Neighborhood effects on the health of elderly persons: evidence from China.

BACKGROUND: Presently, global aging has become increasingly serious, whereas the health concerns brought by aging have become a public issue that warrants an urgent solution from all countries across the world. Therefore, this research paper discusses the influence of neighborhood health on elderly individuals' health, and extending a realistic basis for the other economies to improve the neighborhood environment and promote the health of the elderly. METHODS: Based on the data of CHARLS2018, this research paper adopts the samples that fulfill the study requirements (N = 7326). we constructed a comprehensive research framework integrating oprobit regression model, heterogeneity analysis, conditional mixed process(CMP)robustness testing, Furthermore, the KHB decomposition method is implemented to ascertain the influential mechanism of NMH and NPH on the mental- and physical health of elderly persons. RESULTS: The oprobit regression model analysis indicates that NMH 0.434 and NPH 0.550 exert positive influences on the elderly's mental- and physical health. Meanwhile, the effects of conditional mixed process on NMH and NPH stand at 0.381 and4.372, which are different from the oprobit regression results; thereby, indicating the existence of endogeneity. Afterward, KHB mediating effect confirms that Internet use, gift reciprocity, and charity activity contribute 30.21% and 16.83% to mental- and physical health, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Firstly, the NMH and NPH demonstrate a positive influence on the mental- and physical health of the elder population. However, there exist heterogeneous differences. Secondly, the conditional mixed process deals with the endogeneity of NMH and NPH. Thirdly, social integration, social interaction, and social engagement serve as significant transmission mechanisms for the influences of NMH and NPH on the health of elderly persons.

Rapid and Visual Detection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Aquatic Foods Using blaCARB-17 Gene-Based Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification with Lateral Flow Dipstick (LAMP-LFD).

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is recognized as one of the most important foodborne pathogens responsible for gastroenteritis in humans. The blaCARB-17 gene is an intrinsic ß-lactamase gene and a novel species-specific genetic marker of V. parahaemolyticus. In this study, a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay combined with a lateral flow dipstick (LFD) was developed targeting this blaCARB-17 gene. The specificity of LAMP-LFD was ascertained by detecting V. parahaemolyticus ATCC 17802 and seven other non-V. parahaemolyticus strains. Finally, the practicability of LAMP-LFD was confirmed by detection with V. parahaemolyticus-contaminated samples and natural food samples. The results showed that the optimized reaction parameters of LAMP are as follows: 2.4 mmol/l Mg2+, 0.96 mmol/l dNTPs, 4.8 U Bst DNA polymerase, and an 8:1 ratio of inner primer to outer primer, at 63°C for 40 min. The optimized reaction time of the LFD assay is 60 min. Cross-reactivity analysis with the seven non-V. parahaemolyticus strains showed that LAMP-LFD was exclusively specific for V. parahaemolyticus. The detection limit of LAMP-LFD for V. parahaemolyticus genomic DNA was 2.1 × 10-4 ng/µl, corresponding to 630 fg/reaction and displaying a sensitivity that is 100-fold higher than that of conventional PCR. LAMP-LFD in a spiking study revealed a detection limit of approximately 6 CFU/ml, which was similar with conventional PCR. The developed LAMP-LFD specifically identified the 10 V. parahaemolyticus isolates from 30 seafood samples, suggesting that this LAMP-LFD may be a suitable diagnostic method for detecting V. parahaemolyticus in aquatic foods.

Monitoring and analysis of total α and total β levels in drinking water around Qinshan Nuclear Power Plsnt in 2018 / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective To ascertain the background levels of total α and total β radioactivity in drinking water around Qianshan Nuclear Power Plant (QNPP). Methods Under the National Health and Wellness Committee′s program, 11 monitoring points within 30 km of QNPP were selected in Haiyan County in 2018. The samples of raw water, factory water and tap water were collected in the first half and the second half of the year, respectively, and determined and analyzed according to Standard Examination Methods for Drinking Water - Radiological Parameters (GB/T 5750.13-2006). The total α and total βlevels in the tested drinking water were evaluated under the Standards for Drinking Water Quality ( GB 5749-2006) . Results A total of 22 water samples were collected from 11 sampling points in April and September 2018, respectively. The residue rate obtained after drinking water was dried varied, dependent on different types of water, which could be up to 0.0337％. The total α levels in different types of water ranged from 0.008 to 0.04 Bq/L, averaged on (0.015±0.009) Bq/L, whereas the total β levels ranged from 0.014 to 0. 320 Bq/L with an average of ( 0. 188 ± 0. 068) Bq/L. There was statistically significant difference in totalαlevels between raw water and factory water ( Z=-2.286, P<0.05) , without statistically significant difference between residue rate and totalαand totalβlevels ( P>0.05) . The background levels of total α and total β radioactivity in 93 drinking water samples in 2016 and 2017 were also investigated, combined with a total of 115 water samples from different water bodies in 2018. There was statistically significant difference in total α and total β levels in tap water between 2017—2016 and 2018 ( Z=-2.976, -2.031, P<0.05), between 2016 and 2017 (Z=-2.042, -3.214, P<0.05) and between 2017 and 2018 (Z=-20. 112, -2.511, P<0.05). Conclusions The operation of nuclear power plant has no impact on radioactivity level in drinking water around QNPP. The drinking water around QNPP is safe.

Investigation and analysis of resource allocation for diagnostic radiology/radiotherapy and radiation protection in Jiaxing city / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective To analyze the diagnostic radiology equipment number,radiological staff structure,protection allocated at the medical institutes in Jiaxing city,with the purpose to provide basic data for the further optimization of resource allocation.Methods As required by the national radiation health monitoring program and using the stratified random sampling method,a total of 111 hospitals at grades Ⅲ,Ⅱ,Ⅰand other types were used to select 50％radiological institutions in Jiaxing.Unified questionnaires were used to investigate the basic situation in these hospitals,such as diagnostic radiology equipment,configurable protection equipment,radiation worker number and diagnostic frequency.Results The hospital number at grades Ⅲ,Ⅱ,Ⅰand other types accounted separately for 13.5％,21.6％,46.9％and 18.0％of the total.The equipment numbers for radiotherapy,nuclear medicine,interventional radiology and X-ray imaging at grade Ⅲ hospitals accounted for 100％,100％,57.9％and 38.0％,respectively,significantly higher than others.The numbers of conventional photofluorography and fluoroscopy equipment at grades Ⅰhospitals accounted for 34.2％and 50％,slightly higher than others ;CT and mammography devices were distributed at the grades ⅡandⅢhospitals.The frequencies at X-ray diagnosis,CT diagnosis and interventional therapy and diagnosis,radiotherapy,and nuclear medicine diagnosis and therapy were 178.9,157.5,3.1,1.5,2.2 and 0.1 per thousand person-year in Nanhu district,which were higher than in the other areas of Jiaxing city.Conclusions Grade Ⅲhospitals have more diagnostic radiology devices and radiation workers than in non-grade-Ⅲ hospitals.These hospitals were all equipped with adequate amount of protection equipment.The frequency of diagnostic radiology in Nanhu district hospital was significantly higher than that in other district hospitals.

[Sited-directed mutagenesis of hCu, Zn-SOD gene and its expression in Synechococcus sp. PCC7942].

The Cys111 genetic code of human copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (hCu, Zn-SOD) gene in the pESOD plamid was mutated into the Ala111 code with site-directed mutagenesis, and then the plamid pESODT111 which contained groESL promoter, mutated hCu, Zn-SOD gene, rbcS-polyA terminator and reporter gene (Kanr) was constructed and transduced into Synechococcus sp. PCC7942 with homologous recombination platform. The results of PCR and DNA sequence analysis showed that the target nucleotide had been genetically integrated into genome DNA of the host cell. SDS-PAGE, Western blot and Pyrogallol autoxidation assay confirmed that the transformant strains expressed the mutated hCu, Zn-SOD protein. And the level of the mutated hCu, Zn-SOD protein reached a value of 3.61% of the total soluble protein. Furthermore, the transformants still retained 95% activities of SOD after 30 minutes at 80 degrees C environment, it indicated that the mutated hCu, Zn-SOD protein could endure higher temperature than the natural one.