Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the positive and negative social exchange scale in older adults with disabilities in China.

PURPOSE: This study translated the Positive and Negative Social Exchange (PANSE) scale into Chinese, examined its psychometric characteristics, and explored its feasibility for use among older adults with disabilities from China. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A two-stage study procedure was employed. In the first stage, the English version of the PANSE scale was translated and cross-culturally adapted. In the second stage, the reliability and validity of the scale were assessed based on item-total correlation, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, content validity, structural validity, concurrent criterion validity, and known group validity. RESULTS: A total of 357 older adults with disabilities participated in the survey. The Chinese version of the PANSE scale consisted of two parts, the Positive Social Exchange Scale and the Negative Social Exchange Scale. Exploratory factor analysis extracted six communal factors. The cumulative contribution of the two parts of the scale was 69.90% and 77.88%, respectively. The item-total correlation was 0.353 to 0.802, the internal consistency of the PANSE was 0.653 to 0.886. The PANSE demonstrated good content validity and it was correlated with the SSRS scale. CONCLUSION: The Chinese version of the PANSE is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing social exchange in Chinese older adults with disabilities.Implication for rehabilitationDespite the growing number of older adults with disabilities being a concern in China, the lack of tools to measure the type of social support limits research related to the health status of these people.This study cross-culturally adapted, translated into Chinese and validated the Positive and Negative Social Exchange (PANSE) scale as the measurement tool to be used in the cultural context of China.The two subscales of PANSE were validated in the Chinese population of older adults with disabilities.The PANSE scale measures social exchange among older adults with disabilities in China, which can guide the development of interventions to address issues in the social exchange of these people.

Cell-type-specific alternative polyadenylation promotes oncogenic gene expression in non-small cell lung cancer progression.

Disrupted alternative polyadenylation (APA) is frequently involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progression by regulating the gene expression of oncogenes and tumor suppressors. However, limited knowledge of tumor-type- and cell-type-specific APA events may lead to novel APA events and their functions being overlooked. Here, we compared APA events across different cell types in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and normal tissues and identified functionally related APA events in NSCLC. We found several cell-specific 3'-UTR alterations that regulate gene expression changes showed prognostic value in NSCLC. We further investigated the function of APA-mediated 3'-UTR shortening through loss of microRNA (miRNA)-binding sites, and we identified and experimentally validated several oncogene-miRNA-tumor suppressor axes. According to our analyses, we found SPARC as an APA-regulated oncogene in cancer-associated fibroblasts in NSCLC. Knockdown of SPARC attenuates lung cancer cell invasion and metastasis. Moreover, we found high SPARC expression associated with resistance to several drugs except cisplatin. NSCLC patients with high SPARC expression could benefit more compared to low-SPARC-expression patients with cisplatin treatment. Overall, our comprehensive analysis of cell-specific APA events shed light on the regulatory mechanism of cell-specific oncogenes and provided opportunities for combination of APA-regulated therapeutic target and cell-specific therapy development.

Quantum-dot light-chip micro-spectrometer.

Micro-spectrometers have great potential in various fields such as medicine, agriculture, and aerospace. In this work, a quantum-dot (QD) light-chip micro-spectrometer is proposed in which QDs emit different wavelengths of light that are combined with a spectral reconstruction (SR) algorithm. The QD array itself can play the roles of both the light source and the wavelength division structure. The spectra of samples can be obtained by using this simple light source with a detector and algorithm, and the spectral resolution reaches 9.7 nm in the wavelength range from 580 nm to 720 nm. The area of the QD light chip is 4 × 7.5 mm2, which is 20 times smaller than the halogen light sources of commercial spectrometers. It does not need a wavelength division structure and greatly reduces the volume of the spectrometer. Such a micro-spectrometer can be used for material identification: in a demonstration, three kinds of transparent samples, real and fake leaves, and real and fake blood were classified with an accuracy of 100%. These results indicate that the spectrometer based on a QD light chip has broad application prospects.

Post-discharge care needs of the older people with hospital-associated disability: A longitudinal study.

AIMS: To investigate the change and associated factors of care needs within 6 months post-discharge in older people with hospital-associated disability, and the relationship between time-varying care needs and physical function. BACKGROUND: Older people with hospital-associated disability will have various care needs post-discharge. Understanding their care needs will help to improve their health. However, studies on this population are still limited. DESIGN: A longitudinal study. METHODS: The older people who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected in 2 tertiary hospitals in Zhejiang Province, China. The questionnaire survey method was used to collect data about socio-demographic characteristics, physical function and care needs. The data of 375 older people who completed follow-up were analysed using logistic regression analysis, generalised estimating equations and generalised additive mixed model. We followed STROBE checklist for reporting the study. RESULTS: The care needs of the older people with hospital-associated disability declined unevenly, it decreased rapidly in the first three months, and then flattening out. The percentage of people with care needs in each dimension decreased over time, but daily care and rehabilitation needs were consistently more important. Socio-demographic factors and physical function had different effects on need at different time points, the physical function was the main factor among them. There were non-linear relationships between the physical function and different care needs with different inflection points. CONCLUSION: This research revealed change patterns of the care needs of older people with hospital-associated disability post-discharge and the non-linear relationship between physical function and care needs. These findings may help healthcare professionals and caregivers to provide accurate care. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The findings can be used to identify effective approaches to address the care needs of older people with hospital-associated disability based on the time of discharge, in conjunction with age, education, and especially physical function, which will promote the justify allocation of nursing resources. What does this paper contribute to the wider global clinical community?

At-home disposal practices of used insulin needles among patients with diabetes in China: A single-center, cross-sectional study.

Background: Most insulin injections for people with diabetes are administered at home, thus generating many used needles. Unsafe disposal of these at-home needles can lead to needle stick injuries, blood-borne disease transmission, and environmental contamination. Previous studies have shown varying results on the prevalence of and factors associated with safe sharps disposal practices of people with diabetes. Objective: To assess the prevalence of and the factors associated with the safe disposal of used insulin needles among patients with diabetes. Methods: We collected data from 271 insulin-using patients at a tertiary care hospital in China. A self-designed instrument was used to assess sociodemographic data, disease- and treatment-related characteristics, sharps disposal practices, education on diabetes self-management and sharps disposal, and awareness of the potential risks associated with unsafe sharps disposal. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to explore factors associated with safe sharps disposal practices. Results: Only 10.3% (28/271) of participants disposed of used at-home insulin needles in a safe manner, and 14.8% (45/271) of participants had received previous instruction on sharps disposal. Previous sharps disposal instruction (AOR = 4.143, 95% CI = 1.642-10.450) and awareness of the risk of blood-borne pathogen transmission (AOR = 3.064, 95% CI = 1.332-7.046) were associated with safe disposal of used insulin needles. Conclusion: In our study, the prevalence of safe sharps disposal practices was low, and a minority of respondents had received previous instruction on sharps disposal. Participants who had previously received instruction and were aware of the risk of blood-borne pathogen transmission were more likely to handle sharps safely. Our study findings suggest that health care professionals should pay attention to sharps disposal practices of patients with diabetes and conduct diabetes education programs that include information on safe sharps disposal methods and potential hazards of unsafe sharps disposal.

Fabry-Perot resonance-suppressed double-layer metal mesh window for electromagnetic interference shielding.

Traditional electromagnetic interference shielding windows that can simultaneously reflect microwaves and transmit visible light are usually fabricated by depositing one metal mesh layer on the surface of the window. However, such a structure always suffers from strong Fabry-Perot resonance (FPR), which leads to the decline of shielding effectiveness (SE). Here, we analyze the mechanism of FPR from a perspective of the equivalent circuit model and further report a facile approach to minimize the FPR by depositing another high-resistance mesh layer on the back side of the shielding window, which can greatly reduce reflected waves, ensuring that interference cannot be formed. Simulation results prove that FPR can be effectively eliminated by the proposed method, and experiments further show that for a shielding window made with Schott B270 glass plate, the SE can be enhanced by 6.3 dB (76.6% energy attenuation) at declining points, while transmittance is only reduced by 1.6%.

Low-cost micro-spectrometer based on a nano-imprint and spectral-feature reconstruction algorithm.

Reconstructive micro-spectrometers have shown great potential in many fields such as medicine, agriculture, and astronomy. However, the performance of these spectrometers is seriously limited by the spectral varieties of response pixels and anti-noise ability of reconstruction algorithms. In this work, we propose a spectral reconstruction (SR) algorithm, whose anti-noise ability is at least four times better than the current algorithms. A micro-spectrometer is realized by fabricating a large number of Fabry-Perot (FP) micro-filters onto a cheap complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) chip for demonstration by using a very high-efficiency technology of nano-imprinting. Nano-imprint technology can complete hundreds of spectral pixels with rich spectral features at one time and with low cost. In cooperation with the SR algorithm, such a micro-spectrometer can have a spectral resolution as high as 3 nm with much lower angular sensitivity than a photonic crystal-based micro-spectrometer. It can obtain the target's spectrum from only a single shot, which has wide applications in spectral analysis etc.

Rehabilitation psychological experience of the elderly within 6 months of initial disability: a qualitative study.

PURPOSE: To explore the rehabilitation psychological experience of the Chinese elderly within 6 months of initial disability, understand and analyse their real feelings and thoughts to help caregivers in providing support. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We adopted the descriptive phenomenology method to purposefully select elderly with initial disability within 6 months from neurorehabilitation departments of 2 hospitals in China, who were able to cooperate with researchers to conduct interviews. The data were collected from semi-structured interviews and analysed using Colaizzi's analysis method. RESULTS: fifteen participants with an average age of 73.7(±9.0) years and an average disability time of 3.2 (±1.5) months were interviewed. Four themes were identified: (1) the discomfort of losing the sense of self; (2) feeling trapped over unmet needs; (3) ambivalence towards rehabilitation; (4) expectations and hopelessness for the future. Traditional Chinese thoughts such as family concepts played an important role in the generation of complex emotions. CONCLUSION: The elderly had the desire and motivation to recover and return to the families and society. However, due to personal, family and social factors, they still felt ambivalence towards rehabilitation, self-worth and life, which hindered rehabilitation. Therefore, carers should focus on the elderly's psychological states, taking corresponding measures to satisfy their complex demands and motivate long-term recovery.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONChinese elderly with initial disability often had a strong sense of ambivalence towards self-worth, rehabilitation and life, among which the influence of the traditional Chinese family concept counts.Health care personnel should improve the positive coping ability of the elderly to promote their harmonious coexistence with disability, rebuild their personal values, develop their rehabilitation potential.Health care departments need to provide support to the elderly and their families to maximize the positive role of the family in the rehabilitation process of the elderly.In order to alleviate the discomfort of disabled elderly in rehabilitation and enhance compliance, there is a need to improve the hard environment (rehabilitation technologies, etc.) and soft environment (rehabilitation concept and service quality, etc.).

Effect of self-management and thrombus monitoring on patients with autogenous arteriovenous fistula.

OBJECTIVE: the objective of this study is to explore the effect of a self-management mode on hemodialysis in autogenous arteriovenous fistula patients, and assess the improvement in their self-care, as well as the management and protection abilities of patients through the self-management mode, so as to improve the quality of dialysis. METHOD: A total of 100 patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis, who have autogenous fistula and were cared for in the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from August 2019 to February 2020 were selected. All patients were divided into either an experimental group (group A, 50 people) or a control group (group B, 50 people), at random. Patients in group A were given self-management education and self-protection behavior education of internal fistulas based on routine nursing, while patients in group B were only given routine nursing. Initially, the general clinical data between the two groups was compared. Then, the patient self-management scale and internal fistula quality assessment were used to evaluate the patients' self-management ability and internal fistula quality. A Philips ClearVue 850 color Doppler ultrasound diagnostic instrument was used to monitor thrombus in patients. RESULTS: we found no significant difference in gender, dialysis frequency (3 times a week), dialysis time and blood biochemical indexes between the two groups (P > 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in the self-management ability, internal fistula quality, time effect, grouping effect and interaction effect between the two groups before and after the experiment (P < 0.001). The result of the ultrasound examination show that 75 patients with arteriovenous fistula results were normal, while 25 patients had complications, including 11 patients with steal phenomenon, 8 patients with stenosis, and 6 patients had thrombosis. CONCLUSION: self-management intervention and ultrasonic thrombus monitoring for hemodialysis patients can improve the quality of autogenous arteriovenous fistulas, and help doctors treat patients according to their individual complications and improve the cure rate of the disease.

ADL recovery trajectory after discharge and its predictors among baseline-independent older inpatients.

BACKGROUND: Among the previous studies about the ADL recovery and its predictors, the researches and resources used to study and protect the baseline-independent older patients from being permanently ADL-dependent was few. We aimed to describe the level of activities of daily living (ADL) at discharge and ADL change within 6 months after discharge in older patients who were ADL-independent before admission but became dependent because of acute illness, and to identify the predictors of early rehabilitation,so as to provide the basis to early intervention. METHODS: Stratified cluster sampling was used to recruit 520 hospitalised older patients who were ADL-independent from departments of internal medicine at two tertiary hospitals from August 2017 to May 2018. Demographics, clinical data, and ADL status at 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge were collected. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Student's t-test, Pearson's chi-square test,Spearman's correlation analysis, binary logistic regression analysis, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: There were 403 out of 520 patients completing the 6-month follow-up, and 229 (56.8%) regained independence at 6 months after discharge. There was an overall increasing trend in ADL with time. The recovery rate was the highest within the first month after discharge, gradually declined after 1 month, and changed less obviously from 3 to 6 months after discharge (p < 0.001). ADL score at discharge (OR = 1.034, p < 0.001), age (OR = 0.269, p = 0.001), post-discharge residence (OR = 0.390, p < 0.05), and cognition status at discharge (OR = 1.685, p < 0.05) were predictors of ADL recovery. The area under the curve of the four predictors combined was 0.763 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Studying ADL recovery rate and its predicting indicators of the baseline independent inpatients at different time points provide a theoretical reference for the formulation of nursing plans and allocation of care resources.

Oncogenic Ras is downregulated by ARHI and induces autophagy by Ras/AKT/mTOR pathway in glioblastoma.

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma is a disease with high heterogeneity that has long been difficult for doctors to identify and treat. ARHI is a remarkable tumor suppressor gene in human ovarian cancer and many other cancers. We found over-expression of ARHI can also inhibit cancer cell proliferation, decrease tumorigenicity, and induce autophagic cell death in human glioma and inhibition of the late stage of autophagy can further enhance the antitumor effect of ARHI through inducing apoptosis in vitro or vivo. METHODS: Using MTT assay to detect cell viability. The colony formation assay was used to measure single cell clonogenicity. Autophagy associated morphological changes were tested by transmission electron microscopy. Flow cytometry and TUNEL staining were used to measure the apoptosis rate. Autophagy inhibitor chloroquine (CQ) was used to study the effects of inhibition at late stage of autophagy on ARHI-induced autophagy and apoptosis. Protein expression were detected by Western blot, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical analyses. LN229-derived xenografts were established to observe the effect of ARHI in vivo. RESULTS: ARHI induced autophagic death in glioma cells, and blocking late-stage autophagy markedly enhanced the antiproliferative activites of ARHI. In our research, we observed the inhibition of RAS-AKT-mTOR signaling in ARHI-glioma cells and blockade of autophagy flux at late stage by CQ enhanced the cytotoxicity of ARHI, caused accumulation of autophagic vacuoles and robust apoptosis. As a result, the inhibition of RAS augmented autophagy of glioma cells. CONCLUSION: ARHI may also be a functional tumor suppressor in glioma. And chloroquine (CQ) used as an auxiliary medicine in glioma chemotherapy can enhance the antitumor effect of ARHI, and this study provides a novel mechanistic basis and strategy for glioma therapy.

Nitazoxanide, an antiprotozoal drug, inhibits late-stage autophagy and promotes ING1-induced cell cycle arrest in glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor in adults. New drug design and development is still a major challenge for glioma treatment. Increasing evidence has shown that nitazoxanide, an antiprotozoal drug, has a novel antitumor role in various tumors and exhibits multiple molecular functions, especially autophagic regulation. However, whether nitazoxanide-associated autophagy has an antineoplastic effect in glioma remains unclear. Here, we aimed to explore the underlying molecular mechanism of nitazoxanide in glioblastoma. Our results showed that nitazoxanide suppressed cell growth and induced cell cycle arrest in glioblastoma by upregulating ING1 expression with a favorable toxicity profile. Nitazoxanide inhibited autophagy through blockage of late-stage lysosome acidification, resulting in decreased cleavage of ING1. A combination with chloroquine or Torin1 enhanced or impaired the chemotherapeutic effect of nitazoxanide in glioblastoma cells. Taken together, these findings indicate that nitazoxanide as an autophagy inhibitor induces cell cycle arrest in glioblastoma via upregulated ING1 due to increased transcription and decreased post-translational degradation by late-stage autophagic inhibition.

Oxymatrine induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis and suppresses the invasion of human glioblastoma cells through the EGFR/PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway and STAT3.

Oxymatrine (OM), a natural quinolizidine alkaloid extracted from the traditional Chinese herb Sophora flavescens, has been revealed to produce antitumor activities in various cancer cell lines, including glioblastoma lines, in vitro. However, the mechanisms by which OM exerts its antitumor effect against glioma are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of OM in the proliferation, apoptosis and invasion of glioma cells and to reveal the underlying mechanisms. The effects of OM on U251MG cells in vitro were determined using a Cell Counting Kit­8 (CCK­8) assay, flow cytometric analysis, Annexin V­FITC/PI staining, DAPI staining, a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase­mediated dUTP nick end­labeling (TUNEL) assay, a Transwell assay and western blotting. Our data indicated that OM inhibited proliferation, arrested the cell cycle at the G0/G1 phase, decreased the expression levels of G1 cell cycle regulatory proteins (cyclin D1, CDK4 and CDK6), inhibited invasion and induced apoptosis in glioma cells. Additional investigations revealed that the expression levels of p­STAT3 and key proteins in the EGFR/PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, such as p­EGFR, p­Akt and p­mTOR, were markedly decreased after OM treatment, while the total STAT3, EGFR, Akt and mTOR levels were not affected. These findings indicated that the EGFR/PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway and STAT3 suppression may be a potential mechanism of the OM­mediated antitumor effect in glioblastoma cells and that EGFR may be a target of OM. Hence, OM may be a promising drug and may offer a novel therapeutic strategy for malignant gliomas in the future.

Effect of Positive Psychological Intervention on Well-Being, 2-Week Illness Prevalence, and Salivary Immunoglobulin A.

The study aims to explore the effect of positive psychological intervention (fun activities combined with positive mental health education) on the well-being, 2-week illness prevalence, and salivary immunoglobulin A of empty nesters. Ninety-two empty nesters were divided into intervention ( n = 49) and control ( n = 43) groups. The empty nesters in the intervention group performed the intervention in addition to routine community activities. The intervention group scored significantly higher on well-being ( p< .05) compared with the control group after intervention. A week after intervention, salivary immunoglobulin A of the intervention group ( p< .05) was higher than that before intervention. Meanwhile, the difference in salivary immunoglobulin A in the control group before and after intervention was not statistically significant. 2-week illness prevalence in both groups did not exhibit a significant difference ( p> .05). Results indicate that positive psychological intervention can effectively increase the well-being and salivary immunoglobulin A of empty nesters and improve their physical and mental health.

Prognostic and clinicopathological role of long non-coding RNA taurine upregulated 1 in various human malignancies: A systemic review and meta-analysis.

The aberrant dysregulation of taurine upregulated 1, a novel discovered long non-coding RNA, was ubiquitous in different human solid tumors. Accumulating researches have indicated that taurine upregulated 1 is an independent prognostic indicator in cancer patients. This investigation aimed to further explore the prognostic and clinical significance of taurine upregulated 1 in various types of cancers. Eligible studies were systematically searched in PubMed, Embase, Medline, and Web of Science databases. A total of 12/14 studies with 1303/1228 individuals were included to evaluate the association of taurine upregulated 1 with overall survival and clinicopathological features by pooled hazard ratio and odds ratio in malignancies. The meta-analysis suggested overexpression of taurine upregulated 1 was significantly correlated with unfavorable overall survival in patients with cancer (pooled hazard ratio = 1.63, 95% confidence interval: 1.29-2.06). There was also a significantly positive correlation between high level of taurine upregulated 1 and high pathological grade carcinoma (pooled odds ratio = 4.41, 95% confidence interval: 3.07-6.43) and positive lymphatic metastasis (pooled odds ratio = 2.00, 95% confidence interval: 1.31-3.06). In summary, upregulated taurine upregulated 1 is correlated with more advanced clinicopathological characteristics and poor prognosis, suggesting that taurine upregulated 1 may serve as a novel predictive biomarker of patients with numerous tumors.

Status and determinants of health behavior knowledge among the elderly in China: a community-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Limited studies are available on health behavior knowledge among the elderly and the interaction between the elderly and their children living with them. Using a survey of the elderly in the community and their children living with them, we explored the characteristics that determine health behavior knowledge. We also identified the influencing factors affecting such knowledge. The relationship between the health behavior knowledge of the elderly and that of their children was also investigated. METHODS: A total of 1207 elderly people were selected by multistage probability sampling (number of children of the elderly = 201). We used a self-designed behavior knowledge questionnaire (38 questions) to survey the participants. After the 38 questions were answered, the total score was determined. The group with adequate health behavior knowledge (score ≥ 24) and that with inadequate knowledge (score < 24) were distinguished by logistic regression to explain the influencing factors affecting health knowledge. RESULTS: On the basis of the responses to 38 questions in the survey, approximately 46.7% of elderly people were identified as having a good knowledge of health. Knowledge of the proper amount of certain foods and liquids as well as that of psychological disorder among the elderly recorded a low percentage at < 60%. Factors related to health behavior knowledge among the elderly were as follows educational attainment, past occupation, and location of residence. Participants who finished high school or higher had 6, 4, and 3 times greater odds of possessing adequate health knowledge than those who attained below primary school, primary school, and junior high school levels, respectively. Those with experience as administrative and technical personnel, workers, migrant workers, and farmers had 2.5, 2.3, 3.9, and 2.1 times greater odds of possessing adequate health knowledge, respectively, than those who were unemployed. Respondents living in the city had 3.7 times greater odds of possessing adequate health knowledge than those living in the countryside. In the stem family, the health knowledge of the elderly was significantly lower than that of their children (P < 0.001). However, the influence of their children's knowledge upper their elder's was relatively weak. CONCLUSION: The need to improve health behavior knowledge among the Chinese elderly remains high. Medical personnel in the community should provide health education related to proper diet and alcohol intake, as well as psychological health, particularly for those elderly who only reached primary school and below, used to be unemployed, and are living in rural areas. Children of stem families should be guided to enhance their health education and contribute to the health knowledge of their elderly parents.