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Background: Very little literature has explored how mental disability in China is connected with inequalities in social and environmental contexts. In the study described herein, we determine whether social-context inequalities were associated with mental disability in China from 1987 to 2006.Methods: Data were derived from national representative population-based data from the 1987 and 2006 China National Sample Survey on Disability. Both surveys used multistage, stratified random cluster sampling, with a probability proportionate to size, to derive nationally representative samples. A multilevel logistic regression model was applied to estimate the effects of province-specific contextual characteristics on men and women. We also examined the association with mental disability risk stratified by selected covariates. Study populations were (N = 698,810) in 1987 and (N = 1,260,947) in 2006.Result: Most of the province-level variables in the 1987 and 2006 surveys were unrelated to mental disability risks in either men or women after controlling for individual characteristics. The age-adjusted prevalence of mental disability nearly doubled among men and women from 1987 to 2006. The effects of the province-specific prevalence of agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery activities and the percentage of the population age 65 and over significantly lowered the risk of mental disability among women in 1987, by 48 and 32%, respectively. Moreover, the number of health professionals modified the association with per capita gross domestic product (GDP) among women but only in 1987.Conclusion: To face the challenges of mental disability and interprovincial inequality, the Chinese government should adjust its strategies not only for health-care systems but also to correct for inequalities in interprovincial development; this action may help prevent mental disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Menarche is a milestone for adolescent girls. The timing of menarche is influenced by genetics, social status and nutritional status (e.g., height, weight and body mass index [BMI]) and impacts future health (e.g., obesity and breast cancer). There have been many studies on trends in age at menarche among adolescent girls in China, but few have investigated associations between growth status and the timing of menarche. This study examined the association between age at menarche and growth status among adolescent girls in Western China.Methods: The participants in this cross sectional study came from three geographical regions of Shaanxi Province. A total of 533 adolescent girls from urban and rural areas were randomly selected. Trained investigators administered a standard questionnaire to each participant during a face-to-face interview and carried out anthropometric measurements.Results: The average age at menarche was 13.3 years. There were statistically significant differences in BMI z-scores between pre-menarcheal and post-menarcheal girls of the same age and these differences were related to socioeconomic factors. Girls who had reached menarche, in particular those aged 13-14 years, were significantly taller (P < 0.01) and had higher BMI (P < 0.01) than girls in the same age group who had not reached menarche.Conclusions: BMI is associated with the timing of menarche but socioeconomic factors are also important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to calculate the prevalence rate of HIV-related sexual risk behaviours (HSRB) among Chinese youth and determine whether there was an association between sexual orientation and HSRB. Methods: This study used a nationally representative survey of youth aged 15-24 years in China. Population numbers, prevalence, and proportions were calculated where appropriate. χ² tests were used to determine the difference within categorical variables. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate the adjusted odd ratios (AOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: The rate of any HSRB among sexually active youth was 79.43%, and the most common HSRB was lack of condom use during the first sexual experience (66.02%). After adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic variables (sex, age, residence, living with parents or not, father's education and annual family income), non-heterosexual orientation was found to significantly increase the odds of HSRB (AOR = 2.42, 95% CI: 1.16-5.05). Conclusions: Non-heterosexual youth are at a higher risk of partaking in HSRB. The high prevalence of HSRB indicates the insufficiency of sex education for Chinese youth, especially for non-heterosexual youth. Greater efforts should be made to increase reproductive and sexual health services for Chinese youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the distribution of sexual orientations and examined disparities by sex and rural and urban residency of non-heterosexual youth, aged 15-24 years, in China. Data was derived from a 2009 nationally representative survey. Among 22 288 participants, 0.79% identified as homosexual, 1.47% identified as bisexual, and 4.26% were unsure about their sexual orientation. Compared with male youth and urban youth, female youth (adjusted odds ratio = 1.37, 95% confidence interval: 1.23-1.52) and rural youth (adjusted odds ratio = 1.23, 95% confidence interval: 1.09-1.40) were more likely to be non-heterosexual. More efforts should be made to enhance sex education and legal protection for non-heterosexual youth in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the clinical effect of probiotics combined with Ulinastatin and Somatostatin in the treatment of severe acute pancreatitis. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 160 patients with severe acute pancreatitis treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College from July 2021 to June 2023. There were 78 patients received Ulinastatin and Somatostatin treatment (Control group), and 82 patients received probiotics in addition to Ulinastatin and Somatostatin treatment (Observation group). The treatment effect and the time required to alleviate clinical symptoms were compared between the two groups. Serum levels of inflammatory factors, intestinal mucosal indexes and the incidence of adverse reactions before and after treatment were analyzed. Results: The total efficacy of the Observation group (95.12%) was higher than that of the Control group (85.90%) (P<0.05). Combined probiotic/Ulinastatin + Somatostatin treatment was associated with shorter time to remission of the clinical symptoms (P<0.05). After the treatment, serum levels of inflammatory factors in the two groups were decreased, and was significantly lower in the Observation group compared to the Control group (P<0.05). Similarly, post-treatment serum levels of intestinal mucosal indexes in the two groups were lower than before the treatment, and significantly lower in the Observation group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the groups (P>0.05). Conclusions: A combined regimen of probiotics, Ulinastatin and Somatostatin is safe and can more effectively relieve clinical symptoms in patients with severe acute pancreatitis, reduce levels of inflammatory factors, lower intestinal mucosal damage and improve the overall treatment effect compared to Ulinastatin and Somatostatin regimen alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, GNSS-Acoustic (GNSS-A) combined technology is widely used in positioning for seafloor geodetic stations. Based on Sound Velocity Profiles (SVPs) data, the equal gradient acoustic ray-tracing method is applied in high-precision position inversion. However, because of the discreteness of the SVPs used in the forementioned method, it ignores the continuous variation of sound velocity structure in time domain, which worsens the positioning accuracy. In this study, the time-domain variation of Sound Speed Structure (SSS) has been considered, and the cubic B-spline function is applied to characterize the perturbed sound velocity. Based on the ray-tracing theory, an inversion model of “stepwise iteration & progressive corrections” for both positioning and sound speed information is proposed, which conducts the gradual correction of seafloor geodetic station coordinates and disturbed sound velocity. The practical data was used to test the effectiveness of our method. The results show that the Root Mean Square (RMS) errors of the residual values of the traditional methods without sound velocity correction, based on quadratic polynomial correction and based on cubic B-spline function correction are 1.43ms, 0.44ms and 0.21ms, respectively. The inversion model with sound velocity correction can effectively eliminate the systematic error caused by the change of SSS, and significantly improve the positioning accuracy of the seafloor geodetic stations.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of miR-378a/FSCN1 axis on tumor stemness and aerobic glycolysis in colorectal cancer cells (CRC). Methods: Abnormal expressions of miR-378a and FSCN1 in CRC tissues were analyzed through TCGA database. Cell viability and apoptosis were determined using 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-3,5-di- phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) assay and flow cytometry, respectively, while expression of miR- 378a was evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Furthermore, Western blotting assay was used to assess protein expressions. The miR-378a target was evaluated using ENCORI and confirmed by luciferase assay. Aerobic glycolysis was evaluated by determining glucose uptake, lactate production and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity. Results: Downregulation of miR-378a and upregulation of FSCN1 were observed in both CRC tissues and cell lines (p < 0.05). Overexpression of miR-378a and repression of FSCN1 reduced cell viability and tumor sphere formation, and induced cell apoptosis. Protein expression of SOX2, KLF4, Bmi1 and Oct-4 were downregulated by either the overexpression of miR-378a or repression of FSCN1 (p < 0.01). Glucose uptake, lactate production and LDH activity were inhibited by either overexpression of miR-378a or repression of FSCN1, while cytotoxicity of Dox and 5-Fu was increased by upregulation of miR- 378a or downregulation of FSCN1 (p < 0.05). The predictive results of ENCORI demonstrated that FSCN1 was the direct target of miR-378a, and this was confirmed by luciferase assay results (p < 0.005). All the effects of miR-378a in CRC were reversed by overexpression of FSCN1 (p < 0.05). Conclusion: This study has shown that miR-378a suppresses tumor stemness and increases the cytotoxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs by directly targeting FSCN1, resulting in the prevention of CRC tumorigenesis. Thus, these findings suggest a new approach to the chemotherapeutic management of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithospheric effective elastic thickness (Te), a proxy for plIate strength, is helpful for the understanding of subduction characteristics. Affected by curvature, faulting and magma activity, lithospheric strength near trenches should be weakened but some regional inversion studies have shown much higher Te values along some trenches than in their surroundings. In order to improve Te-estimation accuracy, here we discuss the long-wavelength effect of dynamic topography and gravity on Te estimation by taking the Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) Trench as a case study area. We estimate the long-wavelength influence of the density and negative buoyancy of the subducting slab on observed gravity anomalies and seafloor topography. The residual topography and gravity are used to map Te using the fan-wavelet coherence method. Maps of Te, both with and without the effects of dynamic topography and slab gravity anomaly, contain a band of high-Te values along the IBM Trench, though these values and their errors are lower when slab effects are accounted for. Nevertheless, tests show that the Te map is relatively insensitive to the choice of slab-density modelling method, even though the dynamic topography and slab-induced gravity anomaly vary considerably when the slab density is modelled by different methods. The continued presence of a high-Te band along the trench after application of dynamic corrections shows that, before using 2-D inversion methods to estimate Te variations in subduction zones, there are other factors that should be considered besides the slab dynamic effects on the overriding plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the clinical effect of probiotics combined with Ulinastatin and Somatostatin in the treatment of severe acute pancreatitis., Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 160 patients with severe acute pancreatitis treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College from July 2021 to June 2023. There were 78 patients received Ulinastatin and Somatostatin treatment (Control group), and 82 patients received probiotics in addition to Ulinastatin and Somatostatin treatment (Observation group). The treatment effect and the time required to alleviate clinical symptoms were compared between the two groups. Serum levels of inflammatory factors, intestinal mucosal indexes and the incidence of adverse reactions before and after treatment were analyzed., Results: The total efficacy of the Observation group (95.12%) was higher than that of the Control group (85.90%) ( P <0.05). Combined probiotic/Ulinastatin + Somatostatin treatment was associated with shorter time to remission of the clinical symptoms ( P <0.05). After the treatment, serum levels of inflammatory factors in the two groups were decreased, and was significantly lower in the Observation group compared to the Control group ( P <0.05). Similarly, post-treatment serum levels of intestinal mucosal indexes in the two groups were lower than before the treatment, and significantly lower in the Observation group ( P <0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the groups ( P >0.05)., Conclusions: A combined regimen of probiotics, Ulinastatin and Somatostatin is safe and can more effectively relieve clinical symptoms in patients with severe acute pancreatitis, reduce levels of inflammatory factors, lower intestinal mucosal damage and improve the overall treatment effect compared to Ulinastatin and Somatostatin regimen alone., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: None., (Copyright: © Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences.)