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This article offers unique insights into the relationship between education policy and teachers' work. It considers how globally pervasive responsibilising regimes make teachers' work more burdensome. Drawing on interviews with 15 school teachers, this article shows how China's 2021 Double Burden Reduction Policy has reconfigured educators' (class)work practices and pedagogical approaches. Specifically, it unpacks the policy mechanisms that: 1) condense school time and make teachers' work more methodical and 2) prolong teachers' working hours that are dedicated to offering students after-school educational support, thus reducing the demand for shadow education. This article argues that this policy shifts the education burden away from tutorial enterprises and parents and onto the teachers, which illustrates a case of the impact of policy regimes on teachers' work within the broader context of neoliberal globalisation. Moreover, this article produces a novel typological spectrum -- submission, substantiation, and scepticism -- to capture and understand the diverse ways in which teachers may respond to policy-led changes to their professional work globally. Overall, it generates new knowledge on the impact of homogenising education policies on teachers' work and the heterogeneity of teachers' responses to these policies, thus contributing conceptually to the wider field of policy sociology in education.

Experiential philanthropy is a form of service-learning where students are provided with money (generally from a foundation) to distribute to nonprofit organizations. The pedagogy is intended to teach students not only about philanthropy but also about how to evaluate philanthropic responses to social issues. In recent years, scholars have begun to explore how an experiential approach to the philanthropic process could result in a more philanthropically engaged and committed citizenry. This research has provided promising evidence of the efficacy of experiential philanthropy as a pedagogic strategy -- particularly within higher education. Despite its effectiveness, research on experiential philanthropy has focused primarily on the US. As such, we have no knowledge of the effectiveness of this pedagogic strategy in other regions of the world -- especially in emerging philanthropic regions such as China. Therefore, using three semesters of original pre- and post-course survey data (including quantitative and qualitative responses) obtained from students enrolled in an Introduction to Nonprofit Management course at a university in northeast China, this study addresses the following question: "To what extent does experiential philanthropy enhance Chinese students' understanding of, and commitment to, philanthropy?"

US-China relations were marked by a paradox during the first trimester of 2024. On the one hand, a distinct stabilization was evident in ties. The two sides made concerted efforts to translate their leaders' 'San Francisco Vision' into reality. Cabinet officials exchanged visits across the Pacific, working groups and dialogue mechanisms met in earnest and produced outcomes, functional cooperation was deepened, sensitive issues such as Taiwan were carefully managed, and effort was devoted to improving the relationship's political optics. On the other hand, the negative tendencies in ties continued to deepen. Both sides introduced additional selective decoupling as well as cybersecurity measures in key information and communications technology and services sectors, with US actions bearing the signs of desinicization--rather than mere decoupling--of relevant supply chains. The chasm in strategic perception remained as wide as before. In sum, the "new normal" in US-China relations continued to take form, one piece at a time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In rapidly globalizing systems of schooling around the world, economic considerations have led to a push to impose neoliberal reforms in the field of education. Under this influence early childhood education and teacher education in Asia have increasingly become positioned as regulated markets governed by neoliberal policies, leading to peak activities in privatization, consumerism, standardization and high-stakes testing. This article, based on a series of qualitative inquiries, presents a review of recent early childhood policies in India, China, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The impact of the policies on pedagogy is discussed within the frameworks of neoliberal globalization and postcolonial theory, emphasizing the growing need to recognize the third space of pedagogical hybridity in classrooms that are becoming increasingly multicultural and global.

This 3-year, longitudinal analysis examined the psychological and social correlates of adhering to gender-typed behaviors in friendships among boys during middle school in United States ("N" = 446, "M"[subscript age] = 11.37 years) and in China ("N" = 368, "M"[subscript age] = 12.20 years). Results indicated that boys did not differ by nationality in the mean levels or in the increase over time in adherence to gender-typed behaviors. Furthermore, adherence over time was associated with higher depressive symptoms, lower self-esteem, and lower friendship quality for boys in both countries. However, the associations between gender-typed behaviors and friendship quality and depressive symptoms were stronger for boys in the United States. Our study suggests that gender-typed behaviors play an important role in the well-being of youth in different parts of the world. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)

Recombinant drug products successfully treat many life-threatening and chronic diseases. The high cost of these drugs makes them inaccessible to the patients particularly in developing countries. Patent expiration of innovator recombinant drug products has led to the development of biosimilars or similar biologics by several manufacturers. Unlike generics, these are not identical to their innovator products because of the differences in the manufacturing process; however, they are similar in quality characteristics, biological activity, safety, and efficacy. The regulatory procedures used for generic drugs cannot be applied for biosimilars as they are large complex structures produced from living cells and can produce potential risk of immune-based adverse reactions. Out of several safety issues related to biosimilars, two main safety concerns are variable potency and immunogenicity, for which a robust long-term pharmacovigilance system is needed. Various guidelines have been issued for the regulatory approval and pharmacovigilance of biosimilars by USFDA, EU, and pharma-emerging countries like China and India. The article includes the pharmacovigilance plan of biosimilars in these countries, discusses the challenges and opportunities in pharmacovigilance through spontaneous reporting systems, and suggests amendments in the existing suspected adverse event reporting form of the Pharmacovigilance Programme of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the COVID-19 pandemic marches exponentially, epidemiological data is of high importance to analyse the current situation and guide intervention strategies. This study analyses the epidemiological data of COVID-19 from 17 countries, representing 85 per cent of the total cases within first 90 days of lockdown in Wuhan, China. It follows a population-level observational study design and includes countries with 20,000 cases (or higher) as of 21 April 2020. We sourced the data for these 17 countries from worldometers. info, a digital platform being used by several media and reputed academic institutions worldwide. We calculated the prevalence, incidence, case fatality rate and trends in the epidemiology of COVID-19, and its correlation with population density, urbanisation and elderly population. The analysis represents 85 per cent (N = 2,183,661) of all cases within the first 90 days of the pandemic. Across the analysed period, the burden of the pandemic primarily focused on high- and middle-income countries of Asia, Europe and North America. While the total number of cases and deaths are highest in USA, the prevalence, incidence and case fatality rates are higher in the European countries. The prevalence and incidence vary widely among countries included in the analysis, and the number of cases per million and the case fatality rate are correlated with the proportion of the elderly population and to a lesser extent with the proportion of the urban population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiential philanthropy is a form of service-learning where students are provided with money (generally from a foundation) to distribute to nonprofit organizations. The pedagogy is intended to teach students not only about philanthropy but also about how to evaluate philanthropic responses to social issues. In recent years, scholars have begun to explore how an experiential approach to the philanthropic process could result in a more philanthropically engaged and committed citizenry. This research has provided promising evidence of the efficacy of experiential philanthropy as a pedagogic strategy – particularly within higher education. Despite its effectiveness, research on experiential philanthropy has focused primarily on the US. As such, we have no knowledge of the effectiveness of this pedagogic strategy in other regions of the world – especially in emerging philanthropic regions such as China. Therefore, using three semesters of original pre- and post-course survey data (including quantitative and qualitative responses) obtained from students enrolled in an Introduction to Nonprofit Management course at a university in northeast China, this study addresses the following question: To what extent does experiential philanthropy enhance Chinese students' understanding of, and commitment to, philanthropy? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses strategies of minority education currently in place in Xinjiang in the context of the second generation ethnic policy debate in China. The article argues that the 2009 ethnic riots in Xinjiang coupled with the change of leadership in China has significantly hardened the state’s approach to aggressively promoting Putonghua (standard Chinese). This policy is facing significant structural and political challenges in its implementation and acceptance in Xinjiang. The policy to universalise Putonghua in all Xinjiang schools is likely to produce more resistance to the statist agenda rather than resulting in the intended outcome of integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, the Chinese manufacturing industry (CMI) accounted for 13.46% of the world's energy consumption and 12.24% of carbon dioxide emissions. Such high emissions and pollution pose a challenge for China towards becoming carbon neutral. Through the panel data of 30 provinces, 283 key cities, and 30 sub-sectors from 2006 to 2019, combined with econometrics and machine learning, the dynamic evolution trend and spatial heterogeneity of CMI were comprehensively analyzed. The notable results are fourfold. (1) Carbon efficiency of CMI in most provinces is between 0.4881 and 0.846, which can be divided into three clusters (high, medium, and low); the difference between clusters is the primary source of the overall difference in carbon efficiency, and carbon efficiency distribution converges tend to a higher level; (2) The promotion of TC is generally greater than that of EC; both TC and EC have certain spatial agglomeration characteristics among three city clubs; (3) High energy consumption sectors shows low carbon efficiency, high technology, and emerging sectors demonstrate high carbon efficiency; TC has a greater enhancement effect on medium and high energy consumption sub-sectors, while EC demonstrates a greater promotion on low energy consumption sub-sectors. This study has implications for policy development regarding promoting carbon efficiency, carbon neutralization, and the world's carbon emission reduction. • Comprehensive analysis of 30 provinces, 283 key cities, and 30 sub-sectors of CMI. • Carbon efficiency distribution converges tend to a higher level from 11 to 13 FYP. • TC has greater positive effect on medium and high energy consumption sub-sectors. • EC demonstrates a greater promotion on low energy consumption sub-sectors. • Different provinces, cities and sectors should adopt heterogeneous policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines China’s performance in science and technology (S&T) during 1997–2007, based on several parameters including the country’s annual average growth rate, global publication share and rank, strong and weak subject areas (in terms of national priority, international collaborative share and global share), institutional profiles of select top institutions, the overall international collaboration profile and major collaborative partners, patterns of communication in national and international journals and characteristics of its top highly cited papers. The study also compares similarities of China’s research profile with nineteen other top productive countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The relations between India and China have been strained since both the countries got independence. Both the countries consider each other as a threat to their power projection both at the regional and international level. China always had a hot pursuit towards India and both the countries have also fought war. Chinese incursions in Sam du-rung-chub valley in 1986-87 and at other parts of Indian borders have always posed a foreign policy challenge for India. China has been following a consistent policy of engaging Indian neighbors to break the Indian hegemony in the South Asian region. Recently China and Sri Lanka have come quite close and China is making all efforts to groom the relations to its logical conclusion. This paper therefore, an analysis of the implications of Sin-Sri Lanka convergence on the security matrix of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper compares the status of social science research in India, China and Brazil using various indicators. It particularly focuses on the analyses of annual average publication rate vis-a-vis global publication share; similarity in research profile of different countries; research priorities of countries as measured in terms of national publications output by sub-fields; relative share of international collaborative papers in the national output; distribution of research output by geographical regions within each country; and characteristics of high productivity institutions and highly cited papers computed on select measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The various detrimental effects of wastewater generated from different anthropogenic activities are among the biggest challenges to sustainable development. Among various technologies developed to tackle wastewater, biological treatment methods, such as moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) and membrane bioreactor (MBR), have been extensively used in the past few decades due to their cost-effectiveness, wide applications, technical feasibility, etc. However, certain limitations of MBR and MBBR have led to the hybridization of these two technologies. In this context, a thorough bibliometric assay of MBBR, MBR, and hybrid moving bed membrane bioreactor (MBMBR) has been performed to analyze the current trends in publication, contributing authors and countries, major research hotspots, etc. It was observed that for both MBBR and MBR, China had the maximum contribution, i.e., 30.4% and 30.5%, respectively, in terms of the number of publications. The future trend of the selected treatment methods was assessed with the help of S-curve simulation. In both cases, greater than 70% of research articles were published in the last decade, which may be due to the increasingly stringent regulations on effluent quality. Subsequently, this study investigated the performance and responsible mechanisms for these systems. MBMBR was found to be more effective than MBR in terms of pollutant removal, followed by MBBR. The nutrient removal efficiency of MBMBR systems was significantly higher (73.5%) as compared to MBBR (50%) and MBR (62.5%). Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been discussed for the selected treatment methods to evaluate sustainability aspects. [Display omitted] • > 70% of research articles on MBBR and MBR were published in the last decade. • S-curve has been carried out to predict the future of the selected technologies. • MBR was more efficient in removing TN and TP than MBBR. • Membrane fouling is the most researched topic in the field of MBR. • Average removal of BOD, COD, TN, and TP using MBMBR are 94%, 92%, 74%, and 73%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the application of growth model as suggested by Egghe and Rao(1992). The present study is aimed to study the growth and dynamics of growth and Indian and Chineese publications in three sub-disciplines of social sciences viz., Economics, Psychology and Sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel evaluation approach for managing improvement strategies of e-waste recycling. • A risk assessment process for incorporating risk characteristics and interactions. • Modeling the impact of interrelated risks on sustainability performance values. • A value-risk matrix analysis for managing improvement strategies under risks. • An empirical study on a leading e-waste recycling company. Recycling companies need to implement strategies to improve their current e-waste management practice for achieving sustainability. With the innovative nature of the improvement strategies and the uncertainty of operational settings, a variety of risks are inevitably associated with their implementation. These risks are interrelated and may affect the performance of these strategies. Different from existing multi-criteria decision making (MCDM)-based evaluation and risk assessment methods, this paper proposes a new risk-based performance evaluation approach for evaluating the e-waste management improvement strategies. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in the fact that it incorporates the impact of interrelated risks of various types on the sustainability performance of strategies by considering the probability of occurrence and the severity of consequence of risks. An empirical study on an e-waste recycling company in China is conducted to illustrate the effectiveness of the approach. The evaluation outcome provides the case company with useful new insights in managing the improvement strategies and their potential risks as a whole and individually. A value-risk matrix analysis is conducted to help the case company direct its management efforts and resources when implementing the improvement strategies under risks. The approach makes methodological and practical contributions to MCDM research and e-waste management practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of the Third International Conference on Quantitative Genetics (ICQG3) held in Hangzhou, China from August 19 to 24, 2007. The conference included a full-day workshop on population genetics, quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and association mapping. Lecturer Bruce Walsh from Arizona talked about the progress and future of quantitative genetics. Lecturer Qifa Zhang offered a presentation on heterosis in plant systems.

According to research in contrastive rhetoric, student writing in English is influenced by the rhetorical structure of the native language. This study examines essays written on a general topic by MBA students from three countries-China, India, and Singapore. An analysis of the essays showed that students from China, who learned English as a foreign language, structured their essays as an exposition, whereas students from India and Singapore, who had studied in English-medium schools, gave equal weight to a discussion of the counterarguments. Student comments revealed that prior instruction in English composition influenced the structure of their English texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In China, dabigatran and rivaroxaban are the only approved non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). The goal of this article was to assess the cost-effectiveness of dabigatran versus rivaroxaban for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in Chinese patients with AF from the perspective of the Chinese health care system., Methods: A Markov model was constructed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of dabigatran versus rivaroxaban. Clinical events were modeled for a lifetime horizon, based on clinical efficacy data from indirect treatment comparisons. The weighted average of the most recent prices of these 2 drugs was used as the drug acquisition cost. Other costs, including follow-up costs and event costs, were collected by using a survey from a panel of local experts. Utility inputs (health state utilities, clinical event disutilities, and event history utility) were obtained from published literature. Sensitivity analyses that included scenario analyses and a probabilistic sensitivity analysis were conducted to examine the robustness of the economic model., Findings: Over a lifetime, patients treated with dabigatran experienced fewer ischemic strokes (2.14 dabigatran vs 2.61 rivaroxaban) and fewer intracranial hemorrhage (0.48 vs 0.94) per 100 patient-years. In the base case analysis, dabigatran had an incremental cost of ¥28,128 but with higher life years (10.38 vs 10.14) and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) (7.95 vs 7.70). The resulting incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of ¥112,910 per QALY gained and net monetary benefit of ¥12,214 versus rivaroxaban showed that dabigatran was a cost-effective alternative to rivaroxaban. Extensive sensitivity analyses indicated that the results were robust over a wide range of inputs. The probabilistic sensitivity analysis indicated that dabigatran was cost-effective in 84.2% of the 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations compared with rivaroxaban., Implications: Dabigatran reduced the occurrence of clinical events and increased QALYs compared with rivaroxaban. The use of dabigatran for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism is a cost-effective option compared with rivaroxaban among patients with AF in China., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Over two-thirds of the world's cancer deaths occur in economically developing countries; however, the societal costs of cancer have rarely been assessed in these settings. Our aim was to estimate the value of productivity lost in 2012 due to cancer-related premature mortality in the major developing economies of Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa (BRICS)., Methods: We applied an incidence-based method using the human capital approach. We used annual adult cancer deaths from GLOBOCAN2012 to estimate the years of productive life lost between cancer death and pensionable age in each country, valued using national and international data for wages, and workforce statistics. Sensitivity analyses examined various methodological assumptions., Results: The total cost of lost productivity due to premature cancer mortality in the BRICS countries in 2012 was $46·3 billion, representing 0·33% of their combined gross domestic product. The largest total productivity loss was in China ($28 billion), while South Africa had the highest cost per cancer death ($101,000). Total productivity losses were greatest for lung cancer in Brazil, the Russian Federation and South Africa; liver cancer in China; and lip and oral cavity cancers in India., Conclusion: Locally-tailored strategies are required to reduce the economic burden of cancer in developing economies. Focussing on tobacco control, vaccination programs and cancer screening, combined with access to adequate treatment, could yield significant gains for both public health and economic performance of the BRICS countries., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To examine the prevalence, correlates, and impact of uncorrected presbyopia on vision-specific functioning (VF) in a multiethnic Asian population., Design: Population-based cross-sectional study., Methods: We included 7890 presbyopic subjects (3909 female; age range, 40-86 years) of Malay, Indian, and Chinese ethnicities from the Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Disease study. Presbyopia was classified as corrected and uncorrected based on self-reported near correction use. VF was assessed with the VF-11 questionnaire validated using Rasch analysis. Multivariable logistic and linear regression models were used to investigate the associations of sociodemographic and clinical parameters with uncorrected presbyopia, and its impact on VF, respectively. As myopia may mitigate the impact of noncorrection, we performed a subgroup analysis on myopic subjects only (n = 2742)., Results: In total, 2678 of 7890 subjects (33.9%) had uncorrected presbyopia. In multivariable models, younger age, male sex, Malay and Indian ethnicities, presenting distance visual impairment (any eye), and lower education and income levels were associated with higher odds of uncorrected presbyopia (all P < .05). Compared with corrected presbyopia, noncorrection was associated with worse overall VF and reduced ability to perform individual near and distance vision-specific tasks even after adjusting for distance VA and other confounders (all P < .05). Results were very similar for myopic individuals., Conclusion: One-third of presbyopic Singaporean adults did not have near correction. Given its detrimental impact on both near and distance VF, public health strategies to increase uptake of presbyopic correction in younger individuals, male individuals, and those of Malay and Indian ethnicities are needed., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Unsanitary blood/plasma collecting activities in central China during the 1990's caused a high prevalence of blood-borne HIV-1 infection. Although the genetic characterization of the proviral DNA of HIV-1 circulating in the infected former blood donors (FBDs) has been reported, there is little information about the biological characteristics of virus isolates in these FBDs. In this study, we have examined the biologic properties of HIV-1 isolates from AIDS patients and long-term non-progressors (LTNP) of FBDs. Our results indicate that the growth properties, co-receptor usage and syncitium inducing capabilities of the HIV-1 isolates are associated with the disease status of patients. The virus isolates from LTNPs replicated slower, used the CCR5 co-receptor and were of non-syncytium inducing phenotype. In contrast, HIV-1 isolates from AIDS patients showed high replication kinetics, used both CCR5 and CXCR4 co-receptors and induced syncytium formation. A higher level of cytopathicity was also detected in syncytium inducing virus compared to non-syncytium inducing isolates irrespective of patients' disease statuses. Although there was no significant differences in the binding and penetration of the target cells between the isolates from LTNPs and those from AIDS patients, viral DNA synthesis of viral isolates from LTNPs was much slower than the DNA synthesized by the isolates from AIDS patients, indicating a restriction at a post-entry step. Analysis of deduced amino acid sequences in C2-V5 regions of these isolates has provided a molecular basis for further identification of viral phenotypes of HIV-1 subtype B'. This study has provided valuable information on the biological properties of circulating HIV-1 strains among Chinese FBDs to better understand their viral characteristics and design more appropriate vaccine candidates for FBDs.

The HIV-1 vpr regions were PCR amplified and sequenced from eight long-term nonprogressors' (LTNP) and seven AIDS patients' DNA samples of a cohort of HIV-1-infected Chinese plasma/blood donors (PBDs). Sequence analysis revealed that the patients' HIV-1 vpr sequences belong to HIV-1 subtype B and there were no differences in the divergence of vpr sequences between these two groups of patients. Similarly, in the deduced amino acid sequences, no significant differences have been detected in vpr functional domains from patients at different stages of the disease. Moreover, the predicted binding motifs of HLA A2 and A11 were highly conserved among patients' vpr amino acid sequences. These results show that vpr may not play an important role in HIV-1 pathogenesis in different stages of Chinese patients and may have important implications in developing vpr-related treatments suitable for HIV-1-infected PBDs.

HIV-1 nef regions were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and sequenced from DNA samples of five asymptomatic subjects and five AIDS patients from a cohort of HIV-1-infected Chinese plasma and blood donors. Sequence analysis revealed that regardless of the stage of disease, each patient's HIV-1 nef sequences belonged to the clade B' subtype. Although there are some differences between the sequences from different patients, no significant differences have been detected in nef nucleotide sequences or functional motifs in the deduced amino acid sequences from patients at different stages of the disease. Furthermore, the predicted binding motifs of HLA-A2 and HLA-A11 were highly conserved among patient nef sequences. These results will contribute to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of circulating HIV-1 in infected Chinese former blood donors and may have important implications in developing an epitope-based vaccine suitable for Chinese blood donors.

The C2-V5 regions of the HIV envelope gene were cloned and sequenced from DNA samples of four asymptomatic and five AIDS patients from a cohort of HIV-1-infected Chinese plasma and blood donors. Sequence analysis revealed that regardless of the stage of disease, all the patient's HIV-1 belonged to either clade B' or circulating recombinant form 15 (CRF15) subtype. However, since these blood donors were infected at a time when circulating CRF15 was not known in that region, it is likely these HIV-1 types belong to clade B'. However, the C2-V5 sequences from AIDS patients clustered differently in the phylogenetic tree than those present in asymptomatic patients and showed a significantly higher divergence and lower diversity compared to those from asymptomatic patients. In addition, more syncytia-inducing viral genotypes were present in AIDS patients than in asymptomatic patients. These results contribute to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of circulating HIV-1 in infected Chinese plasma and blood donors, warrant additional investigation of the possible presence of CRF15 in Chinese blood donors, and may have important implications in the future design of therapeutic strategies for treating these infected patients.

The United States lung cancer epidemic has not yet been controlled by present prevention and treatment strategies. Overexpression of a Mr 31,000 protein, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) A2/B1, had shown promise as a marker of lung cancer. In a pilot study of archived preneoplastic sputum specimens, hnRNP A2/B1 overexpression more accurately detected preclinical lung cancer than standard cytomorphology. In separate, ongoing prospective studies, sputum is collected annually from stage I resected non-small cell lung cancer patients at high risk of developing a second primary lung cancer and Yunnan tin miners at high risk of primary lung cancer. After the first year of follow-up, preclinical detection of lung cancer by routine cytology was compared with hnRNP A2/B1 overexpression as measured by quantitative densitometry of immunostained slides. Up-regulation of hnRNP A2/B1 in sputum specimens accurately predicted the outcome in 32 of 40 primary lung cancer and control patients within 12 months, whereas cytological change suggestive of lung cancer was found in only 1 patient. In the primary lung cancer study, overexpressed hnRNP A2/B1 accurately predicted the outcome in 69 of 94 primary lung cancer and control miners, whereas only 10 with primary lung cancer were diagnosed cytologically. These two prospective studies accurately predicted that 67 and 69% of those with hnRNP A2/B1 up-regulation in their sputum would develop lung cancer in the first year of follow-up, compared with background lung cancer risks of 2.2 and 0.9% (35- and 76-fold increase, respectively). Using sputum cells to monitor hnRNP A2/B1 expression may greatly improve the accuracy of preclinical lung cancer detection.

The prevalence of oral mucosal lesions in Malaysia was determined by examining a representative sample of 11,707 subjects aged 25 years and above throughout the 14 states over a period of 5 months during 1993/1994. A two-stage stratified random sampling was undertaken. A predetermined number of enumeration blocks, the smallest population unit in the census publication, was selected from each state. With the selected enumeration block, a systematic sample of living quarters was chosen with a random start. The survey instrument included a questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics and a clinical examination. The clinical examination was carried out by 16 specially trained dental public health officers and the diagnosis calibrated with a final concordance rate of 92%. The age in the sample ranged from 25 to 115 years with a mean of 44.5+/-14.0. The sample comprised 40.2% males and 59.8% females; 55.8% were Malays, 29.4% Chinese, 10.0% Indians and 1.2% other ethnic groups. Oral mucosal lesions were detected in 1131 (9.7%) subjects, 5 (0.04%) had oral cancer, 165 (1.4%) had lesions or conditions that may be precancerous (leukoplakia, erythroplakia, submucous fibrosis and lichen planus) and 187 (1.6%) had betel chewer's mucosa. The prevalence of oral precancer was highest amongst Indians (4.0%) and other Bumiputras (the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak) (2.5%) while the lowest prevalence was amongst the Chinese (0.5%).