Colorectal cancer screening behavior and willingness:An outpatient survey in China

AIM： To identity the factors influencing colorectal cancer （CRC） screening behavior and willingness among Chinese outpatients.METHODS： An outpatient-based face-to-face survey was conducted from August 18 to September 7, 2010 in Changhai Hospital. A total of 1200 consecutive patients aged ≥ 18 years were recruited for interview. The patient＇s knowledge about CRC and screening was pre-measured as a predictor variable, and other pre- dictors included age, gender, educational level, month- ly household income and health insurance status. The relationship between these predictors and screening behavior, screening willingness and screening approach were examined using Pearson＇s 2 test and logistic regression analyses.RESULTS： Of these outpatients, 22.5% had undergone CRC screening prior to this study. Patients who had participated in the screening were more likely to have good knowledge about CRC and screening （OR： 5.299, 95% CI： 3.415-8.223）, have health insurance （OR： 1.996, 95% CI： 1.426-2.794） and older in age. Higher income, however, was found to be a barrier to the screening （OR： 0.633, 95% CI： 0.467-0.858）. An analysis of screening willingness showed that 37.5% of the patients would voluntarily participated in a screen at the recommended age, but 41.3% would do so under doctor＇s advice. Screening willingness was positively correlated with the patient＇s knowledge sta- tus. Patients with higher knowledge levels would like to participate in the screening （OR： 4.352, 95% CI： 3.008-6.298）, and they would select colonoscopy as a screening approach （OR： 3.513, 95% CI： 2.290-5.389）. However, higher income level was, again, a bar- rier to colonoscopic screening （OR： 0.667, 95% CI： 0.505-0.908）. CONCLUSION： Patient＇s level of knowledge and in-ome should be taken into consideration when conducting a feasible CRC screening.

Toward an Ecological Civilization:China’s Progress as Documented by the Second National General Survey of Pollution Sources

The relationship between environmental quality and economic growth has been a hot topic for decades.After years of rapid industrialization and urbanization,China’s environmental challenges are approaching a turning point.Following the principles of ecological civilization construction,China is on its way to maintaining high-quality and green economic development.On 10 June 2020,the Chinese Government reported the key findings of the Second National General Survey of Pollution Sources(fiscal year 2017),which provides strong quantitative evidence of progress toward ecological civilization.In terms of our comparison between the two National General Surveys in 2007 and 2017,it was found that environmental pollution,measured in terms of many wastewater and air emission pollutant discharges,is decreasing despite the steady growth in economic activities—and at a noticeably fast pace.Other national and local governments can adopt some of China’s ecological civilization practices,within their own individual contexts.

TEDA(Tianjin Economic-technological Development Area)——A General Survey, Experience and the Plan for Future Development.

Since its establishment about ten years ago, TEDA has taken advantage of eachopportune time created by China’s policy of opening wider and wider to the outsideworld and the rapid economic growth to deepen its reform and extend its exploitation,and thus has maintained a favorable momentum and an extraordinary high speed foreconomic development. With the total economic output of the whole area raised to

Health Related Quality of Life and Mental Health in ICU Survivors: Post-Intensive Care Syndrome Follow-Up and Correlations between the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28)

We investigated the relationship between health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and psychological distress in intensive care unit (ICU) survivors 12 months after ICU discharge. The purpose of this study, conducted and completed before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, was to find correlations among psychiatric symptoms detected by a screening tool as the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and the different domains of HRQOL measured with the SF-36 health survey (SF-36), in order to identify ICU survivors with Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) who need a specific psychiatric intervention to improve their HRQOL. Among 298 ICU survivors who stayed in the ICU for at least 72 hours, 48 patients were enrolled one year after discharge undergoing a clinical interview to assess their functional impairment (Barthel index), mental health (GHQ-28), and health-related quality of life (SF-36). 19% of those subjects had a GHQ-28 ≥ 5 and were identified as “psychiatric cases”, and they were older and experienced a greater impairment in HRQOL. Anxiety, insomnia, and depressive symptoms seemed to be particularly involved in the impairment of HRQOL. A negative correlation between GHQ-28 total scores and subscales and SF-36 subscales was found. Our findings highlighted that psychological distress in ICU survivors may negatively impact physical health recovery and quality of life;conversely, physical impairment and functional disability may trigger the onset of psychiatric symptoms after discharge. The present study is firstly to investigate the correlations between HRQOL and psychological distress in ICU survivors through the GHQ-28, and then affirms the need to carry out follow-up checks for psychiatric symptoms in ICU survivors.

Development and validation of a prediction model for early screening of people at high risk for colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer(CRC)is a serious threat worldwide.Although early screening is suggested to be the most effective method to prevent and control CRC,the current situation of early screening for CRC is still not optimistic.In China,the incidence of CRC in the Yangtze River Delta region is increasing dramatically,but few studies have been conducted.Therefore,it is necessary to develop a simple and efficient early screening model for CRC.AIM To develop and validate an early-screening nomogram model to identify individuals at high risk of CRC.METHODS Data of 64448 participants obtained from Ningbo Hospital,China between 2014 and 2017 were retrospectively analyzed.The cohort comprised 64448 individuals,of which,530 were excluded due to missing or incorrect data.Of 63918,7607(11.9%)individuals were considered to be high risk for CRC,and 56311(88.1%)were not.The participants were randomly allocated to a training set(44743)or validation set(19175).The discriminatory ability,predictive accuracy,and clinical utility of the model were evaluated by constructing and analyzing receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves and calibration curves and by decision curve analysis.Finally,the model was validated internally using a bootstrap resampling technique.RESULTS Seven variables,including demographic,lifestyle,and family history information,were examined.Multifactorial logistic regression analysis revealed that age[odds ratio(OR):1.03,95%confidence interval(CI):1.02-1.03,P<0.001],body mass index(BMI)(OR:1.07,95%CI:1.06-1.08,P<0.001),waist circumference(WC)(OR:1.03,95%CI:1.02-1.03 P<0.001),lifestyle(OR:0.45,95%CI:0.42-0.48,P<0.001),and family history(OR:4.28,95%CI:4.04-4.54,P<0.001)were the most significant predictors of high-risk CRC.Healthy lifestyle was a protective factor,whereas family history was the most significant risk factor.The area under the curve was 0.734(95%CI:0.723-0.745)for the final validation set ROC curve and 0.735(95%CI:0.728-0.742)for the training set ROC curve.The calibration curve demonstrated a high correlation between the CRC high-risk population predicted by the nomogram model and the actual CRC high-risk population.CONCLUSION The early-screening nomogram model for CRC prediction in high-risk populations developed in this study based on age,BMI,WC,lifestyle,and family history exhibited high accuracy.

On attitudes about colorectal cancer screening among gastrointestinal specialists and general practitioners in the Netherlands

AIM： To find out whether there are differences in attitudes about colorectal cancer （CRC） screening among gastrointestinal （GI） specialists and general practitioners （GPs） and which method is preferred in a national screening program METHODS： Four hundred and twenty Dutch GI specialists in the Netherlands and 400 GPs in Amsterdam were questioned in 2004. Questions included demographics, affiliation, attitude towards screening both for the general population and themselves, methods of screening, family history and individual risk. RESULTS： Eighty-four percent of the GI specialists returned the questionnaire in comparison to 32% of the GPs （P〈0.001）. Among the GI specialists, 92% favoured population screening whereas 51% of GPs supported population screening （P〈0.001）. Of the GI specialists 95% planned to be screened themselves, while 30% of GPs intended to do so （P〈0.001）. Regarding the general population, 72% of the GI specialists preferred colonoscopy as the screening method compared to 27% of the GPs （P〈0.001）. The method preferred for personal screening was colonoscopy in 97% of the GI specialists, while 29% of the GPs favoured colonoscopy （P〈0.001）. CONCLUSION： Screening for CRC is strongly supported by Dutch GI specialists and less by GPs. The major health issue is possibly misjudged by GPs. Since GPs play a crucial role in a successful national screening program, CRC awareness should be realized by increasing knowledge about the incidence and mortality, thus increasing awareness of the need for screening among GPs.

Prostate cancer screening: A primary care survey

Prostate cancer is the most common intrinsic cancer in men and the 2nd most common cause of cancer related death in men over fifty years of age. The benefit of early screening for prostate cancer is yet to be proven. Multiple organizations currently offer recommendations regarding prostate cancer screening. Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) testing was introduced into widespread use in the late 80’s and its role in screening is debatable. We surveyed by mail every primary care physician in West Virginia who has a state license. Results from 438 respondents indicated that the American Cancer Society (ACS) guidelines were most commonly used and that PSA testing does seem to be a good screening test. We present the results and discuss the different points of view regarding prostate cancer screening.

Knowledge Attitude and Practice of Viral Hepatitis B and C Screening by General Practitioners in Brazzaville

The involvement of general practitioners in the early detection of viral hepatitis B and C must be paramount. The objectives of this work were to assess GPs’ knowledge, attitude and practice with regard to screening for viral hepatitis B and C. We carried out a cross-sectional analytical study among GPs recruited by simple random sampling from the list of GPs in the city of Brazzaville. The judgement criteria were knowledge and practice of screening for viral hepatitis B and C, assessed according to a Likert scale divided into 3 categories: very good, good and bad. One hundred and twenty-one general practitioners were included, including 48 women and 73 men, with a sex ratio of 1.52;the average age was 33 years;52.89% of them worked in the private sector with an average period of activity of 4 years. The majority of the doctors had a good knowledge (69.42%) and a bad practice (56.20%) of screening for viral hepatitis B and C. The duration of activity was the factor linked to knowledge of viral hepatitis B and C (p = 0.006) while age was the factor linked to the practice of screening for viral hepatitis B and C (p = 0.0366). In conclusion, in Brazzaville, general practitioners’ knowledge of screening for viral hepatitis B and C is good in general, but the practices are poor and require targeted in-service training.

Prostate Cancer Screening by General Practitioners in Lomé, Togo

Background: Prostate cancer is a common disease in men over 50 years. Only early detection by screening can guarantee a favourable outcome. Objective: The objective of the study is to report on the practice of prostate cancer screening by general practitioners in Lomé. Material and Method: This was a practice survey. A questionnaire administered to general practitioners allowed to examine the following parameters: the practitioner’s years of practice, the screening criteria, the screening tools and the factors motivating the request for urological advice. The data were analysed using the software Epi info 7.1.5. The P value was considered significant below 0.05. Results: One hundred and eighty (180) physicians average-aged 29 were administered among whom one hundred and fifty-seven (157) males and twenty-three (23) females. The average duration of the medical practice was 35.2 months (6 months - 204 months). The screening criteria were age (47.2%), family history of cancer (17.8%), and age over 50 years associated with symptoms of the low urinary tract (35%). The practitioner’s experience did not affect these criteria (p = 0.12). The screening tools were the digital rectal examination (DRE) associated with prostate specific antigen (PSA) assay (20.5%), PSA alone (29.5%), DRE alone (6.6%), suprapubic ultrasound (32.3%) and endorectal ultrasound (11.1%). The choice of the screening tool was related to the practitioner’s experience (p = 0.03). The determining factor for a urological consultation was a high PSA (>4 ng/ml) independent of the DRE. Conclusion: Prostate cancer screening is largely done by general practitioners in Lomé. However, the use of some criteria and tools for the screening is not optimal.

A Survey Report about the General Situation of the Students in Adult Higher Medical Education

This survey was implemented, so that the general situation of the students in adult higher medical education is more accurately and comprehensively known, and also adult education and teaching work can be developed in a targeted way. 193 students attending adult education junior college participated in this survey, and the surveyed details included the general situation of student sources, the ideological trends, and the degree of the cognition on the majors, the degree of the recognition on teaching, the employment concept, and the problems in the current jobs. By a statistical analysis, a foundation is further laid for the effective work of adult higher medical education.

Viewpoints of the target population regarding barriers and facilitators of colorectal cancer screening in the Czech Republic

BACKGROUND Public awareness of colorectal cancer(CRC) and uptake of CRC screening remain challenges. The viewpoints of the target population(asymptomatic individuals older than 50) regarding CRC screening information sources and the reasons for and against participation in CRC screening are not well known in the Czech Republic. This study aimed to acquire independent opinions from the target population independently on the health system.AIM To investigate the viewpoints of the target population regarding the source of information for and barriers and facilitators of CRC screening.METHODS A survey among relatives(aged 50 and older) of university students was conducted. Participants answered a questionnaire about sources of awareness regarding CRC screening, reasons for and against participation, and suggestions for improvements in CRC screening. The effect of certain variables on participation in CRC screening was analyzed.RESULTS Of 498 participants, 478(96%) respondents had some information about CRC screening and 375(75.3%) had participated in a CRC screening test. General practitioners(GPs)(n = 319, 64.1%) and traditional media(n = 166, 33.3%) were the most common information sources regarding CRC screening. A lack of interest or time and a fear of colonoscopy or positive results were reported as reasons for non-participation. Individuals aged > 60 years [adjusted odds ratio(aOR) = 2.30, 95% confidence interval(CI)(1.42-3.71), P = 0.001], females(aOR =1.95, 95%CI(1.26-3.01) P = 0.003), and relatives of CRC patients(aOR = 4.17,95%CI(1.82-9.58) P = 0.001) were more likely to participate in screening.Information regarding screening provided by physicians-GPs:(aOR = 8.11,95%CI(4.90-13.41), P < 0.001) and other specialists(aOR = 4.19, 95%CI(1.87-9.38),P = 0.001) increased participation in screening. Respondents suggested that providing better explanations regarding screening procedures and equipment for stool capturing could improve CRC screening uptake.CONCLUSION GPs and other specialists play crucial roles in the successful uptake of CRC screening. Reduction of the fear of colonoscopy and simple equipment for stool sampling might assist in improving the uptake of CRC screening.

Preface: The LAMOST Galactic surveys and early results

By the time of this writing, the ongoing LAMOST Galactic surveys have collected approximately 4.5 million stellar spectra with signal-to-noise ratios better than 10 per pixel. This special issue is devoted to early results from the surveys, mostly based on the LAMOST Data Release 1 （DR1; Luo et al., this volume） that contains data secured by May 2013, the end of the first year of regular surveys, al- though a few studies have made use of data collected in the second year of regular surveys. LAMOST DR1 was released to the Chinese astronomical community and international partners in August 2013 and made public to the whole world in March 2015. Here we briefly review the scope and motivation, data reduction and release, as well as early results of the surveys. As the project advances, one can expect that these surveys will yield an exquisite description of the distribution, kinematics and chemistry of Galactic stellar populations, especially those within a few kpc of the Sun, a robust measurement of the local dark matter density, and, consequently, shed light on how our Galaxy, and other galaxies in general, form and evolve.

Colorectal cancer screening behavior and willingness

The outpatient-based study by Deng et al [World J Gastroenterol 2011 July 14; 17(26): 3133-3139] on the factors that may influence the colorectal cancer (CRC) screening feasibility, encouraged our curiosity. Establishing a simple method for quickly assessing the educational level of patients and modulating a questionnaire for each type of patient, may be an effective protocol to increase the people participation, mainly in countries where sufficient medical resources and financial support are lacking. In fact, the knowledge directly affects the feasibility when screening is offered. Patient educational level influences the understanding of the knowledge and the screening method. This factor may affect patient's priority level on the study participation, the understanding of questions, and the motivation to complete the questionnaire and, consequently, the screening success. Recent studies have found a relationship between high educational level and CRC screening participation, and emphasized the question-naire ineffectiveness in the illiterate people. Although the questionnaire is an excellent method for this kind of evaluation, physician's contribution could be the most important factor associated with the screening method. Thus, further studies should be conducted to explore the compliance of patients with low educational level and to look for the best solutions for their enrollment.

The FAST Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot Survey.II.Discovery of 76 Galactic Rotating Radio Transients and the Enigma of RRATs

We have carried out the Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot(GPPS)survey by using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST),the most sensitive systematic pulsar survey in the Galactic plane.In addition to more than 500 pulsars already discovered through normal periodical search,we report here the discovery of 76 new transient radio sources with sporadic strong pulses,detected by using the newly developed module for a sensitive single-pulse search.Their small DM values suggest that they all are Galactic rotating radio transients(RRATs).They show different properties in the follow-up observations.More radio pulses have been detected from 26 transient radio sources but no periods can be found due to a limited small number of pulses from all FAST observations.The followup observations show that 16 transient sources are newly identified as being the prototypes of RRATs with a period already determined from more detected sporadic pulses,and 10 sources are extremely nulling pulsars,and 24 sources are weak pulsars with sparse strong pulses.On the other hand,48 previously known RRATs have been detected by the FAST,either during verification observations for the GPPS survey or through targeted observations of applied normal FAST projects.Except for one RRAT with four pulses detected in a session of 5-minute observation and four RRATs with only one pulse detected in a session,sensitive FAST observations reveal that 43 RRATs are just generally weak pulsars with sporadic strong pulses or simply very nulling pulsars,so that the previously known RRATs always have an extreme emission state together with a normal hardly detectable weak emission state.This is echoed by the two normal pulsars J1938+2213 and J1946+1449 with occasional brightening pulses.Though strong pulses of RRATs are very outstanding in the energy distribution,their polarization angle variations follow the polarization angle curve of the averaged normal pulse profile,suggesting that the predominant sparse pulses of RRATs are emitted in the same region with the same geometry as normal weak pulsars.

A GPU based single-pulse search pipeline(GSP)with database and its application to the Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST Survey(CRAFTS)

We developed a GPU based single-pulse search pipeline(GSP)with a candidate-archiving database.Largely based upon the infrastructure of the open source PulsaR Exploration and Search Toolkit(PRESTO),GSP implements GPU acceleration of the de-dispersion and integrates a candidate-archiving database.We applied GSP to the data streams from the Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST Survey(CRAFTS),which resulted in quasi-real-time processing.The integrated candidate database facilitates synergistic usage of multiple machine-learning tools and thus improves efficient identification of radio pulsars such as rotating radio transients(RRATs)and fast radio bursts(FRBs).We first tested GSP on pilot CRAFTS observations with the FAST Ultra-Wide Band(UWB)receiver.GSP detected all pulsars known from the the Parkes multibeam pulsar survey in the corresponding sky area covered by the FAST-UWB.GSP also discovered 13 new pulsars.We measured the computational efficiency of GSP to be~120 times faster than the original PRESTO and~60 times faster than an MPI-parallelized version of PRESTO.

Identifications of RR Lyrae Stars and Quasars from the Simulated Data of Mephisto-W Survey

We have investigated the feasibilities and accuracies of the identifications of RR Lyrae stars and quasars from the simulated data of the Multi-channel Photometric Survey Telescope(Mephisto)W Survey.Based on the variable sources light curve libraries from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey(SDSS)Stripe 82 data and the observation history simulation from the Mephisto-W Survey Scheduler,we have simulated the uvgriz multi-band light curves of RR Lyrae stars,quasars and other variable sources for the first year observation of Mephisto W Survey.We have applied the ensemble machine learning algorithm Random Forest Classifier(RFC)to identify RR Lyrae stars and quasars,respectively.We build training and test samples and extract~150 features from the simulated light curves and train two RFCs respectively for the RR Lyrae star and quasar classification.We find that,our RFCs are able to select the RR Lyrae stars and quasars with remarkably high precision and completeness,with purity=95.4%and completeness=96.9%for the RR Lyrae RFC and purity=91.4%and completeness=90.2%for the quasar RFC.We have also derived relative importances of the extracted features utilized to classify RR Lyrae stars and quasars.

Cost-effectiveness of lung cancer screening by low-dose CT in China:a micro-simulation study

Background:The effectiveness of lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography(LDCT)has been established.The current study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of lung cancer screening with LDCT in a general population in China.Methods:A previously validated micro-simulation model was used to simulate a cohort of men and women on a lifetime horizon in the presence and absence of LDCT screening.The modeling data were collected from numerous national and international sources.Simulated screening scenarios included different combinations of screening intervals and start and stop ages.Additional costs(valued in Chinese Yuan,CNY;1 USD=6.8976 CNY,1 EUR=7.8755 CNY in 2020),life-years gained(LYG)and mortality reduction due to screening were also determined.The costs and life-years were discounted by 3%.All results were scaled to 1,000 individuals.The average cost-effectiveness ratio(ACER)was calculated.A willingness-to-pay threshold of CNY 217.3k/LYG was considered.A healthcare system perspective was adopted.Results:Compared to no screening,lung cancer screening by LDCT in a general Chinese population yielded 21.0-36.7 LYG in men and 9.2-16.6 LYG in women across the scenarios.For men,biennial LDCT screening yielded an ACER of CNY 171.4k-306.3k/LYG relative to no screening.Biennial screening performed between 55 and 75 years of age was optimal at the defined threshold;it resulted in CNY 174.6k/LYG and a lung cancer mortality reduction of 9.1%,and this scenario had a 75%probability of being cost-effective.For women,the ACER ranged from CNY 364.2k to 1193.3k/LYG.Conclusions:In China,lung cancer screening with LDCT in the general population including never smokers could be cost-effective for men with 75%probability,but not for women.The optimal strategy for men would be performing biennial screening between 55 and 75 years of age.

The Data Processing of the LAMOST Medium-resolution Spectral Survey of Galactic Nebulae(LAMOST MRS-N Pipeline)

The Large sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope(LAMOST) medium-resolution spectral survey of Galactic Nebulae(MRS-N) has conducted for more than three years since 2018 September and observed more than190 thousand nebular spectra and 20 thousand stellar spectra.However,there is not yet a data processing pipeline for nebular spectra.To significantly improve the accuracy of nebulae classification and their physical parameters,we developed the MRS-N Pipeline.This article presented in detail each data processing step of the MRS-N Pipeline,such as removing cosmic rays,merging single exposure,fitting sky light emission lines,wavelength recalibration,subtracting skylight,measuring nebular parameters,creating catalogs and packing spectra.Finally,a description of the data products,including nebular spectra files and parameter catalogs,is provided.

Color-Redshift Relations and Photometric Redshift Estimations of Quasars in Large Sky Surveys

With a recently constructed composite quasar spectrum and the χ2 minimization technique, we describe a general method for estimating the photometric redshifts of a large sample of quasars by deriving theoretical color-redshift relations and comparing the theoretical colors with the observed ones. We estimated the photometric redshifts from the 5-band SDSS photometric data of 18678 quasars in the first major data release of SDSS and compared them with their spectroscopic redshifts. The difference is less than 0.1 for 47 % of the quasars and less than 0.2 for 68 %. Based on the calculation of the theoretical color-color diagrams of stars, galaxies and quasars both on the SDSS system and on the BATC system, we expect that we would be able to select candidates of high redshift quasars more efficaciously with the latter than with the former, provided the BATC survey can detect objects with magnitudes fainter than 21.