Antibiotic resistance gene distribution in Shine Muscat grapes and health risk assessment of streptomycin residues in mice.

Antibiotic residues and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in fruits and vegetables pose public health risks via the food chain, attracting increased attention. Antibiotics such as streptomycin, used directly on seedless grapes or introduced into vineyard soil through organic fertilizers. However, extensive data supporting the risk assessment of antibiotic residues and resistance in these produce remains lacking. Utilizing metagenomic sequencing, we characterized Shine Muscat grape antibiotic resistome and mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Abundant MGEs and ARGs were found in grapes, with 174 ARGs on the grape surface and 32 in the fruit. Furthermore, our data indicated that soil is not the primary source of these MGEs and ARGs. Escherichia was identified as an essential carrier and potential transmitter of ARGs. In our previous study, streptomycin residue was identified in grapes. Further short-term exposure experiments in mice revealed no severe physiological or histological damage at several environment-related concentrations. However, with increased exposure, some ARGs levels in mouse gut microbes increased, indicating a potential threat to animal health. Overall, this study provides comprehensive insights into the resistance genome and potential hosts in grapes, supporting the risk assessment of antibiotic resistance in fruits and vegetables.

Measuring sustainable development of intelligent tourism service system: analysis on the user's intention.

The intelligent tourism service system will help strengthen the management of scenic spots, improve tourism efficiency, and help improve the tourism ecological environment. At present, there are few researches on intelligent tourism service system. This paper attempts to sort out the literature and build structural equation model based on UTAUT2 model (UTAUT is short for Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) to analyze the factors that affect the users' willingness of use the intelligent tourism service system (ITSS) in scenic spots. The results show that (1) the effects of the factors affecting the users' intention to use the ITSS of tourist attractions are facilitating conditions (FC), social influence (SI), performance expectation (PE), and effort expectation (EE), (2) Both PE and EE can directly affect the user's intention to use ITSS, while EE indirectly affects the user's intention through PE. (3) SI and FC have a direct impact on the UI of ITSS. The simplicity of use on intelligent tourism application system products can significantly affect the user satisfaction index and product loyalty of the users. In addition, the usefulness factor of perception system and the risk factor of user perception system coexist, with the synergistic effect positively affects the ITSS and use behavior of the whole scenic spot. The main results provide theoretical basis and empirical support for the sustainable and efficient development of ITSS.

Global, national, and regional burden of acute myeloid leukemia among 60-89 years-old individuals: insights from a study covering the period 1990 to 2019.

Background: Our study examined the global, national, and regional trends in the incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) associated with older people's acute myeloid leukemia (AML) over a 30 years period. AML, which predominantly affects individuals aged 60-89, is known for its severity and unfavorable prognosis. By providing insights into the growing burden of AML, our research highlights the urgent need for effective interventions and support at various levels. Methods: In this study, we analyzed older people with AML aged 60-89 using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) database for 2019. Our goal was to assess trends and characteristics by examining the incidence rate, mortality rate, DALYs, and estimated annual percentage change (EAPC). We aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the disease's trajectory and development. Results: In 2019, the older age group of 60 to 89 years reported 61,559 new cases of AML, with the corresponding number of deaths being 53,620, and the estimated DALYs standing at 990,656. Over the last 30 years, the incidence rate of AML in this age bracket increased by 1.67 per 100,000 people, the mortality rate rose by 1.57 per 100,000 people, and the rate of DALYs, indicative of disease burden, climbed by 1.42 per 100,000 people. High Socio-demographic Index (SDI) regions, particularly high-income North America and Australia, had the highest incidence rates. Germany had the highest incidence rate among the 204 countries analyzed, while Monaco reported the highest mortality and DALY rates. Smoking, high body mass index, occupational exposure to benzene, and formaldehyde were identified as significant risk factors associated with mortality from older people with AML in 2019. Conclusion: Our study showed that the incidence, mortality, and DALY rates of AML in the older population were strongly correlated with the SDI, and these rates have been steadily increasing. This had become an increasingly serious global health issue, particularly in areas with a high SDI. We highlighted the urgency to focus more on this disease and called for the prompt implementation of appropriate preventive and control measures.

[Contamination characteristics and preliminaery exposure risk assessment of chloropropanol esters and glycidyl esters in infant formula sold in Beijing in 2021].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the contamination characteristics of chloropropanol esters and glycidyl esters in infant formulas sold in Beijing in 2021, and to evaluate the exposure risk of chloropropanol esters and glycidyl esters for infants and toldders aged 0-36 months old. METHODS: The contents of chloropropanol esters and glycidyl esters in infant formula samples were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with deuterated internal standards. Combined with the recommended consumption of infant formulas, the exposure level of chloropropanol esters and glycidyl esters in infants and toddlers aged 0-36 months was calculated. RESULTS: The detection rate of 3-chloropropane-1, 2-diol esters(3-MCPDE), 2-chloropropane-1, 3-diol esters(2-MCPDE) and glycidyl esters in infant formulas were 98.6%, 97.1% and 95.7%, respectively. The average contents of 3-MCPDE, 2-MCPDE and glycidyl esters were 44.54, 15.65 and 12.65 µg/kg. For infant of each age groups, the daily intakes of 3-MCPDE via infant formulas by each infant groups were 0.28-0.90 µg/(kg BW), which were all lower than the tolerable daily intake(TDI, 2 µg/(kg BW));the daily intakes of 2-MCPDE via infant formulas by each infant groups were 0.10-0.29 µg/(kg BW);the exposure levels of glycidyl were 0.08-0.22 µg/(kg BW), and the margin of exposure(MOE) values were all higher than 25 000. CONCLUSION: Chloropropanol esters and glycidyl esters in infant formulas sold in Beijing from 2021 were less polluted and their intake was within the safe range.

Analysis of the close contact management mode and epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in Chengdu, China.

With the development of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic and the increase in cases, as a potential source of infection, the risk of close contact has gradually increased. However, few studies have analyzed the tracking and management of cross-regional personnel. In this study, we hope to understand the effectiveness and feasibility of existing close contact management measures in Chengdu, so as to provide a reference for further prevention and control of the epidemic. The close contact management mode and epidemiological characteristics of 40,425 close contacts from January 22, 2020, to March 1, 2022, in Chengdu, China, were analyzed. The relationship with index cases was mainly co-passengers (57.58%) and relatives (7.20%), and the frequency of contact was mainly occasional contact (70.39%). A total of 400 (0.99%) close contacts were converted into cases, which were mainly found in the first and second nucleic acid tests (53.69%), and the contact mode was mainly by sharing transportation (63.82%). In terms of close contact management time, both the supposed ((11.93 ± 3.00) days vs. (11.92 ± 7.24) days) and actual ((13.74 ± 17.47) days vs. (12.60 ± 4.35) days) isolation times in Chengdu were longer than those of the outer cities (P < 0.001). For the local clustered epidemics in Chengdu, the relationship with indexed cases was mainly colleagues (12.70%). The tracing and management of close contacts is a two-way management measure that requires cooperation among departments. Enhancing existing monitoring and response capabilities can control the spread of the epidemic to a certain extent.

Optimization of FLASH proton beams using a track-repeating algorithm.

BACKGROUND: Radiation with high dose rate (FLASH) has shown to reduce toxicities to normal tissues around the target and maintain tumor control with the same amount of dose compared to conventional radiation. This phenomenon has been widely studied in electron therapy, which is often used for shallow tumor treatment. Proton therapy is considered a more suitable treatment modality for deep-seated tumors. The feasibility of FLASH proton therapy has recently been demonstrated by a series of pre- and clinical trials. One of the challenges is to efficiently generate wide enough dose distributions in both lateral and longitudinal directions to cover the entire tumor volume. The goal of this paper is to introduce a set of automatic FLASH proton beam optimization algorithms developed recently. PURPOSE: To develop a fast and efficient optimizer for the design of a passive scattering proton FLASH radiotherapy delivery at The University of Texas MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center, based on the fast dose calculator (FDC). METHODS: A track-repeating algorithm, FDC, was validated versus Geant4 simulations and applied to calculate dose distributions in various beamline setups. The design of the components was optimized to deliver homogeneous fields with well-defined diameters between 11.0 and 20.5 mm, as well as a spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) with modulations between 8.5 and 39.0 mm. A ridge filter, a high-Z material scatterer, and a collimator with range compensator were inserted in the beam path, and their shapes and sizes were optimized to spread out the Bragg peak, widen the beam, and reduce the penumbra. The optimizer was developed and tested using two proton energies (87.0 and 159.5 MeV) in a variety of beamline arrangements. Dose rates of the optimized beams were estimated by scaling their doses to those of unmodified beams. RESULTS: The optimized 87.0-MeV beams, with a distance from the beam pipe window to the phantom surface (window-to-surface distance [WSD]) of 550 mm, produced an 8.5-mm-wide SOBP (proximal 90% to distal 90% of the maximum dose); 14.5, 12.0, and 11.0-mm lateral widths at the 50%, 80%, and 90% dose location, respectively; and a 2.5-mm penumbra from 80% to 20% in the lateral profile. The 159.5-MeV beam had an SOBP of 39.0 mm and lateral widths of 20.5, 15.0, and 12.5 mm at 50%, 80%, and 90% dose location, respectively, when the WSD was 550 mm. Wider lateral widths were obtained with increased WSD. The SOBP modulations changed when the ridge filters with different characteristics were inserted. Dose rates on the beam central axis for all optimized beams (other than the 87.0-MeV beam with 2000-mm WSD) were above that needed for the FLASH effect threshold (40 Gy/s) except at the very end of the depth dose profile scaling with a dose rate of 1400 Gy/s at the Bragg peak in the unmodified beams. The optimizer was able to instantly design the individual beamline components for each of the beamline setups, without the need of time intensive iterative simulations. CONCLUSION: An efficient system, consisting of an optimizer and an FDC have been developed and validated in a variety of beamline setups, comprising two proton energies, several WSDs, and SOBPs. The set of automatic optimization algorithms produces beam shaping element designs efficiently and with excellent quality.

Reliability and Validity of the Repeatable Battery for Assessment of Neuropsychological Status Scale in Evaluation of Vascular Cognitive Impairment in Elderly Han Population.

Introduction: Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) and Alzheimer's disease are the most common cognitive impairment diseases in the elderly. This study aimed to apply the Repeatable Battery for Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) scale to evaluate VCI in elderly patients and analyze its reliability and validity. Methods: We enrolled 278 VCI patients admitted to our hospital, from June 2017 to June 2018. The basic clinical information of each patient was documented, and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the RBANS scales were suggested to complete. Results: We found significant correlations between the RBANS total score and age, diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease and years of education. The internal consistency of the RBANS scale Cronbach αsuggested a good agreement with the total score and the single score at two time points. Moreover, the RBANS total score and the score of each dimension in the RBANS scale were positively correlated with the MMSE immediate memory, calculation ability, delayed memory, commanding ability, reading comprehension ability, command execution, sentence making, and pattern duplicating ability. Conclusion: In conclusion, the RBANS has good reliability and validity for the assessment of cognitive dysfunction in elderly VCI patients. It can be used as a routine clinical and research tool, for the simplicity in operation and superior acceptance.

Graph Learning Based Head Movement Prediction for Interactive 360 Video Streaming.

Ultra-high definition (UHD) 360 videos encoded in fine quality are typically too large to stream in its entirety over bandwidth (BW)-constrained networks. One popular approach is to interactively extract and send a spatial sub-region corresponding to a viewer's current field-of-view (FoV) in a head-mounted display (HMD) for more BW-efficient streaming. Due to the non-negligible round-trip-time (RTT) delay between server and client, accurate head movement prediction foretelling a viewer's future FoVs is essential. In this paper, we cast the head movement prediction task as a sparse directed graph learning problem: three sources of relevant information-collected viewers' head movement traces, a 360 image saliency map, and a biological human head model-are distilled into a view transition Markov model. Specifically, we formulate a constrained maximum a posteriori (MAP) problem with likelihood and prior terms defined using the three information sources. We solve the MAP problem alternately using a hybrid iterative reweighted least square (IRLS) and Frank-Wolfe (FW) optimization strategy. In each FW iteration, a linear program (LP) is solved, whose runtime is reduced thanks to warm start initialization. Having estimated a Markov model from data, we employ it to optimize a tile-based 360 video streaming system. Extensive experiments show that our head movement prediction scheme noticeably outperformed existing proposals, and our optimized tile-based streaming scheme outperformed competitors in rate-distortion performance.

CCAE: Cross-field categorical attributes embedding for cancer clinical endpoint prediction.

Patients with advanced cancer are burdened physically and psychologically, so there is an urgent need to pay more attention to their health-related quality of life (HRQOL). With an expected clinical endpoint prediction, over-treatment can be effectively eliminated by the means of palliative care at the right time. This paper develops a deep learning based approach for cancer clinical endpoint prediction based on patient's electronic health records (EHR). Due to the pervasive existence of categorical information in EHR, it brings unavoidably obstacles to the effective numerical learning algorithms. To address this issue, we propose a novel cross-field categorical attributes embedding (CCAE) model to learn a vectorized representation for cancer patients in attribute-level by orders, in which the strong semantic coupling among categorical variables are well exploited. By transforming the order-dependency modeling into a sequence learning task in an ingenious way, recurrent neural network is adopted to capture the semantic relevance among multi-order representations. Experimental results from the SEER-Medicare EHR dataset have illustrated that the proposed model can achieve competitive prediction performance compared with other baselines.

[Assessment of caffeine intake in children and adolescents aged 6-17 years in Beijing City].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the intake of caffeine from snacks among children and adolescents aged 6-17 years in Beijing City. METHODS: A multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling method was adopted to obtain the consumption status of caffeine-containing snacks among 881 school-age children and adolescents in Chaoyang, Changping and Yanqing Districts through a 3 d 24 h continuous questionnaire survey between October 2016 and February 2017, and the caffeine content in snacks was obtained through literature retrieval and laboratory detection. RESULTS: The proportion of caffeinated snacks consumers among children and adolescents aged 6-17 years in Beijing was 42. 45%(374/881). The average daily caffeine intake of the whole population was 9. 19 mg, with a median of 0 and a P95 of 41. 38 mg. The average daily caffeine intake of consumers was 21. 66 mg, with a median of 11. 03 mg and 76. 99 mg of P95. About 1. 60%(6/374) of individuals exceeded the daily safe intake level and there were statistically significant differences in caffeine intake between different ages, genders, grades and groups with and without tea drinking habits after weight was taken into account. Among the top three contributors, 12. 13 mg of caffeine was derived from tea, milk tea and tea beverages(including solid drinks), with a contribution rate which reached 56. 01%, 4. 35 mg of caffeine was derived from coffee, with a contribution rate of 20. 09%, and 3. 31 mg of caffeine was derived from cola and energy drinks, with a contribution rate of 15. 30%, and there existed slightly difference of the top three contribution foods among 6-11 and 12-17 years old children and adolescents. CONCLUSION: Children and adolescents aged 6-17 years in Beijing City had low caffeine intake levels from snacks and there was little risk of overconsumption. Tea, milk tea and tea beverages(including solid drinks) was the major contributor to its caffeine exposure.

Transformation pathway and toxicity assessment of malathion in aqueous solution during UV photolysis and photocatalysis.

In drinking water treatment, complete mineralization of organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) by UV-based advanced oxidation processes (UV AOPs) is rarely achieved. The formation of intermediate oxidation byproducts would likely have some profound effects on toxicity of the reaction solutions. This study investigated the intermediate oxidation byproducts, transformation pathway and toxicity of malathion solutions during the treatment processes of UV alone, UV/H2O2, UV/TiO2 and UV/Fenton. The main intermediate oxidation byproducts were derived using ultra-performance liquid chromatography - electrospray - time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Thereby the transformation pathway for each of these treatment processes was proposed. The results indicate that in UV photolysis, the transformation pathway of malathion proceeded initially via cleavage of the phosphorus-sulfur bonds while in photocatalysis, the desulfurization from a PS bond to a PO bond was the primary degradation pathway. Interestingly, only in the UV/TiO2 process a small fraction of malathion was found decomposed via a demethylation reaction. At the same time, a toxicity assessment of the treated solutions was conducted by both luminescence inhibition of Vibrio fischeri and inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). It was found that after UV AOP treatment, the toxicity of the malathion aqueous solution increased sharply. In contrast, no increase in toxicity was observed for the malathion aqueous solution after UV alone treatment. This study demonstrates that the high removal efficiency achieved by OPPs does not imply that detoxification of the water solution has been achieved. On the contrary, the toxicity of the treated solutions by OPPs may be increased significantly depending on the selected treatment processes.

Nation-Scale Adoption of Shorter Breast Radiation Therapy Schedules Can Increase Survival in Resource Constrained Economies: Results From a Markov Chain Analysis.

PURPOSE: Hypofractionated whole breast irradiation and accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) offer women options for shorter courses of breast radiation therapy. The impact of these shorter schedules on the breast cancer populations of emerging economies with limited radiation therapy resources is unknown. We hypothesized that adoption of these schedules would improve throughput in the system and, by allowing more women access to life-saving treatments, improve patient survival within the system. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We designed a Markov chain model to simulate the different health states that a postlumpectomy or postmastectomy patient could enter over the course of a 20-year follow-up period. Transition rates between health states were adapted from published data on recurrence rates. We used primary data from a tertiary care hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, to populate the model with proportional use of mastectomy versus breast conservation and to estimate the proportion of patients suitable for APBI. Sensitivity analyses on the use of APBI and relative efficacy of APBI were conducted to study the impact on the population. RESULTS: The shorter schedule resulted in more women alive and more women remaining without evidence of disease (NED) compared with the conventional schedule, with an absolute difference of about 4% and 7% at 15 years, respectively. Among women who had lumpectomies, the chance of remaining alive and with an intact breast was 62% in the hypofractionation model and 54% in the conventional fractionation model. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing throughput in the system can result in improved survival, improved chances of remaining without evidence of disease, and improved chances of remaining alive with a breast. These findings are significant and suggest that adoption of hypofractionation in emerging economies is not simply a question of efficiency and cost but one of access to care and patient survivorship.

[Assessment of risk factors of schistosomiasis transmission control in Jingzhou City].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the key risk factors of schistosomiasis transmission in Jingzhou City, so as to provide the evidence for improving the treatment of these risk factors. METHODS: Each village of six counties was investigated and 3 environments were surveyed each village for the distribution of Oncomelania snails and animal stools in the field. The results were analyzed and the risk factors of schistosomiasis transmission were assessed. RESULTS: The density of living snails was 0.43 snails per 0.1 m2, the frequency of the frames with snails was 9.12%, and no schistosome infected snails were found. All of the animal stools collected from the field were from bovines. The schistosome positive rate of animal stools was 37.50% (3/8) among the environments, and the schistosome infection rate of stools was 8.11% (3/37). The schistosome infection rate of animal stools was 0 near the residence living sites, and the positive rates were 12.50% and 8.33% in the ditches and slopes, respectively (chi2 = 0.07, P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Bovine is still the main infectious source of schistosomiasis, i.e. the main risk factor of the disease transmission. Therefore, the strategy of controlling bovine should be strengthened.

[Comparison of casting precision of two kinds of commercially available gypsum-bonded investment with different setting and thermal expansion characteristics].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate expansion characteristics of two kinds of commercial investment (Cristo balite Micro II and Cristo Quick), and their effects on cast accuracy of a dental Ag-Pd casting alloy. METHODS: Two kinds of investment were mixed at the ratio of 1:3. The setting and thermal expansion curves of the investment were recorded according to the requirements of ISO7490 and expansion rate calculated, respectively. Plate-like wax-patterns with pre-marked points were invested in casting rings (lined with ceramic fiber liners with thickness of 0.45 mm). Castwell M.C dental alloy were melted with gas flame and cast with a centrifugal casting machine. The differences between the castings and the wax patterns at corresponding points were calculated to represent the dimensional changes of the investment. RESULTS: The setting, thermal and total expansion rates were 0.68, 1.18, 1.86 for Cristo balite Micro II, and 0.94, 1.03, 1.97 for Cristo Quick. The setting and thermal expansion rates were statistically significant between two kinds of investment (P < 0.05), while not for the total expansion rates (P > 0.05). Effect of different investment on the precision of castings was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Within the scope of this study, gypsum-bonded investment with similar total expansion rates but different expansion characteristics has no effect on the casting precision of Ag-Pd dental alloys.