Self-esteem mediates the relationship between physical activity and smartphone addiction of Chinese college students: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: Smartphone addiction, as a key topic in the current field of behavioral addictions and public health, has brought many negative impacts on the physical, psychological, interpersonal communication, and even academic performance among contemporary college students. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to offer ideas for solving smartphone addiction among college students through investigating the potential mediating effect of self-esteem in the relationship between physical activity and smartphone addiction. Methods: By the quota sampling, a cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate 650 college students from 10 colleges in Guangzhou Higher Mega Center, and several self-reported instruments including physical activity rating scale-3 (PARS-3), mobile phone addiction tendency scale (MPATS), self-esteem scale (SES) were used to collect the related data needed for the present study. The descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, and mediating effect analysis in this study were performed in turn. Results: The results showed that physical activity (r = -0.124, p < 0.01) and self-esteem (r = -0.360, p < 0.01) were all negatively correlated with smartphone addiction, and both could also significantly and negatively predict smartphone addiction. There was a positive correlation between physical activity and self-esteem (r = 0.084, p < 0.05), and self-esteem could be significantly predicted by physical activity. And more important, the relationship between physical activity and smartphone addiction could be partially mediated by self-esteem, and the indirect effect value was -0.346 (95% Boot CI = -0.695; -0.023), along with the mediating effect accounted for 24% of the total effect between physical activity and smartphone addiction. Conclusion: The current study shows that physical activity could not only directly reduce smartphone addiction, but also decrease smartphone addiction by indirectly improving self-esteem, which is important in practice for solving this troublesome issue and then gradually developing a healthy behavior in daily life for college students in China, and even across the world in near future.

The Influence of Acute Aerobic Exercise on Craving Degree for University Students with Mobile Phone Dependency: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

These days, mobile phone dependency (MPD) has become one of the most imperative and impressive puzzles in the area of behavioral addictions and public health across the world, especially the individuals with MPD that might frequently crave using mobile phones themselves. The target of the current study was to determine whether moderate-intensity aerobic exercise could reduce the craving degree for mobile phones for university students with MPD by a randomized, controlled trial. Sixty Chinese undergraduates, including 30 male and 30 female students aged from 18 to 22 years (20.08 ± 1.94 years) with MPD were recruited and then randomly assigned to the exercise group (n = 30) or the control group (n = 30) with even numbers by gender and major. Participants in the exercise group were required to perform an acute moderate-intensity treadmill exercise lasting for 30 min at 45−68% heart rate reserve (HRR) with background music, while the control group were only asked to listen to the same music for 40 min without any exercise. Sport watches were employed to monitor their heart rate (HR), and the exercise group was also obliged to report their rating of perceived exertion (RPE). After completing the experimental task, a visual analog scale (VAS) was used to evaluate their craving degree for mobile phones, and an independent samples t-test was computed to reveal the difference in the scores of craving degree for mobile phones between the two groups. The results showed that the VAS score for the exercise group (3.77 ± 1.36) was significantly lower (p < 0.001) than that of the control group (6.11 ± 1.39). The findings suggested that acute moderate-intensity aerobic exercise could be an effective and reliable means to help deal with the issue of mobile phones craving for the undergraduates with MPD, and more longitudinal intervention studies and control trial designs should be conducted in the near future to further test the long-term effects of this exercise.

Derived regional soil-environmental quality criteria of metals based on Anhui soil-crop systems at the regulated level.

Anhui province is a big agricultural province in China with regional heterogeneity, but there is still a lack of its regional soil-environmental quality standard for food safety and agricultural land protection. Herein, we collected 42 typical soil samples and 125 crop samples (roots, shoots and grains of wheat and rape) in the typical regions of northern, middle and southern Anhui province, and derived the regional criteria based on the current levels of eight metals (Cd, Cr, As, Pb, Hg, Cu, Zn, and Ni) as the basic items. Results showed that the metal concentrations in soil and crop samples varied with different Anhui regions and soil-crop systems. It was observed that there exists slight or moderate soil pollution (0.77-2.67), significantly higher concentrations (P < 0.05) in rape soils, generally higher concentrations (P > 0.05) in wheats, highest bioconcentration factor (BCF) in roots (0-9.570), and higher (P > 0.05) metal concentrations in the crops of southern and middle areas. The calculated regional soil-environmental quality criteria for Anhui province provided a new insight on developing regional soil-environmental quality criteria, which varied with different Anhui regions, and were ≥0.13-times lower than the screening values, except for Cd in the southern rape soil (0.351 mg/kg), but were generally higher for rape soils, except for Zn and As.

[Current status and research advances of late spring coldness in wheat]. / å°éº¦å€’æ˜¥å¯’ç ”ç©¶çŽ°çŠ¶ä¸Žè¿›å±•.

Low temperature disasters in wheat occur frequently in recent years, due to global warming. Late spring coldness in wheat during jointing-booting stage is one of the important factors limiting the yield and quality of wheat. Here, we summarized the occurrence characteristics (identification, classification, and space-time characteristics) of late spring coldness in wheat, and the effects of late spring coldness on physiological characteristics (leaf, stem, spike, and root), yield and quality of wheat. Furthermore, we reviewed the research progresses on the breeding of late spring coldness tolerant wheat, molecular biology mechanism, the monitoring, early warning and risk assessment of late spring coldness. Finally, future research work on genetic basis of wheat resistance to late spring coldness, evaluation system for wheat damaged by late spring coldness, prevention and control technology system were prospected to provide a theoretical basis for genetic improvement and new cultivation regulation measures of the resistance of wheat varieties to late spring coldness.

An insertion variant of MGMT disrupts a STAT1 binding site and confers susceptibility to glioma.

BACKGROUND: O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is a pivotal enzyme for repairing DNA alkylation damage. Epigenetic modification of MGMT has been well known as a promising prognostic biomarker for glioma. However, the significance of genetic variations of MGMT in glioma carcinogenesis has not been fully elucidated. METHODS: The associations between expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) of MGMT and glioma susceptibility were evaluated in a case-control study of 1056 individuals. The function of susceptibility locus for glioma was explored with a set of biochemical assays, including luciferase reporter gene, EMSA and supershift EMSA, ChIP, and siRNA knockdown. RESULTS: We found that rs11016798 TT genotype was associated with a significantly decreased risk of glioma (OR = 0.57, 95% CI 0.39-0.85; P = 0.006). Stratification analyses indicated that the association between rs11016798 and glioma was more pronounced in males (OR = 0.62, 95% CI 0.40-0.97; P = 0.035), older subjects (OR = 0.46, 95% CI 0.27-0.80; P = 0.006), WHO grade IV glioma (OR = 0.58, 95% CI 0.35-0.96; P = 0.033), and IDH wildtype glioma (OR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.21-0.88; P = 0.022). We characterized an insertion variant rs10659396 in the upstream of MGMT as a causative variant. The risk allele rs10659396 ins allele was demonstrated to downregulate MGMT expression by disrupting a STAT1 binding site. Knockdown of STAT1 remarkably attenuated MGMT expression. Moreover, the rs10659396 allele-specific positive correlation was observed between the expression of STAT1 and MGMT in population. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrates that an insertion variant of MGMT rs10659396 confers susceptibility to glioma by downregulating MGMT expression through disrupting a STAT1 binding site.

Effects of bisoprolol in combination with trimetazidine on the treatment of heart failure and concomitant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of bisoprolol combined with trimetazidine on the treatment of heart failure patients having concomitant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); in comparison with control group treated with standard therapy only. METHODS: A total of 120 heart failure patients having concomitant COPD were selected and randomly divided into a control group and a treatment group according to different treatment methods (n=60). The control group was given continuous low flow oxygen inhalation and inotropic agents, and their cardiac stress was also reduced. The treatment group was treated with bisoprolol fumarate and trimetazidine in addition to treatment for COPD. For all patients, blood gas analysis and parameters reflecting cardiac function were measured respectively before and after treatment. The respiratory symptoms (cough, sputum, polypnea, gasp, dyspnea), limitation of motion (daily life, household duties, entertainment, sports), disease impacts (social contact, emotion, anxiety) and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) total scores were observed using SGRQ. RESULTS: The oxygen partial pressure (PaO2) and partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) of the treatment group after treatment were significantly different from those before treatment. After treatment, peak E, E/A and IVEF were increased by 41%, 44% and 16% respectively, but peak A, LVPWT/mm and IVST/mm were significantly reduced. The differences in the respiratory symptoms, limitation of motion, disease impacts and SGRQ total scores were statistically significant compared with those before treatment (P<0.05) and those of the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Combining bisoprolol with trimetazidine in the treatment of heart failure complicating COPD can effectively improve blood gas indices, left ventricular systolic and diastolic functions and the quality of life, thereby alleviating clinical symptoms.

Applications of in vivo and in vitro solid-phase microextraction techniques in plant analysis: A review.

As a very popular sample preparation technique, solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with various analytical instrumentation, has been widely used for the determination of trace levels of different plant compounds, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the different plant organs, and environmental contaminants in plants. In this review, recent applications of in vitro and in vivo SPME in plant analysis are discussed and summarized according to the different organs of plants, including fruits, flowers, leaves, stems, roots and seeds, and the whole plant as well. Future developments and applications of SPME in plant analysis, especially in vivo sampling approaches, are also prospected.

Highly efficient synthesis of heterocyclic and alicyclic ß2-amino acid derivatives by catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation.

A valuable class of new heterocyclic and alicyclic prochiral α-aminomethylacrylates has been conveniently synthesized through a three-step transformation involving a Baylis-Hillman reaction, O-acetylation, and a subsequent allylic amination. The corresponding novel ß(2)-amino acid derivatives were prepared with excellent enantioselectivities and high yields by catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation using the catalyst rhodium(Et-Duphos) (Et-Duphos = 2',5',2'',5''-tetraethyl-1,2-bis(phospholanyl)benzene)) under mild reaction conditions (up to 99 % ee and S/C = 1000). The influence of the substrate on the enantioselectivity and reactivity is investigated, and the most suitable substrate configuration for the highly efficient enantioselective hydrogenation of ß-substituted α-aminomethylacrylates under the Rh-Duphos system is reported. The current protocol provides a very practical, facile, and scalable method for the preparation of heterocyclic and alicyclic ß(2)-amino acids and their derivatives.

Preparation of graphene-coated solid-phase microextraction fiber and its application on organochlorine pesticides determination.

The coating material determines the sensitivity and selectivity of solid-phase microextraction (SPME). Graphene is predicted to have remarkable properties, such as high thermal conductivity, superior mechanical properties, excellent electronic transport properties and good extraction ability. In this work we immobilized the graphene onto a stainless steel wire to obtain a novel SPME coating based on sol-gel technique. The new fiber possessed a homogeneous, porous surface and showed excellent thermal and solvent stability. Under the optimized conditions, its extraction efficiencies for seven organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were higher than those of two commercial fibers (PDMS, 85µm; PDMS/DVB, 65µm). Using the self-made sol-gel-graphene SPME fiber, the limits of detections for seven OCPs were found to be ranged from 0.19ngL(-1) (o,p-DDT) to 18.3ngL(-1) (heptachlor). The repeatabilities for each single fiber were evaluated and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranged from 4.7% to 10.6%. The reproducibilities of fiber-to-fiber were 2.3-13.6%. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of OCPs in rainwater. Hexachlorobenzene (62.7ng/L), trans-chlordance (79.6ng/L) and p,p-DDT (9.30ng/L) were detected. The relative recoveries ranged from 77.7% to 120%.