Associations between dieting practices and eating disorder attitudes and behaviors: Results from the Canadian study of adolescent health behaviors.

This study aimed to describe the frequency of dieting practices among adolescents and young adults in Canada, as well as determine the association between dieting and eating disorder attitudes and behaviors. Data from 2762 Canadian adolescents and young adults from the Canadian Study of Adolescent Health Behaviors were analyzed. Frequencies were used to determine the prevalence of 11 different diets among the sample, and chi-square tests were used to assess gender differences. Multiple modified Poisson and linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the associations between any dieting and eating disorder attitudes and behaviors. Among the sample, 15.7 % of girls and women, 10.4 % of boys and men, and 13.0 % of transgender/gender expansive (TGE) participants reported any dieting in the past 12 months, with the Ketogenic diet being most common among all genders. Results from regression analyses showed that engaging in any dieting in the past 12 months was associated with greater eating disorder psychopathology among girls, women, boys, and men, but not TGE participants. There were varying trends in association between specific types of dieting practices and eating disorder behaviors among girls, women, boys, and men. Dieting is relatively common among a national sample of Canadian adolescents and young adults, and engagement is associated with greater eating disorder psychopathology and behaviors. Healthcare and public health professionals should consider screening for eating disorders among adolescents and young adults who report engaging in dieting practices.

Bridging and Bonding Social Capital by Analyzing the Demographics, User Activities, and Social Network Dynamics of Sexual Assault Centers on Twitter: Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: Social media platforms have gained popularity as communication tools for organizations to engage with clients and the public, disseminate information, and raise awareness about social issues. From a social capital perspective, relationship building is seen as an investment, involving a complex interplay of tangible and intangible resources. Social media-based social capital signifies the diverse social networks that organizations can foster through their engagement on social media platforms. Literature underscores the great significance of further investigation into the scope and nature of social media use, particularly within sectors dedicated to service delivery, such as sexual assault organizations. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to fill a research gap by investigating the use of Twitter by sexual assault support agencies in Canada. It seeks to understand the demographics, user activities, and social network structure within these organizations on Twitter, focusing on building social capital. The research questions explore the demographic profile, geographic distribution, and Twitter activity of these organizations as well as the social network dynamics of bridging and bonding social capital. METHODS: This study used purposive sampling to investigate sexual assault centers in Canada with active Twitter accounts, resulting in the identification of 124 centers. The Twitter handles were collected, yielding 113 unique handles, and their corresponding Twitter IDs were obtained and validated. A total of 294,350 tweets were collected from these centers, covering >93.54% of their Twitter activity. Preprocessing was conducted to prepare the data, and descriptive analysis was used to determine the center demographics and age. Furthermore, geolocation mapping was performed to visualize the center locations. Social network analysis was used to explore the intricate relationships within the network of sexual assault center Twitter accounts, using various metrics to assess the network structure and connectivity dynamics. RESULTS: The results highlight the substantial presence of sexual assault organizations on Twitter, particularly in provinces such as Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec, underscoring the importance of tailored engagement strategies considering regional disparities. The analysis of Twitter account creation years shows a peak in 2012, followed by a decline in new account creations in subsequent years. The monthly tweet activity shows November as the most active month, whereas July had the lowest activity. The study also reveals variations in Twitter activity, account creation patterns, and social network dynamics, identifying influential social queens and marginalized entities within the network. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents a comprehensive landscape of the demographics and activities of sexual assault centers in Canada on Twitter. This study suggests that future research should explore the long-term consequences of social media use and examine stakeholder perceptions, providing valuable insights to improve communication practices within the nonprofit human services sector and further the missions of these organizations.

E-Cigarette Dependence and Depressive Symptoms Among Youth.

INTRODUCTION: Although the relationship between smoking and depression has been well-established, little is known about the association between use of e-cigarette and depression, particularly among youth and young adults. This study proposes that e-cigarette dependence, rather than simply use, serves as a potential stressor and may interact with pre-existing vulnerabilities to contribute to depression in youth, consistent with the diathesis-stress theory. This study examines the longitudinal association of vaping dependence and vaping frequency on depression symptoms among youth and young adults who have never smoked cigarettes. METHODS: People who used e-cigarettes in the past month who reported never smoking a cigarette (N=1,226) aged between 16 and 25 years were followed longitudinally every 3 months for up to 1 year beginning in 2020. The Penn State E-Cigarette Dependence Index at time t was used to predict depression symptoms assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale at time t+1. RESULTS: A total of 32.1% reported vaping in the past month with the Penn State E-Cigarette Dependence Index score (M=8.5) and a Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale score (M=15.8). Higher vaping dependence scores were significantly associated with increased depression symptoms scores at follow-up among youth and adults (ß=0.08; 95% CI=0.01, 0.15), controlling for baseline depression symptom scores and covariates. Although vaping dependence was highly associated with vaping frequency level, no significant association between the frequency of vaping and depression was found (ß= -0.33; 95% CI= 1.21, 0.54). CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with the diathesis-stress model of the relationship between substance use and depression. Vaping dependence but not vaping frequency was associated with increased depressive symptoms among people who never smoked cigarettes.

A Bioinspired Flexible Sensor for Electrochemical Probing of Dynamic Redox Disequilibrium in Cancer Cells.

Malignant tumors pose a serious risk to human health. Ascorbic acid (AA) has potential for tumor therapy; however, the mechanism underlying the ability of AA to selectively kill tumor cells remains unclear. AA can cause redox disequilibrium in tumor cells, resulting in the release of abundant reactive oxygen species, represented by hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ). Therefore, the detection of H2 O2 changes can provide insight into the selective killing mechanism of AA against tumor cells. In this work, inspired by the ion-exchange mechanism in coral formation, a flexible H2 O2 sensor (PtNFs/CoPi@CC) is constructed to monitor the dynamics of H2 O2 in the cell microenvironment, which exhibits excellent sensitivity and spatiotemporal resolution. Moreover, the findings suggest that dehydroascorbic acid (DHA), the oxidation product of AA, is highly possible the substance that actually acts on tumor cells in AA therapy. Additionally, the intracellular redox disequilibrium and H2 O2 release caused by DHA are positively correlated with the abundance and activity of glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1). In conclusion, this work has revealed the potential mechanism underlying the ability of AA to selectively kill tumor cells through the construction and use of PtNFs/CoPi@CC. The findings provide new insights into the clinical application of AA.

Image Synthesis and Modified BlendMask Instance Segmentation for Automated Nanoparticle Phenotyping.

Automated nanoparticle phenotyping is a critical aspect of high-throughput drug research, which requires analyzing nanoparticle size, shape, and surface topography from microscopy images. To automate this process, we present an instance segmentation pipeline that partitions individual nanoparticles on microscopy images. Our pipeline makes two key contributions. Firstly, we synthesize diverse and approximately realistic nanoparticle images to improve robust learning. Secondly, we improve the BlendMask model to segment tiny, overlapping, or sparse particle images. Specifically, we propose a parameterized approach for generating novel pairs of single particles and their masks, encouraging greater diversity in the training data. To synthesize more realistic particle images, we explore three particle placement rules and an image selection criterion. The improved one-stage instance segmentation network extracts distinctive features of nanoparticles and their context at both local and global levels, which addresses the data challenges associated with tiny, overlapping, or sparse nanoparticles. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our pipeline for automating nanoparticle partitioning and phenotyping in drug research using microscopy images.

Inhibition of cGAS ameliorates acute lung injury triggered by zinc oxide nanoparticles.

PURPOSE: Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) have been widely used in various industrial and biomedical fields. Occupational or accidental inhalation exposure to ZnONPs might lead to acute lung injury (ALI). Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) and stimulator of interferon genes (STING) are critical for the initiation and expansion of inflammation and contribute to tissue injury; however, the role and mechanism of the cGAS-STING pathway in ALI-induced by ZnONPs are unclear. METHODS: Male C57BL/6 J mice were intratracheally injected with ZnONPs (0.6 mg/kg) or mock. The mice were euthanized and the degree of lung injury was determined 3 days after the instillation of ZnONPs. The BEAS-2B cell line was used as a cell model to investigate the cytotoxicity of ZnONPs in vitro. RESULTS: We found that ZnONPs inhalation induced ALI in mice, manifested by exacerbated lung pathological changes, mitochondrial damage, oxidative stress and inflammation. Interestingly, cGAS and STING were activated in the lung tissues of the mice and BEAS-2B lung epithelial cells treated with ZnONPs. More importantly, we illustrated that the cGAS inhibitor RU.521 inhibited the activation of the cGAS-STING pathway, further decreased oxidative stress and inflammation, and led to ameliorated lung injury in mice treated with ZnONPs. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that ZnONPs trigger the activation of the cGAS-STING pathway, which plays an important role in ZnONPs-induced ALI. Inhibition of cGAS with RU.521 mitigates the oxidative stress induced by ZnONPs, suggesting that targeting the cGAS-STING pathway may be a feasible strategy to ameliorate the pulmonary injury caused by nanoparticles.

Intestinal Microbiota-derived Propionic Acid Protects against Zinc Oxide Nanoparticle-induced Lung Injury.

With the rapid development of nanotechnology, the risks of accidental and/or occupational exposure to zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) are increasing. Inhalation of ZnONPs induces metal fume fever in humans and acute lung injury (ALI) in animal models. Although the intestinal microbiota is considered an important modulator of various diseases, the role and mechanism of intestinal microbiota in the pathology of ZnONP-induced ALI are unclear. Herein, we established an intratracheal instillation of a ZnONP-induced ALI mouse model and found that the inhalation of ZnONPs caused ALI along with a perturbation of intestinal flora. Antibiotic cocktail treatment-mediated depletion of intestinal microbiota aggravated ZnONP-induced ALI, and in contrast, fecal microbiota transplantation-mediated restoration of intestinal microbiota exerted the opposite effects. A decrease in short-chain fatty acids, the intestinal microbiota-derived metabolites in the plasma-in particular, acetic acid and propionic acid-occurred after exposure to ZnONPs. It is important to note that supplementation with propionic acid, but not acetic acid, ameliorated ZnONP-induced ALI. We also showed that the source of inflammatory cytokines might partially be the infiltration of macrophages. Supplementation with propionic acid was found to act on macrophages through the receptor GPR43, because knockdown of GPR43 sharply reversed the protective effects of propionic acid during the ZnONP-induced inflammatory response and oxidative stress in both primary alveolar macrophages and RAW 264.7 macrophage cell lines. Altogether, a novel gut-lung axis mechanism is revealed in which intestinal microbiota and their derived metabolite propionic acid play protective roles against ZnONP-induced ALI and suggest that fecal microbiota transplantation and supplementation with propionic acid are potential remedy strategies.

Biomimetic lipidic nanovectors for effective asparaginase supramolecule delivery.

Effectiveness of enzyme therapy is limited by enzyme drawbacks such as short half-life, low bioavailability and high immunogenicity. We loaded asparaginase (Aase) into hydroxypropyl- or sulfonbutylether-beta cyclodextrin to form supramolecular amphiphilic molecules by self-assembly followed by entrapment inside the cores of two biomimetic lipidic nanovectors (AS-XLNs). Supramolecular structure was simulated by molecular docking. AS-XLNs maintained superior activity through isolating Aase from external environment due to docking with cyclodextrin and coating with biomimetic membrane. Fluorescent probes and computational simulations were used to reveal possible interactions between serum albumin/trypsin and Aase/nanovector membrane components which were partly responsible for enhanced bioavailability and bioactivity of AS-XLNs compared to Aase. AS-XLNs significantly increased cytotoxicity against pulmonary tumor cells due to synergistic effects of Aase and nanovector membrane components (killing tumor cells through apoptosis induced by asparagine depletion and autophagy inhibition or via targets such as vascular endothelial growth factor A, alpha-amylase, p-selectin or androgen receptor).

Smart Stimuli-Responsive and Mitochondria Targeting Delivery in Cancer Therapy.

Dysfunction in the mitochondria (Mc) contributes to tumor progression. It is a major challenge to deliver therapeutic agents specifically to the Mc for precise treatment. Smart drug delivery systems are based on stimuli-responsiveness and active targeting. Here, we give a whole list of documented pathways to achieve smart stimuli-responsive (St-) and Mc-targeted DDSs (St-Mc-DDSs) by combining St and Mc targeting strategies. We present the formulations, targeting characteristics of St-Mc-DDSs and clarify their anti-cancer mechanisms as well as improvement in efficacy and safety. St-Mc-DDSs usually not only have Mc-targeting groups, molecules (lipophilic cations, peptides, and aptamers) or materials but also sense the surrounding environment and correspondingly respond to internal biostimulators such as pH, redox changes, enzyme and glucose, and/or externally applied triggers such as light, magnet, temperature and ultrasound. St-Mc-DDSs exquisitely control the action site, increase therapeutic efficacy and decrease side effects of the drug. We summarize the clinical research progress and propose suggestions for follow-up research. St-Mc-DDSs may be an innovative and sensitive precision medicine for cancer treatment.

Silicon dioxide nanoparticles induced neurobehavioral impairments by disrupting microbiota-gut-brain axis.

BACKGROUND: Silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO2NPs) are widely used as additive in the food industry with controversial health risk. Gut microbiota is a new and hot topic in the field of nanotoxicity. It also contributes a novel and insightful view to understand the potential health risk of food-grade SiO2NPs in children, who are susceptible to the toxic effects of nanoparticles. METHODS: In current study, the young mice were orally administrated with vehicle or SiO2NPs solution for 28 days. The effects of SiO2NPs on the gut microbiota were detected by 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing, and the neurobehavioral functions were evaluated by open field test and Morris water maze. The level of inflammation, tissue integrity of gut and the classical indicators involved in gut-brain, gut-liver and gut-lung axis were all assessed. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that SiO2NPs significantly caused the spatial learning and memory impairments and locomotor inhibition. Although SiO2NPs did not trigger evident intestinal or neuronal inflammation, they remarkably damaged the tissue integrity. The microbial diversity within the gut was unexpectedly enhanced in SiO2NPs-treated mice, mainly manifested by the increased abundances of Firmicutes and Patescibacteria. Intriguingly, we demonstrated for the first time that the neurobehavioral impairments and brain damages induced by SiO2NPs might be distinctively associated with the disruption of gut-brain axis by specific chemical substances originated from gut, such as Vipr1 and Sstr2. Unapparent changes in liver or lung tissues further suggested the absence of gut-liver axis or gut-lung axis regulation upon oral SiO2NPs exposure. CONCLUSION: This study provides a novel idea that the SiO2NPs induced neurotoxic effects may occur through distinctive gut-brain axis, showing no significant impact on either gut-lung axis or gut-liver axis. These findings raise the exciting prospect that maintenance and coordination of gastrointestinal functions may be critical for protection against the neurotoxicity of infant foodborne SiO2NPs.

Autophagy deficiency exacerbates acute lung injury induced by copper oxide nanoparticles.

Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs) are one of the widely used metal nanoparticles in the industrial and commercial fields. Autophagy is an intracellular degradation system that delivers cytoplasmic constituents to the lysosome and has been linked to nanoparticles-induced toxicity. In particular, the roles of autophagy in response to CuONPs have been explored in vitro, although the conclusions are controversial. To clarify the role of autophagy in CuONPs-induced acute lung injury, microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta (Map1lc3b or lc3b) knockout mice and their corresponding wild type mice are applied. Our results showed that single-dose intratracheal instillation of CuONPs with dosages of 1.25, 2.5 or 5 mg/kg caused acute lung injury 3 days after treatment in a dose-dependent manner, as evidenced by deteriorative lung histopathology, more infiltration of macrophage cells, increased oxidative stress and copper ions. Loss of lc3b resulted in aggravated lung injury induced by CuONPs, which was probably due to the blockade of mitophagy and consequently the accumulation of aberrant mitochondria with overloaded copper ions. Our study provides the first in vivo evidence that autophagy deficiency exacerbates CuONPs-induced acute lung injury, and highlights that targeting autophagy is a meaningful strategy against CuONPs-associated respiratory toxicity.

Glucose determination behaviour of gold microspheres-electrodeposited carbon cloth flexible electrodes in neutral media.

Despite numerous advances in the field of nonenzymatic glucose detection, monitoring glucose in physiological applications is still a challenge and is mostly limited to electrode surface modification. This study proposes a simple method for electrodepositing cotton-like gold microspheres (CGMs) on a carbon cloth (CC) flexible electrode, with the potential for the functional supporting substrate to monitor glucose in a neutral environment. It was demonstrated that the voltammetric response of glucose oxidation increased with increases in glucose concentration in the 3D functional flexible substrate; moreover, the amperometric response of glucose oxidation increased over time. The results indicate that the functional flexible electrode-made of gold microspheres-based carbon cloth with a predefined geometry and pore-architecture network to promote the medium-permeation and synergetic effects between CGMs and CC-can be a suitable platform for measuring glucose variation in environments with neutral pH. This is particularly relevant because the oxygen-containing functional groups on the CC surface increase the dehydrogenation rate of glucose oxidation in neutral phosphate-buffered saline.

A Potential Participant in Type 2 Diabetes Bone Fragility: TIMP-1 at Sites of Osteocyte Lacunar-Canalicular System.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with an increased risk of bone fracture, but the bone mineral density (BMD) is typically normal or higher in such patients. Because the fracture risk is independent of reduced BMD, bone fragility in T2DM may be partially due to poor bone quality. The mechanisms triggering bone quality abnormalities in T2DM are complex, and include the accumulation of advanced glycation end-products, the increased inflammation, and low bone turnover. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in bone can hydrolyze the bone matrix. Tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs) can inhibit the activity of MMPs. Both MMPs and TIMPs participate in mediating bone quality. Among all types of TIMPs, TIMP-1 is mostly reportedly increased in the serum of T2DM patients. Because osteocytes can express TIMP-1, and osteocyte pericellular matrix influences bone quality partially regulated by perilacunar/canalicular remodeling, we hypothesized that TIMP-1 at sites of osteocyte lacunar-canalicular system is involved in T2DM bone fragility.

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles via oral exposure leads to adverse disturbance of gut microecology and locomotor activity in adult mice.

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) have been widely used as food additives in daily life. However, the impact of oral intake of TiO2NPs on the nervous system is largely unknown. In this study, 7-week-old mice were treated with either vehicle or TiO2NPs suspension solution at 150 mg/kg by intragastric administration for 30 days. Our results demonstrated that oral exposure to TiO2NPs resulted in aberrant excitement of enteric neurons, although unapparent pathological changes were observed in gut. We also found the richness and evenness of gut microbiota were remarkably decreased and the gut microbial community compositions were significantly changed in the TiO2NP-treated group as compared with vehicle controls. Interestingly, oral exposure to TiO2NPs was capable to induce the inhibitory effects on locomotor activity, but it did not lead to significant change on the spatial learning and memory ability. We further revealed the mechanism that TiO2NPs could specifically cause locomotor dysfunction by elevating the excitement of enteric neuron, which might spread to brain via gut-brain communication by vagal pathway. However, inflammation response, enteric neurotransmitter 5-HT and major gut peptides might not be involved in this pathological process. Together, these findings provide valuable insights into the novel mechanism of TiO2NP-induced neurotoxicity. Understanding the microbiota-gut-brain axis will provide the foundation for potential therapeutic or prevention approaches against TiO2NP-induced gut and brain-related disorders.

A fluorometric assay for rapid enrichment and determination of bacteria by using zirconium-metal organic frameworks as both capture surface and signal amplification tag.

A fluorometric assay was introduced to determine Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) in blood samples by utilizing Zr-MOFs both as functional coating for magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles to provide modification surface (Zr-mMOF) and as fluorescein carrier to produce fluorescence signals (F@UIO-66-NH2). Through strong Zr-O-P bonding, two distinct terminal phosphate-labeled A. baumannii and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) specific aptamers were attached onto Zr-MOFs to fabricate the magnetic core-shell capture probe (denoted as Zr-mMOF-p-Ab-Apt) and signal probe (denoted as F@UIO-66-NH2-p-LPS-Apt), respectively. After successive incubation with A. baumannii in blood samples and magnetic separation, the sandwich-type composite of capture probe/A. baumannii cells/signal probe was treated with high concentration of anionic phosphate ions to destroy the nano-structure of UIO-66-NH2 in the signal probe and fast release of fluorescein to produce amplified fluorescence signals. Due to the high aptamer modification efficiency of Zr-mMOF-p-Ab-Apt (up to 93%) and its strong affinity to A. baumannii, the enrichment efficiency of this capture probe has reached to 96.7%. Further, due to the high fluorescein loading efficiency of UIO-66-NH2 and our novel amplification strategy to destroy F@UIO-66-NH2-p-LPS-Apt to release and amplify fluorescein signals at 512 nm in the presence of high concentration of anionic phosphate ions, the sensitivity of this method has reached 10 cfu mL-1. This method allows enrichment and determination of A. baumannii within ~2.5 h. The limit of detection of A. baumannii in blood samples is 10 cfu mL-1 with a linear range of 101-105 cfu mL-1. This indicates the potential of this assay for diagnosis of bloodstream infection in early stage. Graphical abstractSchematic representation of sandwich-type fluorometric assay for Acinetobacter baumannii in blood samples with the capture probe (Zr-mMOF-p-Ab-Apt) and signal probe (F@UIO-66-NH2-p-LPS-Apt). The limit of detection is down to 10 cfu mL-1 with a linear range of 101-105 cfu mL-1.

In-situ growth of 3D rosette-like copper nanoparticles on carbon cloth for enhanced sensing of ammonia based on copper electrodissolution.

Copper is an attractive candidate for sensing ammonia. Here, an electrodissolution mechanism for measuring liquid-phase ammonia was developed via a novel three-dimensional rosette-like structure of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) integrated onto carbon cloth (CuNPs/CC). A one-step hydrothermal synthetic procedure was employed to construct the metallic CuNPs with a stereo rosette-like pattern on flexible CC substrate. The morphology, composition and sensing performance of the as-prepared composite were characterised in detail. The CuNPs/CC composite showed excellent sensing performance to ammonia, which is attributed to the electrodissolution of CuNPs being promoted by ammonia to form a stabilised copper-ammonia complex. This electrochemical response occurs without the electro-oxidation of ammonia, thus avoiding the energy barrier of the N-N bond and the toxicity of N-adsorbates, which is advantageous for ammonia detection. In addition, the sensor also shows very high sensitivity to ammonia with a low detection limit, as well as good anti-interference performance, repeatability and stability. The high accuracy and precision for the quantification of ammonia concentration in a variety of real samples indicate that the CuNPs/CC composition has potential in the development of high-performance ammonia sensors.

Copper Nanowires Modified with Graphene Oxide Nanosheets for Simultaneous Voltammetric Determination of Ascorbic Acid, Dopamine and Acetaminophen.

Copper nanowires (Cu NWs) were modified with graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets to obtain a sensor for simultaneous voltammetric determination of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA) and acetaminophen (AC). The nanocomposite was obtained via sonication, and its structures were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The electrochemical oxidation activity of the materials (placed on a glassy carbon electrode) was studied by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. Due to the synergistic effect of Cu NWs and GO, the specific surface, electrochemical oxidation performance and conductivity are improved when compared to each individual component. The peaks for AA (-0.08 V), DA (+0.16 V), and AC (+0.38 V) are well separated. The sensor has wide linear ranges which are from 1-60 µM, 1-100 µM, and 1-100 µM for AA, DA, and AC, respectively, when operated in the differential pulse voltammetric mode. The detection limits are 50, 410 and 40 nM, respectively. Potential interferences by uric acid (20 µM), glucose (10 mM), NaCl (1 mM), and KCl (1 mM) were tested for AA (1 µΜ), DA (1 µΜ), and AC (1 µΜ) and were found to be insignificant. The method was successfully applied to the quantification of AA, DA, and AC in spiked serum samples.

Patients with neutral lipid storage disease with myopathy (NLSDM) in Southwestern China.

OBJECTIVES: Neutral lipid storage disease with myopathy (NLSDM) is a rare metabolic myopathy occurring owing to mutations in the patatin like phospholipase domain containing 2 (PNPLA2) gene. Till date, less than 50 patients with PNPLA2 mutations have been reported. In this study, we describe the clinical, pathological, and genetic findings, and muscle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) changes in four Chinese patients with NLSDM. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Peripheral blood smears were stained using Wright's stain. Muscle biopsies, muscle MRI, and sequence analysis of PNPLA2 gene were performed. RESULTS: All patients exhibited slowly progressive myopathy during adulthood. Cardiomyopathy, sensorineural hearing loss, hepatic adipose infiltration, and hypertriglyceridemia were observed in some patients. Jordan's anomaly was detected in the blood smears of all patients. Muscle biopsies revealed the presence of massive lipid droplets and rimmed vacuoles in two patients. MR images of the lower lumbar, pelvis, and lower extremities showed the involvement of posterior compartment muscles. The anterior compartment muscles were found to be less affected. Gene analysis for PNPLA2 revealed an identical homozygous mutation c.757 + 1G > T in all patients. CONCLUSION: Patients with NLSDM display clinical heterogeneities despite sharing the same mutation (c.757 + 1G > T) of the PNPLA2 gene, may suggest a founder effect in the region.

The effect of a complex healing treatment on 2-year survival rate of patients with malignant tumors.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to discuss the effect of an intervention measure combining oncology, psychology, and sociomedicine on survival and quality of life in cancer patients. METHODS: 639 cases of malignant tumor were divided into intervention and control groups. Follow-up was completed on 254 cases in the intervention group (93.38%) and 330 cases in the control group (89.91%). The intervention consisted of systematic mass anticancer education and rehabilitation activities guided by specialists over the period of 2 years, while the control group was in a state of self-rehabilitation. Differences between groups in survival status and survival rate for different disease stages were reviewed after 2 years. Survival status was evaluated by the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: Statistical analysis of survival was controlled for sociological variables such as marriage and age. The 2-year survival in stage 2 patients was 94.84% (108/114) in the intervention group and 80.67% (121/150) in the control group. There was a striking and significant (P < .01) difference in 2-year survival rates. Further analysis disclosed that 2-year survival rate for early- and medium-stage patients was 88.03% (163/177) in the intervention group and 82.8% (184/222) in the control group. CONCLUSION: An intervention including oncology, psychology, and sociomedicine improved 2-year survival rate in early and middle stages of malignant tumor.