Effect of health rights accessibility on the urban integration of minority rural migrants in China: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Accessing health rights is an integral component of people's aspirations for a better life. Existing discussions and evaluations regarding the accessibility of health rights for minority rural migrants are insufficient. In comparison to objective health conditions, inequalities in health rights lead to chronic and long-term depletion of human capital among minority rural migrants. This study aimed to assess the overall impact, heterogeneity effects, and mechanisms of health rights accessibility on the urban integration of minority rural migrants. METHODS: Based on the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey Data (CMDS), this study employs OLS models, 2SLS models, conditional mixed process (CMP) methods, and omitted variable tests to estimate the impact of health rights accessibility on the urban integration of minority rural migrants. Additionally, from the perspectives of migration scope and illness experience, this study explored the heterogeneity in the relationship between health rights accessibility and urban integration. Finally, using the Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) model, this study dissects the mechanisms through which health rights accessibility influences the urban integration of minority rural migrants. RESULTS: Health rights accessibility significantly enhances the urban integration of minority rural migrants. Moreover, compared to minority rural migrants who move across provinces and who have no history of illness, those who migrate within the same province and who have experienced illness are more sensitive to the positive impact of health rights accessibility. However, the enhancing effect of health rights accessibility does not significantly differ between the new and old generations of minority rural migrants. Furthermore, health rights accessibility can indirectly improve the urban integration of minority rural migrants by elevating health levels, improving health habits, and reinforcing health behaviors. Among these, the indirect effects mediated by health habits are more pronounced. CONCLUSION: The research conclusions underscore the issue of health accessibility and urban integration among minority rural migrants, providing a reexamination and clarification of the policy effects of health rights in promoting the urban integration of minority rural migrants. Relevant policy design should commence with improving the health rights of minority rural migrants, enhancing their health integration capabilities, and effectively boosting their ability to integrate into urban life.

How does choice of residential community affect the social integration of rural migrants: insights from China.

The construction of public space is a new and important way to integrate rural migrants into urban society. Existing studies mainly discussed the factors affecting the social integration of rural migrants from the micro-individual and macro-system levels. Still, they seldom analyzed the differences between rural migrants' residential communities and the roles these differences play in their social integration, especially from the perspective of residential space. Based on the data of the 2014 China Migrants Dynamic Monitoring Survey, this paper systematically examines the impact of residential community selection on the social integration of rural migrants and its possible effects using OLS, 2SLS, CMP, omitted variable test method, and KHB mediating effect model. It is found that the choice of residential community has a significant positive impact on the social integration of rural migrants, and the social integration of rural migrants living in formal communities has increased by 2.44%-3.20%. To overcome the potential endogeneity problems and selection bias of the empirical model, the study further adopted an instrumental variable estimation approach, combined with the omitted variable method for robustness check; the results still revealed the positive effect of living in formal communities on the social integration of rural migrants. The heterogeneous results showed that living in formal communities has a greater effect on the social integration of women and older-generation rural migrants. The farther the migration range and the longer the residence time of rural migrants, the greater the effect of living in the formal community on their social integration. Further mechanism testing revealed that living in formal communities not only directly enhances the social integration of rural migrants but also indirectly improves their social integration through public resource allocation, human capital accumulation, social status screening, and social network expansion. The indirect effect of capital accumulation is even greater. Therefore, to accelerate the full integration of rural migrants into urban society and achieve real urbanization and citizenship, the study proposes that the government should scientifically plan the layout of rural migrants' living space and the construction of supporting facilities.

Propofol inhibits the proliferation, invasion, migration, and angiogenesis of oral squamous cell carcinoma through circ_0008898-mediated pathway.

Propofol has been shown to inhibit oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) progression. However, it is not clear whether propofol mediates OSCC progression through regulating circular RNA (circRNA) network. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect circ_0008898, miR-545-3p, and CT10 regulator of kinase-like protein (CRKL) expression. Cell functions were determined using CCK8 assay, Edu staining, MTT assay, transwell assay, wound healing assay, tube formation assay, and flow cytometry. Protein levels were examined by western blot analysis. RNA interaction was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay and RIP assay. Our data showed that propofol repressed OSCC cell proliferation, invasion, migration, angiogenesis, and promoted apoptosis. circ_0008898 was highly expressed in OSCC, and its expression could be decreased by propofol. circ_0008898 silencing aggravated the suppressive effect of propofol on OSCC progression. In the mechanism, circ_0008898 could target miR-545-3p to positively regulate CRKL. MiR-545-3p inhibitor abolished the regulation of circ_0008898 silencing on propofol-mediated OSCC cell progression. MiR-545-3p inhibited the progression of propofol-treated OSCC cells, and this effect was reversed by CRKL overexpression. Also, circ_0008898 knockdown reduced OSCC tumor growth by regulating miR-545-3p/CRKL. In conclusion, propofol suppressed OSCC progression, which was achieved through regulating the circ_0008898/miR-545-3p/CRKL axis.

The effect of haze pollution on rural-to-urban migrants' long-term residence intentions.

Severe haze pollution in China threatens human health, and its negative effect hampers rural-to-urban migrants' settlement intentions in destination cities. Using the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey Data (CMDS), the satellite data of PM2.5, and city-level data, this study investigates the impact of haze pollution on rural migrants, long-term residence intentions in Chinese context with IV-probit model, and mediating effect model. Overall, we find an inverted U-shaped relationship between the level of haze pollutants and rural migrants' long-term settlement intentions. Robustness check using multi-measures and thermal inversion as the instrumental variable supports this conclusion. The mediating effect model shows haze pollution plays its role through two opposite mechanisms: signal effect and health effect. When the size of signal effect is larger than health effect, rural migrants are inclined to settle down in their host cities; otherwise, they show lower settlement willingness. The turning point appears when PM2.5 concentration reaches 38.5 µg/m3; migrants have the highest long-term residence intentions. Currently, the national average PM2.5 concentration is 40.98 µg/m3, indicating that China is at the stage where the health effect of haze pollution holds a dominant position. Haze pollution has heterogeneous impacts on migrants' residence intentions. From the individual level, the younger generation, female, and higher-educated migrants have a higher tolerance for polluted air. From the city level, migrants who work in the city with 5 to 10 million dwellers have the highest long-term residence intention and are less sensitive to haze pollution. Thus, we propose stringent environmental regulations and more inclined public service policies to migrants.

Dialect culture and the utilization of public health service by rural migrants: Insights from China.

The right to health is a fundamental human right for human beings to live in dignity. Everyone has the right to enjoy the fair and accessible highest standard of health by utilizing public health services. However, access to essential public health services also highly depends on the dialect culture. It is believed that the dialect culture also influences the efficiency of public health policies. To explore the phenomenon empirically, the current study utilized data sourced from geographical distribution information of Chinese dialects and the China Migrants Dynamic Survey for 2017. The study employed the Probit, IVprobit, and Eprobit models to estimate the impact of dialect culture on migrants' use of public health services. The findings revealed that the dialect culture significantly hinders the migrants' utilization of public health services. Further, by employing heterogeneity analysis, the findings revealed that the results are more pronounced in migrants, born after 1980, and are female with low educational background and also those migrants having local medical experiences and moving toward non-provincial cities. Finally to explore the mechanism of dialect culture influencing migrants' public health service, the study employed mediation analysis and KHB Method. The findings revealed that information transmission, health habits, social capital, and cultural identity are the potential pathways influencing the migrants' use of public health services. The findings conclude that rural-to-urban migrants' access to public health services is influenced by their cultural adaptation. Hence, the study proposes that the government should amend the policy inefficiency concerns caused by cultural differences and strengthen the regional cultural exchanges to build trust.

Voting with Your Feet: The Impact of Urban Public Health Service Accessibility on the Permanent Migration Intentions of Rural Migrants in China.

The accessibility of urban public health services is not only relevant to the health status of rural migrants but also plays an increasingly important role in their migration decisions. Most existing studies have focused on the effects of the level of public health service provision and parity on rural migrants' migration behavior, ignoring the role of public health service accessibility. This paper systematically examines the overall impact, heterogeneous impact and mechanism of action of public health service accessibility on rural migrants' intentions to migrate permanently based on data from the 2017 China Mobile Population Dynamics Monitoring Survey using probit, IVprobit, eprobit, omitted variable test model and KHB mediating effect model. It was found that: (1) public health service accessibility significantly increased rural migrants' intentions to migrate permanently, and the results remained robust after using instrumental variables to mitigate endogeneity problems and omitted variable tests. (2) Heterogeneity analysis shows that public health service accessibility has a greater effect on enhancing the intentions to migrate permanently among females and rural migrants born in 1980 and later. (3) Further mechanism testing revealed that public health service accessibility could indirectly increase rural migrants' intentions to migrate permanently by improving health habits, health status, identity, and social integration, with identity playing a greater indirect effect. The findings of this paper not only provide empirical evidence for the existence of Tiebout's "voting with your feet" mechanism in China but also contribute to the scientific understanding of the role of equalization of public health services in the process of population migration.

A reaction-based ratiometric fluorescent probe for mercury ion detection in aqueous solution.

Mercury ions are crucially harmful to ecosystem and human being due to their characters of bioaccumulation and difficulty of biochemical degradation. Therefore, development of mercury ion detection methods has attracted increasing interests recently. In this study, we successfully synthesized a hydroxyphenylbenzothiazole (HBT)-based fluorescent probe HBT-Hg in an extremely simple manner for mercuric ions detection. The spectral studies revealed that the probe HBT-Hg could react with Hg2+ selectively and sensitively in PBS buffer (10 mM, pH = 7.40), showing ratiometric fluorescent changes from blue to light green. The response mechanism of the probe HBT-Hg and Hg2+ was finally confirmed by HPLC analysis, viz., the probe HBT-Hg converted to its precursor compound 1. Finally, the probe HBT-Hg was successfully applied in monitoring Hg2+ in living A549 cells.

Interferon­Î³ alters the microRNA profile of umbilical cord­derived mesenchymal stem cells.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that interferon-γ (IFN-γ) is an important inflammatory cytokine, which may activate the immunomodulatory abilities of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and may influence certain other functions of these cells. MicroRNAs are small non­coding RNAs that regulate the majority of the biological functions of cells and are important in a variety of biological processes. However, few studies have been performed to investigate whether IFN­Î³ affects the microRNA profile of MSCs. The aim of the present study was to analyze the microRNA profile of MSCs derived from the umbilical cord (UC­MSCs) cultured in the presence or absence of IFN­Î³ (IFN­UC­MSCs). An array that detects 754 microRNAs was used to determine the expression profiles. Statistical analysis of the array data revealed that 8 microRNAs were significantly differentially expressed in UC­MSCs and IFN­UC­MSCs. Reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction validated the differential expression of the 8 identified microRNAs. The target genes of the 8 microRNAs were predicted through two online databases, TargetScan and miRanda, and the predicted results were screened by bioinformatics analysis. The majority of the target genes were involved in the regulation of transcription, signal transduction, proliferation, differentiation and migration. These results may provide insight into the mechanism underlying the regulation of the biological functions of MSCs by IFN­Î³, in particular the immunomodulatory activity.

The involvement of myocyte enhancer factor 2D in regulating tumor biology of cardiac myxoma.

The pro-survival transcription factor myocyte enhancer factor 2D (MEF2D) is identified to exhibit pro-tumor effects based on clinical and experimental studies. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying IGF-1-MEF2D pathway-induced tumor biology in cardiac myxoma (CM) was not clear. Here, we investigated the role of MEF2D in CM tissues and cells using RT-PCR, western blot, gene silencing, et al. Our findings revealed MEF2D was significantly increased in CM tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues and closely related to tumor size. In vitro assay demonstrated that IGF-1 enhanced CM cell proliferation in a time-dependent fashion. However, knockdown of MEF2D reversed the IGF-1-induced proliferative effects on CM cells in a time-dependent fashion and further resulted in cell cycle arrest. Based on the molecular level, IGF-1 enhanced the expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and matrix metalloprotein 9 (MMP9) in CM cells, whereas knockdown of MEF2D was able to reduce the expression of EGFR and MMP9 compared with vector control. Furthermore, we found knockdown of MEF2D directly affected G1/S transition in cultured CM cells. In conclusion, MEF2D regulates IGF-1-induced proliferation and apoptosis in CM development, indicating IGF-1-MEF2D pathway may be a useful target for treatment.

Antimicrobial characterization of site-directed mutagenesis of porcine beta defensin 2.

Porcine ß defensin 2 (pBD2) is a small, cationic and amphiphilic antimicrobial peptide. It has broad antimicrobial activities against bacteria and plays an important role in host defense. In order to enhance its antimicrobial activity and better understand the effect of positively charged residues on its activity, we substituted eight amino acid residues with arginine or lysine respectively. All mutants were cloned and expressed in BL21 (DE3) plysS and the mutant proteins were then purified. These mutant versions had higher positive charges but similar structural configurations compared to the wild-type pBD2. Moreover, these mutant proteins showed different antimicrobial activities against E. coli and S. aureus. The mutant I4R of pBD2 had the highest antimicrobial activity. In addition, all the mutants showed low hemolytic activities. Our results indicated that the positively charged residues were not the only factor that influenced antimicrobial activity, but other factors such as distribution of these residues on the surface of defensins might also contribute to their antimicrobial potency.