CRC patients with normal serum CEA levels prior to resection maintained these levels during CRC recurrence, especially in cases of local recurrence vs cases of metastasis.

What is already known about this topic?As the largest country in the world, China experienced a demographic transition at a historic scale during the past 50 years with extraordinarily associated changes in the age structure of the population, declining fertility rates, accelerating process of population aging, and growing population scale. What is added by this report?This study presented future trends of five important population indicators in China. From 2015-2050, China experienced outstanding demographic changes -increases in life expectancy and declines in fertility rate -that have led to population aging. In addition, disability prevalence is growing, and life expectancy with disability is also increasing. What are the implications for public health practice?This study provided evidence of healthy life expectancy improvement and disease burden declining, healthy aging, and active aging. Due to the uncertainties of future trends of population structure changes, dynamic evaluations, timely adjustments, and innovations in population health strategy design and management should be strengthened to ensure quality of life under the background of population aging.

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Accurate surface anatomy is essential for safe clinical practice. There are numerous inconsistencies in clinically important surface markings among and within contemporary anatomical reference texts. The aim of this study was to investigate key thoracic and abdominal surface anatomy landmarks in living Chinese adults using computed tomography (CT). A total of 100 thoracic and 100 abdominal CT scans were examined. Our results indicated that the following key surface landmarks differed from current commonly-accepted descriptions: the positions of the tracheal bifurcation, azygos vein termination, and pulmonary trunk bifurcation (all below the plane of the sternal angle at vertebral level T5-T6 in most individuals); the superior vena cava formation and junction with the right atrium (most often behind the 1st and 4th intercostal spaces, respectively); and the level at which the inferior vena cava and esophagus traverse the diaphragm (T10 and T11, respectively). The renal arteries were most commonly at L1; the midpoint of the renal hila was most frequently at L2; the 11th rib was posterior to the left kidney in only 29% of scans; and the spleen was most frequently located between the 10th and 12th ribs. A number of significant sex- and age-related differences were noted. The Chinese population was also compared with western populations on the basis of published reports. Reappraisal of surface anatomy using modern imaging tools in vivo will provide both quantitative and qualitative evidence to facilitate the clinical application of these key surface landmarks.