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The aim of this case-control study was to explore the association between serum uric acid to high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (UHR) and the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Chinese adults. A total of 636 patients with NAFLD and 754 controls were enrolled from the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, China, between January and December 2016. All patients completed a comprehensive questionnaire survey and underwent abdominal ultrasound examination and a blood test. NAFLD was diagnosed using ultrasonography after other etiologies were excluded. Logistic regression and restricted cubic spline model were conducted to evaluate the relationship of UHR with NAFLD risk. The multivariable adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval, CI) for NAFLD in the highest versus lowest quartile of UHR was 3.888 (2.324–6.504). In analyses stratified by sex and age, we observed significant and positive associations between UHR and the risk of NAFLD in each subgroup. In analyses stratified by body mass index (BMI), a significant and positive association was found only in individuals with a BMI of ≥ 24 kg/m2. Our dose-response analysis indicated a linear positive correlation between UHR and the risk of NAFLD. UHR is positively associated with the risk of NAFLD and may serve as an innovative and noninvasive marker for identifying individuals at risk of NAFLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Longguan dinosaur tracksite in the Sichuan Basin (China) is described. It is located in the uppermost part of the Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation and displays a single, unusual trackway consisting of 19 deeply impressed pes imprints. All tracks have suffered from erosion over many years of exposure, but they still reveal interesting details such as conspicuous elongated grooves, interpreted here as toe and claw drag marks. The trackmaker, a medium-sized archosaur, was walking in a thick and relatively soft layer of sand. The elongated, oval shape of the footprints resembles the ichnogenus Eosauropus from North America and Europe, assigned to facultative bipedal sauropodomorphs. The Chinese track differs by inward rotation of the footprints toward the midline, whereas in Eosauropus, these are turned strictly outward. Other ichnotaxa and possible trackmakers are discussed, but presently, a distinct assignment cannot be given. The Longguan trackway enlarges the scarce footprint record from the Triassic of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study proposes a sequential approach for humanitarian logistics in natural disasters based on the Bayesian group information updates (GIU). First, a dynamic time-dependent nonlinear model without GIU is proposed. Then, two losses are addressed to explain the in uence of a disaster on supply, demand, and humanitarian logistics. The two losses include losses caused by the mismatch between supply and demand in affected areas and the time losses caused by logistics processes under emergency conditions. Therefore, a multi-period humanitarian logistics planning model with GIU is established based on the model without GIU using Bayesian theory. Then, the model with GIU is revised into a single-objective model, and then a matrixcoding- based genetic algorithm is developed to solve the revised model. Finally, the proposed methodology is applied to the humanitarian logistics problems of emergency response encountered during the Wenchuan Earthquake in China. Computational results show that the proposed methodology can generate specific logistics plans for allocating relief resources according to updated information. Therefore, emergency planners can gain insights for humanitarian logistics planning in natural disaster response by inputting their own sets of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this case-control study was to explore the association between serum uric acid to high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (UHR) and the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Chinese adults., Methods: A total of 636 patients with NAFLD and 754 controls were enrolled from the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, China, between January and December 2016. All patients completed a comprehensive questionnaire survey and underwent abdominal ultrasound examination and a blood test. NAFLD was diagnosed using ultrasonography after other etiologies were excluded. Logistic regression and restricted cubic spline model were conducted to evaluate the relationship of UHR with NAFLD risk., Results: The multivariable adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval, CI ) for NAFLD in the highest versus lowest quartile of UHR was 3.888 (2.324-6.504). In analyses stratified by sex and age, we observed significant and positive associations between UHR and the risk of NAFLD in each subgroup. In analyses stratified by body mass index (BMI), a significant and positive association was found only in individuals with a BMI of ≥ 24 kg/m 2 . Our dose-response analysis indicated a linear positive correlation between UHR and the risk of NAFLD., Conclusion: UHR is positively associated with the risk of NAFLD and may serve as an innovative and noninvasive marker for identifying individuals at risk of NAFLD., (Copyright © 2023 The Editorial Board of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences. Published by China CDC. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To investigate whether there is an association between diameter of bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) scars and effect of purified protein derivative (PPD) reaction and to determine whether vitamin A (VA) combined vitamin D (VD) supplementation influences the immune response to BCG revaccinated in Chinese infants., Methods: A cross-section and 3-month community-randomised trial was conducted. A total of 5 629 infants at 3, 6 and 12 months of age in Junan County of China were examined for BCG scar formation. Then, 597 revaccinated infants were randomly assigned to supplementation (n=307) and control (n=290) groups. The supplementation group were daily assigned to 1 500 IU VA and 500 IU VD for 3 months. Then all infants were subjected to skin test with PPD., Results: The diameter of BCG scars was positively correlated with diameter of skin indurations of PPD (r=0.17, P<0.05) in the 5 629 infants. The rate of positive response to PPD was higher in the supplementation group than in the control group (96.1% versus 89.7%, P<0.05, prevalence ratio 1.07, 95% CI 1.02-1.12). The prevalence ratio of PPD response for the supplementation group compared with that for the control group was 1.07 (95% CI 1.01-1.13) for the males and 1.08 (95% CI 1.00-1.17) for the females. For the supplementation group, the males got larger tuberculin induration than the females [(0.73±0.21) cm versus (0.67±0.20) cm, P<0.05) after intervention., Conclusions: The diameter of BCG scars was effectively correlated with PPD response, which indicates BCG scar formation may be an useful tool to evaluate the effect of tuberculosis prevention. VA combined VD supplementation may play an immuno-regulatory role in BCG revaccination. This may contribute to the prevention of childhood tuberculosis., (Copyright © 2014 Hainan Medical College. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study examined the prevalence of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) among residents aged ≥50 years living in Yongchuan district of Chongqing. Stratified cluster sampling was employed in random selection to estimate the prevalence of glaucoma from April to June, 2005. Twenty-nine villages or neighborhood communities were randomly selected in urban area (Zhongshan Road), suburban area (Shanjiao Town) and exurban area (Zhutuo Town) of this district. All the respondents underwent detailed ophthalmic examinations. The examinations included questionnaire investigation, visual acuity test, naked-eye examination, measurement of peripheral anterior chamber depth (Van Herrick's technique), detection of intraocluar pressure (IOP) with a Perkins hand-held applanation tonometer (HA-2) and examination of the optic disc by using a 78 diopters (D) lens (including the cup-disc ratio, cup/disc ratio asymmetries, horizontal and vertical diameter, notching and optic disc hemorrhages). A total of 5938 residents were actually examined, and the response rate was 85.19%. The crude prevalence of POAG was 0.86% (n=51/5938, 95% CI 0.64%-1.11%). There were 24 males and 27 females in the glaucoma group. The glaucoma prevalence was not significant different in case number between the male and female subjects (P=0.4900). Furthermore, no association between age or schooling and POAG was noted (P=0.8030, 0.0734). Out of 51 subjects with POAG, unilateral glaucoma-related blindness occurred in 38 subjects (74.5%) and bilateral glaucoma-related blindness was found in 7 subjects (13.7%). This study exhibited that the prevalence of POAG was 0.86% among residents aged ≥50 years living in Yongchuan District of Chongqing. The vision loss caused by POAG in this population was obviously higher than that previously reported in other studies. Glaucoma management, detection of affected persons and handling of the burden of glaucoma should be the priorities of the agenda of local health authorities of Western China.