The Prevalence of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders in the Chinese Air Force Population

Background. Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are common in the general population worldwide. However, there is paucity of large sale surveys for prevalence of FGID in the military personnel. Methods. It is a cross-sectional study, using Rome III criteria for the diagnosis of FGID among the Chinese Air Force (CAF) workers. Results. Of 4633 registered male subjects, there were 818 (16.4%) air crew and 4170 (83.6%) ground personnel. FGIDs were identified in 1088 (23.48%) of cases. It was more prevalent in the ground personnel than air crew (24.02% versus 20.33%; ). Based on Rome III criteria, the commonest disease category was functional gastroduodenal disorder (37.4%), whereas functional nausea and vomiting disorder (FNV) was the most frequent overall diagnosis. Functional dyspepsia (FD) with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was the leading FGIDs' overlap (3.9%). Conclusion. FGIDs in CAF population are rather underestimated. This necessitates preventive strategies according to job characteristics

The prevalence of functional gastrointestinal disorders in the chinese air force population. Gastroenterol Res Pract 2013;2013:497585

Background. Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are common in the general population worldwide. However, there is paucity of large sale surveys for prevalence of FGID in the military personnel. Methods. It is a cross-sectional study, using Rome III criteria for the diagnosis of FGID among the Chinese Air Force (CAF) workers. Results. Of 4633 registered male subjects, there were 818 (16.4%) air crew and 4170 (83.6%) ground personnel. FGIDs were identified in 1088 (23.48%) of cases. It was more prevalent in the ground personnel than air crew (24.02% versus 20.33%; = 0.022). Based on Rome III criteria, the commonest disease category was functional gastroduodenal disorder (37.4%), whereas functional nausea and vomiting disorder (FNV) was the most frequent overall diagnosis. Functional dyspepsia (FD) with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was the leading FGIDs' overlap (3.9%). Conclusion. FGIDs in CAF population are rather underestimated. This necessitates preventive strategies according to job characteristics

Silencing DACH1 promotes esophageal cancer growth by inhibiting TGF-β signaling.

Human Dachshund homologue 1 (DACH1) is a major component of the Retinal Determination Gene Network. Loss of DACH1 expression was found in breast, prostate, lung, endometrial, colorectal and hepatocellular carcinoma. To explore the expression, regulation and function of DACH1 in human esophageal cancer, 11 esophageal cancer cell lines, 10 cases of normal esophageal mucosa, 51 cases of different grades of dysplasia and 104 cases of primary esophageal squamous cancer were employed. Methylation specific PCR, immunohistochemistry, western blot, flow cytometry, small interfering RNAs, colony formation techniques and xenograft mice model were used. We found that DACH1 expression was regulated by promoter region hypermethylation in esophageal cancer cell lines. 18.8% (6 of 32) of grade 1, 42.1% (8 of 19) of grade 2 and grade 3 dysplasia (ED2,3), and 61.5% (64 of 104) of esophageal cancer were methylated, but no methylation was found in 10 cases of normal esophageal mucosa. The methylation was increased in progression tendency during esophageal carcinogenesis (P<0.01). DACH1 methylation was associated with poor differentiation (P<0.05) and late tumor stage (P<0.05). Restoration of DACH1 expression inhibited cell growth and activated TGF-β signaling in KYSE150 and KYSE510 cells. DACH1 suppressed human esophageal cancer cell tumor growth in xenograft mice. In conclusion, DACH1 is frequently methylated in human esophageal cancer and methylation of DACH1 is involved in the early stage of esophageal carcinogenesis. DACH1 expression is regulated by promoter region hypermethylation. DACH1 suppresses esophageal cancer growth by activating TGF-β signaling

Representative results of <i>DACH1</i> suppresses esophageal cancer growth <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>.

<p>(A) Growth curves represent CCK-8 assay results for <i>DACH1</i> expressed cells and unexpressed cells.Points, mean of four independent experiments; bars, SEM. **, <i>P</i><0.01, Student’s <i>t</i> test. (B) Representative results of colony formation in <i>DACH1</i> expressed and unexpressed KYSE510 and KYSE150 cell lines. Columns, mean of four independent experiments; bars, SEM. *, <i>P</i><0.05 versus controls by using the Student’s <i>t</i> test. (C) Representatives results of xenograft tumors in nude mice for <i>DACH1</i> expressed and unexpressed KYSE510 cells. (D) Growth curves represent tumor size in <i>DACH1</i> expressed and unexpressed KYSE510 cells xenograft mice in different time. Points, mean of 5 mice; bars, SEM.*, <i>P</i><0.01, Student’s <i>t</i> test. (E) Representative results of tumor weight in <i>DACH1</i> expressed and unexpressed KYSE510 cells xenograft mice in different time. Columns, mean of 5 mice; bars, SEM. *, <i>P</i><0.01, Student’s <i>t</i> test. (F) Representive DACH1 expression results detected by IHC for <i>DACH1</i> expressed and unexpressed KYSE510 cells xenograft. DACH1 expression was found in <i>DACH1</i> expressed KYSE510 cell xenograft. (right). Magnification: upper phase, X200; lower phase, X400.</p

Representative results of <i>DACH1</i> expression and methylation in esophageal cancer cells.

<p>(A) <i>DACH1</i> expression level detected by RT-PCR in esophageal cancer cell lines. (B) Methylation status in promoter region; IVD: <i>in vitro</i> methylated DNA, used as methylation control; NL: normal blood lymphocyte DNA, used as unmethylation control; U: unmethylated alleles; M: methylated alleles. (C) BSSQ of <i>DACH1</i> promoter region (−426 bp to −140 bp) in KYSE150, KYSE510, TE8 and KYSE140 cells; double-headed arrow: MSP PCR product, spanning 130 bp. Filled circles: methylated CpG sites; open circles: unmethylated CpG sites.</p

Effect of <i>DACH1</i> on TGF-β signaling in human esophageal cancer cells.

<p>(A) Smad-binding elements (SBE)-4 Luc reporter activities in KYSE510 and KYSE150 cells. Columns, mean of three independent experiments; bars, SEM. (B) The expression level of TGF-β signaling downstream genes in <i>DACH1</i> expressed cells and unexpressed cells, β-Actin was used as a loading control. (C) The efficiency of siRNAs targeting on <i>DACH1</i> in KYSE140 cells. (D) The expression level of TGF-β signaling downstream genes in <i>DACH1</i>-siRNA KYSE140 cells and control group, β-Actin was used as a loading control.</p

Clinicopathologic characteristics and DACH1 methylation status of 104 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcimoma.

<p>*<i>P</i> values are obtained from chi-square test.</p>#<p>Statistical significance is indicated by <i>P</i><0.05.</p

Representative results of <i>DACH1</i> methylation and expression in primary esophageal cancer.

<p>(A) Representative MSP results of <i>DACH1</i> methylation status in normal esophageal mucosa (NE), esophageal dysplasia (ED) and esophageal cancer (EC). (B) <i>DACH1</i> methylation frequency in NE, ED1, ED2 and ED3, and EC. The frequency of methylated <i>DACH1</i> were plotted according to histological grade and analyzed using chi-square test. **, <i>P</i><0.01. (C) Representative IHC results for DACH1 expression in primary esophageal cancer (left) and adjacent tissues (right); upper phase, X200; lower phase, X400. (D) DACH1 expression level in 30 cases matched primary cancer and adjacent tissue samples; box plot: represents DACH1 expression level; horizontal line: represent the median level; the top and bottom line of the boxes represent 75% and 25% expression level, respectively; vertical bars represent different expression level. **, <i>P</i><0.01 versus adjacent tissue samples by using Wilcoxon signed-rank test. (E) The association of <i>DACH1</i> methylation and loss/reduced expression in 30 cases ESCC. **, <i>P</i><0.01, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.</p