This study uses data from the 2019 to 2022 cycles of the National Health Interview Survey to estimate the prevalence of type 1 diabetes among US youths and adults.

Background: At present, “Belt and Road” (“B&R”) member states (accounting for about 61.78% of the world’s population) face different types of cancer threats to varying degrees. We analyzed the incidence and mortality and risk factors of cancer in the member countries of the “B&R” to explore the basis of health and medical cooperation between countries and provide a foundation for formulating cancer prevention and control policies for building a healthy "B&R." Methods: Data were derived from the Global Cancer Observatory and Cancer Country Profiles in 2020. Incidence and mortality were age-standardized rates (ASRs). Population attributable fractions (PAFs) was applied to measure risk factors of cancers in the “B&R” countries. The mortality­to­incidence ratio (MIR) was calculated by dividing the mortality rate by the incidence rate. Results: A total of 26 cancers were included in the study. Lung, breast, colorectal, stomach, liver, prostate, cervical, esophageal, thyroid, and uterine cancers were the most common and highest in age-standardized mortality in the “B&R” countries. For men, Hungary had the highest cancer age-standardized incidence and mortality (ASR, 289.3 per 100,000 and ASR, 235.7 per 100,000, respectively), followed by Latvia (ASR, 288.6 per 100,000 and ASR, 196.5 per 100,000, respectively). In females, the highest incidence rates were estimated in Greece (ASR, 238.7 per 100,000), and the highest mortality rate was Brunei (ASR, 192.3 per 100,000). All countries were in the middle or high HDI range, with about half (46.88%) of countries achieving high HDI, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe (13 countries) and West Asia (10 countries). The United Arab Emirates had the highest MIR in male and female (1.59 vs 2.19). Tobacco products, infectious factors, and ultraviolet rays were the three main cancer risk factors in the “B&R” countries. Conclusion: The overall burden of cancer in the countries along the “B&R” remains substantial, while the corresponding cancer prevention and control policies need to be improved. Strengthening health cooperation among member countries will contribute to a joint response to the risks and challenges posed by cancer.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) play an important role in tumor initiation and progression. The aim of this study is to explore the role of 2 CAF markers, fibroblast activated protein (FAP) and α-smooth muscle actin (αSMA), in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Sixty-six patients with the diagnosis of EOC treated with debulking surgery after neoadjuvant therapy were retrieved from the archives. Immunohistochemistry for FAP and αSMA antibodies were performed on paraffin-embedded tissue. Fisher’s exact test was performed to test the association between FAP and αSMA expression and disease status. Kaplan–Meier method with log-rank test was used to check the survival difference between different FAP tumor/stroma expressions. FAP stroma^pos. expression was strongly associated with higher recurrences rate [OR: 15.95; 95 % CI: 1.521–835.206; p = 0.0072]. Cases with combined FAP stroma^pos and FAP tumor^neg had higher death rate [OR: 4.845; 95 % CI: 1.53–16.61; p = 0.0046] and higher recurrence rate [OR: 5.12; 95 % CI: 0.91–54.42; p = 0.0487] compared to all the others. Cases with combined FAP stroma^neg and FAP tumor^neg were more likely to have lower recurrence rates [OR: 0.086; 95 % CI: 0.001–0.997; p = 0.0248]. αSMA was expressed by tumor-associated stroma in 95 % of cases and by tumor cells in 9 % of cases. No statistical power was found for αSMA and disease status. Our data indicate that FAP plays an important role in predicting tumor aggressiveness in patients with EOC post-neoadjuvant therapy, and its frequent expression in this malignancy implicates that FAP targeted therapy could be a very attractive strategy.

Body measurement traits (BMTs), which are classical quantitative traits of vital responses to body growth, have been studied in pigs, cattle, and sheep for several decades. In chickens, BMTs mainly cover body slope length, keel length, chest width, chest depth, tibia length, and tibia diameter; however, their genetic markers are yet to be considered. In this study, the Wenshang Barred chicken, a meat-egg-type native breed in China, was used to investigate the association between BMTs and the expression of growth-related genes, including GH, IGF1, IGF2, GHRL, IGF1R, IGFBP2, GHF-1, and TSHB. The results revealed that the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs3138025 in GH was significantly associated with keel length (P = 0.0455 < 0.05), rs313810945 in IGF2 was significantly correlated with chest width (P = 0.0454 < 0.05) and chest depth (P = 0.0259 < 0.05), and rs317298536 in TSHB significantly affected chest depth (P = 0.0399 < 0.05). The SNPs were associated with traits reflecting body size and were potentially involved in bone growth, which was consistent with studies in humans, rodents, and other vertebrate species. In addition, a borderline significant association was found between rs317298536 and body weight (P = 0.0604). These polymorphic sites may be treated as candidate genetic markers in breeding programs involving Wenshang Barred chickens.