Mechanism of Aurantii Fructus and Its Active Components in Regulating Gastrointestinal Motility： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Gastrointestinal motility disorder is an important cause of digestive system diseases. Patients often suffer from nausea， vomiting， gastric retention， gastroparesis， constipation， and many other symptoms， and their quality of life is seriously reduced. Prokinetic agents are routinely used in clinical practice， but their long-term use is prone to problems such as reduced efficacy and increased adverse reactions. Since the incidence of gastrointestinal diseases has continued to rise globally in recent years， there is an urgent need for clinical development of safe and effective treatment strategies. Aurantii Fructus， a traditional Chinese medicine， has the effect of smoothing Qi and eliminating distention， and it has been used to treat gastrointestinal diseases for thousands of years. In modern clinical practice， it is mainly used for the treatment and auxiliary treatment of various gastrointestinal diseases such as functional dyspepsia， functional constipation， and irritable bowel syndrome. The efficacy is remarkable， and no adverse reactions have been reported at conventional doses. Therefore， it can greatly improve the symptoms of patients with gastrointestinal diseases and improve their quality of life. Modern research has revealed that there are many active components in Aurantii Fructus， among which flavonoids have the highest content and the most types. Flavonoids are the main active components in Aurantii Fructus to regulate gastrointestinal motility. Aurantii Fructus and its active components can affect gastrointestinal hormones， neural pathways， Cajal mesenchymal cells， and other multiple mechanisms. They can adjust gastrointestinal motility and correct gastrointestinal motility disorders， showing potential application value in the treatment of gastrointestinal motility disorders. However， a comprehensive analysis of Aurantii Fructus in this aspect is still lacking. This study summarized the pharmacological activities of active components of Aurantii Fructus extract and its flavonoids， volatile oils， alkaloids， and coumarin on the regulation of gastrointestinal motility and explored the latest research progress on its mechanism. Finally， the adverse reactions of Aurantii Fructus were summarized. It aims to provide a scientific basis for the research and clinical application of Aurantii Fructus and its active components in the regulation of gastrointestinal motility.

Dynamic characteristics of soil heavy metals and microbial communities under moss cover at different successional stages in a manganese mining area.

The mining and smelting of manganese ores and the accumulation of slag not only pollute the environment and increase the threat to biodiversity, but also adversely affect the health of human and other organisms. Therefore, it's important to study the restoration of manganese mining area. Since mosses play an irreplaceable role in the ecological restoration of mine sites, this study is carried out in a slag heap area that has been in continuous operation for about 50 years, and spatial variation is used instead of temporal variation to study the diversity of moss plants, the characteristics of soil heavy metal changes under moss cover, and the characteristics of bacterial communities in manganese mine sites at different time scales. A total of 20 moss taxa from 8 genera and 5 families are recorded, the dominant families are Bryaceae (50%) and Pottiaceae (25%), with the development of succession, the alpha-diversity index of mosses increases with the development of succession. The study area has a relatively high level of heavy metal contamination, the heavy metals Mn, V, Cu and Ni are significantly affected by succession in the Manganese mining area, and the soil heavy metal content generally shows a decreasing trend with the development of succession. Actinobacteriota, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi Acidobacteriota and Gemmatimonadota are the dominant soil bacterial phyla in manganese mining areas (relative abundance > 10%), the composition of soil bacteria at different successional stages at the phylum level was the same, but the abundance of each bacterial community differed. The soil bacterial community in the manganese mining area is significantly affected by soil heavy metals.

Exploration of the Mechanism of Tripterygium Wilfordii in the Treatment of Myocardial Fibrosis Based on Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking.

BACKGROUND: A network pharmacology study on the biological action of Tripterygium wilfordii on myocardial fibrosis (MF). METHODS: The effective components and potential targets of tripterygium wilfordii were screened from the TCMSP database to develop a combination target network. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed by analyzing the interaction between tripterygium wilfordii and MF; then, the Gene Ontology (GO) classification and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis was performed. Furthermore, molecular docking was utilized to verify the network analysis results. RESULTS: It was predicted that MF has 29 components contributing to its effectiveness and 87 potential targets. It is predicted that Tripterygium wilfordii has 29 active components and 87 potential targets for the treatment of MF. The principal active components of tripterygium wilfordii include kaempferol, ß-sitosterol, triptolide, and Nobiletin. Signaling pathways: AGE-RAGE, PI3K-Akt, and MAPK may be involved in the mechanism of its action.7 Seven key targets (TNF, STAT3, AKT1, TP53, VEGFA, CASP3, STAT1) are possibly involved in treating MF by tripterygium wilfordii. CONCLUSION: This study shows the complex network relationship between multiple components, targets, and pathways of Tripterygium wilfordii in treating MF.

Effects of miRNA-30a-5p and metadherin on proliferation, invasion and migration abilities of breast cancer cells / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective:To investigate the effects of miRNA-30a-5p (miR-30a-5p) and metadherin (MTDH) on the proliferation, invasion and migration abilities of human breast cancer cells in vitro.Methods:The expression of MTDH in cancer and paracancerous tissues of 112 breast cancer patients in the database and miR-30a-5p in cancer and paracancerous tissues of 103 breast cancer patients in the database were analyzed using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between miR-30a-5p and MTDH in 1 222 breast cancer patients in the database; the data were updated to August 2022. Breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells were divided into negative control group (transfected with negative control sequence), miR-30a-5p overexpression group (transfected with miR-30a-5p mimics), siMTDH group [transfected with small interfering RNA against MTDH (siMTDH)], siMTDH+miR-30a-5p overexpression group (transfected with both siMTDH and miR-30a-5p mimics); cell proliferation ability was detected by methyl thiazol tetrazolium (MTT) assay, cell migration ability was detected by cell scratch assay, cell invasion ability was detected by Transwell assay. The relative expressions of miR-30a-5p, MTDH, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9, vimentin and β-catenin mRNA in cells were detected by quantitative real-time fluorescence polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and the expressions of MTDH, N-cadherin (N-cad), β-catenin, Snail and MMP-9 proteins were detected by Western blotting.Results:In the TCGA database, MTDH expression level was higher and miR-30a-5p expression level was lower in breast cancer tissues compared with paracancerous tissues, and the differences were statistically significant (both P < 0.001). There was a negative correlation between MTDH and miR-30a-5p expressions in 1 222 patients with breast cancer ( r=-0.134, P < 0.001). Compared with the negative control group, the cell proliferation ability was reduced in both siMTDH group and miR-30a-5p overexpression group at 24, 48 and 72 h (all P < 0.001). The cell scratch healing rate in miR-30a-5p overexpression group and siMTDH group was lower than that in negative control group [(61.6±1.6)%, (54.7±5.9)% vs. (80.3±3.0)%] (both P < 0.05). Compared with the negative control group, The number of migrated cells in miR-30a-5p overexpression group and siMTDH group was less than that in negative control group (881±50, 725±63 vs. 1 172±66) (both P < 0.05). Compared with the negative control group, the relative expressions of MMP-2, MMP-9, vimentin and β-catenin mRNA were all down-regulated in MDA-MB-231 cells of miR-30a-5p overexpression group and siMTDH group (all P < 0.05). Compared with the negative control group, the relative expressions of N-cad, β-catenin, Snail and MMP-9 proteins were down-regulated in MDA-MB-231 cells of miR-30a-5p overexpression group and siMTDH group (all P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in the number of migrated MDA-MB-231 cells between siMTDH+miR-30a-5p overexpression group and siMTDH group (476±5 vs. 389±46, t = 3.37, P = 0.078). There was no statistical difference in the number of migrated cells between siMTDH+miR-30a-5p overexpression group and miR-30a-5p overexpression group (476±5 vs. 477±22, t = 0.02, P = 0.983). Conclusions:The expression of miR-30a-5p is negatively correlated with the expression of MTDH in breast cancer tissues, and either overexpression of miR-30a-5p or silence of MTDH in breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro can inhibit cell proliferation, invasion and migration, but MTDH may not be a target gene of miR-30a-5p.

Carotenoid components and their biosynthesis in a bud mutant of Shiranui mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) with citrine flavedo / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

Carotenoids are secondary metabolite responsible for colored pigments in plants and microbes (Li et al., 2022). They are a class of C40 tetraterpenoids consisting of eight isoprenoid units, and can be classified into carotenes and xanthophylls on the basis of their functional groups (Saini et al., 2015). Carotenes can be linear (phytoene, phytofluene, and ζ‍-carotene) or branched (β‍-carotene and α‍-carotene). Xanthophylls comprise β,β‍-xanthophylls (β‍-cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, violaxanthins, and neoxanthin) and β,ε‍-xanthophylls (α-cryptoxanthin, α-carotene, and lutein). Citrus fruits are complex sources of carotenoids, which are the principal pigments responsible for the typical orange color of most types (Chen, 2020). The difference in total carotenoid content and the diversity of carotenoid isomer proportion also accounts for other colors of citrus fruits, such as yellow, red, and pink (Chen, 2020).

Prevalence of hearing loss among community-dwelling older people in China in 2020 / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective:To investigate the prevalence of hearing loss among community-dwelling older people aged 60 and over, and also to compare the discrepancies between self-reported hearing loss and hearing loss diagnosed via audiometry.Methods:Subjects were from the Prevention and Intervention on Neurodegenerative Disease for the Elderly in China(PINDEC)project.By using the stratified multi-stage cluster random sampling method, a total of 10 347 residents aged 60 years and over were selected from 12 counties and districts in Liaoning, Henan and Guangdong Provinces and hearing function assessment was performed in 2020 through otoscopy, pure-tone audiometry and questionnaires.Hearing loss(HL)was defined by the World Health Organization criteria.Self-reported hearing loss was assessed by asking participants whether they had difficulty in hearing.The χ2 and Cochran-Armitage trend tests were used to analyze the differences in HL between different groups.The multivariate Logistic regression model was applied to assess factors influencing HL. Results:In 2020, the prevalence of HL among the elderly aged 60 and older in Liaoning, Henan and Guangdong Provinces was 69.8%(95% CI: 68.9%-70.7%). The prevalence of HL in men was higher than that in women, and increased gradually with age.The prevalence of mild HL was 47.2%, and the prevalence of moderate, severe and profound HL were 18.0%, 3.6% and 0.9%, respectively.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that factors positively correlated with HL were aging, male sex, living in rural areas and working in manual labor.Education level was negatively correlated with HL.Of the 7223 participants who were found to have HL, 5106(70.7%)self-reported having good hearing.Those of a younger age, with a higher educational achievement, having a spouse, or with mild HL were more likely to report having good hearing(all P<0.05). Conclusions:Hearing loss is quite prevalent among community-dwelling older people, and there is a large discrepancy in prevalence between self-reported HL and HL diagnosed via audiometry.Screening and comprehensive intervention for hearing loss for the elderly should be strengthened.

Mathematical modeling identifies optimal dosing schedules for COVID-19 vaccines to minimize breakthrough infections

While the development of different vaccines has slowed the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2, the occurrence of breakthrough infections continues to fuel the pandemic. As a strategy to secure at least partial protection, with a single dose of a given COVID-19 vaccine to maximum possible fraction of the population, delayed administration of subsequent doses (or boosters) has been implemented in many countries. However, waning immunity and emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 suggest that such measures may jeopardize the attainment of herd immunity due to intermittent lapses in protection. Optimizing vaccine dosing schedules could thus make the difference between periodic occurrence of breakthrough infections or effective control of the pandemic. To this end, we have developed a mechanistic mathematical model of adaptive immune response to vaccines and demonstrated its applicability to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines as a proof-of-concept for future outbreaks. The model was thoroughly calibrated against multiple clinical datasets involving immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and mRNA vaccines in healthy and immunocompromised subjects (cancer patients undergoing therapy); the model showed robust clinical validation by accurately predicting neutralizing antibody kinetics, a correlate of vaccine-induced protection, in response to multiple doses of mRNA vaccines. Importantly, we estimated population vulnerability to breakthrough infections and predicted tailored vaccination dosing schedules to maximize protection and thus minimize breakthrough infections, based on the immune status of a sub-population. We have identified a critical waiting window for cancer patients (or, immunocompromised subjects) to allow recovery of the immune system (particularly CD4+ T-cells) for effective differentiation of B-cells to produce neutralizing antibodies and thus achieve optimal vaccine efficacy against variants of concern, especially between the first and second doses. Also, we have obtained optimized dosing schedules for subsequent doses in healthy and immunocompromised subjects, which vary from the CDC-recommended schedules, to minimize breakthrough infections. The developed modeling tool is based on generalized adaptive immune response to antigens and can thus be leveraged to guide vaccine dosing schedules during future outbreaks.

Potentially toxic elements have adverse effects on moss communities in the manganese mines of Southern China.

This study investigated the distribution of moss species, physiological parameters (superoxide dismutase, peroxide, catalase, and total chlorophyll), and concentrations of potentially toxic elements (Mn, Cr, Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd) in moss communities and topsoil at the Huayuan manganese mine, Xiangjiang manganese mine, and Nancha manganese mine (Southern China). Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) was then performed to determine the relationship between the indicators. Cd, Mn, and Zn were the main topsoil pollutants, followed by Pb, Cr, and Cu. A total of 73 moss species, comprising 31 genera from 17 families, and 8 community functional groups were identified. The most dominant families were Pottiaceae (30.14%) and Bryaceae (21.92%). PLS-PM revealed that increasing topsoil Mn, Cr, Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd significantly reduced species diversity and functional diversity. These potentially toxic elements in the topsoil impeded vegetation growth by deteriorating soil conditions and subsequently altering the microenvironment of the moss communities. The community-weighted means demonstrated that functional traits of turfs and warty leaves were the adaptation of the moss communities to an increasingly dry and exposed microenvironment. Moss species with curly and narrow leaves were used to reduce contact with particulate pollutants. PLS-PM also indicated that Mn, Cr, Pb, and Cd may have a detrimental effect on superoxide dismutase, peroxide, catalase, and total chlorophyll, although further validation studies are needed.

Clinicopathological features of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the breast / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective:To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics, gene mutation and prognosis of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the breast (AdCC).Methods:A total of 12 cases of AdCC samples archived at Linyi Cancer Hospital from January 2008 to December 2021 were collected, including 8 cases of classic adenoid cystic carcinoma (C-AdCC) and 4 cases of solid-basaloid adenoid cystic carcinoma (SB-AdCC). Histomorphology, immunohistochemicstry and molecular genetics were performed to analyze the clinicopathological characteristics and the prognosis of AdCC.Results:C-AdCC patients grew in the shape of beam-tubuler and cribriform architecture, with characteristic structures of true and pseudoadenoid lumen; SB-AdCC patients grew in nests and solid, with moderate to severe atypia, necrosis and high mitotic count. Immunohistochemistry showed that CK7, CK5/6, p63 and S-100 were expressed in 8 cases of C-AdCC, and CD117 and CD10 were diffusely expressed in 4 cases of SB-AdCC. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) showed that 3 C-AdCC patients had MYB gene break. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) revealed NOTCH1 gene mutation was detected in 2 SB-AdCC patients. No lymph node metastasis was observed in 8 patients with C-AdCC, but 2 had postoperative lymph node metastasis in 4 patients with SB-AdCC.Conclusions:C-AdCC mainly grows in beam-tubular and sieve shape, with low-grade atypia and good prognosis. Some cases have MYB-NFIB fusion gene. SB-AdCC mainly shows nest-mass, solid growth, moderate to severe atypia, necrosis and mitosis (>5/10 high power field) as well as poor prognosis; some patients have NOTCH1 gene mutation.

Improvement of synthetic route of brivudine / 中国药科大学学报

@#This article summarizes and analyzes the reported synthetic routes of brivudine in patent and literature.2′-Deoxyuridine was employed as starting material, affording brivudine through iodization, heck coupling, hydrolysis, decarboxylation, bromination and recrystallization.After optimization of reaction conditions of each step, a synthetic route suitable for industrial production was achieved with simple synthetic process, high yield and excellent purity.

Influence of Multidisciplinary Combined Therapy on Curative Effect of Liver Cancer Treatment / 肿瘤防治研究

Liver cancer is one of the common malignant tumors in China, and the treatment effect is poor. The current treatment plan is still surgery-based comprehensive treatment, and multidisciplinary combined therapy is currently the main mode of liver cancer treatment. With the increased number of new technologies and methods of liver cancer treatment being applied clinically, the prognosis of liver cancer patients has significantly improved. This article explains the selection mechanism for optimal individualized combined treatment plans to improve the curative effect of liver cancer treatment based on the different conditions of liver cancer patients and types of liver cancer.

Apropos of Universal Epitope Discovery for COVID-19 Vaccines: A Framework for Targeted Phage Display-Based Delivery and Integration of New Evaluation Tools

Targeted bacteriophage (phage) particles are potentially attractive yet inexpensive platforms for immunization. Herein, we describe targeted phage capsid display of an immunogenically relevant epitope of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein that is empirically conserved, likely due to the high mutational cost among all variants identified to date. This observation may herald an approach to developing vaccine candidates for broad-spectrum, towards universal, protection against multiple emergent variants of coronavirus that cause COVID-19.

Do Pandemics Obey the Elliott Wave Principle of Financial Markets?

The Elliott Wave principle is a time-honored, oft-used method for predicting variations in the financial markets. It is based on the notion that human emotions drive financial decisions. In the fight against COVID-19, human emotions are similarly decisive, for instance in that they determine ones willingness to be vaccinated, and/or to follow preventive measures including the wearing of masks, the application of social distancing protocols, and frequent handwashing. On this basis, we postulated that the Elliott Wave Principle may similarly be used to predict the future evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic. We demonstrated that this method reproduces the data pattern especially well for USA (daily new cases). Potential scenarios were then extrapolated, from the best-case corresponding to a rapid, full vaccination of the population, to the utterly disastrous case of slow vaccination, and poor adherence to preventive protocols.

Comparison of Genomic Copy Number Variations Among Breast Cancer Subtypes / 肿瘤防治研究

Objective To compare genomic copy number variations (CNVs) among different subtypes of breast cancer and analyze specific CNVs in each subtype. Methods AIMS software was used for genotype breast cancer (BasL, Her2, LumA and LumB), and GISTIC2.0 software was used to analyze genome-wide CNVs in tumor tissues from TCGA. We collected and analyzed the information and samples of 324 cases of invasive breast cancer admitted to Jiangmen Central Hospital(JMCH). Fluorescence quantitative PCR was used to detect the CNV of ERBB2, TFDP1, MIR148B, CCND1, MDM2 and MIR139 genes in the tumor tissues, to verify TCGA analysis. Results 13q34 was specifically amplified and 12q13.13 was specifically deleted in BasL-type breast cancer. The 17q12 was specifically amplified in Her2 type. The 12q15 was specifically amplified and 11q13.4 was specifically deleted in LumB type, but LumA type had no specific amplification or deletion of chromosome region. The proportion of TFDP1 amplification or MIR148B deletion in BasL type were 57.8% (TCGA) and 71.4% (JMCH), which were significantly higher than other subtypes (P < 0.001). The proportion of ERBB2 amplification of Her2 type were 55.2% (TCGA) and 86.7% (JMCH), which were significantly higher than other subtypes (P < 0.001). The proportion of LumB type with CCND1 or MDM2 amplification or MIR139 deletion were 47.6% (TCGA) and 61.8% (JMCH), which were significantly higher than other subtypes (P < 0.05). Conclusion At the CNV level of breast cancer, Her2 type is characterized by the amplification of ERBB2, BasL type is characterized by the amplification of TFDP1 or the deletion of MIR148B, LumB type is characterized by the amplification of CCND1 or MDM2 or the deletion of MIR139, but LumA type lacks specific CNV characteristics.

The role and thinking of expert preliminary counselling in improving the funding rate of National Natural Science Fund / 中华医学科研管理杂志

Objective:In this study, we compared the funding rates of applicants who participated in the expert preliminary counseling with those who did not, to explore the role of the expert preliminary counseling in improving the funding rate of the National Natural Science Fund, so as to provide further reference for the management of scientific research.Methods:Statistical methods was used to analyze relevant data from 2012 to 2019 to compare the approval and funding rate of the applicants that participated in and did not participate in the expert preliminary counseling using.Results:From 2012 to 2019, the proportion of funded applicants in the expert preliminary counselling group was 30.45%, and the overall funding rate was 18.51%. Under the same research basis, the funding rate of the group was 29.91%, which was significantly higher than the group did not participate in the expert preliminary counselling (funding rare: 13.59%, P<0.001). Conclusions:We should pay more attention to and participate actively in the expert preliminary counselling, which can increase the quality of the projects and improve their funding rate significantly.

Innate immunity plays a key role in controlling viral load in COVID-19: mechanistic insights from a whole-body infection dynamics model

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a pathogen of immense public health concern. Efforts to control the disease have only proven mildly successful, and the disease will likely continue to cause excessive fatalities until effective preventative measures (such as a vaccine) are developed. To develop disease management strategies, a better understanding of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and population susceptibility to infection are needed. To this end, physiologically-relevant mathematical modeling can provide a robust in silico tool to understand COVID-19 pathophysiology and the in vivo dynamics of SARS-CoV-2. Guided by ACE2-tropism (ACE2 receptor dependency for infection) of the virus, and by incorporating cellular-scale viral dynamics and innate and adaptive immune responses, we have developed a multiscale mechanistic model for simulating the time-dependent evolution of viral load distribution in susceptible organs of the body (respiratory tract, gut, liver, spleen, heart, kidneys, and brain). Following calibration with in vivo and clinical data, we used the model to simulate viral load progression in a virtual patient with varying degrees of compromised immune status. Further, we conducted global sensitivity analysis of model parameters and ranked them for their significance in governing clearance of viral load to understand the effects of physiological factors and underlying conditions on viral load dynamics. Antiviral drug therapy, interferon therapy, and their combination was simulated to study the effects on viral load kinetics of SARS-CoV-2. The model revealed the dominant role of innate immunity (specifically interferons and resident macrophages) in controlling viral load, and the impotance of timing when initiating therapy following infection. Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=118 SRC="FIGDIR/small/20215335v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (43K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@54d70eorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1f2f0ecorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@a71f28org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1eeaeb8_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

Study on screening for 274 suspected cases of corona virus disease 2019 / 中华传染病杂志

Objective:To evaluate the diagnostic efficacies of computed tomography (CT), clinical manifestations and 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) nucleic acid test results for the screening and diagnosis of novel coronavirus pneumonia.Methods:The clinical data of suspected cases with corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) visited fever clinic or stayed in emergency room of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from January 23 to February 9, 2020 were collected. Totally 274 cases who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled. Four screening schemes including chest CT screening, scoring, chest CT and scoring series screening, chest CT and scoring parallel screening were designed. The statistical analysis was performed by using chi-square test. The sensitivities, specificities and the areas under the receiver operator characteristic curve of the four screening schemes were calculated, and the diagnostic efficacies were evaluated.Results:Among the 274 cases, 93.80%(257/274) presented with typical clinical symptoms, 47.81%(131/274) had epidemiological history, and the blood routine examination results of 45.26%(124/274) cases met the positive criteria of the scoring , and chest CT results of 43.07%(118/274) cases met the positive criteria of chest CT screening. The 2019-nCoV nucleic acid test positive rate of cases with epidemiological history was 30.53%(40/131), which was higher than that of cases without epidemiological history (9.09%(13/143)), and that of cases with typical imaging performance on chest CT was 40.68%(48/118), which was higher than cases without typical imaging performance (3.21%(5/156)). The differences between the above groups were both statistically significant ( χ2=20.150、60.468, respectively, both P<0.01). The positive rates of viral nucleic acid detection in cases with positive findings of chest CT screening, scoring, series screening, and parallel screening were 40.68%(48/118), 23.74%(47/198), 44.68%(42/94) and 23.87%(53/222), respectively, while those in cases with negative findings of the four screening schemes were 3.20%(5/156), 7.89%(6/76), 6.11%(11/180) and 0(0/52), respectively. The positive rates of the four screening schemes were all significantly different from that of viral nucleic acid detection ( κ=0.402, 0.100, 0.431, 0.106, all P<0.01). The chest CT screening method had a sensitivity of 90.57%and a specificity of 68.33%, and an area under the operating characteristic curve of the subject was 0.794, which had higher diagnostic value than those of the other three screening schemes. Conclusions:For the screening and diagnosis of COVID-19 cases, epidemiological history, positive 2019-nCoV nucleic acid test with ≥2 typical clinical manifestations have highly diagnostic value. On the basis of the preliminary screening of chest CT examination, flexible analysis of the diagnostic results could improve the diagnostic value of each detection method.

Study of the prevalence and disease burden of chronic disease in the elderly in China / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective@#To understand the prevalence and disease burden of major chronic diseases in the elderly in China and provide scientific basis for the prevention and control of chronic diseases and for the rational allocation of health resources.@*Methods@#We analyzed the prevalence of chronic diseases in residents aged ≥60 years in China by using national and provincial surveillance data of chronic diseases and related risk factors in China. We conducted the analysis on the burden of chronic diseases in the elderly in China by using the data of global burden of disease.@*Results@#The prevalence rates of hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia were 58.3%, 19.4% and 10.5% respectively in residents aged ≥60 years in China. Up to 75.8% of the residents aged ≥60 years had at least one chronic disease. The prevalence rate was higher in women than in men, higher in urban area than in rural area. With the increase of age, the prevalence rate of chronic diseases also increased. The top three chronic diseases with heavy disease burden in residents aged ≥70 years were stroke, myocardial infarction, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.@*Conclusion@#The prevalence of major chronic diseases in the elderly is high with three quarters of the elderly suffering from at least one chronic disease, and the burden of chronic diseases is increasing.

Incidence of activities of daily living disability and related factors in community-dwelling older adults in China / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective@#To analyze the decline of activities of daily living (ADL) ability and influencing factors over a period of 2 years in community-dwelling older adults in China.@*Methods@#The study subjects were from the project of Prevention and Intervention on Neurodegenerative Disease for Elderly in China of 2015-2017 to select the samples. In 2015, a total of 23 803 community- dwelling residents adults, aged ≥60 years old, came from both urban and rural areas, were selected through a stratified multi-stage cluster sampling in 6 provinces and joint baseline survey. The follow-up was conducted in 2017 to collect the related information using the same questionnaires and examinations. Finally, 18 785 elderly people were included in this analysis after excluding those who were died, failed to follow up, had incomplete data cases or defined as ADL disability at baseline survey. The post-stratification weight on the sample data was done by using the 6th national population census data as the standard, the rates of ADL/basic activities of daily living (BADL)/instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) disabilities over 2 years were calculated and compared among the elderly with different characteristics. Multiple logistic regression models were used to analyze the factors associated with BADL/IADL disabilities.@*Results@#During the 2-year follow-up, ADL disability developed in 1 959 participants with a rate of 12.0% (1.6% for BADL disability and 10.4% for IADL disability only). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors for BADL disability included increased age, obesity, comorbidity and cognitive impairment. The risk factors for only IADL disability included increased age, being female, lower weight and cognitive impairment. Compared with illiterates, the educated had lower risk for only IADL disability. Compared with those with normal weight, overweight and obese old people had lower risk for only IADL disabilities.@*Conclusion@#Increased age and cognitive impairment were associated with the increased risk for BADL and IADL disabilities. Older people with comorbidities had higher risk for BADL disability. Obesity increased the risk of BADL disability, but decreased the risk for IADL disability in older people. Women had a higher risk for IADL disability compared with men. Being educated was associated with lower risk of IADL disability.

Study on activities of daily living disability in community-dwelling older adults in China / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective@#To investigate the disability status and its epidemiological characteristics in the elderly in urban and rural communities in China.@*Methods@#The participants were from the project of Prevention and Intervention on Neurodegenerative Disease for Elderly in China conducted in 2015. A total of 23 803 urban and rural residents aged over 60 years were selected through stratified multi-stage cluster sampling in 6 provinces for a set of standardized questionnaire interview and physical examinations. Activities of daily living (ADL) scale was used to assess the disability status of the elderly. χ2 test was used to analyze the difference in basic activities of daily living (BADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) disabilities in different elderly populations. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the influence factors for disability.@*Results@#Taking bath had the highest impairment rate (1.7%) while eating had the lowest impairment rate (0.6%) in BADL. Making phone call had the highest impairment rate (16.6%), followed by taking bus (5.5%) and taking medicine (1.8%) in IADL. The BADL and IADL disability rates in community seniors were 2.1% and 19.1%, respectively. BADL disability rate was higher in females, the widowed, illiterate, the elderly with low body weight or obesity (P<0.05). IADL disability rate was higher in females, rural residents, the widowed, the elderly with lower educational level or lower body weight (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that risk for BADL disability increased with age and abnormal BMI, and decreased with the increase of education level. The risk factors for IADL disability included being female, age, rural residence, being widowed and low BMI. The risk for IADL disability was lower in those with higher education level and overweight or obesity.@*Conclusion@#The present study showed that the disability rate was high in the elderly in China, which was influenced by the aging and multi demographic characteristics of the elderly. It is important to strengthen the prevention of BADL and IADL disabilities and intervention in the elderly.