ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In recent years, there have been frequent reports of gaming disorder in China, with more focus on young people. We developed and psychometrically tested a Gaming Disorder screening scale (i.e., Gaming Disorder Screening Scale - GDSS) for Chinese adolescents and young adults, based on the existing scales and diagnostic criteria, but also considering the development status of China. METHODS: For testing content and criterion validity, 1747 participants competed the GDSS and the Internet Addiction Test (IAT). After 15 days, 400 participants were retested with the scales for to assess test-retest reliability. Besides, 200 game players were interviewed for a diagnosis of gaming disorder. RESULTS: The Cronbach's alpha coefficient on the GDSS was 0.93. The test-retest coefficient of 0.79. Principal components analysis identified three factors accounting for 62.4% of the variance; behavior, functioning, cognition and emotion. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good model fit to the data (χ2 /df = 5.581; RMSEA =0.074; TLI = 0.916, CFI = 0.928). The overall model fit was significantly good in the measurement invariance tested across genders and different age groups. Based on the clinical interview, the screening cut-off point was determined to be ≥47 (sensitivity 41.4%, specificity 82.3%). CONCLUSIONS: The GDSS demonstrated good reliability and validity aspects for screening online gaming disorder among Chinese adolescents and young adults.
Subject(s)
Behavior, Addictive , Video Games , Adolescent , Behavior, Addictive/diagnosis , Behavior, Addictive/epidemiology , Behavior, Addictive/psychology , China , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Female , Humans , Male , Psychometrics , Reproducibility of Results , Surveys and Questionnaires , Video Games/psychology , Young AdultABSTRACT
Objectives. To identify disparities in home damage from Hurricane Maria among Puerto Rican households with different housing tenure and income levels.Methods. Using household inspection data obtained by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including an ordinal damage severity measure, we used generalized ordered logistic regression to estimate the relative risks of damage severities between renters and homeowners, and between households with different incomes.Results. With respect to the FEMA damage-severity classifications of "minor," "major," and "destroyed," renters were more at risk than homeowners for both "major-or-destroyed" and "destroyed" outcomes. Similarly, lower-income households were at greater risk for both "major-or-destroyed" and "destroyed" outcomes. When we allowed for an interaction between income and housing tenure, the difference in risk of "destroyed" outcomes between renters and homeowners was substantially greater at lower income levels.Conclusions. These results provide evidence at the individual household level that renters and lower-income households are most vulnerable to hurricane damage. Our interaction results suggest that lower-income renters are particularly vulnerable to severe home damage.Public Health Implications. Disaster preparedness policies should raise structural standards for low-income housing to reduce risks of severe damage.
Subject(s)
Cyclonic Storms , Disasters , Family Characteristics , Housing , Poverty , Vulnerable Populations , Housing/standards , Housing/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Ownership/statistics & numerical data , Puerto Rico , Risk , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1017/gmh.2021.23.].
ABSTRACT
Rice is a major dietary staple in many communities owing to its high nutritional value and characteristic aroma. Oryzanol, a mixture of ferulic acid esters of triterpene alcohols and phytosterols, is a major group of phytochemicals found in rice. 24-Methylenecycloartanyl ferulate (24MCA-FA), cycloartenyl ferulate (CA-FA), and campestanyl ferulate (Camp-FA) have been identified as the primary components of oryzanol. At present, for the quantification of oryzanol in rice and rice products, UV spectroscopy or high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is widely employed. However, these methods cannot differentiate individual oryzanols, resulting in higher measured values. To extract oryzanol, methods including liquid-liquid extraction, acidulation extraction, and direct solvent extraction have been typically employed, as they do not require specific extraction instrumentation. However, there has been no systematic study on the direct solvent extraction and purification conditions of oryzanol in rice. In this study, a rapid and accurate analytical method based on HPLC-MS/MS and mixed-mode anion exchange (MAX) solid-phase extraction was established to determine the content of three oryzanols (24MCA-FA, CA-FA, and Camp-FA) in rice. The MS parameters, such as the collision energy of three ion pairs of each oryzanol, were optimized. Further, the chromatographic separation conditions and response intensities of the oryzanols in different mobile phases were compared. The effects of different pretreatment conditions on the extraction efficiency of the three oryzanols in rice samples and different purification conditions on their recovery were investigated. Combined with the external standard method, the three oryzanols in rice were successfully quantified. The results showed that the baseline separation and highest response for the three oryzanols were achieved using the Agilent Eclipse XDB-C8 chromatographic column (150 mm×2.1 mm, 3.5 µm) when methanolⶠacetonitrile in a 1â¶1 ratio (v/v) and an aqueous solution of 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate were used as the mobile phases for gradient elution. The extraction rate of the three oryzanols was highest when using 2.5 g of the sample, adding 20 mL of methanol, soaking for 12 h, ultrasonicating at a temperature of 40 â for 20 min, and centrifuging the extracted solutions at 4500 r/min for 10 min. The samples were purified by MAX, and the sample matrix effect was found to be lesser than 1.6%-10.8%. Under the optimum conditions, the calibration curves of the three oryzanols showed good linearity (correlation coefficients r2≥0.9983) within their respective linear ranges. The limits of detection were in the range of 0.5-1.0 µg/L, and limits of quantification were in the range of 2.0-3.5 µg/L. Accuracy and precision experiments were performed on rice samples spiked at three levels (2, 5, and 10 times the background concentration), with three replicates. The average recoveries of the three oryzanols ranged from 86.1% to 110.6%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were between 0.9% and 3.2%. The method showed good performance when applied to the analysis of real samples. In conclusion, the developed method can determine the content of the three oryzanols in rice quickly and accurately, and can be used for the subsequent measurement of oryzanol compounds in rice.
Subject(s)
Oryza , Tandem Mass Spectrometry , Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid , Oryza/chemistry , Phenylpropionates , Solid Phase Extraction , SolventsABSTRACT
This study examined mental health status among Hurricane Sandy survivors in the most severely damaged areas of New York and New Jersey in 2014, approximately 2 years after this disaster. We used the 2014 Associated Press NORC survey of 1009 Sandy survivors to measure the prevalence of probable mental illness and to analyze its association with selected socioeconomic characteristics of survivors, direct impact by Sandy, as well as social support and social trust. The study found major disparities in mental illness by race/ethnicity, age groups, and employment status. Higher Sandy impact levels were strongly associated with higher rates of mental illness and accounted for much of the disparity between blacks and Hispanics compared with whites in our study group. Social support was more strongly associated with lower rates of mental illness than was social trust. In addition, social support served as a significant mitigating factor in the mental health disparities between blacks and whites. The severity of mental illness among Sandy survivors differed significantly among racial and ethnic groups but was moderated by both the direct impact of this disaster on their lives and the degree of social support they received, as well as how trusting they were.
Subject(s)
Cyclonic Storms , Mental Disorders , Humans , Mental Disorders/epidemiology , Prevalence , Retrospective Studies , Sand , SurvivorsABSTRACT
Quinclorac (QNC) is a persistent, highly selective, hormonal herbicide of low toxicity. QNC accumulates in soil and affects the growth and development of crops planted subsequent to its application. In this study, we isolated and screened a QNC-degrading bacterial strain, strain D, from rice paddy soil. Morphological analysis, physiological and biochemical tests, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing led us to identify strain D as a Cellulosimicrobium cellulans strain. We investigated the characteristics of strain D in relation to QNC degradation. Under optimal culture conditions, the QNC degradation rate was 45.9% after 21 days of culture. QNC degradation by strain D in the field was modeled and quantified by a pot experiment. The results show that strain D promotes rice growth and degrades QNC. This research has identified a new bacterial species that degrades QNC, providing a foundation for further research into QNC remediation. IMPORTANCE QNC-degrading bacteria have been isolated from different environments, but there are no reports of Cellulosimicrobium cellulans strains that degrade QNC. In this study, a previously unidentified bacterial strain that degrades QNC, strain D, was screened from paddy soil. The characteristics of strain D that relate to QNC degradation were investigated in detail. The results showed that strain D effectively degraded QNC. Two degradation products of QNC formed by strain D that have not been reported previously, i.e., 3-pyridylacetic acid (m/z 138.0548) and 3-ethylpyridine (m/z 108.0805), were identified using high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry. Strain D has the capacity to degrade QNC in a QNC-polluted paddy.
Subject(s)
Actinobacteria/isolation & purification , Actinobacteria/metabolism , Herbicides/metabolism , Oryza/growth & development , Quinolines/metabolism , Soil Pollutants/metabolism , Actinobacteria/classification , Actinobacteria/genetics , Biodegradation, Environmental , DNA, Bacterial/genetics , Oryza/microbiology , Phylogeny , RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics , Soil MicrobiologyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Fangcang shelter hospitals were opened in Wuhan, China, to isolate and care for patients with mild or moderate symptoms. The patients and staff in the hospitals faced mental health challenges. This paper reports the experiences and mental health needs from them. METHOD: Following the qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted in the EastWest Lake Fangcang Shelter Hospital, Wuhan on March 2020. Data collection and analysis was based on grounded theory. Open coding was adapted and a structured codebook was developed through coding seminars. The themes and subthemes were then confirmed through thematic analysis. The findings were further explained and integrated in a theoretical framework. RESULTS: A total of 10 COVID-19 patients and 13 staff, including doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, and policemen participated in the interviews. They have common needs, as well as their own needs. The perspectives from the staff also did complement for needs of the patients. The mental health needs were generalized into four themes, that is, basic needs, information and communication, emotional needs, and social support, each with several subthemes. In addition, there were some external factors that regulated the internal needs, which were summarized in a theoretical framework. CONCLUSIONS: The study indicates the directions on hospital management, mental health services, policy making, and social work to meet the mental health needs of the inpatients and staff from temporary shelter hospitals like Fangcang in Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: As a new category proposed in the International Classification of Diseases (11th Revision) (ICD-11), the reliability and clinical utility of ICD diagnostic guidelines for gaming disorder (GD) in the Chinese population have not been studied. The purpose of this field study is to clarify the reliability, clinical utility, and cultural applicability of ICD diagnostic guidelines for GD in China and its comparability with Internet GD (IGD) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) (DSM-5). Methods: Participants included 21 paired clinical raters consisting of seven psychiatrists and 200 gaming players aged from 15 to 18 years with different risk levels of Internet addiction based on the scores of Young's Internet Addiction Test. Each participant received a semi-structured face-to-face interview by paired clinical raters at the same time. Then clinical raters made the diagnosis and filled the clinical utility questionnaire independently according to the diagnostic guidelines for GD in both ICD-11 and DSM-5. Results: The diagnostic consistency coefficient (kappa value) between the paired clinical raters was 0.545 (0.490-0.600, p < 0.001) and 0.622 (0.553-0.691, p < 0.001) for ICD-11 and DSM-5 diagnostic guidelines, respectively, for GD. The diagnostic consistency was 0.847 (0.814-0.880, p < 0.001) between GD in ICD-11 and IGD in DSM-5. Meanwhile, 86.7% of responses that agreed with the ICD-11 diagnostic guidelines for GD provided enough detailed implementation characteristics and showed good overall clinical applicability (86.0%), specificity (94.4%), usefulness (84.1%), and acceptable cultural adaptation (74.8%). GD in ICD-11 was slightly more accepted than IGD in DSM-5 (p < 0.001), while the clinical efficiency of ICD-11 was inferior to that of DSM-5 (p < 0.001). Conclusion: This study indicates that the ICD-11 diagnostic guidelines for GD have acceptable clinical reliability and high consistency with IGD in DSM-5. Their clinical applicability and cultural adaption are comparable with those of DSM-5. Although the guidelines still need to be adjusted for better implementation in China, this is already a great step committed to reducing the serious consequences caused by excessive gaming behaviors through effective identification and normative diagnosis, especially for adolescents.
ABSTRACT
Hurricane Ike, the third costliest hurricane in US history, made landfall in the Galveston Bay Area in September, 2008. Existing literature postulates that maladaptive behavior such as increased alcohol use is often exhibited by disaster survivors in coping with both disaster-related traumatic events and post-disaster stressful events. In addition, it has also been postulated that survivors' perceptions of social cohesion and social control can potentially serve to moderate such behavior. The purpose of this paper is to study such hypotheses for Hurricane Ike. In particular, we investigate the following four hypotheses: (H1) There is an increase of alcohol use by survivors of Hurricane Ike in the Galveston Bay Area; (H2) There are positive associations between both Ike-related trauma and post-Ike stress events and the increase in alcohol use; (H3) There are negative associations between both perceived social cohesion and social control and the increase in alcohol use following Ike; and finally that (H4) perceived social cohesion and social control serve to moderate the associations between both Ike-related trauma and post-Ike stress events and increased alcohol use after Ike. Using public use survey-weighted data from the Galveston Bay Recovery Study (GBRS) of Ike survivors (N = 658), we tested these hypotheses using logistic regressions controlling for other key socioeconomic variables. Our results confirm H1 and H2. Hypotheses H3 and H4 are partially confirmed with respect to social control, but show that (i) there is a positive association between perceived social cohesion and the increase in alcohol use following Ike, and that (ii) while perceived social cohesion and social control do moderate the association between post-Ike stress events and increased alcohol use, they have no effect on the association between Ike-related trauma and increased alcohol use.