Effects of Outdoor Temperature on Blood Pressure in a Prospective Cohort of Northwest China / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

Objective@#The relationship between outdoor temperature and blood pressure (BP) has been inconclusive. We analyzed data from a prospective cohort study in northwestern China to investigate the effect of outdoor temperature on BP and effect modification by season.@*Methods@#A total of 32,710 individuals who participated in both the baseline survey and the first follow-up in 2011-2015 were included in the study. A linear mixed-effect model and generalized additive mixed model (GAMM) were applied to estimate the association between outdoor temperature and BP after adjusting for confounding variables.@*Results@#The mean differences in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) between summer and winter were 3.5 mmHg and 2.75 mmHg, respectively. After adjusting for individual characteristics, meteorological factors and air pollutants, a significant increase in SBP and DBP was observed for lag 06 day and lag 04 day, a 0.28 mmHg (95% @*Conclusions@#This study demonstrated a significant negative association between outdoor temperature and BP in a high-altitude environment of northwest China. Moreover, BP showed a significant seasonal variation. The association between BP and temperature differed by season and individuals' demographic characteristics (age, gender, BMI), unhealthy behaviors (smoking and alcohol consumption), and chronic disease status (CVDs, hypertension, and diabetes).

Prognostic factors of esophageal cancer with multiple organ metastases and a prediction nomogram / 中国实用内科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prognostic factors of esophageal cancer with multiple organ metastases and establish a prognostic prediction model. METHODS: Patients data were extracted from the SEER database. The clinical data of 388 patients with esophageal cancer with multiple organ metastases were retrospectively analyzed. Risk factors were analyzed by log-rank method and survival curves were drawn by K-M method. Multivariate analysis was performed by Cox proportional hazard model to obtain independent prognostic factors for multi-organ metastasis of esophageal cancer. A prediction nomogram was further established.RESULTS: The mean survival time of patients in this study was 7.3 months, and the survival rates for 1-, 3-, and 5-year were 15.5%,1.2%, and 0, respectively. Age was an independent prognostic factor. The value of C-index was 0.618. CONCLUSION: The prognosis of esophageal cancer with multiple organ metastases is poor. Age at the diagnosis and patterns of multiple organ metastases are related to the survival time of patients. The prediction nomogram provided a good prognosis prediction.

Nomogram: an effective prognostic model for esophageal cancer with lung metastasis / 中国实用内科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To establish a prediction model for the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer lung metastasis.METHODS: Data from 194 patients with esophageal cancer lung metastasis from 2010 to 2015 was collected from the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and End RESULTS:(SEER) database. The best cutoff value for age was determined by X-tile software.Prognostic factors were analyzed by SPSS(v25.0) with the log-rank method and the Cox proportional hazard model. Risk factors from univariate analysis were used to construct prediction nomogram with R studio software(version 3.5.1). RESULTS: The median survival time of 194 patients with esophageal cancer lung metastasis was 7.0 months, the 3-month survival rate was 69.9%, and the 1-year survival rate was 27.7%. Age(HR=1.51, 95% CI: 1.066-2.140) and pathological type(HR=0.736, 95% CI: 0.543-0.998) were independent prognostic factors for patients with esophageal cancer lung metastasis. The value of C-index was 0.634(95% CI=0.585-0.683). CONCLUSION: For patients with esophageal cancer lung metastasis, being young and adenocarcinoma are associated with a better prognosis. The prediction of the nomogram is good.

Establishment of a prognostic nomogram for esophageal cancer liver metastasis–a population-based analysis / 中国实用内科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the prognostic factors related to liver metastasis of esophageal cancer and establish an effective prediction model. METHODS: The data of 464 cases of esophageal cancer with liver metastasis from 2010 to 2015 was collected from the National Cancer Institute SEER database by SEER stat 8.3.5 software. SPSS(v25.0) was used to analyze the prognostic factors of esophageal cancer liver metastasis and Kaplan-Meier curve was used for survival analysis. We introduced the meaningful variables of single factor analysis in Cox proportional hazard model and multivariate analysis and obtained the independent influencing factors of prognosis.Independent factors were then included in the accelerated failure time model to construct the nomogram. RESULTS: The mean survival time of patients in this study was 11.6 months(95%CI: 10.075-13.209), and their 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 29.4%, 5.5%, and 0,respectively. Age(HR=1.452, 95% CI: 1.175-1.795), marriage(HR=0.753, 95%CI: 0.611-0.927) and surgery(HR=0.428, 95% CI: 0.227-0.807) were independent prognostic factors for patients. We constructed the nomogram with risk factors of prognosis, and the C-index value was 0.614. CONCLUSION: The prognosis of esophageal cancer liver metastasis is poor. being young, Being married, and surgery are associated with better survival, and the nomogram we have constructed is proved to have good predictive ability.

Prognostic factors analysis and establishment of prediction model for 183 cases of esophageal cancer bone metastasis / 中国实用内科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To construct a model for predicting the prognosis of esophageal cancer bone metastasis. METHODS: The clinical data of 183 patients with esophageal cancer bone metastasis were analyzed retrospectively, and the prognostic factors of patients were analyzed by log-rank method and Cox proportional hazard model. Nomogram was constructed with the accelerated failure-time model.RESULTS: The average survival time(10.0 months, 95% CI:7.758-12.338) of patients aged 28-70 years was longer than that of patients aged 71-91(6.4 months, 95% CI:4.365-8.428)(χ~2=4.077, P=0.043). The prognosis of unmarried patients(average 7.0 months) was worse than that of the married(10.5 months on average)(χ~2=12.841, P<0.001). As for prognoses of different pathological types, the differences between adenocarcinoma(average 10.2 months, 95% CI:7.797-12.548), squamous cell carcinoma(average 6.4 months,95%CI:3.895-8.899) and other types(average 4.0 months, 95% CI:4.000-4.000) were statistically significant(χ~2=7.171, P=0.028).There were also significant differences between the prognoses of patients with different T stage(χ~2=8.833, P=0.032). Nomogram was constructed with the risk factors above and the C-index reached 0.675(95%CI: 0.626-0.725). CONCLUSION: The prognosis of esophageal cancer bone metastasis was poor. Marriage, T stage, histological grade and pathological types were risk factors affecting prognosis, while N stage didn't appear to show obvious effect on prognosis. The nomogram was tested to have a good predictive capacity.

Prognosis analysis of brain metastasis from esophageal cancer / 中国实用内科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prognostic factors of esophageal cancer with brain metastasis. METHODS: SEER Stat 8.3.5 was used to collect 39 cases of esophageal cancer with brain metastasis from 2010 to 2015 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End RESULTS:(SEER) database. X-tile software was used to determine the best cut-off value of the age. Prognostic factors were analyzed with log-rank and Cox proportional hazard model by SPSS(v25.0). RESULTS: The median survival time of patients with esophageal cancer with brain metastasis was 7.0 months, the 6-month survival rate was 53.3%, and the 1-year survival rate was 16.3%. Only age(χ~2=4.045, P=0.044)was the prognostic factor, while there was insufficient evidence to show whether gender, marriage, race, primary site, histological grade,surgery, pathological type, T stage or N stage was associated with the prognosis of the patients. CONCLUSION: Brain metastasis is a rare metastatic type of esophageal cancer. Age is associated with worse prognosis, while the influences of other risk factors are not clear.Active treatment can lead to better prognosis.

Advances in research and clinical application of tumor markers in esophageal cancer / 中国实用内科杂志

Esophageal cancer is a common malignant tumor of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Early symptoms of the disease are inconspicuous and the disease is often diagnosed at a later stage, leading to higher morbidity and mortality. Esophageal cancer morbidity and mortality in both genders ranks among the top 10 most common cancers. Early detection and early treatment are effective means to reduce the incidence and mortality of esophageal cancer. Tumor markers play an important role in early diagnosis, treatment monitoring and prognosis evaluation of esophageal cancer. This paper reviews the clinical application of tumor markers related to esophageal cancer and the exploration and application progress of new tumor markers for esophageal cancer.

Heavy Metal Assessment among Chinese Nonferrous Metal-exposed Workers from the Jinchang Cohort Study / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

Environmental exposure to heavy metals has been linked to a wide range of human health hazards. We detected the levels of 15 metals in urine samples from 500 representative sub-samples in an ongoing occupational cohort study (Jinchang Cohort) to directly evaluate metal exposure levels. Fifteen metals, namely As, Ba, Be, Cd, Cs, Cr, Co, Cu, Pb, Mn, Ni, Se, Tl, U, and Zn, were detected by inductively coupled plasma quadruple mass spectrometry. The results showed that median creatinine adjustment and geometric mean urinary metal levels were higher in the heavy metal-exposed group, except Se and Zn, than other reported general or occupational populations. Further studies should address the effects of heavy metals on human health.

Effect of Joint Line Elevation after Posterior-stabilized and Cruciate-retaining Total Knee Arthroplasty on Clinical Function and Kinematics / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Joint line (JL) is a very important factor for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) to restore. The objective of this study was to evaluate the early clinical and kinematic results of TKAs with posterior-stabilized (PS) or cruciate retaining (CR) implants in which the JL was elevated postoperatively.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Data were collected from patients who underwent TKA in our department between April 2011 and April 2014. The patients were divided into two groups based on the prosthesis they received (PS or CR). At 1-year postoperatively, clinical outcomes were evaluated by the American Knee Society (AKS) knee score, AKS function score, and patella score. In vivo kinematic analysis after TKA was performed on all patients and a previously validated three-dimensional to two-dimensional image registration technique was used to obtain the kinematic data. Anteroposterior (AP) translation of the medial and lateral femoral condyles, and axial rotation relative to the tibial plateau, were analyzed. The data were assessed using the Mann-Whitney test.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>At time of follow-up, there were differences in the AKS knee scores (P = 0.005), AKS function scores (P = 0.025), patella scores (P = 0.015), and postoperative range of motions (P = 0.004) between the PS group and the CR group. In the PS group, the magnitude of AP translation for the medial and lateral condyle was 4.9 ± 3.0 mm and 12.8 ± 3.3 mm, respectively. Axial rotation of the tibial component relative to the femoral component was 12.9 ± 4.5°. In the CR group, the magnitude of AP translation for the medial and lateral condyle was 4.3 ± 3.5 mm and 7.9 ± 4.2 mm, respectively. The axial rotation was 6.7 ± 5.9°. There were statistically different between PS group and CR group in kinematics postoperatively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Our results demonstrate that postoperative JL elevation had more adverse effects on the clinical and kinematic outcomes of CR TKAs than PS TKAs.</p>