Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 135 in total

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  1. Lou H, Lu Y, Lu D, Fu R, Wang X, Feng Q, et al.
    Am J Hum Genet, 2015 Jul 02;97(1):54-66.
    PMID: 26073780 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2015.05.005
    Tibetan high-altitude adaptation (HAA) has been studied extensively, and many candidate genes have been reported. Subsequent efforts targeting HAA functional variants, however, have not been that successful (e.g., no functional variant has been suggested for the top candidate HAA gene, EPAS1). With WinXPCNVer, a method developed in this study, we detected in microarray data a Tibetan-enriched deletion (TED) carried by 90% of Tibetans; 50% were homozygous for the deletion, whereas only 3% carried the TED and 0% carried the homozygous deletion in 2,792 worldwide samples (p < 10(-15)). We employed long PCR and Sanger sequencing technologies to determine the exact copy number and breakpoints of the TED in 70 additional Tibetan and 182 diverse samples. The TED had identical boundaries (chr2: 46,694,276-46,697,683; hg19) and was 80 kb downstream of EPAS1. Notably, the TED was in strong linkage disequilibrium (LD; r(2) = 0.8) with EPAS1 variants associated with reduced blood concentrations of hemoglobin. It was also in complete LD with the 5-SNP motif, which was suspected to be introgressed from Denisovans, but the deletion itself was absent from the Denisovan sequence. Correspondingly, we detected that footprints of positive selection for the TED occurred 12,803 (95% confidence interval = 12,075-14,725) years ago. We further whole-genome deep sequenced (>60×) seven Tibetans and verified the TED but failed to identify any other copy-number variations with comparable patterns, giving this TED top priority for further study. We speculate that the specific patterns of the TED resulted from its own functionality in HAA of Tibetans or LD with a functional variant of EPAS1.
  2. Wu M, Lu Y, Yang W, Wong SY
    Front Comput Neurosci, 2020;14:564015.
    PMID: 33469423 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2020.564015
    Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death today. The current identification method of the diseases is analyzing the Electrocardiogram (ECG), which is a medical monitoring technology recording cardiac activity. Unfortunately, looking for experts to analyze a large amount of ECG data consumes too many medical resources. Therefore, the method of identifying ECG characteristics based on machine learning has gradually become prevalent. However, there are some drawbacks to these typical methods, requiring manual feature recognition, complex models, and long training time. This paper proposes a robust and efficient 12-layer deep one-dimensional convolutional neural network on classifying the five micro-classes of heartbeat types in the MIT- BIH Arrhythmia database. The five types of heartbeat features are classified, and wavelet self-adaptive threshold denoising method is used in the experiments. Compared with BP neural network, random forest, and other CNN networks, the results show that the model proposed in this paper has better performance in accuracy, sensitivity, robustness, and anti-noise capability. Its accurate classification effectively saves medical resources, which has a positive effect on clinical practice.
  3. Lu Y, Beeghly-Fadiel A, Wu L, Guo X, Li B, Schildkraut JM, et al.
    Cancer Res, 2018 Sep 15;78(18):5419-5430.
    PMID: 30054336 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-0951
    Large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified approximately 35 loci associated with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) risk. The majority of GWAS-identified disease susceptibility variants are located in noncoding regions, and causal genes underlying these associations remain largely unknown. Here, we performed a transcriptome-wide association study to search for novel genetic loci and plausible causal genes at known GWAS loci. We used RNA sequencing data (68 normal ovarian tissue samples from 68 individuals and 6,124 cross-tissue samples from 369 individuals) and high-density genotyping data from European descendants of the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx V6) project to build ovarian and cross-tissue models of genetically regulated expression using elastic net methods. We evaluated 17,121 genes for their cis-predicted gene expression in relation to EOC risk using summary statistics data from GWAS of 97,898 women, including 29,396 EOC cases. With a Bonferroni-corrected significance level of P < 2.2 × 10-6, we identified 35 genes, including FZD4 at 11q14.2 (Z = 5.08, P = 3.83 × 10-7, the cross-tissue model; 1 Mb away from any GWAS-identified EOC risk variant), a potential novel locus for EOC risk. All other 34 significantly associated genes were located within 1 Mb of known GWAS-identified loci, including 23 genes at 6 loci not previously linked to EOC risk. Upon conditioning on nearby known EOC GWAS-identified variants, the associations for 31 genes disappeared and three genes remained (P < 1.47 × 10-3). These data identify one novel locus (FZD4) and 34 genes at 13 known EOC risk loci associated with EOC risk, providing new insights into EOC carcinogenesis.Significance: Transcriptomic analysis of a large cohort confirms earlier GWAS loci and reveals FZD4 as a novel locus associated with EOC risk. Cancer Res; 78(18); 5419-30. ©2018 AACR.
  4. Khachatryan V, Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Asilar E, Bergauer T, et al.
    Eur Phys J C Part Fields, 2017;77(5):294.
    PMID: 28579921 DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4787-8
    A search for new phenomena is performed in final states containing one or more jets and an imbalance in transverse momentum in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13[Formula: see text]. The analysed data sample, recorded with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.3[Formula: see text]. Several kinematic variables are employed to suppress the dominant background, multijet production, as well as to discriminate between other standard model and new physics processes. The search provides sensitivity to a broad range of new-physics models that yield a stable weakly interacting massive particle. The number of observed candidate events is found to agree with the expected contributions from standard model processes, and the result is interpreted in the mass parameter space of fourteen simplified supersymmetric models that assume the pair production of gluinos or squarks and a range of decay modes. For models that assume gluino pair production, masses up to 1575 and 975[Formula: see text] are excluded for gluinos and neutralinos, respectively. For models involving the pair production of top squarks and compressed mass spectra, top squark masses up to 400[Formula: see text] are excluded.
  5. Akel KB, Noppert GA, Rajamoorthy Y, Lu Y, Singh A, Harapan H, et al.
    PLOS Glob Public Health, 2022;2(7):e0000734.
    PMID: 36962371 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000734
    The COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to assess the relationship between personal experiences and vaccine decision-making. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between experiences with COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccination status. We administered 28 repeated cross-sectional, online surveys between June 2020 and June 2021 in the US and Asia. The main exposure was media showing COVID-19 cases, and we distinguished those with no such experience, those seeing a not severe case of disease, and those seeing a severe case of disease. Logistic regression models estimated the association between experience and acceptance of a hypothetical COVID-19 vaccine (pre-rollout) or actual vaccination (post-rollout). We explored perceived susceptibility as a potential mediator. Intent to vaccinate was lowest in the US and Taiwan, and highest in India, Indonesia, and China. Across all countries, seeing a severe case of COVID-19 in the media was associated with 1.72 times higher odds of vaccination intent in 2020 (95% CI: 1.46, 2.02) and 2.13 times higher odds of vaccination in 2021 (95% CI: 1.70, 2.67), compared to those not seeing a case or a less severe case. Perceived susceptibility was estimated to mediate 25% of the relationship with hypothetical vaccination (95% CI: 18%, 31%, P<0.0001), and 16% of the relationship with actual vaccination 16% (95% CI: 12%, 19%, P<0.0001). Seriousness of experiences could relate to intention to vaccinate against COVID-19. Media exposures are a modifiable experience, and this study highlights how this experience can relate to risk perceptions and eventual vaccination, across a variety of countries where the course of the pandemic differed.
  6. Kanesalingam R, Lu YS, Ong JJ, Wong SS, Vijayasingham P, Thayaparan T, et al.
    Med J Malaysia, 2003 Oct;58(4):587-93.
    PMID: 15190635
    We studied the admission criteria and first 24-hour management of 62 asthmatic patients admitted from Accident and Emergency (A&E) department of a state hospital. Data was collected prospectively over a 6-month period from the doctors' medical records with reference to recommendations of the Malaysian Thoracic Society (MTS) on management of acute asthma. Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) records were present in only 14.5% of the A&E notes and 54.8% of the ward notes. Most of these readings were below 75% of predicted normal values. Over half of the patients had records on ability to speak full sentences, and respiratory and pulse rates. Based on other records on criteria for life-threatening features (including arterial blood gases), 42% of patients studied had life threatening asthma exacerbations. Most received appropriate treatment as recommended by the MTS. We conclude that while most patients were admitted and treated appropriately, medical documentation regarding acute asthma assessment were inadequate in some.
    Study site: Hospital Tuanku Jaafar, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
  7. Chu C, Lu Y, Yao Z, Li S
    Biodivers Data J, 2022;10:e87597.
    PMID: 36761608 DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.10.e87597
    BACKGROUND: Amauropelma Raven, Stumkat & Gray, 2001 currently contains 24 species. It is distributed in Australia, India, Indonesia, Laos and Malaysia. This genus has not been found in China. Ctenus Walckenaer, 1805 comprises 213 known species. This genus is distributed worldwide. Currently, only two species, Ctenuslishuqiang Jäger, 2012 and Ctenusyaeyamensis Yoshida, 1998 are known to occur in China.

    NEW INFORMATION: Three new species of ctenid spiders are described from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in Yunnan Province, China: Amauropelmayunnan sp. nov., Ctenusbanna sp. nov. and Ctenusyulin sp. nov. Amauropelma and Ctenusrobustus Thorell, 1897 are reported from China for the first time.

  8. Wu J, Cai G, Fan Y, Arima K, Lin Y, Wong L, et al.
    Vaccines (Basel), 2023 Jan 11;11(1).
    PMID: 36680002 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines11010157
    Background: This study aimed to survey the attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines and their acceptability among the Japanese public as soon as the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized vaccines and their rollouts started around the world. Methods: An anonymous cross-sectional survey was conducted in Japan between 4 January and 5 March 2021. A questionnaire was administered to evaluate attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines according to demographic characteristics, vaccine characteristics, and vaccine production. Results: A total of 1037 completed responses were received. More than half (63.5%) of the participants responded positively (extremely likely/likely) toward COVID-19 vaccines. The highest acceptance to be vaccinated was discovered among the youngest age group. As expected, participants who had never delayed acceptance or refused the vaccine in their history of vaccination had a significantly higher willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19 (p < 0.001). Females (OR = 2.66, 95% CI: 1.99−3.58) and participants who had ever delayed acceptance or refuse the vaccine (OR = 3.49, 95% CI: 2.42−5.05) had higher odds of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Participants with a postgraduate degree (OR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.40−1.00) presented the highest willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19. More than two-thirds (72.9%, 95% CI: 70.4%−75.8%) of the participants did not mind a booster dose required following primary vaccination. A total of 63.2% (95% CI: 60.0%−66.0%) of the participants only accepted a nearly 90% effective or above vaccine at preventing COVID-19. At the same, 86.4% (95% CI: 84.4%−88.4%) of the participants reported only accepting a vaccine with minor side effects. Conclusions: The moderate levels of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance found in the early phase of the pandemic demonstrate that it is important to improve the implementation of effective management for vaccine promotion and the acceptability of the vaccine to slow or delay transmission.
  9. Král D, Lu Y, Bai M
    Zootaxa, 2021 Jan 27;4920(1):zootaxa.4920.1.8.
    PMID: 33756680 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4920.1.8
    The genus Airapus Stebnicka Howden, 1996 currently comprises 26 extant species distributed in the Australian and Oriental zoogeographical regions (Stebnicka Howden 1996; Stebnicka 1998, 2009; Rakovič et al. 2019; Král et al. 2019; Minkina 2020) and one fossil species from the Eocene Baltic amber (Tamutis et al. 2017). Of the continental Southeast Asia, only three species have been known so far: Airapus cechovskyi Král, Mencl Rakovič, 2019 (mainland Malaysia: Kelantan), A. tyri Král, Mencl Rakovič, 2019 (Central Thailand: Phetchaburi Province) and A. sicardi ( Paulian, 1945) (Laos: "Cochinchine: Long Xuyen" and South Vietnam: "Annam: Tanh Hoa") (Paulian 1945; Balthasar 1964; Král et al. 2019). Examination of the material housed in the collections of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, revealed Airapus material belonging to an undescribed species. Its formal description is presented in this paper. This new species is another, fourth species occurring in mainland Southeast Asia. It is also the first country record from China. The geographical distribution of the genus is now known to the north as far as Fujian Province.
  10. Yao S, Wu Q, Kang Q, Chen YW, Lu Y
    Risk Anal, 2024 Feb;44(2):459-476.
    PMID: 37330273 DOI: 10.1111/risa.14175
    The Northern Sea Route (NSR) makes travel between Europe and Asia shorter and quicker than a southern transit via the Strait of Malacca and Suez Canal. It provides greater access to Arctic resources such as oil and gas. As global warming accelerates, melting Arctic ice caps are likely to increase traffic in the NSR and enhance its commercial viability. Due to the harsh Arctic environment imposing threats to the safety of ship navigation, it is necessary to assess Arctic navigation risk to maintain shipping safety. Currently, most studies are focused on the conventional assessment of the risk, which lacks the validation based on actual data. In this study, actual data about Arctic navigation environment and related expert judgments were used to generate a structured data set. Based on the structured data set, extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) and alternative methods were used to establish models for the assessment of Arctic navigation risk, which were validated using cross-validation. The results show that compared with alternative models, XGBoost models have the best performance in terms of mean absolute errors and root mean squared errors. The XGBoost models can learn and reproduce expert judgments and knowledge for the assessment of Arctic navigation risk. Feature importance (FI) and shapley additive explanations (SHAP) are used to further interpret the relationship between input data and predictions. The application of XGBoost, FI, and SHAP is aimed to improve the safety of Arctic shipping using advanced artificial intelligence techniques. The validated assessment enhances the quality and robustness of assessment.
  11. Gao X, Santhanam RK, Xue Z, Jia Y, Wang Y, Lu Y, et al.
    J Food Sci, 2020 Apr;85(4):1060-1069.
    PMID: 32147838 DOI: 10.1111/1750-3841.15084
    Inonotus obliquus is a traditional mushroom well known for its therapeutic value. In this study, various solvent fractions of I. obliquus were preliminarily screened for their antioxidant, α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition properties. To improve the drug delivery, the active fraction (ethyl acetate fraction) of I. obliquus was synthesized into fungisome (ethyl acetate phophotidyl choline complex, EAPC) and its physical parameters were assessed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), and ς potential analysis. Then normal human hepatic L02 cells was used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of EAPC. The results showed that EA fraction possesses significant free radical scavenging, α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition properties. FTIR, SEM, and HPLC analysis confirmed the fungisome formation. The particle size of EAPC was 102.80 ± 0.42 nm and the ς potential was -54.30 ± 0.61 mV. The percentage of drug entrapment efficiency was 97.13% and the drug release rates of EAPC in simulated gastric fluid and simulated intestinal fluid were 75.04 ± 0.29% and 93.03 ± 0.36%, respectively. EAPC was nontoxic to L02 cells, however it could selectively fight against the H2 O2 induced oxidative damage in L02 cells. This is the first study to provide scientific information to utilize the active fraction of I. obliquus as fungisome. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Inonotus obliquus (IO) is a traditional medicinal fungus. The extracts of IO have obvious antioxidant and hypoglycemic activities. Ethyl acetate (EA) fraction of IO was encapsulated in liposomes to form EAPC. EAPC has a sustained-release effect. It has nontoxic to L02 cells and could protect L02 cells from oxidative damage caused by hydrogen peroxide. This study could provide new ideas for the treatment of diabetes.
  12. Luu MN, Imoto A, Matsuo Y, Huy NT, Qarawi A, Alhady STM, et al.
    PLoS One, 2024;19(3):e0280144.
    PMID: 38489310 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280144
    INTRODUCTION: In the context of collective efforts taken in Japan to control the spread of COVID-19, the state of emergency and social distancing have caused a negative impact on the mental health of all residents, including foreign communities in Japan. This study aimed to evaluate the level of anxiety and its associated factors among non-Japanese residents residing in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    METHODS: A web-based survey in 13 languages was conducted among non-Japanese residents living in Japan during the COVID-19 situation. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory assessed the level of anxiety-State (STAI-S) scores prorated from its six-item version. The multivariable logistic regression using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) method was performed to identify the associated factors of anxiety among participants.

    RESULTS: From January to March 2021, we collected 392 responses. A total of 357 valid responses were analyzed. 54.6% of participants suffered from clinically significant anxiety (CSA). In multivariable logistic model analysis, the CSA status or the high level of anxiety was associated with three factors, including having troubles/difficulties in learning or working, decreased sleep duration, and decreased overall physical health (p<0.05).

    CONCLUSION: Our study suggests several possible risk factors of anxiety among non-Japanese residents living in Japan undergoing the COVID-19 pandemic, including the troubles or difficulties in learning or working, the decrease in sleep duration, and the decrease in overall physical health.

  13. Zeng R, Li H, Jia L, Lee SH, Jiang R, Zhang Y, et al.
    BMC Cancer, 2022 Dec 16;22(1):1317.
    PMID: 36527000 DOI: 10.1186/s12885-022-10369-x
    BACKGROUND: Acquired chemo-drug resistance constantly led to the failure of chemotherapy for malignant cancers, consequently causing cancer relapse. Hence, identifying the biomarker of drug resistance is vital to improve the treatment efficacy in cancer. The clinical prognostic value of CYP24A1 remains inconclusive, hence we aim to evaluate the association between CYP24A1 and the drug resistance in cancer patients through a meta-analysis approach.

    METHOD: Relevant studies detecting the expression or SNP of CYP24A1 in cancer patients up till May 2022 were systematically searched in four common scientific databases including PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library and ISI Web of Science. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) indicating the ratio of hazard rate of survival time between CYP24A1high population vs CYP24A1low population were calculated. The pooled HRs and odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to explore the association between CYP24A1's expression or SNP with survival, metastasis, recurrence, and drug resistance in cancer patients.

    RESULT: Fifteen studies were included in the meta-analysis after an initial screening according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. There was a total of 3784 patients pooled from all the included studies. Results indicated that higher expression or SNP of CYP24A1 was significantly correlated with shorter survival time with pooled HRs (95% CI) of 1.21 (1.12, 1.31), metastasis with pooled ORs (95% CI) of 1.81 (1.11, 2.96), recurrence with pooled ORs (95% CI) of 2.14 (1.45, 3.18) and drug resistance with pooled HRs (95% CI) of 1.42 (1.17, 1.68). In the subgroup analysis, cancer type, treatment, ethnicity, and detection approach for CYP24A1 did not affect the significance of the association between CYP24A1 expression and poor prognosis.

    CONCLUSION: Findings from our meta-analysis demonstrated that CYP24A1's expression or SNP was correlated with cancer progression and drug resistance. Therefore, CYP24A1 could be a potential molecular marker for cancer resistance.

  14. Yang PL, Lu Y, Khoo CM, Leow MK, Khoo EY, Teo A, et al.
    J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2013 Nov;98(11):4516-23.
    PMID: 24037892 DOI: 10.1210/jc.2013-2454
    Chinese men in Singapore have a higher incidence of hip fractures than Malay and Indian men. We investigated whether there were corresponding ethnic differences in peak bone mineral density (BMD) in young men and whether differences in body composition influenced peak BMD.
  15. Iqbal R, Dehghan M, Mente A, Rangarajan S, Wielgosz A, Avezum A, et al.
    Am J Clin Nutr, 2021 09 01;114(3):1049-1058.
    PMID: 33787869 DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqaa448
    BACKGROUND: Dietary guidelines recommend limiting red meat intake because it is a major source of medium- and long-chain SFAs and is presumed to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Evidence of an association between unprocessed red meat intake and CVD is inconsistent.

    OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to assess the association of unprocessed red meat, poultry, and processed meat intake with mortality and major CVD.

    METHODS: The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) Study is a cohort of 134,297 individuals enrolled from 21 low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Food intake was recorded using country-specific validated FFQs. The primary outcomes were total mortality and major CVD. HRs were estimated using multivariable Cox frailty models with random intercepts.

    RESULTS: In the PURE study, during 9.5 y of follow-up, we recorded 7789 deaths and 6976 CVD events. Higher unprocessed red meat intake (≥250 g/wk vs. <50 g/wk) was not significantly associated with total mortality (HR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.85, 1.02; P-trend = 0.14) or major CVD (HR: 1.01; 95% CI: 0.92, 1.11; P-trend = 0.72). Similarly, no association was observed between poultry intake and health outcomes. Higher intake of processed meat (≥150 g/wk vs. 0 g/wk) was associated with higher risk of total mortality (HR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.08, 2.10; P-trend = 0.009) and major CVD (HR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.08, 1.98; P-trend = 0.004).

    CONCLUSIONS: In a large multinational prospective study, we did not find significant associations between unprocessed red meat and poultry intake and mortality or major CVD. Conversely, a higher intake of processed meat was associated with a higher risk of mortality and major CVD.

  16. Mente A, O'Donnell M, Rangarajan S, Dagenais G, Lear S, McQueen M, et al.
    Lancet, 2016 Jul 30;388(10043):465-75.
    PMID: 27216139 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30467-6
    BACKGROUND: Several studies reported a U-shaped association between urinary sodium excretion and cardiovascular disease events and mortality. Whether these associations vary between those individuals with and without hypertension is uncertain. We aimed to explore whether the association between sodium intake and cardiovascular disease events and all-cause mortality is modified by hypertension status.

    METHODS: In this pooled analysis, we studied 133,118 individuals (63,559 with hypertension and 69,559 without hypertension), median age of 55 years (IQR 45-63), from 49 countries in four large prospective studies and estimated 24-h urinary sodium excretion (as group-level measure of intake). We related this to the composite outcome of death and major cardiovascular disease events over a median of 4.2 years (IQR 3.0-5.0) and blood pressure.

    FINDINGS: Increased sodium intake was associated with greater increases in systolic blood pressure in individuals with hypertension (2.08 mm Hg change per g sodium increase) compared with individuals without hypertension (1.22 mm Hg change per g; pinteraction<0.0001). In those individuals with hypertension (6835 events), sodium excretion of 7 g/day or more (7060 [11%] of population with hypertension: hazard ratio [HR] 1.23 [95% CI 1.11-1.37]; p<0.0001) and less than 3 g/day (7006 [11%] of population with hypertension: 1.34 [1.23-1.47]; p<0.0001) were both associated with increased risk compared with sodium excretion of 4-5 g/day (reference 25% of the population with hypertension). In those individuals without hypertension (3021 events), compared with 4-5 g/day (18,508 [27%] of the population without hypertension), higher sodium excretion was not associated with risk of the primary composite outcome (≥ 7 g/day in 6271 [9%] of the population without hypertension; HR 0.90 [95% CI 0.76-1.08]; p=0.2547), whereas an excretion of less than 3 g/day was associated with a significantly increased risk (7547 [11%] of the population without hypertension; HR 1.26 [95% CI 1.10-1.45]; p=0.0009).

    INTERPRETATION: Compared with moderate sodium intake, high sodium intake is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events and death in hypertensive populations (no association in normotensive population), while the association of low sodium intake with increased risk of cardiovascular events and death is observed in those with or without hypertension. These data suggest that lowering sodium intake is best targeted at populations with hypertension who consume high sodium diets.

    FUNDING: Full funding sources listed at end of paper (see Acknowledgments).

  17. Makmor, T, Raja Noriza, RA, NurulHuda, MS, Sook-Lu, Y, Soo-Kun, L, Kok-Peng, N, et al.
    JUMMEC, 2016;19(1):1-6.
    MyJurnal
    Introduction:
    Living donation is an important source for organs transplantation in Malaysia. This study aims to investigate
    the Malaysian living donors’ follow-up attendance, their preferences on medical-institutional facilities, and
    the financial circumstances pertaining to the follow-up costs
    Materials and Methods:
    Primary data were collected through a survey of 80 living donors who made their donation at the University
    of Malaya Medical Center (UMMC) between 1991 and 2012.
    Results:
    Out total of 178 donors, only 111 were reachable and 80 of them participated in the survey (72%). The findings
    revealed that most of the donors (71.2%) attend the follow-up regularly. Nevertheless, donors seem to neglect
    the importance of follow-up as they consider themselves healthy (28.9%) or consider the follow-up as being
    troublesome (28.9%). Most donors (67.5%) are not in favour of being treated as patients, but prefer to be
    monitored under donor registry (88.8%) and getting their health service in special clinics for donors (80%).
    The majority of the donors fund the follow-up costs themselves (32.4%), while 25% of the donors’ follow-up
    costs were funded by family members. Among those donors without income and those of low-income (84.8%
    of respondents), 60.3% believe that the follow-up costs should be borne by the government.
    Conclusions:
    Based on the findings, it is therefore suggested that the government provides all living donors with proper
    free health service through donor registry and donor clinics. Adequate care has to be given to the donors to
    pre-empt any unforeseen health complications due to the organ donation surgical procedures.
  18. Yang D, Zhang Y, Lee YY, Lu Y, Wang Y, Zhang Z
    Food Chem, 2024 Feb 02;444:138635.
    PMID: 38325087 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.138635
    The relationship between batch and continuous enzymatic interesterification was studied through enzymatic interesterification of beef tallow. The interesterification degree (ID) during the batch reaction was monitored based on triacylglycerol composition, sn-2 fatty acid composition, solid fat content, and melting profile and was described by an exponential model. A relationship equation featuring reaction parameters of the two reations was established to predict the ID and physicochemical characteristics in continuous interesterification. The prediction of the ID based on triacylglycerol composition was reliable, with an R2 value greater than 0.85. Interesterification produced more high-melting-point components for both reactions, but the acyl migration in the batch-stirring reactor was much greater, resulting in faster crystallization, a more delicate crystal network, and lower hardness. The relationship equation can be employed to predict the ID, but the prediction of physicochemical properties was constrained by the difference in acyl migration degree between the two reactions.
  19. Cai G, Lin Y, Lu Y, He F, Morita K, Yamamoto T, et al.
    J Psychiatr Res, 2021 Apr;136:296-305.
    PMID: 33631655 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.02.008
    BACKGROUND: This study explored the behavioural responses and anxiety symptoms of the general adult population in Japan during the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

    METHODS: A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted between 12th and May 13, 2020. Quota sampling was used to attain equal gender and age distributions representative of the Japanese population.

    RESULTS: A total of 4127 complete responses were analysed. Higher educational level (B = 0.045, p = 0.002) and household income (B = 0.04, p = 0.009) were associated with a higher increase in preventive measures when comparing before and after the state of emergency was declared. The highest reported social anxiety was a feeling of fear (65.6%), followed by embarrassment (43.8%), keeping infection a secret (41.3%), avoidance (41.3%), and stigma (25.5%). A total of 86.1% of the respondents reported moderate to severe anxiety. The partial least square-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) revealed that being female has the greatest effect (B = 0.246, p 

  20. Fonseca-Nunes A, Agudo A, Aranda N, Arija V, Cross AJ, Molina E, et al.
    Int J Cancer, 2015 Dec 15;137(12):2904-14.
    PMID: 26135329 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.29669
    Although it appears biologically plausible for iron to be associated with gastric carcinogenesis, the evidence is insufficient to lead to any conclusions. To further investigate the relationship between body iron status and gastric cancer risk, we conducted a nested case-control study in the multicentric European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. The study included 456 primary incident gastric adenocarcinoma cases and 900 matched controls that occurred during an average of 11 years of follow-up. We measured prediagnostic serum iron, ferritin, transferrin and C-reactive protein, and further estimated total iron-binding capacity (TIBC) and transferrin saturation (TS). Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the risk of gastric cancer by iron metrics were estimated from multivariable conditional logistic regression models. After adjusting for relevant confounders, we observed a statistically significant inverse association between gastric cancer and ferritin and TS indices (ORlog2  = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.72-0.88; OR10%increment  = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.78-0.97, respectively). These associations appear to be restricted to noncardia gastric cancer (ferritin showed a p for heterogeneity = 0.04 and TS had a p for heterogeneity = 0.02), and no differences were found by histological type. TIBC increased risk of overall gastric cancer (OR50 µg/dl  = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.02-1.2) and also with noncardia gastric cancer (p for heterogeneity = 0.04). Additional analysis suggests that time between blood draw and gastric cancer diagnosis could modify these findings. In conclusion, our results showed a decreased risk of gastric cancer related to higher body iron stores as measured by serum iron and ferritin. Further investigation is needed to clarify the role of iron in gastric carcinogenesis.
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