Diabetic kidney disease screening status and related factors: a cross-sectional study of patients with type 2 diabetes in six provinces in China.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the awareness and practice of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) or nephropathy screening among community-based patients with type 2 diabetes in six provinces and cities in China, and to analyse the related factors affecting screening practices. METHODS: From December 2021 to March 2022, a cross-sectional survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire in 6230 patients with type 2 diabetes aged 18 years and older. The content of the questionnaire includes three parts: the general situation of diabetic patients (gender, age, ethnicity, marriage, education, occupation, etc.), DKD screening practices, and the evaluation of DKD screening services. RESULTS: 89.70% of the patients had their fasting blood glucose measured every six months, 21.12% of the patients had their glycosylated hemoglobin measured every six months, and only 13.11% and 9.34% of the patients had a urine protein-creatinine ratio test and estimated glomerular filtration rate test every 12 months. The proportions of glycosylated hemoglobin, urine protein-creatinine ratio, and estimated glomerular filtration rate were relatively high in young, northern, highly educated, and long-duration type 2 diabetic patients. CONCLUSION: The results of this survey found that the proportion of urine protein-creatinine ratio testing, estimated glomerular filtration rate testing, and glycosylated hemoglobin testing in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes was very low. Patients with type 2 diabetes in rural areas, southern areas, with low education level, and short course of disease have lower detection rates for DKD, and hence lower rates of prevention and treatment.

The Impact of the Numbers of Monitoring Stations on the National and Regional Air Quality Assessment in China During 2013-18.

China national air quality monitoring network has become the core data source for air quality assessment and management in China. However, during network construction, the significant change in numbers of monitoring sites with time is easily ignored, which brings uncertainty to air quality assessments. This study aims to analyze the impact of change in numbers of stations on national and regional air quality assessments in China during 2013-18. The results indicate that the change in numbers of stations has different impacts on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone concentration assessments. The increasing number of sites makes the estimated national and regional PM2.5 concentration slightly lower by 0.6-2.2 µg m-3 and 1.4-6.0 µg m-3 respectively from 2013 to 2018. The main reason is that over time, the monitoring network expands from the urban centers to the suburban areas with low population densities and pollutant emissions. For ozone, the increasing number of stations affects the long-term trends of the estimated concentration, especially the national trends, which changed from a slight upward trend to a downward trend in 2014-15. Besides, the impact of the increasing number of sites on ozone assessment exhibits a seasonal difference at the 0.05 significance level in that the added sites make the estimated concentration higher in winter and lower in summer. These results suggest that the change in numbers of monitoring sites is an important uncertainty factor in national and regional air quality assessments, that needs to be considered in long-term concentration assessment, trend analysis, and trend driving force analysis.

Impact of intra-subunit domain-domain interactions on creatine kinase activity and stability.

Creatine kinase (CK) is a key enzyme in vertebrate excitable tissues. In this research, five conserved residues located on the intra-subunit domain-domain interface were mutated to explore their role in the activity and structural stability of CK. The mutations of Val72 and Gly73 decreased both the activity and stability of CK. The mutations of Cys74 and Val75, which had no significant effect on CK activity and structure, gradually decreased the stability and reactivation of CK. Our results suggested that the mutations might modify the correct positioning of the loop contributing to domain-domain interactions, and result in decreased stability against denaturation.