Health education services utilization and its determinants among migrants: a cross-sectional study in urban-rural fringe areas of Beijing, China.

BACKGROUND: Domestic migration poses a challenge for China as migrants have little access to preventive healthcare services and are vulnerable to certain risks and diseases. This research sought to unveil and explore the determinant factors associated with health education utilization as a key aspect in basic public health services for migrants in Beijing, China. METHODS: A sample of 863 inter-provincial migrants, 18 years old and above, was selected by three-stage stratified cluster sampling method in urban-rural fringe areas of Beijing during 2016 to 2017. Face-to-face structured interviews were conducted in the questionnaire survey. The effects of the explanatory variables on health education utilization from predisposing, enabling, health behaviors and need variables were used to demonstrate by Anderson health service utilization model. RESULTS: The study revealed that 61.6% migrants desired to receive health education, while only 53.8% of them received in the past year. There were differences in the utilization and needs of health education among the migrants in different ages and genders. Many migrants desired to gain access to various types of health education information from the internet. Chi-square independence test lists such major determinant factors in migrants whole health education as age, "Hukou" registration system, marital status, education level, long-term residence plan in Beijing, one or more children in Beijing, employment status, housing source, average daily working time, exercises, health knowledge, smoking, self-rated health. The binary logistic regression indicates that the migrants with younger age, high education level, one or more children in Beijing, exercises and good self-rated health were more likely to receive whole health education. The results also show that average daily working time of enabling variables and exercise of health behavior variables were the strong and consistent determinants of three types of health education utilization, including communicable, non-communicable and occupational diseases. CONCLUSION: Gaps exist between the needs and utilization in health education and more attention should be given to the migrants with heavy workload and low education level. Feasible policies and measures, such as multiple health information channels, should be vigorously implemented to ensure equitable and easy access to health education for migrants.

Effect of nano-SiO2 packing on postharvest quality and antioxidant capacity of loquat fruit under ambient temperature storage.

Effect of nano-SiO2 packing on postharvest quality and antioxidant capacity of two different loquat cultivars (white-flesh 'Qingzhong' and red-flesh 'Dawuxing') were determined. Results showed that nano-SiO2 packing significantly inhibited internal browning, retarded the decline of total soluble solids, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content and extractable juice in both cultivars. Decay index of nano-SiO2 packing in 'Dawuxing' and 'Qingzhong' was 53.25% and 42.84% lower than control after the day 12, respectively. Meanwhile, nano-SiO2 packing enhanced the contents of individual phenolic compounds and soluble sugar compounds, induced higher superoxide dismutase and catalase activities, which contributed to improving 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity. Furthermore, the contents of total soluble solids, ascorbic acid and soluble sugar were higher in 'Qingzhong' than those in 'Dawuxing', which dedicated to better quality. These results indicated that nano-SiO2 packing was a promising approach in inhibiting decay, maintaining quality and expanding shelf life of loquats.

Age- and Sex-Associated Impacts of Body Mass Index on Stroke Type Risk: A 27-Year Prospective Cohort Study in a Low-Income Population in China.

The relationship between body mass index (BMI) and stroke type has remained controversial despite studies demonstrating that BMI is related to stroke risk, especially in specific groups. We assessed the age- and sex-associated impacts of BMI on stroke type in a low-income, poorly educated population in China. The association of BMI with stroke type was estimated using Cox regression analyses in this prospective cohort study, after adjusting for sex, age, education level, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, and alcohol drinking status. During the follow-up period, 638 stroke cases occurred among the 3,906 participants included in this prospective study. For men aged <65 years, being overweight was an independent predictor of all stroke subtypes, compared with normal-weight individuals; the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were 1.98 (1.52-2.58) for total stroke, 1.69 (1.22-2.33) for ischemic stroke, and 3.62 (2.09-6.25) for hemorrhagic stroke, all P < 0.001. Being underweight was also an independent predictor of hemorrhagic stroke (HR, 5.10; 95%CI, 1.80-14.50, P = 0.002). For women <65-years-old, being overweight was a risk factor for total (HR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.01-1.89; P = 0.044) and hemorrhagic strokes (HR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.00-4.28; P = 0.050); obesity was a risk factor for total (HR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.60-3.82) and ischemic strokes (HR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.54-4.15), all P < 0.001. These findings suggest that weight management should be a high priority for substantially reducing the heavy burden of strokes in rural China among both men and women <65-years-old; men<65-years-old should maintain their weight within a reasonable range.

Glycine betaine reduces chilling injury in peach fruit by enhancing phenolic and sugar metabolisms.

Glycine betaine (GB) treatment is useful to reduce chilling injury (CI) of several kinds of fruits including peach. However, the regulatory mechanism remains unknown. In this study, peach fruit was treated with 10 mmol L-1 GB solution for 10 min. The effects of GB treatment on CI, phenolic and soluble sugar metabolism were investigated in this study. Moreover, phenylpropanoid and soluble sugar content, and enzyme activities associated with phenolic and sugar metabolisms were also measured. The results showed that GB reduced CI and maintained high levels of total phenolic and flavonoid content. The activities of phenylpropanoid metabolism-related enzymes were significantly enhanced by GB. Higher content of sucrose and lower contents of fructose and glucose were observed in GB-treated fruits. Therefore, our results showed that GB could enhance chilling tolerance of peach through regulating phenolic and sugar metabolisms, and maintaining high levels of individual phenolic and sucrose content.

A quantitative analysis of the mass media coverage of genomics medicine in China: a call for science journalism in the developing world.

Science journalism is a previously neglected but rapidly growing area of scholarship in postgenomics medicine and socio-technical studies of knowledge-based innovations. Science journalism can help evaluate the quantity and quality of information flux between traditional scientific expert communities and the broader public, for example, in personalized medicine education. Newspapers can play a crucial role in science and health communication, and more importantly, in framing public engagement. However, research on the role of newspaper coverage of genomics-related articles has not been readily available in resource-limited settings. As genomics is rapidly expanding worldwide, this gap in newspaper reportage in China is therefore an important issue. In order to bridge this gap, we investigated the coverage of genomics medicine in eight major Chinese national newspapers, using the China Core Newspapers Full-text Database (CCND) and articles in scientific journals in PubMed from 2000 to 2011. Coverage of genomics medicine in these eight official government Chinese newspapers has remained low, with only 12 articles published per newspaper per year between 2000 and 2011. Between 2000 and 2011, over a 40-fold difference was observed in the number of genomics medicine-related articles in PubMed, as compared to that in newspapers. The numbers of genomics-related articles among the eight major newspapers from 2000 to 2011 were significantly different (p=0.001). Commentary/mini reviews and articles about gene therapy for specific diseases were most frequently published in 2006 and 2011. In parallel, we observed that "cancer gene therapy," "new susceptibility gene locus," and "gene technology revolution" were the top three thematic strands addressed in the newspapers, even though their volume remained low. This study reports on the under-representation of newspaper coverage of genomics medicine in China, despite the vast growth of scientific articles in journals in this knowledge domain. This underscores the need to enhance collaboration between scientists, medical professionals, and journalists as an important strand of overall communications efforts in disseminating genomic medicine knowledge to larger audiences. Yet a substantive question remains to be examined: would traditional journalism, alone, be adequate to address the advances and challenges in genomics medicine in the media? Conversely, should we invest in science journalism programs as a subspecialty in biomedicine so scientists and clinicians acquire the twin scholarship of science/clinical medicine and journalism in their formative education?