The paradox of high greenness and poor health in rural Central Appalachia.

While many studies have found positive correlations between greenness and human health, rural Central Appalachia is an exception. The region has high greenness levels but poor health. The purpose of this commentary is to provide a possible explanation for this paradox: three sets of factors overwhelming or attenuating the health benefits of greenness. These include environmental (e.g., steep typography and limited access to green space used for outdoor recreation), social (e.g., chronic poverty, declining coal industry, and limited access to healthcare), and psychological and behavioral factors (e.g., perceptions about health behaviors, healthcare, and greenness). The influence of these factors on the expected health benefits of greenness should be considered as working hypotheses for future research. Policymakers and public health officials need to ensure that greenness-based interventions account for contextual factors and other determinants of health to ensure these interventions have the expected health benefits.

The economics of nature's healing touch: A systematic review and conceptual framework of green space, pharmaceutical prescriptions, and healthcare expenditure associations.

Green spaces play a crucial role in promoting sustainable and healthy lives. Recent evidence shows that green space also may reduce the need for healthcare, prescription medications, and associated costs. This systematic review provides the first comprehensive assessment of the available literature examining green space exposure and its associations with healthcare prescriptions and expenditures. We applied Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines to search MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science for observational studies published in English through May 6, 2023. A quality assessment of the included studies was conducted using the Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT) tool, and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) assessment was used to evaluate the overall quality of evidence. Our search retrieved 26 studies that met the inclusion criteria and were included in our review. Among these, 20 studies (77 % of the total) showed beneficial associations of green space exposure with healthcare prescriptions or expenditures. However, most studies had risks of bias, and the overall strength of evidence for both outcomes was limited. Based on our findings and related bodies of literature, we present a conceptual framework to explain the possible associations and complex mechanisms underlying green space and healthcare outcomes. The framework differs from existing green space and health models by including upstream factors related to healthcare access (i.e., rurality and socioeconomic status), which may flip the direction of associations. Additional research with lower risks of bias is necessary to validate this framework and better understand the potential for green space to reduce healthcare prescriptions and expenditures.

Butterfly Communities Vary under Different Urbanization Types in City Parks.

Butterflies are key indicators of urban biodiversity and one of the most vulnerable organism groups to environmental changes. Studying how butterflies are distributed and what factors might influence them in urban green spaces is crucial. In this study, from July 2022 to September 2022, we examined and analyzed the butterfly diversity in nine parks in Fuzhou, China, along three different levels of urbanization (urban, peri-urban, and suburban). We investigated how butterfly communities respond to increasing urbanization. The findings revealed that: (1) A total of 427 butterfly individuals from 4 families and 13 species were observed; (2) Shannon diversity, richness, and abundance of the overall butterfly community were lower in the more urbanized parks. Urbanization had significant effects on Shannon diversity (p = 0.003) and abundance (p = 0.007) but no significant effects on the whole butterfly community richness (p = 0.241); (3) non-metric multidimensional scaling revealed that there were differences in the overall number of butterfly species in urban parks among different geographic regions.

The Relationship between Landscape Construction and Bird Diversity: A Bibliometric Analysis.

Urbanization development is the main cause of drastic habitat changes and biodiversity loss, and urban green space construction is one of the effective ways to mitigate biodiversity decay. The proper construction of urban green space landscapes can maintain or increase the resources provided by urban biodiversity, especially bird diversity. This paper is based on 4112 papers published in this research area between 2002 and 2022, and CiteSpace was used to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the research area in terms of the number of articles published, the country or region of publication, core authors, and academic development. The paper systematically reviews the hotspots, history, and frontiers of research on landscape architecture and bird diversity. At the same time, the relationship between landscape construction and bird diversity is discussed in the context of landscape features, vegetation characteristics, and human behavioral activities. The results revealed: (1) research on the association between landscape camping and bird diversity received high priority from 2002 to 2022. Moreover, this research area has become a mature discipline. (2) Throughout the research history, there are four research hotspots (fundamental research on bird communities, influencing factors related to changes in bird community characteristics, research on bird activity rhythms, and ecological and ornamental values of birds), four development stages (2002-2004, 2005-2009, 2010-2015, and 2016-2022), and several research frontiers. (3) Our aim was to reasonably consider the activity characteristics of birds in future landscape construction, and to thoroughly study the landscape construction strategies and management principles for the harmonious coexistence of humans and birds.

Research Methods Used in Evidence-Based Design: An Analysis of Five Years of Research Articles From the HERD Journal.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to analyze research methodologies from 157 research articles published in this journal in the last five years (2016-2020). BACKGROUND: Health environments research is comprised of research covering many topics and from various disciplines worldwide. No systematic study exists to uncover themes in evidence-based design (EBD) research concerning the types of research published, people engaged in research, and the research methods employed. Understanding the nature of health environment research performed can help researchers, practitioners, and students situate their work within an EBD research structure. METHODS: Case study research was used to analyze 157 articles published in the Health Environments Research & Design Journal devoted to EBD and research. Secondary data were extracted to capture research methods from health environments studies and then analyzed to identify themes. The design and outcome categories were structured around and the Center for Health Design's (CHD) Knowledge Repository with origins to Ulrich et al.'s Evidence-Based Design Framework. RESULTS: Findings are reported on categories commonly found in empirical research articles: (i) key words, (ii) disciplines from authors, (iii) settings studied, (iv) populations studied or sampled, (v) research approach and study design, (vi) research strategies, (vii) data collection methods, (viii) data analysis procedures, (ix) design categories and variables, and (x) outcome categories and variables. CONCLUSIONS: The analyses highlighted the research methods most frequently used in health environments research. Findings revealed several inconsistencies across articles on key words and the framing of research methodologies. Results suggest that there should be a consistent and overarching research taxonomy with a set of acceptable terms for effective literature searches.

Relationship between Vegetation Habitats and Bird Communities in Urban Mountain Parks.

The coastal areas of southeast China have typical high-density urbanization characteristics, and urban mountain parks are important green spaces in these urban green space systems. Our study was conducted in five typical urban mountain parks in Fuzhou, China. The bird survey was carried out in 25 transects of different vegetation habitats for 10 months, and the vegetation survey was conducted in 25 habitats to investigate the characteristics of bird communities in different vegetation habitats and the causes of their differences. The results showed: (1) From 1 October 2021 to 15 July 2022, we recorded a total of 90 bird species in 8 orders, 37 families, and 64 genera, with 1879 individuals in five vegetation habitats in the urban mountain parks. (2) Abundance and diversity of trees are vegetation variables affecting bird diversity (bird species richness, abundance, and Shannon diversity) in urban mountain parks, and the average branch height under trees has a significant effect on bird evenness. (3) We found more bird species and higher bird diversity in both sparse and dense forest habitats, but fewer bird species in waterfront, shrub, and grassland habitats; (4) Average tree height (AVE_HEIt) was only present in the best model of bird abundance and evenness. However, none of the best models found a significant effect of the number of tourists and predators on bird diversity. Our results could provide a theoretical basis and guidance for the future improvement of ecological service functions of bird habitats in urban mountain parks in subtropical coastal areas.

MiR-22 Inhibition Alleviates Cardiac Dysfunction in Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiomyopathy by Targeting the sirt1/PGC-1α Pathway.

Doxorubicin (DOX) cardiotoxicity is a life-threatening side effect that leads to a poor prognosis in patients receiving chemotherapy. We investigated the role of miR-22 in doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy and the underlying mechanism in vivo and in vitro. Specifically, we designed loss-of-function and gain-of-function experiments to identify the role of miR-22 in doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy. Our data suggested that inhibiting miR-22 alleviated cardiac fibrosis and cardiac dysfunction induced by doxorubicin. In addition, inhibiting miR-22 mitigated mitochondrial dysfunction through the sirt1/PGC-1α pathway. Knocking out miR-22 enhanced mitochondrial biogenesis, as evidenced by increased PGC-1α, TFAM, and NRF-1 expression in vivo. Furthermore, knocking out miR-22 rescued mitophagy, which was confirmed by increased expression of PINK1 and parkin and by the colocalization of LC3 and mitochondria. These protective effects were abolished by overexpressing miR-22. In conclusion, miR-22 may represent a new target to alleviate cardiac dysfunction in doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy and improve prognosis in patients receiving chemotherapy.

Roles and Clinical Applications of Exosomes in Cardiovascular Disease.

Despite substantial improvements in therapeutic strategies, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still among the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Exosomes, extracellular vesicles with a lipid bilayer membrane of endosomal origin, have been the focus of a large body of research in CVD. Exosomes not only serve as carriers for signal molecules responsible for intercellular and interorgan communication underlying CVD pathophysiology but also are bioactive agents which are partly responsible for the therapeutic effect of stem cell therapy of CVD. We here review recent insights gained into the role of exosomes in apoptosis, hypertrophy, angiogenesis, fibrosis, and inflammation in CVD pathophysiology and progression and the application and mechanisms of exosomes as therapeutic agents for CVD.

Recombinant expression and characterization of two glycoside hydrolases from extreme alklinphilic bacterium Cellulomonas bogoriensis 69B4T.

Two novel glycoside hydrolases were cloned from the genomic DNA of alklinphilic bacterium Cellulomonas bogoriensis 69B4T and functionally expressed in Escherichia coli. The two enzymes shared less than 73% of identities with other known glycosidases and belonged to glycoside hydrolase families 5 and 9. Recombinant Cel5A exhibited optimum activity at pH 5.0 and at a temperature of 70 °C, and Cel9A showed optimum activity at pH 7.0 and at a temperature of 60 °C. The two enzymes exhibited activity at alkaline pH 11 and were stable over a wide range of pH. The maximum activities of Cel5A and Cel9A were observed in 0.5 M NaCl and 1 M KCl, respectively. In addition, these two enzymes exhibited excellent halostability with residual activities of more than 70% after pre-incubation for 6 days in 5 M NaCl or 4 M KCl. Substrate specificity analysis revealed that Cel5A and Cel9A specifically cleaved the ß-1,4-glycosidic linkage in cellulose with the highest activity on carboxymethyl cellulose sodium (78.3 and 145.3 U/mg, respectively). Cel5A is an endoglucanase, whereas Cel9A exhibits endo and exo activities. As alkali-activated, thermo-tolerant, and salt-tolerant cellulases, Cel5A and Cel9A are promising candidates for further research and industrial applications.

[Whey protein improves insulin resistance via the increase of antioxidant capacity in model rats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of whey protein on insulin resistance in model rats. METHODS: Insulin resistance model rats were established by feeding high-fat diet in Wistar rats. Model rats were then randomly divided into 4 groups of 10 animals each and fed on 0% whey protein (WP), 5% WP and 15% WP. After 8 weeks, fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting plasma insulin (FINS) were determined. Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed and glucose area under the curve (AUC) was calculated. Also, plasma total anti-oxidation capacity (T-AOC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione hormone (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were determined. RESULTS: Whey protein intake did not affected FBG and glucose AUC. FINS and homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were significantly lower in 15% WP group than in 0% WP group. For antioxidant index,plasma level of T-AOC, SOD and GSH were significantly higher in 15% WP group than in 0% WP group (T-AOC : P < 0.01; SOD, GSH : P < 0.05); however, MDA was significantly lower in 15% WP group than in 0% WP group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Whey protein improves insulin resistance. This effect is related to the increase of antioxidant capacity in insulin resistance model rats.