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A large proportion of young adults have insufficient TWI. Participants with lower TWI would not compensate with water from food. The variances in TWI among participants were mainly due to differences in total drinking fluids. There is an urgent need to improve the fluids intake behaviors of young adults.

Background: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is widely used for cancer treatment in China. Many support its use in treatment for cancer, yet scientific evidence for the effect of TCM needs to be established. Material and Methods: In this review case reports on cancer patients treated by TCM therapies are included. Search runs were conducted in 4 main Chinese databases till December 2009. Results: A total of 716 reports involving 1,198 cancer patients were identified and summarized. Top 5 of the reported cancers treated with TCM were lung cancer (14.44%; 173 patients), leukemia (14.11%; 169 patients), stomach cancer (10.85%; 130 patients), liver cancer (10.18%; 122 patients) and esophageal cancer (7.35%; 88 patients). In the majority of cases (66.44%; 772) combined treatments of Chinese and conventional medicine were applied. The use of herbal medicine was highly prevalent (98.50%; 1,168 patients), and the typical administration was an individually tailored treatment according to the pattern differentiation of symptoms (74.21%; 889 patients); the use of acupuncture was relatively rare (1.8%; 22 patients). Symptom improvement was the most frequently reported outcome (84.72%; 1,015 patients). Only 15 studies (2.1%) were structurally reported. Detailed information on patients’ demography, pathologically confirmed diagnosis and safety was given in 275 (22.95%), 692 (57.76%) and 10 (0.83%) reports, respectively. Conclusion: The amount of information from case reports of TCM therapies in cancer is rich and can be valuable for the preliminary evaluation of TCM and for the planning of further clinical trials in cancer treatment. However, the quality of the reports was generally poor and we recommend that case reports should be published in a structured manner.

Abstract. Receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is associated with the pathogenesis of cancer progression. The pathological effects mediated through RAGE are physiologically inhibited by soluble RAGE (sRAGE). The aim of the present study was to identify the expression of the sRAGE, RAGE and RAGE ligands in serum samples and lung cancer tissue obtained from lung cancer patients. Using ELISA and immunohistochemistry, it was observed that the sRAGE levels were downregulated in the serum, the expression of RAGE was decreased in the lung cancer tissue and the RAGE ligands HMGB1 and S100 were upregulated in cancer tissue. Furthermore, the presence of several selected types of RAGE polymorphism that occur in lung cancers were measured in the tissue samples. An association between the -429T/C and 2184A/G polymorphisms of RAGE and the genesis and progression of lung cancer was identified. The comparison between various histological subtypes and stages of lung cancer was performed with the aim to clarify the biological role of the RAGE gene, and identify a biomarker to aid diagnosis and predict the prognosis for lung cancer patients.

To determine whether genetically predicted circulating levels of cytokines are associated with risk of overall breast cancer (BC), estrogen receptor (ER)-positive and ER-negative BC, we conducted two-sample MR analyses using data from the most comprehensive genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on cytokines in 8293 Finnish participants and the largest BC GWAS from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) with totally 122,977 BC cases and 105,974 healthy controls. We systematically screened 41 cytokines (of which 24 cytokines have available instruments) and identified that genetically predicted circulating levels (1-SD increase) of MCP1 (

To assess the clinical effects and safety of Huangqi Jianzhong Tang (HQJZ) for the treatment of chronic gastritis (CG), three English databases and four Chinese databases were searched through the inception to January 2015. In randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing HQJZ with placebo, no intervention and western medicine were included. A total of 9 RCTs involving 979 participants were identified. The methodological quality of the included trials was generally poor. Meta-analyses demonstrated that HQJZ plus conventional medicine was more effective in improving overall gastroscopy outcome than western medicine alone for treatment of chronic superficial gastritis with the pooling result of overall improvement [OR 3.78 (1.29,11.06), P = 0.02]. In addition, the combination of HQJZ with antibiotics has higher overall effect rate than antibiotics alone for the treatment of CG [OR 2.60 (1.49,4.54), P = 0.0007]. There were no serious adverse events reported in both the intervention and controlled groups. HQJZ has the potential of improvement of the patients' gastroscopy outcomes, Helicobacter pylori clearance rate, traditional Chinese Medicine syndromes, and overall effect rate alone or in combination use with conventional western medicine for chronic atrophic gastritis. However, due to poor methodological quality, the beneficial effect and safeties of HQJZ for CG could not be confirmed.

Purpose The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in Ghana has increased eightfold since the 1960s. In 2011, national guidelines were set forth recommending all patients aged 50–70 years old undergo annual CRC screening with fecal occult blood testing (FOBT), but adherence to these guidelines is poor and screening rates remain low for unclear reasons. Methods We performed semi-structured interviews with 28 Ghanaians including physicians ( n = 14) and patients ( n = 14) from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana, to better understand the factors driving screening adherence and perceived barriers identified in an earlier quantitative study. Results Participants reported sociocultural factors such as reliance on alternative medicine or religion, lack of education, and financial burden as community-level barriers to CRC screening. At the system level, screening was limited by insufficient access to FOBT as well as a perceived lack of national prioritization. This was described as inadequate efforts from the Ministry of Health regarding national education as well as lack of incorporation of CRC screening into the National Health Insurance Scheme. Conclusion Several community- and system-level barriers exist to widespread screening of CRC in Ghana. A multi-level approach will be required to improve rates of CRC screening and ultimately reduce the burden of CRC in Ghana.