Yuan Lv

Background: Recently, attention has focused on the impact of global climate change on infectious diseases. Storm flooding is an extreme weather phenomenon that not only impacts the health of the environment but also worsens the spread of pathogens. This poses a significant challenge to public health security. However, there is still a lack of research on how different levels of storm flooding affect susceptible enteric infectious diseases over time. Methods: Data on enteric infectious diseases, storm flooding events, and meteorology were collected for Changsha, Hunan Province, between 2016 and 2020. The Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test was used to identify the enteric infectious diseases that are susceptible to storm flooding. Then, the lagged effects of different levels of storm flooding on susceptible enteric infectious diseases were analyzed using a distributed lag nonlinear model. Results: There were eleven storm flooding events in Changsha from 2016 to 2020, concentrated in June and July. 37,882 cases of enteric infectious diseases were reported. During non-flooding days, the daily incidence rates of typhoid/paratyphoid and bacillary dysentery were 0.3/100,000 and 0.1/100,000, respectively. During flooding days, the corresponding rates increased to 2.0/100,000 and 0.8/100,000, respectively. The incidence rates of both diseases showed statistically significant differences between non-flooding and flooding days. Correlation analysis shows that the best lags for typhoid/paratyphoid and bacillary dysentery relative to storm flooding events may be 1 and 3 days. The results of the distributed lag nonlinear model showed that typhoid/paratyphoid had the highest cumulative RR values of 2.86 (95% CI: 1.71–4.76) and 8.16 (95% CI: 2.93–22.67) after 4 days of general flooding and heavy flooding, respectively; and bacillary dysentery had the highest cumulative RR values of 1.82 (95% CI: 1.40–2.35) and 3.31 (95% CI: 1.97–5.55) after 5 days of general flooding and heavy flooding, respectively. Conclusions: Typhoid/paratyphoid and bacillary dysentery are sensitive enteric infectious diseases related to storm flooding in Changsha. There is a lagging effect of storm flooding on the onset of typhoid/paratyphoid and bacillary dysentery, with the best lagging periods being days 1 and 3, respectively. The cumulative risk of typhoid/paratyphoid and bacillary dysentery was highest at 4/5 days lag, respectively. The higher of storm flooding, the higher the risk of disease, which suggests that the authorities should take appropriate preventive and control measures before and after storm flooding.

Cisplatin (DDP)‐based chemotherapy is a preferred treatment for a broad spectrum of cancers, but the precise mechanisms of its hepatotoxicity are not yet clear. Recently, the role of voltage‐dependent anion channel protein 1 (VDAC1) in mitochondrial activity and cell apoptosis has attracted much attention. Our aim was to investigate the effects of mitochondrial outer membrane protein VDAC1 oligomerization in DDP‐induced hepatocyte apoptosis. L‐02 hepatocytes were divided into 4 groups: (a) control group, (b) 4,4'diisothiocyanate‐2,2'‐disulfonic acid (DIDS; 40 μm) group, (c) DDP (5 μm) group, and (d) DDP and DIDS combination group. Cell apoptosis was tested by Annexin V/FITC assay, protein expression of caspase‐3, γH2AX and NDUFB6 were observed by western blot assay, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and mitochondrial superoxide anion radical (O₂^•−) were detected by DCFH‐DA and MitoSOX probe, and DNA damage was assessed by comet assay. Moreover, the activity of mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I was determined by the colorimetry method. Compared with the control group, apoptosis rate and activated cleaved‐caspase‐3 protein, ROS and O₂^•− generation, DNA damage marker comet tail length, and γH2AX protein level increased in the DDP treatment group (P < 0.05). Activity of mitochondrial COXI decreased after DDP treatment (P < 0.05). DIDS, as a VDAC1 oligomerization inhibitor, antagonized DDP‐induced apoptosis by diminishing oxidative stress and DNA damage and protecting mitochondrial complex protein. These results show that VDAC1 oligomerization may play an important role in DDP‐induced hepatocyte apoptosis by increasing ROS and mtDNA leakage from VDAC1 pores, exacerbating oxidative stress and mtDNA damage.

Recurrent event data frequently occur in longitudinal studies, and it is often of interest to estimate the effects of covariates on the recurrent event rate. This paper considers a flexible semi-parametric additive-multiplicative transformation mean model for recurrent event data, which includes the multiplicative model and additive transformation model as special cases. The new model is flexible in that they allow for both additive and multiplicative covariates effects, and additive effects are allowed to be time-varying. The estimation of regression parameters in the model is given by using the idea of estimating equations, and the asymptotic properties of the resulting estimators are established. Numerical studies under different settings were conducted for assessing the proposed methodology and an application to a bladder cancer study is illustrated. The results suggest that they work well.

Chili peppers are loved by people all over the world and have been indispensable vegetable for three meals a day. However, reports about the association between chili consumption and gastric cancer (GC) risk have been conflicting. So, we carried out this meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of chili consumption on the risk of GC. Medline, PubMed, Web of science, Embase, Cochrane Library databases were systematically searched until May 2019. Heterogeneity among studies was examined using Q and I² statistics. Combined odds ratio (OR) with their 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using a random- or fixed-effects model. All data were analyzed using STATA 15.1 software. 13 studies (3,095 cases and 4,761 controls) were included in the meta-analysis. A 1.96-fold increased risk of GC was shown for the moderate-high chili consumption (OR = 1.96, 95%CI =1.59−2.42). Dose-response analysis showed a significant nonlinear association of GC risk with capsaicin intake (p_{non-linearity} P = 0.288). Evidence from this meta-analysis suggested that a higher level of chili consumption may be associated with an increased incidence of GC. More studies are warranted to confirm the association between chili consumption and the risk of GC.