Background Echinococcosis is a global enzootic disease influenced by different biological and environmental factors and causes a heavy financial burden on sick families and governments. Currently, government subsidies for the treatment of patients with echinococcosis are only a fixed number despite patients’ finical income or cost of treatment, and health authorities are demanded to supply an annual summary of only endemic data. The risk to people in urban areas or non-endemic is increasing with climate, landscape, and lifestyle changes. Methods We conducted retrospective descriptive research on inpatients with human echinococcosis (HE) in Lanzhou hospitals and analyzed the healthcare expenditure on inpatient treatment and examined the financial inequalities relating to different levels of gross domestic product. The livestock losses were also estimated by infection ratio. The occurrence records of Echinococcus spp. composed of hospitalized patients and dogs infected in the Gansu province were collected for Ecological niche modeling (ENM) to estimate the current suitable spatial distribution for the parasite in Gansu province. Then, we imported the resulting current niche model into future global Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios for estimation of future suitable habitat areas. Results Between 2000 to 2020, 625 hospitalized HE patients (51% men and 49% women) were identified, and 48.32 ± 15.62 years old. The average cost of hospitalization expenses per case of HE in Gansu Province was ￥24,370.2 with an increasing trend during the study period and was negative with different counties’ corresponding gross domestic product (GDP). The trend of livestock losses was similar to the average cost of hospitalization expenses from 2015 to 2017. The three factors with the strongest correlation to echinococcosis infection probability were (1) global land cover (GLC, 56.6%), (2) annual precipitation (Bio12, 21.2%), and (3) mean temperature of the Wettest Quarter (Bio12, 8.5% of variations). We obtained a robust model that provides detail on the distribution of suitable areas for Echinococcus spp. including areas that have not been reported for the parasite. An increasing tendency was observed in the highly suitable areas of Echinococcus spp. indicating that environmental changes would affect the distributions. Conclusion This study may help in the development of policies for at-risk populations in geographically defined areas and monitor improvements in HE control strategies by allowing targeted allocation of resources, including spatial analyses of expenditure and the identification of non-endemic areas or risk for these parasites, and a better comprehension of the role of the environment in clarifying the transmission dynamics of Echinococcus spp. Raising healthcare workers’ and travelers’ disease awareness and preventive health habits is an urgent agenda. Due to unpredictable future land cover types, prediction of the future with only climatic variables involved needs to be treated cautiously.

Objective In this study, serum markers of acute ischemic stroke (AICS) with carotid artery plaque were retrospectively evaluated to establish a basis for discovering serological indicators for early warning of acute ischemic stroke (AICS). Methods A total of 248 patients with AICS were enrolled in Lanzhou University Second Hospital from January 2019 to December 2020. The study population included 136 males and 112 females, 64 ± 11 years of age. Of these, there were 90 patients with a transient ischemic attack (TIA), including 60 males and 30 females, aged 64 ± 8 years old. Patients with AICS were stratified by carotid ultrasound into a plaque group (n = 154) and a non-plaque group (n = 94). A total of 160 healthy subjects were selected as the control group. Serum lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), amyloid A (SAA), immunoglobulin E (IgE), D-dimer (D-D), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were collected from all subjects. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors of AICS with carotid plaque. ROC curve was used to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of AICS with carotid plaque. Results The IgE, Lp-PLA2, SAA, LDL-C, TC, TG, and D-D levels in the AICS group were higher than those in the TIA group and healthy control group (P < 0.05). The IgE level was significantly higher than that in the healthy control group and TIA group. The IgE level in the AICS plaque group was significantly higher than that in the AICS non-plaque group (P < 0.01), and the Lp-PLA2 level was also different (P < 0.05). The incidence of AICS was positively correlated with Lp-PLA2, TC, IgE, TG, D-D, SAA and LDL-C (r = 0.611, 0.499, 0.478, 0.431, 0.386, 0.332, 0.280, all P < 0.05). The incidence of AICS with plaque was only positively correlated with IgE and Lp-PLA2 (r = 0.588, 0.246, P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that IgE and Lp-PLA2 were independent risk factors for predicting the occurrence of AICS with carotid plaque (P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of IgE (0.849) was significantly higher than other indicators; its sensitivity and specificity were also the highest, indicating that IgE can improve the diagnostic efficiency of AICS with carotid plaque. Conclusion IgE is a serum laboratory indicator used to diagnose AICS disease with carotid plaque, which lays a foundation for further research on potential early warning indicators of AICS disease.

Background: A growing number of studies have suggested that the Long intergenic noncoding RNA 00511 ( LINC00511 ) is aberrantly expressed in multiple malignancies and is related to patient survival. Herein, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to comprehensively evaluate the prognostic significance of LINC00511 in human malignancies. Methods: Eligible studies published by March 11, 2020 were identified in 4 electronic databases including PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the prognostic significance of LINC00511 expression in malignant tumors. The association between LINC00511 expression and cancer clinicopathologic features were assessed using Odds ratios (ORs) and CIs. Results: A total of 13 studies, comprising 1,053 patients, were included in the meta-analysis. The calculated hazard ratio was 2.00 (95% CI: 1.59–2.52, P < .000), suggesting that higher LINC00511 expression could predict poorer overall survival in patients with malignancies. Additionally, our statistical analysis indicated that elevated LINC00511 expression closely associated with bigger tumors (OR = 2.92, 95% CI 1.65–5.18, P < .000), higher incidence of lymph node metastasis (OR = 3.46, 95% CI 2.11–5.66, P < .000) and distant metastasis (OR = 2.40, 95% CI 1.14–5.05, P = .02), poorer differentiation (OR = 1.55, 95% CI 1.11-2.16, P = .01), as well as more advanced TNM stage (OR = 3.90, 95% CI 2.70–5.63, P < .000). Conclusions: High LINC00511 expression may predict unfavorable prognosis in patients with malignancies. It should be further explored as a potential prognostic and therapeutic biomarker for human cancer.

Background: Echinococcosis is a global enzootic disease influenced by different biological and environmental factors. We investigated do and patient populations, and climatic and environmental factors affecting the distribution of Echinococcosis in Gansu Province, China. The risk to people in urban areas is increasing with climate, landscape, and lifestyle changes.Methods: We conducted a retrospective descriptive study using hospitalization case data (2000 to 2020) in Lanzhou. All hospital discharges with echinococcosis diagnosis placed in the first diagnostic position were analyzed, and clinical characteristics were described. We mapped the addresses of 626 hospitalized echinococcosis patients and distribution dogs and studied the effects of different temperature models, mean annual rainfall and slope, latitude, land covers, closeproximity to travel routes, livestock, and dog densities on the occurrence of echinococcosis using a geographical information systems approach. The spatial and temporal distribution of patient epidemiological data combined with infected dog fecal incidence from the scientific literature was also evaluated. We assessed model performance and variable importance to discover the relation of these variables to the exposure of the Echinococcus spp. niche. Then, we imported the resulting niche model into future global Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios.Results: The average cost of treating a case of echinococcosis in Gansu Province was $24,370.2 and showed an increasing trend during the study period. The cost of treating a case of echinococcosis in different counties was significantly negative with their corresponding gross domestic product (GDP). The three factors with the strongest correlation to echinococcosis infection probability were (1) GLC (56.6%), (2) annual precipitation (Bio12, 21.2%), and (3) mean temperature of the Wettest Quarter (Bio12, 8.5% of variations). The risk map showed that areas characterized by Echinococcus spp were mainly located east southern Gansu Province with the highest probability, followed by areas in the center of Gansu Province. When comparing the possible future distribution with the present distribution of Echinococcus spp., an increasing tendency was observed in the highly suitable areas of Echinococcus spp., indicating that environmental changes would affect the distribution of Echinococcus spp.Conclusion: This study provides valuable information for cost-effective public health programs to control echinococcosis in Gansu Province and elsewhere. Raising travelers’ disease awareness and preventive health habits is an urgent agenda and most efficient-reaching action with a small investment.