ABSTRACT
Objective: Asian Americans include heterogeneous subpopulations with unique burden as the only racial group with cancer as the leading cause of death. The purpose of the study was to identify differences in clinical stage and survival of patients with lung cancer between Asian Americans and its subgroups relative to other racial groups. Methods: Patients with lung cancer from 2016 National Cancer Database were divided into East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian subgroups based on geographic origins, and a composite Asian American group with White non-Hispanic, Black, and Hispanic comparison groups. Columnar z score analysis with adjusted residuals was employed and the terms underrepresented and overrepresented were utilized to describe significant statistical findings. Results: A total of 825,448 patients were analyzed. Asian Americans were underrepresented relative to White non-Hispanics in all clinical stages except IIIB and IV. In clinical stage IV, Asian Americans (51.0%), East Asians (47.2%), Southeast Asians (57.4%), and South Asians (52.2%) were overrepresented relative to White non-Hispanics (42.2%) and Southeast Asians were overrepresented relative to East Asians and South Asians. For survival across all stages, Asian Americans were overrepresented relative to White non-Hispanics and Blacks, but in clinical stage IV, Southeast Asians (17.9%) were underrepresented relative to East Asians (26.0%) and South Asians (26.6%). Conclusions: This is the first study to address lung cancer disparity in Asian American subgroups employing a novel analytical approach. Asian American subgroups demonstrated more advanced lung cancer diagnosis yet higher survival compared with White non-Hispanics, Blacks, and/or Hispanics with differences between subgroups. Interplay of complex factors may contribute to Asian American health disparities.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The development of agricultural practices requires an understanding of the improvement of salt tolerance and crop growth in agricultural systems through magnetized-ionized water irrigation. METHOD: This study examined the impacts of fresh water (F), brackish water (B), magnetized-ionized fresh water (MIF), and magnetized-ionized brackish water (MIB) on soil properties and the growth of cotton seedlings through microbial analysis during the cotton seedling period. RESULTS: The results revealed that magnetized-ionized water irrigation improved soil water retention and promoted salt leaching. In comparison with F irrigation, plant height, leaf area index (LAI), dry matter accumulation (DM), and chlorophyll content (SPAD) levels increased by 3.61%, 4.07%, 5.76%, and 1.33%, respectively, under MIF irrigation. Similarly, when compared with B irrigation, LAI, DM, and SPAD increased by 5.13%, 6.12%, and 3.12% under MIB irrigation. Magnetized-ionized water irrigation also led to a notable rise in the relative abundance of beneficial soil bacterial communities, particularly Pseudomonas and Azoarcus, as well as fungal communities like Trichoderma, while reducing the prevalence of pathogenic fungi, such as Lasionectria, Gibberella, and Alternaria. Notably, this irrigation approach induced alterations in soil properties, and partial least squares path modeling revealed significant links between soil properties and both cotton growth and fungal community structure (with path coefficients of -0.884 and 0.693, respectively). CONCLUSION: This study elucidated the distinct effects of soil properties and growth indices on cotton yield during the seedling period, providing a crucial scientific foundation for enhancing future agricultural production through the use of magnetized-ionized water irrigation. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.