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Burden of Total and Cause-Specific Mortality Related to Tobacco Smoking among Adults Aged ≥45 Years in Asia: A Pooled Analysis of 21 Cohorts
Background:Tobacco smoking is a major risk factor for many diseases. We sought to quantify the burden of tobacco-smoking-related deaths in Asia, in parts of which men's smoking prevalence is among the world's highest.Methods and Findings:We performed pooled analyses of data from 1,049,929 participants in 21 cohorts in Asia to quantify the risks of total and cause-specific mortality associated with tobacco smoking using adjusted hazard ratios and their 95% confidence intervals. We then estimated smoking-related deaths among adults aged ≥45 y in 2004 in Bangladesh, India, mainland China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan-accounting for ∼71% of Asia's total population. An approximately 1.44-fold (95% CI = 1.37-1.51) and 1.48-fold (1.38-1.58) elevated risk of death from any cause was found in male and female ever-smokers, respectively. In 2004, active tobacco smoking accounted for approximately 15.8% (95% CI = 14.3%-17.2%) and 3.3% (2.6%-4.0%) of deaths, respectively, in men and women aged ≥45 y in the seven countries/regions combined, with a total number of estimated deaths of ∼1,575,500 (95% CI = 1,398,000-1,744,700). Among men, approximately 11.4%, 30.5%, and 19.8% of deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and respiratory diseases, respectively, were attributable to tobacco smoking. Corresponding proportions for East Asian women were 3.7%, 4.6%, and 1.7%, respectively. The strongest association with tobacco smoking was found for lung cancer: A 3- to 4-fold elevated risk, accounting for 60.5% and 16.7% of lung cancer deaths, respectively, in Asian men and East Asian women aged ≥45 y.Conclusions:Tobacco smoking is associated with a substantially elevated risk of mortality, accounting for approximately 2 million deaths in adults aged ≥45 y throughout Asia in 2004. It is likely that smoking-related deaths in Asia will continue to rise over the next few decades if no effective smoking control programs are implemented.Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary. © 2014 Zheng et al
Lymphocytes from Enlarged Iliac Lymph Nodes as Fusion Partners for the Production of Monoclonal Antibodies after a Single Tail Base Immunization Attempt
A novel method of preparing hybridomas producing mouse monoclonal antibodies was established, called “the mouse iliac lymph node method”. Lymphocytes from enlarged iliac lymph nodes from mice injected intramuscularly at the tail base with an emulsion of antigen and Freund’s adjuvant were used for cell fusion. For the most part, lymph node lymphocytes from two mice were used for a single cell fusion attempt. Ovalbumin was used as the antigen and the results of fusion were compared with the results of a previous report (Cell Struct. Funct. 20; 151–156, 1995). Approximately 100 positive wells producing antibody of interest were identified using this method. By comparison, approximately 10 positive wells were identified using the more conventional mouse spleen method after three immunization injections. The relative proportions of hybridomas producing IgM, IgG1, IgG2a, IgG2b, and IgG3, following fusion using iliac lymph node lymphocytes obtained 14 days after injection were 14.0%, 78.7%, 3.2%, 3.5 % and 0.5%, respectively. This method demonstrated the following advantages: (1) a single injection of the antigen emulsion was sufficient, (2) the lymph nodes were ready for use 14 days after injection, and (3) a high yield of positive hybridomas was obtained. Key words: mouse monoclonal antibody, iliac lymph node, cell fusion, tail base immunization I