A hospital-based case-control study of oesophageal cancer was carried out in the Heilongjiang Province, a low-risk area for oesophageal cancer in China. From May 1985 to May 1989, 196 histologically confirmed cases and 392 controls with other (non-neoplastic) diseases were personally interviewed in the wards of 5 major hospitals. Information was obtained about usual consumption in the early 1980s of 32 major contributors to the diet in the province, socio-demographic status, smoking and alcohol consumption. Odds ratios (OR) were obtained from logistic regression models, and confounding was controlled by means of multivariate models. Smoking and alcohol consumption were major risk factors for oesophageal cancer in this population. Smokers of handmade cigarettes exhibited a particularly high risk. A near multiplicative synergism was found between smoking and alcohol consumption. There was a significant inverse dose-risk trend for combined consumption of vegetables and fruits; a 300-g increase per day lowered risk by 35%. Vitamin C intake was negatively associated with risk; a 100-mg increase per day lowered risk by 39%. Our data suggest a modifying effect of vitamin C and beta-carotene on risk associated with smoking, but the power of analyses was low. Salt, salt-preserved foods and pickled vegetables were not associated with increased risk. High temperature of meals and drinks was a strong risk indicator in this population. The strength of tea and overall tea consumption were independent determinants of the risk.

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BackgroundOncolytic virotherapy is an attractive drug platform of cancer gene therapy, but efficacy and specificity are important prerequisites for success of such strategies. Previous studies determined that Apoptin is a p53 independent, bcl-2 insensitive apoptotic protein with the ability to specifically induce apoptosis in tumor cells. Here, we generated a conditional replication-competent adenovirus (CRCA), designated Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin, and investigated the effectiveness of the CRCA a gene therapy agent for further clinical trials.ResultsThe observation that infection with Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin significantly inhibited growth of the melanoma cells, protecting normal human epidermal melanocytes from growth inhibition confirmed cancer cell selective adenoviral replication, growth inhibition, and apoptosis induction of this therapeutic approach. The in vivo assays performed by using C57BL/6 mice containing established primary or metastatic tumors expanded the in vitro studies. When treated with Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin, the subcutaneous primary tumor volume reduction was not only observed in intratumoral injection group but in systemic delivery mice. In the lung metastasis model, Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin effectively suppressed pulmonary metastatic lesions. Furthermore, treatment of primary and metastatic models with Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin increased mice survival.ConclusionsThese data further reinforce the previously research showing that an adenovirus expressing Apoptin is more effective and advocate the potential applications of Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin in the treatment of neoplastic diseases in future clinical trials.

BackgroundAcute Decompensated Cardiac Failure (ADCF) is frequently associated with deterioration in renal function. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is an early marker of kidney injury. We aimed to determine if NGAL measured at admission predicts in-hospital acute kidney injury (AKI) in ADCF.MethodsA prospective observational study measured NGAL and B-natriuretic peptide (BNP) from patients with ADCF presenting to two tertiary hospitals. Patients received standard care and were followed up daily as inpatients. ADCF was defined by PRIDE score ≥ 6 and AKI by RIFLE criteria.ResultsOne hundred and two patients (median age 80, IQR 69-84 years, 52% male) were enrolled. AKI developed in 22 (25%) of 90 for whom outcome data was available. Seven patients died. NGAL was significantly elevated in those who developed AKI versus those who did not (median 130 ng/ml vs 69 ng/ml, p = 0.002). NGAL was also higher in those who died (median 136 ng/ml vs 68 ng/ml, p = 0.005). AKI was significantly associated with risk of death (5/22 (23%) vs 1/68 (1.5%), p = 0.001), but not length of hospital stay. NGAL significantly correlated with admission eGFR but not BNP. For prediction of AKI, NGAL > 89 ng/ml had sensitivity of 68% and specificity of 70% with area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.71 (0.58-0.84). After adjustment for baseline renal function, the odds ratio (OR) for AKI was 3.73 (1.26-11.01) if admission NGAL > 89 ng/ml.ConclusionsElevated NGAL at admission is associated with in-hospital AKI and mortality in patients with ADCF. However, it has only moderate diagnostic accuracy in this setting.

The molecule in which a methyl viologen (MV2+) moiety is coupled through a three-carbon chain to one bipyridine in Ru(bpy)3 2+ (bpy = 2,2‘bipyrine), [Ru(bpy)2(4-(2-(1‘-methyl-4−4‘-bipyridinediium-1-yl)propyl)-4‘-methyl-2,2‘-bipyridine), abbreviated RuII(bpy)2(MV2+-bpy)4+], does not emit upon photoexcitation because of rapid quenching of the MLCT state by the MV2+. The integrated steady-state photoemission intensity is <1/1000 that of Ru(bpy)3 2+ under the same conditions. However, quite efficient emission [∼1/5 that of Ru(bpy)3 2+] is found when RuIII(bpy)2(MV2+-bpy)5+ is electrogenerated at a Pt electrode in aqueous solution and reacts with a suitable coreactant (tri-n-propylamine or oxalate), where the excited state is produced by an electron-transfer reaction. Electrogenerated chemiluminescence is also observed for this species in acetonitrile solutions upon potential cycling via annihilation of the reduced (+1) and oxidized (+5) species.

The magnetocaloric effect in La1.6Ca1.4Mn2O7 polycrystal with the layered Sr3Ti2O7-type perovskite structure has been studied. It is found that the magnetic entropy change of La1.6Ca1.4Mn2O7 is comparable to that of Gd, but smaller and more broadened than that of La0.8Ca0.2MnO3.

The cytochrome CYP1A1 gene has been implicated in the etiology of oral cancer. However, the results have been inconsistent. In this study, a meta-analysis was performed to clarify the associations of polymorphisms in CYP1A1 gene with oral cancer risk. Published literatures from PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and China National Knowledge infrastructure (CNKI) databases were retrieved. A total of 12 studies were included in this meta-analysis. We found that significant positive associations between CYP1A1*2A polymorphism and oral cancer risk in recessive model (CC vs. TC + TT, OR = 1.93), dominant model (CC + TC vs. TT, OR = 1.33), and additive model (CC vs. TT, OR = 1.97). In subgroup analysis based on the ethnicity of study population, significant associations were found in all three genetic models for Asians (recessive OR = 2.29, 95% CI =  .42-3.71; dominant OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.03-2.31; additive OR  2.39, 95% CI = 1.47-3.88) but not non-Asians. For the smoking stratification, the result indicated a significant association between CYP1A1*2A polymorphism and oral cancer among the smoking subjects (OR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.47-2.26). This meta-analysis indicated a marked association of CYP1A1*2A polymorphisms with oral cancer risk, particularly among Asians, whereas there were significant interactions between the polymorphisms and cigarette smoking on oral cancer risk.

The correlation of EFD (experimental fluid dynamics) and CFD (computational fluid dynamics) results for a typical supercritical wing was investigated to predict its aerodynamic characteristics well in this paper. A wind tunnel test was conducted in European Transonic Wind tunnel (ETW) to obtain the pressure distribution on a typical supercritical wing test model; also integrated lift force coefficients and pitching moment coefficients were achieved. Computational results were obtained through the debugged RANS solver based on the experimental results. It was showed that a better correlation of EFD and CFD pressure distribution could be achieved, through debugging the CFD method with EFD results, including investigations of grid divergence, turbulence model influence and test model deformation simulation. Test model deformation simulation could apparently improve the correlation of pressure distribution for outboard wing sections. The optimization of turbulence model parameters based on the generic algorithm could improve the correlation of CL~α curve at small angles, but the prediction of separation point was poorly correlated with EFD results. However, the turbulence model parameters optimization implied a promising way to further improve the correlation for supercritical wing especially for multipoint optimization.