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Abstract The phenomenon of rural in-migration is emerging as a significant trend in various global hotspots, playing a crucial role in reshaping these rural areas from social and spatial perspectives. The decision-making process for rural in-migrants regarding settlement is complex. Although previous studies have acknowledged that settlement intentions are influenced by social and environmental factors, such as the economy, natural environment, and public service facilities, many have relied on a stated-preference approach to measure migrants’ settlement intentions. This method may overlook the inherent complexity and fluidity of the decision-making process. Drawing upon the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this paper formulates questions aligned with the three stages of decision-making to examine the settlement intentions of rural in-migrants. Employing multiple linear regression analysis, the study assesses the impact of social and environmental factors on the settlement decisions of rural in-migrants in four villages surrounding Dali, a renowned rural destination in southwest China that attracts a diverse range of migrants. The findings highlight the pivotal role of public service facilities’ quality in rural villages in the decision-making process, particularly among those who have already formulated settlement plans. Additionally, the research reveals that female in-migrants place a heightened emphasis on the quality of these facilities. Furthermore, a higher level of education correlates with a broader diversity of influencing factors. As migrants age, a wider range of considerations comes into play, with the natural environment emerging as a key factor for older in-migrants. This article emphasizes the equal importance of continuously improving public service facilities, strengthening economic vitality, and protecting rural natural landscapes to support the development of rural communities.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) precursors are indirect sources of many PFAS in the environment, widely utilized in various fields such as food packaging, firefighting foams, metal plating, textile coatings, and pesticides. Due to the transformation of PFAS precursors in the environment and limitations in analytical testing methods, PFAS precursors are often neglected. The biological toxicity of PFAS precursors has been confirmed, including their interference with normal fetal development, induction of immunotoxicity, and cell apoptosis in the mother's body. Moreover, PFAS precursors can transform into stable PFAS, posing sustained hazards to the ecological environment and biological health. Investigating the transport and transformation behavior of PFAS precursors in different environmental media is crucial to their contaminant control. Based on recent researches, this study provides a comprehensive review of the major sources and existence characteristics of PFAS precursors, as well as their transport and transformation behaviors in environmental media such as the atmosphere, soil, and water bodies. The results indicate that PFAS precursors have been widely detected in water bodies, soils, suspended particulate matter (SPM), sediments, and the atmosphere worldwide. During the transport process, water bodies are the main carriers of PFAS precursors, while soils, SPM, and sediments mainly play a role in retention. In addition, long-distance transport through the atmosphere is an important source of pollution in extreme areas. Furthermore, the retention and migration of PFAS precursors in environmental media often accompany transformation, resulting in producing PFAS that endangers the ecological environment and biological health continuously. This article reviews the research progress on the migration and transformation of PFAS precursors in the environment, aiming to provide the basis for the pollution prevention and control of PFAS precursors and PFAS.

Abstract Performance of Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) model in the early stage of a novel epidemic may be hindered by data availability. Additionally, the traditional SIR model may oversimplify the disease progress, and knowledge about the virus and transmission is limited early in the epidemic, resulting in a greater uncertainty of such modelling. We aimed to investigate the impact of model inputs on the early-stage SIR projection using COVID-19 as an illustration to evaluate the application of early infection models. We constructed a modified SIR model using discrete-time Markov chain to simulate daily epidemic dynamics and estimate the number of beds needed in Wuhan in the early stage of COVID-19 epidemic. We compared eight scenarios of SIR projection to the real-world data (RWD) and used root mean square error (RMSE) to assess model performance. According to the National Health Commission, the number of beds occupied in isolation wards and ICUs due to COVID-19 in Wuhan peaked at 37,746. In our model, as the epidemic developed, we observed an increasing daily new case rate, and decreasing daily removal rate and ICU rate. This change in rates contributed to the growth in the needs of bed in both isolation wards and ICUs. Assuming a 50% diagnosis rate and 70% public health efficacy, the model based on parameters estimated using data from the day reaching 3200 to the day reaching 6400 cases returned a lowest RMSE. This model predicted 22,613 beds needed in isolation ward and ICU as on the day of RWD peak. Very early SIR model predictions based on early cumulative case data initially underestimated the number of beds needed, but the RMSEs tended to decline as more updated data were used. Very-early-stage SIR model, although simple but convenient and relatively accurate, is a useful tool to provide decisive information for the public health system and predict the trend of an epidemic of novel infectious disease in the very early stage, thus, avoiding the issue of delay-decision and extra deaths.

The formation of soil in karst ecosystem has always been a scientific problem of great concern to human beings. Algae can grow on the exposed and non-nutrition carbonate surface, inducing and accelerating weathering of rock substrates, thus promoting soil formation. Yet the actual contribution of algae to solutional weathering intensity remains unclear. In this study, we performed weathering simulation experiment on two algae species (Klebsormidium dissectum (F.Gay) H.Ettl & G.Gärtner and Chlorella vulgaris Beijerinck), which were screened from carbonated rock surfaces from a typical karst region in South China. The results showed: (1) both algae have solutional weathering effect on carbonate rock, (2) there is no difference of solutional intensity observed, yet the solutional modes are different, suggesting different ecological adaptative strategies, (3) algae on carbonate rocks have higher carbonic anhydrase activity (CAA) and secrete more extracellular polysaccharide (EPS), accelerating rock weathering. (4) The absolute dissolution amount of carbonate rock with algae participation is 3 times of that of without algae. These results indicate the significant impact of terrestrial algae on carbonate rock solutional weathering and provides quantitative evidence that terrestrial algae are pioneer species. It also contributes to our further understanding of soil formation in karst ecosystems in South China.

Objective To analyze the microflora structure and abundance of ileum and colon of SPF male SD rats by high-throughput sequencing technique.MethodsThe ileal and colonic lumen contents of 30 SPF male SD rats were collected, the total bacterial DNA in the contents was extracted and amplified by PCR. The V3-V4 region of bacterial 16S rRNA in the samples was sequenced using Illumina NovaSeq sequencing platform. Then the species structure and abundance of the intestinal flora were analyzed at the phylum and genus level based on validated data. The diversity and differences between ileal and colonic flora were analyzed using the QIIME software (amplicon) analysis tool. The Tax4Fun program was applied to predict the dominant gene enrichment pathways of ileal and colonic flora.ResultsAt the phylum level, the dominant microflora in the ileum of male SD rats were Firmicutes and Actinobacteria, accounting for more than 98%. The dominant colonic microbial community were mainly Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, accounting for more than 95%. At the genus level, Lactobacillus and Alistipes were the predominant bacteria in the ileum. The colon was dominated by Lactobacillus and Romboutsia. In terms of flora diversity, the alpha diversity of colonic flora including richness index (Chao1 index) and diversity index (Shannon index) were significantly higher than those of ileum (P < 0.01), and the structural variability of the composition of its flora species was smaller than that of ileum; the ileal flora with significant structural variability were mainly of the phylum Firmicutes, Romboutsia, Peptostreptococcaceae, while the colonic flora had significant structural differences in Bacteroidales. In terms of flora function, the ileal flora dominant genes were significantly enriched in lipid-like metabolism, polyketide metabolism, membrane transport, biodegradation and other pathways, while the colonic flora dominant genes were significantly enriched in glycan biosynthesis metabolism, energy metabolism, biosynthesis of cofactor and vitamins and other products, and other pathways.ConclusionThere are significant differences in structure and abundance between the ileal and colonic flora of SPF male SD rats, and the abundance and diversity of colonic flora are higher than those of ileal flora.

Abstract Background Diet is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD), but there is still a lack of tools to assess dietary intakes of this high-risk population in Ningxia, China. Objective We aim to evaluate the validity and reliability of the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SFFQ) in the groups in Ningxia using a 24-hour dietary recall method. Method Two hundred five participants were included in the analysis. The two FFQs were 6 months apart, and during this time two 24-hour dietary recalls (24HDRs) were completed. Statistical methods were compared using inter-class correlation coefficient, unadjusted, energy-adjusted, de-attenuated correlation coefficient, quartile classification, weighted K values, and 95% limits of agreement (LOA). Results The inter-class correlation coefficients between FFQ1 and FFQ2 ranged from 0.25 to 0.73. The number of subjects classified as identical or adjacent was 72.2 to 85.9%. The crude correlation coefficient between FFQs and 24HDRs was 0.30 ~ 0.81, the energy-adjusted correlation coefficient was 0.16 ~ 0.83, and the de-attenuated correlation coefficient was 0.19 ~ 0.98. Weighted k statistics and Bland-Altman plots showed acceptable agreement between FFQs and 24HDRs. Conclusion The FFQ developed for the population at high risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in areas of Ningxia can be used to measure the dietary intake of nutrients and food groups reliably and validly.

The chronic metabolic disease named type 2 diabetes (T2D) accounts for over 90% of diabetes mellitus. An increasing number of evidences have revealed that hypoxia has a significantly suppressive effect on cell-mediated immunity, as well as the utilization of glucose in diabetics. Therefore, we aimed to screen and identify hypoxia-immune-related hub genes in T2D through bioinformatic analysis. The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was used to get T2D gene expression profile data in the peripheral blood samples (GSE184050), and hypoxia-related genes were acquired from Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB). Differentially expressed mRNAs (DEGs) and lncRNAs (DELs) between T2D and normal samples were identified by DeSeq2 package. The clusterProfiler package was used to perform enrichment analyses for the overlapped genes of DEGs and hypoxia-related genes. Further, Hypoxia-related hub genes were discovered using two machine learning algorithms. Next, the compositional patterns of immune and stromal cells in T2D and healthy groups were estimated by using xCell algorithm. Moreover, we used the weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) to examine the connection between genes and immune cells to screen immune-related genes. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was used to investigate the functions of the hypoxia-immune-related hub genes. Finally, two peripheral blood cohorts of T2D (GSE184050 and GSE95849) as well as the quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) experiments for clicinal peripheral blood samples with T2D were used for verification analyses of hub genes. And meanwhile, a lncRNA-TF-mRNA network was constructed. Following the differentially expressed analysis, 38 out of 3822 DEGs were screened as hypoxia-related DEGs, and 493 DELs were found. These hypoxia-related DEGs were mainly enriched in the GO terms of pyruvate metabolic process, cytoplasmic vesicle lumen and monosaccharide binding, and the KEGG pathways of glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, pentose phosphate pathway and biosynthesis of nucleotide sugars. Moreover, 7 out of hypoxia-related DEGs were identified as hub genes. There were six differentially expressed immune cell types between T2D and healthy samples, which were further used as the clinical traits for WGCNA to identify AMPD3 and IER3 as the hypoxia-immune-related hub genes. The results of the KEGG pathways of genes in high-expression groups of AMPD3 and IER3 were mainly concentrated in glycosaminoglycan degradation and vasopressin-regulated water reabsorption, while the low-expression groups of AMPD3 and IER3 were mainly associated with RNA degradation and nucleotide excision repair. Finally, when compared to normal samples, both the AMPD3 and IER3 were highly expressed in the T2D groups in the GSE184050 and GSE95849 datasets. The result of lncRNA-TF-mRNA regulatory network showed that lncRNAs such as BACH1-IT1 and SNHG15 might induce the expression of the corresponding TFs such as TFAM and THAP12 and upregulate the expression of AMPD3. This study identified AMPD3 and IER3 as hypoxia-immune-related hub genes and potential regulatory mechanism for T2D, which provided a new perspective for elucidating the upstream molecular regulatory mechanism of diabetes mellitus.

IntroductionSugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake is associated with an increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases. However, evidence regarding associations of artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) and fruit juices with cardiometabolic diseases is mixed. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between the SSB, ASB and fruit juice consumption with the incidence of cardiometabolic conditions and mortality.MethodsRelevant prospective studies were identified by searching PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library until December 2022 without language restrictions. The pooled relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for the association of SSBs, ASBs, and fruit juices with the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease (CVD), and mortality by using random-effect models.ResultsA total of 72 articles were included in this meta-analysis study. Significantly positive associations were observed between the consumption of individual beverages and T2D risk (RR: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.17, 1.38 for SSBs; RR: 1.32; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.56 for ASBs; and RR:0.98; 95% CI: 0.93, 1.03 for fruit juices). Moreover, our findings showed that intakes of SSBs and ASBs were significantly associated with risk of hypertension, stroke, and all-cause mortality (RR ranging from 1.08 to 1.54; all p

As important components of the biological soil crusts (BSCs) and of the primary stage of crust succession, cyanobacterial communities occupy an important ecological niche and play an important ecological role in desertification areas. In this study, we focused on the karst desertification area, which also belongs to the same category of desertification, and selected three study areas, Guanling-Zhenfeng Huajiang (HJ), Bijie Salaxi (SLX), and Shibing (SB), in the Guizhou Plateau, which represents the overall ecological environment of South China karst, to conduct surveys on the diversity of BSC species and soil properties. Analysis of the cyanobacterial communities and physicochemical properties using the Shannon-Wiener diversity index, principal component analysis, and redundancy analysis revealed that: (1) The three study areas had common cyanobacterial species, with a total of 200 species distributed across 22 genera, 2 classes, 5 orders, and 6 families belonging to the Oscillatoriales (39%), Scytonematales (24.5%), Chroococcales (23%), Nostocales (11.5%), and Rivulariales (2%), (2) The number of species increased with the intensity of karst desertification—while Oscillatoriaceae was the dominant family in HJ and moderate–severe desertification areas, Chroococcaceae and Scytonemataceae were dominant in the mild and potential desertification areas SLX and SB, (3) The Shannon-Wiener diversity indices followed the trend: SLX (3.56) > SB (3.08) > HJ (3.01), indicating that the species were more evenly distributed in mild desertification, (4) In the carbonate background, shrubland harbored the largest number of cyanobacterial species compared to grassland, bare land, and arbor woodland; however, the highest number was documented in arbor woodland in dolomite karst, (5) The soil is weathered limestone or yellow soil in all three areas, with pH ranging from 5.73 to 6.85, fine sand dominated, and soil nutrients increased with the intensity of desertification, and (6) Redundancy analysis showed that organic carbon, soil moisture content (0–5 cm), and total nitrogen substantially influenced cyanobacterial diversity. These results reveal that differences in soil nutrient content play an important role in regulating the cyanobacterial diversity and composition, thereby establishing a foundation for further research and application of soil ecological restoration of cyanobacteria in BSCs of karst desertification areas.

Abstract Background Cancer screening provides the opportunity to detect cancer early, ideally before symptom onset and metastasis, and offers an increased opportunity for a better prognosis. The ideal biomarkers for cancer screening should discriminate individuals who have not developed invasive cancer yet but are destined to do so from healthy subjects. However, most cancers lack effective screening recommendations. Therefore, further studies on novel screening strategies are urgently required. Methods We used a simple suboptimal inoculation melanoma mouse model to obtain ‘pre-diagnostic samples’ of mice with macroscopic melanomas. High-throughput sequencing and bioinformatic analysis were employed to identify differentially expressed RNAs in platelet signatures of mice injected with a suboptimal number of melanoma cells (eDEGs) compared with mice with macroscopic melanomas and negative controls. Moreover, 36 genes selected from the eDEGs via bioinformatics analysis were verified in a mouse validation cohort via quantitative real-time PCR. LASSO regression was utilized to generate the prediction models with gene expression signatures as the best predictors for occult tumor progression in mice. Results These RNAs identified from eDEGs of mice injected with a suboptimal number of cancer cells were strongly enriched in pathways related to immune response and regulation. The prediction models generated by 36 gene qPCR verification data showed great diagnostic efficacy and predictive value in our murine validation cohort, and could discriminate mice with occult tumors from control group (area under curve (AUC) of 0.935 (training data) and 0.912 (testing data)) (gene signature including Cd19, Cdkn1a, S100a9, Tap1, and Tnfrsf1b) and also from macroscopic tumor group (AUC of 0.920 (training data) and 0.936 (testing data)) (gene signature including Ccr7, Cd4, Kmt2d, and Ly6e). Conclusions Our proof-of-concept study provides evidence for potential clinical relevance of blood platelets as a platform for liquid biopsy-based early detection of cancer.

Rare earth elements (REEs) have been widely applied in modern industry and material science due to their special chemical properties and luminescence properties, but their environment pollution problem has also attracted attention. How to trace and control impact of REEs on environment and develop highly sensitive methods for REEs analysis have practical significance. Microwave plasma torch (MPT) is a kind of simple, low power consumption (∼200 W) and easily operated plasma generators. When it was coupled with varied mass spectrometers as ion source of mass spectrometry (MS), i.e. MPT-MS can use for the analysis of metal elements in aqueous with the remarkable advantage of only minimal or even no simple pretreatment, and can meet comprehensive requirements of environmental control and water quality monitoring. MPT-MS have also an ability to carry out online real-time monitoring and analysis of water environment. Compared with the traditional ICP-MS, it can obtain more effective information and has higher sensitivity (the detection limit is at sub-ppb level). This paper reviews common methods and research progress of REEs analysis in recent years. Practical applications and advantages of MPT in the analysis of REEs are briefly summarized. Specifically, this paper introduces some work recently done in our group on analysis of REEs by the MPT, including analysis of metal elements distribution in water samples in local Poyang Lake, and general rules of formation and behavior of complex metal ions in the MPT plasma are also proposed afterwards. Through the practically dealing with the Poyang Lake case by the MPT, hopefully this would interest more academia into this area so as to speed up development of the MPT itself.

BackgroundChinese health insurance system faces resource distribution challenges. A patient-centric approach allows decision-makers to be keenly aware of optimized medical resource allocation.ObjectiveThis study aims to use the discrete choice model to determine the main factors affecting the healthcare preferences of the general Chinese population and their weights in the three scenarios (chronic non-communicable diseases, acute infectious diseases, and major diseases).MethodsThis study firstly identified the key factors affecting people's healthcare preferences through literature review and qualitative interviews, and then designed the DCE questionnaire. An online questionnaire produced by Lighthouse Studio (version 9.9.1) software was distributed to voluntary respondents recruited from mainland China's entire population from January 2021 to June 2021. Participants were required to answer a total of 21 questions of three scenarios in the questionnaire. The multinomial logit model and latent class model were used to analyze the collected data.ResultsA total of 4,156 participants from mainland China were included in this study. The multinomial logit and latent class model analyses showed that medical insurance reimbursement is the most important attribute in all three disease scenarios. In the scenario of “non-communicable diseases,” the attributes that participants valued were, from the most to the least, medical insurance reimbursement (45.0%), hospital-level (21.6%), distance (14.4%), cost (9.7%), waiting time (8.3%), and care provider (1.0%). As for willingness to pay (WTP), participants were willing to pay 204.5 yuan, or 1,743.8 yuan, to change from private hospitals or community hospitals to tertiary hospitals, respectively.ConclusionsThis study explores the healthcare preferences of Chinese residents from a new perspective, which can provide theoretical reference for the refinement of many disease medical reimbursement policies, such as developing different reimbursement ratios for various common diseases and realizing rational configuration of medical resources.

Objectives: To evaluate the distribution and changes in different obesity metabolic phenotypes, as well as their impact on the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in a northwest Chinese population sample.Methods: Data comes from prospective cohort study (n = 1,393, mean follow up = 9.46 years). Participants were classified into four groups through a combination of the Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS) diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome with anthropometric measurements: metabolically healthy normal weight (MHNW), metabolically healthy overweight/obese (MHO), metabolically unhealthy normal weight (MUNW), and metabolically unhealthy overweight/obese (MUO). Cox regression models with time-dependent covariates were used to evaluate changes in obesity metabolic phenotypes and risk of T2DM.Results: Participants in MUO state had the highest risk of developing T2DM, the incidence density was 12.10/1,000 person-year. The MHO and MUO groups showed an increased risk of incident diabetes based on body mass index (BMI) (HR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.03–1.61; p = 0.026 and HR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.02–1.40; p = 0.024 respectively.) Besides, the MHO group had an increased risk of incident diabetes based on waist circumference (WC) (HR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.10–1.80; p = 0.006).Conclusion: Diabetes is more frequent in the MHO and MUO groups and co-occurrence of obesity and metabolic abnormalities (MA) contributes to the development of T2DM.

Healthy fruit vinegar has become very popular recently in China. This study aimed to produce fruit vinegar with a good taste, high nutritional value, and strong functional properties from green jujube. This study investigated the optimization of the process for green jujube vinegar using response surface methodology. The optimum fermentation parameters for green jujube vinegar were determined as follows: initial alcoholicity 6%, acetobacter 8%, fermentation temperature 32 °C, and time 7 d. The organic acids of the optimized sample were evaluated by HPLC, and the volatile substances were identified and analyzed by HS-SPME and GC-MS during the fermentation and aging of the green jujube vinegar. The results showed that the variation trends of the different organic acids during the making of the green jujube vinegar were significantly different. Organic acids are the key flavor compounds of green jujube vinegar, and their changes were mainly attributed to microbial metabolism. In particular, the green jujube vinegar stood out in terms of volatile aroma compounds, including a total of 61 volatile compounds whose major components were acetic acid, isoamyl acetate, ethyl acetate, 3-hydroxy-2-butanone, methyl palmitate, and ethanol. The results can provide theoretical support for the production of green jujube vinegar.

Abstract Background Consumption of nuts improves cardio-metabolic risk factors in clinical trials and relates to lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in prospective observational studies. However, there has not been an adequately powered randomized controlled trial to test if nuts supplementation actually reduces incident CVD. In order to establish the feasibility of such a trial, the current study aimed to assess the acceptability and adherence to long-term nut supplementation amongst individuals at high CVD risk in China. Methods This protocol described a 6-month trial performed in Ningxia Province in China among participants with a history of CVD or older age (female ≥65 years, male ≥60 years) with multiple CVD risk factors. Participants were randomized to control (received non-edible gift), low dose walnut (30 g/d), or high dose walnut (60 g/d) groups in a 1:1:1 ratio. Walnuts were provided at no cost to participants and could be consumed according to personal preferences. Follow-up visits were scheduled at 2 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. The primary outcome was fasting plasma alpha linolenic acid (ALA) levels used as an indicator of walnut consumption. Secondary outcomes included self-reported walnut intake from the 24 h dietary recalls. The target sample size of 210 provided 90% statistical power with two-sided alpha of 0.05 to detect a mean difference of 0.12% (as percent of total fatty acid) in plasma ALA between randomized groups. Results Two hundred and ten participants were recruited and randomized during October 2019. Mean age of participants was 65 years (SD = 7.3), 47% were females, and 94% had a history of CVD at baseline. Across the three study groups, participants had similar baseline demographic and clinical characteristics. Discussion This trial will quantify acceptability and adherence to long-term walnut supplementation in a Chinese population at high risk of CVD. The findings will support the design of a future large trial to test the effect of walnut supplementation for CVD prevention. Trial registration NCT04037943 Protocol version: v3.0 August 14 2019

AIM: To evaluate the predictive value of islet autoantibodies for the diagnosis of autoimmune uveitis (AU), as well as to characterize the association bet ween islet autoantibodies and AU. METHODS: Totally 97 patients with AU and 100 healthy persons without any autoimmune diseases as the control group were recruited. Multiple serum islet autoantibodies were measured using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits (ELISA). A supplementary questionnaire was used to complement the subject’s demographics and clinical features. The level of glucose concentrations and white blood cells were measured. Conditional logistic regression was performed to estimate odds ratios (ORs), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of AU according to islet autoantibodies and to evaluate the predictive value of islet autoantibodies for AU diagnosis. Autoantibodies subgroups and other variables were included into analysis. RESULTS: In AU patients, the prevalence of detecting at least one of the autoantibodies was 31.9% (31/97). The most frequent autoantibody was ZnT8A (30.9%), followed by GADA (11.3%), IA-2A (4.1%), ICA (2.1%) and IAA (2.1%). Islet autoantibodies were found to be correlated positively with AU diagnosis [OR (95%CI): 13.86 (3.28, 58.50), P

Abstract A series of pyrene or pyrene‐o‐carborane‐appendant selenoviologens (Py‐SeV2+, Py‐Cb‐SeV2+) for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and reduction of alkynes is reported. The efficient photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from electron‐rich pyrene‐o‐carborane heterojunction (Py‐Cb) with intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) characteristic to electron‐deficient selenoviologen (SeV2+) (kET = 1.2 × 1010 s−1) endows the accelerating the generation of selenoviologen radical cation (SeV+•) compared with Py‐SeV2+ and other derivatives. The electrochromic/electrofluorochromic devices’ (ECD and EFCD) measurements and supramolecular assembly/disassembly processes of SeV2+ and cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) results show that the PET process can be finely tuned by electrochemical and host–guest chemistry methods. By combination with Pt‐NPs catalyst, the Py‐Cb‐SeV2+‐based system shows high‐efficiency visible‐light‐driven HER and highly selective phenylacetylene reduction due to the efficient PET process.

Due to light absorption and scattering underwater images suffer from low contrast, color distortion, blurred details, and uneven illumination, which affect underwater vision tasks and research. Therefore, underwater image enhancement is of great significance in vision applications. In contrast to existing methods for specific underwater environments or reliance on paired datasets, this study proposes an underwater multiscene generative adversarial network (UMGAN) to enhance underwater images. The network implements unpaired image-to-image translation between the underwater turbid domain and the underwater clear domain. It has a great enhancement impact on several underwater image types. Feedback mechanisms and a noise reduction network are designed to optimize the generator and address the issue of noise and artifacts in GAN-produced images. Furthermore, a global–local discriminator is employed to improve the overall image while adaptively modifying the local region image effect. It resolves the issue of over- and underenhancement in local regions. The reliance on paired training data is eliminated through a cycle consistency network structure. UMGAN performs satisfactorily on various types of data when compared quantitatively and qualitatively to other state-of-the-art algorithms. It has strong robustness and can be applied to various enhancement tasks in different scenes.

The melting behavior of glaciers on and around the Tibetan Plateau is strongly influenced by their albedo. In this paper, we report continuous observations made on the Qiangtang (QT) No. 1 Glacier, located in the central Tibetan Plateau, during its 2013–2015 melting seasons. Surface snow on the QT No. 1 Glacier mainly had a dust content less than 600 ppm and a black carbon (BC) content less than 10 ppb. A strong negative correlation was observed between albedo and dust content up to a threshold concentration of 1000 ppm, although albedo remained constant when dust concentrations increased above this value. The radii of snow particles showed a log-normal distribution that had a mean value of ~500 μm, but maximum and minimum values of 2539 μm and 40 μm, respectively. Snow density showed a normal distribution with a total range of 193–555 kg/m3, although most snow had a density of 400 kg/m3. Snow, ice, and aerosol radiative (SNICAR) simulations showed that dust and BC in the surface snow of the QT No. 1 Glacier reduced the snow and ice albedo by 5.9% and 0.06%, respectively, during the ablation season in 2015; however, the simulated particle impact was greater than the albedo reduction measured from field data. We interpret that dust has played a significantly more important role in melting of the QT No. 1 Glacier than BC over the study period, which is mainly due to the scarcity of human activities in the region and the low concentration of BC being produced.

Based on 1,364 children across Grades 1, 3, and 5, the present study explored the mutualism of (externalizing and internalizing) behavioral problems and language, and whether social skills explained such mutualism. The random intercept cross-lagged panel models were conducted to control for between-person level variance and to explore mutualism of variables on the within-person level. Results indicated the mutualistic coupling of language and externalizing behavioral problems from Grades 3 to 5. When including social skills in the model, only social skills and externalizing behavioral problems formed the mutualism from Grades 3 to 5; language only predicted behavioral problems and social skills in the early elementary stage (Grades 1-3). These results suggest that language and behavioral management early on are important investing skills for the development of language, behavior skills, and social skills. With development, social skills may become more important than general language skills to manage problem behaviors. These findings indicated that interventions targeting behavioral problems may need to adapt their focus as children develop: fostering general language abilities early on but shifting to building social skills in later grades.

Healthy fruit vinegar has been extensively favored in China in recent years. As a new type of fruit vinegar developed by our laboratory, green jujube vinegar has the characteristics of good taste and rich nutrition. To study the effect of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion on the antioxidant and hypolipidemic activity of green jujube vinegar, so as to provide basic data for research and the development of healthy food antioxidants, including the total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), total acid content, and volatile acid content, were measured. The antioxidant activity was measured by using 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) free radical scavenging methods and the ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP), and the hypolipidemic activity was measured by cholesterol adsorption and the sodium cholate adsorption capacities. The results show that gastric digestion significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the TPC, TFC, total acid content, and volatile acid content, for which the highest reductions were up to 54.17%, 72%, 88.83% and 82.35%, respectively. During intestinal digestion, the TFC remained at a high level and unchanged, and the TFC and volatile acid content significantly (p < 0.05) decreased by 72.66% and 89.05%, respectively. The volatile acid content did not significantly (p > 0.05) change within 2 h. The ABTS free radical scavenging ability and the reducing power free radical scavenging rate were correlated with the TPC, TFC, and total acid contents, and the DPPH free radical scavenging ability and cholesterol adsorption capacity were not. These findings suggest that green jujube vinegar can be a potential functional food for people’s use.

Background and Purpose: The intranasal administration of oxytocin (OT) reduces migraine headaches through activation of the oxytocin receptor (OTR). Magnesium ion (Mg2+) concentration is critical to the activation of the OTR, and a low serum Mg2+ concentration is predictive of a migraine headache. We, therefore, examined the functional impact of Mg2+ concentration on OT-OTR binding efficacy using two complimentary bioassays. Experimental Approach: Current clamp recordings of rat trigeminal ganglia (TG) neurons measured the impact of Mg2+ on an OT-induced reduction in excitability. In addition, we assessed the impact of Mg2+ on intranasal OT-induced craniofacial analgesia in rats. Key Results: While OT alone dose-dependently hyperpolarized TG neurons, decreasing their excitability, the addition of 1.75 mM Mg2+ significantly enhanced this effect. Similarly, while the intranasal application of OT produced dose-dependent craniofacial analgesia, Mg2+ significantly enhanced these effects. Conclusions and Implications: OT efficacy may be limited by low ambient Mg2+ levels. The addition of Mg2+ to OT formulations may improve its efficacy in reducing headache pain as well as for other OT-dependent processes.

The study examined how executive function (EF) training could improve children’s emotional competence (EC). Children (N = 55; Mage = 50.64 months) were assigned into two groups, namely the EF training group and the no-training group. The present study attempted to use a 2 (group: EF training VS no-training) × 2 (test time: pretest VS post-test) between-and- within-subjects experimental design to investigate the effect of EF training on the improvement of EC for 4-year-old children. Results showed that, (1) children in EF training group had significantly higher scores on EC than that of no-training group; (2) The change of inhibition control and working memory could significantly predict their variation of EC. These results suggested that the improvement of EC caused by EF training could be linked to the ability of inhibition control and working memory.

Abstract Background Epimedium sagittatum (Sieb.et Zucc.) Maxim., Ying-Yang-Huo in Chinese has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine and is deemed to “reinforce the kidney Yang”. Previous studies showed that E. sagittatum could modulate the immune system and treat some chronic disease such as rheumatic arthritis, cardiovascular diseases and osteoporosis. The aim of this study is to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of ethyl acetate extracts (YYHs) of E. sagittatum and its mechanisms of action. Methods In order to explore the composition of YYHs, YYHs was analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) and in comparison with reference standards. Anti-inflammatory model was established in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells. The levels of nitric oxide (NO) were measured with the Griess reagent. Production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). In addition, expression of p-p65 protein and TLR4/MD-2 complex was detected by western blots and flow cytometric, respectively. Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) nuclear translocation was observed by fluorescence microscope. Results A total of eight compounds were identified, of which icariside II was the most abundant compound. YYHs (12.5–50 μg/mL) had no obvious cytotoxic effect on cells, and remarkably inhibited LPS-induced production of NO, TNF-α and IL-2 with a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, YYHs up-regulated expression of p-p65 and TLR4/MD-2 complex. Further research showed that YYHs significantly suppressed NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation. Conclusion In brief, YYHs contributed to the inhibition of LPS-induced inflammatory response through the TLR4/MD-2-mediated NF-κB pathway and may be a potential choice to combat inflammation diseases. Abstract graph It includes a schema of pathways at the end of the paper.

Background/Aims: The IKZF3 gene encodes a zinc-finger protein that plays an important role in the proliferation and differentiation of B lymphocytes. Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs), mainly include Graves’ disease (GD) and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT), are probably caused by the aberrant proliferation of B cells. The objective of this study was to explore the association between IKZF3 polymorphisms and AITDs. Methods: We examined 915 AITD patients (604 GD and 311 HT) and 814 healthy controls. IKZF3 variants (rs2941522, rs907091, rs1453559, rs12150079 and rs2872507) were tested by PCR-ligase detection reaction. Results: It was manifested that that the minor alleles of the five loci increased susceptibility to GD (p

Objectives: To investigate the differences in vaccine hesitancy and preference of the currently available COVID-19 vaccines between two countries, namely, China and the United States (U.S.). Method: A cross-national survey was conducted in both China and the United States, and discrete choice experiments, as well as Likert scales, were utilized to assess vaccine preference and the underlying factors contributing to vaccination acceptance. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to enable a direct comparison between the two countries. Results: A total of 9077 (5375 and 3702 from China and the United States, respectively) respondents completed the survey. After propensity score matching, over 82.0% of respondents from China positively accepted the COVID-19 vaccination, while 72.2% of respondents from the United States positively accepted it. Specifically, only 31.9% of Chinese respondents were recommended by a doctor to have COVID-19 vaccination, while more than half of the U.S. respondents were recommended by a doctor (50.2%), local health board (59.4%), or friends and families (64.8%). The discrete choice experiments revealed that respondents from the United States attached the greatest importance to the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines (44.41%), followed by the cost of vaccination (29.57%), whereas those from China held a different viewpoint, that the cost of vaccination covered the largest proportion in their trade-off (30.66%), and efficacy ranked as the second most important attribute (26.34%). Additionally, respondents from China tended to be much more concerned about the adverse effect of vaccination (19.68% vs. 6.12%) and have a lower perceived severity of being infected with COVID-19. Conclusion: Although the overall acceptance and hesitancy of COVID-19 vaccination in both countries are high, underpinned distinctions between these countries were observed. Owing to the differences in COVID-19 incidence rates, cultural backgrounds, and the availability of specific COVID-19 vaccines in the two countries, vaccine rollout strategies should be nation-dependent.

Abstract Background Selenium is an essential trace and there is a high selenium concentration in the thyroid gland. Selenium deficiency may impair the thyroid function. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between three selenoprotein genes polymorphisms and autoimmune thyroid diseases. Methods We genotyped six single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs6865453 in selenoprotein P gene (SELENOP), rs713041 rs2074451 rs3746165 in glutathione peroxidase 4 gene (GPX4) and rs28665122 and rs7178239 in selenoprotein S gene (SELENOS) by MassARRAY system using the chip-based matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry technology in 1060 patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases and 938 healthy controls. Results Major alleles in rs6865453 of SELENOP, rs713041, rs2074451, rs3746165 of GPX4 decreased while the major allele C in rs28665122 of SELENOS increased in AITD patients than in the control. The allele C and genotype CC in rs7178239 of SELENOS showed different trend in GD and HT patients when compared with the control. All the distribution difference showed nonsignificant. Analysis according to clinical features including ophthalmopathy, hypothyroidism and family history came out to be negative either. Conclusions Our findings suggest non-association between three selenoprotein genes and AITD, conflicting to the positive result in another population. Different selenium nutrition status in different populations may contribute to conflicting results, the contribution of genetic variants in AITD mechanism may be another reason.

ABSTRACT Objective In the present study, we aimed to assess the associations of C1q gene polymorphisms with autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) susceptibility. Subjects and methods A set of 1,003 AITD patients (661 with Graves’ disease and 342 with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) and 880 ethnically- and geographically-matched controls from Chinese Han population were included. Five common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs294185, rs292001, rs682658, rs665691 and rs294179) in C1q gene locus were genotyped. Frequencies of genotypes and alleles were compared between patients and controls, and haplotype analysis was also performed. Results There was no statistically significant difference between AITD patients and controls in the frequencies of alleles of rs294185 (P = 0.41), rs292001 (P = 0.71), rs682658 (P = 0.68), rs665691 (P = 0.68) and rs294179 (P = 0.69). There was also no statistically significant difference between AITD patients and controls in the frequencies of genotypes of rs294185 (P = 0.72), rs292001 (P = 0.89), rs682658 (P = 0.83), rs665691 (P = 0.90) and rs294179 (P = 0.43). Stratified analyses showed that none of those five SNPs in C1q gene were associated with Graves’ disease or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (all P values > 0.05). Haplotype analysis revealed that there were no obvious genetic associations of C1q gene polymorphisms with AITD susceptibility. Conclusions We, for the first time, identified the associations between C1q gene SNPs and AITD, and our findings suggested that five common SNPs in C1q gene were not associated with AITD susceptibility in Chinese Han population.

Background. Graves’ disease (GD) is an organ-specific autoimmune disease. Accumulated data have indicated that aberrant epigenetic modifications are associated with many autoimmune disorders. However, it remains unknown whether histone methylation plays a role in the pathogenesis of GD. In the present study, we aimed to assess histone modification patterns in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from GD patients. The rate (degree) of H3K4 and H3K9 methylation and the expressions of histone-modifying genes were investigated. Methods. A total of 68 GD patients and 32 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Global histone H3K4/H3K9 methylation of PBMCs was evaluated by the EpiQuik™ global histone H3K4/H3K9 methylation assay kit. The expressions of histone methyltransferases (HMTs) and histone demethylases (HDMs) at the mRNA level were determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results. Global histone H3K9 methylation in PBMCs of GD patients was significantly decreased compared with that in the healthy controls (P=0.007). The expressions of HMTs (SUV39H1 and SUV39H2) at the mRNA level were significantly decreased in PBMCs from GD patients compared with healthy controls (P0.05). Conclusions. These findings firstly suggested that the histone methylation was aberrant in PBMCs of GD patients, which could be possibly attributed to the deregulation of epigenetic modifier genes. Abnormal histone methylation modification may be involved in the pathogenesis of GD.

The year of 2020 is a decisive year for China to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and fight against poverty. The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) industry has become one of the main forms of poverty alleviation in China because of its functions of “making blood” and preventing poverty-returning phenomena. This study conducted a questionnaire survey and field interview on the situation of poverty alleviation driven by the TCM industry in Hubei Province from 2018 to 2019 to find out the problems of poverty alleviation in TCM industry and put forward corresponding countermeasures, so as to improve the long-term performance of poverty alleviation in TCM industry.

Externalizing behavior and low academic performance present key developmental challenges for school-age children, with the potential for these domains to predict each other over time, leading to worsened outcomes. Yet, previous studies have yielded inconsistent conclusions about the directional pathways between externalizing behaviors and academic performance. Moreover, the moderating factors influencing these predictive pathways remain unclear. To clarify these relations, The current study conducted a meta-analysis on the longitudinal predictive relation between externalizing behaviors and academic performance, incorporating data from 124,695 students without clinically diagnosed behavioral problems or learning disabilities across 70 independent studies. The results revealed a bidirectional predictive relation between externalizing behaviors and academic performance, with comparable effect sizes for both the externalizing behavior to academic performance pathway (r = -0.082, p < 0.001) and the reverse pathway (r = -0.076, p < 0.001). Moderation analysis revealed that inattention-related behavior, shorter time intervals, and fewer white participants strengthen the predictive effect of externalizing behaviors on academic performance. In particular, as child age increases, the moderating effect of time interval is even stronger. For the academic performance leading to externalizing behavior pathway, inattention-related behavior, teacher-reported externalizing behavior, literacy-related performance, and GPA/grades were identified as factors contributing to an augmentation in the longitudinal predictive effect of academic performance on externalizing behaviors. Overall, the negative cycle between externalizing behavior and academic performance may be influenced by various factors, providing targeted recommendations for intervention and prevention.

Goethite (Gt) and hematite (Hm) are the most abundant forms of iron oxides in dust and the major light absorbers in the shortwave spectrum in air and snow. Diffuse reflectance spectrometry was performed to investigate the reflectance spectra of goethite and hematite in dust particles from ice cores, aerosol samples and glacier cryoconite on the northern and central Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that two peaks in the first derivative value of the spectra at 430 and 560 nm were determined to be goethite and hematite, respectively. The high iron content samples have a higher first derivative value, and prominent and much more distinct peaks for Hm and Gt. We propose that the strength of the Hm and Gt peaks may probe the iron content, and then in our samples hematite has a stronger correlation than goethite. However, when the iron content reaches a threshold, the iron oxides have little or no impact on the reflectance spectra. The fine fraction of glacier dust has a greater abundance of iron, and the first derivative values of hematite are higher than goethite, indicating that hematite might be concentrated in the fine fraction. The distinguishable differences in the Hm/Gt ratio among these ice core samples and other aerosol data indicate the regional to continental difference in composition, which can be used to simplify the iron oxides in snow radiation models.

Background and Aims: Abnormal microRNA (miRNA) expression is found in many diseases including autoimmune diseases. However, little is known about the role of miRNA regulation in Graves' disease (GD). Here, we simultaneously detected different expressions of miRNA and mRNAs in thyroid tissues via a high-throughput transcriptomics approach, known as microarray, in order to reveal the relationship between aberrant expression of miRNAs and mRNAs spectrum and GD. Methods: Totally 7 specimens of thyroid tissue from 4 GD patients and 3 controls were obtained by surgery for microarray analysis. Then, 30 thyroid specimens (18 GD and 12 controls) were also collected for further validation by quantitative real-time PCR ( qRT-PCR ). Results: Statistical analysis showed that the expressions of 5 specific miRNA were increased significantly while those of other 18 miRNA were decreased in thyroid tissue of GD patients (FC≥1.3 or≤0.77 and pConclusion: Our study highlights the possibility that miRNA-target gene network may be involved in the pathogenesis of GD and could provide new insights into understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms of GD.

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is considered to be mediated mainly by Th1 cells, but it is not known whether Graves’ disease (GD) is associated with Th1 or Th2 predominance. Th17 cells, a novel subset of Th cells, play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune disorders. In the present study, the expression of IL-17A and IFN-γ was investigated in patients with HT or GD. mRNA expression of IL-17A and IFN-γ in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 43 patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) and in thyroid tissues from 40 AITD patients were measured by real-time qRT-PCR. The protein expression of IL-17A and IL-23p19 was examined by immunohistochemistry in thyroid tissues from 28 AITD patients. The mRNA levels of IL-17A and IFN-γ were higher in both PBMC and thyroid tissues of HT patients than in controls (mRNA levels are reported as the cytokine/β-actin ratio: IL-17 = 13.58- and 2.88-fold change and IFN-γ = 16.54- and 2.74-fold change, respectively, P < 0.05). Also, the mRNA levels of IL-17A and IFN-γ did not differ significantly in GD patients (P > 0.05). The high protein expression of IL-17A (IOD = 15.17 ± 4.8) and IL-23p19 (IOD = 16.84 ± 7.87) in HT was confirmed by immunohistochemistry (P < 0.05). The similar high levels of IL-17A and IFN-γ suggest a mixed response of Th17 and Th1 in HT, where both cells may play important roles in the destruction procedure by cell-mediated cytotoxicity.

BackgroundDysregulated bile acid (BA) metabolism has been linked to steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).AimTo determine whether circulating BA levels accurately stage liver fibrosis in NAFLD.MethodsWe recruited 550 Chinese adults with biopsy-proven NAFLD and varying levels of fibrosis. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry was performed to quantify 38 serum BAs.ResultsCompared to those without fibrosis, patients with mild fibrosis (stage F1) had significantly higher levels of secondary BAs, and increased diastolic blood pressure (DBP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), body mass index, and waist circumstance (WC). The combination of serum BAs with WC, DBP, ALT, or Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance performed well in identifying mild fibrosis, in men and women, and in those with/without obesity, with AUROCs 0.80, 0.88, 0.75 and 0.78 in the training set (n = 385), and 0.69, 0.80, 0.61 and 0.69 in the testing set (n = 165), respectively. In comparison, the combination of BAs and clinical/biochemical biomarkers performed less well in identifying significant fibrosis (F2-4). In women and in non-obese subjects, AUROCs were 0.75 and 0.71 in the training set, 0.65 and 0.66 in the validation set, respectively. However, these AUROCs were higher than those observed for the fibrosis-4 index, NAFLD fibrosis score, and Hepamet fibrosis score.ConclusionsSecondary BA levels were significantly increased in NAFLD, especially in those with mild fibrosis. The combination of serum BAs and clinical/biochemical biomarkers for identifying mild fibrosis merits further assessment.