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Introduction: Cancer-related distress can be described as a complex and unpleasant combination of psychological (such as cognitive, behavioral, and emotional), social, and spiritual challenges that may impact an individual's ability to effectively cope with the physical symptoms of cancer and its treatment. Existing literature has confirmed psychological distress (PD) as an important sequela of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, the incidence and risk factors for PD in adult female patients with breast cancer remain unclear; therefore, focusing on the PD of female breast cancer patients is meaningful, as they are at highest risk of contracting breast cancer, and might differ in their coping styles from men. Objective: This review aimed to identify the incidence and risk factors for PD in adult woman patients with breast cancer, and to help guide targeted intervention to prevent distress. Method: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAL, PsycINFO, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database, Wanfang Database, the Chinese Biomedical Database, and Weipu Database were searched for data regarding the incidence and risk factors of PD in adult women with breast cancer. Results: The prevalence of PD, assessed using the distress thermometer, ranged between 11.2%-86.7%, and a meta-analysis of 47 studies with 15,157 adult female breast cancer patients showed that the pooled prevalence was 52.0%. Further, this study identified 40 risk factors. However, owing to the inclusion of at least two studies for a certain risk factor, 10 risk factors were merged for the metaanalysis. Independent risk factors included higher education level, late-stage tumor, emotional concerns, no medical insurance, modified radical mastectomy, and history of depression; age and neuroticism were not associated with PD; and higher monthly income was revealed as a protective factor against it. Conclusion: The incidence of PD in female patients with breast cancer is high and it involves 10 risk factors, though some are controversial owing to insufficient evidence. Further research is needed to explore the underlying mechanisms of PD and develop risk factor-based holistic intervention programs to reduce its incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To clarify the full range of benefits and adverse consequences of Helicobacter pylori eradication as a strategy for gastric cancer prevention, the community-based intervention trial was launched in Linqu County, China. Design: A total of 184 786 residents aged 25-54 years were enrolled in this trial and received 13C-urea breath test. H. pylori positive participants were assigned into two groups, either receiving a 10-day quadruple anti- H. pylori treatment or lookalike placebos together with a single dosage of omeprazole and bismuth. Results: The prevalence of H. pylori in trial participants was 57.6%. A total of 94 101 subjects completed the treatment. The overall H. pylori eradication rate was 72.9% in the active group. Gender, body mass index, history of stomach disease, baseline delta over baselinevalue of 13C-urea breath test, missed medication doses, smoking and drinking were independent predictors of eradication failure. The missed doses and high baseline delta over baseline-value were important contributors in men and women (all Ptrend<0.001). However, a doseresponse relationship between failure rate and smoking or drinking index was found in men (all Ptrend<0.001), while high body mass index (Ptrend<0.001) and history of stomach disease were significant predictors in women. The treatment failure rate increased up to 48.8% (OR 2.87, 95% CI 2.24 to 3.68) in men and 39.4% (OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.61 to 4.42) in women with multiple factors combined. Conclusions: This large community-based intervention trial to eradicate H. pylori is feasible and acceptable. The findings of this trial lead to a distinct evaluation of factors influencing eradication that should be generally considered for future eradication therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the relationship between land use and surface water quality is necessary for effective water management. We estimated the impacts of catchment-wide land use on water quality during the dry and rainy seasons in the Dongjiang River basin, using remote sensing, geographic information systems and multivariate statistical techniques. The results showed that the 83 sites can be divided into three groups representing different land use types: forest, agriculture and urban. Water quality parameters exhibited significant variations between the urban-dominated and forest-dominated sites. The proportion of forested land was positively associated with dissolved oxygen concentration but negatively associated with water temperature, electrical conductivity, permanganate index, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and chlorophyll-a. The proportion of urban land was strongly positively associated with total nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen concentrations. Forested and urban land use had stronger impacts on water quality in the dry season than in the rainy season. However, agricultural land use did not have a significant impact on water quality. Our study indicates that urban land use was the key factor affecting water quality change, and limiting point-source waste discharge in urban areas during the dry season would be critical for improving water quality in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparisons between invasive and native species may not characterize the traits of invasive species, as native species might be invasive elsewhere if they were introduced. In this study, invasive Oxalis corymbosa and Peperomia pellucida were compared with their respective noninvasive alien congeners. We hypothesized that the invasive species have higher specific leaf (SLA) than their respective noninvasive alien congeners, and analyzed the physiological and ecological consequences of the higher SLA. Higher SLA was indeed the most important trait for the two invaders, which was associated with their lower leaf construction cost, higher nitrogen (N) allocation to photosynthesis and photosynthetic N use efficiency (PNUE). The higher N allocation to photosynthesis of the invaders in turn increased their PNUE, N content in photosynthesis, biochemical capacity for photosynthesis, and therefore light-saturated photosynthetic rate. The above resource capture-, use- and growth-related traits may facilitate the two invaders’ invasion, while further comparative studies on a wider range of invasive and noninvasive congeners are needed to understand the generality of this pattern and to fully assess the competitive advantages afforded by these traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequent somatic mutations of BRAF (v-raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B) exon T1799A, which are implicated in the initial events of promutagenic cellular proliferation, are detected in both malignant melanomas (MM) and melanocytic nevi (MN). Most of the data regarding BRAF exon T1799A mutation have been from Caucasian cohorts, and a comprehensive screening of a homogeneous population is lacking. A total of 379 cases of MN and 195 cases of MM were collected from Chinese Han living in three geographical regions in China, i.e., northeast, southwest, and northwest China. BRAF exon T1799A mutation was detected by PCR and sequencing from microdissected tumors. In all, 59.8% cases of MN harbored BRAF exon T1799A mutation. Samples from regions with high UV exposure had higher detection rates than regions with lower UV exposure (73.5, 67.0, and 38.9%, respectively; χ2=31.674, P=1.59E-7). There were no differences in mutation rates between congenital and acquired MN; however, acquired MN with advanced age of onset had a higher mutation rate than those with younger age of onset (χ2=13.23, P=0.02). In all, 15.0% cases of MM harbored the BRAF mutation. The mutation rate in MM was not affected by region, histological type, gender, pattern of UV exposure, and age. The study suggests that the mutation is not necessarily associated with malignant transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Molecular features underlining the multistage progression of gastric lesions and development of early gastric cancer (GC) are poorly understood, restricting the ability to GC prevention and management., Methods: We portrayed proteomic landscape and explored proteomic signatures associated with progression of gastric lesions and risk of early GC. Tissue proteomic profiling was conducted for a total of 324 subjects. A case-control study was performed in the discovery stage (n=169) based on populations from Linqu, a known high-risk area for GC in China. We then conducted two-stage validation, including a cohort study from Linqu (n = 56), with prospective follow-up for progression of gastric lesions (280-473 days), and an independent case-control study from Beijing (n = 99)., Findings: There was a clear distinction in proteomic features for precancerous gastric lesions and GC. We derived four molecular subtypes of gastric lesions and identified subtype-S4 with the highest progression risk. We found 104 positively-associated and 113 inversely-associated proteins for early GC, with APOA1BP, PGC, HPX and DDT associated with the risk of gastric lesion progression. Integrating these proteomic signatures, the ability to predict progression of gastric lesions was significantly strengthened (areas-under-the-curve=0.88 (95%CI: 0.78-0.99) vs. 0.56 (0.36-0.76), Delong's P = 0.002). Immunohistochemistry assays and examination at mRNA level validated the findings for four proteins., Interpretation: We defined proteomic signatures for progression of gastric lesions and risk of early GC, which may have translational significance for identifying particularly high-risk population and detecting GC at an early stage, improving potential for targeted GC prevention., Funding: The funders are listed in the Acknowledgement., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest XL, NRZ, YW and JQ have a pending patent entitled “Proteomic subtyping of precancerous gastric lesions, biomarkers associated with gastric cancer and gastric lesion progression and prediction models for gastric lesion progression” (CNIPA patent application number: 202010958039X, filed September 11, 2020). The other authors have declared that no conflict of interest exists., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The concentrations of 10 metals (Cd, Cr, As, Al, Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn, Hg, and Fe) in 27 groundwater samples collected during different periods (wet, normal, and dry) in the Huixian Karst wetland, the largest subtropical low-altitude karst wetland in China, were detected and analyzed to investigate pollution and health risks. The pollution characteristics, distribution, and health risks of the metals in groundwater were revealed by a comprehensive pollution assessment, multivariate statistical analysis, and health risk assessment model, respectively. The results showed that the average concentrations of metals in groundwater were followed the order of Mn > Fe > Zn > Al > Hg > Cr > Cu > Cd > As > Pb. The maximum concentration of Mn (1022.00 μg·L -1 ) was found in the wet season, while that of Hg (42.40 μg·L -1 ) was found in the normal season, and both were over the corresponding standard limits. The results of the pollution assessment indicated that only Mn pollution reached level Ⅵ in the wet season, while Cd, Al, Zn, and Fe pollution were at the level of Ⅲ. Only the Hg pollution level reached level Ⅵ while Al pollution reached the level of Ⅲ in the normal water period. According to the above results, the water quality in the dry season was better than that in the wet and normal seasons in terms of the 10 metals. The concentrations of Zn, Cd, Mn, and Al in groundwater were affected by human activities, while the time-scale characteristics of these were not obvious. The concentrations of As, Fe, Cu, and Cr were all affected by human activities and the time-scale, while the concentrations of Hg and Pb were mainly manifested in time-scale characteristics. The results of the health risk assessment of the water due to drinking and the skin penetration pathway indicated that the total health risks followed the order of normal season > the wet season > the dry season. The carcinogenic risks caused by Cr for adults and children through drinking pathway in the wet season (8.03×10 -5 a -1 and 8.76×10 -5 a -1 ), normal season (1.15×10 -4 a -1 and 1.26×10 -4 a -1 ),and dry season (8.72×10 -5 a -1 and 9.51×10 -5 a -1 ) exceeded the maximum allowed level (5.0×10 -5 a -1 ) in all periods. Hence, Cr was the main metal element that caused carcinogenic risks. For the sake of drinking water safety, the concentrations of Mn, Hg, and Cr in groundwater should be controlled before drinking.

Objective: To clarify the full range of benefits and adverse consequences of Helicobacter pylori eradication as a strategy for gastric cancer prevention, the community-based intervention trial was launched in Linqu County, China., Design: A total of 184,786 residents aged 25-54 years were enrolled in this trial and received (13)C-urea breath test. H. pylori positive participants were assigned into two groups, either receiving a 10-day quadruple anti-H. pylori treatment or lookalike placebos together with a single dosage of omeprazole and bismuth., Results: The prevalence of H. pylori in trial participants was 57.6%. A total of 94,101 subjects completed the treatment. The overall H. pylori eradication rate was 72.9% in the active group. Gender, body mass index, history of stomach disease, baseline delta over baseline-value of (13)C-urea breath test, missed medication doses, smoking and drinking were independent predictors of eradication failure. The missed doses and high baseline delta over baseline-value were important contributors in men and women (all Ptrend<0.001). However, a dose-response relationship between failure rate and smoking or drinking index was found in men (all Ptrend<0.001), while high body mass index (Ptrend<0.001) and history of stomach disease were significant predictors in women. The treatment failure rate increased up to 48.8% (OR 2.87, 95% CI 2.24 to 3.68) in men and 39.4% (OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.61 to 4.42) in women with multiple factors combined., Conclusions: This large community-based intervention trial to eradicate H. pylori is feasible and acceptable. The findings of this trial lead to a distinct evaluation of factors influencing eradication that should be generally considered for future eradication therapies., Trial Registration Number: ChiCTR-TRC-10000979 in accordance with WHO ICTRP requirements., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/)

Objective: To understand the prevalence of echinococcosis in some areas of Jiangsu Province, so as to provide the evidence for making practical control measures., Methods: The cases were determined by a retrospective survey and case-clues survey. All canine feces were tested by immunological fecal antigen in the villages of the local infection suspected cases. The antigen-positive feces were detected for E. chinococcus eggs by Kato-Katz technique. A serological investigation was administrated to search infected persons by double methods of enzyme-labeled immune assay and point immuno-gold filtration assay in the focus groups around the local infection suspected cases, and some students aged from seven to twelve years in their townships and in five different-orientation townships sampled randomly in their counties. The antibody-positive people were confirmed further by using imaging detection., Results: There were 10 imported cases and 16 local infection suspected cases. Twenty canine feces were positive among 1 938 samples, and the positive rate was 1.03%. However, no pathogen was found. Of 12 473 serum samples, 72 were positive in sera immunological antibody test (0.58%), but no cystic nodules were found by imaging detection., Conclusion: There is no direct evidence for confirming the presence of infectious source and foci of echinococcosis in Jiangsu Province. However, the surveillance of echinococcosis is still needed.