A serological mass survey was carried out in Wuzhou City in 1980, 1,136 IgA/VCA-positive persons being followed up for 4 years. Altogether 35 NPC cases were detected, of which 15 (43%) were in stage I and 17 (48.5%) in stage II, early cases (I + II) thus amounting to 91.5%. The detection rate of early cases was 2.9 times higher than in our outpatient clinic. IgA/VCA antibody could be detected 16-41 months prior to clinical diagnosis of NPC. We conclude that, if IgA/VCA-positive individuals are examined routinely once a year, NPC can be detected in the early stages of evolution. The annual detection rate of NPC in IgA/VCA antibody-positive individuals was 31.7 times higher than that of the annual incidence of NPC in the general population in the same age group, while during the 4-year follow-up period the incidence was 7.5 times higher than in the general population for the same age group. These results further indicate that EB virus plays an important role in the development of NPC, and that serological screening and follow-up studies are valuable for the early detection of NPC.
Saliva samples from 59 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and from 20 normal individuals were studied to determine the nature and origin of the EBV-specific IgA in NPC saliva. About 50% of NPC saliva samples contained secretory IgA specific for EBV. The corresponding tumor IgA(alpha) was found in plasma cells surrounding the epithelial tumor cells and the secretory piece at the surface of epithelial cells. A slightly higher proportion of NPC saliva samples containing IgA was found in patients from Tunis than in samples from Hong Kong. Attention is drawn to the clinical value of the salivary IgA in diagnosis and monitoring of treatment of NPC.
Identification and analysis was conducted on the diatoms from the 19 cm sediment of the P6-10 core, drilled from China’s 29th Antarctic Expedition, to attempt to semi-quantitatively reconstruct the annual sea surface temperature (SST) of Prydz Bay from 1893 to 2013. There were 30 species within the 12 genera of diatoms found, and the main contributors were Fragilariopsis curta, F. cylindrus, F. sublinearis, F. ritscheri, and Thalassiosira antarctica. They were divided into three categories based on their ecological affinity. The percentages of four specific species, i.e., F. curta, F. cylindrus, F. ritscheri, and F. separanda, which might be low SST indicators, were added together to represent the SST of Prydz Bay. With the help of cluster analysis, diatom assemblages were divided into diatom zones. Therefore, SST changes were divided into five stages by both the percentage of those four diatom species and the diatom zones: the high-temperature stage from 1893 to 1903, the cooling stage from 1903 to 1936, the stable and warm stage from 1936 to 1983, the low-temperature stage from 1983 to 1996, and the temperature rising stage from 1996 to 2013. On the multidecadal scale, SST change was affected by adjustments to solar radiation. On the contrary, the ENSO events mainly affected SST on the interannual scale. In addition, regarding the unique geographical environment (such as regional atmospheric circulation and a wind field) in Prydz Bay, volcanic eruptions and the like also played important roles in some exceptional periods.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.