Sustainability assessment of small hydropower from an ESG perspective: A case study of the Qin-Ba Mountains, China.

Small hydropower (SHP) has made significant contributions to economic and social development in rural and remote mountainous regions. However, the adverse ecological-environmental impacts resulting from the SHP sector and challenges in hydropower management have become major areas of concern. From an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) perspective and using three SHP stations (GXD, WZL, and SJB) in the Qin-Ba Mountains as case studies, we constructed a sustainability assessment system comprising 18 indicators across three dimensions. The hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets (HFLTSs) and cloud models were employed to determine the sustainability level of SHP by characterizing the hesitancy of the evaluator and the uncertainty of the evaluated data. (1) The ecological-environmental protection (E) dimension was assigned the greatest weight, followed by the dimensions of social responsibility contribution (S) and corporate governance management (G). The weights of certain indicators, including the water qualification rate, river morphology maintenance, guaranteed rate of instream flow, comprehensive utilization, and production safety standardization grade were relatively high, conforming to the current context of green development prioritization in which ecological-environmental protection is of the utmost importance. (2) The overall sustainability levels of all three SHP stations were "good", with the E-dimension contributing the most and the G-dimension contributing the least to the sustainability goal. (3) The GXD, WZL, and SJB stations were ranked first, second, and third, respectively, in terms of their sustainability scores. This study provides an innovative perspective for the sustainability assessment of SHP. The evaluation method can be generalized to encompass multi-attribute decision-making problems. The findings of this study can aid in addressing the shortcomings associated with SHP development and promote sustainability within the SHP industry.

L.acidophilus HSCC LA042 and HKL suspension ameliorate DSS-induced ulcerative colitis in mice by improving the intestinal barrier inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome and pathogenic bacteria.

Ulcerative Colitis(UC) is a chronic intestinal inflammation affecting the intestines, yet its underlying causes remain unclear. In recent decades, the global prevalence of UC has been on the rise, leading to an increasing demand for therapeutic drugs with minimal side effects. Huan Kui Le (HKL), a traditional Chinese medicine compound, has demonstrated promising efficacy when combined with Lactobacillus acidophilus (Lac.) for UC intervention. However, the precise therapeutic mechanism of this combination remains unknown. The study focused on understanding the mechanisms of UC by examining the effects of Lac. and HKL (LH) treatment. The outcomes discovered that the disruption of gut microbiota, triggered by the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, plays a crucial role in UC development. This disruption exacerbates UC symptoms by causing disturbances in inflammatory cytokines and mucosal permeability. We investigated the dynamic changes following the application of this treatment using 16S rRNA sequencing, HE, WB, IHC, and ELISA. Compared with the UC group, LH treatment reduced colon pathological injury, improved colon length, and decreased IL-1 ß serum levels. Furthermore, it restored the expression of TJs and preserved mucosal barrier integrity. LH treatment also mitigated colon injury by attenuating the expression of pyroptosis-related genes and proteins, such as NLRP3 and Caspase-1. Additionally, LH treatment altered the gut microbiota's microecology, characterized by a reduction in pathogenic bacteria abundance like Escherichia-shigella and an increase in beneficial bacteria abundance like Akkermansia and Erysipelatoclostridium. Overall, our findings indicate that LH therapy may be associated with intestinal barrier repair, inflammasome inhibition, and gut microbiota regulation, suggesting its potential as a UC treatment.

Insomnia among coronavirus disease 2019 survivors: A single-center cross-sectional study.

Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, insomnia has become one of the longer COVID-19 symptoms. This study aimed to investigate insomnia among COVID-19 survivors and explore the occurrence and influencing factors of insomnia. A cross-sectional study was performed from December 2022 to February 2023 through an online questionnaire star survey with 8 questions. The insomnia severity index scale (ISI) was used to assess the severity of insomnia. Univariate analysis was used to analyze the factors related to COVID-19 infection. A total of 564 participants (183 males and 381 females) were surveyed in the present study. The prevalence of insomnia was 63.12%. Among these insomnia patients, there were 202 (35.82%) with sub-threshold symptoms, 116 (20.57%) with moderate symptoms, and 38 (6.74%) with severe symptoms. Univariate analysis indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the prevalence of insomnia among COVID-19 survivors of different ages, occupations, and educational levels (P < .05). Of the 356 insomnia patients, 185 (51.97%) did not take any measures against insomnia, while those who took drugs only, physical exercise only, drugs and physical exercise, and other measures were 90 (25.28%), 42 (11.80%), 17 (4.78%), and 22 (6.18%), respectively. Additionally, of the 107 insomnia patients with drug therapy, 17 (15.89%) took estazolam, 16 (14.95%) took alprazolam, 39 (36.45%) took zopiclone, and 35 (32.71%) took other drugs to improve insomnia symptoms. The prevalence of insomnia symptoms remains high among COVID-19 survivors in China. Education level and occupation may be the influencing factors. Unfortunately, most patients with insomnia do not take corresponding treatment measures.