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Aim: To obtain an in‐depth understanding of women's decision‐making experiences related to mastectomy. Design: A descriptive qualitative interview study. Methods: Individual semi‐structured interviews were conducted face‐to‐face with 27 Chinese women with breast cancer who underwent mastectomy at two tertiary hospitals in mainland China between September 2020 and December 2021 after obtaining the appropriate ethical approvals. Interviews were conducted in Mandarin. Data were analysed using inductive content analysis. Results: Mean age of participants was 48 years (range 31–70). Most participants had low education, low monthly family income, had a partner and health insurance, had been diagnosed with early breast cancer, and had not undergone reconstructive surgery. Six categories related to decision‐making experiences emerged: (1) Emotions affecting decision‐making, (2) Information seeking for decision‐making, (3) Beliefs about mastectomy and the breast, (4) Participation in decision‐making, (5) People who influence decision‐making, and (6) Post‐decision reflection. Participants did not mention the role of nurses in their decision‐making process for mastectomy. Conclusions: This study adds valuable insights into the limited evidence on women's experience with decision‐making about mastectomy from a Chinese perspective, which is important given the continuing high prevalence of mastectomy in many regions. Future studies from other countries and ethnic groups are recommended to gain diverse knowledge. Impact: The findings of this study are useful for nurses and other healthcare professionals in the multidisciplinary team to better support women with breast cancer in their decision‐making process regarding mastectomy. The findings could inform future interventions to support treatment decision‐making and may be relevant to women living in similar socio‐medical contexts to those in mainland China. Reporting Method: The study was reported following the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a methodology for constructing a quasi-geoid model with millimeter-level accuracy over the Shangyu area in China, following the guidelines of the International Association of Geodesy Joint Working Group 2.2.2, known as "The 1 cm geoid experiment". Our approach combines two steps to ensure exceptional accuracy. First, we employ Molodensky's theory to model the gravity field, accounting for non-level surfaces and considering complex terrain effects. Through an exhaustive analysis of these influential factors, we implement a comprehensive suite of applicable formulae within Molodensky's series solution, enabling a thorough assessment of their impacts on height anomalies within the gravimetric quasi-geoid model. Second, we utilize a hybrid method that involves a multi-surface function using the least-squares method and a robust estimation technique. This approach enables the interpolation of quasi-geoid heights by incorporating ellipsoidal and leveling normal heights, as well as gravimetric quasi-geoid data. Through a numerical example, we demonstrate the efficiency of our solution concept, achieving an accuracy of 0.79 cm compared to independent global navigation satellite system (GNSS)/leveling measurements. By developing this methodology, our study contributes to the advancement of geodesy research and provides a valuable methodology for creating highly precise quasi-geoid models in geodetic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the effect of role reversal and standardized patient simulation on the training of new nurses. Method: This study was conducted in a territory hospital in China between August 2021 and August 2022. The selected staff were all newly recruited and trained nurses, with a total of 58 cases. This study is a randomised controlled trial. The selected nurses were randomly divided into two groups. One group of 29 nurses (the control group) received routine training and assessment; the other group (the experimental group) was given role reversal combined with a standardized vertebral patient training examination. The implementation effects of different training and assessment methods were compared and analysed. Results: Before the training, the core competence scores of nurses in the two groups were lower, and there was no significant data difference (P > 0.05). After training, the core competence scores of nurses were improved, and the score of nurses in the experimental group was 165.49 ± 22.34. The difference was statistically significant when compared with the score of nurses in the control group (P < 0.05), indicating that nurses in the experimental group had better abilities. At the same time, the satisfaction of the two groups of nurses with the training was 96.55% (experimental group) and 75.86% (control group), and the difference in data was significant (P < 0.05). The satisfaction of the experimental group of nurses was higher, and the training effect was better. Conclusion: In the training of new nurses, the combined application of role interchange and standardized patient training and assessment methods has significant effects, which can improve the core competency of nurses and improve the training satisfaction of nurses, which is significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study empirically investigates the effects of goods market segmentation on interregional labor mobility using data from National Population Surveys in China. The findings reveal that a one‐standard deviation increase in the goods market segmentation index reduces interprovincial migration by 4.0%. Restraining interregional trade and improving industrial specialization are the two mechanisms at work. Further analysis indicates that the restrictive effect of goods market segmentation is greater on highly educated laborers and the labor flows from poorer to richer regions. The heterogeneous analysis also implies that migrants are more concerned about educational resources and consumption diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amine-containing particles were characterized in an urban area of Chongqing during both summer and winter using a single-particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SPAMS). Among the collected particles, 12.7 % were amine-containing in winter and 8.3 % in summer. Amines were internally mixed with elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), sulfate, and nitrate. Diethylamine (DEA) was the most abundant among amine-containing particles. Wintertime amine-containing particles were mainly from the northwest direction where a forest park was located; in summer, they were from the northwest and southwest (traffic hub) directions. These origins suggest that vegetation and traffic were the primary sources of particulate amines. The average relative peak area of DEA depended strongly on humidity, indicating that the enhancement of DEA was possibly due to increasing aerosol water content and aerosol acidity. Using an adaptive resonance theory neural network (ART-2a) algorithm, four major types of amine-containing particles were clustered: amine–organic carbon (A-OC), A-OCEC, DEA-OC, and A-OCEC aged. The identified particle types implied that amines were taken up by particles produced from traffic and biomass burning. The knowledge gained in this study is useful to understand the atmospheric processing, origin, and sources of amine-containing particles in the urban area of Chongqing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the spatial spillover effects of nonperforming loans in commercial banks are investigated based on Chinese provinces. Panel data from 31 provinces in China covering the period from 2005 to 2014 are used in this study. First, we employ Moran's I statistic to describe the empirical evidence for the presence of spatial dependencies in provincial nonperforming loans ratio (NPLR) after checking the stationarity of the data by the second-generation panel unit root tests. Then we construct the spatial panel data model through a set of model specification tests, and calculate the direct and indirect effects of the explanatory variables. The empirical results show that the spatial spillover effect plays a significant role in regional nonperforming loans. Furthermore, the growth rate of the gross domestic product and the unemployment rate are two important factors in the transmission of nonperforming loans among the regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Parisian options are complex path-dependent options developed by barrier option. Moving window Parisian options are higher path-dependent options, which are widely used in the field of convertible bonds in recent years. In this work we propose to price moving window Parisian option by use of hitting time. A simulation algorithm of the pricing is presented. As an application, we provide the pricing equations of convertible bonds with reset clause. Furthermore our simulation method is applied to price convertible bonds with reset clause using the data in China mainland stock exchange. The results show that this algorithm can undoubtedly improve the accuracy of the convertible bonds pricing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A high-speed railway (HSR) station in a city can make a significant change to the way a city receives and transmits information, thus increasing its "borrowed size." How does an intercity passenger transport system shape the pattern of urban connection? To provide an answer to this question, a study is conducted to investigate the impact of the HSR project rolled out across China, which is known as the world's largest railway network, on intercity media attention as constructed from the information of local media coverage. A staggered difference-in-differences (DID) regression approach is taken to find out that the opening of a new HSR station increases the media attention drawn by a city from other cities by 1.88%, and that the direct link between two cities through HSR improves intercity attention by approximately 0.90%. To further explore the underlying mechanism, heterogeneity analysis is conducted to indicate that HSR has augmented the intercity connection network by reinforcing the cooperation between various cities, and this power has diminished with distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses Baker et al. (2016) to construct China's economic policy uncertainty index (EPU) and China's economic policy uncertainty index based on Chinese newspaper text keyword search (CEPU). Using monthly import data of about 5000 kinds of products in China from January 2010 to April 2016, we estimate the impact of EPU and CEPU on these products' import and find that economic policy uncertainty has different effects on imports of different products, both negative and positive. Further, we use BEC classification, differentiated products and homogeneous products, the number and concentration of countries in global trade, and the elasticity of import demand to characterize the heterogeneity of products and explain the differences in the impact of economic uncertainty on different products. We find that when the uncertainties of China's economic policy increase, capital goods and transport equipment are more negatively affected by imports than intermediate inputs and differentiated products are homogeneous products; the smaller the elasticity of demand substitution, the more countries imported globally, the lower the concentration of global importing countries, and the higher the concentration of global exporting countries, the negative reaction of product imports the bigger. In addition, we compare the performance of EPU and CEPU indices. CEPU index is more reasonable than the EPU index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Objectives: The incidence of human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA), a tick-borne disease caused by the obligate intracellular bacterium Anaplasma phagocytophilum, has increased across the world. However, information on HGA is lacking in China. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical features and outcomes of HGA patients in China. Methods: A total of 83 patients with HGA from the provinces of Hubei and Henan in China, who were admitted to Union Hospital between March 2009 and September 2010, were included in this study. We investigated the epidemiology, clinical features, laboratory markers, and therapeutic effects in these patients. We also analyzed life-threatening complications such as systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS)/multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) following HGA and assessed the risk factors for a poor clinical outcome. Results: In our study, an HGA outbreak peak was observed for the months May to August. The highest age-specific incidence occurred among the group of patients aged 50–59 years. With regard to patient occupation and pathological origin, we found that 73 of the 83 patients with HGA had a peasant occupation. With respect to symptoms, 45 patients had no complications and 38 patients diagnosed with HGA met SIRS criteria, of whom 25 rapidly developed MODS. The mortality for the entire cohort was 26.5%. The factors predictive of patients developing MODS and an adverse outcome were advanced age, disturbance of consciousness, highly elevated lactate dehydrogenase, creatinine, and aspartate aminotransferase levels, and the presence of SIRS. Moreover, MODS was found to be an independent predictor of death. Conclusions: In China, HGA patients had severe clinical symptoms and high rates of complications and mortality. These findings may provide useful information so that physicians will be on the alert for severe complications after a diagnosis of HGA; they will also be useful for optimizing supportive care for HGA-related critical illness. Prompt treatment and close monitoring of severe complications such as SIRS and MODS are of great importance in saving patient lives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

PM 2.5 seriously endangers human health, and its mutagenicity is considered an important pathogenic mechanism. However, the mutagenicity of PM 2.5 is mainly determined by traditional bioassays, which are limited in the large-scale identification of mutation sites. Single nucleoside polymorphisms (SNPs) can be used for the large-scale analysis of DNA mutation sites but have not yet been used on the mutagenicity of PM 2.5 . The Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle is one of China's four major economic circles and five major urban agglomerations, and the relationship between the mutagenicity of PM 2.5 and ethnic susceptibility in this circle remains unclear. In this study, the representative samples are PM 2.5 from Chengdu in summer (CDSUM), Chengdu in winter (CDWIN), Chongqing in summer (CQSUM) and Chongqing in winter (CQWIN) respectively. PM 2.5 from CDWIN, CDSUM and CQSUM induce the highest levels of mutation in the regions of exon/5'Utr, upstream/splice site and downstream/3'Utr respectively. PM 2.5 from CQWIN, CDWIN and CDSUM induce the highest ratio of missense, nonsense and synonymous mutation respectively. PM 2.5 from CQWIN and CDWIN induce the highest transition and transversion mutations respectively. The ability of PM 2.5 from the four groups to induce disruptive mutation effects is similar. For ethnic susceptibility, PM 2.5 in this economic circle is more likely to induce DNA mutation in Chinese Dai from Xishuangbanna among Chinese ethnic groups. PM 2.5 from CDSUM, CDWIN, CQSUM and CQWIN may particularly tend to induce Southern Han Chinese, Dai in Xishuangbanna, Dai in Xishuangbanna and Southern Han Chinese respectively. These findings may assist in the development of a new method for analyzing the mutagenicity of PM 2.5 . Moreover, this study not only promotes attention to ethnic susceptibility to PM 2.5 , but also introduces public protection policies for the susceptible population., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle (CD-CQ Economic Circle) is one of China's four major economic circles and five major urban agglomerations located in Southwest China's Sichuan Basin. The CD-CQ Economic Circle, with its strong economic development and dense population, suffers from severe PM 2.5 pollution, which is known to cause chronic and acute respiratory ailments. This study examined the lung disease-related hub genes, functions, and pathways that are affected by PM 2.5 in summer and winter in the two central megacities of Chengdu and Chongqing. PM 2.5 frequently activates lung disease-associated hub genes, most notably the transcription factor TP53. TP53 interacts with the majority of lung disease-related genes and regulates important and commonly occurring biological functions and pathways, including gland development, aging, reactive oxygen species metabolic process, the response to oxygen levels, and fluid shear stress, among others. Thus, PM 2.5 has been shown to target TP53 for regulating lung disease genes/functions/pathways, thereby influencing the occurrence and progression of lung illnesses. Notably, PM 2.5 may be associated with small cell carcinoma of the lung due to the high number of lung disease genes, hub genes, critical functions, and pathways enriched in this kind of cancer. These findings shed fresh light on the molecular pathophysiology of PM 2.5 pollution on the respiratory system in the CD-CQ Economic Circle and aid in the development of novel techniques for mitigating PM 2.5 pollution-associated respiratory illness., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) causes severe haze in China and is regarded as a threat to human health. The health effects of PM 2.5 vary location by location due to the variation in size distribution, chemical composition, and sources. In this study, the cytotoxicity effect, oxidative stress, and gene expression regulation of PM 2.5 in Chengdu and Chongqing, two typical urban areas in southern China, were evaluated. Urban PM 2.5 in summer and winter significantly inhibited cell viability and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in A549 cells. Notably, PM 2.5 in winter exhibited higher cytotoxicity and ROS level than summer. Moreover, in this study, PM 2.5 commonly induced cancer-related gene expression such as cell adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM1), interleukin 24 (IL24), and cytochrome P450 (CYP1A1); meanwhile, PM 2.5 commonly acted on cancer-related biological functions such as cell-substrate junction, cell-cell junction, and focal adhesion. In particular, PM 2.5 in Chengdu in summer had the highest carcinogenic potential among PM 2.5 at the two sites in summer and winter. Importantly, cancer-related genes were uniquely targeted by PM 2.5 , such as epithelial splicing regulatory protein 1 (ESRP1) and membrane-associated ring-CH-type finger 1 (1-Mar) by Chengdu summer PM 2.5 ; collagen type IX alpha 3 chain (COL9A3) by Chengdu winter PM 2.5 ; SH2 domain-containing 1B (SH2D1B) by Chongqing summer PM 2.5 ; and interleukin 1 receptor-like 1 (IL1RL1) and zinc finger protein 42 (ZNF423) by Chongqing winter PM 2.5 . Meanwhile, important cancer-related biological functions were specially induced by PM 2.5 , such as cell cycle checkpoint by Chengdu summer PM 2.5 ; macromolecule methylation by Chengdu winter PM 2.5 ; endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi intermediate compartment membrane by Chongqing summer PM 2.5 ; and cellular lipid catabolic process by Chongqing winter PM 2.5 . Conclusively, in the typical urban areas of southern China, both summer and winter PM 2.5 illustrated significant gene regulation effects. This study contributes to evaluating the adverse health effects of PM 2.5 in southern China and providing public health suggestions for policymakers., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

China has been performing nationwide social lockdown by releasing the Level 1 response to major public health emergencies (RMPHE) to struggle against the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak since late January 2020. During the Level 1 RMPHE, social production and public transport were maintained at minimal levels, and residents stayed in and worked from home. The universal impact of anthropogenic activities on air pollution can be evaluated by comparing it with air quality under such extreme conditions. We investigated the concentration of both gaseous and particulate pollutants and aerosol light absorption at different levels of (RMPHE) in an urban area of southwestern China. During the lockdown, PM 2.5 , PM 10 , SO 2 , NO x , and BC decreased by 30-50%, compared to the pre-Level 1 RMPHE period. Meanwhile, the decrease of NO x caused the rise of O 3 by up to 2.3 times due to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) limitation. The aerosol light absorption coefficient at multiple wavelengths decreased by 50%, and AAE decreased by 20% during the Level 1 RMPHE. BrC played essential roles in light absorption after the RMPHE was announced, accounting for 54.0% of the aerosol absorption coefficient at 370 nm. Moreover, the lockdown down-weighted the fraction of fossil fuel in BC concentrations to 0.43 (minima). This study characterizes air pollution at the most basic level and can provide policymakers with references for the "baseline.", Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: China has a large population of older people, but has not yet undertaken a comprehensive study on the prevalence, risk factors, and management of both dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI)., Methods: For this national cross-sectional study, 46 011 adults aged 60 years or older were recruited between March 10, 2015, and Dec 26, 2018, using a multistage, stratified, cluster-sampling method, which considered geographical region, degree of urbanisation, economic development status, and sex and age distribution. 96 sites were randomly selected in 12 provinces and municipalities representative of all socioeconomic and geographical regions in China. Participants were interviewed to obtain data on sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, medical history, current medications, and family history, and then completed a neuropsychological testing battery administered by a psychological evaluator. The prevalence of dementia (Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, and other dementias) and MCI were calculated and the risk factors for different groups were examined using multivariable-adjusted analyses., Findings: Overall age-adjusted and sex-adjusted prevalence was estimated to be 6·0% (95% CI 5·8-6·3) for dementia, 3·9% (3·8-4·1) for Alzheimer's disease, 1·6% (1·5-1·7) for vascular dementia, and 0·5% (0·5-0·6) for other dementias. We estimated that 15·07 million (95% CI 14·53-15·62) people aged 60 years or older in China have dementia: 9·83 million (9·39-10·29) with Alzheimer's disease, 3·92 million (3·64-4·22) with vascular dementia, and 1·32 million (1·16-1·50) with other dementias. Overall MCI prevalence was estimated to be 15·5% (15·2-15·9), representing 38·77 million (37·95-39·62) people in China. Dementia and MCI shared similar risk factors including old age (dementia: odds ratios ranging from 2·69 [95% CI 2·43-2·98] to 6·60 [5·24-8·32]; MCI: from 1·89 [1·77-2·00] to 4·70 [3·77-5·87]); female sex (dementia: 1·43 [1·31-1·56]; MCI: 1·51 [1·43-1·59]); parental history of dementia (dementia: 7·20 [5·68-9·12]; MCI: 1·91 [1·48-2·46]); rural residence (dementia: 1·16 [1·06-1·27]; MCI: 1·45 [1·38-1·54]); fewer years of education (dementia: from 1·17 [1·06-1·29] to 1·55 [1·38-1·73]; MCI: from 1·48 [1·39-1·58] to 3·48 [3·25-3·73]); being widowed, divorced, or living alone (dementia: from 2·59 [2·30-2·90] to 2·66 [2·29-3·10]; MCI: from 1·58 [1·44-1·73] to 1·74 [1·56-1·95]); smoking (dementia: 1·85 [1·67-2·04]; MCI: 1·27 [1·19-1·36]), hypertension (dementia: 1·86 [1·70-2·03]; MCI: 1·62 [1·54-1·71] for MCI), hyperlipidaemia (dementia: 1·87 [1·71-2·05]; MCI: 1·29 [1·21-1·37]), diabetes (dementia: 2·14 [1·96-2·34]; MCI: 1·44 [1·35-1·53]), heart disease (dementia: 1·98 [1·73-2·26]; MCI: 1·17 [1·06-1·30]), and cerebrovascular disease (dementia: 5·44 [4·95-5·97]; MCI: 1·49 [1·36-1·62]). Nine of these risk factors are modifiable., Interpretation: Dementia and MCI are highly prevalent in China and share similar risk factors. A prevention strategy should be developed to target the identified risk factors in the MCI population to thwart or slow down disease progression. It is also crucial to optimise the management of dementia and MCI as an important part of China's public health system., Funding: Key Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Scientific Instrument and Equipment Development Project, Mission Program of Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals, Beijing Scholars Program, Beijing Brain Initiative from Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission, Project for Outstanding Doctor with Combined Ability of Western and Chinese Medicine, and Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The PSENs/APP mutation distribution in Chinese patients with familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) remains unclear. We aimed to analyze the genetic features of Chinese FAD pedigrees with and without PSENs/APP mutations., Methods: In total, 1330 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or mild cognitive impairment in 404 pedigrees were enrolled from the Chinese Familial Alzheimer's Disease Network. PSENs/APP mutations and APOE frequencies were determined., Results: In total, 13.12% of pedigrees carried PSENs/APP missense mutations, 3.71% carried PSENs/APP synonymous/untranslated region variants, and 83.17% did not carry PSENs/APP mutations. Eleven missense mutations were first identified. In patients without PSENs/APP mutations, 44.31% carried one APOEε4 allele, and 14.85% two APOEε4 alleles., Discussion: The new PSENs/APP mutations indicate heterogeneity in AD pathogenesis between Chinese and other ethnic groups. The low mutation rate suggests the involvement of other genes/factors in Chinese FAD. APOEε4 might be a major gene for some FAD without PSENs/APP mutations., (© 2020 the Alzheimer's Association.)

Objectives: Serum uric acid (SUA) is both a strong antioxidant and one of the key risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). We aimed to investigate the associations of urinary metal profile with SUA in traffic policemen in Wuhan, China., Design: A cross-sectional study was carried out in traffic policemen., Setting: A seriously polluted Chinese city., Participants: A total of 186 traffic policemen were recruited in this study. About 56 of them worked in the logistics department and the other 130 maintained traffic order or dealt with traffic accidents on the roads. All these subjects had worked as a policeman for at least 1 year., Main Outcome Measures: SUA., Results: The significantly negative association of lead with SUA was consistent between single-metal and multiple-metal models (p=0.004 and p=0.020, respectively). Vanadium, chromium and tin were reversely associated with SUA levels in the single-metal models after false discovery rate (FDR) adjustment (all P &#95;FDR < 0.05). One IQR increase in vanadium, chromium, tin and lead was associated with 26.9 µmol/L (95% CI -44.6 to -9.2; p=0.003), 27.4 µmol/L (95% CI -46.1 to -8.8; p=0.004), 11.2 µmol/L (95% CI -18.9 to -3.4; p=0.005) and 16.4 µmol/L (95% CI -27.6 to -5.2; p=0.004) decrease in SUA, respectively. Significant interaction between smoking and vanadium on decreased SUV was found (p for interaction = 0.007 and p &#95;FDR = 0.028)., Conclusions: Urinary vanadium, chromium, tin and lead were negatively associated with SUA. Vanadium and cigarette smoking jointly affected SUA levels. Further studies are needed to replicate these findings and to investigate the potential mechanisms., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Aims: Notch signaling molecules play crucial roles in cell proliferation and apoptosis, yet their function in breast cancer remains unclear., Methods: Samples and clinical data from 62 breast cancer patients were collected. After total RNA isolation, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was applied to analyze the expression of Notch receptors (Notch1, Notch3 and Notch4) and ligands (DLL4 and JAG1), and their clinical association. Immunohistochemical analysis was used to detect the intracellular domain of Notch1 (Notch1-IC) expression., Results: Notch1 was the dominant receptor while DLL4 was the dominant ligand. The Notch molecules expression pattern for infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) was similar to that for infiltrating lobular carcinoma (ILC) except for JAG1, while Notch1 standard coefficients in ILC were statistically higher than that in IDC. Immunohistochemical results showed that Notch1-IC protein expression paralleled the mRNA level. Breast cancer patients' clinical parameters suggested that Notch1 expression was higher in stage II disease and lower in more advanced stages. The Notch3 positive rate was higher in patients with lower levels of Notch1, and the Notch3 positive rate was lower in patients with higher levels of Notch1. No apparent correlation of Notch molecules with estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) was found. Though high Notch1 and Notch3 RNA levels tended to correlate with c-erbB2 expression, no statistical significance was found., Conclusion: Notch molecules are useful biomarkers in breast cancer especially for Notch1 and DLL4, and Notch1 is expressed differently in different stages of human breast cancer., (© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.)

The occurrence of a novel CRF01&#95;AE-associated recombinant in Jiangsu implies the importance of characterizing full-length CRF01&#95;AE genomic sequence from injecting drug users (IDUs). Here, we reported a near full-length CRF01&#95;AE sequence 07JSWX045 obtained from a Jiangsu IDU, using a modified method. The sequence analyses of 07JSWX045 revealed several interesting findings. First, 07JSWX045 was phylogenetically close to CRF01&#95;AE strains circulating among Jiangsu men who have sex with men (MSM), implying a recent common ancestor. Second, 07JSWX045 was not genetically associated with the CRF01&#95;AE part of the new CRF01&#95;AE/07&#95;BC recombinant found in Jiangsu. Third, both 07JSWX045 and the CRF01&#95;AE parent of CRF01/07 recombinant phylogenetically clustered with two different CRF01&#95;AE subgroups circulating in Fujian, respectively. It suggests that at least two genetically independent CRF01&#95;AE descendants are circulating in Jiangsu possibly via two independent introductions from Fujian. Fourth, two AZT resistance mutations in the RT gene were detected within patient JSWX045, who did not receive any antiviral therapy before sampling, providing valuable bioinformatics sites for investigating the epidemic origin and molecular properties of Jiangsu CRF01&#95;AE strains. Furthermore, patient JSWX045 had two high-risk behaviors including injection drug use and heterosexual contact. He might have been initially infected with CRF01&#95;AE via heterosexual contact, and then introduced this subtype to other people via injection drug use. Therefore, increasing concern is urgently needed for those persons who often have more than two high-risk behaviors.

Our recent study showed that almost equal proportions of B, CRFs&#95;BC, and CRF01&#95;AE were circulating among MSM in Jiangsu, suggesting that there is a very high likelihood of generating new intersubtypes/CRFs recombinants. Here, we report an epidemiologically linked cohort including 22 HIV-1-positive IDUs in Jiangsu. Fifteen blood samples were collected to investigate HIV-1 subtype characterization. The analyses of gag-RT regions showed that 14 of these samples belonged to CRF07&#95;BC. Importantly, we detected, for the first time, a novel second-generation HIV-1 recombinant (07JSNJ001) between CRF01&#95;AE and CRF07&#95;BC. The analyses of the near full-length genomic sequence of 07JSNJ001 (GenBank accession number FJ238521) showed that 07JSNJ001 is composed of at least 10 interlaced CRF07&#95;BC and CRF01&#95;AE segments, quite distinct from any previously identified CRF and URF around the world. The detection of the CRF01&#95;AE/CRF07&#95;BC recombinant may be a harbinger of more new intersubtypes/CRFs recombinants occurring in Jiangsu Province.