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Aims/Introduction: Excessive dietary salt or low potassium intakes are strongly correlated with insulin resistance (IR) and type 2 diabetes mellitus. In epidemiological and experimental studies, increased serum retinol‐binding protein 4 (RBP4) contributes to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Herein, we hypothesized that RBP4 might be an adipocyte‐derived "signal" that plays the crucial role in salt‐related insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes mellitus. This study aimed to assess whether salt consumption and potassium supplementation influence serum RBP4 levels in healthy individuals. Materials and Methods: A total of 42 participants (aged 25–50 years) in a rural area of Northern China were successively provided normal (3 days at baseline), low‐salt (7 days; 3 g/day NaCl) and high‐salt (7 days; 18 g/day) diets, and a high‐salt diet with potassium additive (7 days; 18 g/day NaCl and 4.5 g/day KCl). Urinary sodium and potassium were measured to ensure compliance to dietary intervention. Then, RBP4 levels were evaluated by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Results: High salt intake significantly raised serum RBP4 levels in healthy participants (17.5 ± 0.68 vs 28.6 ± 1.02 µg/mL). This phenomenon was abrogated by potassium supplementation (28.6 ± 1.02 vs 17.6 ± 0.88 µg/mL). In addition, RBP4 levels presented positive (r = 0.528, P < 0.01) and negative (r = −0.506, P < 0.01) associations with 24‐h urinary sodium‐ and potassium excretion levels. Conclusions: RBP4 synthesis is motivated by high salt intake and revoked by potassium supplementation. Our pioneer work has contributed to the present understanding of salt‐induced insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes mellitus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal wastewater reuse has been an important way to enhance water pollution control and water conservation in China. However, many pollutants, such as N, P, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), are contained in the reclaimed water that can pollute the groundwater environment around rivers and lakes supplied with reclaimed water. Therefore, an environmentally friendly method to control infiltration and purification is quite necessary. Original sediment is one potential option. Therefore, in this study, the effects of sediment thickness at 5, 10, and 20 cm were studied for water infiltration and purification processes in riverbed media. The results indicate that the infiltration efficiency of the riverbed media was reduced when the sediment formed gradually and reached an appreciable level. The thickness was kept at 5-20 cm, and the ranges of the removal efficiencies for BOD, COD, ammonium-nitrogen, nitrate-nitrogen, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were 47.7-69.0, 49.9-62.7, 90.6-92.5, 30.5-45.8, 42.7-63.1, and 62.2-77.9%, respectively, by a sediment and soil pillar of riverbed media. The removal efficiencies increased by increasing the sediment thickness, and the final infiltration rates were over 10 cm/s. The riverbed infiltration remained steady even when thickness was beyond 20 cm, and the purification effect was obvious. The ammonium-nitrogen removal efficiency of the riverbed filtration system did not appear to have an unlimited increase with the increase in sediment thickness. Generally, the existence of a nitrification and denitrification interface was located in the sedimentary layer, and it remained anaerobic at the bottom over a 10-cm thickness. Because ammonium-nitrogen was involved in nitrification, the nitrate-nitrogen concentration of the percolate tended to increase at the beginning of experiments. As the adsorption and nitrification took place, over 90% of ammonium-nitrogen was removed in the riverbed infiltration system through attachment to sediments. The experimental results could be used as references in river regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW) is an important issue facing current research. On the basis of MSW composition analysis, this paper investigates the sorting methods of MSW and the utilization of waste in northeastern China by combining theory, experimentation and practice. According to the physical and chemical properties of waste, manual sorting must first be completed followed by magnetic separation, pneumatic separation and water concentration. A green brick can later be made by mixing the crushed construction waste, which is selected manually, with other waste that is selected by machine. Select organic compounds can also be used to make methane by fermentation at temperatures of 35±3 °C at a inoculation rate about 25% and a PH value of near 7.0; the resulting solid rate would need to be controlled within 9–21%. The methane could be used to generate electricity after removing sulfur and CO 2 and drying. An organic–inorganic fertilizer could be made by adding 20–30% of crushed plant stalks into the biogas fermenter and mixing it evenly with added N, P and K after dehydration, secondary fermentation and granulation drying. Both the electricity and exhaust heat could be utilized to improve the utilization of energy. When applied to a model city, the comprehensive treatment system proposed is shown to improve resource utilization by approximately about 40% compared with conventional methods; thus, the goals of waste reduction and recycling have been achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acute gastroenteritis is an important and highly prevalent public health problem worldwide. The purpose of this study was to assess the economic burden of disease and its influencing factors in patients with acute gastroenteritis in Heilongjiang Province, China., Methods: A multi-stage stratified random sampling method was used in a face-to-face household survey in 2018. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, clinical symptoms, suspicious dietary history, and disease treatment information were collected from 19,647 respondents. One-way analysis of variance and multiple stepwise regression analysis were used to investigate the factors associated with the economic burden of acute gastroenteritis. Quantitative risk analysis and sensitivity analysis were performed to estimate the uncertainty and risk factors of the economic burden of acute gastroenteritis., Results: The total economic burden of patients with acute gastroenteritis was 63,969.22 CNY (Chinese Yuan), of which the direct economic burden accounted for 63.82%; the per capita economic burden was 131.35 CNY per month. Age, region, disease duration, and disease treatment were the main factors significantly associated with the economic burden of acute gastroenteritis ( P < 0.05). The average economic burden of patients with acute gastroenteritis was approximately 571.84 CNY/person (95% CI: 227-1,459). Sensitivity analysis showed that the greatest impact was from the indirect economic burden., Conclusions: Acute gastroenteritis brings a substantial health burden to patients due to its high incidence. The economic burden of self-purchased drugs and the indirect economic burden of patients cannot be ignored. To better estimate the economic burden of acute gastroenteritis in China, further studies on the pathogen-specific economic burden of acute gastroenteritis are required., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Huo, Gao, Wang, Liu, Zhou, Gu, Zhang and Ma.)

Objective: Statins are recommended as the first-line treatments for reducing the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The present study aimed to establish the baseline lipid levels associated with the greatest benefit from statin therapy in this population., Methods: The study used a retrospective cohort methodology. In total, 636 patients with ACS were enrolled at Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital from 2011 to 2013. Participants were divided into four groups (group 1, hyperlipidemia with inconsistent statin use; group 2, no hyperlipidemia with inconsistent statin use; group 3, no hyperlipidemia with consistent statin use; and group 4, hyperlipidemia with consistent statin use)., Results: Patients in groups 3 (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.29-0.82) and 4 (HR = 0.21, 95% CI = 0.10-0.45) had lower risks of MACE than those in group 1. In subgroup analysis, patients in group 4 had a lower risk of MACE than those in group 3 (adjusted HR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.21-0.89)., Conclusion: Sustained statin therapy is associated with a lower risk of adverse outcomes in patients with ACS, especially in those with higher baseline lipid levels.

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to study the anti-inflammatory effect and possibly involved molecular mechanisms of matrine on oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-exposed macrophages. MATERIAL AND METHODS Cultured human macrophages (THP-1 cell line) were exposed to ox-LDL at final concentrations of 0, 25, 50, and 100 μg/mL. Several cells were then treated with matrine at serial diluted concentrations. 2,7-Dichlorodi-hydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) staining was used to evaluate reactive oxygen species (ROS) production; a colorimetric method was used to determine the cellular antioxidant capacity; production of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)18 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)alpha were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); and immunoblot assay was used to assess the relative protein phosphorylation and expression. RESULTS ox-LDL exposure significantly elevated intracellular ROS level and supernatant IL18 and TNFalpha concentrations, but impaired total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of macrophages. The relative phosphorylations of MAPK kinase kinases (MKK)6, MKK3, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) were increased by ox-LDL exposure. The expression levels of IL18 and TNFalpha were also increased in ox-LDL-treated macrophages. The matrine treatment reduced intracellular ROS level and supernatant IL18 and TNFalpha concentrations and increased TAC in a concentration- dependent manner. The relative phosphorylations of MKK6, MKK3, and p38 MAPK were reduced after matrine administration. Moreover, the expression levels of IL18 and TNFalpha were also decreased by matrine treatment, in a concentration-dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS ox-LDL increases inflammatory response in macrophages by activating the ROS-mediated MKKs/p38 MAPK-induced inflammatory signaling pathway. Matrine suppresses ox-LDL-induced inflammatory by inhibiting the MKKs/p38 MAPK signaling pathway.