Assessment of the combined vulnerability to droughts and heatwaves in Shandong Province in summer from 2000 to 2018.

Droughts and heat waves exhibit synergistic effects and are among the world's most costly disasters. To explore the spatiotemporal differences and formation mechanisms of the combined vulnerability to droughts and heat waves in Shandong Province over the past 20 years, a vulnerability scoping diagram (VSD) model with three dimensions-exposure, sensitivity, and adaptability-was constructed to assess and compare the combined vulnerability to high-temperature and drought events, considering economic and social conditions. The results showed that (1) over the past 20 years, heat waves and droughts have increased in Shandong Province. The number of high-temperature events significantly increased in the west and decreased along the eastern coast, and drought change was characterized by an increase in the south and a decrease in the north. (2) The combined exposure to summer droughts and heat waves in Shandong Province showed a significant increasing trend (P < 0.05) at a rate of approximately 0.072/10a; the combined sensitivity significantly decreased (P < 0.05) at a rate of approximately 0.137/10a, and the combined adaptability continued to increase at a rate of approximately 0.481/10a. (3) The combined vulnerability to summer droughts and heat waves in the western inland area of Shandong Province was high and gradually decreased toward the southeastern coast. The overall decrease trend was nonsignificant with a decrease of approximately 0.126/10a, and the decline rate decreased from northwest to southeast, in which Laiwu, Yantai, Jinan, and Zibo cities exhibited a significant decreasing trend (P < 0.05). Although the compound vulnerability of Shandong Province has decreased insignificantly, the frequency of combined drought and heat wave events has increased, and the combined vulnerability will increase in the future.

Assessment of heavy metal concentrations in roadside soils and plants around the Dexing copper mine: implications for environmental management and remediation.

While land transportation is crucial for social development, it also introduces various pollutants, including heavy metals, which pose risks to both the environment and human health. This issue is particularly acute in mining areas, yet research focusing on heavy metal accumulation in soils and plants along transportation routes in these areas has been limited. Addressing this gap, this study investigates soil contamination levels and heavy metal concentrations in dominant plants along a highway and railway in the vicinity of the Dexing Copper Mine, the largest open-pit copper mine in China, located in Jiangxi Province. These transportation routes are heavily utilized for ore transportation, making them critical areas for environmental monitoring. Results reveal that the primary heavy metal contaminants in the soil were Cu (84.9 to 2554.3 mg/kg), Pb (38.3 to 2013.4 mg/kg), Cd (0.1 to 46.6 mg/kg), Zn (81.3 to 875.8 mg/kg), and As (11.8 to 2985.2 mg/kg), with significantly higher concentrations found in soils adjacent to the railway compared to the highway. Specifically, for plants along the highway, Cyperus rotundus showed a significant enrichment in Cd and demonstrated a notable capacity to translocate heavy metals from its roots to aerial parts. This is evidenced by the elevated concentration of Cd in the plant's aboveground tissues (0.87 mg/kg). Notably, both the bioconcentration factor (BCF) and translocation factor (TF) values exceeded 1, ranging from 1.07 to 3.62. Contrastingly, despite the elevated heavy metal concentrations in soils adjacent to the railway, plants in these areas did not exhibit hyperaccumulation characteristics. The unique behavior of Cyperus rotundus in accumulating and translocating Cd underscores its potential role in phytoremediation, particularly in the context of environmental management for areas impacted by mining activities, such as those surrounding China's largest copper mine.

Reliability and validity of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire: dietary intake assessment among multi-ethnic populations in Northwest China.

BACKGROUND: Few multi-ethnic dietary culture-sensitive food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) have been developed due to the complexity and diversity of cooking methods and styles. This study aimed to develop and validate a specific FFQ among multi-ethnic groups in Northwest China. METHODS: In the reliability study, 139 participants aged 20-65 completed two identical FFQs separated by 3 months. The relative validation of the FFQ was assessed by three 24-h recalls (24HR) employed in the interval of two FFQs, as a reference. Stratified analyses were also conducted by the major ethnic groups (Han nationality or Ethnic minority). RESULTS: For reproducibility, the median (range) of Spearman's correlation coefficients (SCC) was 0.71 (0.43-0.84) for nutrients. The intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) covered a spectrum from 0.39 to 0.78 (median: 0.64). Meanwhile, the weighted kappa values ranged from 0.11 to 0.64. For validity, the median (range) of Pearson's correlation coefficients derived from the energy unadjusted and the adjusted values between FFQ and 24HR were 0.61 (0.12-0.79) and 0.56 (0.12-0.77), respectively. The results of correlation coefficients were similar between the two ethnic groups. Moreover, the Bland-Altman plots likewise demonstrated a satisfactory level of agreement between the two methods. CONCLUSIONS: The FFQ showed acceptable reproducibility and moderate relative validity for evaluating dietary intake among multi-ethnic groups in northwest China. It could be a credible nutritional screening tool for forthcoming epidemiological surveys of these populations.

Visualizing the sustainable development goals and natural resource utilization for green economic recovery after COVID-19 pandemic.

After the COVID-19 outbreak, this study examines the influence of modifications in China's Sustainable Growth Goals (SDGs) and economic development goals on Chinese enterprises' energy conservation and emissions reduction behavior. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 epidemic has erupted, displacing the flimsy traditional techniques. As a result, the post-COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes the need for a long-term sustainable development method compatible with the local and regional environmental systems. The main objective of this study is used as a roadmap to steer the post-COVID-19 pandemic on a sustainable green path by emphasizing sustainable energy strategies to connect in SDG-related efforts. The investigation in this paper begins with examining significant impacts in the energy industry and their impact on progress toward sustainability. The empirical findings that the CO2 emissions reduction objectives in long-term development plans had a considerable impact on energy saving and emissions reduction, lowering energy consumption intensity by 3.33% and carbon emission intensity by 4.23% between 2010 and 2019. Besides, the results and long and short run techniques are built to describe the Sustainable Development Goals interface, with the result revealing that Sustainable Development Goals enhance the green economic recovery performance. Furthermore, this study recommends that the key natural resources and green economic recovery policies to overcome the climate change impacts by COVID-19 pandemic.

Evaluating the impact of employees' perception of identity threat on knowledge sharing behavior during COVID-19: The mediation and moderation effect of social capital and reward system.

Quarantine policies introduced in the context of COVID-19 are affecting business operations and slowing down the flow rate of the overall economy. Different degrees and types of threats occur in both the living environment and the working environment during the epidemic prevention, which causes many additional uncertainties. The impact on employees is the identity threat from environment and organizations. This is different from the related research on the identification and impact of the threat before the occurrence of COVID-19. However, in the post-pandemic period, companies continue to strengthen important factors that can increase innovation and recovery, including the role of employee knowledge sharing. The organizational inequity and lack of organizational justice bring about the threat of internal identification in organizations. In order to ensure their own interests in organizations, employees may think twice when sharing knowledge. Therefore, this study explores the relationship among employees' identity threat, social capital and knowledge sharing behavior from the perspective of organizational behavior. In this study, a sample of high-tech employees was conducted, and a total of 434 questionnaires were obtained. The research results show that employees' perception of identity threat has a negative impact on knowledge sharing behavior and positively affects social capital; employees' social capital positively affects their knowledge sharing behaviors; and organizational reward system moderates the relationship between identity threat and knowledge sharing behavior. Based on the comprehensive research findings, this research proposes corresponding theoretical and practical implications.

Enhancing Career Decision Status of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students Through Learning Engagement: Perspective of SOR Model.

Higher education plays the role of cultivating talents in national development and meets the talent sources needed by the development of the state, industries and enterprises. Besides, for students, higher education can provide stimuli to improve the development of family and personal career. Especially for socioeconomically disadvantaged Students, higher education means the main factor for turning over the Socio- Economic Status. Universities endow students with abundant employment skills, so as to make them more confident in contending with the challenges in the job market. However, innate pessimism or negative attitudes and cognition may exist in socioeconomically disadvantaged Students, thereby providing effective learning context to improve their learning engagement. This study explores the influence on students' career decision status from deep approach to learning, problem-based learning, self-efficacy and employability. A total of 627 valid questionnaires are collected in this study. PLS-SEM was adopted to verify the structural relationship in data analysis via SmartPLS. The results indicate that deep approach to learning and problem-based learning have significant impacts on students' self-efficacy and employability; self-efficacy has significant impacts on employability and career decision status; employability has significant impact on career decision status; and that self-efficacy and employability play significant mediating roles in the research framework.

Do Predictors of Health Facility Delivery Among Reproductive-Age Women Differ by Health Insurance Enrollment? A Multi-Level Analysis of Nigeria's Data.

This study aims to compare determinants of health facility delivery for women under a health insurance scheme and those not under a health insurance scheme. Secondary data drawn from the National Demographic and Health Survey was used for the analysis. The characteristics of the women were presented with simple proportions. Binary multilevel logistic regression was used to examine the determinants of health facilities for women who enrolled in health insurance and those who did not. All statistical analyses were set at 5% level of significant level (p = 0.24). The result showed that 2.1% of the women were under a health insurance scheme. Disparity exists in health insurance ownership as a higher proportion of those enrolled in health insurance were those with higher education attainment, in urban parts of the country, and those situated on higher wealth quintiles. There is a significant difference between those with and those without health insurance. It implies that a higher proportion of women who enrolled in health insurance delivered in health facility delivery compared to those who do not. The unique determinants of health facility delivery for women under health insurance were parity and birth order, while unique determinants of health facility delivery for women not enrolled in health schemes were employment status, marriage type, and geopolitical zones. Uniform predictors of health facility delivery for both groups of women were maternal education, household wealth quintiles, autonomy on healthcare, number of antenatal contacts, residential status, community-level poverty, community-level media use, and community-level literacy. Intervention programs designed to improve health facility delivery should expand educational opportunities for women, improve household socioeconomic conditions, target rural women, and encourage women to undertake a minimum of four antenatal contacts.

Nationwide Lockdown, Population Density, and Financial Distress Brings Inadequacy to Manage COVID-19: Leading the Services Sector into the Trajectory of Global Depression.

The service industry provides distributive services, producer services, personal services, and social services. These services largely breakdowns due to restrictions on border movements, confined travel and transportation services, a decline in international tourists' visitation, nationwide lockdowns, and maintaining social distancing in the population. Although these measures are highly needed to contain coronavirus, it decreases economic and financial activities in a country, which requires smart solutions to globally subsidize the services sector. The study used different COVID-19 measures, and its resulting impact on the services industry by using world aggregated data from 1975 through 2020. The study benefited from the Keynesian theory of aggregate demand that remains provided a solution to minimize economic shocks through stringent or liberalizing economic policies. The COVID-19 pandemic is more severe than the financial shocks of 2018 that affected almost all sectors of the globalized world, particularly the services sector, which has been severally affected by COVID-19; it is a high time to revisit economic policies to control pandemic recession. The study used quantiles regression and innovation accounting matrix to obtain ex-ante and ex-post analysis. The quantile regression estimates show that causes of death by communicable diseases, including COVID-19, mainly decline the share of services value added to the global GDP at different quantiles distribution. In contrast, word-of-mouth helps to prevent it from the transmission channel of coronavirus plague through information sharing among the general masses. The control of food prices and managing physical distancing reduces suspected coronavirus cases; however, it negatively affects the services sector's value share. The smart lockdown and sound economic activities do not decrease coronavirus cases, while they support increasing the percentage of the services sector to the global GDP. The innovation accounting matrix suggested that smart lockdown, managing physical distancing, effective price control, and sound financial activities will help to reduce coronavirus cases that will further translate into increased services value-added for the next ten years. The social distancing will exert a more considerable variance error shock to the services industry, which indicates the viability of these measures to contained novel coronavirus over a time horizon. The study used the number of proxies to the COVID-19 measures on the service sector that can be continued with real-time variables to obtain more inferences.

Cryopreserved biopsy tissues of rectal cancer liver metastasis for assessment of anticancer drug response in vitro and in vivo.

Living tumors are of great scientific value for clinical medicine and basic research, especially for drug testing. An increasing number of drug tests fail due to the use of imperfect models. The aim of the present study was to develop a novel method combining vitrification­based cryopreservation of tumor biopsies and precision­cut slice cultivation for the assessment of anticancer drug responses. Biological characteristics of rectal cancer liver metastasis biopsies could be retained by vitrification­based cryopreservation. The patient­derived xenograft models were successfully established using both fresh and warmed biopsy tissues. Precision­cut slicing provided a similar three­dimensional architecture and heterogeneity to the original tumor. The positive drug responses in the xenograft model were consistent with those in precision­cut slice cultures in vitro. The present study demonstrated that live tumor biopsies could be preserved using vitrification­based cryopreservation. The warmed tissues developed xenograft tumors, which were also useful for either in vivo or in vitro anticancer drug testing. Precision­cut slices derived from the warmed tissues provided an efficient tool to assess anticancer drug response in vitro.

Effect of Physical Activity on Hospital Service Use and Expenditures of Patients with Coronary Heart Disease: Results from Dongfeng-Tongji Cohort Study in China.

The intervention of behaviors, including physical activity (PA), has become a strategy for many hospitals dealing with patients with chronic diseases. Given the limited evidence available about PA and healthcare use with chronic diseases, this study explored the association between different levels of PA and annual hospital service use and expenditure for inpatients with coronary heart disease (CHD) in China. We analyzed PA information from the first follow-up survey (2013) of the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort study of 1460 CHD inpatients. We examined factors such as PA exercise volume and years of PA and their associations with the number of inpatient visits, number of hospital days, and inpatient costs and total medical costs. We found that the number of hospital days and the number of inpatient visits were negatively associated with intensity of PA level. Similarly, total inpatient and outpatient costs declined when the PA exercise volume levels increased. Furthermore, there were also significant associations between the number of hospital days, inpatient costs or total medical costs and levels of PA years. This study provides the first empirical evidence about the effects of the intensity and years of PA on hospital service use and expenditure of CHD in China. It suggests that the patients' PA, especially the vigorous PA, should be promoted widely to the public and patients in order to relieve the financial burden of CHD.

Circulating essential metals and lung cancer: Risk assessment and potential molecular effects.

OBJECTIVE: Essential metals play important roles in the carcinogenic process. However, seldom longitudinal investigations have evaluated their roles in lung cancer development. We aimed to investigate the associations between multiple essential metals and lung cancer incidence and to explore the potential mechanisms. METHODS: A nested case-control study of 440 incident lung cancer cases and 1:3 frequency matched 1320 healthy controls from the Dongfeng-Tongji Cohort was conducted. The baseline plasma concentrations of 11 essential metals (cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, rubidium, selenium, strontium, stannum, vanadium, and zinc) were measured, and their associations with lung cancer incidence were estimated. Effect of positive metal (zinc) on 4-year telomere attrition was then evaluated among an occupational cohort of 724 workers. We also assessed the transcriptional regulation effects of plasma zinc on mRNA expression profiles, and the expressions of zinc-related genes were further compared in pair-wised lung tumor and normal tissues. RESULTS: Elevated plasma level of zinc was associated with lower incident risk of lung cancer [OR (95% CI) = 0.89 (0.79, 0.99)] and decreased 4-year telomere attrition [ß (95% CI) = -0.73 (-1.27, -0.19)]. These effects were pronounced among males. In particularly, zinc could regulate the expressions of 8 cancer-related genes, including SOD1, APE, TP53BP1, WDR33, LAPTM4B, TRIT1, HUWE1, and ZNF813, which were over-expressed in lung tumor tissues. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that high plasma zinc could prevent incident lung cancer, probably by slowing down telomere attrition and regulating the expressions of cancer-related genes. These results provided a new insight into lung cancer prevention.

Fruit of Ziziphus jujuba (Jujube) at two stages of maturity: distinction by metabolic profiling and biological assessment.

The fruit of Ziziphus jujuba, named as jujube or Chinese date, is used as a health supplement worldwide. Two kinds of jujubes are commonly found in the market: immature jujubes eaten as fruits, and mature jujubes employed as medicinal herbs. To study the variation of jujubes at two developmental stages, we investigated their chemical and biological properties by metabolic profiling and cellular assays. In NMR profiling, the levels of 11 metabolites were measured. Statistically differences in the levels of threonine, alanine, acetate, creatine, glucose, sucrose, and formate were found between mature and immature jujubes. In parallel, their neuro-protecting and erythropoietic activities were compared. The water extract of mature jujube possessed better effect in inducing neurofilament expression than that of the immature one, while immature jujube extract performed better in activating HRE-mediated transcriptional activity. These findings suggest the maturity of jujube has to be considered when it is being used for health food products.

Chemical and biological assessment of Ziziphus jujuba fruits from China: different geographical sources and developmental stages.

Chinese date, the fruit of Ziziphus jujuba Mill., has thousands of years cultivation history, and about 700 cultivars of dates in China. Two types of dates are commonly found in the market: (i) fresh immature dates consumed as fruits, and (ii) dried mature dates used as Chinese medicines. Here, chemical and biological properties of these dates were revealed. Different sources of dates showed similar chemical profiles; however, the amounts of identified chemicals showed a great variation. The amount of nucleotides, flavonoids and polysaccharides in dates could be affected by its maturity and drying process. In parallel, the antioxidative functions of their extracts were compared. The date extracts protected PC12 cells against tBHP-induced cytotoxicity, and which also stimulated the transcriptional activity of antioxidant response element. The antioxidative effects were varied among different dates. The current results suggested the optimization of sources and specific usage of different maturity dates.

Are women in China sexist toward other women? A study of Chinese college students.

This study assessed the extent to which social sexism affects Chinese women's perception and evaluation of other women's performance. A sample of 100 college women was selected in a top university in Beijing, China, and was asked to read six scholastic essays and then evaluate the quality of the essays and competence of the authors. Male and female names were randomly assigned as authors of the essays, and the respondents were blind to the arrangement. Results showed that the essays assumed to be written by male authors did not receive higher scores than those assumed to be written by female authors on quality or competence items. Sexism is not marked among these highly educated young women.

The assessment of fluid status in haemodialysis patients: usefulness of the Doppler echocardiographic parameters.

BACKGROUND: In end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients undergoing regular haemodialysis (HD), the maintenance of fluid status within an optimal range is critical. We therefore examined the role of Doppler echocardiographic parameters in the assessment of fluid status in these patients. METHODS: Three study groups were enrolled: 40 healthy volunteers (NTNR), 40 HD patients who were normotensive without receiving antihypertensive agents (NTHD) and 38 HD patients who had remained hypertensive (HTHD) despite antihypertensive treatment. Measurements of Doppler echocardiographic parameters from pulmonary vein (PV) and mitral inflow (Mi) were performed on a non-dialysis day. Extracellular water as a percentage of body weight (ECW%) and pre-dialysis mean blood pressure (BDMBP) were references for fluid status. The best Doppler parameter for fluid status assessment identified from the study groups was then tested in another validation groups (38 NTHD and 38 HTHD). RESULTS: Among all of the PV and Mi parameters, the S/D ratio (peak systolic velocity divided by peak diastolic velocity) was correlated with fluid status parameters best (with ECW%, r = -0.49, P<0.001; with BDMBP, r = -0.51, P<0.001). The correlations were independent of age, sex and Mi parameters. The receiver operating characteristics curve analysis demonstrated that an S/D ratio >1.33 had a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 77% in identifying NTHD patients. When the same criterion was applied to the validation groups, the positive predictive value was 64% and the negative predictive value was 86%. CONCLUSION: The Doppler-derived S/D ratio is a potentially useful marker for the assessment of fluid status in HD patients.

Impact of left ventricular function on the pulmonary vein Doppler spectrum: nonsimultaneous assessment with load-insensitive indices.

Pulmonary vein Doppler spectrum is highly load-dependent and thus has been used to estimate left ventricular (LV) filling pressure. However, the impact of LV function on pulmonary vein Doppler spectrum remains obscure because only load-sensitive indices were studied previously. In the present study, measurements of the pulmonary vein Doppler spectrum were correlated with load-insensitive LV systolic (end-systolic elastance [Ees]) and diastolic (relaxation time constant [tau] and beta coefficient of the end-diastolic pressure volume relationship) function indices obtained from an invasive catheterization study nonsimultaneously. The peak velocity, velocity time integral, and duration of systolic forward spectrum were significantly correlated with Ees (r = 0.35, r = 0.36, and r = 0.41, respectively;P < 0.05). The pulmonary vein diastolic velocity time integral (PVDVTI) and duration of the diastolic forward spectrum were significantly correlated with Ees (r = 0.51 and r = 0.57, respectively;P < 0.01). PVDVTI was correlated with tau and the end-diastolic pressure-volume relationship (EDPVR) (r = 0.42 and r = 0.40 respectively,P < 0.05). On the other hand, the systolic fraction of the forward spectrum was significantly correlated with ejection fraction (for peak velocity,r = 0.63, P < 0.01; for velocity time integral,r = 0.37, P < 0.05) but not with Ees, and the diastolic fraction of the forward spectrum was significantly correlated with minimum pressure derivative over time (for peak velocity,r = 0.48, P < 0.05; for velocity time integral,r = 0.44, P < 0.05, respectively) but not with tau or EDPVR. In summary, the systolic and diastolic components of the pulmonary vein Doppler spectrum are affected variably by LV systolic and diastolic function, independent of the loading condition. The systolic and diastolic fraction of pulmonary vein Doppler spectrum appears to depend more on the loading condition than the LV systolic or diastolic function.