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Because of successful thalassaemia prevention programmes in resource-rich countries and it's huge population China now has the greatest number of new cases of thalassaemia globally as well as more people with thalassaemia than any other country. 30 million Chinese have thalassaemia-associated mutations and about 300,000 have thalassaemia major or intermedia requiring medical intervention. Over the past 2 decades there has been tremendous economic growth in China including per capita spending on health care. There is now nation-wide availability and partial or full insurance for prenatal genetic testing, RBC-transfusions, iron-chelating drugs and haematopoietic cell transplants. Prenatal screening and educational programmes have reduced the incidence of new cases. However, substantial challenges remain. For example, regional differences in access to medical care and unequal economic development require innovations to reduce the medical, financial and psychological burdens of Chinese with thalassaemia and their families. In this review we discuss success in preventing and treating thalassaemia in China highlighting remaining challenges. Our discussion has important implications for resource-poor geospaces challenged with preventing and treating thalassaemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our investigation, the fluoride content of surface water in northern China exceeds the standard, and accompanied by the problem of eutrophication. At present, there have been many studies on the coagulation treatment of pure fluoride-polluted waters, but the removal of fluoride in the waters containing algae has received little attention. In this paper, a typical type of cyanobacteria, M. aeruginosa , was chosen, and two coagulants (AlCl 3 and FeCl 3) were selected to explore the difference and mechanism of algae on the coagulation removal of fluoride. Results indicated that when AlCl 3 dosage was between 1.0 mmol/L and 1.5 mmol/L, M. aeruginosa contributed to efficient fluoride removal because algae promoted the adsorption of F by increasing the distribution of Al(OH) 3. In particular, M. aeruginosa increased the F removal rate by 50.22% at 1.5 mmol/L AlCl 3 dosage. However, FeCl 3 showed unsatisfactory effects on fluoride removal. The residual Al/Fe in the coagulated effluent showed that M. aeruginosa fixed large quantities of Fe, same with AlCl 3 , manifesting no selectivity in adhering metals. Besides, FeCl 3 had appeared to be more advantageous in removing organic matters. In particular, the high complexation capacity between HA and FeCl 3 caused the blockage and competition of the adsorption sites, which was why the presence of algal cells had no obvious promoting effect on fluoride removal by FeCl 3. In addition, the HA flocs formed by using AlCl 3 also had an excellent ability to adsorb F-, suggesting that other substances in waters could promote the fluoride removal, not just M. aeruginosa. [Display omitted] • Algae significantly promoted defluorination of AlCl 3 but not FeCl 3. • Algae had no selectivity in fixing Al or Fe, but only the Al efficiently removed F. • FeCl 3 combined with algae organic matters more strongly than AlCl 3. • F- adsorption on algal and HA flocs formed by AlCl 3 was identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The delivery of combination chemotherapy by nanoscale platforms has been demonstrated to enhance cancer treatment in the clinic. Cisplatin (CDDP)-crosslinked, glutathione-sensitive, tumor-targeting micelles based on carboxymethyl chitosan were designed for synergistic cisplatin-doxorubicin (DOX) combination chemotherapy. In our study, DOX was conjugated to carboxymethyl chitosan through a disulfide bond, which was structurally characterized by 1 H NMR. The micelles formed by self-assembly were spherical, with the mean diameter of 274 nm. The in vitro release studies revealed that the micelles were highly glutathione-sensitive. Cytotoxicity analysis demonstrated that the cisplatin-crosslinked micelles loaded with DOX exhibited enhanced therapeutic efficacy compared with the DOX-loaded nanoparticles, free DOX, and free CDDP. Cellular uptake and intracellular release revealed that the cisplatin-crosslinked micelles loaded with DOX could efficiently deliver and release DOX into the cancer cells. These results clearly indicate that tumor-targeting and glutathione-sensitive micelles provide means for combination drug delivery in cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]