Overweight/obesity and socio-demographic disparities in children's motor and cognitive function.

Fundamental motor skills (FMS) and cognitive function are important indicators of development in early childhood. Using a cross-sectional design, the purpose of this study was to investigate obesity (healthy weight vs. overweight/obese) and socio-demographic (i.e., gender, SES) disparities in FMS (locomotor and ball skills) and cognitive function (reaction time [RT] and movement time [MT]), in preschoolers. There were 74 preschoolers (girl = 38; Mage = 4.02 ± 0.73) recruited from two childcare centers and were categorized into healthy weight (n = 58, BMI percentile < 85%) and overweight/obese (n = 16, BMI percentile ≥ 85%) categories. Children's FMS were assessed using the TGMD-3; cognitive function was assessed by the iPad-based CANTAB™ software using the Reaction Time Task (RTI), including reaction time (RT; Simple RT [SRT], choice RT [CRT]) and movement time (MT; simple MT [SMT], choice MT [CMT]). Children presented less FMS proficiency compared to recent data. Both weight groups performed comparably in FMS (ps > 0.05; ball skill Cohen's d = 0.40; locomotor Cohen's d = 0.02). Children in the overweight/obese group performed significantly worse on all cognitive tests compared to healthy weight peers (ps < 0.05; Cohen's d range from -0.93 to -1.43). No significant gender or SES disparities were observed. Maintaining healthy weight status is critical for cognitive development among preschoolers, which may influence their developmental trajectory and school readiness.

Factors influencing the burden on spousal caregivers of breast cancer survivors.

PURPOSE: To examine the status of spouses' burdens of caring for breast cancer survivors and explore the relationships between social support, family resilience, breast cancer survivors' individual resilience, and caregiver burden. METHODS: A cross-sectional study on 315 young and middle-aged breast cancer survivors and their spousal caregivers was conducted at eight comprehensive Southwest China hospitals. The caregivers completed the Chinese Version of the Family Resilience Assessment Scale, the Perceived Social Support Scale, and the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview, while breast cancer survivors completed the shortened Chinese version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the relationships among social support, family resilience, survivors' individual resilience, and caregiver burden. RESULTS: Caregiver burden (45.76 ± 14.66) was found to be severe. Social support, family resilience, and individual resilience were significantly negatively associated with caregiver burden (ß = - 0.421, P < 0.001; ß = - 0.208, P < 0.001; and ß = - 0.444, P < 0.001, respectively). Individual resilience not only partially mediated the relationship between family resilience and caregiver burden (b = - 0.052; 95% confidence interval, - 0.110, - 0.018), but also partially mediated the relationship between support and caregiver burden (b = - 0.045; 95% confidence interval, - 0.102, - 0.011). CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that higher social support, family resilience, and individual resilience tend to ease caregivers' burden. Healthcare workers should have an in-depth understanding of the care needs of survivors, actively contact social security departments and social organizations to provide financial, technical, and emotional support, and provide family-based care-skills training and psychological counseling to reduce spousal caregivers' burdens.

Construction of Community Medical Communication Service and Rehabilitation Model for Elderly Patients under the Internet of Things.

The objective of this study was to discuss the health management of elderly patients in the community and the management of community rehabilitation under the support of the new Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT technology was adopted to monitor the wearable devices through mobile medical physiological data. The heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and other physiological indicators of the elderly were collected in real time. The support vector machine (SVM) algorithm was selected as the core algorithm for the elderly physiological index disease risk assessment, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was adopted as the core method of the elderly disease risk quantitative assessment model to process the physiological indicators, and finally, a reasonable physiological index processing model and quantitative indicators of disease risk were obtained. The data on vascular disease were selected from the MIMIC database. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of the SVM algorithm and the Backpropagation Neural Network (BPNN) algorithm were compared and analysed. The final verification results showed that the fusion accuracy of the SVM processing MIMIC database and the University of California Irvine (UCI) dataset was 0.8327 and 0.8045, respectively, while the fusion accuracy of the BPNN algorithm in processing the same data was 0.7792 and 0.7288, respectively. It was obvious that the fusion accuracy of the SVM algorithm was higher than that of the BPNN algorithm, and the accuracy difference of the SVM algorithm was lower than that of the BPNN algorithm in different groups of data. In the verification of the elderly disease risk quantitative assessment model, the results were consistent with the selected data, which verified the effectiveness of the design model in this study. Therefore, it can be used as a quantitative assessment model of general elderly physiological indicators of disease risk and can be applied to the community medical communication management system. It proved that the model of medical communication and rehabilitation services for elderly patients in the community constructed in this study can definitely help the development of community service for the elderly.

Pesticide multi-residues in Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo: Method validation, residue levels and dietary exposure risk assessment.

Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo (D. officinale) is a dual-use plant with both botanical medicine and food applications, drawing increasing attentions. Pesticides are inevitably applied on D. officinale in commercial artificial-sheltered cultivation, yet little is known about pesticide residue levels in D. officinale. A modified high through-put QuEChERS method coupled with HPLC-MS/MS was developed and validated to detect 76 pesticides in D. officinale. Graphitized multi-wall carbon nanotubes (g-MWCNTs) was selected as the clean-up sorbent, showing relative weak affinity to triazole fungicide having planar structure in their molecular and low matrix effects of pesticides in D. officinale samples compared to MWCNTs and pesticarb. The validated method was applied to analyze pesticide residues in 86 real D. officinale samples collected from three main producing provinces. 43 different pesticides were detected with highest residue of 6.11 mg/kg for dimethomorph. Given possible health risks related to pesticide residues, accordingly, risk assessment of human exposure to pesticides via intake of D. officinale was thus performed, indicating that the pesticide residue in fresh or dry D. officinale would not cause potential risk to human health either in the long-term or short-term. This work improved our understanding of potential exposure risk of pesticide multi-residues in D. officinale.

Epidemiology of COVID-19 in older persons, Wuhan, China.

BACKGROUND: the epidemiological characteristics of older patients with COVID-19 was far from clear. OBJECTIVE: to explore the epidemiology of older patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. DESIGN: a retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: a population-based study. SUBJECTS: the resident older patients (>65 years) diagnosed with COVID-19. METHODS: city-wide case series reported to Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 12 December 2019 to 17 March 2020 were included. The epidemic curves were constructed by dates of disease onset. RESULTS: 14,238 confirmed COVID-19 cases were older persons. The number of male cases were slightly less than female cases (1:1.01). The attack rate of COVID-19 in the older persons was 11.49‰ in Wuhan. There was a rapid increase of disease at the early stage of the epidemic and then a gradual and steady decrease was performed. 3,723 (26.15%) and 734 (5.16%) patients were diagnosed as severe and critical cases, respectively. The attributable crude fatality ratio of COVID-19 in the older population was 222.57/100,000, and the crude fatality ratio of COVID was 19.37%. The proportion of severe and critical cases, and fatality ratio were both higher in downtown area and increased with age. CONCLUSIONS: the older persons are sensitive to COVID-19. The proportion of severe and critical cases and fatality ratio are higher than that in children and younger adults. Strengthen the protection and control strategies for the older adults are of priorities. More detailed epidemiological and clinical information should be measured in further studies.

Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health and Movement Behaviors During Childhood: Examining the Longitudinal Developmental Patterns.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal developmental patterns of mental health (i.e., physical, psychosocial, and executive functioning) and movement behaviors (i.e., sedentary behavior and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA]) between Hispanic and non-Hispanic children. METHOD: We tracked 153 children for 3 years from kindergarten (time 1) to third grade (time 2; 91 Hispanic; mean age = 5.36, SD = .48). Physical, psychosocial, and executive functioning was assessed using validated surveys, while school-based sedentary behavior and MVPA were assessed by accelerometers. RESULT: A 2 × 2 (time × ethnicity) factorial repeated measures MANCOVA (gender and SES as covariates) revealed significant ethnicity effect (p = .05) and time by ethnicity interaction effect (p < .05). Hispanic children reported lower physical (p < .05) and psychosocial functioning (p > .05) but higher executive functioning (p < .05) than non-Hispanic children in kindergarten, but the gaps narrowed in third grade. Results also revealed that children's sedentary behavior increased significantly (p < .05) and MVPA showed a declining trend (p > .05) over time. CONCLUSION: Ethnic disparities in mental health between Hispanic and non-Hispanic children exist but may reduce from early to middle childhood. The longitudinal changes relative to ethnicity highlight the need for tailored interventions to address health disparities in mental health and movement behaviors between Hispanic and non-Hispanic children.

School-Based Sedentary Behavior, Physical Activity, and Health-Related Outcomes among Hispanic Children in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between school-based sedentary behavior, physical activity, and health-related outcomes, including cardiorespiratory fitness, weight status, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Hispanic children. The participants were 374 children (192 boys, 182 girls; Mage = 9.64) recruited from four elementary schools from 3rd grade through to 5th grade. Sedentary behavior and physical activity behaviors (light physical activity [LPA] and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA)) during school were measured by accelerometers. Cardiorespiratory fitness and weight status were measured using the FITNESSGRAM®, while HRQOL was measured using the PedsQL 4.0TM Spanish version, a validated questionnaire. Sedentary behavior was negatively correlated with cardiorespiratory fitness and HRQOL but positively associated with weight status. MVPA was positively correlated with cardiorespiratory fitness and HRQOL, but negatively associated with weight status and sedentary behavior. Multiple regressions demonstrated that sedentary behavior significantly predicted cardiorespiratory fitness and weight status, whereas MVPA significantly predicted HRQOL. With the current public health priority aiming to reduce health disparities in minority populations, the findings of this study provide important insights. Educators, health care providers, or other professionals working with Hispanic children are encouraged to focus on reducing sedentary behavior and promoting physical activity to improve their health-related outcomes.

Contamination profiles and risk assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in groundwater in China.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have attracted attention due to the potential risk they pose to ecosystems and human health. A total of 169 groundwater samples were collected from four representative regions in order to analyze PFASs concentrations in China. The total concentration of PFASs (∑PFASs) in groundwater ranged from 0.05 to 198.80 ng L-1, with an average of 3.97 ng L-1. All targeted PFASs were detected in the studied areas. The detection frequency and average concentration of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) were the highest (79.29% and 1.61 ng L-1, respectively). The contamination profiles of PFASs in each study area varied due to natural geographical conditions and human activities. According to the results of the potential source identification, the point sources of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) were mainly concentrated in Lanzhou, and the distribution of PFASs was slightly affected by atmospheric deposition in all the studied areas. The obtained concentrations of PFOA and PFOS may pose no threat to the residents due to water consumption.

Exploring Racial Disparities in Physical Activity and Quality of Life Through an Expectancy-Value Perspective.

OBJECTIVES: Alleviating racial/ethnic disparities in physical activity (PA) and health outcomes during childhood becomes an important public health priority as the nation's populace continues to diversify. Guided by expectancy-value model, the purposes of this study were (a) to examine the potential differences in expectancy-value beliefs, PA and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between African-American (AA) children and their American-Caucasian (AC) peers, and (b) to determine how the relationships among these variables might differ between the two racial groups. METHOD: Participants were 321 (152 boys; 189 AC) children from three schools who completed a previously validated questionnaire assessing their expectancy-value beliefs in physical education, leisure-time PA (PAQ-C), and HRQOL. RESULTS: Students' PA was positively associated with HRQOL among AC and AA children (p < .01). AA children had significant higher expectancy-value beliefs but lower HRQOL than AC children. The regression results revealed that both racial groups had a nearly identical effect of expectancy beliefs on their self-reported PA (ß = .34 in AA group, ß = .33 in AC group, respectively). The regression analysis also suggests that expectancy-value belief was a significant predictor of HRQOL while controlling for all other variables (ß = .36; p < .001) for the AC group, but not the AA group. CONCLUSIONS: The growing health disparities across racial/ethnic subgroups are of great public health concern. Thus, this study provided valuable insights regarding how to promote AA children's PA and HRQOL through an expectancy-value approach.

Understanding physical activity behavior of Chinese female college students with/without vulnerable conditions: a theory of planned behavior perspective.

Guided by the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study examined the relationships between three constructs of TPB (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control [PBC]) and physical activity intention and behavior among Chinese female college students, and evaluated whether the relationships differed between healthy and vulnerable individuals within this population. Participants included 436 female college students (301 healthy and 135 vulnerable; Mean age = 19.24 years; SD = 0.97 years) recruited from five universities in China, and the data collection was completed in Fall 2015. Path analysis supported the direct and indirect relations of TPB constructs to physical activity intention and behavior among female college students, and the path model was invariant across the two groups. The vulnerable group reported significantly lower attitude, subjective norm, intention, and physical activity behavior than the healthy group but not for PBC. These findings suggest fostering positive attitudes and intention toward physical activity are important among Chinese female college students, regardless of their health status.

Spatial distribution of metal pollution of soils of Chinese provincial capital cities.

This work describes the spatial distribution of metal concentrations, resulting environmental quality, and potential ecological risks using ArcGIS. The data were based on collecting the soil background and baseline values of eight metal elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in 31 Chinese provincial capital cities (PCCs) from published literatures 2005-2017. The following results were obtained in accordance with the integrated pollution index and the total potential ecological risk index: (1) The average concentrations of metals varied in relatively low degree in Chinese PCCs, while 10 and six PCCs were classified as having "severe" contamination and "moderate" risk, respectively. (2) Cd, Hg, Cu, Pb, and Zn were chosen as priority control metals; Beijing, Chengdu, Tianjin, Changsha, Shijiazhuang, Shenyang, Ji'nan, Changchun, and Xi'an were chosen as priority control PCCs, due to their higher pollution level and ecological risk of soils in comparison to other metals or PCCs. (3) A clear southeast/northwest boundary marked the urban soil metal pattern, which was aligned with the famous demographic, geological, and economic boundary known as the "Hu-line." This finding suggests that metal contamination in urban soil was caused by both geochemical background and human activities. These results provide basic information that can assist to avoid further degradation of soil by preventing and monitoring metal contamination in China's PCCs. The study suggests that more attention should be focused on developing cities in western China and "The Belt and Road" when pursuing economic development.