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The goal of this study was to find the relationship between dietary nitrite and risk of esophageal cancer, and determine the amount of nitrite intake to establish the oral highest daily intake to prevent the occurrence of esophageal cancer. Duplicate portions of three-consecutive-day diets were collected from 100 patients with esophageal precancerous lesions and 100 controls. The average nitrite daily intakes for esophageal precancerous lesions and normal people were 15.72 mg/d and 11.11 mg/d. The median nitrite daily intakes for cases and controls were 8.76 mg/d and 5.33 mg/d. Positive association was observed between the risk of esophageal precancerous lesions and dietary nitrite intake (p = 0.035). An increased risk of esophageal precancerous lesions was observed for cases or controls in the highest intake quartile of nitrite (highest vs. lowest quartile odds ratio (OR) = 2.256, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.012-5.026). These results suggest that dietary nitrite intake may influence the risk of esophageal cancer; populations with high incidence of esophageal cancer should take control of nitrite intake as one of the measures to prevent esophageal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil extraction from onion was performed by steam distillation. Response surface methodology was applied to evaluate the effects of ratio of water to raw material, extraction time, zymolysis temperature and distillation times on yield of onion oil. The maximum extraction yield (1.779%) was obtained as following conditions: ratio of water to raw material was 1, extraction time was 2.5 h, zymolysis temperature was 36° and distillation time was 2.6 h. The experimental values agreed well with those predicted by regression model. The chemical composition of extracted onion oil under the optimum conditions was analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry technology. The results showed that sulphur compounds, like alkanes, sulphide, alkenes, ester and alcohol, were the major components of onion oil. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite expanding sexually transmitted epidemics in South China, the majority of patients presenting to sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinics are not routinely screened for HIV infection. Identifying barriers to offering HIV testing among STI care providers is an important public health priority. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of offering HIV testing among STI care providers in South China and reported physician barriers to offering HIV testing. More detailed operational data regarding HIV test offer frequency and barriers to testing may enhance routine HIV testing at STI clinics. A sample of 62 STI care providers within the Pearl River Delta Region of South China completed a survey including socio-demographic and training background information (including sex, age, medical education, year of terminal medical degree, and HIV-specific training), reasons for not offering HIV testing routinely, and physical examination and sexual history taking practices. Frequency of offering HIV testing was calculated based on reports from research assistants and operational data. STI care providers offered HIV testing to 3011/10,592 (28.4%) of their patients. There was substantial variability across providers in the frequency of offering testing, ranging from 3 to 100%. None of the identified physician factors were associated with offering HIV testing 100% of the time in the multivariate model. The most commonly physician reported barriers to HIV testing included: (1) low perceived prevalence of disease and (2) not recommended by current guidelines. Forty-seven providers (76%) reported asking about same sex behaviors rarely or never. Further research on HIV screening practices of STI care providers may help scale up HIV provider-initiated testing and counseling programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]