[Prevalence of medicare antiviral drugs use and related factors in HIV-infected people in Ningbo].

Objective: To analyze the use of medicare antiviral drugs (ART) and related factors among HIV-infected people in Ningbo City. Methods: The retrospective data was collected related to infection and treatment of HIV-infected people in ART in Ningbo up to February 2023 through the National Infectious Disease Surveillance System. Binary logistic regression was used to analyze the factors related to medicare antiviral drug use in HIV-infected people. R 4.2.2 software was used for statistical analysis. Results: A total of 6 433 HIV-infected people with ART records were collected, among which 5 783 were in ART. The prevalence of medicare drugs use among people in ART was 24.8% (1 435/5 783, 95%CI: 23.7%-25.9%). Beilun District (8.7%, 43/497) and Fenghua District (5.7%, 14/247) had the lowest level in medicare drugs use. Among people in ART using medicare or out-of-pocket drugs, the prevalence of those who had at least one viral load test in the last year (84.9%, 1 352/1 593) was significantly lower than that of those using free drugs (91.4%, 3 829/4 190) (χ2=52.50, P<0.001). The results of multivariate logistic analysis showed that the factors influencing medicare drug use included low educational level (junior high school and below: aOR=0.24, 95%CI:0.17-0.34), farmer or worker (farmer: aOR=0.60, 95%CI: 0.39-0.91; worker: aOR=0.42, 95%CI: 0.27-0.64), low monthly income (<3 000 Yuan: aOR=0.29, 95%CI: 0.18-0.45), the longer interval time between diagnosis and treatment (≥21 days: aOR=0.47, 95%CI: 0.30-0.74). Conclusions: Significant regional differences on the prevalence of medicare antiviral drugs use in HIV-infected people exist in Ningbo City. Follow-up management program of patients should be improved to strengthen patient compliance to mobilize medicare drug promotion. Meanwhile, publicity of medicare drugs should be strengthened for farmers or workers with low education level and patients with delayed treatment.

Revealing the short-range structure of the mirror nuclei 3H and 3He.

When protons and neutrons (nucleons) are bound into atomic nuclei, they are close enough to feel significant attraction, or repulsion, from the strong, short-distance part of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. These strong interactions lead to hard collisions between nucleons, generating pairs of highly energetic nucleons referred to as short-range correlations (SRCs). SRCs are an important but relatively poorly understood part of nuclear structure1-3, and mapping out the strength and the isospin structure (neutron-proton (np) versus proton-proton (pp) pairs) of these virtual excitations is thus critical input for modelling a range of nuclear, particle and astrophysics measurements3-5. Two-nucleon knockout or 'triple coincidence' reactions have been used to measure the relative contribution of np-SRCs and pp-SRCs by knocking out a proton from the SRC and detecting its partner nucleon (proton or neutron). These measurements6-8 have shown that SRCs are almost exclusively np pairs, but they had limited statistics and required large model-dependent final-state interaction corrections. Here we report on measurements using inclusive scattering from the mirror nuclei hydrogen-3 and helium-3 to extract the np/pp ratio of SRCs in systems with a mass number of three. We obtain a measure of the np/pp SRC ratio that is an order of magnitude more precise than previous experiments, and find a marked deviation from the near-total np dominance observed in heavy nuclei. This result implies an unexpected structure in the high-momentum wavefunction for hydrogen-3 and helium-3. Understanding these results will improve our understanding of the short-range part of the nucleon-nucleon interaction.

Human health impact due to arsenic contaminated rice and vegetables consumption in naturally arsenic endemic regions.

Rice and vegetables cultivated in naturally arsenic (As) endemic areas are the substantial source of As body loading for persons using safe drinking water. However, tracing As intake, particularly from rice and vegetables by biomarker analysis, has been poorly addressed. This field investigation was conducted to trace the As transfer pathway and measure health risk associated with consuming As enriched rice and vegetables. Purposively selected 100 farmers from five sub-districts of Chandpur, Bangladesh fulfilling specific requirements constituted the subjects of this study. A total of 100 Irrigation water, soils, rice, and vegetable samples were collected from those farmers' who donated scalp hair. Socio-demographic and food consumption data were collected face to face through questionnaire administration. The mean As level in irrigation water, soils, rice, vegetables, and scalp hairs exceeded the acceptable limit, while As content was significant at 0.1%, 5%, 0.1%, 1%, and 0.1% probability levels, respectively, in all five locations. Arsenic in scalp hair is significantly (p ≤ 0.01) correlated with that in rice and vegetables. The bioconcentration factor (BCF) for rice and vegetables is less than one and significant at a 1% probability level. The average daily intake (ADI) is higher than the RfD limit for As. Both grains and vegetables have an HQ (hazard quotient) > 1. Maximum incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) showed 2.8 per 100 people and 1.6 per 1000 people are at considerable and threshold risk, respectively. However, proteinaceous and nutritious food consumption might have kept the participants asymptomatic. The PCA analysis showed that the first principle component (PC1) explains 91.1% of the total variance dominated by As in irrigation water, grain, and vegetables. The dendrogram shows greater variations in similarity in rice and vegetables As, while the latter has been found to contribute more to human body loading compared to grain As.

Mechanical performance of graphenex/poly(ether ketone ketone) composite sheets by hot pressing.

Polymer composites are gradually replacing traditional metal materials in the fields of aviation, aerospace, automotive and medicine due to their corrosion resistance, light weight and high strength. Moulding technology and organization morphology of polymer composite are key elements affecting the quality of products and their application, so a vacuum hot pressing process for graphenex/poly(ether ketone ketone) (PEKK) (x = 0%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%) composite powders is explored with particularly designed moulding parameters to achieve high conductive properties and good mechanical properties in graphene/PEKK composite sheet with thickness of 1.25 mm and diameter of 80 mm. The vacuum environment ensures that the graphene is not oxidized by air during hot pressing molding, which is essential for achieving conductive property in the graphene/PEKK composite; The hot pressing temperature of each graphene/PEKK composite powder is higher than glass transition temperature but lower than melting temperature, which ensures the graphene/PEKK composite powders is fully compacted and then graphene is fully lapped in the composite sheet. In addition, the graphene/PEKK composite sheet shows conductive property when the graphene content increases to 3wt%, and then the conductivity of the composites increases and then decreases with a peak value at 5wt% with increasing graphene content. By comparing the mechanical properties and microstructure morphology of the graphene/PEKK composite sheets, it was obtained that graphene content has an obvious effect on the mechanical properties of the composites, e.g., the mechanical properties will be increased as the graphene content increasing when graphene content is more than 3%. The graphene distribution law of the composite material with different graphene contents is analysed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM).

Clinical significance of CA 19.9 and LINC01197 in pancreatic cancer.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the expression and clinical significance of LINC01197 in serum of patients with pancreatic cancer (PC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty PC patients (patient group) treated in our hospital from March 2012 to April 2014 were collected, and another 50 normal people (normal group) were collected for physical examination. The LINC01197 expression in serum of the two groups was detected by qRT-PCR method, and the CA 19.9 expression in serum was detected by Roche automatic biochemistry. The expression and diagnostic value of CA 19.9 and LINC01197 in PC were analyzed, and the relationship between LINC01197 and prognosis of PC patients was observed. RESULTS: The CA 19.9 expression in the patient group was significantly higher than that in the normal group (p<0.001). Their area under the curve was 0.791 and 0.944 respectively. The incidence of phases III+IV, lymphatic invasion, and distant metastasis in patients with low expression of LINC01197 is significantly higher than that in those with high expression, and has higher diagnostic value. With the progress of clinical staging, the TNM expression decreased gradually and there were differences between groups (p<0.001). Spearman's test analysis found that the decreased TNM staging of LINC01197 increased gradually (r=-0.816, p<0.001), and the area under the curve of LINC01197 distinguishing phase I and phase II+phase+III+phase IV was 0.930. The 1-year survival rate and 5-year survival rate of patients in low expression group were lower than those in high expression group (p1 year =0.037, p5 year =0.014). Distant metastasis is an independent prognostic factor for PC patients to survive for 1 to 5 years. Differentiation, TNM staging, and LINC01197 are independent prognostic factors for PC patients to survive for 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: The low expression of LINC01197 in PC patients indicates poor prognosis of patients and is expected to be a potential diagnostic and prognostic indicator of PC.

[The mediation mechanism of coronary artery lesions in both male and female patients with Kawasaki disease].

Objective: To explore the mediation mechanism of coronary artery lesion among both male and female Kawasaki disease (KD) children. Methods: Children with KD that hospitalized in the Wenzhou Medical University affiliated Yuying Children's Hospital from January 2009 to December 2014, were included in this study. Differences on demographical characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory indicators, regimen and time of treatment, results from pre/post echocardiography and treatment between male and female patients, were compared. The independent effect of gender on the risk of coronary artery lesions (CAL) was evaluated, and the mediating effect of BMI, visiting time and KD type on the association between gender and CAL were also studied. Results: The average BMI level of male patients was higher than that of female patients. The difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). The prevalence of overweight among male patients (20.9%) was higher than female (14.1%). The difference was statistically significant (P=0.011). Data from the multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed that the incidence of CAL in male patients was higher than that in female patients (aOR=1.50, 95%CI: 1.06-2.12) but the CAL was mainly different before on the immunoglobulin therapy. Results from the mediation analysis showed that BMI was an important mediator in the association between gender and CAL, with the indirect effect as 1.05 (95%CI: 1.01- 1.10) and the proportion mediated as 13.0%. Conclusions: Male patients presented higher incidence of CAL but was mainly reflected in the difference of CAL before the treatment. BMI was probably an important mediator related to the association between gender and CAL.

Monitoring and assessment of heavy metal contamination in a constructed wetland in Shaoguan (Guangdong Province, China): bioaccumulation of Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd in aquatic and terrestrial components.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the current status of heavy metal concentrations in constructed wetland, Shaoguan (Guangdong, China). Sediments, three wetland plants (Typha latifolia, Phragmites australis, and Cyperus malaccensis), and six freshwater fish species [Carassius auratus (Goldfish), Cirrhinus molitorella (Mud carp), Ctenopharyngodon idellus (Grass carp), Cyprinus carpio (Wild common carp), Nicholsicypris normalis (Mandarin fish), Sarcocheilichthys kiangsiensis (Minnows)] in a constructed wetland in Shaoguan were collected and analyzed for their heavy metal compositions. Levels of Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cd in sediments exceeded approximately 532, 285, 11, and 66 times of the Dutch Intervention value. From the current study, the concentrations of Pb and Zn in three plants were generally high, especially in root tissues. For fish, concentrations of all studied metals in whole body of N. mormalis were the highest among all the fishes investigated (Pb 113.4 mg/kg, dw; Zn 183.1 mg/kg, dw; Cu 19.41 mg/kg, dw; 0.846 mg/kg, dw). Heavy metal accumulation in different ecological compartments was analyzed by principle component analysis (PCA), and there is one majority of grouped heavy metals concentration as similar in composition of ecological compartment, with the Cd concentration quite dissimilar. In relation to future prospect, phytoremediation technology for enhanced heavy metal accumulation by constructed wetland is still in early stage and needs more attention in gene manipulation area.

[Intervention study of compassion fatigue of oncology nurses in Balint group activities].

Objective: To explore the effectiveness of Balint group on compassion fatigue among oncology nurses. Methods: From January to December 2016, 35 oncology nurses from one general hospital were enrolled. 18 cases were allocated in the observation group and 17 cases in the control group by computer randomization. Nurses in the observation group were received a total of 8 times Balint Group activities, with 2 times a month and 1.5 hours each time, which is aiming to discuss difficult cases encountered in the clinic to help nurses have a deeper experience and a better understanding of the emotions and behaviors, fantasies and needs between nurse-patient interaction. Nurses in the control group without intervention. All the Participants were requested to complete the survey of the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) , the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Professionals (JSE-HP) , and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) at pre and post intervention. Results: Before intervention, two group of nurses in age, working years, marriage, and education were not statistically significant (P>0.05). There was no difference in the scores of empathy, compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and General health (P>0.05). After intervention, the scores of JSE-HP and its three dimensions of perspective taking, emotional care, and trans-positional consideration in the observation group had significantly higher than the control group (P<0.05). The level of compassion satisfaction in the observation group was higher, and the general health status was lower (P<0.05). There was no statistically difference in the level of burnout and secondary traumatic stress between two groups (P>0.05) . Conclusion: Balint group has a positive role in promoting nurses'empathetic skills, compassion satisfaction and mental health.

[Carpal canal ultrasound examination in patients with mild hand-arm vibration disease].

Objective: To investigate the clinical value of ultrasound examination of carpal canal structure in patients with mild hand-arm vibration disease. Methods: A total of 29 patients (58 wrists) with mild hand-arm vibration disease who were treated in Shenzhen Prevention and Treatment Center for Occupational Diseases from May to December, 2015 were enrolled as observation group, and 20 healthy volunteers (40 wrists) were enrolled as the control group. Color Doppler ultrasound was used to observe the morphology and echo of the median nerve in the carpal canal and 9 muscle tendons and transverse carpal ligament. The thickness of transverse carpal ligament and diameter of the median nerve at the level of the hamulus of hamate bone were measured, as well as the cross-sectional area of the median nerve at the level of pisiform bone. Results: In the 29 patients with hand-arm vibration disease patients in the observation group, 8 experienced entrapment of the median nerve in the carpal canal, among whom 5 had entrapment in both wrists; there were 13 wrists (23%) with nerve entrapment and 45 wrists (77%) without nerve entrapment. Compared with the control group, the patients with hand-arm vibration disease and nerve entrapment in the observation group showed significant thickening of the transverse carpal ligament at the level of the hamulus of hamate bone and a significant increase in the cross-sectional area of the median nerve at the level of pisiform bone (P<0.05) , while there were no significant differences in the thickness of transverse carpal ligament at the level of the hamulus of hamate bone and the cross-sectional area of the median nerve at the level of pisiform bone (t=-9.397 and -4.385, both P>0.05) . Conclusion: Ultrasound examination can clearly show the radiological changes of carpal canal contents in patients with mild hand-arm vibration disease and has a certain diagnostic value in nerve damage in patients with hand-arm vibration disease.

Accumulation of mercury and cadmium in rice from paddy soil near a mercury mine.

Paddy soil and rice (Oryza sativa L.) in the Wanshan mining area in Guizhou Province, China, have been contaminated by toxic trace metals such as cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg). The present study examined correlations between the types and physicochemical parameters of the soil and the contents of trace metals and the different forms of Hg in rice. The health risks of consuming contaminated rice from the Wanshan mining area were also assessed. Sequential extraction procedures were used to investigate the chemical behavior of Hg in the soil. The results showed that Hg and Cd were the most abundant trace metals in the Wanshan mining area. The toxic methylmercury (MeHg) content was substantial in brown rice, and the total amounts of total Hg (THg), diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid-Hg, and water-soluble Hg varied in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils. An antagonistic interaction between Mn in brown rice, straw, and husk and MeHg in brown rice was also shown. An analysis of calculated dietary intake, target hazard quotients, and hazard indexes showed a potential risk of transferring Hg, MeHg, and Cd to humans when rice from the Wanshan mining area is consumed. Therefore, it must be concluded that consuming contaminated rice near the Wanshan mining area is a potential threat to human health.

Variations and constancy of mercury and methylmercury accumulation in rice grown at contaminated paddy field sites in three Provinces of China.

Many paddy fields have been contaminated by mercury (Hg) in mining areas of China. In this study, twenty-six rice cultivars and three Hg contaminated paddy fields in different geographic regions were selected for field trials and aimed to investigate the variations and similarities in total Hg (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) accumulations in brown rice (seeds) across sites. Our results revealed widescale cultivar variation in THg (13-52 ng g(-1) at Wanshan) and MeHg (3.5-23 ng g(-1)) accumulation and %MeHg (17.7-89%) in seeds. The ability to translocate is an important factor in the levels of THg and MeHg in seed. Cultivar tended to stability in THg accumulation across sites. Some cultivars accumulated lower concentrations of both THg and MeHg in seeds at fields seriously contaminated by Hg. Present results suggest that appropriate cultivar selection is a possible way to reduce THg and MeHg accumulation in seeds of rice grown in Hg-contaminated regions.

Mixed arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal application to improve growth and arsenic accumulation of Pteris vittata (As hyperaccumulator) grown in As-contaminated soil.

A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to study the effects of three types of single inoculum [indigenous mycorrhizas (IM) isolated from As mine, Glomus mosseae (GM) and Glomus intraradices (GI)] and two types of mixed inoculum (mixed with IM and either GM or GI) on the growth response of Pteris vittata (hyperaccumulator) and Cynodon dactylon (non-hyperaccumulator) at three levels of As concentrations (0, 100 and 200mgkg(-1)). Both mycorrhizal plants exhibited significantly higher biomass, and N and P accumulation in its tissue than the control. Among the mycorrhizal inoculum, the mixed inoculum IM/GM promoted substantially higher mycorrhizal colonization and arsenate reductase activity in P. vittata than C. dactylon, among all As levels. The portion of Paris arbuscular mycorrhizal structure (observed in colonized roots) together with the highest As translocation factor of 10.2 in P. vittata inoculated with IM/GM was also noted. It was deduced that IM/GM inoculum may be the best choice for field inoculation at any contaminated lands as the inoculum exhibited better adaptation to variable environmental conditions and hence benefited the host plants.

Do arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi affect arsenic accumulation and speciation in rice with different radial oxygen loss?

The effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the temporal variation of arsenic (As) speciation and accumulation in two paddy rice cultivars (TD 71 and Xiushui 11) with different degrees of radial oxygen loss (ROL) at three growth periods (day 7, day 35, day 63 after flooding the soil) were investigated in soil, spiked with and without 30 mg As kg(-1). The results showed that TD 71 with high ROL colonized by Glomus intraradices led to higher root colonization rates than Xiushui 11 at three growth periods, both in soil with or without 30 mg As kg(-1) (p<0.05). Mycorrhizal inoculation led to elevated (p<0.05) root ratios of arsenite (As(III)) conc./arsenate (As(V)) conc. (concentration) in TD 71 with high ROL at three growth periods in As contaminated flooding soils. Furthermore, the ratios of As(III) conc./As(V) conc. in roots of TD71 were significantly more than Xiushui 11 when colonized by AMF at three growth periods in 30 mg As kg(-1) soil (p<0.05). Therefore, rice with high ROL can favor AM fungal infection and enhance root ratio of As(III) conc./As(V) conc. in the presence of AMF.

Rapid discrimination of pork in Halal and non-Halal Chinese ham sausages by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and chemometrics.

Rapid discrimination of pork in Halal and non-Halal Chinese ham sausages was developed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry combined with chemometrics. Transmittance spectra ranging from 400 to 4000 cm⁻¹ of 73 Halal and 78 non-Halal Chinese ham sausages were measured. Sample preparation involved finely grinding of samples and formation of KBr disks (under 10 MPa for 5 min). The influence of data preprocessing methods including smoothing, taking derivatives and standard normal variate (SNV) on partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLSDA) and least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) was investigated. The results indicate removal of spectral background and baseline plays an important role in discrimination. Taking derivatives, SNV can improve classification accuracy and reduce the complexity of PLSDA. Possibly due to the loss of detailed high-frequency spectral information, smoothing degrades the model performance. For the best models, the sensitivity and specificity was 0.913 and 0.929 for PLSDA with SNV spectra, 0.957 and 0.929 for LS-SVM with second derivative spectra, respectively.

The effects of radial oxygen loss on arsenic tolerance and uptake in rice and on its rhizosphere.

Understanding the complex biotic and abiotic interactions invoked by the rice root system in oxygen-depleted soil is an important step in screening genotypes for low toxic metal or metalloid accumulation. A hydroponic and a rhizobox experiment have been conducted to explore the effects of varying root oxygen release on chemical changes, As fractionation in rhizosphere soil and Fe plaque formation, As uptake and tolerance by different rice genotypes. The results showed that rice genotypes with higher rates of radial oxygen loss (ROL) and at the bolting stage, tended to have greater effects on rhizosphere Eh, pH, Fe(3+)/Fe(2+) quotients, As fractionation and mobility and also on Fe plaque formation compared to those with lower ROL and at the tillering stage. Genotypes with higher ROL have a strong ability to reduce As accumulation in shoots and increase As tolerance by reducing As mobilization in the rhizosphere and by limiting As translocation.

Uptake kinetics of different arsenic species in lowland and upland rice colonized with Glomus intraradices.

The effect of Glomus intraradices on four As species (arsenate; arsenite; dimethylarsinic acid, DMA; and monomethylarsonic acid, MMA) uptake by lowland rice and upland rice were investigated based on two experiments: (1) high (0-0.05 mM) and low (0-2.5mM) - affinity uptake kinetics of four As species in the short-term, and (2) As speciation in rice treated with 1mM arsenate, arsenite, DMA or MMA solutions. The results showed that mycorrhizal roots of two rice cultivars reduced the arsenate uptake significantly (P<0.001) in low-affinity uptake system, and decreased the uptake of arsenite and MMA noticeably (P<0.05) in high or low-affinity uptake systems. The four As species influx have significant differences (P<0.05) between two rice varieties in low-affinity uptake systems. In the arsenate treatment, the ratio of arsenate/arsenite reduced in shoots while increased in roots because of G. intraradices presence.

Can arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi improve grain yield, As uptake and tolerance of rice grown under aerobic conditions?

The effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) -Glomus intraradices and G. geosporum on arsenic (As) and phosphorus (P) uptake by lowland (Guangyinzhan) and upland rice (Handao 502) were investigated in soil, spiked with and without 60 mg As kg(-1). In As-contaminated soil, Guangyinzhan inoculated with G. intraradices or Handao 502 inoculated with G. geosporum enhanced As tolerance, grain P content, grain yield. However, Guangyinzhan inoculated with G. geosporum or Handao 502 inoculated with G. intraradices decreased grain P content, grain yield and the molar ratio of grain P/As content, and increased the As concentration and the ratio of grain/straw As concentration. These results show that rice/AMF combinations had significant (p < 0.05) effects on grain As concentration, grain yield and grain P uptake. The variation in the transfer and uptake of As and P reflected strong functional diversity in AM (arbuscular mycorrhizal) symbioses.