[Analysis of dust and noise exposure levels in the mining industry from the national surveillance program in 2019]

Objective: To understand the exposure level of dust and noise in the mining industry and provide data support for revising policy for the prevention and control of occupational diseases. Methods: In May 2022, Data was collected through the National Surveillance Program for Occupational Hazards in the Workplace. Descriptive analysis was conducted for dust and noise levels by industry type and enterprise size from 7, 679 enterprises in the mining industry among 29 provincial regions nationwide. Results: The enterprises in the mining industry included in the National Surveillance Program for Occupational Hazards in the Workplace are mainly small and micro, accounting for 47.97% (3684/7679) and 30.00% (230/7679) respectively. The industry is mainly compred of employers in the non-metallic ming and beneficiation industry, accounting for 50.25% (3859/7679). Among the enterprises with silica dust, coal dust, and noise hazards, the proportion of enterprises where total dust concentration and noise intensity exceed the standard is higher than 50%. 30% of the posts are with an exposure level of silica dust, coal dust, and noise that exceeds the standard. The exceedance rate and the median of the time-weighted average concentration of total coal dust among large and medium-sized enterprises are higher than those among small and micro-sized enterprises (P<0.05) . Conclusion: The dust and noise hazards in the mining industry are lower than in the past in China, but more than 25% of workers are still at a high risk of occupational pneumoconiosis and noise deafness. Therefore, intervention and surveillance strategies should be strengthened in the future.

[Analysis of the status of occupational disease prevention and control of enterprises in mining and manufacturing industries in China in 2019]

Objective: To analyze the status of prevention and treatment of occupational diseases among mining and manufacturing industries in China in 2019, provide the scientific basis for the formulation and revision of policies and standards of prevention and treatment of occupational diseases. Methods: In May 2022, Collecting data of a project named Surveillance of Occupational Hazards in the Workplace in 2019 through the National Surveillance System for Occupational Hazards in the workplace. Compare the status of prevention and treatment of occupational diseases in 63 563 enterprises of mining and manufacturing industries among different dimensions. Results: The training rate of managers was 76.17% and that of occupational health managers was 76.97%. The rate of reporting of occupational diseases hazardous items was 67.58%, the rate of launching of the detection of occupational hazards was 57.16%, and the rate of launching of occupational health examination was 62.42%. Excluding the distribution rate of dust mask, the installation rate of various occupational prevention facilities and the distribution rate of gas mask and hearing protector were less than 80%. The differences in all the indicators among different areas, enterprise scales, economic types were statistically significant (P<0.05) . Conclusion: There are still some enterprises which are relatively weak in the ability of the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases in China. Measures such as special support, guidance and strengthen supervision should be taken towards those enterprises toimprove the awareness of prevention and treatment of occupational diseases and the level of that.

Glomerular deposition of fibrinogen predicts good prognosis of IgA nephropathy: a single-center cohort study

PURPOSE

It has been proven that fibrinogen deposition exists in IgA nephropathy (IgAN), but its clinical significance has not been identified. We aim to investigate the clinical implication of fibrinogen deposition in evaluating the activity and prognosis of IgA nephropathy.

METHODS

In this cohort, 935 adult IgAN patients were divided into 3 groups according to the intensity of glomerular fibrinogen deposition. Primary outcome refers to a composite event of either a ≥ 50% reduction in eGFR or ESRD (eGFR < 15 ml/min/1.73m2, dialysis, or renal transplantation). Factors associated with fibrinogen deposition and prognosis were identified.

RESULTS

The results showed that the intensity of fibrinogen deposition was positively correlated with eGFR (P < 0.001), serum albumin (P = 0.041), and hemoglobin levels (P < 0.05), but negatively correlated with age (P = 0.04), serum fibrinogen levels (P < 0.001), serum C4 (P = 0.023), the proportion of patients with hypertension (P = 0.003), and the percentage of glomeruli sclerosis (P < 0.001). The prognostic analyses identified that fibrinogen deposition was an independent predictor for the progression of IgAN (P = 0.033).

CONCLUSION

Our study indicated that the deposition of renal fibrinogen can predict the prognosis of IgAN with high reliability.

[Effect of Tongdu Shujin Decoction () plus Lijin () manipulation on degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis]

OBJECTIVE

To explore the clinical efficacy of Tongdu Shujin Decoction (, TSD) combined with manipulation for the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis.

METHODS

The clinical data of 50 patients with lumbar spinal stenosis diagnosed from October 2015 to October 2017 were retrospectively studied. Fifty patients were divided into a treatment group and a control group, 25 cases in each group. In the treatment group, 25 patients were treated by TSD plus combined manipulation, including 10 males and 15 females, with an average age of (53.43±5.26) years old, the course of disease was (6.9± 2.3) years. In the control group, 25 patients were treated by the adenosine cobalamin tablets and loxoprofen sodium tablets, including 12 males and 13 females, with an average age of (56.37±4.61) years old, the course of disease was (7.1±3.4) years. The two groups were treated for 4 weeks. After treatment, the clinical efficacy of the two groups were evaluated by the low back pain evaluation criteria (JOA) and visual analogue scale (VAS) .

RESULTS

Fifty patients were followed up for 2.2 to 3.2 (2.62± 0.47) months. After treatment, JOA and VAS scores of the two groups were significantly improved compared with those before treatment, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01) , and the improvement degree of the treatment group was better than that of the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01) .

CONCLUSION

TSD combined with manipulation for the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis has a good effect.

Serum complement C4 is an important prognostic factor for IgA nephropathy: a retrospective study

Background

IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common glomerulonephritis worldwide and is an important cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Exploring novel biomarkers is necessary for predicting the disease activity and progression of IgAN patients. The present study sought to investigate the value of serum C4 for predicting the prognosis of IgAN patients.

Methods

The primary endpoint of this retrospective study was a composite event of either a ≥ 50% reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) or end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or death. The associations between serum C4 and clinicopathological parameters and prognosis of this cohort of IgAN patients were evaluated.

Results

The present study included 1356 IgAN patients. Serum C4 levels correlated significantly with clinical prognostic factors. Serum C4 levels correlated positively with urinary protein excretion (r = 0.307, P < 0.001), and negatively correlated with estimated glomerular filtration rate (r = − 0.281, P < 0.001). Furthermore, serum C4 levels increased with aggravation of tubulointerstitial injury, crescents and ratios of global sclerosis (all P < 0.05). Prognostic analyses with the Cox proportional hazards regression model and Kaplan-Meier survival curves further identified serum C4 as an independent risk factor for the prognosis of IgAN.

Conclusions

The present study identified serum C4 as a useful predictor for the prognosis of IgAN patients. The mechanism of the trend of serum C4 in IgAN needs to be illustrated in further research.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12882-019-1420-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Efficacy and safety of mycophenolate mofetil for IgA nephropathy: An updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

The efficacy and safety of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) for immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) remains debatable. Therefore, the present meta-analysis was conducted with randomized controlled trials (RCTs). PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were analyzed to identify eligible trials. The pooled risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was estimated for all the dichotomous outcome measures. A total of eight RCTs with nine publications (n=510 patients) were included. No significant difference was noted between therapeutic regimens with and without MMF for renal remission and end stage renal disease (ESRD) of patients with IgAN (seven trials; RR, 1.250; 95% CI, 0.993–1.574; P=0.057; and four trials; RR, 0.728; 95% CI, 0.164–3.236; P=0.676). To further define the effects of MMF for renal remission, subgroup analysis was performed, demonstrating that MMF was significantly more effective compared with the placebo (three trials; RR, 2.152; 95% CI, 1.198–3.867; P=0.010), although the immunosuppressive regimens with MMF had no significantly different effects compared with those without MMF (four trials; RR, 1.140; 95% CI, 0.955–1.361; P=0.146), indicating that MMF was superior to placebo and had a similar efficacy to other immunosuppressants for renal remission. In addition, subgroup analysis for ESRD revealed no significant differences between MMF and placebo and between the immunosuppressive regimens with and without MMF (three trials; RR, 0.957; 95% CI, 0.160–5.726; P=0.962; and one trial; RR, 0.205; 95% CI, 0.010–4.200; P=0.303). Furthermore, there were no significant differences between the therapeutic regimens with and without MMF in terms of the risk of adverse events. The present meta-analysis demonstrated that MMF was more effective compared with the placebo, may have similar efficacy to other immunosuppressants in terms of inducing renal remission of IgAN and may not increase the risk of adverse events. The long-term effects of MMF on the prognosis of patients with IgAN require verification in further studies.

RPA1 expression in esophageal carcinoma and its influence on radiosensitivity of esophageal carcinoma TE-1 cells

AIM

To determinate the RPA1 expression in esophageal carcinoma and the paired tumor-adjacent tissue, and to explore the influence of RPA1 on radiosensitivity of esophageal carcinoma TE-1 cells.

METHODS

Firstly, the RPA1 expression of 40 cases esophageal carcinoma and their adjacent tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry. Secondly, The esophageal carcinoma cell subline-radiation resistance model (TE-1R) was constructed by radiation-induction, the RPA1 expression and proliferation activity of TE-1 and TE-1R cells were detected by Western blot and MTT assay respectively. After radiation, the expression of RPA1 and cell apoptosis were detected by Western blot and FACS respectively. Cell clone formation and survival rate were detected by clonogenic assay. Thirdly, Inhibiting RPA1 expression by siRNA in TE-1 cells, the expression of RPA1 was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot, Cell proliferation inhibition ratio and cell apoptosis after radiation were detected by MTT assay and FACS respectively.

RESULTS

The RPA1 expression in esophageal carcinoma was significantly higher than that in the tumor-adjacent tissues, which was associated with tumor invasion and lymph node metastasis. The RPA1 expression in TE-1R cells was higher than that in TE-1 cells, while the proliferation activity of TE-1R cells was lower than that of TE-1 cells, and the apoptosis rate of TE-1R cells after radiation was less than that of TE-1 cells. In addtion, the clone formation and survival rate of TE-1R cells were higher than that of TE-1 cells. Moreover, inhibiting RPA1 expression by siRNA-RPA1 could promoted proliferation inhibition ratio and apoptosis rate of TE-1 cells after radiation.

CONCLUSION

The over-expression of RPA1 in esophageal carcinoma was related with progression and metastasis. Moreover, radiation induced the excessive expression RPA1 in TE-1 cells, and the radiosensitivity of TE-1R cells was less than that of TE-1 cells. Furthermore, inhibiting RPA1 expression could increase radiosensitivity of TE-1 cells. Overall, RPA1 could influence radiosensitivity and might be one important mechanism of radiation resistance in TE-1 cells.

Cullin1 is a novel marker of poor prognosis and a potential therapeutic target in human breast cancer

BACKGROUND

To investigate the role of Cullin1 (Cul1) in the development of breast cancer, we examined the expression of Cul1 in breast cancer tissues and analyzed the correlation between Cul1 expression and clinicopathologic variables and patients survival.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We evaluated the Cul1 expression by immunohistochemistry using a tissue microarray (TMA) which includes 393 breast cancer tissues. We also studied the role of Cul1 in breast cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion by carrying out CCK8 cell proliferation assay, cell migration and invasion assay.

RESULTS

The Cul1 expression was significantly correlated with breast cancer histology grade (P = 0.000), estrogen receptor status (P = 0.001), progesterone receptor status (P = 0.001) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status (P = 0.002). Furthermore, we showed a strong correlation between high Cul1 expression and worse 5-year overall and disease-specific survival rates in breast cancer patients (P = 0.026 and P = 0.015, respectively). Finally, we found that Cul1 knockdown inhibits cell proliferation, migration and invasion abilities.

CONCLUSIONS

Cul1 overexpression is significantly correlated with breast cancer progression and predicts worse survival. Cul1 regulates breast cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion.