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This study aims to investigate the characteristics of night soil/horse manure with leaf co-composting using aerobic static composting method. Two influencing factors, including composting materials and aeration pattern, were investigated by determining the change in the principal physicochemical properties, i.e. temperature, volatile solid, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, heavy metals, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, and germination index (GI). The mixture of horse manure and leaf can achieve high composting temperature, long retention time of high temperature (55 °C), fast organic matter degradation, and high GI under the same aeration pattern. Under the same composting materials, the intermittent aeration pattern during composting was superior to the continuous aeration pattern because the former promoted the composting process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Ag/PPy/BiVO 4 nanocomposites are synthesized by surface self–deposition processes. • The Z-Scheme charge transfer channel retains valuable electrons and holes. • Improved photoactivity is mainly attributed to synergistic effects. • Ag nanoparticles favor charge separation and further be useful for CO 2 reduction. • CO 2 is reduced into CO and CH 4 via the ·COOH and ·CH 3 O intermediates. Photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 to hydrocarbons (e.g., CH 4) or CO under mild conditions, providing a feasible and promising method for the environmental remediation and utilization of carbon resources. However, since CO 2 -to-CO is a two–electron process, and even CO 2 -to-CH 4 is an eight-electron reaction, it is a challenging task to achieve CO 2 activation with an extremely short effective charge lifetime. In this paper, a synergistic effect strategy is used to prepare Ag nanoparticles modified PPy/BiVO 4 Z-Scheme composites for synergizing the charge separation and surface catalytic processes in CO 2 reduction reaction. With the joint efforts of synergy, the optimal photocatalyst achieves an efficient CO 2 reduction yield (5.92 μmol·g−1·h−1) with an exceptionally high CO selectivity of 85.8% and the corresponding O 2 evolution. Based on the result analysis, it can be clearly proved that the excellent CO 2 reduction performance relies on the Z–Scheme charge transfer mechanism between PPy/BiVO 4 composites interface and the strong catalytic effect of Ag nanoparticles on CO 2. Furthermore, the detailed processes of deoxygenation and proton acquisition during CO 2 reduction is revealed by in-situ DRIFTS and NAP-XPS. This paper demonstrates a strategy for designing efficient photocatalysts toward reduction of CO 2 to higher value-added chemicals, and highlights the importance of catalysis and charge separation to the synergy of key steps in catalytic reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In China, stomach cancer is the third most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death. Few studies have examined Chinese stomach cancer patients' medical expenses and their associated trends. The Cancer Screening Program in Urban China (CanSPUC) is a Major Public Health Project funded by the central government. Through this project, we have extracted patients' medical expenses from hospital billing data to examine the costs of the first course treatments (which refers to 2 months before and 10 months after the date of cancer diagnosis) in Chinese patients with stomach cancer and the associated trends.Methods: The expense data of 14,692 urban Chinese patients with stomach cancer were collected from 40 hospitals in 13 provinces. We estimated the inflation-adjusted medical expenses per patient during 2002-2011. We described the time trends of medical expenses at the country-level, and those trends by subgroup, and analyzed the compositions of medical expenses. We constructed the Generalized Linear Mixed (GLM) regression model with Poisson distribution to examine the factors that were associated with medical expenses per patient.Results: The average medical expenses of the first course treatments were about 43,249 CNY (6851 USD) in 2011, more than twice of that in 2002. The expenses increased by an average annual rate of 7.4%. Longer stay during hospitalization and an increased number of episodes of care are the two main contributors to the expense increase. The upward trend of medical expenses was observed in almost all patient subgroups. Drug expenses accounted for over half of the medical expenses.Conclusions: The average medical expenses of the first course (2 months before and 10 months after the date of cancer diagnosis) treatments per stomach cancer patient in urban China in 2011 were doubled during the previous 10 years, and about twice as high as the per capita disposable income of urban households in the same year. Such high expenses indicate that it makes economic sense to invest in cancer prevention and control in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mineral zircon has a robust crystal structure, preserving a wealth of geological information through deep time. Traditionally, trace elements in magmatic and hydrothermal zircon have been employed to distinguish between different primary igneous or metallogenic growth fluids. However, classical approaches based on mineral geochemistry are not only time consuming but often ambiguous due to apparent compositional overlap for different growth environments. Here, we report a compilation of 11 004 zircon trace element measurements from 280 published articles, 7173 from crystals in igneous rocks, and 3831 from ore deposits. Geochemical variables include Hf, Th, U, Y, Ti, Nb, Ta, and the REEs. Igneous rock types include kimberlite, carbonatite, gabbro, basalt, andesite, diorite, granodiorite, dacite, granite, rhyolite, and pegmatite. Ore types include porphyry Cu-Au-Mo, skarntype polymetallic, intrusion-related Au, skarn-type Fe-Cu, and Nb-Ta deposits. We develop Decision Tree, XGBoost, and Random Forest algorithms with this zircon geochemical information to predict lithology or deposit type. The F1-score indicates that the Random Forest algorithm has the best predictive performance for the classification of both lithology and deposit type. The eight most important zircon elements from the igneous rock (Hf, Nb, Ta, Th, U, Eu, Ti, Lu) and ore deposit (Y, Eu, Hf, U, Ce, Ti, Th, Lu) classification models, yielded reliable F1-scores of 0.919 and 0.891, respectively. We present a web page portal (http://60.205.170.161:8001/) for the classifier and employ it to a case study of Archean igneous rocks in Western Australia and ore deposits in Southwest China. The machine learning classifier successfully determines the known primary lithology of the samples, demonstrating significant promise as a classification tool where host rock and ore deposit types are unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete chloroplast genome of the medicinal plantRheum palmatumL. (Polygonaceae) has been reconstructed from the whole-genome Illumina sequencing data. The genome is 161 541 bp in length, and exhibits a typical quadripartite structure of the large (LSC, 86 518 bp) and small (SSC, 13 111 bp) single-copy regions, separated by a pair of inverted repeats (IRs, 30 956 bp each). The chloroplast genome contains 131 genes, including 84 protein-coding genes (78 PCG species), eight ribosomal RNA genes (four rRNA species) and 37 transfer RNA genes (28 tRNA species). Phylogenetic tree based on the maximum parsimony (MP) analysis of 65 chloroplast protein-coding genes for 13 taxa demonstrated a close relationship betweenR. palmatumandFagopyrum esculentumsubsp.ancestralein Polygonaceae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sandplay therapy is a psychotherapeutic technique, based on the psychoanalytic theory of the unconscious. Nearly a century after it was developed, sandplay can now be applied for the initial diagnosis tools for sand players. The goal of the current research is to demonstrate the role of sandplay in identifying internet-addicted adolescents in China. The study aims to evaluate the reliability and validity for sandplay as a diagnosis and evaluation tool for internet addiction symptoms, and to verify the consistency that exists between results based on sandplay pictures and those based on the Pathological Internet Usage Scale for Adolescents (APIUS). Methods: The research was conducted with a 2 × 2 mixed factorial design – two types of participants (addicts and non-addicts) and two types of sandplay pictures (pictures for addicts and pictures for non-addicts). An absolute recognition-judgment paradigm was used along with eye movement evaluations to evaluate the existing initial sandplay picture system for internet addiction symptoms (22 sandplay pictures, 11 related to addicts and 11 related to non-addicts, respectively). Sixty Chinese adolescents were selected as the participants (30 as addicts and 30 as non-addicts) according to the APIUS. Results: (1) The initial sandplay pictures for internet addicts are clearly preferred by Chinese internet-addicted adolescents, which are more familiar and easier to process; (2) Such pictures have a higher level of emotional arousal and cognitive resonance for the addicts; (3) Track and heat maps indicate that young internet addicts mainly fixate on the initial sandplay pictures for internet addicts. Conclusion: This initial sandplay picture system can be used to screen and identify young Chinese internet addicts based on symptoms, and the evaluation results are consistent with those based on the APIUS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great technological importance in the field of plasmonic color generation to establish and understand the relationship between optical responses and the reflectance of metallic nanoparticles. Previously, a series of indium nanoparticle ensembles were fabricated using electron beam evaporation and inspected using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The multi-oscillator Lorentz–Drude model demonstrated the optical responses of indium nanoparticles with different sizes and size distributions. The reflectance spectra and colorimetry characteristics of indium nanoparticles with unimodal and bimodal size distributions were interpreted based on the SE analysis. The trends of reflectance spectra were explained by the transfer matrix method. The effects of optical constants n and k of indium on the reflectance were demonstrated by mapping the reflectance contour lines on the n-k plane. Using oscillator decomposition, the influence of different electron behaviors in various indium structures on the reflectance spectra was revealed intuitively. The contribution of each oscillator on the colorimetry characteristics, including hue, lightness and saturation, were determined and discussed from the reflectance spectral analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of shape control of curved shell structures with the least piezoelectric actuators in the most reasonable layout at optimal multi-point voltages was addressed. First, a solid shell element for shell structures was constructed with the HS-ANS method, to overcome shear locking, trapezoidal locking and thickness locking. Second, the layout of actuators was designed through the GA combinatorial optimization and the input actuator voltage was decided with the GA numerical optimization. The general computation processes were also built respectively. The following examples show the effectiveness of the proposed solid shell element and optimization method to control deformation of the curved shell structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of natural and anthropogenic wastes were landfilled, and dissolved organic matter (DOM) were formed during landfill. However, the composition, transformation, and coexistence characteristics of natural and anthropogenic DOM in leachate remain unclear. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry, size exclusion chromatography, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, and three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix spectrum were employed to clarify comprehensively the abovementioned question. The results showed that natural DOM in young leachate constituted mainly straight-chain organic acids, protein substances, and building blocks of humic substances (BB). Straight-chain organic acids vanished in old leachates, and the concentration of protein substances and BB decreased from 44% to 26% and from 47% to 12%, respectively, while CHON and CHONS were degraded to CHO and CHOS during the process. As to anthropogenic DOM, its types and relative content in leachate increased during landfill, and aromatic acids, terpenes, halogenated organics, indoles, and phenols became the main organic components in old leachate. Compared to natural DOM, anthropogenic DOM was degraded slowly and accumulated in leachate, and some of the natural DOM facilitated the dechlorination of dichlorinated organic compounds. This study demonstrates that landfill led to an increase in humic substances and halogenated organic compounds in old leachate, which was intensified with concentrated leachate recirculation. [Display omitted] • The young leachate comprised a large number of organic nitrogen. • The types and content of halogenated organic matter increased in leachate over time. • Lignin, tannin and monochlorinated organics were accumulated in the old leachate. • Low molecular natural dissolved organic matter aids the dechlorination of dichloride. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lung cancer is the most prevalent cancer, and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in China. The aim of this study was to estimate the direct medical expenditure incurred for lung cancer care and analyze the trend therein for the period 2002–2011 using nationally representative data in China Methods: This study was based on 10-year, multicenter retrospective expenditure data collected from hospital records, covering 15,437 lung cancer patients from 13 provinces diagnosed during the period 2002–2011. All expenditure data were adjusted to 2011 to eliminate the effects of inflation using China's annual consumer price index. Results: The direct medical expenditure for lung cancer care (in 2011) was 39,015 CNY (US$6,041) per case, with an annual growth rate of 7.55% from 2002 to 2011. Drug costs were the highest proportionally in the total medical expenditure (54.27%), followed by treatment expenditure (14.32%) and surgical expenditure (8.10%). Medical expenditures for the disease varied based on region, hospital level, type, and stage. Conclusion: The medical expenditure for lung cancer care is substantial in China. Drug costs and laboratory test are the main factors increasing medical costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: This study aimed to clarify health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with colorectal precancer and colorectal cancer (CRC) in China and to better understand related utility scores. Methods: A hospital‐based cross‐sectional survey was conducted in precancer and CRC patients from 2012 to 2014, covering 12 provinces in China. HRQoL was assessed with EuroQol 5‐Dimensions 3‐Levels. Utility scores were derived using Chinese value set. A multivariate regression model was established to explore potential predictors of utility scores. Results: A total of 376 precancer (mean age 58.7 years, 61.2% men) and 2470 CRC patients (mean age 58.6 years, 57.6% men) were included. In five dimensions, there was a certain percentage of problem reported among precancer (range: 12.0% to 36.7%) and CRC (range: 32.4% to 50.3%) patients, with pain/discomfort being the most serious dimension. Utility scores of precancer and CRC patients were 0.870 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.855–0.886) and 0.751 (95% CI, 0.742–0.759), both of which were lower than those of general Chinese population (0.960 [95% CI, 0.960–0.960]). Utilities for patients at stage I to stage IV were 0.742 (95% CI, 0.715–0.769), 0.722 (95% CI, 0.705–0.740), 0.756 (95% CI, 0.741–0.772), and 0.745 (95% CI, 0.742–0.767), respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that therapeutic regimen, time point of the interview, education, occupation, annual household income, and geographic region were associated with utilities of CRC patients. Conclusion: Health‐related quality of life of both precancer and CRC patients in China declined considerably. Utility scores differed by sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, and findings of these utilities may facilitate implementation of further cost–utility evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The landfill-derived POM comprised protein-, fulvic-, and humic-like substances. • The POM contains hydroxyl, carboxyl and quinone functional groups. • The EDC of the landfill POM was higher than its EAC. • The intermediate and old POM promoted dechlorination of PCP more effectively. Particulate organic matter (POM) includes humin and non-degradable residues, and the knowledge about its composition, evolution and environmental behavior is limited. The composition, evolution and its influence on dechlorination of the POM in landfill was studied. The results show that POM accounts for 27 %–57 % of the organic matter in landfill cell, which is mainly composed of protein-, fulvic- and humic-like components. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the main microorganisms driving the compositional evolution of POM during the landfilling process. The electron acceptance capacities (EAC) and electron donating capacities (EDC) of POM were in the range of 0.05–0.51 μmol/gC−1 and 0.13–0.66 μmol/gC−1, respectively, and the average EAC and EDC of POM in the intermediate and old stage of landfill were higher than those in the initial stage. The combined action of MR-1 and POM increased the degradation rate of PCP by 20 %–40 %, which was ascribed to the reduction capacities and electron transfer process of POM. POM derived from the intermediate and old stages promoted PCP dechlorination more effectively when compared with the initial stage due to its high electron transfer capacities (ETC), which are of great significance for soil in-situ bioremediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The impact of participating in breast cancer screening programmes on health-related quality of life (HRQoL)is poorly understood.Methods: Based on a national breast cancer screening programme in China, a multicentre cross-sectional survey was conducted covering 12 provinces from September 2013 to December 2014. HRQoL of participants in the screening population and general population was evaluated by the three-levelEuroQol-five-Dimensions (EQ-5D-3L) instrument, and utility scores were generated through the Chinese value set. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to explore determinants of utility scores and anxiety/depression problems.Results: For screening group and general population (n = 4756, mean age = 51.6 year old), the corresponding utility scores were 0.937 (95% CI, 0.933-0.941) and 0.953 (0.949-0.957) (P < .001). Pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression were the most common reported in both groups (51.4% and 34.3%, P < .001). Utility scores at prescreening, in-screening, and postscreening interview timings were 0.928 (0.921-0.935), 0.958 (0.948-0.969), and 0.938 (0.933-0.943), respectively (P < .001); the corresponding proportions of anxiety/depression reporting were 25.9%, 16.3%, and 21.1%, respectively (P = .004). Interview timing, geographical region, and insurance status were associated with HRQoL and anxiety/depression in women at high-risk of breast cancer.Conclusions: Utility scores of screening participants were significantly lower than that of general population in China, but the difference may be clinically insignificant. Further cohort studies using HRQoL measurements are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: We aimed to assess economic burden of breast cancer (BC) diagnosis and treatment in China through a multicenter cross-sectional study, and to obtain theoretical evidence for policy-making. Methods: This survey was conducted in 37 hospital centers across 13 provinces in China from September 2012 to December 2014. We collected information on the subject characteristics. We then assessed the medical and non-medical expenditure for BC diagnosis and treatment, factors influencing the average case expense, variations between medical and non-medical expenditure at different clinical stages, economic impact of overall expenditure in newly diagnosed course after reimbursement to the patient's family, composition of non-medical expenditure and time loss for the patient and family. Results: Among 2746 women with BC (72.6% were admitted to specialized hospitals), the overall average expenditure was US $8450 (medical expenditure: $7527; non-medical expenditure: $922). Significant differences were found among the overall expenditure in the four clinical stages (P<0.0001); the expenditure was higher in stages III and IV than that in stages I and II, whereas the stage IV was the highest (P < 0.0001). Moreover, a higher self-reported predicted reimbursement ratio was associated with a less economic impact on the patient's family, and the average time lost was estimated as $1529. Conclusions: Early detection and treatment of breast cancer might be effective for decreasing the economic burden, because costs escalate as the degree of malignancy increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aims to understand the medical expenditure for liver cancer during 2002-2011 in urban areas of China.Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study. Based on a stratified cluster sampling method, a medical expenditure survey collected basic personal information from related medical records. Two-tailed independent sample t-test, variance analysis, and Student-Newman-Keuls Tests were used in cost analysis for the corresponding data types.Results: A total of 12,342 liver cancer patients were included in the analysis. Overall average medical expenditure per case for liver cancer diagnosis and treatment in China has increased from ¥21, 950 to ¥40, 386 over the study period. For each liver cancer patient diagnosed between 2009 and 2011, the average expenditures were 29,332 CNY for stage I, 35,754 CNY for stage II, 34,288 CNY for stage III, and 30,275 CNY for stage IV diseases (P < 0.001). Pharmaceuticals accounted for the biggest part of the medical expenditure and it rose from 48.01% to 52.96% during these ten years, and the share of nursing fee expenses was the lowest (around 1%). Over the entire 10-year data period, the per capita expenditure of the east region (32,983 CNY) was higher than that of the west region (26,219 CNY) and slightly higher than the central region (31,018 CNY, P < 0.001).Discussion: As a major cancer in China, liver cancer accounts for a large portion of health economic burden and its medical expenditure is heavy for families. Early diagnosis and treatment for liver cancer will save medical expenditure.Conclusion: The economic burden of liver cancer is high in China and related medical expenditure has increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • VOC and SVOC data were collected from 72 landfills in 20 countries. • Aromatic and halogenated compounds are the major sources of carcinogenic risks. • The risks posed by ethyl acetate in landfill gas also deserve attention. • Landfill gas health risk was influenced by meteorological conditions. Gas emitted from landfills contains a large quantity of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), some of which are carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic, thereby posing a serious threat to the health of landfill workers and nearby residents. However, the global hazards of VOCs and SVOCs in landfill gas to human health remain unclear. To quantify the global risk distributions of these pollutants, we collected the composition and concentration data of VOCs and SVOCs from 72 landfills in 20 countries from the core database of Web of Science and assessed their human health risks as well as analyzed their influencing factors. Organic compounds in landfill gas were found to primarily result from the biodegradation of natural organic waste or the emissions and volatilization of chemical products, with the concentration range of 1 × 10-1–1 × 106 μg/m3. The respiratory system, in particular, lung was the major target organ of VOCs and SVOCs, with additional adverse health impacts ranging from headache and allergies to lung cancer. Aromatic and halogenated compounds were the primary sources of health risk, while ethyl acetate and acetone from the biodegradation of natural organic waste also exceeded the acceptable levels for human health. Overall, VOCs and SVOCs affected residents within 1,000 m of landfills. Air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, and wind speed were the major factors that influenced the health risks of VOCs and SVOCs. Currently, landfill risk assessments of VOCs and SVOCs are primarily based on respiratory inhalation, with health risks due to other exposure routes remaining poorly elucidated. In addition, potential health risks due to the transport and transformation of landfill gas emitted into the atmosphere should be further studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Indium nanoparticles with different size distributions are studied by ellipsometry. • The optical properties are obtained by the multi-oscillator Lorentz model. • Resonances in large and small particles are modeled by two oscillators. • Delocalization of electrons is modeled by an oscillator with a low energy. Indium has attracted widespread attention due to its compelling optical properties for promising applications in plasmonics. In this work, we employ spectroscopic ellipsometry to investigate the optical properties of indium nanoparticle films with different size distributions fabricated by using electron beam evaporation. We propose a method to distinguish optical responses arising from electron behaviors in different structures by fitting the multi-oscillator Drude-Lorentz dispersion model. For the particle films with bimodal size distributions, localized surface plasmon resonances arising from electron oscillations in both large and small particles are modeled by applying two oscillators. The formation of densified structures, resulting from contacts of adjacent particles, is revealed by adding an oscillator with a center energy close to zero. The validity of the multi-oscillator model is qualitatively verified by using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Reflectance spectra justify quantitively the proposed model. This study is beneficial for the applications of nanostructured indium films in advanced plasmonic devices. The ellipsometric modeling on indium particle films provides a means of distinguishing the contributions of diverse electron behaviors to optical responses in complex nanostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Early non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) diagnosis is generally poor due to the lack of convenient and noninvasive tools. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and the long non-coding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) are non-coding RNAs, that have attracted increased attention for their use as NSCLC tumor diagnostic markers. Main methods: We constructed a serum miRNA and MALAT1 non-coding RNA panel and tested its diagnostic performance as an NSCLC biomarker. We tested the expression of 11 candidate miRNAs and MALAT1 in a training set (36 NSCLCs vs. 36 controls) by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions. The serum non-coding RNA panel's diagnostic efficiency was tested and validated in a second validation sample set (120 NSCLCs and 71 controls) by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Key findings In the training set, the expression of the four non-coding RNAs (miR-1254, miR-485-5p, miR-574-5p, and MALAT1) was obviously different between the NSCLC patients and healthy controls. Risk score analysis revealed that the four non-coding RNA panel can distinguish NSCLC patient samples from controls. The ROC curve results revealed areas under the curves (AUCs) of 0.861 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.771–0.952) and 0.844 (95% CI0.778–0.910) for the training set and validation set, respectively. Significance The four non-coding RNA risk scores were also associated with NSCLC progression, and its diagnostic efficiency was relatively high for stages I/II/III. In conclusion, these data indicate that the four non-coding RNA panel can serve as a convenient tool for early NSCLC diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combined process comprised of ex-situ nitrification in an aged refuse bioreactor (designated as A bioreactor) and in-situ denitrification in a fresh refuse bioreactor (designated as F bioreactor) was constructed for investigating N 2 O emission during the stabilization of municipal solid waste (MSW). The results showed that N 2 O concentration in the F bioreactor varied from undetectable to about 130 ppm, while it was much higher in the A bioreactor with the concentration varying from undetectable to about 900 ppm. The greatly differences of continuous monitoring of N 2 O emission after leachate cross recirculation in each period were primarily attributed to the stabilization degree of MSW. Moreover, the variation of N 2 O concentration was closely related to the leachate quality in both bioreactors and it was mainly affected by the COD and COD/TN ratio of leachate from the F bioreactor, as well as the DO, ORP, and NO 3 − -N of leachate from the A bioreactor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study explored the association between the risk of carbamazepine ( CBZ)-induced Stevens- Johnson syndrome ( SJS)/toxic epidermal necrolysis ( TEN) and CBZ dose, dose-adjusted concentration, and ABCB1 , CYP3A4 , EPHX1 , FAS , SCN1A , MICA, and BAG6 polymorphisms in patients of Han ethnicity with epilepsy who were living in northeastern China. Materials and methods We determined the genotypes of patients with CBZ- SJS/ TEN and CBZ-tolerant patients, who were used as controls, for ABCB1 , CYP3A4 , EPHX1 , FAS , SCN1A , MICA, and BAG6 polymorphisms by polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) amplification and direct sequencing. We measured the steady-state serum CBZ concentrations using fluorescence polarization immunoassay for the control patients. Results We observed statistically significant differences in EPHX1 c.337T>C polymorphisms between patients with CBZ- SJS/ TEN and CBZ-tolerant controls in terms of allelic and genotypic frequencies (p = 0.011 and p = 0.007, respectively). The C allele and the C- G diplotype of EPHX1 may play important roles in increasing the risk of CBZ- SJS/ TEN development (odds ratio [ OR] 0.478, 95% confidence interval [ CI] = 0.267-0.855, p = 0.011; OR = 0.213, 95% CI = 0.049-0.930, p = 0.025, respectively). We did not observe any significant associations between ABCB1 , CYP3A4 , EPHX1 , FAS , SCN1A , MICA or BAG6 genes and CBZ dose or dose-adjusted concentration in CBZ-tolerant patients. Significance We found a significant association between EPHX1 c.337T>C polymorphisms and the development of CBZ- SJS/ TEN in patients of Han ethnicity living in northeastern China. EPHX1 c.337T>C polymorphisms may contribute to the risk of severe CBZ- SJS/ TEN by increasing the concentration of a CBZ metabolite, CBZ-10,11-epoxide, in patients with epilepsy. A PowerPoint slide summarizing this article is available for download in the Supporting Information section . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The association of serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) with microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remains controversial. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with T2DM to investigate the relationship of HDL-C with microalbuminuria. Methods: A total of 524 participants with T2DM were recruited in this cross-sectional study. The patients were divided into four groups according to serum HDL-C quartile. A nonparametric test was employed to assess the relationships across quartiles with clinical parameters and demographics. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was further performed. Results: Of the 524 patients, 138 (26.3%) were found to have microalbuminuria by urinary albumin excretion rate determination. Serum HDL-C levels in microalbuminuria group were significantly lower than those in non-microalbuminuria group (1.04 (0.90–1.21) vs. 1.10 (0.94–1.31) mmol/L, P = 0.002). The nonparametric test for trend showed that the prevalence of microalbuminuria was significantly reduced for subjects of the fourth quartile of HDL-C compared to the first to third quartile (13.5% vs. 33.1%, 28.6%, 29.4%, P = 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression showed that subjects within the highest quartile of HDL-C had lower odds of microalbuminuria than those within the lowest quartile of HDL-C (OR = 0.17, 95% CI 0.15–0.52, P = 0.004). Conclusions: Higher levels of serum HDL-C were associated with decreased rates of microalbuminuria in T2DM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]