[Association of menopausal specific fat distribution changes with metabolic risk factors].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of menopausal specific fat distribution with metabolic risk factors. METHODS: Two hundred Chinese women including 110 premenopausal women aged 39.7±9.2 y and 90 postmenopausal women aged 55.4±4.6 years were enrolled. Total and regional fat depots including android fat and gynoid fat were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The differences of regional fat depot between pre-and post menopausal women were compared by covariate analysis. The association of regional fat changes with metabolic risk factors were analyzed by logistic models. RESULTS: Gynoid fat was significantly decreased in postmenopausal women after accounting for total fat changes. After adjusting covariates (including age, BMI, and %BF), the inverse associations of gynoid fat with metabolic risk factors still remained (OR=1.8-3.7,P<0.05). Furthermore, the interaction between menopause and gynoid fat was significantly in all logistic models (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Android fat was increased whereas gynoid fat was decreased after menopause. Opposite to the detrimental effects of android fat, gynoid fat was inversely associated with metabolic risk factors, especially in postmenopausal women.

Spatialtemporal evolution characteristics of ozone in China and its response to urbanization.

Based on the background of urbanization in China, we used the dynamic spatial panel Durbin model to study the driving mechanism of ozone pollution empirically. We also analyzed the spatial distribution of ozone driving factors using the GTWR. The results show that: i) The average annual increase of ozone concentration in ambient air in China from 2015 to 2019 was 1.68µg/m3, and 8.39µg/m3 elevated the year 2019 compared with 2015. ii) The Moran's I value of ozone in ambient air was 0.027 in 2015 and 0.209 in 2019, showing the spatial distribution characteristics of "east heavy and west light" and "south low and north high". iii) Per capita GDP industrial structure, population density, land expansion, and urbanization rate have significant spillover effects on ozone concentration, and the regional spillover effect is greater than the local effect. R&D intensity and education level have a significant negative impact on ozone concentration. iv) There is a decreasing trend in the inhibitory effect of educational attainment and R&D intensity on ozone concentration, and an increasing trend in the promotional effect of population urbanization rate, land expansion, and economic development on ozone concentration. Empirical results suggest a twofold policy meaning: i) to explore the causes behind the distribution of ozone from the new perspective of urbanization, and to further the atmospheric environmental protection system and ii) to eliminate the adverse impacts of ozone pollution on nature and harmonious social development.

Financial development, technological innovation and urban-rural income gap: Time series evidence from China.

The main purpose of the paper is to investigate the relationship between technological innovation and income inequality for China based on the financial Kuznets curve (FKC) hypothesis. The study uses time-series data from 1985 to 2019. We employ the Johansen cointegration, ARDL model and VECM Granger causality techniques to analyze the links between the variables. We also use the DOLS, FMOLS and CCR mechanisms to estimate the long-run parameters. The paper finds that the FKC is valid for China's economy in the long run. Technological innovation positively affects the urban-rural income gap, while there is an inverted-U shaped between financial development and the urban-rural income gap. The relationship between financial development and the urban-rural income gap is bi-directional causality. Technological innovation and the urban-rural income gap cause each other. Empirical results suggest a twofold policy meaning: i) to further the financial system and ii) to eliminate the adverse impacts of technological innovations on income distribution.

Innovation network structure, government R&D investment and regional innovation efficiency: Evidence from China.

Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper uses a two-stage DEA model to measure regional innovation efficiency, then non-parametric test is used to examine the impact of innovation network structure and government R&D investment on regional innovation efficiency. The results show that, at the provincial level, innovation efficiency of regional R&D is not necessarily in direct proportion to the innovation efficiency in the commercialization stage. Commercialization efficiency is not necessarily high in provinces with high technical R&D efficiency. At the national level, the innovation efficiency gap between our country's R&D and commercialization stage is small, indicating that the development of the national innovation efficiency is more and more balanced. Innovation network structure can promote the R&D efficiency, but has no significant effect on the commercialization efficiency. Government R&D investment helps to improve the R&D efficiency, but it is not conducive to the improvement of commercialization efficiency. The interaction between innovation network structure and government R&D investment will have compound effects on regional innovation efficiency; the region with underdeveloped innovation network structure can increase the government R&D investment to make it have a higher level of R&D. This paper provides insights into how to improve innovation efficiency in different social networks and policy environments.

Spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of coordinated development of urbanization and ecological environment in eastern Russia-Perspectives from the 3D global trend and 2D plane analysis.

Under the background of "the Belt and Road" and "the economic corridor of China, Mongolia and Russia" initiatives, it has great value to study the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of the coordinated development between the urbanization and ecological environment in eastern Russia (the Siberian Federal District and the Far East Federal District). In this paper, we studied the urbanization development level, eco-environment development level, and their coupling coordinated development degree during 2005-2018 in the eastern Russia from the perspectives of the 3D global trend and 2D plane analysis. First, combining with the Population-Economic-Sociology and Pressure-State-Response models, the urbanization development level and eco-environment development level were calculated by the comprehensive weighting method of entropy weight and variation coefficient for eastern Russia. Second, the coupling coordinated development degree of the urbanization development level and eco-environment development level was measured by the coupling coordination model for eastern Russia. Finally, the spatial differentiation of the urbanization development level, the eco-environment development level and their coupling coordinated development degree was performed respectively by the 3D global trend and 2D plane analysis using ArcGIS. The results are as following. First, the comprehensive urbanization development level of eastern Russia has increased from 2005 to 2018, and the economic urbanization is the main factor that affects the urbanization development in eastern Russia. The comprehensive eco-environment development level of eastern Russia has decreased from 2005 to 2018, and the eco-environment pressure is the main factor that affects the eco-environment development in eastern Russia. The coupling coordination degree of the urbanization development and eco-environment development has increased from 2005 to 2018. However, it is still in the uncoordinated stage. Second, from 2005 to 2018, the urbanization development level of the Siberian Federal District is higher than that of the Far East Federal District. The eco-environment development level of the Siberian Federal District is balanced to that of the Far East Federal District. The coupling coordination degree of the Siberian Federal District is higher than that of the Far East Federal District. Among the Siberian and Far East Federal Districts, most of the federal subjects belong to the uncoordinated stage of the urbanization development and the eco-environment development. Third, the urbanization development level, the eco-environment development level, and their coupling coordinated development level are all spatially imbalanced in the eastern Russia, which show the "High West, Low East" and "High Center, Low North and Low South" spatial pattern from the perspectives of the 3D global trend and 2D plane analysis. The areas with high levels are concentrated in the Novosibirsk Region, Altay Territory, Kemerovo Region, Krasnoyarsk Territory, and Irkutsk Region. The areas with low ones are mostly in the Republic of Altay and Chukotka Autonomous Area. Finally, we suggest policies and strategies that can boost the growth and development of the urbanization and the eco-environment in the Sino-Russian border areas.

Evolution characteristics of temporal and spatial pattern of Russian economic differences since the 21st century.

Under the background of "the Belt and Road" and "the economic corridor of China, Mongolia and Russia" initiatives, it is of great significance to study the temporal and spatial economic pattern in the Russian Federation. Based on the economic development difference index, regional economic grade index, global trend analysis tool and spatial autocorrelation model, this paper analyzes the temporal and spatial pattern evolution characteristics of Russian economic differences from 2002 to 2020. The results are as following. First, although the economic imbalance among various federal subjects has been decreasing, the economic polarization has been still severe between the prosperous developed regions and the stagnant backward regions during 2002-2020. Russia's economy shows a trend of changing from significant positive correlation in strong agglomeration space to positive correlation in weak agglomeration space, and then to random distribution. Second, there has been great differences of the economic development among various federal subjects. The economic grade of the Russian federal subjects presents a significant spatial differentiation pattern. The Russian Federation's economic resources are concentrated in the first-class federal subject (Moscow City), second-class federal subjects (Tumen Region, Moscow Region and Saint-Petersburg city) and a few third-class federal subjects (Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Area, Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Area, Republic of Tatarstan, Krasnodar Territory, Sverdlovsk Region, etc). Third, the Russian Federation's economy presents "High Core, Low Periphery", "High West, Low East" and "High south, Low north" spatial differentiation pattern. The economic hot regions coincide with the high-class economic regions, which are mainly distributed in the contiguous areas of Ural Federal District and Volga Federal District, as well as the Moscow City, Moscow Region, Saint-Petersburg city, Krasnodar Territory and Rostov Region. The economic cold regions coincide with the low-class economic regions, which are mainly located in the Far East Federal District, the east of Siberian Federal District, the north of North West Federal District and the south of North-Caucasian Federal District. Finally, we suggest the recommendation for policy makers in Russia. And we propose the future research ideas.

Status of maternal serum B vitamins and pregnancy outcomes: New insights from in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) treatment.

The influence of B vitamins on human fertility and infertility treatments remains elusive. Therefore, this study investigated the association of most B vitamins with IVF-ET outcomes. A total of 216 subjects aged <35 year in their first oocyte retrieval cycle were recruited. Blood samples from the participants were collected before the oocyte pick-up procedure, and serum levels of riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6 (including PA and PLP), folate, and methylmalonic acid (MMA) were detected using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Endpoints were classified into three groups according to tertiles (lower, middle, and upper) of each vitamin index, and the association of the serum vitamin status with intermediate and clinical outcomes was analyzed using a generalized estimating equation model. Higher riboflavin levels were associated with elevated probabilities of high-quality embryos, as well as clinical pregnancy after embryo transfer. A greater likelihood of transferable embryos was found in the middle tertile of serum folate. Similarly, a negative correlation of serum MMA, a marker of vitamin B12 deficiency, with high-quality embryos was identified. No significance was observed for other vitamins in terms of all endpoints. Therefore, sufficient levels of pre-conception riboflavin, folate, and vitamin B12 are recommended for successful infertility treatment and pregnancy planning; further evidence is needed to confirm our conclusion.