Health risk assessment and development of human health ambient water quality criteria for PCBs in Taihu Basin, China.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of typical persistent organic pollutants (POPs) with carcinogenicity and extensively found in diverse environmental mediums. The Taihu Basin is one of the most economically developed regions in China, and it has also caused a lot of historical legacy and unconscious emissions of PCBs, posing a threat to the health of people in the region. This study counted the concentrations of PCBs in five environmental media (water, soil, air, dust, and food) in the Taihu Basin from 2000 to 2020 and used Monte Carlo simulation to simulate the multi-channel exposure of PCBs in people of different ages (children, teenagers, and adults), and evaluated their noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks. Finally, the human health ambient water quality standards (AWQC) for PCBs were obtained using regional exposure parameters and bioaccumulation factors. The results showed that the pollution of PCBs in the Taihu Basin was relatively serious in China. The concentration of PCBs in dust is higher than other environmental media. And exposure to water and food is the main exposure pathway for PCBs in the population of the region. Besides, PCBs pose no noncarcinogenic risk to people in this region, but their carcinogenic risk to residents exceeds the safety threshold. Among the three population groups, adults have the highest risk of cancer, and prevention measures need to be taken by controlling the intake of related foods and the concentration of PCBs in water. The following human health AWQC values of the PCBs in Taihu Basin is 3.2 × 10-9 mg/L.

Individualized threshold of the involuntary weight loss in prognostic assessment of cancer.

BACKGROUND: Involuntary weight loss (WL) is a common symptom in cancer patients and is associated with poor outcomes. However, there is no standardized definition of WL, and it is unclear what magnitude of weight loss should be considered significant for prognostic purposes. This study aimed to determine an individualized threshold for WL that can be used for prognostic assessment in cancer patients. METHODS: Univariate and multivariate analyses of overall survival (OS) were performed using Cox proportional hazard models. The Kaplan-Meier method was performed to estimate the survival distribution of different WL levels. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between WL and 90-day outcomes. Restricted cubic splines with three knots were used to examine the effects of WL on survival under different body mass index (BMI) conditions. RESULTS: Among the 8806 enrolled patients with cancer, median survival time declined as WL increased, from 25.1 to 20.1, 17.8 and 16.4 months at <2%, 2-5%, 5-10% and ≥10% WL, respectively (P < 0.001). Multivariate adjusted Cox regression analysis showed that the risk of adverse prognosis increased by 18.1% based on the SD of WL (5.45 U) (HR: 1.181, 95% CI: 1.144-1.219, P < 0.001). Similarly, categorical WL was independently associated with OS in patients with cancer. With the worsening of WL, the risk of a poor prognosis in patients increases stepwise. Compared with <2% WL, all-cause mortalities were 15.1%, 37% and 64.2% higher in 2-5%, 5-10%, and ≥10% WL, respectively. WL can effectively stratify the prognosis of both overall and site-specific cancers. The clinical prognostic thresholds for WL based on different BMI levels were 4.21% (underweight), 5.03% (normal), 6.33% (overweight), and 7.60% (obese). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that WL was independently associated with 90-day outcomes in patients with cancer. Compared with patients with <2% WL, those with ≥10% WL had more than twice the risk of 90-day outcomes (OR: 3.277, 95% CI: 2.287-4.694, P < 0.001). Systemic inflammation was a cause of WL deterioration. WL mediates 6.3-10.3% of the overall association between systemic inflammation and poor prognoses in patients with cancer. CONCLUSIONS: An individualized threshold for WL based on baseline BMI can be used for prognostic assessment in cancer patients. WL and BMI should be evaluated simultaneously in treatment decision-making, nutritional intervention, and prognosis discussions of patients with cancer.

Improving the assessment of malnutrition in cancer: Using systemic inflammation markers as a supplement to the inflammation items of the GLIM criteria.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Systemic inflammation is a key pathogenic criterion for diagnosing malnutrition using the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria. Although cancer is commonly considered as a chronic inflammation-related disease, the inflammatory burden may vary depending on the type and stage of cancer. Therefore, a more precise definition of inflammation criteria could facilitate the identification of malnutrition in cancer. METHODS: This prospective multicenter study included 1683 cancer patients screened via NRS2002 for malnutrition risk. The inflammatory burden index (IBI), C-reactive protein (CRP) level, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and albumin (ALB) level were used to assess the inflammatory burden. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between the GLIM criteria and overall survival. Harrell's concordance index (C-index) was used to compare the discriminative performance of the original, IBI-based, CRP-based, NLR-based, and ALB-based GLIM criteria for survival. Logistic regression models were used to assess the association between GLIM criteria and short-term outcomes, length of hospital stay, and hospitalization costs. RESULTS: Compared to the original GLIM criteria, the IBI/CRP/NLR/ALB-based GLIM criteria better predicted the long-term outcomes of patients with cancer (chi-square: 1.316 vs. 78.321 vs. 74.740 vs. 88.719 vs. 100.921). The C-index revealed that the inflammation marker-based GLIM criteria showed significantly better prognostic accuracy than the original GLIM criteria. The ALB-based GLIM criteria exhibited the best prognostic accuracy. The inflammation marker-based GLIM criteria were independent predictive factors for the long-term prognosis of cancer. Patients with malnutrition had a 45% higher risk of adverse long-term prognoses than those without malnutrition. The inflammation marker-based GLIM criteria had good prognostic ability to predict outcomes at 3, 6, and 12 months. The stepwise effect of the grading of severity via the IBI-based GLIM criteria and CRP-based GLIM criteria was notable. The inflammation marker-based GLIM criteria are useful for predicting short-term outcomes, length of hospitalization, and hospitalization costs. CONCLUSION: The inflammation marker-based GLIM criteria have a stronger predictive value than the original GLIM criteria in evaluating both the short- and long-term prognoses of cancer patients. It is recommended to use the inflammation marker-based GLIM criteria for nutritional evaluation of cancer patients.

Freshwater environment risk assessment and derivation of human health ambient water quality criteria for SCCPs in China.

Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs, CxH2x+2-yCly, where x = 10 to 13 and y = 3 to x) are a complex family of emerging contaminants that have been identified as persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) substances. Because of their persistence, high toxicity, bioaccumulation and long-distance mobility, SCCPs were added to the list of controlled POPs in the Stockholm Convention in 2017. China is the largest producer and user of SCCPs all over the world, thus SCCPs have been widely distributed in the freshwater environment. But the ecological risk and human health risk of SCCPs in China were still less evaluated. This study collected and screened the exposure data of SCCPs in freshwater environment in China, and then evaluated the freshwater and sediments ecological risk of SCCPs by risk quotient (RQ) method and the human health risk by margin of exposure (MOE) method. Our results showed that the pollution of SCCPs in the freshwater environment in China was not optimistic. The ecological risks and human health risks had occurred, and even there were high ecological risks occurred in some regions in China. Besides, because of the absence of the concentration threshold of SCCPs to protect human health in freshwater at present, we derived the human health ambient water quality criteria (AWQC) values of SCCPs based on exposure data and bioaccumulation factor (BAF) in China. The human health AWQC values of SCCPs ranged from 14.99 ng L-1 to 154.54 ng L-1 in different regions in China, and the national human health AWQC value was determined as 24.08 ng L-1. This study will provide the scientific references for the management and control of SCCPs in China, especially for the formulation of standard of water environmental quality for SCCPs.

Factors related to the internal social capital of elderly-caring social organizations: a cross-sectional study in Chongqing, China.

BACKGROUND: Aging has given birth to the demand for high-quality elderly care service and social organizations (ESOs) are gradually taking on a supportive role in the field of elderly care services.. In view of this, our study is designed to examine influencing factors of social capital within the elderly-caring social organizations. METHOD: The study was conducted in four districts of Chongqing Province and a multi-stage random sampling method was used to sample 80 ESOs as subjects for the research. Through a meticulously crafted questionnaire, we gathered valuable data on internal social capital, basic information about the organization, and other variables. Univariate and Binary Logistic Regression analysis were performed on the data to explore the factors associated with social capital within the elderly-caring social organizations using IBM SPSS version 26.0. RESULT: The results showed that 67(83.8%) OF ESOs surveyed were A-type institutions and 13(16.3%) B-type institutions. Among them, 49(61.3%) institutions covered an area of more than 50m2.The institutions of ≤ 2 years were 33(41.3%), 21(26.3%) were established for ≤ 3 ≤ 8 years, and residual 26(32.5%) were institutions ˃ 8 years old. ESOs that possessed 4-6 management employees were 52.422 times more likely to score high for social support (p<0.05, OR = 52.422). Accommodating special care objects and hiring 16-30 employees were significantly linked to the shared language and shared vision dimension (p<0.001, OR = 0.8) and (p<0.05, OR = 8.672), respectively. and the overall social capital dimension (p<0.01, OR = 0.221) (p<0.05, OR = 5.730). CONCLUSION: ESOs with different basic conditions have different amounts of social capital. Factors such as the presence of special care and volunteer staff, a certain number of full-time staff as well as types of services rendered are accompanied with the higher internal social capital of ESOs.

The spatial effects of rural toilet retrofitting investment on farmers' medical and health expenditure in China.

Background: China stretches across a vast area, and different geographical environments and economic and social development conditions, along with learning imitation and factor flow among participants can lead to two major spatial characteristics of toilet retrofitting investment: spatial heterogeneity and spatial correlation. Methods: This study contributes to explore this topic by assessing the spatial heterogeneity and spatial correlation of toilet retrofitting investment on farmers' medical and health expenditure based on the spatial econometric model. Results: (1) There are significant spatial agglomeration characteristics of both the toilet retrofitting investment and farmers' medical and health expenditure in China. (2) At the national level, the rural toilet retrofitting investment will influence the farmers' medical and health expenditure, and the effect on the local area is greater than on the surrounding areas. (3) After taking into account the differences in natural geographical environment and social and economic development, China is divided into four regions: east, central, west and northeast. In terms of spatial effects within different regions, the intensity of the impact of toilet retrofitting investment on local farmers' medical and health expenditure is in the order of central > eastern > western > northeast. The improvement of people's livelihood in the eastern and central regions by toilet retrofitting investment would lead to imitation by surrounding regions, thus reflecting spillover effects, while in the western region, toilet retrofitting investment would trigger fierce competition in related industries and factor markets, manifesting the competition effect. (4) As for the spatial effects across different regions, the toilet retrofitting investment produces spillover effects in all four regions, among which the intensity of the influence effect is the greatest in the central-western region, followed by the west-northeast, and the influence effect in the east-west is not significant. Discussion: The comprehensive promotion of rural toilet retrofitting should not only focus on investment in the western and northeastern regions, but also strengthen regional communication and cooperation to improve rural residents' health and quality of life.

Association of social capital with self-perceived eHealth literacy among community-dwelling older people: Age and gender differences.

Background: Studies have confirmed that social factors, including social capital and eHealth literacy, are important in later life. Currently, few studies are available for determining the relationship between social capital and eHealth literacy, and whether such a relationship exists among older people and there are age and gender differences in the relationship remain unclear. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate the association between social capital and eHealth literacy, specifically examing its variations in age and gender. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 4,257 residents aged ≥ 60 years and dwelling in the community was conducted across four cities in China. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on general characteristics, socioeconomic status, social capital, and eHealth literacy. Generalized linear models were employed to assess these associations. Results: There were 4,218 respondents (age 71.9 ± 7.2 years; 64.8% women). Overall, social participation, social connection, trust, cohesion, and reciprocity were all statistically associated with eHealth literacy (p < 0.05), while such an association was not observed for social support (p > 0.05). Specifically, a higher level of social participation was associated with better eHealth literacy scores among participants aged 70-79 years (p < 0.001), and a higher level of social connection was associated with better eHealth literacy scores for those aged 60-69 and 70-79 years (p < 0.001). Meanwhile, no gender differences in the associations were found. Conclusion: There is an association between social capital and eHealth literacy in older men and women. The association varis with age. The findings provide a reference for developing targeted measures to improve self-perceived eHealth literacy among older people. It is essential for achieving active and healthy aging and developing the knowledge and understanding of relevant theories, concepts, and evidence within the field of health and social capital.

Acute Toxicity Assessment and Prediction Models of Four Heavy Metals.

Water quality criteria (WQC) are developed to protect aquatic organisms. Toxicity data of local fish are essential to improve the applicability of WQC derivatives. However, the paucity of local cold-water fish toxicity data limits the development of WQC in China. Brachymystax lenok is a representative Chinese-endemic cold-water fish, which plays an important role in the characterization of metal toxicity in the water environment. Whereas, the ecotoxicological effects of copper, zinc, lead and cadmium, as well as its potential as a test species for the metal WQC, remain to be investigated. In our study, acute toxicity tests of copper, zinc, lead and cadmium were performed on this fish according to the OECD method and 96 h-LC50 values were calculated. The results showed that the 96 h-LC50 values of Cu2+, Zn2+, Pb2+ and Cd2+ for B. lenok were 134, 222, 514 and 734 µg/L, respectively. Toxicity data for freshwater species and Chinese-native species were collected and screened, and the mean acute values of each metal for each species were ranked. The results showed that the accumulation probability of zinc by B. lenok was the lowest and less than 15%. Thus, B. lenok was sensitive to Zn and can be considered as the test cold-water fish for derivation of Zn WQC. In addition, B. lenok in comparison with warm-water fish, we found that cold-water fish are not always more sensitive to heavy metals than warm-water fish. Finally, the models for toxic effects prediction of different heavy metals on the same species were constructed and evaluated the reliability of the model. We suggest that the alternative toxicity data provided by the simulations can be used to derive WQC for metals.

Analysis on the Influence of Industrial Structure on Energy Efficiency in China: Based on the Spatial Econometric Model.

Compared with other developed countries, China's energy efficiency level is not optimal, but it has indeed made remarkable achievements in its long-term development, mainly due to efforts targeting the adjustment of industrial structure. This research, therefore, uses a spatial econometric model to study the energy efficiency of 30 provinces in China with data from the panel from 2004 to 2019, and studies the impact of industrial structure on energy efficiency from the overall sample, for different time periods and across the three regional scales of eastern, central and western regions. The following conclusions are drawn from the empirical analysis. (1) China's energy efficiency indicators have significant geographic spatial correlation and regional spatial structure differences. (2) In the full sample condition, the industrial structure has a positive impact on the energy efficiency of China's provinces, but it also shows a significant negative spatial spillover effect. (3) Industrial structure was positively correlated with energy efficiency from 2004 to 2011. (4) The industrial structure in the east promotes energy efficiency, while the industrial structure in the central and western regions inhibits energy efficiency improvement. (5) Government intervention and scientific and technological innovation have had a spatial impact on energy efficiency in China's provinces, while marketization and the average income of residents have had no significant impact.

Risk Assessment of Phthalate Esters in Baiyangdian Lake and Typical Rivers in China.

Phthalate esters (PAEs) are frequently tracked in water environments worldwide. As a typical class of endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDCs), PAEs posed adverse effects on aquatic organisms at low concentration. Thus, they have attracted wide attention in recent years. In the present study, the concentrations of seven typical PAEs from 30 sampling sites in Baiyangdian Lake were measured, and the environmental exposure data of PAEs were gathered in typical rivers in China. Then, based on the aquatic life criteria (ALCs) derived from the reproductive toxicity data of aquatic organisms, two risk assessment methods, including hazard quotient (HQ) and probabilistic ecological risk assessment (PERA), were adopted to evaluate the ecological risks of PAEs in water. The sediment quality criteria (SQCs) of DEHP, DBP, BBP, DIBP and DEP were deduced based on the equilibrium partitioning method. Combined with the gathered environmental exposure data of seven PAEs in sediments from typical rivers in China, the ecological risk assessments of five PAEs in sediment were conducted only by the HQ method. The results of ecological risk assessment showed that in terms of water, DBP and DIBP posed low risk, while the risk of DEHP in Baiyangdian Lake cannot be ignored and should receive attention. In typical rivers in China, BBP and DEP posed no risk, while DIBP and DBP posed potential risk. Meanwhile, DEHP posed a high ecological risk. As far as sediment is concerned, DBP posed a high risk in some typical rivers in China, and the other rivers had medium risk. DEHP posed a high risk only in a few rivers and low to medium risk in others. This study provides an important reference for the protection of aquatic organisms and the risk management of PAEs in China.

Echocardiographic assessment of Xenopus tropicalis heart regeneration.

BACKGROUND: Recently, it was reported that the adult X. tropicalis heart can regenerate in a nearly scar-free manner after injury via apical resection. Thus, a cardiac regeneration model in adult X. tropicalis provides a powerful tool for recapitulating a perfect regeneration phenomenon, elucidating the underlying molecular mechanisms of cardiac regeneration in an adult heart, and developing an interventional strategy for the improvement in the regeneration of an adult heart, which may be more applicable in mammals than in species with a lower degree of evolution. However, a noninvasive and rapid real-time method that can observe and measure the long-term dynamic change in the regenerated heart in living organisms to monitor and assess the regeneration and repair status in this model has not yet been established. RESULTS: In the present study, the methodology of echocardiographic assessment to characterize the morphology, anatomic structure and cardiac function of injured X. tropicalis hearts established by apex resection was established. The findings of this study demonstrated for the first time that small animal echocardiographic analysis can be used to assess the regeneration of X. tropicalis damaged heart in a scar-free perfect regeneration or nonperfect regeneration with adhesion manner via recovery of morphology and cardiac function. CONCLUSIONS: Small animal echocardiography is a reliable, noninvasive and rapid real-time method for observing and assessing the long-term dynamic changes in the regeneration of injured X. tropicalis hearts.

Epidemiological Features, Risk Factors, and Disease Burden of Respiratory Viruses among Hospitalized Children with Acute Respiratory Tract Infections in Xiamen, China.

Well-established surveillance and monitoring systems for respiratory viruses need to be improved, and epidemiological data on respiratory viruses in China are scarce. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of respiratory viruses among hospitalized children aged ≤2 years with acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) in Xiamen, China, from October 2014 to September 2017. The clinical records of 7,248 children hospitalized for ARTIs were retrospectively analyzed. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (22.3%) was the most common virus among hospitalized children aged ≤2 years, followed by parainfluenza (5.0%), adenovirus (3.5%), and influenza (1.7%). RSV-infected children had a higher disease burden, including a higher intensive care unit (ICU) admission rate (12.7%) and higher hospital charges ($635.36). Particularly, infants aged <6 months had the highest risk of RSV infection (odds ratio = 2.4; 95% CI, 1.9-2.9) and a higher ICU admission rate (12.1% vs. 4.5%, 4.6%) and hospital cost ($923.3 vs. $785.5, $811.7) than the other age groups. Therefore, infants aged 0-6 months, particularly premature infants and children with congenital diseases, should receive more attention. There is an urgent need to develop effective immunization strategies to protect these infants during the first 6 months of life and in the RSV season.

Hemodynamic differences between women and men with elevated blood pressure in China: A non-invasive assessment of 45,082 adults using impedance cardiography.

BACKGROUND: Whether there are sex differences in hemodynamic profiles among people with elevated blood pressure is not well understood and could guide personalization of treatment. METHODS AND RESULTS: We described the clinical and hemodynamic characteristics of adults with elevated blood pressure in China using impedance cardiography. We included 45,082 individuals with elevated blood pressure (defined as systolic blood pressure of ≥130 mmHg or a diastolic blood pressure of ≥80 mmHg), of which 35.2% were women. Overall, women had a higher mean systolic blood pressure than men (139.0 [±15.7] mmHg vs 136.8 [±13.8] mmHg, P<0.001), but a lower mean diastolic blood pressure (82.6 [±9.0] mmHg vs 85.6 [±8.9] mmHg, P<0.001). After adjusting for age, region, and body mass index, women <50 years old had lower systemic vascular resistance index (beta-coefficient [ß] -31.7; 95% CI: -51.2, -12.2) and higher cardiac index (ß 0.07; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.09) than men of their same age group, whereas among those ≥50 years old women had higher systemic vascular resistance index (ß 120.4; 95% CI: 102.4, 138.5) but lower cardiac index (ß -0.15; 95% CI: -0.16, -0.13). Results were consistent with a propensity score matching sensitivity analysis, although the magnitude of the SVRI difference was lower and non-significant. However, there was substantial overlap between women and men in the distribution plots of these variables, with overlapping areas ranging from 78% to 88%. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that there are sex differences in hypertension phenotype, but that sex alone is insufficient to infer an individual's profile.

Identification of Priority Conservation Areas for Natural Heritage Sites Integrating Landscape Ecological Risks and Ecosystem Services: A Case Study in the Bogda, China.

The conservation of World Natural Heritage Sites has become a global concern. The identification of priority conservation areas can preserve the value of heritage sites while promoting sustainable development, which is important for balancing the conservation and development of heritage sites. This paper proposes an integrated framework for the identification of priority conservation areas for natural heritage sites based on landscape ecological risks (LERs) and ecosystem services (ESs), taking the Bogda heritage site in Xinjiang, China as a case study. The innovative approach combined the natural and cultural elements of natural heritage sites and included the following steps: (1) the LER index, Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model and questionnaire method were adopted to assess the LERs and ESs of Bogda heritage sites during 1990-2018; (2) ordered weighted averaging (OWA) was used to identify conservation priorities by weighing LERs and ESs; and (3) the optimal priority conservation area was determined by comparing the conservation efficiencies under different scenarios. The results revealed that the LER, carbon storage (CS), habitat quality (HQ), aesthetic value (AV), and recreational value (RV) showed significant spatiotemporal variation. The most suitable priority conservation area was located at the central forestlands and high-coverage grasslands, with conservation efficiencies of 1.16, 2.91, 1.96, 1.03, and 1.21 for LER, CS, HQ, AV, and RV, respectively. Our study demonstrated that integrating LERs and ESs is a comprehensive and effective approach to identifying conservation priorities for heritage sites. The results can provide decision support for the conservation of the Bogda heritage site and a methodological reference for identifying conservation priorities for natural heritage sites. Furthermore, this study is also an effective application of LERs and ESs in identifying priority conservation areas.

The dynamics of CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and economic development: evidence from the top 28 greenhouse gas emitters.

Previous studies have done more research on the relationship between carbon emission reduction, energy consumption, and economic growth in specific countries or regions, which rarely consider the issue of heterogeneity between countries or regions, and also lack the refinement of energy consumption categories. Using panel data from 2000 to 2017, this paper divided the top 28 global carbon emission countries into developed countries and developing countries, and explores co-integration and causality between renewable energy consumption, non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emission. Results suggested that there is a two-way causal relationship between carbon emissions and economic growth in all economies. There is a two-way causal relationship between economic growth in developed countries and consumption of renewable and non-renewable energy, while there is no significant relationship between economic growth and energy consumption in developing countries. There is a two-way causal relationship between carbon emissions and renewable energy in all economies, but there are significant differences; there is a two-way causal relationship between carbon emissions in developed countries and non-renewable energy, and only one-way causality exists in developing countries.

Socio-economic status and 1 year mortality among patients hospitalized for heart failure in China.

AIMS: This study explored the association between socio-economic status (SES) and mortality among patients hospitalized for heart failure (HF) in China. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used data from the China Patient-centred Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events-Prospective Heart Failure Study (China PEACE 5p-HF Study), which enrolled patients hospitalized primarily for HF from 52 hospitals between 2016 and 2018. SES was measured using the income, employment status, educational attainment, and partner status. Individual socio-economic risk factor (SERF) scores were assigned based on the number of coexisting SERFs, including low income, unemployed status, low education, and unpartnered status. We assessed the effects of SES on 1 year all-cause mortality using Cox models. We used the Harrell c statistic to investigate whether SES added incremental prognostic information for mortality prediction. A total of 4725 patients were included in the analysis. The median (interquartile range) age was 67 (57-76) years; 37.6% were women. In risk-adjusted analyses, patients with low/middle income [low income: hazard ratio (HR) 1.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.21-2.14; middle income: HR 1.32, 95% CI 1.00-1.74], unemployment status (HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.10-1.86), low education (HR 1.25, 95% CI 1.03-1.53), and unpartnered status (HR 1.22, 95% CI 1.03-1.46) had a higher risk of death than patients with high income, who were employed, who had a high education level, and who had a partner, respectively. Compared with the patients without SERFs, those with 1, 2, 3, and 4 SERFs had 1.52-, 2.01-, 2.45-, and 3.20-fold increased risk of death, respectively. The addition of SES to fully adjusted model improved the mortality prediction, with increments in c statistic of 0.01 (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In a national Chinese cohort of patients hospitalized for HF, low income, unemployment status, low education, and unpartnered status were all associated with a higher risk of death 1 year following discharge. In addition, incorporating SES into a clinical-based model could better identify patients at risk for death. Tailored clinical interventions are needed to mitigate the excess risk experienced by those socio-economic deprived HF patients.

Genome Resource of Ancylobacter pratisalsi E130T: A Novel Plant-Growth-Promoting Bacterium Isolated from the Rhizosphere.

Ancylobacter pratisalsi sp. nov. strain E130T is a Gram-negative, nonmotile, aerobic, and rod-shaped bacterium that was recently isolated from the rhizosphere of Plantago winteri Wirtg. from a natural salt meadow. This strain was described as novel species in genus Ancylobacter; however, information about its complete genome has yet not been reported. In this study, its genome was completely sequenced by PacBio SMRT cell platform, analyzed, and compared with other selected complete genome sequences of Ancylobacter to elucidate its potential plant growth promotion abilities. The genomic analysis revealed that the genome of strain E130T consists of one circular DNA chromosome of 4,618,530 bp with a GC content of 66% and one plasmid of 159,741 bp with a GC content of 64.13%. The entire genome contains 4,322 predicted coding genes, 49 transfer RNAs, and 6 ribosomal RNA genes. Genome analysis identified a siderophore natural product biosynthesis cluster, which produces fuscachelin. Knockout of several key genes in this cluster significantly reduces the plant-growth-promotion ability of the strain E130T. In addition to plant-growth promotion, the strain E130T can grow well on 5% NaCl (wt/vol), indicating that this strain is a potential bioresource for successful production of economic crops in alkaline soil.

Research on freshwater water quality criteria, sediment quality criteria and ecological risk assessment of triclosan in China.

Triclosan (TCS) is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent commonly used in pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). The widespread use of TCS makes it frequently detected in various environmental mediums. In view of the high detection frequency of TCS in the aquatic environment and sediments, and its toxic effects on aquatic species, it is critical and necessary to derive Chinese TCS water quality criteria (WQC) and sediment quality criteria (SQC) for protecting Chinese aquatic organisms, and perform the ecological risk assessment. In fact, former research had derived the WQC of TCS mainly based on acute and chronic toxicity data. As an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC), TCS poses adverse effects on the growth, development and reproduction of aquatic organisms at much lower concentration. Considering nonlethal endpoints are sensitive endpoints for EDCs, TCS long-term water quality criteria (LWQC) was derived based on reproduction and growth related endpoints. In this work, the acute toxicity data of 19 aquatic organisms and the chronic toxicity data of 15 aquatic organisms were obtained through collection and screening. The best fitting model of species sensitivity distribution (SSD) models including Normal, Log-Normal, Logistic and Log-Logistic of toxicity data was selected to derive WQC. The short-term and long-term WQC of TCS for Chinese aquatic organisms were 6.22 µg/L and 0.25 µg/L, respectively. Furthermore, through the phase-equilibrium partitioning method, SQC was derived based on WQC. SQC-low (SQC-L) and SQC-high (SQCH) were 0.13 mg/kg and 3.26 mg/kg, respectively. Moreover, the exposure concentration (EPC) data of TCS in Chinese rivers and sediments were collected. And through the hazard quotient (HQ) method and the joint probability curve (JPC) method we found that there were certain TCS ecological risks in Chinese rivers and sediments. Our work will provide a valuable reference for protecting aquatic organisms and minimizing TCS ecological risk in China.

Health risk assessment and development of human health ambient water quality criteria for PBDEs in China.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are not only a class of highly efficient brominated flame retardants (BFRs) but also a class of typical persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that are persistent and widely distributed in various environmental media. This study examined the concentrations of PBDEs in five environmental media (water, soil, air, dust, and food) and two human body media (human milk and blood) in China from 2010 to 2020. In addition, this study conducted multi-pathway exposure health risk assessments of populations of different ages in urban, rural, key regions, and industrial factories using the Monte-Carlo simulation. Finally, the human health ambient water quality criteria (AWQC) of eight PBDEs were derived using Chinese exposure parameters and bioaccumulation factors (BAFs). The results showed that the eastern and southeastern coastal regions of China were heavily polluted by PBDEs, and the variation trends of the ΣPBDEs concentrations in the different exposure media were not consistent. PBDEs did not pose a risk to urban and rural residents in ordinary regions, but the hazard indexes (HIs) for residents in key regions and occupational workers exceeded the safety threshold. Dust exposure was the primary exposure pathway for urban and rural residents in ordinary regions, but for residents in key regions and occupational workers, dietary exposure was the primary exposure pathway. BDE-209 was found to be the most serious individual PBDE congener in China. The following human health AWQC values of the PBDEs were derived: drinking water exposure: 0.233-65.2 µg·L-1; and drinking water and aquatic products exposure: 8.51 × 10-4-1.10 µg·L-1.

Assessment of chronic allograft injury in renal transplantation using diffusional kurtosis imaging.

BACKGROUND: Chronic allograft injury (CAI) is a significant reason for which many grafts were lost. The study was conducted to assess the usefulness of diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) technology in the non-invasive assessment of CAI. METHODS: Between February 2019 and October 2019, 110 renal allograft recipients were included to analyze relevant DKI parameters. According to estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (mL/min/ 1.73 m2) level, they were divided to 3 groups: group 1, eGFR ≥ 60 (n = 10); group 2, eGFR 30-60 (n = 69); group 3, eGFR < 30 (n = 31). We performed DKI on a clinical 3T magnetic resonance imaging system. We measured the area of interest to determine the mean kurtosis (MK), mean diffusivity (MD), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the renal cortex and medulla. We performed a Pearson correlation analysis to determine the relationship between eGFR and the DKI parameters. We used the receiver operating characteristic curve to estimate the predicted values of DKI parameters in the CAI evaluation. We randomly selected five patients from group 2 for biopsy to confirm CAI. RESULTS: With the increase of creatinine, ADC, and MD of the cortex and medulla decrease, MK of the cortex and medulla gradually increase. Among the three different eGFR groups, significant differences were found in cortical and medullary MK (P = 0.039, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, respectively). Cortical and medullary ADC and MD are negatively correlated with eGFR (r = - 0.49, - 0.44, - 0.57, - 0.57, respectively; P < 0.001), while cortical and medullary MK are positively correlated with eGFR (r = 0.42, 0.38; P < 0.001). When 0.491 was set as the cutoff value, MK's CAI assessment showed 87% sensitivity and 100% specificity. All five patients randomly selected for biopsy from the second group confirmed glomerulosclerosis and tubular atrophy/interstitial fibrosis. CONCLUSION: The DKI technique is related to eGFR as allograft injury progresses and is expected to become a potential non-invasive method for evaluating CAI.