BackgroundSuitable diagnostic markers for cancers are urgently required in clinical practice. Long non-coding RNAs, which have been reported in many cancer types, are a potential new class of biomarkers for tumor diagnosis.ResultsFive lncRNAs, including AK001058, INHBA-AS1, MIR4435-2HG, UCA1 and CEBPA-AS1 were validated to be increased in gastric cancer tissues. Furthermore, we found that plasma level of these five lncRNAs were significantly higher in gastric cancer patients compared with normal controls. By receiver operating characteristic analysis, we found that the combination of plasma lncRNAs with the area under the curve up to 0.921, including AK001058, INHBA-AS1, MIR4435-2HG, and CEBPA-AS1, is a better indicator of gastric cancer than their individual levels or other lncRNA combinations. Simultaneously, we found that the expression levels of a series of MIR4435-2HG fragments are different in gastric cancer plasma samples, but most of them higher than that in healthy control plasma samples.Materials and MethodsLncRNA gene expression profiles were analyzed in two pairs of human gastric cancer and adjacent non-tumor tissues by microarray analysis. Nine gastric cancer-associated lncRNAs were selected and assessed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in gastric tissues, and 5 of them were further analyzed in gastric cancer patients’ plasma.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate that certain lncRNAs, such as AK001058, INHBA-AS1, MIR4435-2HG, and CEBPA-AS1, are enriched in human gastric cancer tissues and significantly elevated in the plasma of patients with gastric cancer. These findings indicate that the combination of these four lncRNAs might be used as diagnostic or prognostic markers for gastric cancer patients.

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Abstract:Cycling is an important form of active transport and physical activity to provide substantial health benefits to the elderly. Among voluminous physical activity-related literature, few studies have investigated the correlates of active transport of the rural elderly in China. This study was the first attempt to investigate the impact of the household, personal, and environmental attributes on rural elderly's cycling activity with data collected in 102 rural neighborhoods of Zhongshan Metropolitan Area, China. The negative binomial regression models suggest that, all else being equal, living in a neighborhood with low proportion of elderly population (over 60), abundant bike lanes, and a compact urban form related to high density and mixed development, are associated with the increase of frequency and duration of the rural elderly's cycling trips. The models also detect that attitude towards cycling and household bicycle and motorized vehicle ownership are strongly related to cycling trips of the rural elderly in Zhongshan. The findings provide insights for transportation and public health agencies, practitioners, and researchers into the effective design of interventions from the prospective of attitudes, social and built environment on health promotion of the rural elderly in China.