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This study aimed to investigate the epidemiologic, clinical, pathological characteristics, and treatment of patients with Castleman disease (CD) in a single center in China. We retrospectively analyzed the data of 65 Chinese CD patients, divided into unicentric CD (UCD) and multicentric CD (MCD) groups, and also microscopic subtypes as hypervascular (HV), plasmacytic (PC) and Mixed. Based on whether HHV-8 infection existed, MCD was subdivided into HHV-8-associated MCD and idiopathic Castleman disease (iMCD). Detailed epidemiologic, clinicopathological, and treatment data were analyzed and discussed. Of total 65 patients (UCD 33, MCD 32), HV (81.8%) accounted for the most of UCD and total. More females in UCD (60.6%) and more males in MCD (65.6%) were observed. CD occurred in all age groups, most commonly in 40–49 years. The mean age of onset of total was 38.5 years with PC higher than HV (45.5 vs. 35.1 years, P = 0.0413). The median diagnosis delay of MCD was longer than that of UCD (3.00 vs. 1.25 months, P = 0.0436). Abdomen (39.4%) and neck (30.3%) were the most-seen locations of lymphadenopathy in UCD, with neck (65.6%) being predominant in MCD. Mean major diameter of specimens of UCD was greater than MCD (6.4 vs. 3.1 cm, P < 0.0001). These results provided the featured and detailed profile of Castleman disease in Henan province in China with a considerable number of cases, which presented distinct evidence with other studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study was conducted to evaluate and update the current prevalence of and risk factors for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in a central Chinese urban population.Methods: From December 2017 to June 2018, a total of 5231 subjects were randomly enrolled from 3 communities in 3 districts of Zhengzhou. CKD was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 mL/min.1.73m2 or urinary albumin to creatinine ratio ≥ 30 mg/g (albuminuria). Diabetic subjects with systolic blood pressure > 140 mmHg, albuminuria or an eGFR less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 were classified as having DKD. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing lifestyle and relevant medical history, and blood and urine specimens were taken. Serum creatinine, uric acid, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein and urinary albumin were assessed. The age- and sex-adjusted prevalences of CKD and DKD were calculated, and risk factors associated with the presence of reduced eGFR, albuminuria, DKD, severity of albuminuria and progression of reduced renal function were analyzed by binary and ordinal logistic regression.Results: The overall adjusted prevalence of CKD was 16.8% (15.8-17.8%) and that of DKD was 3.5% (3.0-4.0%). Decreased renal function was detected in 132 participants (2.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.5-3.2%), whereas albuminuria was found in 858 participants (14.9, 95% CI: 13.9-15.9%). In all participants with diabetes, the prevalence of reduced eGFR was 6.3% (95% CI = 3.9-8.6%) and that of albuminuria was 45.3% (95% CI = 40.4-50.1%). The overall prevalence of CKD in participants with diabetes was 48.0% (95% CI = 43.1-52.9%). The results of the binary and ordinal logistic regression indicated that the factors independently associated with a higher risk of reduced eGFR and albuminuria were older age, sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, overweight, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia and hyperuricemia.Conclusions: Our study shows the current prevalence of CKD and DKD in residents of Central China. The high prevalence suggests an urgent need to implement interventions to relieve the high burden of CKD and DKD in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the occurrence, seasonal-spatial distribution characteristics, and attenuation process of 15 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in riverside sections of Beiyun River of Beijing. The overall PPCP levels both in surface water and riverside groundwater were moderate on the global scale, and showed higher concentrations in the dry season mainly caused by water temperature variation. Caffeine (CF), carbamazepine (CBZ), metoprolol (MTP), N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET), diclofenac (DF), bezafibrate (BF), and gemfibrozil (GF) were seven representative PPCPs, because the rest eight studied compounds occurred in low concentrations and less than 15% of the total concentration of PPCPs. Caffeine and bezafibrate, respectively, was the most abundant compound in surface water and riverside groundwater, with median concentrations of 3020.0 and 125.0 ng L. Total concentrations of PPCPs in surface water were much higher than those in the riverside groundwater spatially. Attenuation of PPCPs during riverbank filtration was largely depending on the sources, site hydrogeological conditions, and physical-chemical properties of PPCPs, also was influenced by dissolved organic matter and environmental physicochemical parameters. CF, MTP, DEET, and CBZ were potential groundwater attenuation contaminants; DF, BF, and GF were groundwater-enriched contaminants based on their removal rates. Predominant removal mechanism of PPCPs like CF was biodegradation. Attenuation simulation showed that the one-way supply between Beiyun River and riverside groundwater, and further confirmed Beiyun River, was the main source of pharmaceutical compounds in the riverside groundwater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ACTN3 R577X polymorphism (rs1815739) has been shown to influence athletic performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of this polymorphism in elite Chinese track and field athletes, and to explore its effects on athletes' level of competition and lower-extremity power. We compared the ACTN3 R577X genotypes and allele frequencies in 59 elite sprint/power athletes, 44 elite endurance athletes, and 50 healthy controls from Chinese Han origin. We then subcategorized the athletes into international level and national level and investigated the effects of ACTN3 genotype on lower-extremity power. Genotype distribution of the sprint/power athletes was significantly different from endurance athletes (p = 0.001) and controls (p < 0.001). The frequency of the RR genotype was significantly higher in international-level than that in the national-level sprint/power athletes (p = 0.004), with no international-level sprint/power athletes with XX genotype. The best standing long jump and standing vertical jump results of sprint/power athletes were better in the RR than those in the RX + XX genotypes (p = 0.004 and p = 0.001, respectively). In conclusion, the ACTN3 R577X polymorphism influences the level of competition and lower-extremity power of elite Chinese sprint/power athletes. Including relevant phenotypes such as muscle performance in future studies is important to further understand the effects of gene variants on elite athletic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The World Health Organization reported in 2011that irrational use of medicines was a serious global problem that is wasteful and harmful. The worst is use of ineffective or harmful interventions which should not be used at all. However, little is known about the changes that 20 years of evidence-based medicine has made particularly in reducing use of ineffective interventions. We surveyed clinicians in China to show how often ineffective interventions were still used in practice. Methods: 3,246 clinicians from 24 tertiary hospitals were surveyed in person and another 3,063 through an online survey between 2006–2007. The main outcomes are prescription by a clinician, and use in a patient of, an ineffective intervention and of a matched effective intervention in patients with the same disease. 129 ineffective interventions for 68 diseases were identified from the BMJ Clinical Evidence and included in the survey. One effective intervention was identified for each disease and a total of 68 effective interventions were thus also included. The frequency of use of effective interventions was used as a reference for that of ineffective intervention. Results: The mean prescription rate by clinicians is 59.0% (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 58.6% to 59.4%) and 81.0% (95% CI: 80.6% to 81.4%) respectively for ineffective and effective interventions. The mean frequency of use in patients is 31.2% (95% CI: 30.8% to 31.6%) and 56.4% (95% CI: 56.0% to 56.8%) for ineffective and effective interventions respectively. The relative reduction in use of ineffective interventions as compared with that of matched effective interventions is 27.2% (95% CI: 27.0% to 27.4%) and 44.7% (95% CI: 44.3% to 45.1%) for clinician's prescription and use in patients respectively. 8.6% ineffective interventions were still routinely used in practice. Conclusions: Ineffective interventions were still commonly used. Efforts are necessary to further reduce and eventually eliminate ineffective interventions from practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a study which focuses on the accumulation of age mass surrounding stagnation zones in nested flow systems. It informs that the study analyses the spatial distribution of model age around the stagnant zones in a series of drainage basins of different depth showing that groundwater age shows maximum value around each stagnation point. It also includes a case study to examine groundwater flow and age in the Ordos Plateau in northwestern China via carbon dating.

With an increasing population and rapid development of the economy and society of the Yellow River Basin region, the Yellow River is at crisis point. The discrepancy between supply and demand of water resources is a key issue. In 2000-2006, the mean annual discharge of the Yellow River entering the delta was 13.2 billion m3, a reduction of 18.6 billion m3 compared with the 1980s, and 9 billion m3 less than in the 1990s. The water requirements of various sectors are increasing. Large amounts of water essential to maintain the health of the delta ecosystem have been diverted for other users. The lower river channel is shrinking and the threat of flooding is becoming severe. Moreover, water pollution is increasing to a serious level; the river mouth ecosystem is subject to degradation. Due to overall decreased flow into the delta, and almost no flow into the delta for much of the year except in wet periods, biodiversity is threatened and there has been degradation of the ecological environment. In view of the water scarcity and variation in water supply, particularly in the context of climate change, measures need to be taken to realise sustainable water use in the Yellow River Delta region. In view of the lack of a complete index system for sustainable utilisation of regional water resources in China, this paper examines the major countermeasures for sustainable water use in the region. A rational adjustment mechanism for water prices is needed. Adjustment of agricultural infrastructure and water saving need to be directed by water prices, and thus the reasonable exploitation of groundwater must also be directed by water prices. Participation of the public is to be encouraged, with the development of a water user association that will become involved in formulating water rights, water allocation and water prices. Decision-making, management and supervision of this association will be done in a democratic way to promote the social management of water saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yellow River Delta region in China is a land area of 1,200,000 ha with rich natural resources. Adverse environmental conditions, such as low rainfall and high salinity, promote the dominance of black locust trees for afforestation. With the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, this forest and others throughout the world have become valued for their ability to sequester and store carbon. Forests store carbon in aboveground biomass (i.e. trees), belowground biomass (i.e. roots), soils and standing litter crop (i.e. forest floor and coarse woody debris). There are well-developed methods to sample forest ecosystems, including tree inventories that are used to quantify carbon in aboveground tree biomass. Such inventories are used to estimate the types of roundwood products removed from the forest during harvesting. Based on standard plot inventories and stem analyses, carbon sequestration estimates of trees were 222.41 t ha-1 for the Yellow River Delta region accounted for 67.12% of the whole forest. Similarly, carbon storage by herbaceous matter and soil was 0.50 and 50.34 t ha-1, respectively. The results suggest that carbon sequestration in the forest ecosystem was performed by most of the forest, which plays an increasingly important role in sequestering carbon as the stand grows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To study the circulation, distribution, and genomic diversity of HPVs in common warts in Beijing area of China. Methods: Forty eight patients with pathologically diagnosed common warts were screened for the presence of HPV with HPV type-specific PCR and direct sequencing analysis. The genomic diversity of HPVs prevalent in Chinese patients was analyzed based on LCR. Results: Forty one (85.5%) samples were positive for HPV DNA, 13(31.7%)-HPV-57, 12(29.3%)-HPV-1a, 7(17%)-HPV-27 and 5(12.2%)-HPV-2a. Four cases were infected with two different HPV types, two (4.9%) with HPV-1a and HPV-27, one (2.4%) with HPV-1 and HPV-57 and one (2.4%) with HPV-27 and HPV-57. In contrast to the prevalence of single strain of novel HPV-57 variant and HPV-1 prototype, two HPV-2 and three HPV-27 novel variants were found to circulate in Beijing. Conclusion: HPV−1, −2, −27 and −57 are predominantly prevalent in patients with common warts in Beijing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] We conduct a drainage experiment to confirm the variable S y. [•] The height of capillary fringe plays a key role for the S y variation. [•] ETg estimation using diurnal water table fluctuations in a desert area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We have established a multi-target data set of agricultural pests, Pest24, for precision agriculture. • We analyzed the data properties of Pest24 finding that three factors mainly affect pest detection. • Experiments suggest the practical values of several STOA detection methods for real-time monitoring pests. • Pest24 can be used as gold standard for DL-based detection algorithm evaluation in the community. Precision agriculture poses new challenges for real-time monitoring pest population in field based on new-generation AI technology. In order to provide a big data resource for training pest detection deep learning models, this paper establishes a large-scale multi-target standardized data set of agricultural pests, named Pest24. Specifically, the data set currently consists of 25,378 field pest annotated images collected from our automatic pest trap & imaging device. Totally, 24 categories of typical pests are involved in Pest24, which dominantly destroy field crops in China every year. We apply several state-of-the-art deep learning detection methods, Faster RCNN, SSD, YOLOv3, Cascade R-CNN to detect the pests in the data set, and obtain encouraging results for real-time monitoring field crop pests. To explore the factors that affect the detection accuracy of pests, we analyze the data set in a variety of aspects, finding that three factors, i.e. relative scale, number of instances and object adhesion, mainly influence the pest detection performance. Overall, Pest24 is featured typically with large scale multi-pest image data, very small object scales, high object similarity and dense pest distribution. We hope that Pest24 promotes accurate multi-pest monitoring for precision agriculture and also benefits the machine vision community by providing a new specialized object detection benchmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the impacts of global climate change on the suitable sowing date for winter wheat in north winter wheat area of China, we carried out a wheat sowing date experiment during growing seasons of 2019-2021 at the Beijing Experimental Base of the Institute of Crop Sciences, CAAS. Two winter wheat cultivars with different tillering powers were selected as experimental materials. Four different sowing dates were set: September 25th (J), October 5th (S0), October 15th (S1) and October 25th (S2), to examine the responses of population quality, individual characters, and stem and tiller physiology to the accumulated temperature difference before overwintering. The results showed that with the delay of sowing date, the accumulated temperature before winter and their difference between the adjacent sowing dates decreased gradually. The accumulative temperature at the sowing J and S0 both exceeded 550 ℃, which met the basic condition for the formation of strong wheat seedlings before winter. The average accumulated temperature at sowing S1 and S2 was 148.0 and 282.4 ℃ lower than that of S0, which was not conducive to the establishment of strong wheat seedlings before winter. The average accumulated temperature decreased by 204.0, 148.0 and 134.4 ℃, when the sowing date was delayed by 10 days under the four different sowing dates, respectively. The days from sowing to emergence were affected by the average daily temperature. The days from sowing to emergence gradually increased with the delay of sowing date when the daily average temperature was lower than 15 ℃, while the days from sowing to emergence were constant when the daily average temperature was higher than 15 ℃. The total stem number, leaf area index, dry matter weight, nitrogen accumulation and tiller number per plant of wheat also decreased with the decreases of pre-winter accumulated temperature. The soluble sugar content and nitrate reductase activity at the seedling increased first and then decreased with the decreases of accumulated temperature before winter, while the soluble protein content and glutamine synthetase activity to accumulated temperature performed differently among varieties. According to the population quality and individual traits of wheat before winter, among the four different sowing dates, the total stem number and tiller number per plant of wheat before sowing on October 5 were the closest to the standard of strong seedlings before winter in north winter wheat area. The accumulated temperature before winter is conducive to the formation of strong seedlings. When the daily average temperature is 15-17 ℃, it is the best sowing time for winter wheat in Beijing.

Background: The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) causing an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei province of China was isolated in January 2020. This study aims to investigate its epidemiologic history, and analyze the clinical characteristics, treatment regimens, and prognosis of patients infected with 2019-nCoV during this outbreak., Methods: Clinical data from 137 2019-nCoV-infected patients admitted to the respiratory departments of nine tertiary hospitals in Hubei province from December 30, 2019 to January 24, 2020 were retrospectively collected, including general status, clinical manifestations, laboratory test results, imaging characteristics, and treatment regimens., Results: None of the 137 patients (61 males, 76 females, aged 20-83 years, median age 57 years) had a definite history of exposure to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Major initial symptoms included fever (112/137, 81.8%), coughing (66/137, 48.2%), and muscle pain or fatigue (44/137, 32.1%), with other, less typical initial symptoms observed at low frequency, including heart palpitations, diarrhea, and headache. Nearly 80% of the patients had normal or decreased white blood cell counts, and 72.3% (99/137) had lymphocytopenia. Lung involvement was present in all cases, with most chest computed tomography scans showing lesions in multiple lung lobes, some of which were dense; ground-glass opacity co-existed with consolidation shadows or cord-like shadows. Given the lack of effective drugs, treatment focused on symptomatic and respiratory support. Immunoglobulin G was delivered to some critically ill patients according to their conditions. Systemic corticosteroid treatment did not show significant benefits. Notably, early respiratory support facilitated disease recovery and improved prognosis. The risk of death was primarily associated with age, underlying chronic diseases, and median interval from the appearance of initial symptoms to dyspnea., Conclusions: The majority of patients with 2019-nCoV pneumonia present with fever as the first symptom, and most of them still showed typical manifestations of viral pneumonia on chest imaging. Middle-aged and elderly patients with underlying comorbidities are susceptible to respiratory failure and may have a poorer prognosis.

In the context of catchment development and climate change, anthropogenic activities have significantly altered the succession and functioning of freshwater ecosystems. Combining the sedimentary records and modern survey data, we reconstructed a 250-year history of ecological changes in Chenghai Lake, aiming to assess the long-term ecological changes in Changhai Lake in response to multiple environmental stresses, such as eutrophication and hydrological fluctuation.Three stages were identified for the process of nutrient enrichment leading to a long-term increase in primary production. Nutrient level was relatively low before 1970, increased gradually between 1970 and 2000, with an accelerating increase after 2000. The water regulation project enhanced water turbulence and river flux during 1993-2000, which promoted the growth of turbulence-tolerant Aulacoseira and influx of benthic Nitzschia. The organic carbon cycling in Chenghai Lake was mainly driven by the autogenetic inputs. The eutrophication process dominated the long-term shifts of diatom assemblages followed by hydrological fluctuation. Our results illustrated that ecological restoration and catchment management of Chenghai Lake not only need to focus on the control of nutrient enrichment and pollutant input, but also should consider hydrological regulation and water level fluctuation.

The emergence and dissemination of carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains is a main risk for global public health, but little is known of carbapenemase producing E. coli in Henan, China. The study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence and mechanism of carbapenem-resistant E. coli strains in a hospital in Xinxiang, Henan, China, 2014. A total of 5 carbapenemase-producing E. coli strains were screened from 1014 isolates. We found that they were all resistant to meropenem and imipenem. Amikacin showed the best sensitivity, with gentamicin coming up next. The positive rate of bla NDM was 80% (4/5). The sequencing results showed that two isolates belonged to bla NDM-1 whereas other 2 isolates carried the bla NDM-5. Other carbapenemase genes including bla IMP , bla VIM , bla KPC and bla OXA-48 were not detected. The bla CTX-M-15, bla TEM-1, sul2, aad, and aac(6")-Ib-cr were also detected. MLST analysis showed that NDM-producing E. coli were sporadic. Conjugation test indicated bla NDM was the principal resistance mechanism of carbapenem-resistant E. coli in the hospital, Henan, China.NDM was the principal resistance mechanism of carbapenem-resistant E. coli in the hospital, Henan, China., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

β-thalassemia is a common inherited disorder worldwide including southern China, and at least 45 distinct β-thalassemia mutations have been identified in China. High-resolution melting (HRM) assay was recently introduced as a rapid, inexpensive and effective method for genotyping. However, there was no systemic study on the diagnostic capability of HRM to identify β-thalassemia. Here, we used an improved HRM method to screen and type 12 common β-thalassemia mutations in Chinese, and the rapidity and reliability of this method was investigated. The whole PCR and HRM procedure could be completed in 40 min. The heterozygous mutations and 4 kinds of homozygous mutations could be readily differentiated from the melting curve except c.-78A>G heterozygote and c.-79A>G heterozygote. The diagnostic reliability of this HRM assay was evaluated on 756 pre-typed genomic DNA samples and 50 cases of blood spots on filter paper, which were collected from seven high prevalent provinces in southern China. If c.-78A>G heterozygote and c.-79A>G heterozygote were classified into the same group (c.-78&79 A>G heterozygote), the HRM method was in complete concordance with the reference method (reverse dot blot/DNA-sequencing). In a conclusion, the HRM method appears to be an accurate and sensitive method for the rapid screening and identification of β-thalassemia mutations. In the future, we suggest this technology to be used in neonatal blood spot screening program. It could enlarge the coverage of β-thalassemia screening program in China. At the same time, its value should be confirmed in prospectively clinical and epidemiological studies.

By using OECD Guideline 106 batch equilibrium method, this paper studied the characteristics of As (V) adsorption and desorption in brown soil as affected by the biochars produced from dairy manure, pine needle, and corn straw. When the addition amount of the biochars was 0.5%, the maximum adsorption amount of As (V) was decreased in the order of dairy manure biochar > pine needle biochar > corn straw biochar, which was related to the basic characteristics of the biochars. The adsorption isotherm of As (V) could be well fitted by Langmuir model (R2 = 0.997). In comparing with CK, both the adsorption capacity (lgKf = 1.99-2.10) and the adsorption intensity (1/N = 0.413-0.449) of As (V) were low, and the main adsorption mechanism was physical adsorption. The desorption rate of As (V) (14.5%-18.7%) was decreased in the order of dairy manure biochar > pine needle biochar > corn straw biochar. The addition of the biochars decreased the adsorption of As (V) by brown soil, which could induce the increase of the bioavailability of As, and strengthen the toxicity of As in soil.

A field experiment was conducted in a farming-pasture zone in Chifeng City of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, North China to investigate the effects of different tillage modes and nitrogen (N) application rates on the grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of winter wheat. The results showed that long term conservation tillage increased the wheat NUE by 3% -4%, and decreased the environmental pollution by fertilizer N. Conservation tillage promoted the N absorption by wheat, and increased the grain yield. When the N application rate increased from 120 kg hm-2 to 360 kg . hm-2, the NUE decreased from 36. 5% to 26% , fertilizer N loss increased by about 5% , i. e. , the corresponding N loss was increased from 60 kg hm-2 to 200 kg hm-2, and the environmental N pollution increased markedly. The wheat NUE of the residual N in last season was less affected by tillage mode, but more affected by the N application rate in last season, with an overall tendency of the higher the N application rate in last season, the lower the NUE and the more the fertilizer N loss. After two seasons' wheat planting, the proportion of the total nitrogen recovery by the wheat-soil system was about 44% -50%, among which, the residual N in soil occupied about 13% -18% of applied N.

Forty-eight surface sediment samples collected from Jiaozhou Bay, Taozi Bay and Sishili Bay were analyzed for organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) by Gas Chromatography. Results showed that average concentrations of HCHs, HCB and DDTs in marine sediments were 0.33, 0.31 and 10.33 ng x g(-1) in Jiaozhou Bay and 0.26, 0.10 and 4.56 ng x g(-1) in Taozi Bay and Sishili Bay, respectively. Contamination status of OCPs was relatively higher in Jiaozhou Bay than in other inland coastal regions, especially for the levels of DDTs; however, OCPs concentrations were relatively low in Taozi Bay and Sishili Bay. The source of HCHs could be mainly attributed to the heavy historical application in agricultural areas and late transport to coastal region through surface runoff or riverine discharge, and DDTs were primarily originated from the use of technical DDTs. Fresh input of lindane and dicofol-type DDTs were found in several sites, such as Qingdao Port. High concentrations of DDTs in Jiaozhou Bay should arouse much attention.

Through concentrated application of lime, sewage sludge and lime + sewage sludge on the sloping top of the hilly woodlands, the restoration effects of the three soil amendments on the acidified soil of hilly woodland were studied. The results showed that: (1) Joint application of sewage sludge + lime can significantly (P < 0.05) decrease soil acidity, promote the rapid increase in soil organic matter and nitrogen content, increase soil cation exchange capacity, and effectively improve acidified soil. (2) Through natural diffusion mechanisms of surface and subsurface runoff, a large area of acidified soil of hilly woodlands can be restored by concentrated application of soil amendments on the sloping top of the hilly woodlands. (3) It is conducive to solve the pollution problems of the urban sewage sludge by using municipal sewage sludge to restore acidified soil, but only for the restoration of acidified soil of timber forest.

This study describes recent trends in incidence, survival and prevalence of subgroups of esophageal and gastric cancer in Linzhou city between 2003 and 2009. Data of esophageal and gastric cancer for the period of interest were extracted from the Linzhou Cancer Registry. Using information on tumor morphology or anatomical site, data were divided into six groups; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, esophageal adenocarcinoma, other and unspecified types of esophageal cancer, and cardia, non-cardia, and unspecified anatomical site of stomach cancer. Incidence, survival and prevalence rates for each of the six cancer groups were calculated. The majority of esophageal cancers were squamous cell carcinomas (82%). Cardiac cancer was the major gastric cancer group (64%). The incidence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and gastric cardiac cancer increased between 2003 and 2009. Both esophageal and gastric cancer had a higher incidence in males compared with females. Overall survival was poor in all sub-groups with 1 year survival ranging from 45.9 to 65.6% and 5 year survival ranging from 14.7 to 30.5%. Prevalence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and gastric cardiac cancer was high (accounting for 80% overall). An increased focus on prevention and early diagnosis, especially in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and gastric cardiac cancer, is required.

The antimicrobial resistance and the character of integrons were determined in 58 Shigella flexneri strains isolated from China. All isolates were multi-drug resistant and found to carry integrons of class 1 (94.8%), class 2 (100%), or both (94.8%). No intI3 was detected. The typical class 1 integrons were found in conjugative plasmids and could be transferred to the recipient E. coli DH5α. The gene cassettes of typical class 1 integrons dfrA17-aadA5 and dfrA12-orfF-aadA2 were detected in 54 strains (93.1%) and 1 strain, respectively. Atypical class 1 integrons located on the chromosome with gene cassettes bla (oxa-30)-aadA1 were detected in 55 isolates (94.8%). All the intI2 positive isolates carried gene cassettes dfrA1-sat1-aadA1. To our knowledge, this is the first report that atypical and typical class 1 integrons coexisted with class 2 integron in multi-drug resistant S. flexneri strains.

An oil-contaminated groundwater sample was collected at an abandoned petrochemical factory.Bacterial genome DNA was extracted for the 16S rDNA gene amplification,and then a bacterial 16S rDNA gene clone library was constructed. After the phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA sequences, bacterial diversity and community structure of the groundwater were studied. The results showed the bacteria in the groundwater could be divided into 10 groups, which were as follows: gamma-Proteobacteria (49.1%), alpha-Proteobacteria (12.9%), beta-Proteobacteria (11.1%), Bacteroidetes (9.2%), Verrucomicrobia (6.7%), Acidobacteria (2.5%), delta-Proteobacteria (1.2%), Actinobacteria (1.2%), Planctomycetes (0.6%), unidentified bacteria (5.5%). Gamma-Proteobacteria was predominant in the ecosystem (near 50% of total clones), and especially Pseudomonas accounted for 35.6% of all bacteria. Many clones also affiliated with other degrading bacteria,such as Sphingomornas, Rhodococcus, Brevundimonas. Furthermore, a lot of 16S rDNA sequences in the clone library had high similarity to the ones originated from similar polluted environments, such as soil and groundwater contaminated with chlorinated hydrocarbon, soil and groundwater contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, soil contaminated with PCBs, antibiotics production wastewater and activated sludge, which proved that there were lots of degrading bacteria population in the oil-contaminated water.

Sap flow and environmental conditions were monitored at two Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus urophylla S.T.Blake) plantations at Hetou and Jijia, located in Leizhou, Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province. It was found that daily sap flux density (SFD) of Eucalyptus was closely related to daily atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD) (R2 = 0.76, P = 0.01 at Hetou and R2 = 0.7021, P = 0.01 at Jijia) at both sites. No significant relationship existed between daily SFD and mean daily air temperature at both sites. Daily SFD varied with wind speed Y = -17585X3 + 15147X2 - 1250.7X + 2278.4 (R2 = 0.68; P = 0.01) at Hetou and Y = -101.67X3 - 1.65X2 - 376.4X + 1914.8 (R2 = 0.40, P = 0.05) at Jijia, where Y was daily SFD, X was daily wind speed. Experimental observations yielded the following data: (1) the critical lower and upper daily VPD threshold were 0 and 2 kPa, within which daily SFD varied from 540+/-70 L/(m2.d) to 4739+/-115 L/(m2.d) at Hetou site, from 397+/-26 L/(m2.d) to 3414+/-191 L/(m2.d) at Jijia site; (2) Diurnal SFDs at Hetou site were much higher under low relative humidity (< 30%) and slightly lower under high relative humidity (> 80%) compared with those at the Jijia site; (3) The upper and lower threshold of daily and diurnal RAD for the optimal water use of E. urophylla plantations were 18+/-2.7 and 2+/-1 MJ/(m2.d), 669 and 0 J/(cm2.h) during the observation period.

Objective: To understand the association between plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) gene 4G/5G polymorphism and type 2 diabetic nephropathy (DN) in Chinese Han patients in Guangdong Province., Methods: PAI-1 gene 4G/5G polymorphism was analyzed in 26 normal individuals, 77 patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy and 70 type 2 diabetic patients without nephropathy (DNN) by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism., Results: The 4G/4G genotype frequencies of PAI-1 gene were higher in DN than in DNN patients (0.390 vs 0.171, chi(2)=13.008, P<0.01), with the odds ratio (OR) of 1.447 (95% confidence interval: 0.533-3.934, P<0.05) in comparison with 5G/5G genotypes between the 2 patient groups. The 4G allele frequencies of PAI-1 gene were similar in DN and DNN groups (0.57 vs 0.51, chi(2)=1.22, P>0.05)., Conclusion: The PAI-1 4G/4G genotype is associated with increased risk for type 2 DN the Chinese Han population in Guangdong Province, and type 2 diabetic patients with 4G/4G PAI-1 genotype are more likely to develop DN than those with 5G/5G PAI-1 genotype.