A study on regional differences and convergence of nursing human resource levels in the Yangtze River Economic Belt: an empirical study.

BACKGROUND: The Yangtze River Economic Belt, as a core economic region in China, is facing the dual challenges of an aging population and growing healthcare demand, and the balanced development and optimal allocation of nursing human resources is crucial to the region's healthcare system. An in-depth study of the regional differences and convergence of nursing human resources in the region will provide a key basis for policy makers to achieve equity and efficiency in healthcare services and meet the growing demand for healthcare. AIM: To analyze the regional differences and convergence characteristics of nursing human resource levels in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and to provide scientific references for optimizing regional nursing human resource allocation. METHODS: Based on the panel data of 107 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2010 to 2020, the regional differences and their sources were analyzed by using Dagum's Gini coefficient, and the convergence characteristics were examined by the coefficient of variation and spatial convergence model. RESULTS: The average value of the number of nursing human resources in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is 2,132,300 people, with obvious regional differences, and the hypervariable density difference (53.01%) is the main source of the regional differences; there are obvious trends of σ-convergence and conditional ß-convergence of the level of nursing human resources in the overall and the three major regions of the upstream, midstream, and downstream, and different factors have different moderating effects on the speed of spatial convergence in the other areas. CONCLUSION: The implementation of precise policies for nursing human resources in different regions of the Yangtze River Economic Belt steadily reduces the regional differences between the upper, middle, and lower reaches and enhances the spatial linkage between regions of nursing human resources to improve the quality of nursing human resources.

Great transition and new pattern: Agriculture and rural area green development and its coordinated relationship with economic growth in China.

Agricultural and Rural Green Development (ARGD) and economic growth are major challenges prevalent in China, but also in other developing countries. A notable gap in current literature lies in the limited holistic approach to agriculture and rural areas, with scant attention being paid to the spatiotemporal evolution of ARGD and its coordination relationship with economic growth. This paper first offers a theoretical analysis of the interactive relationship between ARGD and economic growth and subsequently examines the policy implementation process in China in this regard. It observes 31 provinces in China from 1997 to 2020 to uncover the spatiotemporal evolution of Agricultural and Rural Green Development Efficiency (ARGDE). Using the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model and the local spatial autocorrelation model, this paper analyses the coordination relationship and spatial correlation between ARGDE and economic growth. The results show that ARGDE in China exhibited a phased growth trend and was greatly affected by policies during 1997-2020. The interregional ARGD produced a hierarchical effect. However, provinces with a higher ARGDE did not necessarily exhibit faster growth, leading to a differential pattern of optimization that involved continuous optimization, phased optimization, and continuous deterioration. Over a long period, ARGDE exhibited a trend of significant upward leaps or jumps. Finally, the CCD between ARGDE and economic growth improved, with a clear trend of high-high agglomeration characteristics that shifted from the eastern and northeastern provinces to the central and western ones. This suggests that promoting "quality agriculture" and "green agriculture" can have practical significance in accelerating the development of ARGD. In the future, it is vital to promote ARGD's transformation while mitigating the risk of degrading the coordinated relationship between ARGD and economic growth.

How to balance protection and development? A comprehensive analysis framework for territorial space utilization scale, function and pattern.

The harmonious coexistence of man and nature is a universally recognized standard to test the rational utilization of multifunctional territorial space, and the planning of territorial space adapted to nature is a scientific guide to balance ecological protection and human development. This study focuses on the inevitable relationship between the scale, function and pattern of territorial space utilization (TSU), and puts forward a process research framework of "background evaluation-advantage comparison-optimization conduction". Based on the evaluation of resource and environment suitability, this paper determines the scale of multifunctional territorial space through the potential conflict identification model of TSU. The location entropy method is used to identify the advantageous functions of the county level, and the matching characteristics of the research results and the current situation are obtained by comparing them with the current plan. Finally, from the county functional zoning to the regional TSU pattern, the corresponding optimization conduction path is designed to form a new development and protection pattern. The empirical results of research area show that: (1) The study area is suitable for urban construction and agricultural production as a whole. The ecological protection is mainly at the general important level, and there is a moderate potential conflict between the development and protection of territorial space. The space scale of urban construction, agricultural production and ecological protection are accounted for 8.77%, 78.71% and 12.52%, respectively. (2) The advantageous function of TSU in county-level administrative units is dominated by single advantageous function, and the number of composite advantageous functions is generally small. The advantageous functional types determined by this research have a high matching with the current plan. (3) Based on the analysis of the scale structure and functional use of territorial space, this paper defines the ecological space that should be strictly protected and the agricultural and urban space that should be moderately developed for production and construction, and sets up elastic development areas. Finally, a strategic pattern of "one corridor, two screens, three circles and four zones" is conducive to the realization of the beautiful vision of the unification of protection and development.

Understanding the nonpoint source pollution loads' spatiotemporal dynamic response to intensive land use in rural China.

The extensive use of land resources and environmental pollution in rural areas are two major problems prevalent in China and even the world. It is unknown whether improving the degree of intensive use of rural land can reduce environmental pollution; whether environmental pollution will be promoted or inhibited still lacks in-depth discussion. This paper first provides a theoretical analysis of the generation process of nonpoint source pollution loads (NPSP) in rural land use (RLU) and the mechanism and path of intensive rural land use (IRLU) to reduce agricultural nonpoint source pollution loads (ANPSP). Then, it takes 31 provinces in China from 1978 to 2019 as the research object to examine the temporal and spatial evolution features of IRLU and ANPSP. Furthermore, the paper uses the decoupling model and the Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) model to test the linear and nonlinear relationship between the two. The research shows that the degree of IRLU in China decreased from 0.54 in 1978 to 0.27 in 2006, and then continuously increased to 0.56 in 2019. Moreover, the ANPSP continued to increase from 1955.14 t in 1978-3622.74 t in 2019. The decoupling relationship between the degree of IRLU and environmental pollution experienced the evolution process of "negative decoupling-decoupling", and the EKC had an "inverted N-shaped" characteristic. Overall, China shows that the IRLU helps to reduce ANPSP. At the same time, it was also found that there is obvious heterogeneity among the 31 provinces used in this research in China. Among them, the degree of intensive land use (ILU) in the principal grain-producing regions tends to be better and stable, while other areas show fluctuating changes. The ANPSP in economically developed areas gradually decreases, while that in underdeveloped areas continues to increase. More than 80% of the provinces in China show a trend of IRLU to advance the reduction of ANPSP, but there has also been an increase in the over-intensification of RLU in some major grain-producing areas. The research concludes that there is an inevitable relationship between RLU and ANPSP. Appropriately increasing ILU has a positive effect on decreasing ANPSP.

Land Use Change and Its Impact on Landscape Ecological Risk in Typical Areas of the Yellow River Basin in China.

The basic premise of regional ecological construction would be to scientifically and effectively grasp the characteristics of land use change and its impact on landscape ecological risk. The research objects of this paper are the typical areas of the Yellow River Basin in China and "process-change-drive" as the logical main line. Moreover, this paper is based on multi-period land use remote sensing data from 2000 to 2020, the regional land use change process and influencing factors are identified, the temporal and spatial evolution and response process of landscape ecological risk are discussed, and the land use zoning control strategy to reduce ecological risk is put forward. The results indicated: (1) The scale and structure of land use show the characteristics of "many-to-one" and "one-to-many"; (2) the process of land use change is affected by the alternation of multiple factors. The natural environment and socio-economic factors dominate in the early stage and the location and policy factors have a significant impact in the later stage; (3) the overall landscape ecological risk level and conversion rate show a trend of "high in the southeast, low in the northwest", shift from low to high and landscape ecological risks gradually increase; and (4) in order to improve the regional ecological safety and according to the characteristics of landscape ecological risk and spatial heterogeneity, we should adopt the management and control zoning method and set different levels of control intensity (from key intensity to strict intensity to general intensity), and develop differentiated land use control strategies.

A diterpene derivative enhanced insulin signaling induced by high glucose level in HepG2 cells.

The predominant feature of type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance. Identifying a drug able to reduce insulin resistance is an urgent requirement. ent-3α-Formylabieta-8(14),13(15)-dien-16,12ß-olide had been identified as a new diterpene derivative which showed anticancer activity. This study explores the hypoglycemic effect of ent-3α-formylabieta-8(14),13(15)-dien-16,12ß-olide and studied its mechanism. The insulin response of HepG2 cells following ent-3α-formylabieta-8(14),13(15)-dien-16,12ß-olide treatment, as a model for liver cancer cells, was assessed. The results demonstrated that hyperglycemia resulted in a significant increase in the levels of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) serine phosphorylation and decrease in Akt phosphorylation. High glucose also inhibited the phosphorylation of insulin-dependent GSK3ß. ent-3α-Formylabieta-8(14),13(15)-dien-16,12ß-olide treatment improved the effect of insulin on the phosphorylation of IRS-1 Ser307. In addition, this study demonstrated that the effect of ent-3α-formylabieta-8(14),13(15)-dien-16,12ß-olide was dependent on the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase. Collectively, experimental data indicated an association between insulin resistance and hyperglycemia in HepG2 cells, and that ent-3α-formylabieta-8(14),13(15)-dien-16,12ß-olide reduces IRS-1 Ser307 phosphorylation via activating AMPK, thereby decreasing the insulin signaling blockade.

EFLDO sensitizes liver cancer cells to TNFSF10­induced apoptosis in a p53­dependent manner.

Ent­3α­formylabieta­8(14),13(15)­dien­16,12ß­olide (EFLDO) is a compound extracted from Euphorbia lunulata Bge exhibiting anti­proliferative activity in vitro. In the present study, EFLDO was identified to sensitize HepG2 cells to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily member 10 (TNFSF10)­induced apoptosis. Liver cancer cells were resistant to TNFSF10; however, EFLDO increased TNFSF10­induced cancer cell viability inhibition and cell apoptosis induction as assessed by MTT assay and Annexin V­fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)/propidium iodide assay, respectively. The western blotting results suggested that treatment with EFLDO increased TNFSF10­induced upregulation of the protein expression levels of pro­apoptotic proteins, including BCL2 associated agonist of cell death, BCL2 associated X, apoptosis regulator, caspase­3 (CASP3) and CASP8. Furthermore, treatment with EFLDO increased TNFSF10­mediated downregulation of the protein expression level of the anti­apoptotic protein BCL2 apoptosis regulator. Notably, the increase in the activity of CASP3 was consistent with the western blotting results. Treatment with EFLDO sensitized liver cancer cells to TNFSF10, and apoptosis was induced via the upregulation of TNF receptor superfamily member 10a (TNFRSF10A) and TNFRSF10B in a tumor protein p53 (p53)­dependent manner, as detected by reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analyses. In addition, p53 was identified to be necessary for EFLDO­induced sensitivity to TNFSF10, as assessed by western blotting and Annexin V­FITC assay. Collectively, the present results suggested a novel mechanism underlying EFLDO function in liver cancer. Treatment with EFLDO was able to increase the antitumor effect of TNFSF10 in liver cancer cells in a p53­dependent manner.

EFLDO induces apoptosis in hepatic cancer cells by caspase activation in vitro and suppresses tumor growth in vivo.

To study the apoptosis induced by EFLDO (ent-3α-formylabieta-8(14), 13(15)-dien-16,12ß-olide), extracted from the Euphorbia lunulata Bge, in the HepG2 cell line and to study the antitumor activity of this compound in vivo, Cell viability and migration were evaluated with CCK-8 (2-(2-methoxy-4-nitrophenyl)-3- (4-nitrophenyl)-5-(2,4-disulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, monosodium salt) and wound healing assays, respectively. In addition, the cell cycle was examined using flow cytometry after propidium iodide (PI) staining. Apoptosis was analyzed by using the Annexin V/PI staining assay. Pro-caspase activation and apoptosis protein expression were evaluated by western blotting. A HepG2 xenograft model in nude mice was also established to study the antitumor activity of EFLDO in vivo. Immunohistochemical analysis was used to detect the expression of Ki67 in the tumors in situ. EFLDO could induce dose- and time-dependent apoptosis in HepG2 human hepatic cancer cells. Activation of caspases 3, 8, and 9 played an important role in EFLDO-induced apoptosis in vitro. Decreased levels of Bcl-2 and Survivin and increased level of BAX were also involved in this process. Furthermore, EFLDO could inhibit HepG2 tumor growth in nude mice, and the proliferation characteristics, reflected by the Ki67 index, were suppressed significantly. The results indicated that EFLDO could induce apoptosis in hepatic cancer cells by caspase activation in vitro and suppress tumor growth in vivo.

A trehalose ester from Lancea tibetica.

A phytochemical study of the 95% ethanolic extract of the whole plant of Lancea tibetica Hook. f. et Thoms. led to the isolation of a new trehalose ester, 6-O-undecanoyl-α,ß-trehalose (1), along with 23 known compounds (2-24), of which compounds 2-17 were isolated from this plant for the first time. The structures of these compounds were established on the basis of spectroscopic methods. Compound 1 was evaluated for their in vitro anti-proliferative activities against MCF-7, NCI-H460 and Hep-G2 tumour cell lines. Compound 1 exhibited potent inhibitory activity against NCI-H460 cell growth, in contrast to moderate cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 and Hep-G2 cells.

Two new diterpene derivatives from Euphorbia lunulata Bge and their anti-proliferative activities.

A new ent-abietane-type diterpene lactone (1) and a new jatrophane-type diterpenoid (2), together with twelve known compounds including three diterpenes (3-5), five triterpenes (6-10) and four sterides (11-14) were isolated from the ethanol extract of the whole plant of Euphorbia lunulata Bge. The structure of compounds 1 and 2 was elucidated on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR spectra and the HR-ESI-MS data. The structure of compound 2 was further analyzed by an X-ray crystallographic study. The in vitro anti-proliferative activities against MCF-7 and NCI-H460 cell lines for compounds 1-5 (diterpene) were evaluated. The results showed marked activity for compound 1 against the two cell lines with the IC50 values 19.5 (NCI-H460) and 18.6 (MCF-7) µM, while for cis-platinum (a positive cytotoxic control agent) 29.7 (NCI-H460) and 27.7 (MCF-7) µM. Compounds 2-5 exhibited moderate cytotoxic activities for the two cell lines with the IC50 values ranging from 32.1 to 58.2 µM.

Triterpenoids of Euphorbia kansuensis Proch.

Phytochemical investigation of the ethanol extract of Euphorbia kansuensis Proch. led to the isolation of three new triterpenoids, along with ten known compounds. Their structures were established by extensive 1D and 2D NMR, as well as other spectrum analysis. Biological activities of the three new compounds against Hela cell, Hep-G2 cell, C. albicans ATCC10231 cell and SC5314 cell were evaluated. They showed strong anti-tumor and moderate anti-inflammatory activities with MIC values ranging from 13 to 25 µg/ml and from 30 to 128 µg/ml.

[Distribution characteristics of land use pattern on terrain gradient in Jiaodong mountainous areas at county level].

Based on RS and GIS techniques, and combining with digital terrain index and land use degree composite index, this paper studied the changes of land use pattern in Qixia City of Shandong Province form 1987 to 2003, and quantitatively analyzed the land use degree on terrain gradient. The results indicated that in the City, construction land had obvious advantageous on lower terrain niche, the advantageous terrain niche section of orchard increased by six terrain niche and distributed from aggregation to uniformity, while the advantageous terrain niche of crop land, forest land, grass land, water area, and unutilized land generally remained stable during the study period. According to the quantitative expression of land use degree on terrain gradient, terrain niche was divided into three sections, i.e., 1-15, 16-30, and 31-50, which occupied 49.48%, 43.58%, and 6.94% of the total study area, respectively.

[Neighborhood relationships of land use spatial pattern in Qixia City].

By using the modules of neighborhood statistics and spatial analysis in ArcGIS software, an analysis was conducted with neighborhood factors on the spatiotemporal variation trend of the neighborhood relationships among main land use types in Qixia City of Shandong Province from 1987 to 2003. The results indicated that the neighborhood relationships between different land use types increased with increasing neighborhood distance, while those among the same land use types manifested congregation, which decreased with increasing neighborhood distance. From 1987 to 2003, the neighborhood relationships between construction land and orchard land, and between woodland and orchard land presented decreasing trend, while those of construction land with woodland and grassland were in adverse. Some measures such as controlling construction land area, protecting cultivated land, and decreasing the disturbances of human activities on woodland and grassland should be carried out to realize the harmonious development of economic and ecological benefits in Qixia City.