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Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) has been recognized to be an effective therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, in China, the application of PR interventions is still less promoted. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aimed to understand COPD patients' intention to receive PR, capture the potential personal, social and environmental barriers preventing their willingness of receiving PR, and eventually identify demanding PR services with the highest priority from patients' point of view. Methods: In total 237 COPD patients were recruited from 8 health care facilities in Zhejiang, China. A self-designed questionnaire was applied to investigate patients' intention to participate in PR and potentially associated factors, including personal dimension such as personal awareness, demographic factors, COPD status and health-related literacy/behaviors, as well as social policies and perceived environmental barriers. The demand questionnaire of PR interventions based on the Kano model was further adopted. Results: Among the 237 COPD patients, 75.1% of COPD patients were willing to participate in PR interventions, while only 62.9% of the investigated patients had heard of PR interventions. Over 90% of patients believed that the cost of PR services and the ratio of medical insurance reimbursement were potential obstacles hindering them from accepting PR services. The multiple linear regression analysis indicated that the PR skills of medical staff, knowledge promotion and public education levels of PR in the community, patients' transportation concerns and degree of support from family and friends were significantly associated with willingness of participation in PR interventions. By using the Kano model, the top 9 most-requisite PR services (i.e., one-dimensional qualities) were identified from patients' point of view, which are mainly diet guidance, education interventions, psychological interventions and lower limb exercise interventions. Subgroup analysis also revealed that patients' demographics, such as breathlessness level, age, education and income levels, could influence their choice of priorities for PR services, especially services related to exercise interventions, respiratory muscle training, oxygen therapy and expectoration. Conclusions: This study suggested that PR-related knowledge education among patients and their family, as well as providing basic package of PR services with the most-requisite PR items to COPD patients, were considerable approaches to promote PR attendance in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfoxaflor, the first commercially available sulfoximine insecticide, has been used for the control of sap-feeding insect pests such as plant bugs and aphids on a variety of crops. However, its sublethal effects on the mirid bug Apolygus lucorum, one of the key insect pests of Bt cotton and fruit trees in China, have not been fully examined. Here, we evaluated the demography and feeding behaviour of A. lucorum exposed to sulfoxaflor. The leaf-dipping bioassay showed that the LC10 and LC30 of sulfoxaflor against 3rd-instar nymphs of this insect were 1.23 and 8.37 mg L-1, respectively. The LC10 significantly extended the nymphal duration and decreased the oviposition period by 5.29 days and female fecundity by 56.99% in the parent generation (F0). The longer duration of egg, 5th-instar nymphs, preadult, and male adult longevity were observed in the F1 generation (F1) at LC10. At the LC30, the duration of egg and 1st-instar nymph, female adult longevity, and oviposition period of the F1 were significantly shorter, while the nymphal duration in the F0 and duration of 5th-instar nymphs, preadult survival rate, and male adult longevity in the F1 significantly increased. The net reproductive rate (R0), intrinsic rate of increase (r), and finite rate of increase (λ) in the F1 were not significantly affected by these two concentrations, whereas the mean generation time (T) was lower at the LC30. Additionally, the probe counts and cells mixture feeding time were markedly lengthened by the LC10 and LC30, respectively, when A. lucorum nymphs exposed to sulfoxaflor fed on Bt cotton plants without insecticides. These results clearly indicate that sulfoxaflor causes sublethal effects on A. lucorum and the transgenerational effects depend on the tested concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disanthus cercidifolius subsp. longipes is an endangered species in China. Genetic diversity and structure analysis of this species was investigated using amplified fragments length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting. Nei's gene diversity ranged from 0.1290 to 0.1394. The AMOVA indicated that 75.06% of variation was distributed within populations, while the between-group component 5.04% was smaller than the between populations-within-group component 19.90%. Significant genetic differentiation was detected between populations. Genetic and geographical distances were not correlated. PCA and genetic structure analysis showed that populations from East China were together with those of the Nanling Range. These patterns of genetic diversity and levels of genetic variation may be the result of D. c. subsp. longipes restricted to several isolated habitats and “excess flowers production, but little fruit set”. It is necessary to protect all existing populations of D. c. subsp. longipes in order to preserve as much genetic variation as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The associations between meteorological factors and mortality have been well documented worldwide, but limited evidence is available for the non-fatal health impacts of ambient temperature, particularly there are few population-based investigations on the impacts of emergency ambulance dispatches in Asia. In this study, based on 809,906 ambulance emergency call-outs (AECOs) for the total population from 2010-2016 in the subtropical city of Shenzhen, China, a Poisson regression combined with a distributed lag nonlinear model was used to simultaneously assess the nonlinear and lag effects of daily mean temperature on AECOs. Stratified analyses by age and sex were performed to identify vulnerable subpopulations. A U-shaped relationship was found between temperature and AECOs. Cold effects were delayed and persisted for 3-4 weeks, with a cumulative relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.23 (1.10-1.38) and 1.25 (1.16-1.35) over lag 0-28 when comparing the 1st and 5th percentile of the temperature distribution to the optimal (i.e. minimum AECOs) temperature, respectively. Hot effects were immediate and diminished quickly in 5 days, with an increase of 19% (RR = 1.19, 95%CI: 1.14-1.23) and 21% (RR = 1.21, 95%CI: 1.16-1.26) in AECOs over lag 0-5 when comparing the 95th and 99th percentile of temperature to the optimal temperature. Children and the elderly were more vulnerable to cold effects. The youth and middle-aged people suffered more from high temperature. The effects of temperature were similar between males and females. In summary, significant increases were observed in the frequency of AECOs during cold and hot days, and the weather-associated increases in AECOs are different among age groups. This information has valuable implications in ambulance demand prediction and service provision planning., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.