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BackgroundSocial media is currently becoming a new channel for information acquisition and exchange. In China, with the growing popularity of WeChat and WeChat official accounts (WOAs), health promotion agencies have an opportunity to use them for successful information distribution and diffusion online. ObjectiveWe aimed to identify features of articles pushed by WOAs of Chinese provincial Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that are associated with user engagement. MethodsWe searched and subscribed to 28 WOAs of provincial CDCs. Data for this study consisted of WeChat articles on these WOAs between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017. We developed a features frame containing title type, article content, article type, communication skills, number of marketing elements, and article length for each article and coded the data quantitatively using a coding scheme that assigned numeric values to article features. We examined the descriptive characteristics of articles for every WOA and generated descriptive statistics for six article features. The amount of reading and liking was converted into the level of reading and liking by the 75% position. Two-category univariate logistic regression and multivariable logistic regression were conducted to explore associations between the features of the articles and user engagement, operationalized as reading level and liking level. ResultsAll provincial CDC WOAs provided a total of 5976 articles in 2017. Shanghai CDC articles attracted the most user engagement, and Ningxia CDC articles attracted the least. For all articles, the median reading was 551.5 and the median liking was 10. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that article content, article type, communication skills, number of marketing elements, and article length were associated with reading level and liking level. However, title type was only associated with liking level. ConclusionsHow social media can be used to best achieve health information dissemination and public health outcomes is a topic of much discussion and study in the public health community. Given the lack of related studies based on WeChat or official accounts, we conducted this study and found that article content, article type, communication skills, number of marketing elements, article length, and title type were associated with user engagement. Our study may provide public health and community leaders with insight into the diffusion of important health topics of concern.

The proliferation and increasing application of modern technology have led to the improvement of tactics used to teach to play guzheng, the Chinese national instrument. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of using MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) for this purpose to argue on the possibility of reforming guzheng instruction in Chinese schools. The basis of this investigation was represented by a specially developed MOOC and an online survey. Verification of the collected data was made by means of Fisher's exact test. As research participants, 88 seventh graders and 10 teachers from three schools in China (China, Taiyuan, Jinzhong) were invited. The time frame this study covered was from February to June of the 2020-2021 academic year. The outcomes obtained from the conducted experiment indicate that the lowest grades were obtained by students who took traditional guzheng lessons and did not take advantage of online learning (71.1, 72.9, and 73.0 for each institution, with an average of 72.3). At the same time, the results of respondents who were additionally involved in the dedicated MOOC were notably higher: 78.8, 78.1, and 79.2, with an average of 78.7 (8.1% better). These data show that the use of modern technology when teaching students to play guzheng is effective. The outcomes of the survey on students' impressions from the proposed learning course and its usefulness revealed that 98% of all the persons involved were satisfied with their participation in the MOOC. Students showed high support for the statements claiming MOOC's positive impact on teachers' intercultural professionalism in guzheng teaching and overall approach to instruction. The practical and scientific significance of this study resides in the fact that it demonstrates the effectiveness of modern technology, particularly distance learning platforms, in the context of guzheng learning. This paper demonstrates clearly that through the use of additional multimedia, better results can be achieved.

Background: While vaccination remains the most effective method to control hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, 5–10% of recipients exhibit non-responsiveness to the HB vaccine. Immunological analysis of strong, weak or absent protective antibody responses to the HB vaccine should provide insights into the mechanisms that contribute to non-responsiveness. Results: We investigated the potential involvement of follicular helper T (Tfh) cells in the immune response to HB vaccine, and associations between the miR-17–92 cluster and Tfh cells. We recruited 12 adults who had completed the HB vaccination course during childhood. Following a booster dose of HB vaccine, hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) titers, percentage of PD-1+ICOS+ circulating Tfh (cTfh) and plasma cells, and expression of miR-17–92 were assessed at baseline (before immunization) and after vaccination on days 7 and 14. Notably, the HBsAb level gradually increased after HB vaccination while the proportion of PD-1+ICOS+ cTfh cells was significantly increased on day 7 relative to baseline, so as plasma cells. Expression of miR-18a and miR-17 within the miR-17–92 cluster and HBsAb titers in CD4+ T cells were positively correlated with the PD-1+ICOS+ cTfh cells proportions after HB vaccination. Conclusions: The increase in HBsAb titers was positively associated with expression of all the components of the miR-17–92 cluster except miR-19a. Our findings indicate that the miR-17–92 cluster contributes to antibody production, and miR-18a and miR-17 are involved in Tfh cells differentiation after HB vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Infectious diseases are among the leading causes of death and disability and are recognized as a major cause of health loss globally. At the same time, frailty as a geriatric syndrome is a rapidly growing major public health problem. However, few studies have investigated the incidence and risk of infectious diseases in frail older people. Thus, research on frailty and infectious diseases is urgently needed., Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between frailty and infectious diseases among older adults aged 65 years and older., Methods: In this prospective observational cohort study, we have analyzed the infectious disease prevalence outcomes of older adults aged 65 years and older who participated in frailty epidemiological surveys from March 1, 2018, to March 2023 in Dalang Town, Dongguan City, and from March 1, 2020, to March 2023 in Guancheng Street, Dongguan City. This study has an annual on-site follow-up. Incidence data for infectious diseases were collected through the Chinese Disease Control and Prevention Information System-Infectious Disease Monitoring and Public Health Emergency Monitoring System. A project-developed frailty assessment scale was used to assess the frailty status of study participants. We compared the incidence rate ratios (IRR) of each disease across frailty status, age, and gender to determine the associations among frailty, gender, age, and infectious diseases. Cox proportional hazards regression was conducted to identify the effect of frailty on the risk of demographic factors and frailty on the risk of infectious diseases, with estimations of the hazard ratio and 95% CI., Results: A total of 235 cases of 12 infectious diseases were reported during the study period, with an incidence of 906.21/100,000 person-years in the frailty group. In the same age group, the risk of infection was higher in men than women. Frail older adults had a hazard ratio for infectious diseases of 1.50 (95% CI 1.14-1.97) compared with healthy older adults. We obtained the same result after sensitivity analyses. For respiratory tract-transmitted diseases (IRR 1.97, 95% CI 1.44-2.71) and gastrointestinal tract-transmitted diseases (IRR 3.67, 95% CI 1.39-10.74), frail older adults are at risk. Whereas no significant association was found for blood-borne, sexually transmitted, and contact-transmitted diseases (IRR 0.76, 95% CI 0.37-1.45)., Conclusions: Our study provides additional evidence that frailty components are significantly associated with infectious diseases. Health care professionals must pay more attention to frailty in infectious disease prevention and control., (© Ya Yang, Kechun Che, Jiayan Deng, Xinming Tang, Wenyuan Jing, Xiuping He, Jiacheng Yang, Wenya Zhang, Mingjuan Yin, Congcong Pan, Xiaoling Huang, Zewu Zhang, Jindong Ni. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (https://publichealth.jmir.org).)