Association between medical resources and the proportion of oldest-old in the Chinese population.

The potential association between medical resources and the proportion of oldest-old (90 years of age and above) in the Chinese population was examined, and we found that the higher proportion of oldest-old was associated with the higher number of beds in hospitals and health centers.

Short-term exposure to air pollution and occurrence of emergency stroke in Chongqing, China.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to study the relationship between air pollution and stroke (especially emergency stroke) in different regions and determine which air pollutant is the most significantly associated with stroke. METHODS: The number of patients with emergency stroke, air pollutant data and related meteorological indicators were collected from December 2013 to May 2018 for large comprehensive hospitals in Chongqing. The generalized additive model was used to analyse the relationship between air pollution and emergency stroke. RESULTS: After analysis and adjusting for meteorological indicators and day-of-the-week effects, in the one-pollutant model, every 10 µg/m3 increase in ozone(O3) was associated with a 2.482% (95% CI 1.044%, 3.919%) change in emergency strokes within lag0. For males, every 10 µg/m3 increase of O3 contributed to a 0.77% percent greater change compared with females. For the group younger than 60 years, we observed a 1.14% increase in risk with every 10 µg/m3 increase in O3. The group with pre-existing hypertension had a 0.26% higher risk than the group with no pre-existing hypertension with every 10 µg/m3 increase in O3. In two-pollutant model, when O3 was combined with a 10 µg/m3 increase of NO2, it increased the most significant risk of emergency stroke by 0.22%. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that short-term exposure to O3 within 0 days is associated with emergency outpatient strokes, and younger people (age < 60 years) males and people with hypertension are more sensitive than older people, females and people without pre-existing hypertension.

Identification of G2/M phase transition by sequential nuclear and cytoplasmic changes and molecular markers in mice intestinal epithelial cells.

Although the regulatory network of G2/M phase transition has been intensively studied in mammalian cell lines, the identification of morphological and molecular markers to identify G2/M phase transition in vivo remains elusive. In this study, we found no obvious morphological changes between the S phase and G2 phase in mice intestinal epithelial cells. The G2 phase could be identified by Brdu incorporation resistance, marginal and scattered foci of histone H3 phosphorylated at Ser10 (pHH3), and relatively intact Golgi ribbon. Prophase starts with nuclear transformation in situ, which was identified by a series of prophase markers including nuclear translocation of cyclinB1, fragmentation of the Golgi complex, and a significant increase in pHH3. The nucleus started to move upwards in the late prophase and finally rounded up at the apical surface. Then, metaphase was initiated as the level of pHH3 peaked. During anaphase and telophase, pHH3 sharply decreased, while Ki67 was obviously bound to chromosomes, and PCNA was distributed throughout the whole cell. Based on the aforementioned markers and Brdu pulse labeling, it was estimated to take about one hour for most crypt cells to go through the G2 phase and about two hours to go through the G2-M phase. It took much longer for crypt base columnar (CBC) stem cells to undergo G2-prophase than rapid transit amplifying cells. In summary, a series of sequentially presenting markers could be used to indicate the progress of G2/M events in intestinal epithelial cells and other epithelial systems in vivo.