Exposure to synthesized tribromobisphenol A and critical effects: Metabolic pathways, disease signature, and benchmark dose derivation.

2,2',6-Tribromobisphenol A (Tri-BBPA), the main debrominated congener of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), is ubiquitous in the environment and human body but with unknown toxicity. Tri-BBPA was synthesized and applied to investigate its sub-chronic exposure effects on 28 organ coefficients and clinical health indicators related to liver function, kidney function, and cardiovascular system function in female mice. Results showed that the liver was the targeted organ of Tri-BBPA exposure. Compared to the control group, the changes in liver coefficient, cholinesterase, total protein, albumin, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, lactate dehydrogenase, and creatine kinase levels ranged from -61.2 % to 35.5 % in the high-exposed group. Creatine kinase was identified as a critical effect indicator of Tri-BBPA exposure. Using the Bayesian benchmark dose derivation method, a lower reference dose than TBBPA was established for Tri-BBPA (10.6 µg/kg-day). Serum metabolomics revealed that Tri-BBPA exposure may primarily damage the liver by disrupting tryptophan metabolism related to L-alanine, tryptamine, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, and 5-methoxyindoleacetate in liver cells and leading to liver dysfunction. Notably, epilepsy, schizophrenia, early preeclampsia, and late-onset preeclampsia were the top six enriched diseases, suggesting that the nervous system may be particularly affected by Tri-BBPA exposure. Our findings hinted a non-negligible health risk of exposure to debrominated products of TBBPA.

Human molybdenum exposure risk in industrial regions of China: New critical effect indicators and reference dose.

Evidence increasingly suggests molybdenum exposure at environmental levels is still associated with adverse human health, emphasizing the necessity to establish a more protective reference dose (RfD). Herein, we conducted a study measuring 15 urinary metals and 30 clinical health indicators in 2267 participants residing near chemical enterprises across 11 Chinese provinces to investigate their relationships. The kidney and cystatin-C emerged as the most sensitive organ and critical effect indicator of molybdenum exposure, respectively. Odds of cystatin-C-defined chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the highest quantile of molybdenum exposure significantly increased by 133.5% (odds ratio [OR]: 2.34, 95% CI: 1.78, 3.11) and 75.8% (OR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.24, 2.49) before and after adjusting for urinary 14 metals, respectively. Intriguingly, cystatin-C significantly mediated 15.9-89.5% of molybdenum's impacts on liver and lung function, suggesting nephrotoxicity from molybdenum exposure may trigger hepatotoxicity and pulmonary toxicity. We derived a new RfD for molybdenum exposure (0.87 µg/kg-day) based on cystatin-C-defined estimated glomerular filtration rate by employing Bayesian Benchmark Dose modeling analysis. This RfD is significantly lower than current exposure guidance values (5-30 µg/kg-day). Remarkably, >90% of participants exceeded the new RfD, underscoring the significant health impacts of environmental molybdenum exposure on populations in industrial regions of China.

Alkali metal bilayer intercalation in graphene.

Alkali metal (AM) intercalation between graphene layers holds promise for electronic manipulation and energy storage, yet the underlying mechanism remains challenging to fully comprehend despite extensive research. In this study, we employ low-voltage scanning transmission electron microscopy (LV-STEM) to visualize the atomic structure of intercalated AMs (potassium, rubidium, and cesium) in bilayer graphene (BLG). Our findings reveal that the intercalated AMs adopt bilayer structures with hcp stacking, and specifically a C6M2C6 composition. These structures closely resemble the bilayer form of fcc (111) structure observed in AMs under high-pressure conditions. A negative charge transferred from bilayer AMs to graphene layers of approximately 1~1.5×1014 e-/cm-2 was determined by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), Raman, and electrical transport. The bilayer AM is stable in BLG and graphite superficial layers but absent in the graphite interior, primarily dominated by single-layer AM intercalation. This hints at enhancing AM intercalation capacity by thinning the graphite material.

3D-printed bioink loading with stem cells and cellular vesicles for periodontitis-derived bone defect repair.

The suitable microenvironment of bone regeneration is critically important for periodontitis-derived bone defect repair. Three major challenges in achieving a robust osteogenic reaction are the exist of oral inflammation, pathogenic bacteria invasion and unaffluent seed cells. Herein, a customizable and multifunctional 3D-printing module was designed with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) modified epsilon-poly-L-lysine (EPLGMA) loading periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) and myeloid-derived suppressive cells membrane vesicles (MDSCs-MV) bioink (EPLGMA/PDLSCs/MDSCs-MVs, abbreviated as EPM) for periodontitis-derived bone defect repair. The EPM showed excellent mechanical properties and physicochemical characteristics, providing a suitable microenvironment for bone regeneration.In vitro, EPMs presented effectively kill the periodontopathic bacteria depend on the natural antibacterial properties of the EPL. Meanwhile, MDSCs-MV was confirmed to inhibit T cells through CD73/CD39/adenosine signal pathway, exerting an anti-inflammatory role. Additionally, seed cells of PDLSCs provide an adequate supply for osteoblasts. Moreover, MDSCs-MV could significantly enhance the mineralizing capacity of PDLSCs-derived osteoblast. In the periodontal bone defect rat model, the results of micro-CT and histological staining demonstrated that the EPM scaffold similarly had an excellent anti-inflammatory and bone regeneration efficacyin vivo. This biomimetic and multifunctional 3D-printing bioink opens new avenues for periodontitis-derived bone defect repair and future clinical application.

A high-precision jujube disease spot detection based on SSD during the sorting process.

The development of automated grading equipment requires achieving high throughput and precise detection of disease spots on jujubes. However, the current algorithms are inadequate in accomplishing these objectives due to their high density, varying sizes and shapes, and limited location information regarding disease spots on jujubes. This paper proposes a method called JujubeSSD, to boost the precision of identifying disease spots in jujubes based on a single shot multi-box detector (SSD) network. In this study, a diverse dataset comprising disease spots of varied sizes and shapes, varying densities, and multiple location details on jujubes was created through artificial collection and data augmentation. The parameter information obtained from transfer learning into the backbone feature extraction network of the SSD model, which reduced the time of spot detection to 0.14 s. To enhance the learning of target detail features and improve the recognition of weak information, the traditional convolution layer was replaced with deformable convolutional networks (DCNs). Furthermore, to address the challenge of varying sizes and shapes of disease spot regions on jujubes, the path aggregation feature pyramid network (PAFPN) and balanced feature pyramid (BFP) were integrated into the SSD network. Experimental results demonstrate that the mean average precision at the IoU (intersection over union) threshold of 0.5 (mAP@0.5) of JujubeSSD reached 97.1%, representing an improvement of approximately 6.35% compared to the original algorithm. When compared to existing algorithms, such as YOLOv5 and Faster R-CNN, the improvements in mAP@0.5 were 16.84% and 8.61%, respectively. Therefore, the proposed method for detecting jujube disease spot achieves superior performance in jujube surface disease detection and meets the requirements for practical application in agricultural production.

Perturbation of lipid metabolism in 3T3-L1 at different stages of preadipocyte differentiation and new insights into the association between changed metabolites and adipogenesis promoted by TBBPA or TBBPS.

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and tetrabromobisphenol S (TBBPS) are widely distributed brominated flame retardants. While TBBPA has been demonstrated to stimulate adipogenesis, TBBPS is also under suspicion for potentially inducing comparable effects. In this study, we conducted a non-targeted metabolomics to examine the metabolic changes in 3T3-L1 cells exposed to an environmentally relevant dose of TBBPA or TBBPS. Our findings revealed that 0.1 µM of both TBBPA and TBBPS promoted the adipogenesis of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Multivariate analysis showed significant increases in glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, and steroids relative levels in 3T3-L1 cells exposed to TBBPA or TBBPS at the final stage of preadipocyte differentiation. Metabolites set composed of glycerophospholipids was found to be highly effective predictors of adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells exposed to TBBPA or TBBPS (revealed from the receiver operating characteristic curve with an area under curve > 0.90). The results from metabolite set enrichment analysis suggested both TBBPA and TBBPS exposures significantly perturbed steroid biosynthesis in adipocytes. Moreover, TBBPS additionally disrupted the sphingolipid metabolism in the adipocytes. Our study presents new insights into the obesogenic effects of TBBPS and provides valuable information about the metabolites associated with adipogenesis induced by TBBPA or TBBPS.

Molybdenum Chloride Nanostructures with Giant Lattice Distortions Intercalated into Bilayer Graphene.

The nanospace of the van der Waals (vdW) gap between structural units of two-dimensional (2D) materials serves as a platform for growing unusual 2D systems through intercalation and studying their properties. Various kinds of metal chlorides have previously been intercalated for tuning the properties of host layered materials, but the atomic structure of the intercalants remains still unidentified. In this study, we investigate the atomic structural transformation of molybdenum(V) chloride (MoCl5) after intercalation into bilayer graphene (BLG). Using scanning transmission electron microscopy, we found that the intercalated material represents MoCl3 networks, MoCl2 chains, and Mo5Cl10 rings. Giant lattice distortions and frequent structural transitions occur in the 2D MoClx that have never been observed in metal chloride systems. The trend of symmetric to nonsymmetric structural transformations can cause additional charge transfer from BLG to the intercalated MoClx, as suggested by our density functional theory calculations. Our study deepens the understanding of the behavior of matter in the confined space of the vdW gap in BLG and provides hints at a more efficient tuning of material properties by intercalation for potential applications, including transparent conductive films, optoelectronics, and energy storage.

Construction of Models To Predict the Effectiveness of E-Waste Control through Capture of Volatile Organic Compounds and Metals/Metalloids Exposure Fingerprints: A Six-Year Longitudinal Study.

The significant health implications of e-waste toxicants have triggered the global tightening of regulation on informal e-waste recycling sites (ER) but with disparate governance that requires effective monitoring. Taking advantage of the opportunity to implement e-waste control in the Guiyu ER since 2015, we investigated the temporal variations in levels of oxidative DNA damage, 25 volatile organic compound metabolites (VOCs), and 16 metals/metalloids (MeTs) in urine in 918 children between 2016 and 2021 to demonstrate the effectiveness of e-waste control in reducing population exposure risks. The hazard quotients of most MeTs and levels of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine in children decreased significantly during this time, indicating that e-waste control effectively reduces the noncarcinogenic risks of MeT exposure and levels of oxidative DNA damage. Using mVOC-derived indexes as a feature, a bagging-support vector machine algorithm-based machine learning model was constructed to predict the extent of e-waste pollution (EWP). The model exhibited excellent performance with accuracies >97.0% in differentiating between slight and severe EWP. Five simple functions established using mVOC-derived indexes also had high accuracy in predicting the presence of EWP. These models and functions provide a novel human exposure monitoring-based approach for assessing e-waste governance or the presence of EWP in other ERs.

Volatile organic compounds and metals/metalloids exposure in children after e-waste control: Implications for priority control pollutants and exposure mitigation measures.

The decade-long effort to control e-waste in China has made significant progress from haphazard disposal to organized recycling, but environmental research suggests that exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and metals/metalloids (MeTs) still poses plausible health risks. To investigate the exposure risk faced by children and identify corresponding priority control chemicals, we evaluated the carcinogenic risk (CR), non-CR, and oxidative DNA damage risks of VOCs and MeTs exposure in 673 children from an e-waste recycling area (ER) by measuring urinary exposure biomarker levels. The ER children were generally exposed to high levels of VOCs and MeTs. We observed distinctive VOCs exposure profiles in ER children. In particular, the 1,2-dichloroethane/ethylbenzene ratio and 1,2-dichloroethane were promising diagnostic indexes for identifying e-waste pollution due to their high accuracy (91.4%) in predicting e-waste exposure. Exposure to acrolein, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, 1,2-dichloroethane, acrylamide, acrylonitrile, arsenic, vanadium, copper, and lead posed considerable CR or/and non-CR and oxidative DNA damage risks to children, while changing personal lifestyles, especially enhancing daily physical exercise, may facilitate mitigating these chemical exposure risks. These findings highlight that the exposure risk of some VOCs and MeTs is still non-negligible in regulated ER, and these hazardous chemicals should be controlled as priorities.

Why Do People Gain Belly Fat in Rural Areas? A Study of Urinary Metal(loid)s and Abdominal Obesity in China.

Obesity is prevalent in rural areas of China, and there are inconsistent findings regarding the association between metal(loid) exposure and the risk of obesity. Abdominal obesity (AOB), which reflects visceral fat abnormity, is a crucial factor in studying obesity-related diseases. We conducted a study measuring 20 urinary metal(loid)s, 13 health indicators, and the waist circumference (WC) in 1849 participants from 10 rural areas of China to investigate their relationships. In the single exposure models, we found that urinary chromium (Cr) was significantly associated with the odds of having AOB [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.81 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.24, 2.60)]. In the mixture exposure models, urinary Cr consistently emerged as the top contributor to AOB, while the overall effect of mixed metal(loid)s was positive toward the odds of having AOB [adjusted OR: 1.33 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.77)], as revealed from the quantile g-computation model. After adjusting for the effects of other metal(loid)s, we found that the elevation of apolipoprotein B and systolic blood pressure significantly mediated the association between urinary Cr and the odds of having AOB by 9.7 and 19.4%, respectively. Our results suggest that exposure to metal(loid)s is a key factor contributing to the prevalence of AOB and WC gain in rural areas of China.

Association between long-term green space exposure and mortality in China: A difference-in-differences analysis of national data in 2000, 2010 and 2019.

BACKGROUND: Effects of green space on human health have been well-documented in western, high-income countries. Evidence for similar effects in China is limited. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms linking green space and mortality are yet to be established. We therefore conducted a nation-wide study to assess the association between green space and mortality in China using a difference-in-difference approach, which applied a causal framework and well controlled unmeasured confounding. In addition, we explored whether air pollution and air temperature could mediate the association. METHODS: In this analysis, we collected data on all-cause mortality and sociodemographic characteristics for each county in China from the 2000 and 2010 censuses and the 2020 Statistical Yearbook. Green space exposure was assessed using county-level normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the percentage of green space (forest, grasslands, shrub land and wetland). We applied a difference-in-differences approach to evaluate the association between green space and mortality. We also performed mediation analysis (by air pollution and air temperature). RESULTS: Our sample consisted of 2726 counties in 2000 and 2010 as well as 1432 counties in 2019. In the 2000 versus 2019 comparison, a 0.1 unit increase in NDVI was associated with a 2.4 % reduction in mortality [95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.4-4.3 %], and a 10 % increase in percentage of green space was associated with a 4.7 % reduction (95 % CI 0-9.2 %) in mortality. PM2.5 and air temperature mediated 0.3 % to 12.3 % of the associations. CONCLUSIONS: Living in greener counties may be associated with lower risk of mortality in China. These findings could indicate the potential of a population-level intervention to reduce mortality in China, which has important public health implications at the county level.

Associations between trace level thallium and multiple health effects in rural areas: Chinese Exposure and Response Mapping Program (CERMP).

Thallium (Tl) is a cumulative high toxicant in the environment, but few studies have investigated the comprehensive health effects underlying chronic Tl exposure at trace levels. This study aims to evaluate the liver, kidney, lung and other potential health effects associated with chronic Tl exposure at trace levels in rural areas of China. Urinary Tl concentrations of 2883 adults from rural areas of 12 provinces in China were measured and 2363 participants were involved in the final analysis. Indicators of liver and kidney functions in the serum, as well as the lung function indicators, were determined in the participants. General linear regression and restricted cubic spline regression were combined to study the associations between urinary Tl and health indicators or outcomes. In this study, the detected rate of Tl in the urine of the participants was 97.28 %. When the urinary Tl concentration was ranged at the fourth quintile, the risk of having liver function disorder was 70 % higher [Odds ratio (OR) = 1.70 (95 % confidence intervals (CI): 1.30, 2.22)] in all the participants, whereas the farmers were more likely to have the disorder [OR = 2.08 (95 % CI: 1.49, 2.92)] than the non-farmers [OR = 1.20 (95 % CI: 0.77, 1.88)]. Nonlinear associations between most of the liver health indicators and urinary Tl were identified, of which serum bilirubin was strongly associated with the elevation of urinary Tl when its concentration was >0.40 µg/g creatinine. Besides, urinary Tl was negatively associated with lung health indicators. Our study proposes the safety re-assessment of the current exposure level of Tl in the environment, especially in rural areas of China.

Co-exposure levels of volatile organic compounds and metals/metalloids in children: Implications for E-waste recycling activity prediction.

Identifying informal e-waste recycling activity is crucial for preventing health hazards caused by e-waste pollution. This study attempted to build a prediction model for e-waste recycling activity based on the differential exposure biomarkers of the populations between the e-waste recycling area (ER) and non-ER. This study recruited children in ER and non-ER and conducted a quasi-experiment among the adult investigators to screen differential exposure or effect biomarkers by measuring urinary 25 volatile organic compound (VOC) metabolites, 18 metals/metalloids, and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG). Compared with children of the non-ER, the ER children had higher metal/metalloid (e.g., manganese [Mn], lead [Pb], antimony [Sb], tin [Sn], and copper [Cu]) and VOC exposure (e.g., carbon-disulfide, acrolein, and 1-bromopropane) levels, oxidative DNA damage, and non-carcinogenic risks. Individually added 8-OHdG, VOC metabolites, and metals/metalloids to the support vector machine (SVM) classifier could obtain similar classification effects, with the area under curve (AUC) ranging from 0.741 to 0.819. The combined inclusion of 8-OHdG and differential VOC metabolites, metals/metalloids, and mixed indexes (e.g., product items or ratios of different metals/metalloids) in the SVM classifier showed the highest performance in predicting e-waste recycling activity, with an AUC of 0.914 and prediction accuracy of 83.3 %. "Sb × Mn", followed by "Sn × Pb/Cu", "Sb × Mn/Cu", and "Sn × Pb", were the top four important features in the models. Compared with non-ER children, the levels of urinary Mn, Pb, Sb, Sn, and Cu in ER children were 1.2 to 2.4 times higher, while the levels of "Sb × Mn", "Sn × Pb/Cu", "Sb × Mn/Cu", and "Sn × Pb" were 3.5 to 4.7 times higher, suggesting that these mixed indexes could amplify the differences between e-waste exposed and non-e-waste exposed populations. With the continued inclusion of new biomarkers of e-waste pollution in the future, our prediction model is promising for screening informal e-waste recycling sites.

corilagin protects non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in mice induced by high fat and high sugar diet via regulating AMPK-autophagy signaling / 中国药理学通报

Aim To explore the effects of corilagin on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease induced by high-fat and high-sugar diet in mice via regulating AMPK-autophagy signaling. Methods Healthy 8-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control group, model group and corilagin group. The mice of model group and corilagin group were fed with a high-fat and high-sugar diet for four weeks at the age of eight weeks. The corilagin group mice were also intraperitoneally injected with corilagin (20 mg • k g

Mechanism of Huangjing Qianshi Decoction in treatment of prediabetic mice based on transcriptome sequencing / 中国中药杂志

Based on transcriptome sequencing technology, the mouse model of prediabetes treated with Huangjing Qianshi Decoction was sequenced to explore the possible mechanism of treating prediabetes. First of all, transcriptome sequencing was performed on the normal BKS-DB mouse group, the prediabetic model group, and the Huangjing Qianshi Decoction treatment group(treatment group) to obtain differentially expressed genes in the skeletal muscle samples of mice. The serum biochemical indexes were detected in each group to screen out the core genes of Huangjing Qianshi Decoction in prediabetes. Gene Ontology(GO) database and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) database were used to conduct signaling pathway enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes, and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR) was used to verify them. The results showed that the levels of fasting blood glucose(FBG), fasting insulin(FINS), insulin resistance index(HOMA-IR), total cholesterol(TC), triglycerides(TG), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C) in the mouse model were significantly decreased after treatment with Huangjing Qianshi Decoction. In the results of differential gene screening, there were 1 666 differentially expressed genes in the model group as compared with the normal group, and there were 971 differentially expressed genes in the treatment group as compared with the model group. Among them, interleukin-6(IL-6) and NR3C2 genes, which were closely related to the regulation of insulin resis-tance function, were significantly up-regulated between the model group and the normal group, and vascular endothelial growth factor A(VEGFA) genes were significantly down-regulated between the model group and the normal group. However, the expression results of IL-6, NR3C2, and VEGFA genes were adverse between the treatment group and the model group. GO functional enrichment analysis found that the biological process annotation mainly focused on cell synthesis, cycle, and metabolism; cell component annotation mainly focused on organelles and internal components; and molecular function annotation mainly focused on binding molecular functions. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis found that it involved the protein tyrosine kinase 6(PTK6) pathway, CD28-dependent phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B(PI3K/AKT) pathway, p53 pathway, etc. Therefore, Huangjing Qianshi Decoction can improve the state of prediabetes, and the mechanism may be related to cell cycle and apoptosis, PI3K/AKT pathway, p53 pathway, and other biological pathways regulated by IL-6, NR3C2, and VEGFA.

Linderae Radix water extract treats diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome in rats: a serum metabolomics study / 中国中药杂志

This study aims to investigate the mechanism of Linderae Radix water extract(LRWE) in the prevention and treatment of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome(IBS-D) based on serum metabolomics. Eighteen 2-week-old male SD rats were randomized into control, IBS-D model, and LRWE groups. The rats in other groups except the control group received gavage of senna concentrate combined with restraint stress for the modeling of IBS-D. The rats in the LRWE group were administrated with LRWE(5.4 g·kg~(-1)) by gavage, and those in the control and IBS-D model groups with an equal volume of distilled water for a total of 14 days. The visceral sensitivity was evaluated by the abdominal withdrawal reflex(AWR) score, and the degree of diarrhea was assessed by the fecal water content(FWC). The morphological changes of the colon and the morphology and number of goblet cells were observed by hematoxylin-eosin(HE) and periodic acid-schiff(PAS) staining, respectively. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS) was used for the screening of the potential biomarkers in the rat serum and their related metabolic pathways. The results showed that LRWE reduced the AWR score, decreased FWC, and alleviated visceral sensitivity and diarrhea symptoms in IBS-D rats. HE and PAS staining showed that LRWE mitigated low-grade intestinal inflammation and increased the number of mature secretory goblet cells in the colonic epithelium of IBS-D rats. A total of 25 potential biomarkers of LRWE in treating IBS-D were screened out in this study, which were mainly involved in riboflavin, tryptophan, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, and cysteine and methionine metabolism. The regulatory effects were the most significant on the riboflavin and tryptophan metabolism pathways. LRWE may alleviate the visceral hypersensitivity by promoting energy metabolism and amino acid metabolism, enhancing intestinal barrier function, and improving intestinal immune function in IBS-D rats.

Effectiveness of sagittal top compression reduction technique in treatment of thoracolumbar vertebral fractures / 中国修复重建外科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the effectiveness of sagittal top compression reduction technique in the treatment of thoracolumbar vertebral fractures.@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 59 patients with thoracolumbar vertebral fractures who met the selection criteria and were admitted between November 2018 and January 2022. Among them, 34 patients were treated with sagittal top compression reduction technique (top pressure group), and 25 patients were treated with traditional reduction technique (traditional group). There was no significant difference in baseline data between the two groups ( P>0.05), including gender, age, fracture segment, cause of injury, AO classification of thoracolumbar vertebral fractures, thoracolumbar injury classification and severity (TLICS) score, American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) grading, surgical approach, preoperative vertebral body index, height ratio of the anterior margin of injured vertebra, injured vertebra angle, segmental kyphosis angle, visual analogue scale (VAS) score, and Oswestry disability index (ODI). The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, and incidence of complications between the two groups were recorded and compared. After operation, VAS score and ODI were used to evaluate effectiveness, and X-ray and CT examinations were performed to measure imaging indicators such as vertebral body index, height ratio of the anterior margin of injured vertebra, injured vertebra angle, and segmental kyphosis angle.@*RESULTS@#There was no significant difference in operation time and intraoperative blood loss between the two groups ( P>0.05). No complication such as dural sac, nerve root, or vascular injury was found during operation, and all incisions healed by first intention. Patients in both groups were followed up 6-48 months, with an average of 20.6 months. No loosening, breakage, or failure of internal fixation occurred during follow-up. The imaging indicators, VAS score, and ODI of the two groups significantly improved at 1 week and last follow-up when compared to preoperative ones ( P<0.05). At last follow-up, the VAS score and ODI further significantly improved when compared to 1 week after operation ( P<0.05). At 1 week after operation and last follow-up, the vertebral body index, segmental kyphosis angle, injured vertebra angle, and ODI in the top pressure group were significantly better than those in the traditional group ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference in VAS score and height ratio of the anterior margin of injured vertebra between the two groups at 1 week after operation ( P>0.05), but the two indicators in the top pressure group were significantly better than those in the traditional group at last follow-up ( P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#The treatment of thoracolumbar vertebral fractures with sagittal top compression reduction technique can significantly improve the quality of vertebral reduction, and is superior to traditional reduction techniques in relieving pain and improving spinal function.

The application of the Chinese version of the European quality of life five-dimension scale in China / 中国医师进修杂志

This paper introduces the composition of the Chinese version of the European quality of life five-dimension scale (EQ-5D), including two different level scales, EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L, and summarizes the status quo of the application of the above scales. This paper sorts out the utility value sets of the EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L scales currently developed based on the Chinese population, and provide an important reference for Chinese researchers to choose suitable scales for research on health-related quality of life and health economics cost-utility analysis in the future.

Composition-dependent photoconductivities in indium aluminium nitride nanorods grown by magnetron sputter epitaxy.

Photoconduction (PC) properties were investigated for ternary indium aluminium nitride (In x Al1-x N) nanorods (NRs) with different indium compositions (x) from 0.35 to 0.68, as grown by direct-current reactive magnetron sputter epitaxy. Cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) reveals single-crystal quality of the vertically aligned In x Al1-x N NRs. Single-rod photodetector devices with good ohmic contacts were fabricated using the focused-ion-beam technique (FIB), where the In-rich In0.68Al0.32N NR exhibits an optimal photocurrent responsivity of 1400 A W-1 and photoconductive gain of 3300. A transition from a positive photoresponse to a negative photoresponse was observed, while increasing the In composition x from 0.35 to 0.57. The negative PC was further enhanced by increasing x to 0.68. A model based on the coexistence and competition of deep electron trap states and recombination centers was proposed to explain the interesting composition-dependent PC in these ternary III-nitride 1D nanostructures.

[Heavy Metal Pollution Characteristics and Risk Assessment of Golden Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) Habitat in Shennongjia Mountains].

The golden snub-nosed monkey is one of the most endangered animal species endemic to China. In order to explore the characteristics and health risks of golden snub-nosed monkeys exposed to heavy metals, we collected the plant food sources, soil, and water samples from the golden snub-nosed monkey habitat in the Shennongjia Mountains; examined the contents of seven heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, and As); and adopted the comprehensive pollution index, potential ecological risk index, and Nemerow index to evaluate pollutants in the water, soil, and food plants. At the same time, the Target Hazard Quotient method was used to assess heavy metals in the food plants. The results showed that the heavy metal concentration of the habitat water was 0.004-1.220 µg·L-1. The water comprehensive pollution index showed that the habitat water was safe. In addition, the ω(Cd)(0.162-0.822 mg·kg-1) in the soil was 2.71 times the background value of the soil in Hubei province, indicating a moderate risk of ecological harm. The over-standard rates of Pb, Cd, Cr, and Ni in food plants were 29%, 29%, 18%, and 35%, respectively; the pollution indexes of lichen and bark were 6.038 and 7.709, which were at a heavy pollution level; and the pollution indexes of Abies fragesii and Vicia cracca were 2.716 and 2.034, which indicated a moderately polluted level. The rest of the plants were at a safe level. Our health risk analysis showed that the risk of lichen and bark were higher than that of leaves, followed by fruits. Among the seven metals, As most threatened the health of the golden snub-nosed monkeys (THQ>1). In general, heavy metals had polluted the habitats of the golden snub-nosed monkeys in the Shennongjia Mountains, and we are certain that the heavy metal pollution was associated with human activities. Thus, human activities in the Shennongjia Mountains should be reasonably restricted in the future. Our results can provide scientific support for the population conservation of golden snub-nosed monkeys in China and provide research samples in the health risk valuation of heavy metals in endangered animals through food plants.