Global burden of disease attributable to high systolic blood pressure in older adults, 1990-2019: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

AIMS: High systolic blood pressure (HSBP), a significant public health challenge, has not been systematically studied in the elderly population in the context of global aging. Understanding the temporal trends of the disease burden associated with HSBP in the elderly population is essential to control and mitigate the harm caused by HSBP. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used the estimated data derived from the Global Burden of Disease Study to analyse the disease burden of HSBP among the elderly population by region, sex, and temporal changes from 1990 to 2019. We found that the number of deaths due to HSBP increased to 7.86 (95% UI: 6.89-8.82) million, with an increase of 54.1%, and the number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) increased to 146 (95% UI: 130-162) million, with an increase of 52.4%. Conversely, the death and DALY rates of HSBP decreased by -27.0 and -27.8%, respectively. At the national and regional levels, Australasia and other high socio-demographic index regions have made significant improvements in the burden of HSBP, while it remains high in other regions of the world. Additionally, the burden of HSBP in older men is greater than that in older women. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that the current prevention and control of HSBP in older adults is poor, with the total burden increasing significantly. There is an urgent need to implement feasible measures to resist HSBP and lessen the disparity of the global HSBP burden for older adults.

[Characteristics and Evaluation of Soil Rare Earth Element Pollution in the Bayan Obo Mining Region of Inner Mongolia].

The Bayan Obo deposit is the largest light rare earth ore deposit in the world, which releases rare earth elements (REEs) to the surrounding environment through long-term mining processes. To inform restoration plans, it is necessary to investigate the concentration, spatial distribution, pollution level, and ecological risk of REEs. Sample analyses showed that the average total concentration of REEs in this area is 6064.95 mg·kg-1, which was higher than the background levels of control soils (207.44 mg·kg-1), Inner Mongolia (150.95 mg·kg-1), and China (184.72 mg·kg-1). Light REEs (LREEs) accounted for 83%-99% of the detected REE, and Ce was the dominant element. Areas with high REE concentrations were mainly located near the source bed, and the distribution was extremely inhomogeneous, being greatly affected by external interference. Chondrite normalized REE patterns of different functional areas were similar and normalized curves inclined to the right, indicating district fractionation between the LREE and heavy REEs (HREEs). Significant negative Eu anomalies and positive Ce anomalies were observed in the soils based on δCe and δEu values. La/Yb, La/Sm, and Gd/Yb ratios all indicated that the soils were LREE-enriched, whereas the LREEs were more fractionated than the HREE. Four methods were employed to evaluate the pollution and ecological risk of the detected soil REEs. The average values of Ce, Nd, Pr, and La reached heavily contaminated levels based the geo-accumulation index (Igeo). The modified degree of contamination method showed that the average mCd values of REEs in different functional areas ranged from 7.14 to 31.38. The tailings pond had a high level of pollution, residential and industrial areas had a very high pollution level, and the mining area and waste dump showed extremely high levels of pollution. Based on the pollution load index, the tailings pond is moderately polluted while all other functional areas are severely polluted. The potential ecological risk index values ranged from 120.99 to 6376.46, with REEs in soils posing high strong risk, very strong risk, strong risk, moderate risk, and low risk in 33%, 16%, 12%, 30%, and 9% of the sampling sites, respectively. Based on these findings, measures for controlling current pollution and potential ecological risks from REE in the soils of the Bayan Obo mining region are urgently needed.

Boosting the Signal Intensity of Nanoelectrospray Ionization by Using a Polarity-Reversing High-Voltage Strategy.

Continuous efforts have been made to further improve the performance of nano-ESI. In this work, we made use of a polarity-reversing high-voltage strategy for the generation of nano-ESI (PR-nESI). Typically, a negative high voltage of -3.0 kV was first applied to the electrode and maintained for 6 s. Then the polarity was reversed, and a positive high voltage of +1.75 kV was applied for the generation of electrospray. Compared with conventional nano-ESI, PR-nESI significantly enhanced the signal intensity of protonated protein ions. The signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of protonated protein ions was increased by 1-2 orders of magnitude. The increase of S/N was even more remarkable at lower concentrations. Furthermore, PR-nESI also had a desalting effect. Metal ion adducts of proteins were effectively removed. No metal ion adducts were identified from the spectra, even if the concentration of salt was increased to the millimolar level. The performance of PR-nESI was confirmed in the detection of different molecules including proteins, peptides, amino acids, and other small-molecule compounds. The intact folded structure of proteins was preserved during PR-nESI. No unfolding was observed in the spectra. PR-nESI was further applied to the analysis of noncovalent protein-ligand complexes and protein digest. At last, investigations into the mechanism of PR-nESI were carried out. The enhancement of signal intensity and desalting effect were related to the electromigration of the solutes in solution. With all the advantages above, PR-nESI would be a promising method in the future analytical and bioanalytical applications.

Impurity analysis of pure aldrin using heart-cut multi-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Identification and quantification of related-structure impurity is a research focus in the purity assessment of organic compounds. Determination of the purity value and uncertainty assessment are also important in the metrological research. A method for the determination of related-structure impurity in pure aldrin sample has been developed by using heart-cut multi-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (MDGC/MS). Compared to the traditional one-dimensional (1-D) GC system, the two separated columns in the MDGC/MS system can effectively reduce co-elution, enhance separation capability, and thus improve detectability of the trace-level impurities. In addition, MDGC/MS system was simultaneously equipped with flame ionization detector (FID) or electron capture detector (ECD) in the first GC unit and mass spectrometry (MS) detector in the second GC unit. Therefore, accurate quantitative results of the trace-level impurities can be easily achieved by isolation of principal component to the second dimension column using "heart-cut" process. The mass fraction of related-structure impurities in aldrin samples obtained using MDGC/MS system ranged from 6.8×10⁻³ mg g⁻¹ to 26.47 mg g⁻¹ with five orders of magnitude, which is hard to be realized by mean of the 1-D GC. Excellent linearity with correlation coefficients of above 0.999 was achieved for each impurity analysis over a wide range of concentrations. Limits of quantification (LOQ) varied from 250 ng g⁻¹ to 330 ng g⁻¹ for FID, and from 1.0 ng g⁻¹ to 2.0 ng g⁻¹ detected by ECD. The combined standard uncertainty (u(c)) was lower than 0.37 mg g⁻¹ and 0.040 mg g⁻¹ detected using FID and ECD, respectively. Therefore, performance characterization of MDGC/MS used in the study is fit for quantification analysis of trace-level impurity. These results demonstrate that the MDGC/MS is extremely suitable for the purity assessment of organic compounds with medium structural complexity and low polarity.