Measures for preventing norovirus outbreaks on campus in economically underdeveloped areas and countries: evidence from rural areas in Western China.

Background: The outbreak of norovirus represents a significant public health emergency within densely populated, impoverished, and underdeveloped areas and countries. Our objective is to conduct an epidemiology study of a norovirus outbreak that occurred in a kindergarten located in rural western China. We aim to raise awareness and garner increased attention towards the prevention and control of norovirus, particularly in economically underdeveloped regions. Methods: Retrospective on-site epidemiological investigation results, including data on school layout, case symptoms, onset time, disposal methods and sample testing results, questionnaire surveys, and case-control study were conducted in a kindergarten to analyze the underlying causes of the norovirus outbreak. Results: A total of 15 cases were identified, with an attack rate of 44.12% (15/34). Among them, 10 cases were diagnosed through laboratory tests, and 5 cases were diagnosed clinically. Vomiting (100%, 15/15) and diarrhea (93.33%, 14/15) were the most common symptoms in the outbreak. Case control study revealed that cases who had close contact (<1 m) with the patient's vomitus (OR = 5.500) and those who had close contact with similar patients (OR = 8.000) had significantly higher ORs compared to the control participants. The current study demonstrated that improper handling of vomitus is positively associated with norovirus outbreak. The absence of standardized disinfection protocols heightens the risk of norovirus outbreaks. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this study represents the first investigation into a norovirus outbreak in rural areas of western China. We aspire that amidst rapid economic development, a greater emphasis will be placed on the prevention and control of infectious diseases in economically underdeveloped areas and countries.

Exposure to Chinese famine and the risk of hyperuricemia in later life: a population-based cross-sectional study.

Background: Limited studies have investigated the relationship between famine exposure and the risk of hyperuricemia in later life. Consequently, the primary purpose of the current study was to examine the potential association between exposure to Chinese famine and hyperuricemia, as well as any gender disparities in this relationship. Method: The data were obtained from the China PEACE (China Patient-Centered Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events) Million Persons Project in Rongchang. The study participants were enrolled into different cohorts based on their birthdates: the fetal-exposed cohort (born between 1959 and 1962), the childhood-exposed cohort (born between 1949 and 1958), the adolescence-exposed cohort (born between 1941 and 1948), and the non-exposed cohorts (born between 1963 and 1974). The potential association between famine exposure and hyperuricemia was assessed using binary logistic regression models. Results: A total of 6,916 individuals were enrolled in the current study with an average age of 60.11 ± 9.22 years, out of which 3,544 were women. After adjusting for confounding factors, fetal (OR = 0.530, 95% CI: 0.411-0.0.683), childhood (OR = 0.642, 95% CI: 0.494-0.833) exposure to the Chinese famine for men was negatively associated with hyperuricemia. Conversely, exposure to the Chinese famine during fetal (OR = 2.144, 95% CI: 1.622-2.834), childhood (OR = 1.485, 95% CI: 1.105-1.997), and adolescence (OR = 1.967, 95% CI: 1.465-2.641) for women was positively associated with hyperuricemia. Furthermore, the impact of famine on hyperuricemia that has been observed in exposed women might be intensified by the presence of dyslipidemia, abdominal obesity, and overweight/obesity. Conclusion: Women exposed to the Chinese famine during fetal, childhood, and adolescence were positively associated with hyperuricemia, while men exhibited a negative association during fetal and childhood. Additionally, the effect of famine on hyperuricemia in exposed women appears to be intensified by the presence of dyslipidemia, abdominal obesity, and overweight/obesity.

Female exposed to the Chinese famine increases the risk of dyslipidemia in later life.

The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease theory suggests that early-life malnutrition is associated with an increased risk of chronic disease in adulthood. In this study, we aimed to analyze the association between exposure to the Chinese famine during fetal, childhood, and adolescence, while also exploring potential gender disparities in this association. From August 2018 to 2022 December, a 3-stage stratified random sampling method was employed to recruit 6916 eligible participants in Chongqing for this study. The participants were enrolled into 4 cohorts based on their birthdates: non-exposed, fetal-exposed, childhood-exposed, and adolescence-exposed. Participants were defined as having dyslipidemia according to the 2016 Chinese guideline for the management of dyslipidemia in adults, as well as self-reported dyslipidemia. In total, 6916 eligible participants were interviewed, including 1686 participants exposed when fetal, 1626 participants exposed during childhood, 1648 participants exposed during adolescence, and 1956 participants who had no exposure. The prevalence of dyslipidemia in the non-exposed, fetal-exposed, childhood-exposed, and adolescence-exposed cohorts was 21.43%, 25.00%, 24.38%, 22.52% in males and 20.00%, 36.57%, 34.60%, 32.59% in females, respectively. There was an increased risk of dyslipidemia among females exposed to the Chinese famine during the fetal (odds ratio [OR] = 1.613, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.179-2.205), childhood (OR = 1.857, 95% CI: 1.384-2.491), adolescence (OR = 1.531, 95% CI: 1.137-2.060) stage, However, no significant association was observed in male adults. Exposure to the Chinese famine during fetal, childhood, and adolescence stages increases the risk of dyslipidemia in adulthood in females, but not in males. The observed gender differences may be attributed to mortality advantage and son preference in China.

Association between school bullying and the early age at menarche among girls / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To analyze the correlation between school bullying and the age at menarche (AAM) in girls, so as to provide references for promoting the healthy growth of girls in puberty.@*Methods@#In April 2022, a total of 987 middle school girls with onset of menarche in Rongchang District of Chongqing were selected by using a stratified random cluster sampling method to carry out a questionnaire survey and physical examination. The t tests,variance analysis and Dunnett t tests were conducted to analyze the differences between individuals who experienced different types of school bullying and AAM. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the association between school bullying and the early age at menarche.@*Results@#The average AAM of 987 girls was (12.13±1.03) years, and 22.90% of them had early AAM. The AAM of those who did not experience bullying events (12.18±0.96) varied significantly with those who experienced bullying events (11.86±1.44) ( t=3.71, P <0.01). The average AAM of individuals who experienced 1, 2, 3 or more school bullying events was (12.08±1.38, 11.74±1.07, 11.61± 1.63 ) years old, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in AAM between girls who did not experience school bullying and those who experienced 1, 2, 3 or more types of school bullying ( F=6.99, P <0.01). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis found that after adjusting confounding factors, experiencing school bullying ( OR=2.71, 95%CI =2.04-4.27), being deliberately excluded from collective activities or being isolated ( OR=2.58, 95%CI =1.69-4.67), being kicked, pushed or locked in the house ( OR= 2.85 , 95%CI =1.39-4.92), being teased due to physical defects or appearance ( OR=2.74, 95%CI =1.77-5.02), experiencing one school bullying event ( OR=2.33, 95%CI =1.52-4.23), and experiencing two school bullying events ( OR=3.36, 95%CI = 1.82 -7.36), and experiencing three or more school bullying events ( OR=2.89, 95%CI =1.74-5.71) were associated with the early age at menarche ( P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#School bullying is related to the earlier AAM among girls. Strengthening school anti bullying education might be helpful for promoting girls healthy growth and development in adolescence.

Trends in incidence of HIV/AIDS in China from 1990 to 2019 based on an age-period-cohort mode / 预防医学

Objective@#To investigate the trends in incidence of HIV/AIDS in China from 1990 to 2019 and to examine the effect of age, period and cohort on the incidence of HIV/AIDS, so as to provide insights into the improvements of the HIV/AIDS control measures. @*Methods@#Data pertaining to incidence of HIV/AIDS in China from 1990 to 2019 were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (GBD 2019) datasets, and the trends in incidence of HIV/AIDS in China from 1990 to 2019 was analyzed with annual percentage change (APC) and average annual percentage change (AAPC) using a jointpoint regression model. The effects of age, period and cohort on the incidence of HIV/AIDS in China were examined with an age-period-cohort model. @*Results@#The age-standardized incidence of HIV/AIDS appeared an overall tendency towards a rise in China from 1990 (0.80/105) to 2019 (2.21/105) (AAPC=3.209%, P<0.05), and the incidence of HIV/AIDS showed a tendency towards a rise from 1990 to 1997 (AAPC=9.044%, P<0.05) and from 1997 to 2003 (AAPC=17.598%, P<0.05), a decline from 2006 to 2014 (AAPC=-8.412%, P<0.05) and remained relatively stable from 2003 to 2006 and from 2014 to 2019 (both P>0.05). The incidence of HIV/AIDS appeared a tendency towards a rise with age, and peaked among patients at ages of 25 to 29 years (4.93/105) and 75 to 79 years (7.38/105). The risk of HIV/AIDS appeared a tendency towards a rise followed by a decline with time, and a reduced risk of HIV/AIDS was found from 1990 to 1994 (RR=0.297), from 1995 to 1999 (RR=0.523), from 2005 to 2009 (RR=0.737), from 2010 to 2014 (RR=0.412) and from 2015 to 2019 (RR=0.351) in relative to the period from 2000 to 2004. The risk of HIV/AIDS appeared a tendency towards a rise with the cohort, and a higher risk of HIV/AIDS was found in the 1930-1934 cohort (RR=1.880) and 2000-2004 cohort (RR=2.978) in relative to the 1955-1959 cohort. @*Conclusions@#The incidence of HIV/AIDS appeared a tendency towards a rise followed by a decline in China from 1990 to 2019, and remained at a low level since 2014. The adolescents and elderly were high-risk groups of HIV/AIDS. A variety of health education interventions and intensified active HIV/AIDS screening are recommended.

Down expression of lnc-BMP1-1 decreases that of Caveolin-1 is associated with the lung cancer susceptibility and cigarette smoking history.

Lnc-BMP1-1 is a lncRNA transcribed from SFTPC (surfactant associated protein C), a lung tissue specific gene encoding pulmonary-associated surfactant protein C (SPC) that is solely secreted by alveolar typeⅡ epithelial cells, among which the ones with SFTPC+ might be transformed into lung adenocarcinoma cells. Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) is a candidate tumor suppressor gene and is vital for coping with oxidative stress induced by cigarette smoke. When comparing lung cancer tissues with their adjacent normal tissues, the expression of lnc-BMP1-1 were decreased, especially in patients with cigarette smoking history (P=0.027), and positively associated with the expression of Cav-1 (P<0.001). When comparing to A549 cells transfected with empty vector (A549-NC cells), the expression level of Cav-1 in A549 cells with over-expressed lnc-BMP1-1 (A549-BMP cells) was increased along with the decreased level of HDAC2 protein. The drug sensitivity of A549-BMP cells to Doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) was increased; the growth and migration capability of A549-BMP cells were inhibited along with the decreased protein level of Bcl-2 and DNMT3a; the growth of tumor in nude mice injected with A549-BMP cells were inhibited, too. Furthermore, the lnc-BMP1-1 and Cav-1 expression was also down-regulated in the human bronchial epithelial (16HBE) cells treated with cigarette smoke extract (CSE).

Upregulation of long non-coding RNA RAB1A-2 induces FGF1 expression worsening lung cancer prognosis.

The chromosomal locations of lncRNAs (long non-coding RNAs, lncRNAs) infer their biological functions in cancer. Lnc-RAB1A-2, a Ras-related protein Rab-1A (RAB1A) upstream lncRNA, was chosen for assessment of its impact on lung cancer prognosis in a case-based analysis and investigation of its biological function though a series of functional assays. Lnc-RAB1A-2 was significantly upregulated in 276 lung cancer tissues compared with corresponding non-tumor tissues, and its expression level was significantly correlated with clinical stage and metastasis status in lung cancer patients. Patients with high expression levels of this lncRNA had a shorter median survival time (16.0 months vs. 23.0 months, P = 0.011 in southern samples; 8.0 months vs. 19.0 months, P = 0.020 in eastern samples; 13.0 months vs. 19.0 months, P = 0.002 in merged samples) and a higher risk of death than those with lower levels (HR = 1.52; 95% CI = 1.01-2.26, in merged samples). Additionally, overexpression of lnc-RAB1A-2 significantly promoted lung cancer cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Further analyses using digital gene expression tag profiling revealed that lnc-RAB1A-2 could affect the expression of fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1), a gene involved in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway that is largely activated by RAB1A. FGF1 was confirmed to be a down-stream gene of lnc-RAB1A-2. Collectively, our study demonstrated that lnc-RAB1A-2 is associated with poor lung cancer prognosis by promoting lung cancer development.

Overexpression of lncRNA IGFBP4-1 reprograms energy metabolism to promote lung cancer progression.

BACKGROUND: Reprogrammed energy metabolism as an emerging hallmark of cancer has recently drawn special attention since it facilitate cell growth and proliferation. Recently, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been served as key regulators implicated in tumor development and progression by promoting proliferation, invasion and metastasis. However, the associations of lncRNAs with cellular energy metabolism in lung cancer (LC) need to be clarified. METHODS: Here, we conducted bioinformatics analysis and found insulin-like growth factor binding protein 4-1 (IGFBP4-1) as a new candidate lncRNA located in the upstream region of IGFBP4 gene. The expression levels of lnc-IGFBP4-1, mRNA levels of IGFBP4 in 159 paired lung cancer samples and adjacent, histological normal tissues by qRT-PCR. Over-expression and RNA interference (RNAi) approaches were adopted to investigate the biological functions of lnc-IGFBP4-1. The intracellular ATP level was measured using the Cell Titer-Glo Luminescent Cell Viability Assay kit, and changes in metabolic enzymes were examined in cancer cells and normal pulmonary epithelial cells with qRT-PCR. RESULTS: Our results showed that lnc-IGFBP4-1 was significantly up-regulated in LC tissues compared with corresponding non-tumor tissues (P < 0.01), and its expression level was significantly correlated with TNM stage (P < 0.01) and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). Further investigation showed that overexpression of lnc-IGFBP4-1 significantly promoted LC cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo, while downregulation of endogenous lnc-IGFBP4-1 could inhibited cell proliferation and induce apoptosis. Moreover, we found lnc-IGFBP4-1 could influences ATP production levels and expression of enzymes including HK2, PDK1 and LDHA, in addition, decline in both ATP production and these enzymes in response to 2-DG and 2-DG-combined Rho123, respectively, was observed in lnc-IGFBP4-1-overespressing LC cells, indicative of an enhanced aerobic glycolysis rate. Finally, lnc-IGFBP4-1 was observed to negatively correlate with gene IGFBP4, and lower expression level of IGFPB4 was found after lnc-IGFBP4-1-overexpression was transfected into PC9 cells, higher expression level of IGFPB4 was also found after lnc-IGFBP4-1-downregulation was transfected into GLC-82 cells, which indicates that IGFBP4 may exert its targeting function regulated by lnc-IGFBP4-1. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these findings provide the first evidence that lnc-IGFBP4-1 is significantly up-regulated in LC tissues and plays a positive role in cell proliferation and metastasis through possible mechanism of reprogramming tumor cell energy metabolism, which suggests that lnc-IGFBP4-1 may be a promising biomarker in LC development and progression and as a potential therapeutic target for LC intervention.

Association of nsv823469 copy number loss with decreased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pulmonary function in Chinese.

It is highly possible that copy number variations (CNVs) in susceptible regions have effects on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) development, while long noncoding RNA (lncRNAs) have been shown to cause COPD. We hypothesized that the common CNV, named nsv823469 located on 6p22.1, and covering lncRNAs (major histocompatibility complex, class I, A (HLA-A) and HLA complex group 4B (HCG4B)) has an effect on COPD risk. This association was assessed through a two-stage case-control study, and was further confirmed with COPD and pulmonary function-based family analyses, respectively. The copy number loss (0-copy/1-copy) of nsv823469 significantly decreased risk of COPD compared with normal (2-copy) (OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.69-0.85). The loss allele, inducing copy number loss of nsv823469, has a tendency to transmit to offspring or siblings (P = 0.010) and is associated with forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) (P = 0.030). Furthermore, the copy number loss of nsv823469 in normal pulmonary tissue decreases the expression levels of HCG4B (r = 0.315, P = 0.031) and HLA-A (r = 0.296, P = 0.044). Our data demonstrates that nsv823469 plays a role in COPD and pulmonary function inheritance by potentially altering expression of HCG4B.