Genomic comparison of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its precursor lesions by multi-region whole-exome sequencing.

Esophageal squamous dysplasia is believed to be the precursor lesion of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC); however, the genetic evolution from dysplasia to ESCC remains poorly understood. Here, we applied multi-region whole-exome sequencing to samples from two cohorts, 45 ESCC patients with matched dysplasia and carcinoma samples, and 13 tumor-free patients with only dysplasia samples. Our analysis reveals that dysplasia is heavily mutated and harbors most of the driver events reported in ESCC. Moreover, dysplasia is polyclonal, and remarkable heterogeneity is often observed between tumors and their neighboring dysplasia samples. Notably, copy number alterations are prevalent in dysplasia and persist during the ESCC progression, which is distinct from the development of esophageal adenocarcinoma. The sharp contrast in the prevalence of the 'two-hit' event on TP53 between the two cohorts suggests that the complete inactivation of TP53 is essential in promoting the development of ESCC.The pathogenesis of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is a multi-step process but the genetic determinants behind this progression are unknown. Here the authors use multi-region exome sequencing to comprehensively investigate the genetic evolution of precursor dysplastic lesions and untransformed oesophagus.

Blood pressure among children and adolescents with normal weight but large waist circumference in Shandong, China.

UNLABELLED: The present study examined the blood pressure (BP) characteristics of normal weight children and adolescents with a large waist circumference (WC) in a large population in Shandong, China. A total of 38,826 students (19,460 boys and 19,366 girls) aged 7-17 years participated in this study. Height, weight, WC, and BP of all subjects were measured. Normal weight was defined by the international cutoffs of body mass index; central obesity was defined as WC ≥ 90th percentile; relatively high BP status was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ 95th percentile for age and gender. And 5.06 and 8.19 % of the normal weight boys and girls had central obesity. The Z-scores of SBP, DBP and the prevalence of relatively high BP for both boys and girls were all significantly higher in the normal weight with central obesity groups than in the normal weight with normal WC groups. CONCLUSION: These observations highlight that normal weight children and adolescents with central obesity might have an increased risk of elevated BP.

Comparison on physical activity among adolescents with different weight status in Shandong, China.

The present study examined the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity among adolescents and compared the attitudes and behaviors of physical activity (PA) among adolescents with different weight status in Shandong, China. A total of 19 523 students (9784 boys and 9739 girls) aged 13-18 years participated in this study. Height and weight of all subjects were measured, body mass index of adolescents was calculated from their height and weight, and the prevalence of overweight and obesity were obtained according to the International Obesity Task Force cut-offs. The prevalence of underweight were also obtained by the international cut-offs. PA status was assessed by a standardized questionnaire. The overall prevalence rates of underweight, overweight and obesity were 2.0, 13.9 and 4.7% in boys and 3.3, 8.3 and 1.2% in girls, respectively. Overweight/obese adolescents had a poor PA status compared with underweight/normal-weight adolescents. These observations highlight the importance of PA in the prevention of overweight and obesity in adolescents.

Distributions of waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio for children and adolescents in Shandong, China.

UNLABELLED: Waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) are useful tools which can help to identify abdominal obesity among the childhood and adolescent populations. This study assessed the distributions of WC and WHtR for Shandong children and adolescents and compared them with those from other countries and regions. Data for this study were obtained from a large cross-sectional survey of schoolchildren carried out in 2010. A total of 42,296 students (21,218 boys and 21,078 girls) aged 7-18 years participated in this study. Height and WC of all subjects were measured and WHtR was calculated. Central obesity was defined as WC ≥ 90th percentile and a WHtR ≥ 0.5, respectively. Shandong children and adolescents had a high WC level, with the 50th percentiles of WC for children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years in Shandong is above the reference values for Chinese children and adolescents by 1.3-3.1 cm for boys and 1.2-2.0 cm for girls, respectively. The WC levels in Shandong boys and girls were higher than those from Hong Kong, Malaysian, and Turkish. Overall, 20.20 and 16.57 % of boys and girls had a WC ≥90th percentile, 15.73 and 7.38 % of boys and girls had a WHtR ≥0.5. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of central obesity among children and adolescents has become a serious public health problem, which would arouse special attention.

The role of 1-h physical activity every day in preventing obesity in adolescents in Shandong, China.

Several studies have reported that physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle are associated with being overweight and obese in children and adults. A new policy of 1-h physical activity (PA) every day was released by the Chinese government. The present study examined the role of 1-h PA every day in preventing obesity in adolescents in Shandong, China. A total of 29,030 students (14,578 boys and 14,452 girls) aged 10-18 years participated in this study. Height, weight, waist circumference (WC), and skinfold thickness (SFT) of all subjects were measured; body mass index (BMI) of adolescents was calculated from their height and weight, and the prevalence of overweight and obesity was obtained according to the International Obesity Task Force cutoffs. All subjects were divided into two groups. Group 1 had a PA of more than 1 h/day while group 2 had less than 1 h/day. Comparisons of BMI, WC, SFT, and prevalences of overweight and obesity between the two groups were made. The overall percentages of students in group 1 were 34.29 % in boys and 30.15 % in girls. The prevalences of overweight and obesity for both boys and girls were all significantly lower in group 1 than in group 2 in all age categories. In conclusion, 1-h PA every day has a beneficial effect in preventing obesity in adolescents in Shandong, China. These observations highlight the importance of PA in the prevention of overweight and obesity in adolescents.

Status quo and characteristics of blood pressure among children and adolescents aged 7-17 years at normal weight but with abdominal obesity, in Shandong province / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To study the prevalence and characteristics of blood pressure (BP) among children and adolescents at normal weight but with abdominal obesity.Methods Using data from the ‘Student physical fitness and health surveillance 2010 project' in Shandong province,a total of 38 816 students aged 7-17 years were selected to participate in this study.Stature,body weight,waist circumference (WC),systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of these subjects were measured.Body weight status and abdominal obesity were defined by body mass index (BMI) and WC,respectively.Results In total,the proportions of thinness,normal weight,overweight and obesity defined by BMI were 5.37％,72.47％,12.92％ and 9.24％ respectively.5.86％ of the children and adolescents with normal weight had abdominal obesity,with normal weighted girls (7.19％) having higher prevalence of abdominal obesity than boys (4.33％) (P＜0.01).The Z-scores of SBP and DBP for both boys and girls were all significantly higher in the normal weight but with abdominal obesity groups than in both normal weight and WC groups (P＜0.01).Conclusion Children and adolescents under normal weight but with abdominal obesity had higher BP level need to be identified and considered as high-risk individuals.Related intervention programs should also be targeted to this population.