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Limited evidence is available regarding the impact of ambient inhalable particulate matter (PM) on mental disorder (MD) or dementia-related deaths, particularly PM1, PM1–2.5, and coarse particles (PM2.5–10). Moreover, individual confounders have rarely been considered. In addition, evidence from low-pollution areas is needed but is inadequate. Using death records from the Death Registration System during 2015–2021 in Ningde, a coastal city in southeast China, we combined a conditional quasi-Poisson model with a distributed lag nonlinear model to estimate the nonlinear and lagged associations of PM exposure with MD or dementia-related deaths in Ningde, China, comprehensively controlling for individual time-invariant confounders using a time-stratified case-crossover design. The attributable fraction and number were calculated to quantify the burden of MD or dementia-related deaths that were related to PMs. We found J-shaped relationships between MD or dementia-related deaths and PMs, with different thresholds of 13, 9, 19, 33 and 12 μg/m3 for PM1, PM1–2.5, PM2.5, PM10 and PM2.5–10. An inter-quartile range increase for PM1, PM1–2.5, PM2.5, PM10 and PM2.5–10 above the thresholds led to an increase of 31.8% (95% confidence interval, 14.3–51.9%), 53.7% (22.4–93.1%), 32.6% (15.0–53.0%), 35.1% (17.7–55.0%) and 25.9% (13.0–40.3%) in MD-related deaths at lag 0–3 days, respectively. The associations were significant in the cool season rather than in the warm season and were significantly greater among people aged 75–84 years than in others. The fractions of MD-related deaths attributable to PM1, PM1–2.5, PM2.5, PM10 and PM2.5–10 were 5.55%, 6.49%, 7.68%, 10.66%, and 15.11%, respectively; however, only some of them could be protected by the concentrations recommended by the World Health Organisation or China grade I standard. Smaller associations and similar patterns were observed between PMs and dementia-related death. These findings suggest stricter standards, and provide evidence for the development of relevant policies and measures.

Abstract Accurate and stable short‐term passenger flow prediction is an indispensable part of current intelligent transportation systems. This paper proposes two deep learning prediction models based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) and long short‐term memory neural network (LSTM). Combining the CNN characteristics and the LSTM, the ConvXD‐LSTM extracts passenger flow features through CNN and then inputs the time series into the LSTM. The ConvLSTM converts the weight calculation of the LSTM into convolution operation to realize short‐term passenger flow prediction. Fuzhou Metro Line 1 passenger flow data was used for verification. The models were used to predict the passenger flow of subway stations and cross‐sections and compared with the traditional prediction models. In terms of prediction accuracy, ConvLSTM has the highest accuracy, followed by ConvXD‐LSTM. In terms of running time, ConvXD is the fastest and LSTM takes the longest. ConvXD‐LSTM and ConvLSTM are in the middle of the two models, achieving a good balance between accuracy and efficiency. Compared with ConvXD‐LSTM, ConvLSTM has a relatively simple network structure, which reduces the computational burden and improves the prediction accuracy.

Hypoglycemic effects and the use of kelp in diabetes mellitus (DM) model rats induced by alloxan were investigated. Sixty healthy male rats were used to establish DM models by injecting alloxan intraperitoneally. Kelp powder was added to the general forage for the rats. The levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG) were determined by an automatic blood glucose device. Electrochemiluminescence immunoassay was applied to determine the serum levels of insulin. The serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured by thiobarbituric acid assay and nitric oxide (NO) by nitrate reductase assay. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined by xanthinoxidase assay and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) by chemical colorimetry. The shape and structure of islet cells were observed with Hematine-Eosin staining, and the expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in islet cells were detected by immunohistochemical assay. The results showed that the serum levels of insulin after treatment with kelp powder increased significantly compared to those in the DM-model group, while the FBG in the medium-high dose treated groups decreased significantly compared to those in the DM-model group (P < 0.05). The levels of MDA and NO in the kelp powder groups were lower than those in the DM-model group, while the activities of SOD and GSH-Px were higher than those in the DM-model group, of which a significant difference existed between the medium-high dose treated groups and the DM-model group (P < 0.05). The shape and structure of islet cells improved with the up-expressing SOD and down-expressing iNOS in the medium-high dose treated groups compared to those in the DM-model group (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the medium and high dose treated groups, all above indexes (P > 0.05). It is suggested that kelp might aid recovery of the the islet cell secreting function and reduce the level of FBG by an antioxidant effect.

The aim of this study was to explore the effect of picroside II on neuronal apoptosis and the expression of caspase-3 and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) following middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion in male Wistar rats. Picroside II (10 mg/kg) was administered intravenously into the tail vein of the animals. The neurological function deficits were evaluated with the Bederson’s test and the cerebral infarction volume was visualized with tetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. The apoptotic cells were counted by in situ terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotinylated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. The immunohistochemistry stain and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the expressions of caspase-3 and PARP in brain tissue. The results indicated that rats in the control group showed neurological function deficit and cerebral infarction in ischemic hemisphere after two hours ischemia followed by 22 hours reperfusion. Caspase-3 and PARP expressions were also profound in the cortex, the striatum and the hippocampus, along with increased apoptotic cells in this group. Bederson's score, infarction volume, and expressions of caspase-3 and PARP, as well as apoptosis in the treatment group were, however, significantly decreased compared to those in the control group indicating that intravenous treatment with picroside II might be beneficial to inhibit neuronal apoptosis and, thus, to improve the neurological function of rats upon cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury.

Abstract Objectives To examine the characteristics of blood lymphocyte subsets in dermatomyositis-interstitial lung disease (DM-ILD) inflicted patients with positive anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 (anti-MDA5), as well as its prognosis value in this set of patients. Methods Data were retrospectively collected from 253 DM-ILD patients from three hospitals in China between January 2016 to January 2021. Patients were grouped into anti-MDA5 antibody positive group (MDA5+ DM-ILD) and anti-MDA5 antibody negative group (MDA5− DM-ILD) based on myositis-specific autoantibody test results. Demographic characteristics, lymphocyte subsets patterns and other clinical features were compared between the two groups. The association of lymphocyte subsets with 180-day mortality was investigated using survival analysis in MDA5+ DM-ILD. Results Out of 253 eligible patients with DM-ILD, 59 patients were anti-MDA5+ and 194 were anti-MDA5−. Peripheral blood lymphocyte count, CD3+ count, percentage of CD3+, CD3+CD4+ count, and CD3+CD8+ count was lower in MDA5+ DM-ILD than in MDA5− DM-ILD− (all P

Abstract Background Infection, even outbreak, caused by Cryptococcus gattii (C. gattii) has been reported in Canada and the United States, but there were sparsely-reported cases of C. gattii in China. Our interest in occurrence, clinical manifestation, laboratory identification and molecular characterization of Chinese C. gattii strains leads us to this research. Results Out of 254 clinical isolates, initially identified as Cryptococcus neoformans (C. neoformans), eight strains were re-identified as C. gattii. Multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) showed genotype VGI accounted for the most (6 / 8), the other two strains were genotype VGII (VGIIa and VGIIb respectively) with 3 specific spectra of molecular weight about 4342, 8686, 9611 Da by MALDI-TOF MS. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of Fluconazole with Yeast one was 2~4 times higher than that with ATB fungus 3 and MICs of antifungal agents against VGII strains were higher than against VGI strains. Comparative proteome analysis showed that 329 and 180 proteins were highly expressed by C. gattii VGI and VGII respectively. The enrichment of differentially expressed proteins was directed to Golgi complex. Conclusions Infection by C. gattii in China occurred sparsely. Genotype VGI was predominant but VGII was more resistant to antifungal agents. There was significant difference in protein expression profile between isolates of VGI and VGII C. gattii.

Hypoglycemic effects and the use of kelp in diabetes mellitus (DM) model rats induced by alloxan were investigated. Sixty healthy male rats were used to establish DM models by injecting alloxan intraperitoneally. Kelp powder was added to the general forage for the rats. The levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG) were determined by an automatic blood glucose device. Electrochemiluminescence immunoassay was applied to determine the serum levels of insulin. The serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured by thiobarbituric acid assay and nitric oxide (NO) by nitrate reductase assay. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined by xanthinoxidase assay and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) by chemical colorimetry. The shape and structure of islet cells were observed with Hematine-Eosin staining, and the expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in islet cells were detected by immunohistochemical assay. The results showed that the serum levels of insulin after treatment with kelp powder increased significantly compared to those in the DM-model group, while the FBG in the medium-high dose treated groups decreased significantly compared to those in the DM-model group (P < 0.05). The levels of MDA and NO in the kelp powder groups were lower than those in the DM-model group, while the activities of SOD and GSH-Px were higher than those in the DM-model group, of which a significant difference existed between the medium-high dose treated groups and the DM-model group (P < 0.05). The shape and structure of islet cells improved with the up-expressing SOD and down-expressing iNOS in the medium-high dose treated groups compared to those in the DM-model group (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the medium and high dose treated groups, all above indexes (P > 0.05). It is suggested that kelp might aid recovery of the the islet cell secreting function and reduce the level of FBG by an antioxidant effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore the effect of picroside II on neuronal apoptosis and the expression of caspase-3 and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) following middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion in male Wistar rats. Picroside II (10 mg/kg) was administered intravenously into the tail vein of the animals. The neurological function deficits were evaluated with the Bederson's test and the cerebral infarction volume was visualized with tetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. The apoptotic cells were counted by in situ terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotinylated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. The immunohistochemistry stain and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the expressions of caspase-3 and PARP in brain tissue. The results indicated that rats in the control group showed neurological function deficit and cerebral infarction in ischemic hemisphere after two hours ischemia followed by 22 hours reperfusion. Caspase-3 and PARP expressions were also profound in the cortex, the striatum and the hippocampus, along with increased apoptotic cells in this group. Bederson's score, infarction volume, and expressions of caspase-3 and PARP, as well as apoptosis in the treatment group were, however, significantly decreased compared to those in the control group indicating that intravenous treatment with picroside II might be beneficial to inhibit neuronal apoptosis and, thus, to improve the neurological function of rats upon cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]