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The present study aims to investigate the mediating effect of dispositional coping on the relationship between cognitive appraisal (which includes areas of threat, challenge, harm/loss, and benign/irrelevant appraisals) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) among patient–caregiver dyads undergoing hemodialysis. In total, 237 dyads of patients undergoing hemodialysis and their family caregivers were recruited from a tertiary hospital in Tianjin, China. Dyadic data were analyzed using the Actor–Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM). The final APIMeM model examining dyadic effects of challenge appraisal and dispositional coping on PTG demonstrated an excellent model fit. The challenge appraisal of family caregivers was directly associated with the PTG of patients undergoing hemodialysis. Dispositional coping mediated the pathways between challenge appraisal and PTG for both patients undergoing hemodialysis and family caregivers. By exploring the cognitive appraisal and dispositional coping of patient–caregiver dyads undergoing hemodialysis may help both partners foster PTG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rate of early misdiagnosis in patients with nodular fasciitis of the ear is high. To provide a basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment, we aimed to summarise the clinical manifestations, imaging results, pathological findings, treatment strategies, and postoperative follow-up results for three cases of paediatric nodular fasciitis (two girls, one boy) treated in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, at Beijing Children's Hospital of Capital Medical University from 2018 to 2020. The average age at diagnosis was 24 months. Lesions occurred in the left ear in two cases and right ear in one case. All patients had a history of biopsy before surgery. Rapid growth was observed following biopsy in two patients, and anti-inflammatory treatment was ineffective in all three cases. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation analysis of ubiquitin-specific peptidase 6 (USP6) was performed in two of the three cases, with positive results. The lesions exhibited hypo-intensity or iso-intensity on T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and heterogeneous hyper-intensity on T2-weighted MRI. "Fascial tail" signs were observed on imaging in all cases. Surgical resection was performed in all cases. Intact ear appearance was observed at follow-up, and there were no cases of recurrence. Conclusion: Combining clinical features with imaging findings may improve the accuracy of preoperative diagnosis in patients with nodular fasciitis. In addition to pathological findings, genetic testing for USP6 may aid in diagnosis. The final diagnosis should be based on comprehensive assessment. Complete surgical resection can prevent recurrence. What is Known: • Paediatric NF around the ear is rare and is easily misdiagnosed as other inflammatory masses that have a higher incidence in children. • Most previous reports of NF were case reports. What is New: • Combining clinical and imaging findings with genetic testing for USP6 rearrangement may improve the accuracy of preoperative diagnosis in patients with NF. Nonetheless, the final diagnosis should be based on comprehensive assessment. • The present paper is significant in that it represents the only report of three cases of ear NF in children with a complete medical history and prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To translate the English version of general medication adherence scale (GMAS) into a Chinese version and test its reliability and validity in Chinese patients with chronic diseases.Methods: After translating the original English version into Chinese (GMAS-C) following the forward-backward translation and expert review procedure, we conducted a pilot study among 10 chronic disease patients. Each patient took about 10 min to complete the scale and was asked about the difficulty of understanding or filling the scale. Then a total of 312 patients aged 18 years or older with chronic illness were selected from the outpatient departments of two tertiary hospitals and a community center in Tianjin from April 2019 to May 2020 by convenience sampling. Cronbach's α coefficient, item-total correlation and test-retest reliability were used to evaluate the scale reliability; expert evaluation method was used to evaluate the content validity of the scale; and exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and known group validity were used to evaluate the construct validity of the scale.Results: As a result of the adaptation process, the GMAS-C's structure was determined. It included 3 dimensions and 11 items and was reliable and valid for Chinese patients with chronic diseases. Total Cronbach's α coefficient of the scale was 0.781 and test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.883 after two weeks. The item-level content validity indexes (CVIs) were ≥ 0.78 for all items. A Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test and Bartlett' test of sphericity test indicated that the sample met the requirements of factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis extracted three factors with eigenvalue >1, and 60% of the total variance was explained by three-factor solution. Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable fit indices (χ2/df = 1.58, IFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.94, CFI = 0.96 and RMSEA = 0.05).Conclusions: The GMAS-C demonstrates satisfactory reliability and validity. This scale can be a clinically useful tool to identify the levels of medication adherence and possible barriers for adherence of the medication regime in patients with chronic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pregnancy-related anxiety plays a major role in shaping offspring's neural development. However, its gender-specific effect on children's emotional and behavioral development is controversial and the knowledge of critical period is limited. This study aims to examine gender-specific effect of pregnancy-related anxiety on preschooler's emotional and behavioral development.Methods: This study was based on the China-Anhui Birth Cohort Study (C-ABCS). A total of 3443 mother-child pairs were included in final data analysis. Pregnancy-related anxiety was assessed by Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire respectively in the 1st and 3rd trimester of pregnancy. Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ) were completed by parents to assess preschool emotional and behavioral development in boys and girls. Logistic regression models were used to examine the association between pregnancy-related anxiety and preschoolers' emotional and behavioral problems.Results: The overall prevalence of pregnancy-related anxiety was 31.6%. Compared with those whose mothers without pregnancy-related anxiety in either 1st or 3rd trimester, preschool boys born of mothers with pregnancy-related anxiety in the 1st trimester and in the 3rd trimester had an increased risk of conduct problems. Pregnancy-related anxiety in the 1st, 3rd trimester and in both trimesters all related with preschool boys' hyperactivity and total difficult problems. Pregnancy-related anxiety in the 1st trimester and in both 1st and 3rd trimester increased the risk of preschool girls' emotional problems and total difficult problems.Conclusion: Pregnancy-related anxiety may relate with preschool boys' externalizing problems in early and late of pregnancy and increase the risk of internalizing problems in girls in early pregnancy.Limitations: There was no data on pregnancy-related anxiety in the second trimester. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence and origin of pore-lining chlorites in sandstone were studied using mineralogical and crystal chemical analysis and their effectiveness on preserving porosity was discussed. During the sedimentary period of the middle Yanchang Formation, the two provenance and sedimentary systems of the southwest and northeast developed in the southwest Ordos Basin. In the Northeast of the study area, the content of biotite flakes is approximately 10 vol%. Pore-lining chlorites prefer to grow on the surfaces of fine-grained detrital quartz and feldspar but not on ductile grains such as biotite. Pore-lining chlorites that developed during the early stage of eodiagenesis (< 90 °C) probably locally increased the compressive strength of the rock, in places with residual intergranular pores. The chlorites within different sand bodies show slight variations in their chemical composition. After initial mechanical compaction, the formation of authigenic chlorites (brunsvigite and diabantite) was probably related to the hydrolysis and alteration of biotite fragments and the migration of diagenetic fluid. In the Northeast, only 2 vol% of the chlorite rims significantly inhibited quartz overgrowth, preserving the primary porosity. However, they probably blocked and delayed the dissolution of acids to feldspar. The porosity probably decreased when the authigenic chlorite content exceeded 9.38 vol%. In the Southwest, the authigenic chlorite is rare and quartz-overgrown cement is widespread, causing poor reservoir quality. Authigenic chlorites increase with the content of biotite flakes in the northeast and southwestern parts of the study area, but excess ductile biotite flakes and authigenic chlorites have negative effects on reservoir quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Sika deer is a rare livestock resource in China, and the main purpose of breeding is to obtain antlers that can be used as medicinal herbs. As an important limiting amino acid for ruminants, the dietary level of methionine greatly affects the utilization efficiency of protein in feed. In this study, we investigated the effects of different dietary methionine levels on antler-bearing sika deer by supplementing methionine. The results of the study showed that methionine supplementation improved the quality of Sika deer antlers and increased the efficiency of the animals utilizing acid detergent fiber and neutral detergent fiber in the feed. In addition, methionine supplementation altered the composition of free amino acids in the rumen fluid and the composition of fecal bacteria in sika deer. Amino acid balance is central to improving the efficiency of feed protein utilization and for reducing environmental pollution caused by intensive farming. In previous studies, supplementation with limiting amino acids has been shown to be an effective means of improving animal nutrient utilization and performance. In this experiment, the effects of methionine on the apparent digestibility of nutrients, antler nutrient composition, rumen fluid amino acid composition, fecal volatile fatty acids and intestinal bacteria in antler-growing sika deer were investigated by randomly adding different levels of methionine to the diets of three groups of four deer at 0 g/day (CON), 4 g/day (LMet) and 6 g/day (HMet). Methionine supplementation significantly increased the apparent digestibility of organic matter, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) in the LMet group (p < 0.05). The crude protein and collagen protein of antlers were significantly higher in the LMet and HMet groups compared to the CON group and also significantly higher in the HMet group compared to the LMet group, while the calcium content of antlers was significantly lower in the HMet group (p < 0.05). Ruminal fluid free amino acid composition was altered in the three groups of sika deer, with significant changes in aspartic acid, citrulline, valine, cysteine, methionine, histidine and proline. At the phylum level, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were highest in the rectal microflora. Unidentified bacterial abundance was significantly decreased in the HMet group compared to the CON group. Based on the results of principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and Adonis analysis, there was a significant difference in the composition of the intestinal flora between the CON and HMet groups (p < 0.05). At the genus level, compared with the CON group, the abundance of Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group and Lachnospiraceae_UCG-010 in the LMet group increased significantly (p < 0.05), the abundance of dgA-11_gut_group in the HMet group decreased significantly (p < 0.05) and the abundance of Lachnospiraceae_UCG-010, Saccharofermentans and Lachnospiraceae_NK3A20_group increased significantly. Taken together, the results showed that methionine supplementation was beneficial in increasing the feed utilization efficiency and improving antler quality in sika deer, while affecting the composition of fecal bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been rising worldwide, and therefore it is important to identify potential causes of ASD to facilitate early prevention. This study examined the role of breastfeeding and the association between caesarean delivery (CD) and children's autism spectrum disorder. Methods: The data were from the Ma'anshan birth cohort (MABC) in China, that was set up between May 2013 and September 2014. Women within 14 gestational weeks were recruited. The delivery mode was extracted from medical notes and infant feeding was obtained from questionnaire surveys. Autism-like behaviour was assessed using the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT-23) when children were 18 months old, and 3 years of age. At 5 years of age, autism-like behaviour was assessed using the Clancy Autism Behavior Scale behavior. Structural equation models tested the mediation effects of breastfeeding between CD and children's autism spectrum disorder. Results: In all, 1520 (48.89%) women gave birth via CD, and 406 (13.86%) children were identified with autism-like behaviours at 18 months. Compared with women giving birth via vaginal delivery, those giving birth via CD were more likely to experience a higher proportion of delayed initiation of breastfeeding (p < 0.01), and delayed onset of lactogenesis (p < 0.01). CD was associated with a lower proportion of exclusive breastfeeding at 4 months after delivery (p = 0.02). Autism-like behaviour was less likely amongst infants with exclusively breastfeeding at 4 months than amongst those not exclusively breastfeeding at 4 months (p < 0.01). SEM indicated that women who gave birth by CD were more likely to stop exclusive breastfeeding in the first 4 months (standard estimations = − 0.04, p = 0.02), and those children who were not exclusively breastfed at 4 months were more likely to have autism-like behaviours (standard estimations = − 0.05, p < 0.01). The associations persisted at 3 years, but not at 5 years. Conclusions: Exclusive breastfeeding at 4 months of age mediated the association between caesarean delivery and children's autism-like behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psoriasis (PA) is a chronic autoimmune disease of the skin that adversely affects patients' quality of life. Yangxue Jiedu Fang (YXJD) has been used for decades to treat psoriasis in China. However, its antipsoriatic mechanisms are still poorly understood. In this study, we explored the effects of YXJD on angiogenesis and apoptosis of microvessels in PA, the underlying mechanisms in HUVEC cells transfected by Survivin overexpression plasmid and in a mouse model of imiquimod-induced psoriasis and the relationship between VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) and Survivin.Methods: A BALB/c mouse model of imiquimod- (IMQ-) induced PA was established, and the mice were treated with YXJD. Cell viability was assessed by CCK8 assay. Apoptosis was detected by annexin V-FITC/PI double-staining and caspase-3 assays. The PI3K/Akt/β-catenin pathway was analyzed by western blotting, ELISA, and immunochemical analysis.Results: YXJD ameliorated symptoms and psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) scores and also reduced the number of microvessels, as determined by the microvessel density (MVD). The expression of apoptotic protein Survivin in endothelial cells, autophagy-related proteins p62, and angiogenic proteins VEGF was inhibited by YXJD, and the repressed expression of LC3II/I increased by YXJD. The proteins related to the PI3K/Akt pathway and β-catenin expression and the nuclear entry of β-catenin were reduced in IMQ-induced PA mice treated with YXJD. In HUVEC cells transfected by Survivin overexpression plasmid, we observed YXJD regulated the expression of Survivin, LC3II/I, and p62, VEGF, and PI3K/Akt pathway-relative proteins and the nuclear entry of β-catenin.Conclusions: YXJD inhibited the expression of Survivin via PI3K/Akt pathway to adjust apoptosis, autophagy, and angiogenesis of microvessels and thus improve the vascular sustainability in psoriasis. YXJD may represent a new direction of drug research and development for immunomodulatory therapy for psoriasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) occur in the surface water of the Taizi River, China. The levels and composition patterns were studied by high-performance liquid chromatography and PAHs sources were analyzed using the isomer ratios of selected PAH compounds. In the flood period, concentrations of PAHs ranged from 1562.52 to 4176.15 ng/L with a mean of 2562.56 ng/L. In the dry period, concentrations ranged from 498.09 to 3218.27 ng/L with a mean of 1389.30 ng/L. The levels of ΣPAHs in the study area were higher than in other locations. The dominant PAHs were Baa in the flood period and Phe, Flu and Pyr in the dry period. The composition of PAHs was dominated by four-ring PAHs (51.72–82.69%) in the flood period and three-ring (28.25–50.10%) and four-ring PAHs (38.28–56.28%) in the dry period. The isomer ratios of Ant/(Ant + Phe), Flu/(Flu + Pyr) and compositional analysis were selected to identify the sources of PAHs. Coal combustion and traffic emission were the sources of PAHs in the surface water of the Taizi River, and the major source of PAHs was from combustion of coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characterization and risk assessment of metals in surface sediments and riparian zone soils were studied in Liaohe River, northeast China. Surface sediment and riparian soil samples were collected from 24 monitoring sites along 538 km of Liaohe River. Metal concentrations and enrichment factors of Zn, Cr, Pb, Cu, Ni, and As were analyzed. Potential sources of metal contaminants along with ecological risk assessment and health risk via ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact for residents were also assessed. Metal concentrations followed the order Cr > Zn > Cu > Ni > As > Pb in surface sediments, and Cr > Zn > Cu > Ni > Pb > As in riparian zone soils. The degree of metal pollution in Liaohe River sediments and riparian soils was considered moderate and is showing signs of recovery compared to historical concentrations reported previous studies. Enrichment factors also indicated metal pollution was not severe in both riparian and river sediments and were mainly derived from natural sources. Children had significantly higher health risks along the Liaohe River, and oral ingestion was the dominant exposure pathway. The major non-carcinogenic metal was Cr, and As was the main carcinogenic metal. Although carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks of metals were considered low for both children and adults along the Liaohe River, future monitoring of metal contaminants, especially for As and Cr is recommended. • Surface sediment and riparian soil samples were collected from 24 sites along Liaohe River, China. • Sediment and riparian soil samples were analyzed for metals (Zn, Cr, Pb, Cu, Ni, and As). • Metal pollution was moderate and declining compared to previous historical studies. • Enrichment factors (EFs) indicated metal were mainly derived from natural sources. • The main non-carcinogenic metal was Cr, and As was the main carcinogenic metal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface dust samples were collected in 2018 at 30 different sites in Shenyang City, China. Concentrations of chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), cupper (Cu), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd) were determined, and chemical speciation of metals were analyzed. Mean metal concentrations followed the order Zn > Cu > Pb > Cr > Ni > As > Cd > Hg. Although concentrations of metals in dust samples were lower than previously reported, a measurable metal pollution signature in dust still exists. Metals (except for As), are influenced by anthropogenic activities. Spatial variation in mean metal dust concentrations and speciation varied significantly and were influenced by land-use and industrial activities. Source appointment Results revealed that pollution of surface dust was derived from three main source profiles (industrial and traffic pollution, coal combustion, and urban pollution), contributing to 90.7% of the variance. Health risk assessment indicated that risks were low, but children were susceptible to metals in surface dust. Results indicated oral ingestion was the dominant exposure pathway. Non-carcinogenic Cr and Pb and carcinogenic As were the main metal contaminants in surface dust. • Surface dust samples were collected from 30 sites in Shenyang City, China. • Dust samples were analyzed for Cr, As, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Hg and Cd metals. • Metal pollution signatures were evident in dust samples of Shenyang City. • Cr, Pb and As were the dominant metal contaminants in surface dust. • Metals in surface dust were influenced by land-use and industrial activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]