Furu Wang

Aims: To shed light on the conflicting findings of the association between the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene (MTHFR) 677C/T polymorphism and the risk of diabetic retinopathy (DR), a meta-analysis was conducted. Methods: A predefined search was performed on 1747 DR cases and 3146 controls from 18 published studies by searching electronic databases and reference lists of relevant articles. A random-effects or fixed-effects model was used to estimate the sizes of overall and stratification effects of the MTHFR 677C/T polymorphism on the risk of DR, as appropriate. Results: Risks were evaluated by odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). We found a significant association between the MTHFR 677C/T polymorphism and the risk of DR for each genetic model (recessive model: OR = 1.67; 95% CI: 1.19–2.40 and dominant model: OR = 1.71; 95% CI: 1.28–2.28; respectively). In stratified analysis; we further found that the Asian group with both types of diabetes mellitus (DM) showed a significant association with genetic models (recessive model: OR = 2.16; 95% CI: 1.75–2.60 and dominant model: OR = 1.98; 95% CI: 1.42–2.76; respectively). Conclusions: Our study suggested that the MTHFR 677C/T polymorphism may contribute to DR development, especially in Asian populations. Prospective and additional genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are needed to clarify the real role of the MTHFR gene in determining susceptibility to DR.

The aims of this paper were to determine the level of knowledge of and attitude to nuclear power among residents around Tianwan Nuclear power plant in Jiangsu of China. A descriptive, cross-sectional design was adopted. 1,616 eligible participants who lived around the Tianwan nuclear power plant within a radius of 30km and at least 18 years old were recruited into our study and accepted epidemiological survey. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires consisting of a socio-demographic sheet. Inferential statistics, t-test, ANOVA test and multivariate regression analysis were used to compare the differences between each subgroup and correlation analysis was conducted to understand the relationship between different factors and dependent variables. Our investigation found that the level of awareness and acceptance of nuclear power was generally not high. Respondents' gender, age, marital status, residence, educational level, family income and the distance away from the nuclear power plant are important effect factors to the knowledge of and attitude to nuclear power. The public concerns about nuclear energy's impact are widespread. The level of awareness and acceptance of nuclear power needs to be improved urgently.

Introduction: The effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism on risk of diabetic nephropathy (DN) is still conflicting. The present meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the overall risk of this polymorphism associated with DN in different groups. Materials and methods: A predefined search was performed on 14,108 DN cases and 12,472 controls from 63 published studies by searching electronic databases and reference lists of relevant articles. Results: In this meta-analysis, we found a significant association between the ACE I/D polymorphism and the risk of DN for all genetic models (ID versus II: odds ratio [OR] = 1.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02–1.24; DD versus II: OR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.13–1.44; allele contrast: OR = 1.15, 95% CI 1.08–1.23; dominant model: OR = 1.18, 95% CI 1.07–1.31; and recessive model: OR = 1.18, 95% CI 1.08–1.30, respectively). In stratified analysis by ethnicity and DM type, we further found that the Asian group with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) showed a significant association for all genetic models (ID versus II: OR = 1.25, 95% CI 1.07–1.47; DD versus II: OR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.24–1.98; allele contrast: OR = 1.30, 95% CI 1.15–1.46; dominant model: OR = 1.37, 95% CI 1.10–1.69; and recessive model: OR = 1.34, 95% CI 1.15–1.56, respectively). Conclusions: Our study suggested that the ACE I/D polymorphism may contribute to DN development, especially in the Asian group with T2DM.

A number of molecular epidemiological studies have been conducted the screening for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in breast cancer patients with a positive family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer and reported many common mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 associated in breast cancer in different population and different ethnicity. However, it’s still lack of a systematic analysis on these mutations. To comprehensively evaluate the frequency and distribution of common BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations which associated with breast cancer risk, we address this issue through system review and meta-analysis on 29 relevant published studies by conducting a literature search on PubMed and CNKI. 20 common founder germline mutations were identified from all 29 studies and 4 of BRCA1 (5382insC, 185delAG, 3819del5 and 4153delA) and 2 of BRCA2 (4075delGT, 5802del4) mutations were repeatedly reported twice or more in different articles, respectively. For the BRCA1, after conducting meta-analysis, we found that the overall frequency of 5382insC was 0.09 (95% CI 0.06–0.12), the frequency of 185delAG was 0.07 (95% CI 0.01–0.13), the frequency of 3819del5 was 0.02 (95% CI 0.01–0.04) and the frequency of 4153delA was 0.06 (95% CI 0.03–0.09). For the BRCA2, the overall frequency of 4075delGT was 0.02 (95% CI 0.00–0.03) and the frequency of 5802del4 was 0.07 (95% CI 0.04–0.11). This article provides a set of common mutations for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers and the results may help to explore frequencies of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in a given population and will be of significance both for diagnostic testing and for epidemiological studies.