinase ß (IKKß), an upstream target of the NF-κB pathway, was directly targeted by miR-182 and miR-182 suppressed its translation. Further experiments revealed that overexpression of IKKß reversed the anti-apoptosis and anti-inflammatory effects of miR-182 in LPS stimulated BV-2 cells. Finally, we found that miR-182 overexpression blocked the activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway in vitro and in vivo, as demonstrated by the downregulation of phosphorylated (p­) IκB-α and nuclear p-p65. Taken together, these data indicate that miR-182 improved SCI-induced secondary injury through inhibiting apoptosis and the inflammatory response by blocking the IKKß/NF-κB pathway. Our findings suggest that upregulation of miR-182 may be a novel therapeutic target for SCI.

Roxadustat as treatment for a blood transfusion-dependent maintenance hemodialysis patient: A case report and review of literature.

BACKGROUND: Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) have revolutionized the therapeutic strategy for anemia in chronic kidney disease. However, some cases are resistant or hyporesponsive to ESAs. Roxadustat is an oral hypoxia-inducible factor-prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor that stimulates erythropoiesis and regulates iron metabolism. Here, we describe a hemodialysis patient with refractory anemia who did not respond to traditional treatments and depended on blood transfusion for more than 1 year. After applying Roxadustat, the patient's anemia improved significantly. CASE SUMMARY: A 44-year-old man was diagnosed with uremia accompanied by severe anemia with a hemoglobin (Hb) level ranging from 30-40 g/L. His anemia did not improve after sufficient dialysis or high doses of active ESAs; other causes of anemia were excluded. The patient required approximately 600-1000 mL of red blood cell suspension every 15-30 d for more than 1 year. After accepting Roxadustat therapy, the patient's anemia symptoms improved significantly; his Hb level gradually increased to 50 g/L, and no further blood transfusions were administered. His Hb level reached 69 g/L by the 34th week. Although a Hb level of 60-70 g/L cannot be considered satisfactory, he no longer required blood transfusions and his quality of life was substantially improved. Roxadustat showed good efficacy and safety in this case. CONCLUSION: Roxadustat represents an innovative and effective agent for the clinical treatment of renal anemia caused by multiple complex factors.

[Comparison of fracture strength of two chairside CAD/CAM ceramic blocs with different thickness].

PURPOSE: To provide theoretical basis for clinical CAD/CAM restorations with a comparison of the fracture strength between two chairside CAD/CAM immediate restorative materials (IPS e.max CAD and Vita Enamic) with different occlusal thickness in vitro. METHODS: IPS e.max CAD and Vita Enamic full-crowns with occlusal thicknesses 1.5/2.0/2.5 mm were fabricated with CEREC and adhesively seated to dies customized by manufacturer (n=42). All specimens were stored in distilled water at 37 ℃ for 24 h. Later, static fractural loading was performed. The fracture surface was observed through scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrum (EDS). The composites of two materials were detected by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The results of fracture strength were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and t-test via SPSS 20.0 software package. RESULTS: With the increase of occlusal thickness, the fracture strength of IPS e.max CAD increased remarkably. However, the Vita Enamic's fracture strength remained the same with no significant difference. With the occlusal thickness increased from 1.5 to 2.0 mm, there was no significant difference in the fracture strength between IPS e.max CAD group and Vita Enamic group. As the thickness increased from 1.5 to 2.0 mm, the fracture strength of IPS e.max CAD group was significantly higher than that of Vita Enamic group. The results of SEM showed that the filler particles of IPS e.max CAD were smaller compared to that of Vita Enamic. Cone cracks were mainly found in the fracture surface of IPS e.max CAD, while radical cracks appeared in Vita Enamic. EDS showed the metal oxide and SiO2 in Vita Enmic was significantly higher than that in IPS e.max CAD. XRD showed that the primary crystal phase of IPS e.max CAD was lithium silicate, while Vita Enamic was amorphous. CONCLUSIONS: Both IPS e.max CAD and Vita Enamic can meet the standard of clinical application as the occlusal thickness reaches 1.5 mm. IPS e.max CAD showed better fracture resistance when the thickness was greater than 2.0 mm.

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells attenuate myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury via upregulation of splenic regulatory T cells.

BACKGROUND: Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) is the main pathological manifestation of cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction. The potential therapeutic effects of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) and the participation of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in MIRI remains to be defined. METHODS: We used the experimental acute MIRI that was induced in mice by left ascending coronary ischemia, which were subsequently randomized to receive immunoglobulin G (IgG) or anti-CD25 antibody PC61 with or without intravenously injected BM-MSCs. The splenectomized mice underwent prior to experimental MIRI followed by intravenous administration of BM-MSCs. At 72 h post-MIRI, the hearts and spleens were harvested and subjected to cytometric and histologic analyses. RESULTS: CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells were significantly elevated after MIRI in the hearts and spleens of mice receiving IgG + BM-MSCs and PC61 + BM-MSCs compared to the respective control mice (all p < 0.01). This was accompanied by upregulation of interleukin 10 and transforming growth factor ß1 and downregulation of creatinine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase in the serum. The post-MIRI mice receiving BM-MSCs showed attenuated inflammation and cellular apoptosis in the heart. Meanwhile, splenectomy compromised all therapeutic effects of BM-MSCs. CONCLUSION: Administration of BM-MSCs effectively alleviates MIRI in mice through inducing Treg activation, particularly in the spleen.

Prevalence of Constipation in Elderly and Its Association With Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Constipation and dementia have similar epidemiological characteristics. Changes in intestinal flora and characteristics of the brain-gut axis play roles in the pathogeneses of the two diseases, suggesting that there may be a close connection between the two. Most of the studies on constipation in dementia patients have focused on the population with α-synucleinopathies [Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB)]. Few studies have reported the prevalence of constipation in all-cause dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) populations. OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of constipation in patients with all-cause dementia and MCI subtypes and to explore the association between constipation with dementia and MCI subtypes. METHODS: From May 2019 to December 2019, we conducted a population-based cross-sectional survey. A total of 11,743 participants aged 65 or older from nine cities in China were surveyed. Participants underwent a series of clinical examinations and neuropsychological measurements. Constipation, dementia, MCI and MCI subtype were diagnosed according to established criteria through standard diagnostic procedures. RESULTS: The overall age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of constipation in individuals aged 65 years and older was 14.8% (95% CI, 14.6-15.0). The prevalence rates of constipation were19.2% (95% CI, 17.3-21.0), 19.1% (95% CI, 16.8-21.5), 14.4% (95% CI, 12.8-15.9), and 13.8% (95% CI, 13.0-14.6) in the dementia, non-amnestic (na)-MCI, amnestic (a)-MCI and normal cognition populations, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that higher prevalence of constipation was associated with dementia (p = 0.0.032, OR = 1.18, 95% CI: 1.02-1.38) and na-MCI (p = 0.003, OR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.09-1.54). CONCLUSION: The present study found a high prevalence of constipation in elderly individuals in China, and higher in patients with dementia and na-MCI.

The role of Livin expression in the clinicopathological features and prognosis of lung cancer: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: While the impact of Livin expression on patients with lung cancer was evaluated in previous studies, the results remained debatable. The relationship between Livin expression and clinicopathological features and prognosis in lung cancer was assessed in the present meta-analysis. METHODS: Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Springer, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Internet database (CNKI), Wanfang database, Chinese VIP database and Chinese Biological Medical Database (CBM) were searched for relevant publications analyzing the role of Livin in prognosis and clinicopathological features of lung cancer before September 2020. The results were evaluated using pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) calculated by STATA 12.0 software. RESULTS: Twenty studies with a total of 1,395 patients were enrolled in this meta-analysis based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Livin expression was significantly associated with smoking status (OR =2.51, 95% CI: 1.70-3.72, P<0.05), lung adenocarcinomas (LAC) (OR =2.16, 95% CI: 1.60-2.92, P<0.05), TNM stage (OR =2.49, 95% CI: 1.63-3.69, P<0.05) and poor differentiation (OR =2.04, 95% CI: 1.35-3.08, P<0.05). Livin expression was significantly related to metastasis (OR =4.22, 95% CI: 2.68-6.64, P<0.05) and lower 5-year overall survival (OR =4.23, 95% CI: 2.60-6.88, P<0.05) of patients with lung cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study manifested that Livin expression was significantly related to smoking status, LAC, high TNM stage, poor differentiation, metastasis and 5-year overall survival rate, which indicated that Livin may be a potential biomarker for prognosis of lung cancer.

The relationship between hemoglobin and serum uric acid / 预防医学

Objective@#To analyze the relationship between hemoglobin ( Hb ) and serum uric acid ( SUA ), so as to provide basis for preventing hyperuricemia ( HUA ) . @*Methods@#As the research subjects, people who underwent physical examination in Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital from January 1, 2017 to October 31, 2020 for 4 years in a row and who were non-HUA in 2017 were selected. The physical examination data were collected, including body mass index, blood pressure, blood routine, blood biochemical tests, etc. The subjects grouped by quartiles of Hb level in 2017. The occurrence of SUA elevation ( SUA increased ≥60 μmol/L from baseline ) , significantly SUA elevation ( SUA increased ≥120 μmol/L from baseline ), HUA ( SUA>420 μmol/L ) and severe HUA ( SUA ≥480 μmol/L ) in the next 3 years were taken as end events. The incidence, occurrence time and risk of end events in different Hb groups were analyzed.@*Results@#A total of 4 073 subjects were selected and divided into 4 groups according to the Hb level from low to high, with 969 subjects in group A, 907 subjects in group B, 1 109 subjects in group C and 1 088 subjects in group D. SUA elevation was in 745 patients ( 18.29% ); significantly SUA elevation was in 105 patients ( 2.58% ); HUA was in 514 patients ( 12.62% ); severe HUA was in 94 patients ( 2.31% ). The incidence of SUA elevation and significantly SUA elevation showed a decreasing trend with the increase of Hb level ( P<0.05 ). The occurrence time of SUA elevation in group A to D was 2.788, 2.817, 2.860 and 2.814 years, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05 ). There were no statistically significant differences in the occurrence time of other end events ( P>0.05 ). The multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis showed that compared with group A, other Hb groups had lower risk ( HR=0.498-0.776, 95%CI:0.253-0.981 ) of SUA elevation, significantly SUA elevation and severe HUA after adjusting for gender, age, ALT, Scr, body mass index, etc.@*Conclusions@#With the increase of Hb level, the incidence of SUA elevation may decrease and the occurrence time is prolonged. Compared with the lowest Hb group, the higher Hb groups had lower risk of SUA elevation, significantly SUA elevation and severe HUA.

Metabolic syndrome and the incidence of lung cancer: a meta-analysis of cohort studies.

BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been related to the pathogenesis of variety categories of cancers. This meta-analysis aimed to determine the association between MetS and the incidence of lung cancer. METHODS: Relevant cohort studies were identified by search of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane's Library databases. Cochrane's Q test and I2 statistic were used to analyze the heterogeneity. Random-effect model which incorporates the potential heterogeneity was used for the meta-analysis. RESULTS: Five cohort studies with 188,970 participants were included. A total of 1,295 lung cancer cases occurred during follow-up. Meta-analyses showed that neither MetS defined by the revised NCEP-ATP III criteria (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84 to 1.05, p = 0.25; I2 = 0) nor the IDF criteria (HR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.61 to 1.11, p = 0.20; I2 = 0) was associated with an affected risk of lung cancer. Subgroup analyses showed consistent results in women and in men, in studies performed in Asian and non-Asian countries, and in prospective and retrospective cohorts (p all > 0.05). Meta-analysis limited to studies with the adjustment of smoking status also showed similar results (HR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.80 to 1.05, p = 0.21; I2 = 0). No publication bias was detected based on the Egger regression test (p = 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Current evidence from cohort studies does not support that MetS is an independent risk factor for the incidence of lung cancer.

Collision carcinoma of endometrial adenocarcinoma and primary serous fallopian tube carcinoma: a case report.

Collision carcinoma is a rare malignancy that generally occurs in cervical, esophageal, pulmonary, and squamous cell cancers. Few studies have been reported involving endometrial adenocarcinoma and fallopian tube carcinoma. We reported the case of a 58-year-old woman who presented because of irregular vaginal bleeding for more than 1 month. Cervical biopsy suggested moderately differentiated cervical adenocarcinoma, and the patient underwent radical hysterectomy under general anesthesia. However, postoperative pathology and immunohistochemical results indicated a collision tumor comprising endometrial adenocarcinoma (grade I) and primary serous fallopian tube carcinoma. According to the treatment principle of multiple primary tumors, a regimen of paclitaxel combined with carboplatin was administered. The patient also underwent local pelvic radiotherapy to treat lymph node metastasis. One month later, the patient developed brain metastases and died.

Association Between Statin Use and Prognosis of Breast Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies.

Background: Statin, a lipid-lowering drug, has been suggested to confer anticancer efficacy. However, previous studies evaluating the association between statin use and prognosis in breast cancer showed inconsistent results. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the association between statin use and clinical outcome in women with breast cancer. Methods: Cohort studies comparing recurrence or disease-specific mortality in women with breast cancer with and without using of statins were identified by search of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane's Library databases. A random-effect model, incorporating the inter-study heterogeneity, was used to combine the results. Subgroup analyses were performed to evaluate the influences of study characteristics on the outcomes Results: Seventeen cohort studies with 168,700 women with breast cancer were included. Pooled results showed that statin use was significantly associated with a lower risk of breast cancer recurrence (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 0.72, p < 0.001) and breast cancer mortality (HR = 0.80, p < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that timing of statin use, statin type, study design, sample size, or quality score did not significantly affect the outcomes. However, statin use was associated with more remarkably reduced breast cancer recurrence in studies with mean follow-up duration ≤ 5 years (HR = 0.55, p < 0.001) than that in studies of >5 years (HR = 0.83, p = 0.01). Conclusions: Statin use is associated with reduced recurrence and disease-specific mortality in women with breast cancer. These results should be validated in randomized controlled trials.

Forecasting Air Quality in Taiwan by Using Machine Learning.

This study proposes a gradient-boosting-based machine learning approach for predicting the PM2.5 concentration in Taiwan. The proposed mechanism is evaluated on a large-scale database built by the Environmental Protection Administration, and Central Weather Bureau, Taiwan, which includes data from 77 air monitoring stations and 580 weather stations performing hourly measurements over 1 year. By learning from past records of PM2.5 and neighboring weather stations' climatic information, the forecasting model works well for 24-h prediction at most air stations. This study also investigates the geographical and meteorological divergence for the forecasting results of seven regional monitoring areas. We also compare the prediction performance between Taiwan, Taipei, and London; analyze the impact of industrial pollution; and propose an enhanced version of the prediction model to improve the prediction accuracy. The results indicate that Taipei and London have similar prediction results because these two cities have similar topography (basin) and are financial centers without domestic pollution sources. The results also suggest that after considering industrial impacts by incorporating additional features from the Taichung and Thong-Siau power plants, the proposed method achieves significant improvement in the coefficient of determination (R2) from 0.58 to 0.71. Moreover, for Taichung City the root-mean-square error decreases from 8.56 for the conventional approach to 7.06 for the proposed method.

Plasma soluble C-type lectin-like receptor-2 is associated with the risk of coronary artery disease.

Accumulating evidence suggests that C-type lectin-like receptor-2 (CLEC-2) plays an important role in atherothrombosis. In this case-control study, we investigated the association between CLEC-2 and incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD). A total of 216 patients, including 14 cases of stable angina pectoris (SAP, non-ACS) and 202 cases of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and 89 non-CAD control subjects were enrolled. Plasma levels of soluble CLEC-2 (sCLEC-2) were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Compared with the control group (65.69 (55.36-143.22) pg/mL), the plasma levels of sCLEC-2 were significantly increased in patients with CAD (133.67 (88.76-220.09) pg/mL) and ACS (134.16 (88.88-225.81) pg/mL). The multivariate adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of CAD reached 2.01 (1.52-2.66) (Ptrend < 0.001) for each 1-quartile increase in sCLEC-2. Restricted cubic splines showed a positive dose-response association between sCLEC2 and CAD incidence (Plinearity < 0.001). The addition of sCLEC-2 to conventional risk factors improved the C statistic (0.821 vs. 0.761, P = 0.004) and reclassification ability (net reclassification improvement: 57.45%, P < 0.001; integrated discrimination improvement: 8.27%, P < 0.001) for CAD. In conclusion, high plasma sCLEC-2 is independently associated with CAD risk, and the prognostic value of sCLEC-2 may be evaluated in future prospective studies.

mTERF8, a Member of the Mitochondrial Transcription Termination Factor Family, Is Involved in the Transcription Termination of Chloroplast Gene psbJ.

Members of the mitochondrial transcription terminator factor (mTERF) family, originally identified in vertebrate mitochondria, are involved in the termination of organellular transcription. In plants, mTERF proteins are mainly localized in chloroplasts and mitochondria. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), mTERF8/pTAC15 was identified in the plastid-encoded RNA polymerase (PEP) complex, the major RNA polymerase of chloroplasts. In this work, we demonstrate that mTERF8 is associated with the PEP complex. An mTERF8 knockout line displayed a wild-type-like phenotype under standard growth conditions, but showed impaired efficiency of photosystem II electron flow. Transcription of most chloroplast genes was not substantially affected in the mterf8 mutant; however, the level of the psbJ transcript from the psbEFLJ polycistron was increased. RNA blot analysis showed that a larger transcript accumulates in mterf8 than in the wild type. Thus, abnormal transcription and/or RNA processing occur for the psbEFLJ polycistron. Circular reverse transcription PCR and sequence analysis showed that the psbJ transcript terminates 95 nucleotides downstream of the translation stop codon in the wild type, whereas its termination is aberrant in mterf8 Both electrophoresis mobility shift assays and chloroplast chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis showed that mTERF8 specifically binds to the 3' terminal region of psbJ Transcription analysis using the in vitro T7 RNA polymerase system showed that mTERF8 terminates psbJ transcription. Together, these results suggest that mTERF8 is specifically involved in the transcription termination of the chloroplast gene psbJ.