Influence of life-style factors, including second-hand smoke, on dental caries among 3-year-old children in Wuxi, China.

AIM: To examine the association of life-style factors, including second-hand smoke, with dental caries among 3-year-old children in Wuxi, China. METHODS: A multi-stage stratified random cluster sampling method was used, and 283 children were recruited. The prevalence of dental caries was 29.3% (83/283). RESULTS: Univariate analysis indicated that the possible related factors of dental caries included sleep duration, interest in snacks, candy, exposure to second-hand smoke and weight of birth (all P < 0.05). Meanwhile, multivariate logistic regression analysis suggested that children who had used fluoride were less susceptible to dental caries than those who had not used fluoride before (P < 0.05). Moreover, the risk of dental caries in children who were very interested in snacks was greater than those with little interest in snacks (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Life-style behaviours are crucial factors and should attract enough attention. There might be a potential negative effect of second-hand smoke on the deciduous caries, but it still requires further studies. A co-ordinated effort by health-care providers, policymakers and health institutions has successfully improved children's oral health and the awareness of hygiene knowledge among citizens in Wuxi city.

Applying Situational Theory of Problem Solving in Cancer Information Seeking: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of 2014 HINTS Survey.

Informed by the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS), this study used data from the Health Information National Trends Survey, a large and representative national sample, to examine predictors of information seeking and information accessing of health information, including cancer-related information. We found that the independent variables in STOPS-problem recognition, involvement recognition, and referent criterion- well predicted people's information seeking of cancer-related information and accessing of health information on line. However, the impact of trust in online health information was more complicated than anticipated. Our study demonstrated the utility of the STOPS in the health information context. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Coordination-Driven Self-Assembly of a 2D Graphite-Like Framework Constructed from High-Nuclear Ce10 Cluster Encapsulated Polyoxotungstates.

It is challenging to explore and prepare high-nuclear lanthanide (Ln) cluster-encapsulated polyoxometalates (POMs). Herein, we fabricate an unprecedented Ce10-cluster-embedded polyoxotungstate (POT) (TMA)14H2[Ce(III)(H2O)6]{[Ce(IV)7Ce(III)3O6(OH)6(CO3)(H2O)11][(P2W16O59)]3}·41H2O (1) (TMA = tetramethyleneamine) by coordination-driven self-assembly strategy, which contains the largest Ce cluster [Ce(IV)7Ce(III)3O6(OH)6(CO3)(H2O)11] (Ce10) in all the Ln-containing POM chemistry to date. Self-assembly of the in situ dilacunary [P2W16O59](12-) fragments and mixed Ce(3+) and Ce(4+) ions by means of coordination-driven force results in a novel 2D graphite-like framework constructed from mixed-valent cerium(III/IV) cluster {Ce10} encapsulated poly(POT) units and Ce(3+) ions. The most remarkable feature is that the skeleton of the centrosymmetric Ce10-cluster-embedded POT trimer contains three dilacunary [P2W16O59](12-) fragments trapping a novel {Ce10} cluster via 18 terminal-oxo and three µ4-oxo atoms.

Generating Health Estimates by Zip Code: A Semiparametric Small Area Estimation Approach Using the California Health Interview Survey.

OBJECTIVES: We propose a method to meet challenges in generating health estimates for granular geographic areas in which the survey sample size is extremely small. METHODS: Our generalized linear mixed model predicts health outcomes using both individual-level and neighborhood-level predictors. The model's feature of nonparametric smoothing function on neighborhood-level variables better captures the association between neighborhood environment and the outcome. Using 2011 to 2012 data from the California Health Interview Survey, we demonstrate an empirical application of this method to estimate the fraction of residents without health insurance for Zip Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs). RESULTS: Our method generated stable estimates of uninsurance for 1519 of 1765 ZCTAs (86%) in California. For some areas with great socioeconomic diversity across adjacent neighborhoods, such as Los Angeles County, the modeled uninsured estimates revealed much heterogeneity among geographically adjacent ZCTAs. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method can increase the value of health surveys by providing modeled estimates for health data at a granular geographic level. It can account for variations in health outcomes at the neighborhood level as a result of both socioeconomic characteristics and geographic locations.

Local health department assurance of services and the health of California's seniors.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the extent to which local health department (LHD) assurance of select services known to promote and protect the health of older adults is associated with more favorable population health indicators among seniors. DESIGN: Data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS: 2003, 2005, and 2007) were linked with the 2005 wave of the National Association of County and City Health Officials profile survey and the Area Resource File to assess the association of LHD assurance and senior health indicators. Assurance was measured by an index of 5 services, either directly provided or contracted by LHDs: cancer screening, injury prevention, comprehensive primary care, home health care, and chronic disease prevention. Multilevel regression models estimated the association of LHD assurance of services and each of 6 older adult health indicators, controlling for individual, LHD, and county characteristics that included key social determinants of health, such as poverty. SETTING: Fifty-seven California counties. PARTICIPANTS: 33,154 older adults (age 65 and older). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Colorectal cancer screening, mammography, healthy eating, physical activity, and multiple falls among older adults. RESULTS: Local health departments provided or contracted a median of 2 of the 5 services. In adjusted analyses, LHD assurance of services was generally unassociated with the seniors' health behaviors, screening, and falls. Greater LHD expenditures per capita were associated with significantly better mammography screening rates (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.22, P < 0.01) compared to jurisdictions in the bottom one-third of per capita LHD spending. Greater county-level poverty (a social determinant of health) was associated with greater junk food consumption (AOR = 1.14, P < 0.01) and worse fruit and vegetable consumption (AOR = 0.97, P < 0.01). Highly impoverished counties were consistently in the bottom quartile of performance across all indicators. CONCLUSIONS: The LHD's assurance of select services known to promote and protect the health of older adults does not appear to translate into higher rates of colorectal cancer screening, mammography, healthy eating, physical activity, and fewer falls among seniors. County-level poverty is most strongly associated with older adult health, underscoring a key barrier to address in local senior health improvement efforts.

Physical aggression, spreading of rumors, and social prominence in early adolescence: reciprocal effects supporting gender similarities?

There is a robust association between aggression and social prominence by early adolescence, yet findings regarding the direction of influence remain inconclusive in light of gender differences across various forms of aggressive behaviors. The current study examined whether physical aggression and spreading of rumors, as two gender-typed aggressive behaviors that differ in overt displays of power, promote and/or maintain socially prominent status for girls and boys during non-transitional grades in middle school. Peer nominations were used to assess physical aggression, spreading of rumors, and "cool" reputation (social prominence) during three time points between the spring of seventh grade and spring of eighth grade. Participants included 1,895 (54 % female) ethnically diverse youth: 47 % Latino, 22 % African-American, 11 % Asian, 10 % White and 10 % Other/Mixed ethnic background. Cross-lagged path analyses were conducted to test the directionality of the effects, and gender moderation was assessed by relying on multi-group analyses. The analyses revealed mainly reciprocal associations for each form of aggression, suggesting that boys, as well as girls, can both gain and maintain their status by spreading rumors about their peers, just as they do by physically fighting and pushing others in urban middle schools. The implications of the findings for interventions are discussed.

Good or bad: Paradox of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) in digestive system tumors.

The fibrinolytic system is involved in many physiological functions, among which the important members can interact with each other, either synergistically or antagonistically to participate in the pathogenesis of many diseases. Plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) acts as a crucial element of the fibrinolytic system and functions in an anti-fibrinolytic manner in the normal coagulation process. It inhibits plasminogen activator, and affects the relationship between cells and extracellular matrix. PAI-1 not only involved in blood diseases, inflammation, obesity and metabolic syndrome but also in tumor pathology. Especially PAI-1 plays a different role in different digestive tumors as an oncogene or cancer suppressor, even a dual role for the same cancer. We term this phenomenon "PAI-1 paradox". PAI-1 is acknowledged to have both uPA-dependent and -independent effects, and its different actions can result in both beneficial and adverse consequences. Therefore, this review will elaborate on PAI-1 structure, the dual value of PAI-1 in different digestive system tumors, gene polymorphisms, the uPA-dependent and -independent mechanisms of regulatory networks, and the drugs targeted by PAI-1 to deepen the comprehensive understanding of PAI-1 in digestive system tumors.

A non-immersive virtual reality-based intervention to enhance lower-extremity motor function and gait in patients with subacute cerebral infarction: A pilot randomized controlled trial with 1-year follow-up.

Introduction: This study was conducted to evaluate whether a non-immersive virtual reality (VR)-based intervention can enhance lower extremity movement in patients with cerebral infarction and whether it has greater short-term and long-term effectiveness than conventional therapies (CTs). Materials and methods: This was a single-blinded, randomized clinical controlled trial. Forty-four patients with subacute cerebral infarction were randomly allocated to the VR or CT group. All intervention sessions were delivered in the inpatient unit for 3 weeks. Outcomes were measured before (baseline) and after the interventions and at 3-month, 6-month and 1-year follow-ups. The outcomes included clinical assessments of movement and balance function using the Fugl-Meyer Assessment of Lower Extremity (FMA-LE) and Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and gait parameters in the sagittal plane. Results: In the VR group, the walking speed after intervention, at 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year follow-ups were significantly greater than baseline (p = 0.01, <0.001, 0.007, and <0.001, respectively). Compared with baseline, BBS scores after intervention, at 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year follow-ups were significantly greater in both the VR group (p = 0.006, 0.002, <0.001, and <0.001, respectively) and CT group (p = <0.001, 0.002, 0.001, and <0.001, respectively), while FMA-LE scores after intervention, at 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year follow-ups were significant increased in the VR group (p = 0.03, <0.001, 0.003, and <0.001, respectively), and at 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year follow-ups in the CT group (p = 0.02, 0.004 and <0.001, respectively). In the VR group, the maximum knee joint angle in the sagittal plane enhanced significantly at 6-month follow-up from that at baseline (p = 0.04). Conclusion: The effectiveness of the non-immersive VR-based intervention in our study was observed after the intervention and at the follow-ups, but it was not significantly different from that of CTs. In sum, our results suggest that non-immersive VR-based interventions may thus be a valuable addition to conventional physical therapies to enhance treatment efficacy. Clinical trial registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=10541, ChiCTR-IOC-15006064.

Why Can Cationic Halogen Bond Donors Activate the Ritter-Type Solvolysis of Benzhydryl Bromide but Cationic Hydrogen Bond Donors Can Not?

It is found by experiment that the cationic halogen bond donors (cationic iodoimidazolium compounds) can activate the Ritter-type solvolysis of benzhydryl bromide, while the cationic hydrogen bond donors (cationic imidazolium compounds) could not. To understand the activation mechanism, various noncovalent interactions between benzhydryl bromide and a series of activators in solution, including halogen bond, hydrogen bond, lone pair···π/π+, and C-H···π/π+, were explored theoretically. Our study revealed that the activation difference can be contributed by the variation of the noncovalent interactions. For halogen bond donors, the successful activation is attributed by halogen bond and lone pair···π. The halogen bonds mainly provide the stabilization energy of the ion-pair complex with the help of lone pair···π. For hydrogen-bond donors, the contribution of the hydrogen bond is unable to compensate the like-charge repulsion arising from the generation of the carbocation, leading to the unsuccessful activation. In general, lone pair···π makes a difference.

Double-malate bridging tri-lanthanoid cluster encapsulated arsenotungstates: syntheses, structures, luminescence and magnetic properties.

Five members of a new family of polyoxometalate (POM)-ligated trinuclear lanthanoid (Ln) clusters with the general formula K20Li2[Ln3(µ3-OH)(H2O)8(AsW9O33)(AsW10O35(mal))]2·17H2O [Ln = Dy (1Dy), Tb (2Tb), Gd (3Gd), Eu (4Eu), and Sm (5Sm), mal = malate] have been synthesized, all of which consist of the dimeric {[Ln3(µ3-OH)(H2O)8(AsW9O33)[AsW10O35(mal)]}(11-) polyanion constructed from a {AsW9O33} and a {AsW10O35(mal)} building block linked by a tri-Ln cluster [Ln3(µ3-OH)(H2O)8](8+), where the two malate ligands play a key bridging role. The {AsW10O35(mal)} subunit can be viewed as the {AsW9O33} building block anchoring an additional tungsten center [WO2(mal)]. The electrospray ionization mass (ESI-MS) spectra indicate that the dimeric fragments of 1Dy and 2Tb are unstable, which are apt to produce the subunit [KH5Ln3(OH)(H2O)(AsW9O33)2](4-) in solution. The solid-state photoluminescence measurements display the yellowish green emission for 1Dy and 5Sm, green emission for 2Tb and reddish orange emission for 4Eu, which are attributed to the Ln(III) f-f electron transitions. Magnetic property studies indicate that 1Dy displays probable SMM behaviour with slow magnetization relaxation, whereas the weak antiferromagnetic interactions exist in two {Ln3} clusters for 2Tb-5Sm.

Early childhood predictors of the social competence of adults with autism.

Longitudinal research into adult outcomes in autism remains limited. Unlike previous longitudinal examinations of adult outcome in autism, the twenty participants in this study were evaluated across multiple assessments between early childhood (M = 3.9 years) and adulthood (M = 26.6 years). In early childhood, responsiveness to joint attention (RJA), language, and intelligence were assessed. In adulthood, the parents of participants responded to interviews assessing the adaptive functioning, autistic symptomology and global functioning of their children. RJA and early childhood language predicted a composite measure of adult social functioning and independence. Early childhood language skills and intelligence predicted adult adaptive behaviors. RJA predicted adult non-verbal communication, social skills and symptoms. Adaptive behaviors changed with development, but symptoms of autism did not. Additional factors associated with adult outcomes are discussed.