Magnetocardiography-based coronary artery disease severity assessment and localization using spatiotemporal features.

Objective.This study aimed to develop an automatic and accurate method for severity assessment and localization of coronary artery disease (CAD) based on an optically pumped magnetometer magnetocardiography (MCG) system.Approach.We proposed spatiotemporal features based on the MCG one-dimensional signals, including amplitude, correlation, local binary pattern, and shape features. To estimate the severity of CAD, we classified the stenosis as absence or mild, moderate, or severe cases and extracted a subset of features suitable for assessment. To localize CAD, we classified CAD groups according to the location of the stenosis, including the left anterior descending artery (LAD), left circumflex artery (LCX), and right coronary artery (RCA), and separately extracted a subset of features suitable for determining the three CAD locations.Main results.For CAD severity assessment, a support vector machine (SVM) achieved the best result, with an accuracy of 75.1%, precision of 73.9%, sensitivity of 67.0%, specificity of 88.8%, F1-score of 69.8%, and area under the curve of 0.876. The highest accuracy and corresponding model for determining locations LAD, LCX, and RCA were 94.3% for the SVM, 84.4% for a discriminant analysis model, and 84.9% for the discriminant analysis model.Significance. The developed method enables the implementation of an automated system for severity assessment and localization of CAD. The amplitude and correlation features were key factors for severity assessment and localization. The proposed machine learning method can provide clinicians with an automatic and accurate diagnostic tool for interpreting MCG data related to CAD, possibly promoting clinical acceptance.

Geochemical characteristics and socioeconomic associations of carbonaceous aerosols in coal-fueled cities with significant seasonal pollution pattern.

Carbonaceous aerosols, comprising organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC), are critical component of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), with diverse impacts on air quality and human health. This study investigated the concentrations and seasonal patterns of carbonaceous species in PM2.5 during both the heating season (January 2021) and non-heating season (July 2021) in three coal-fueled cities in northern China, as well as the differences in carbonaceous aerosols and their associations with socioeconomic parameters in cities situated on either side of the "Hu Line" in China. The results showed that, owing to intensified coal combustion and unfavorable meteorological conditions, levels of OC, EC, and OC/EC ratios were higher in winter compared to summer. Moreover, the presence of dust (DU) and light pollution (LP) days resulted in elevated OC levels but decreased EC levels. The Char-EC/Soot-EC ratios were highest during LP, followed by CL and DU. A source apportionment analysis demonstrated that coal burning, vehicle exhaust, road dust, and biomass burning were the primary contributors to carbonaceous aerosols, as confirmed by diagnostic ratios, Char-EC/Soot-EC ratios, and PCA analysis. Furthermore, our study found that carbonaceous aerosols concentrations and source apportionment primarily varied with diurnal and seasonal trends and different pollution types. Additionally, at the national scale, population density and urban green space exhibited a positive correlation with OC/EC ratios (p < 0.05), while energy consumption per unit of GDP showed a negative correlation (p < 0.05). The observation that OC/EC ratios were lower in coal-fueled cities than in economy-based cities suggests a more severe pollution scenario. These findings highlight the importance of comprehending of the seasonal variation and chemical characteristics of carbonaceous aerosol for understanding air pollution sources and characteristics, which is essential for both air quality management and human health.

Life-Events Mediate the Prediction of Parental Alienation on Depression in Rural Left-Behind Children: A Longitudinal Study.

Objectives: Long-time separation with parents during early life, such as left-behind children (LBC, one or both of whose parents are leaving for work for at least a period of 6 months), may contribute to high alienation toward parents and endanger their mental health (e.g., depression). However, the dynamic status of depression and potential prediction of alienation on depression in LBC remained largely unknown. This study aimed to examine the dynamic status of depression, prediction of alienation toward parents on later depression in rural LBC, and a potential mediation of life-events. Methods: A total of 877 LBC in rural areas of China were recruited and surveyed at five time-points (baseline, T0: 1-month, T1: 3-months, T2: 6-months, T3: 12-months, T4) with the Inventory of Alienation Toward Parents, Childhood Depression Inventory, and Adolescent Self-Rating Life-Events Checklist. The Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) and Hayes's PROCESS macro model were conducted to estimate the developmental trend and hierarchical predictors of depression. Results: The left-behind children aged 9-years old experienced higher depression than the children with other ages. At baseline, the children in the family atmosphere of frequent quarrels and compulsive parenting style reported a higher level of alienation toward parents, life-events, and depression. Alienation toward parents, life-events, and depression were positively and moderately correlated with each other (r = 0.14 ~ 0.64). The HLM model depicted a linear decline in depression, alienation, and life-events with an average rate of 0.23, 0.24, and 0.86, respectively, during the five time-points. Also, T0 alienation toward parents and T0 life-events positively predicted the developmental trajectory of depression over time, and T0 life-events positively predicted the descendant rate of depression. Notably, life-events mediated the prediction of baseline alienation toward parents on T4 depression in LBC. Conclusion: This study is among the first to reveal that alienation toward parents predicts the developmental trajectory of later depression in LBC. The findings that life-events mediate the prediction of alienation on later depression further suggest the importance of family and social factors in the occurrence of depression in LBC. The findings warrant the necessity to consider the family and social factors when evaluating and reducing risks for mental health problems in LBC, i.e., relationship with parents (especially alienation toward parents) and life-events need further attention.

Construction of Economic Security Early Warning System Based on Cloud Computing and Data Mining.

Economic security is a core theoretical issue in economics. In modern economic conditions, the ups and downs caused by economic instability in any economic system will affect the stability of the financial market, bring huge losses to the economy, and affect the development of the whole national economy. Therefore, research on the regularity of economic security and economic fluctuations is one of the important contents to ensure economic stability and scientific development. Accurate monitoring and forecasting of economic security are an indispensable link in economic system regulation, and it is also an important reference factor for any economic organization to make decisions. This article focuses on the construction of an economic security early warning system as the main research content. It integrates cloud computing and data mining technologies and is supported by CNN-SVM algorithm and designs an early warning model that can adaptively evaluate and warn the economic security state. Experiments show that when the CNN network in the model uses ReLU activation function and SVM uses RBF function, the prediction accuracy can reach 0.98, and the prediction effect is the best. The data set is verified, and the output Q province's 2018 economic security early warning comprehensive index is 0.893. The 2019 economic security early warning index is 0.829, which is consistent with the actual situation.

Global and national burden and trends of mortality and disability-adjusted life years for silicosis, from 1990 to 2019: results from the Global Burden of Disease study 2019.

BACKGROUND: Silicosis, as an important type of pneumoconiosis, leads to progressive and irreversible conditions from the beginning of inflammation and fibrosis. However, the data on the global burden of silicosis and long-term trends were limited. METHODS: Derived from the Global Burden of Disease study 2019 (online publicly available: Global Health Data Exchange), data on both crude and age-standardized rates (ASR) per 100,00 people of mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to silicosis was collected and analyzed. The burden and trends of mortality and DALYs due to silicosis was assessed by 204 countries and territories, by 5-year interval of age group and by sex from 1990 to 2019. And all the regions were divided into 5 categories according to Sociodemographic Index (SDI). Temporal trends in mortality and DALY were evaluated only to ASR by the Joinpoint regression model. RESULTS: More than 12.9 thousand [95% Uncertainty Intervals (UI): 10.9, 16.2] death cases occurred due to silicosis worldwide, and 655.7 thousand (95% UI: 519.3, 828.0) DALYs were attributed to silicosis in 2019. From 1990 to 2019, global number of mortality and DALYs in countries with high SDI quintile decreased by 0.35% (95% UI: - 0.45, - 0.17) and 0.32% (95% UI: - 0.45, - 0.01), respectively. There was a greater burden in low- and middle-income countries were estimated in 2019 according to ASRs. The global number of mortality and DALYs among males accounted for over 95% of all in 2019. Both age-sex-specific mortality and DALY rate were increasing with aging and reached their peak at 85-89 age group. During the past 30 years, ASR of mortality and DALYs showed a decreasing trend with average annual percentage change at -3.0% [95% Confidence Intervals (CI): - 3.2, - 2.9] and - 2.0 (95% CI: - 1.7, - 2.2), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Silicosis remains an important health issue and causes a potentially serious burden worldwide. Attention should be paid to making preventable, affordable and effective measures in lower SDI regions.

Multiple Mutation Detection for Risk Assessment in Patients with Breast Cancer by Using Next-Generation Sequencing.

OBJECTIVE: Breast cancer is recognized as the most common cause of malignancy and cancer death worldwide; however, mutations in the cancer-related BRCA genes are detected in only 2-3% of patients with breast cancer. Because next-generation sequencing technology allows concurrent sequencing of numerous target genes, diverse cancer-susceptibility genes are now being evaluated, although their significance in clinical practice remains unclear. METHODS: In this study, we developed a sequencing panel containing the genes BRCA1, BRCA2, TP53, PIK3CA, ERBB2 (Her2), and PTEN, which are all associated with cancer risk in patients, and we enrolled 60 patients with breast cancer. RESULTS: Germline mutations were found to be carried by nine patients (15%): 3 in BRCA1, 5 in BRCA2, and 1 in TP53. The patients harboring these mutations are considered to face a high risk of developing malignant tumors, and cancer screening is thus recommended for the patients. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the feasibility of using Ion Torrent sequencing technology for reliably detecting gene mutations in clinical practice for guiding individualized drug therapy or combination therapies for breast cancer.

Seeking sustainable development policies at the municipal level based on the triad of city, economy and environment: evidence from Hunan province, China.

Keeping urbanization, economy and eco-environment in harmony is a core issue for attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in any complex geographical regions. Previous studies mainly focused on seeking the balance between urban expansion levels, eco-environment quality and socioeconomic degree. But the challenges still exist in solving the negative influence of urban expansion that affects eco-environmental and economic development. Based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve theory, we involved inclusive indexes to analyze the interlinkages of eco-environment quality, economic level, and urban expansion degree, which closely relate to urban sustainable development goals and spatial complexity, as well as using available data corresponding to waterfront cities. Cities in Hunan were taken as a study-case, and the study period of 2006-2016 covers the last 10 years of the millennium development goals agenda and the first 2 years of SDGs agenda. The key indicators of city-economy-environment relationships were different at the provincial level, urban level and urbanization grade. According to the regression models and inverted N shape curve, urban expansion resulted in high positive effects on economic development level and negative effects on ecological environment quality, partically higher at high urbanization level than that of the low ones. But the overall trends were that the environmental quality of the cities was undergoing slowly improving processes both at low and high urban expansion levels. Promoting adaptations with the eco-environmental capacity when formulating policies and taking actions is necessary for realizing sustainable cities and communities (SDG11), life on land (SDG15), decent work and economic growth (SDG8) and responsible consumption and production (SDG12) at the same time. Regulating citizens' density, urban expansion speed in area, the quantity of enterprises with heavy pollution, and the structure of industry to the suitable urbanization stages is an important way for achieving SDGs at provincial and municipal levels.

Assessment of a 10-year dog deworming programme on the transmission of Echinococcus multilocularis in Tibetan communities in Sichuan Province, China.

Human alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is considered a neglected zoonotic disease by the World Health Organization (WHO). The causative pathogen, Echinococcus multilocularis, lives as an adult tapeworm in the intestinal tract of canines. AE was identified as an emerging public health issue in Tibetan communities of Shiqu County 20 years ago. On St. Lawrence Island, Alaska (USA), in the 1980s peri-domestic transmission of E. multilocularis was controlled by regular deworming of owned dogs over a 10-year period. In Tibetan communities, on the Tibetan Plateau, control of E. multilocularis transmission is challenging due to the continental setting, complex epidemiology, disease ecology, geography, and socio-cultural factors. However, a control programme based on deworming owned dogs using praziquental (PZQ) has been carried out since 2006. Assessment was conducted in townships where baseline data were available 10 years prior. Purging of dogs by oral administration of arecoline was used to measure E. multilocularis prevalence, trapping small mammals around communities was employed to assess the change in infection of pikas and voles, and analysis of human AE abdominal ultrasound-based data was used to understand the change in prevalence in the past decade. In all three evaluated townships, the E. multilocularis prevalence in owned dogs was significantly (P < 0.01) reduced from 7.23% (25/346) during 2000-2003 to 0.55% (1/181) in 2016. Human AE ultrasound-based prevalence (adjusted for age and sex) in five evaluated townships decreased significantly (P < 0.01) from 6.25% (200/3,198) during 2000-2002 to 3.67% (706/19,247) during 2015-2017. The 2016 prevalence of E. multilocularis metacestodes in small mammal intermediate hosts was not significantly different from the prevalence in 2008. The control programme was effective in reducing E. multilocularis infection in owned dogs and human AE prevalence, but did not significantly impact infection in wildlife intermediate hosts.

Stoichiometric characteristics and economic implications of water-soluble ions in PM2.5 from a resource-dependent city.

The stoichiometric characteristics of water-soluble ions (WSIs) in PM2.5, which can be used as an indicator socioeconomic development level, are mostly depending on the sources and formation mechanism of PM2.5. This work presents the stoichiometric characteristics and socioeconomic linkage of WSIs in PM2.5 from a resource-dependent city. The relationship between NO3-/SO42- and car parc indexes the contribution of mobile emission source. The equivalent ratio of WSIs suggested that aerosol particles were weak acidic due to the deficiency of cations in PM2.5, which was consistent with the average annual pH (6.27) of precipitation in Wuhai in 2015. NH4+ neutralizes PM2.5 acidity in clean and polluted days, while Ca2+ and NH4+ in dust storm days. Furthermore, the PCA analysis indicated the multi-sources pollution characteristics from Spring to Fall, which was related the small build-up area (only 62.30 km2) and the close-set of various industrial enterprises in Wuhai. The ratios of NO2/SO2 may not work effectively to identify the importance of mobile versus stationary pollution emission sources when the heavy emission from the secondary industry, especially the proportion of secondary industry higher than 65% and the ratios of NO2/SO2 lower than 0.4. This work contributes to more effective control strategies for PM2.5 in resource-dependent areas.

Transcription factor NF-κB promotes acute lung injury via microRNA-99b-mediated PRDM1 down-regulation.

Acute lung injury (ALI), is a rapidly progressing heterogenous pulmonary disorder that possesses a high risk of mortality. Accumulating evidence has implicated the activation of the p65 subunit of NF-κB [NF-κB(p65)] activation in the pathological process of ALI. microRNAs (miRNAs), a group of small RNA molecules, have emerged as major governors due to their post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in a wide array of pathological processes, including ALI. The dysregulation of miRNAs and NF-κB activation has been implicated in human diseases. In the current study, we set out to decipher the convergence of miR-99b and p65 NF-κB activation in ALI pathology. We measured the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNFα) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid using ELISA. MH-S cells were cultured and their viability were detected with cell counting kit 8 (CCK8) assays. The results showed that miR-99b was up-regulated, while PRDM1 was down-regulated in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced murine model of ALI. Mechanistic investigations showed that NF-κB(p65) was enriched at the miR-99b promoter region, and further promoted its transcriptional activity. Furthermore, miR-99b targeted PRDM1 by binding to its 3'UTR, causing its down-regulation. This in-creased lung injury, as evidenced by increased wet/dry ratio of mouse lung, myeloperoxidase activity and pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion, and enhanced infiltration of inflammatory cells in lung tissues. Together, our findings indicate that NF-κB(p65) promotion of miR-99b can aggravate ALI in mice by down-regulating the expression of PRDM1.

Investigation on Task Shifting of HIV/AIDS Follow-Up Management Workers in New Launched Areas, China.

Background: This study aimed to understand attitudes of HIV/AIDS follow-up workers regarding task shifting, reveal the current conditions of this implementation, as well as to find out any challenges of early-stage implementation. Methods: Taking Jiangxi Province as an example, a cross-sectional survey with 102 health professionals in CDCs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and 92 health care providers in primary health institutions was conducted from November 2016 to January 2017. This survey includes the demographic backgrounds of participants, their attitudes towards task shifting, and the main difficulties faced in their work, etc. Results: 60.8% of professionals and 77.2% of providers hold positive attitudes towards task shifting. Both health professionals and providers express their concerns about unclear and undefined funds distribution and lack of confidentiality of PLWHA (people living with HIV) in local primary health institutions. Conclusions: The majority of health workers hold positive attitudes towards task shifting. It also highlights some negative reactions in implementation, and reveals the main difficulties that constitute barriers to follow-up. Findings from this study may provide evidence for enhancing future implementation of task shifting.

Impact of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme on the Rural Residents' Hospitalization Medical Expenses: A Five-Year Survey Study for the Jiangxi Province in China.

This survey study was conducted to understand the effect of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) on farmers’ medical expenses through comparing the information from five investigations and to obtain a scientific basis for a more applicable NCMS. The survey was carried out through interviewing farmers in their homes. The multi-phase stratified cluster random sampling was adopted to select 3 counties from all 92 counties of the Jiangxi province, 9 townships from the 3 selected counties, 27 villages from the selected 9 townships, and 60 families from each village between 2006 and 2014, and a longitudinal comparative analysis was conducted. The numbers of households/overall sample for the five years were 1924/8082, 1879/8015, 1885/7506, 1890/7857, and 1896/7811, respectively. We collected family members’ social demographic characteristics, health resources, and peoples’ health and medical expenses and reimbursement of each family member. The adjusted hospitalization expenses per capita of township hospitals and county hospitals were totally on a rising trend. However, the costs of tertiary hospitals were on a decreasing tendency. In addition, the expenses for county hospitalization per admission were on an upward trend in general. Furthermore, the total hospitalization expenses and reimbursement per capita (the insurance paid out for the hospitalization expenses) were also all on an upward trend. The proportion of reimbursement also had a tendency of increasing from 24.41% in 2006 to 41.34% in 2014. The costs paid from farmers’ pockets were fluctuated, but in general all lower than the costs in 2006. Furthermore, the percentage of hospitalization expenses from farmers’ annual incomes gradually decreased each year from 56.38% in 2006 to 26.58% in 2014. NCMS program has had an obvious impact on the hospitalization expenses in the Jiangxi rural area. It reduced the hospitalization expenses of the tertiary hospitals significantly. In addition, the program has also encouraged farmers to get more health care. However, there are still some shortages associated with present construction of the NCMS. Hence, there is a need for local government to continue to take effective countermeasures to control the rising trend of hospitalization expense.

Cross-cultural validation of the educational needs assessment tool into Chinese for use in severe knee osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: Patient education is an integral part of the management of osteoarthritis. The educational needs assessment tool (ENAT) was developed in the UK to help direct needs-based patient education in rheumatic diseases. AIM: The aim of the study was to adapt and validate the ENAT into Chinese, for use in severe knee osteoarthritis (KOA). METHODS: This cross-cultural validation study took two phases: 1) adaptation of the ENAT into Chinese (CENAT) and 2) validation of the CENAT. The Construct validity was determined using factor analysis and criterion-related validity by comparing data from CENAT with data from different self-efficacy scales: patient-physician interactions scale (PEPPI-10), self-efficacy for rehabilitation outcome scale (SER), and the self-efficacy for exercise scale (SEE). RESULTS: The sample comprised 196 patients, with mean age 63.6±8.7 years, disease duration was11.5 years, and 57.1% were female. The CENAT was found to have high internal consistency. The CENAT had weak correlations with the Chinese versions of PEPPI r=0.40, SER r=0.40, and SEE r=0.39. There were no correlations with age r=-0.03 or disease duration r=-0.11. CONCLUSION: The ENAT translated well into Chinese and has evidence of validity in KOA. Future studies will further inform its usefulness in clinics, community, and online settings.

[Study on the Evaluation Index of Depth of Anesthesia Awareness Based on Sample Entropy and Decision Tree].

Currently, monitoring system of awareness of the depth of anesthesia has been more and more widely used in clinical practices. The intelligent evaluation algorithm is the key technology of this type of equipment. On the basis of studies about changes of electroencephalography (EEG) features during anesthesia, a discussion about how to select reasonable EEG parameters and classification algorithm to monitor the depth of anesthesia has taken place. A scheme which combines time domain analysis, frequency domain analysis and the variability of EEG and decision tree as classifier and least squares to compute Depth of anesthesia Index (DOAI) is proposed in this paper. Using the EEG of 40 patients who underwent general anesthesia with propofol, and the classification and the score of the EEG annotated by anesthesiologist, we verified this scheme with experiments. Classification and scoring was based on a combination of modified observer assessment of alertness/sedation (MOAA/S), and the changes of EEG parameters of patients during anesthesia. Then we used the BIS index to testify the validation of the DOAI. Results showed that Pearson's correlation coefficient between the DOAI and the BIS over the test set was 0.89. It is demonstrated that the method is feasible and has good accuracy.

[Assessment of aquatic ecosystem health based on principal component analysis with entropy weight: a case study of Wanning Reservoir (Hainan Island, China)].

A new assessment method based on principal component analysis (PCA) and entropy weight for ecosystem health was applied to Wanning Reservoir, Hainan Island, China to investigate whether the new method could solve the overlap in weighting which existed in the traditional entropy weight-based method for ecosystem health. The results showed that, the ecosystem health status of Wanning Reservoir showed an improvement trend overall from 2010 to 2012; the means of ecosystem health comprehensive index (EHCI) in each year were 0.534, 0.617, 0.634 for 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively, and the ecosystem health status was III (medium), II (good), and II (good), respectively. In addition, the ecosystem health status of the reservoir displayed a weak seasonal variation. The variation of EHCI became smaller recently, showing that Wanning Reservoir tended to be relatively stable. Comparison of the weight of indices in the new and the traditional methods indicated that, the cumulative weight of the four indices (i. e., DO, COD, BOD, and NH(4+)-N) had a stronger correlation of 0.382 for the traditional one than that (0.178) for the new method. It suggested the application of PCA with entropy could avoid the overlap in weighting effectively. In addition, the correlation analysis between the trophic status index and EHCI showed significant negative correlation (P < 0.05), indicating that the new method based on PCA with entropy weight could improve not only the assignment of weighting but also the accuracy of the results. The new method here is suitable for evaluating ecosystem health of the reservoir.

Integrating multimodal transport into cellulosic biofuel supply chain design under feedstock seasonality with a case study based on California.

A multistage, mixed integer programing model was developed that fully integrates multimodal transport into the cellulosic biofuel supply chain design under feedstock seasonality. Three transport modes are considered: truck, single railcar, and unit train. The goal is to minimize the total cost for infrastructure, feedstock harvesting, biofuel production, and transportation. Strategic decisions including the locations and capacities of transshipment hubs, biorefineries, and terminals and tactical decisions on system operations are optimized in an integrated manner. When the model was implemented to a case study of cellulosic ethanol production in California, it was found that trucks are convenient for short-haul deliveries while rails are more effective for long-haul transportation. Taking the advantage of these benefits, the multimodal transport provides more cost effective solutions than the single-mode transport (truck).

Suspended nanoparticle crystal (S-NPC): A nanofluidics-based, electrical read-out biosensor.

Here we report an approach utilizing a suspended nanoparticle crystal (S-NPC) as an electrical read-out biosensor based on a nanofluidic electrokinetics principle. As a preliminary demonstration, streptavidin-modified S-NPC with a particle diameter of 520 nm was used to detect biotin in a PBS buffer. The present result indicated that the detection range of biotin by this nanofluidics-based biosensor was about 1 nM-10 muM (in 10(-4)x PBS) with a sensitivity of 160 nS/nM. Being easy to get established, low-cost, and having large electrical read-out signal, the present S-NPC is believed to be a promising biosensing scheme in the micro total analysis system.