Do income-welfare satisfaction and competency enhance work engagement among Chinese nursing home caregivers? --A moderated mediating effect based on professional identity.

Due to China's aging population, there is a high demand for elderly care that is further exacerbated by the shortage of well-trained caregivers and high turnover rates in nursing homes, urgently requiring enhanced work engagement of caregivers. This study used structural equation modeling based on the survey data of Chinese caregivers in nursing homes to explore the association among income-welfare satisfaction, competency, professional identity, family support and work engagement. Findings indicated that (1) income-welfare satisfaction, competency, and professional identity all enhanced caregivers' work engagement, with professional identity being stronger. (2) Professional identity partially mediated the effects of income-welfare satisfaction and competency on work engagement, with higher values and shares of competency. (3) When family support was high, the positive effect of income-welfare satisfaction on professional identity was significant, and the mediating role of professional identity between income-welfare satisfaction and work engagement was moderated by family support.

Robust five-degree-of-freedom measurement system with self-compensation and air turbulence protection.

A robust five-degree-of-freedom (5-DOF) measurement system is proposed in this paper. The compact optical configuration with high resolution is designed based on lens combination and multiple reflections. Beam drift and dual-beam parallelism are monitored and compensated by autocollimator units and a polarizer unit respectively. In addition, a protection method is proposed to reduce the intensity of air turbulence by reducing the Reynolds number of the beam path. The performance of the system is verified by experiments. The experimental results show that the self-compensation methods and air turbulence protection can effectively improve the accuracy and stability of the system under the long-term interference of external environments. The proposed system has high precision, desirable robustness, and convenient pre-calibration, which can be used for error measurement of precision machines.

Distribution of the compression and expansion of morbidity in 194 countries and territories, 1990-2016: The role of income inequality.

Studies on detailed types of health changes and the associations between the types and income inequality are inadequate. This study analyses the global distribution of the compression and expansion of morbidity in 194 countries and territories between 1990 and 2016, and investigates the role of income inequality in the distribution. This study shows that all seven types of health changes coexist, despite being distributed unevenly. The relative expansion of morbidity with increased or constant life expectancy (Type 6, 54.48%) is the most popular type, followed by the relative compression of morbidity with increased or constant life expectancy (Type 3, 30.71%). Income distribution within a society matters for health changes. Societies with greater income inequality tend to have Type 6, a worse scenario of health changes. Measures to reduce income inequality or mitigate its adverse effects will contribute to the relative compression of morbidity with increased or constant life expectancy.

Development of gut microbiota along with its metabolites of preschool children.

BACKGROUND: To reveal the changes of intestinal microbial abundance and composition, as well as the microbiota metabolic levels of bile acids and short chain fatty acids of healthy preschool children during their growth. METHODS: Feces of 120 healthy newborns and 150 healthy children aged 6 months to 6 years were collected. Then the composition of intestinal flora was analyzed by 16S rRNA, and the contents of bile acids and short chain fatty acids in feces were detected by LC-MS and GS methods, respectively. RESULTS: The composition and function of intestinal microflora were not stable in neonatal period but significantly improved at 6 months after birth, and gradually stabilized and tended to adult-like formation after 2-3 years old. The levels of short chain fatty acids and secondary bile acids were consistent with the development of gut microbiota. CONCLUSION: The age of 6 months may be a critical period for the development of intestinal microflora in children.

Self-Healing Silicone Elastomer with Stable and High Adhesion in Harsh Environments.

Adhesive and self-healing elastomers are urgently needed for their convenience and intelligence in biological medicine, flexible electronics, intelligent residential systems, etc. However, their inevitable use in harsh environments results in further enhancement requirements of the structure and performance of adhesive and self-healing elastomers. Herein, a novel self-healing and high-adhesion silicone elastomer was designed by the synergistic effect of multiple dynamic bonds. It revealed excellent stretchability (368%) and self-healing properties at room temperature (98.1%, 5 h) and in a water environment (96.4% for 5 h). Meanwhile, the resultant silicone elastomer exhibited high adhesion to metal and nonmetal and showed stable adhesion in harsh environments, such as under acidic (pH 1) and alkaline (pH 12) environments, salt water, petroleum ether, water, etc. Furthermore, it was applied as a shatter-proof protective layer and a rust-proof coating, proving its significant potential in intelligent residential system applications.

Developmental Patterns of Fecal Bile Acids in Healthy Neonates and Children.

BACKGROUND Normal profiles of FBAs in healthy neonates and children in Kunming city and surrounding areas in China have not been previously determined. The objective of this study was to determine a developmental pattern of fecal bile acids (FBAs) in healthy neonates and children. MATERIAL AND METHODS A cross-sectional study was performed on 238 healthy neonates and children recruited in the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, China from October 2015 to September 2016. Secreted primary and secondary FBAs in fresh feces were quantitated by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Amounts of FBAs in feces were compared among various age groups. RESULTS Trace amounts of cholic acid and chenodiol acid of primary FBAs were detectable at day 3 after birth, with a significant increase from day 3 to day 7. The primary FBAs gradually decreased from day 25 to the age of 6 years old. In contrast, a significant amount of glycochenodeoxycholic acid was detected on day 3 but decreased to a trace amount by day 7 and onwards. Primary FBAs appeared to maintain a high level, accounting for 98% of total FBAs, with no significant changes from day 7 to day 25 after birth. They gradually decreased from 90% to 10% from age 6 months to 6 years old. While the secondary FBAs were barely detected in neonates, only accounting for 2% of total FBAs, they were gradually elevated to 90% of total FBAs from age 6 months to 6 years old. CONCLUSIONS The liver can effectively synthesize primary bile acids 7 days after birth, and fecal primary bile acids tend to be stable after the neonate stage. Secondary bile acids continuously increase along with the maturation of intestinal flora, which reaches a relatively stable level at around 3 years old.

The Association Between the Special Subsidy for Families Practicing Family Planning and the Mental Health of Loss/Disability-of-Single-Child Parents: Evidence from China.

This study evaluated the association between the special subsidy policy and the mental health of loss/disability-of-single-child parents (LCPs/DCPs) in China and found that accepting the special subsidy is inversely related to the mental health of LCPs and DCPs. In addition, accepting the subsidy is more inversely related to the mental health of LCPs than DCPs, of rural parents than urban parents, of male parents than female parents, and of loss/disability-of-single-son parents than loss/disability-of-single-daughter parents. According to taboo trade-off theory, we proposed several explanations for the finding and put forward some policy recommendations.

Adverse childhood experiences, mindfulness and happiness in Chinese college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rise of literature on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has indicated a strong relationship between ACEs and negative life outcomes, leading to important implications for services to the population. However, less is known about the effects of ACEs on happiness and the role of mindfulness in this relation. This study examined the relationships between ACEs and happiness and whether mindfulness mediated the effects of ACEs on happiness in a sample of Chinese college students. The data were collected from 1871 college students from 12 colleges across China in September 2020. The findings of this study show that ACEs had significant negative effects on students' happiness and that mindfulness helped to substantially reduce the negative effects of ACEs on happiness. Students who experienced emotional neglect and abuse in childhood were affected the most. By contrast, this group is not the primary focus of mindfulness-based interventions in existing literature; thus, this study calls for specific mindfulness-based interventions for this vulnerable population.

Gender Differences in Mental Health of Bereaved Parents in an Only-Child Society: Evidence From China.

This study examined gender differences in mental health of bereaved parents related to the gender of deceased only child in China, an only-child society with traditional culture of son preference, using data drawn from the China Family Planning Survey on Vulnerable Households in 2017. The findings indicated that parents with deceased only child suffered from more negative mental health symptoms than nonbereaved parents. For only-child-death families, there were no statistically significant gender differences in mental health of parents, and the gender of the deceased only child was basically unrelated to maternal/paternal mental health. Due to the implementation of one-child policy in China, both sons and daughters are highly prized and equally relied on by aging parents owing to the irreplaceability of the only child, which might moderate the effects of traditional culture of son preference on bereaved parental mental health.

MiR-485-3p modulates neural stem cell differentiation and proliferation via regulating TRIP6 expression.

Recent references have showed crucial roles of several miRNAs in neural stem cell differentiation and proliferation. However, the expression and role of miR-485-3p remains unknown. In our reference, we indicated that miR-485-3p expression was down-regulated during NSCs differentiation to neural and astrocytes cell. In addition, the TRIP6 expression was up-regulated during NSCs differentiation to neural and astrocytes cell. We carried out the dual-luciferase reporter and found that overexpression of miR-485-3p decreased the luciferase activity of pmirGLO-TRIP6-wt but not the pmirGLO-TRIP6-mut. Ectopic expression of miR-485-3p decreased the expression of TRIP6 in NSC. Ectopic miR-485-3p expression suppressed the cell growth of NSCs and inhibited nestin expression of NSCs. Moreover, elevated expression of miR-485-3p decreased the ki-67 and cyclin D1 expression in NSCs. Furthermore, we indicated that miR-485-3p reduced proliferation and induced differentiation of NSCs via targeting TRIP6 expression. These data suggested that a crucial role of miR-485-3p in self-proliferation and differentiation of NSCs. Thus, altering miR-485-3p and TRIP6 modulation may be one promising therapy for treating with neurodegenerative and neurogenesis diseases.

Glycyrrhizic-Acid-Based Carbon Dots with High Antiviral Activity by Multisite Inhibition Mechanisms.

With the gradual usage of carbon dots (CDs) in the area of antiviral research, attempts have been stepped up to develop new antiviral CDs with high biocompatibility and antiviral effects. In this study, a kind of highly biocompatible CDs (Gly-CDs) is synthesized from active ingredient (glycyrrhizic acid) of Chinese herbal medicine by a hydrothermal method. Using the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) as a model, it is found that the Gly-CDs inhibit PRRSV proliferation by up to 5 orders of viral titers. Detailed investigations reveal that Gly-CDs can inhibit PRRSV invasion and replication, stimulate antiviral innate immune responses, and inhibit the accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by PRRSV infection. Proteomics analysis demonstrates that Gly-CDs can stimulate cells to regulate the expression of some host restriction factors, including DDX53 and NOS3, which are directly related to PRRSV proliferation. Moreover, it is found that Gly-CDs also remarkably suppress the propagation of other viruses, such as pseudorabies virus (PRV) and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), suggesting the broad antiviral activity of Gly-CDs. The integrated results demonstrate that Gly-CDs possess extraordinary antiviral activity with multisite inhibition mechanisms, providing a promising candidate for alternative therapy for PRRSV infection.

What are the long-term effects of child loss on parental health? Social integration as mediator.

BACKGROUND: Some bereaved parents experience a decreasing trajectory of grief, while others fail to adapt over the long term and persistently suffer from negative health consequences. This study investigates the mediating role of social integration in the relationship between losing an only child and parental health in a family-oriented society. METHOD: A sample of 1828 bereaved parents and 4739 non-bereaved parents was drawn from a 10-city survey in China. Regression methods were used to examine the impact of child loss on parental health, and Sobel test was applied to examine the mediating role of social integration. RESULTS: Bereaved parents who lost their only child have worse self-rated health and more negative affect than the non-bereaved parents, which lasted for years after the death of the only child. The Sobel test shows that 24.8% of the total effects on self-rated health and 6.7% of the total effects on negative affect can be explained via decreased social integration. The gender of parents and child as well as fertility intentions are important sources of heterogeneity in the Chinese culture. LIMITATION: The results based on cross-sectional data may only reveal correlation rather than causality. The data was retrieved from self-reported questionnaires and there is a lack of objective measures of parental health. Moreover, the detailed mechanisms behind how child loss resulted in less social integration should be further explored. CONCLUSIONS: Significant disparities in health outcomes and social integration were found for bereaved parents relative to the non-bereaved parents. Future work is needed to assess the health of bereaved parents, identify the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, and design inclusive intervention programs.

The role of social engagement in the association of self-reported hearing loss and health-related quality of life.

BACKGROUND: Hearing loss is highly prevalent and associated with reduced well-being in older adults. But little is known about the role of social factors in the association of hearing difficulty and its health consequences. This study aims to examine the association between self-reported hearing loss and health-related quality of life (HRQoL, consisted of physical and mental component summary, PCS and MCS), and to investigate whether social engagement mediates this association. METHOD: Data on 4035 older adults aged 60 years or above from a cross-sectional nationally representative database in China were obtained to address this study. HRQoL was measured by the Short Form 12 Health Survey (SF-12). Hearing loss was defined by a dichotomized measure of self-reported hearing difficulty, which has been proved to be sensitive and displayed moderate associations with audiometric assessment in elderly population. Social engagement was measured by the Index of Social Engagement Scale. Bootstrap test was applied to test for the significance of the mediating role of social engagement. RESULTS: Self-reported hearing loss was found negatively associated with HRQoL in older adults, and hearing loss was much more related to reduced mental well-being. Social engagement played a partial mediating role in the association of hearing loss and HRQoL. Social engagement account for 4.14% of the variance in the change of PCS scores and 13.72% for MCS, respectively. CONCLUSION: The study lends support to the hypothesis that hearing loss is associated with aging well beings, and the use of hearing aid or proper social engagement intervention may improve the quality of life among the elderly.

The comparison of healthcare utilization inequity between URRBMI and NCMS in rural China.

BACKGROUND: The inequity of healthcare utilization in rural China is serious, and the urban-rural segmentation of the medical insurance system intensifies this problem. To guarantee that the rural population enjoys the same medical insurance benefits, China began to establish Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI) nationwide in 2016. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to compare the healthcare utilization inequity between URRBMI and New Cooperative Medical Schemes (NCMS) and to analyze whether the inequity is reduced under URRBMI in rural China. METHODS: Using the data from a national representative survey, the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), which was conducted in 2015, a binary logistic regression model was applied to analyze the influence of income on healthcare utilization, and the decomposition of the concentration index was adopted to compare the Horizontal inequity index (HI index) of healthcare utilization among the individuals insured by URRBMI and NCMS. RESULTS: There is no statistically significant difference in healthcare utilization between URRBMI and NCMS, but in outpatient utilization, there are significant differences among different income groups in NCMS; high-income groups utilize more outpatient care. The Horizontal inequity indexes (HI indexes) in outpatient utilization for individuals insured by URRBMI and NCMS are 0.024 and 0.012, respectively, indicating a pro-rich inequity. Meanwhile, the HI indexes in inpatient utilization under the two groups are - 0.043 and - 0.028, respectively, meaning a pro-poor inequity. For both the outpatient and inpatient care, the inequity degree of URRBMI is larger than that of NCMS. CONCLUSIONS: This paper shows that inequity still exists in rural areas after the integration of urban-rural medical insurance schemes, and there is still a certain gap between the actual and the expected goal of URRBMI. Specifically, compared to NCMS, the pro-rich inequity in outpatient care and the pro-poor inequity in inpatient care are more serious in URRBMI. More chronic diseases should be covered and moral hazard should be avoided in URRBMI. For the vulnerable groups, special policies such as reducing the deductible and covering these groups with catastrophic medical insurance could be considered.

Preliminary Research on the Nonlinear Ultrasonic Detection of the Porosity of Porous Material Based on Dynamic Wavelet Fingerprint Technology.

Porosity is an important characteristic of porous material, which affects mechanical and material properties. In order to solve the problem that the large distribution range of pore size of porous materials leads to the large detection errors of porosity, the non-linear ultrasonic testing technique is applied. A graphite composite was used as the experimental object in the study. As the accuracy of porosity is directly related with feature extraction, the dynamic wavelet fingerprint (DWFP) technology was utilized to extract the feature parameter of the ultrasonic signals. The effects of the wavelet function, scale factor, and white slice ratio on the extraction of the nonlinear feature are discussed. The SEM photos were conducted using gray value to identify the aperture. The relationship between pore diameter and detection accuracy was studied. Its results show that the DWFP technology could identify the second harmonic component well, and the extracted nonlinear feature could be used for the quantitative trait of porosity. The larger the proportion of the small diameter holes and the smaller the aperture distribution range was, the smaller the error was. This preliminary research aimed to improve the nondestructive testing accuracy of porosity and it is beneficial to the application of porous material in the manufacturing field.

[Levels of short-chain fatty acids in enterobacteria-related metabolites in the feces of infants with cholestatic hepatopathy].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the levels of short-chain fatty acids in enterobacteria-related metabolites in feces between infants with cholestatic hepatopathy and healthy infants. METHODS: Thirty infants with cholestatic hepatopathy were enrolled in this study as the disease group, while 30 healthy infants were enrolled as the control group. Fecal specimens were collected from the disease group before and after treatment and from the control group. Gas chromatography was used to quantitatively determine the content of short-chain fatty acids in the feces of both groups including acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, isobutyric acid, and isovaleric acid. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the concentrations of acetic acid and propionic acid between the control and disease groups before and after treatment, as well as no significant changes in the two markers in the disease group after treatment (P>0.05). The disease group had a significantly increased concentration of butyric acid after treatment (P<0.05). The concentrations of isobutyric acid and isovaleric acid in the control group were significantly higher than those in the disease group before and after treatment (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Intestinal protein metabolites in infants with cholestatic hepatopathy are significantly different from those in healthy infants, whereas there is no significant difference with respect to carbohydrate metabolites.

A comparative study of unintentional injuries among schooling left-behind, migrant and residential children in China.

BACKGROUND: Children who suffer from parental migration have been manifested to exhibit physical and mental impairments at higher rates. This current study aims to explore unintentional injury disparity among schooling left-behind children, migrant children and residential children in China, and to examine the risk factors of unintentional injury among the three types of children based on a multi-level system framework. This study will fill the gaps of this topic for China and contribute to the world literature in the context of countries with frequent population migration. METHODS: Data for 4479 children aged 6-16 of a representative population sample were obtained from a survey conducted in China in 2017. Child's unintentional injury in this survey was measured based on the definition and classification of ICD-10. Descriptive analysis, multivariable logistic regression and zero-inflated negative binomial regression were employed in this study. RESULTS: Left-behind children showed higher prevalence of total unintentional injury than migrant and residential children, as well as in 14 specific unintentional injuries. There was a statistical difference between left-behind and residential children's unintentional injuries, but no significant difference was found between migrant and residential children. Results also indicated that both individual and environmental factors constructed as a multi-level system were associated with children's unintentional injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Family migration may have contributed to the increased unintentional injury risks among children. Left-behind children were more vulnerable to suffer from unintentional injuries than migrant and residential children, and specific attentions should be paid to unique group of children, especially the left-behind children. Given the importance and serious consequences of children's unintentional injuries, the findings may provide implications for necessary intervention.

The relationship and mechanism between education and functional health status transition among older persons in China.

BACKGROUND: Despite decades of study, debates exist surrounding the relationship between education and functional health status transition among elderly populations. This study aims to add evidence to the debates using China as a case study. Specifically, this study analysed the association of education with functional health status transition and then the mechanism behind that association using the budget constraint relax hypothesis and the efficiency improvement hypothesis among elderly population in China. METHODS: Based on data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Surveys from 2008 and 2011, this study focussed on adults aged 65 years and above, with a final sample size of 12,112. A generalised structural equation model was used to analyse the relationship between education and functional health status transition and the mechanism behind that association. RESULTS: During the three examined years, among elderly adults who were nondisabled at baseline, 53.1% stayed nondisabled, 14.6% became disabled, and 32.3% died; among those disabled in 2008, 8.1% recovered, 21.6% stayed disabled, and 70.3% died. Compared with older adults without any education, those who had attended primary schools had both lower mortality and disability, whereas those who had attended high schools and above only had a lower mortality rate. The budget constraint relax hypothesis and the efficiency improvement hypothesis explained the majority of the relationship between education and transition from non-disability to death, but hardly explained the transition from non-disability to disability. Furthermore, once a person was disabled, education had no significant relationship with functional ability recovery or mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Attending primary school seems to provide the highest benefit to functional health status transition among older and nondisabled persons in China. Those who attended high schools and above are expected to live a longer life with disability. The mechanism between education and the onset of disability needs more discussion.

Ultrasonic Phased Array Sparse-TFM Imaging Based on Sparse Array Optimization and New Edge-Directed Interpolation.

The ultrasonic phased array total focusing method (TFM) has the advantages of full-range dynamic focusing and high imaging resolution, but the problem of long imaging time limits its practically industrial applications. To reduce the imaging calculation demand of TFM, the locations of active array elements in the sparse array are optimized by combining almost different sets with the genetic algorithm (ADSGA), and corrected based on the consistency of the effective aperture with the equivalent point diffusion function. At the same time, to further increase the imaging efficiency, a sparse-TFM image with lower resolution is obtained by reducing the number of focus points and then interpolated by the new edge-directed interpolation algorithm (NEDI) to obtain a high quality sparse-TFM image. Compared with TFM, the experimental results show that the quantitative accuracy of the proposed method is only decreased by 1.09% when the number of sparse transmitting elements reaches 8 for a 32-element transducer, and the imaging speed is improved by about 16 times with the same final pixel resolution.

Using drug-loaded pH-responsive poly(4-vinylpyridine) microspheres as a new strategy for intelligent controlling of Lactobacillus plantarum contamination in bioethanol fermentation.

Bioethanol fermentation is usually contaminated by bacteria, especially lactic acid bacteria (LAB), thereby leading to decrease of bioethanol yield and serious economic losses. Nisin is safer for controlling of bacterial contamination than antibiotics that are widely applied in industry. Moreover, in LAB contaminative bioethanol fermentation system, consistently decreased pH value provides opportunity to realize pH value responsive material-based release of anti-bacteria substances for intelligent and persistent controlling of bacterial contamination. In this study, nisin was embedded into pH-sensitive poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) microspheres synthesized by suspension polymerization to realize intelligent controlling of Lactobacillus plantarum contamination in bioethanol fermentation. Chloramphenicol with the highest antimicrobial activity and excellent stability was chosen as the model drug to be embedded into P4VP microspheres to test the drug release behavior. The drug release curve of chloramphenicol-loaded P4VP microspheres showed sustained and pH-responsive release properties. The diameters of the microspheres ranged from 40 to 100 µm. The encapsulation efficiency of nisin into P4VP microspheres was 47.67% and the drug-loading capacity of nisin was 2.5%. Nisin-loaded P4VP microspheres were added into the simulated contaminative fermentation system, and successfully reversed the decline of bioethanol yield secondary to L. plantarum contamination. The results in this study indicated that L. plantarum contamination in bioethanol fermentation could be effectively controlled by nisin-loaded P4VP microspheres.