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Abstract Squat toilets are widely used in developing countries due to local customs and low costs. The flushing of a squat toilet can entrain strong airflow and produce aerosols. This investigation constructed a lavatory mock-up with a squat toilet. The flushing-induced airflow was both visualized and quantitatively measured by particle image velocimetry. The maximum height of the impacted airflow was identified by an ultrasonic anemometer. For inference of the particle emission rate, the toilet bowl was covered by an enclosed box for particle concentration measurement. The risks from skin contact of the deposited particles on the flushing button and the door handle and the possible inhalation of the released aerosols were evaluated. The results revealed that flushing a squat toilet can drive toilet plume to rise up to 0.9 m above the toilet bowl. A single flushing process can produce 0.29 million particles with diameters greater than 0.3 μm, among which 90% of the particles are submicron-sized. The flushing may cause particles to deposit on the flushing button and lavatory door handle as well as inhalation exposure even remaining in the lavatory for half a minute after flushing, especially for those lavatory users whose respiratory zones are below 1.0 m.

ABSTRACT To investigate the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in human papillomavirus (HPV) receptor associated genes and HPV susceptibility and clinical outcomes in Chinese women, from October 2016 to March 2020, a total of 3,066 women were recruited for a 3-year prospective population-based cervical cancer screening clinical trial. The primary endpoint was histological cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 and worse (CIN2+). Twenty-nine SNPs of HPV receptor associated genes on women with available cytology residual samples at baseline were detected using MALDI-TOF MS. Eligible data were available for 2,938 women. Rs16894821 (GG versus AA, OR =1.71 [1.08 to 2.69]) and rs724236 (TT versus AA, OR = 1.73 [1.14 to 2.62]) in SDC2 were significantly related to the HPV susceptibility. And rs2575712 (TT versus GG, OR = 2.78 [1.22 to 6.36]) in SDC2 was associated with increased HPV 16/18 susceptibility. Four SNPs (rs1047057 and rs10510097 in FGFR2 gene, rs2575735 in SDC2 gene, and rs878949 in HSPG2 gene) were significantly associated with persistent HPV infection. Importantly, the genotypes of rs16894821 under recessive model (GG versus AA/AG, OR = 2.40 [1.12 to 5.15]) in SDC2 and rs11199993 under dominant model (GC/CC versus GG, OR = 1.64 [1.01 to 2.68]) in FGFR2 were significantly associated with the disease progression. Finally, SNPs showed comparable efficacy in detecting CIN2+ for the women infected with non-HPV16/18 compared with cervical cytology (sensitivity: 0.51 [0.36 to 0.66] versus 0.44 [0.30 to 0.60], specificity: 0.96 [0.96 to 0.97] versus 0.98 [0.97 to 0.99], positive predictive value: 0.23 [0.15 to 0.33] versus 0.33 [0.22 to 0.47], and negative predictive value: 0.99 [0.98 to 0.99] versus 0.99 [0.98 to 0.99]). SNPs in HPV receptor related genes may influence HPV susceptibilities and clinical outcomes in Chinese women. IMPORTANCE Virus receptors are known to mediate virus attachment and further lead to virus infection of the host cells. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in human papillomavirus (HPV) receptor associated genes and HPV susceptibility and clinical outcomes in Chinese women, and to explore the new triaging strategy for non-16/18 high-risk HPV infection.

The high mobility group A1 (HMGA1) protein is associated with poor prognosis in patients with a wide range of cancers. However, the affect of HMGA1 on the risk of mortality from breast cancer (BC) has not been fully characterized. In the present retrospective multiple center study, the HMGA1 expression level was determined by performing immunohistochemistry on surgical tissue samples of 273 BC specimens from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University (Zhejiang, China) and 310 BCs from the National Engineering Center for Biochip (Shanghai, China). Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard model were employed to analyze the survivability. HMGA1 expression was significantly associated with tumor histological degree and body mass index (BMI). However, HMGA1 expression showed no prognostic value in patients with BC. Combined evaluation of HMGA1 expression and high BMI (≥24 kg/m2) predicted worse overall survival of BC. Therefore, HMGA1 and BMI were considered to serve synergistic roles in the development and progression of BC, and combined evaluation of HMGA1 expression and high BMI may be an effective marker in predicting poor prognosis of BC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine whether postoperative radioiodine (RAI) combined with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an effective, safe, and feasible method for elimination of excessive postsurgical thyroid remnant for differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). Materials and Methods: We took a prospective study and treated 12 DTC patients (4 males, 8 females, age 20-78 years) who underwent thyroidectomy for RFA followed by 131I ablation. The pretreatment requires iodine‑free diet and thyroid hormone withdrawal for 3-4 week. All the patients showed the level of serum thyroid‑stimulating hormone (TSH) <30 mU/L, and obvious thyroid remnant in 99mTechnetium (99mTc) imaging. Serum TSH level was determined 1 day before RFA and on days 1, 7, 14 after RFA, and 99mTc imaging was performed on day 14 after RFA. Subsequently, the patients were given an oral dosage of 3700 MBq 131I for remnant ablation, and posttreatment whole body scan was performed on day 5 after ablation. Efficacy evaluation was done 4-6 months after treatment. The changes of variants before and after RFA were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed rank sum test. Results: Serum TSH was <30 μIU/ml (mean value 10.27 ± 6.16 μIU/ml) before RFA, and increased to more than 30 μIU/ml (34.73 ± 3.93 μIU/ml) 2 weeks later (P = 0.002, Wilcoxon rank sum test). The 99mTc uptake ratio on day 14 postRFA was (0.31 ± 0.12)%, which is significantly lower than before RFA (0.80 ± 0.16)% (P = 0.002, Wilcoxon rank sum test). The success rate of thyroid remnant ablation was 91.7% (11/12), which was assessed 4-6 months after treatment. All patients reported neck discomfort and some are self‑limiting, with no hoarseness, choking, or radiation thyroiditis symptoms. Five patients had puncture area pain, among which one patient had neck edema, which was relieved after prednisone treatment. Conclusion: Combined use of RAI therapy and radiofrequency ablation in treating excessive postsurgical thyroid remnant of DTC can be an effective approach and avoids re‑operation. Long‑term efficacy monitoring would further determine its feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]