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To describe the full scope of long-term outcomes and the ongoing pathophysiological alterations among the COVID-19 survivor.We established a longitudinal cohort of 208 COVID-19 convalescents and followed them at 3.3 (IQR: 1.3, 4.4, visit 1), 9.2 (IQR: 9.0, 9.6, visit 2), and 18.5 (IQR: 18.2, 19.1, visit 3) months after infection, respectively. Serial changes in multiple physical and psychological outcomes were comprehensively characterized. We additionally explored the potential risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 antibody response and sequelae symptoms.We observed continuous improvement of sequelae symptoms, lung function, chest CT, 6-minute walk test, and the Borg dyspnoea scale, whereas sequelae symptoms (at least one) and abnormal chest CT patterns still existed in 45.2% and about 30% of the patients at 18.5 months, respectively. Both anxiety and depression disorders were alleviated for the convalescents, although the depression status was sustained for a longer duration.Most COVID-19 convalescents had an overall improved physical and psychological health status, whereas sequelae symptoms, residual lesions on lung function, exercise impairment, and mental health disorders were still observed in a small proportion of the participants at 18.5 months after infection. Implementing appropriate preventive and management strategies for the ever-growing COVID-19 population is warranted.

The associations of homocysteine (Hcy) and gene-Hcy interactions with the risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality remain unclear.A total of 19,826 middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults were included from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort in 2013-2014 and were followed-up to 31 December 2018. Cox regression was used to examine the association between Hcy and mortality. We selected 18 well-established Hcy-associated genetic variants to constructed the weighted genetic risk score (GRS) among 15,434 participants with genetic data, and interactions between genetic susceptibility and Hcy on mortality were assessed.After multivariate adjustment, elevated serum Hcy levels were associated with higher risk of mortality from all-cause, CVD, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and cancer. We also observed a significant interaction between GRS and Hcy on CHD mortality. Moreover, the rs7130284 and rs957140 on NOX4 modified the association between Hcy and mortality from CVD and CHD, and rs154657 on DPEP1 modified the association between Hcy and CHD mortality.Elevated Hcy levels were associated with increased risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality among middle-aged and elderly Chinese. Hcy-related genetic variants on NOX4 and DPEP1 might modify the associations of Hcy with CVD mortality or CHD mortality.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), zinc finger homeodomain-2 (zfh-2), Abdominal-A (Abd-A), and Abdominal-B (Abd-B) regulate the growth and development of the insect abdomen. However, their potential roles in pest control have not been fully assessed. The development of insecticide resistance to multiple chemistries in the white-backed planthopper (WBPH), a major pest of rice, has prompted interest in novel pest control approaches that are ecologically friendly. Although pest management approaches based on double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) have potential, their susceptibility to degradation limits large-scale field applications. These limitations, however, can be overcome with nanoparticle-dsRNA complexes that have greater environmental stability and improved cellular uptake.In this study, at 5 days post-injection, transcripts for the four gene targets were reduced relative to controls and all of the experimental groups exhibited significant phenotypic defects and increased mortality. To evaluate the potential of these gene targets for field applications, a nanocarrier-dsRNA spray delivery system was assessed for RNAi efficacy. At 11 days post-spray, significant phenotypic defects and increased mortality were observed in all experimental groups.Taken together, the results confirm the suitability of the target genes (SfEGFR, Sfzfh-2, SfAbd-A, and SfAbd-B) for pest management and demonstrate the efficacy of the nanocarrier spray system for inducing RNAi-mediated knockdown. As such, the study lays the foundation for the further development and optimization of this technology for large-scale field applications. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

The damage effects of fluid-filled submunition payload impacted by the kinetic kill vehicle (KKV) are investigated by simulations and ground-based experiments. Numerical simulations showed that the damage level and number of submunitions were significantly influenced by the diameter of the KKV compared with its length. Based on that, a high velocity penetrator formed by shaped charge explosion was used to simulate the direct hit experiment of a KKV impacting submunition payload. Experimental results demonstrated that the damage modes of submunitions mainly included the slight damage, perforation and total smash, showing a good agreement with the simulations. To understand the multiple damage modes of submunitions, the damage behavior of the submunitions in direct hit process were analyzed based on the AUTODYN-3D code. Numerical results presented that increased KKV diameter can increase the crater diameter and expand the damage volume, which will achieve a higher direct hit lethality. Further analysis indicated that there were other mechanical behaviors can enhance the damage to submunitions not lying in the KKV flight path, such as secondary debris kill, neighboring submunitions collision with each other, and high-speed fluid injection effect.

ContextImpairment of immune and inflammatory homeostasis is reported to be one of the causal factors of diabetes. However, the association of complement C3 levels with incident diabetes in humans remains unclear.ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine the association between C3 levels and incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and further explore the potential mediating role of body mass index (BMI) in C3-T2DM associations.MethodsWe determined serum C3 levels of 2662 nondiabetic middle-aged and elderly (64.62 ± 7.25 years) individuals from the Dongfeng–Tongji cohort at baseline. Cox regression was employed to examine the incidence of T2DM in relationship to C3 levels during 10 years of follow-up. Mediation analysis was further applied to assess potential effect of BMI on the C3-T2DM associations.ResultsOverall, 711 (26.7%) participants developed T2DM during 23 067 person-years of follow-up. Higher serum C3 was significantly associated with higher risk of incident T2DM after full adjustment (HR [95% CI] = 1.16 [1.05, 1.27]; per SD higher). Compared with the first quartile of C3 levels, the HR in the fourth quartile was 1.52 (95% CI = [1.14, 2.02]; Ptrend = 0.029). Robust significant linear dose-response relationship was observed between C3 levels and BMI (Poverall < 0.001, Pnonlinear = 0.96). Mediation analyses indicated that BMI might mediate 41.0% of the associations between C3 and T2DM.ConclusionThe present prospective study revealed that C3 could be an early biomarker for incident T2DM, and that BMI might play a potential mediating role in the C3-T2DM associations, which provided clues for the pathogenesis of diabetes.

By utilizing systems methodology and thinking logic, this paper derives a general theorem to characterize when and how a market signals for additional competition from market players. Then, it establishes conditions for when government policies actually work in real life, where firms' performances are effectively promoted no matter what offer the firms produce. Among others, the established conditions include improving managerial and resource efficiencies, promoting information and knowledge sharing, joining in organizational networks, forming manufacturing agglomerations, and localizing economic policies. By using the difference-in-difference method, a real-life case analysis with data from China is used to confirm the six formal propositions established systemically in this paper. In the conclusion section, recommendations for policy makers, such as government officers, are provided regarding when and how adopted policies will potentially produce anticipated results, while directions and unsettled questions are also posted for the forthcoming academic endeavors.

Nowadays, the mitigation of damage to a ship caused by the underwater explosion attracts more and more attention from the modern ship designers. In this study, two kinds of scale tests were conducted to investigate the effects of polyurea coatings on the blast resistance of hulls subjected to underwater explosion. Firstly, small-scale model tests with different polyurea coatings were carried out. Results indicate that polyurea has a better blast resistance performance when coated on the front face, which can effectively reduce the maximum deflection of the steel plate by more than 20% and reduce the deformation energy by 35.7%–45.4%. Next, a full-scale ship (approximately 50 m × 9 m) under loadings produced by the detonation of 33 kg of spherical TNT charges was tested, where a part of the ship was coated with polyurea on the front face (8 mm + 24 mm) and not on the contrast area. Damage characteristics on the bottom were statistically analyzed based on a 3D scanning technology, indicating that polyurea contributes to enhancing the blast protection of the ship. However, damage results of this test were different from those of the small-scale tests. Moreover, the deformation area of the bottom with polyurea was greatly increased by 40.1% to disperse explosion energy, a conclusion that cannot be drown from the small-scale tests.

Background The XRCC2 gene plays an important role in the homologous recombination repair of DNA double strand breaks. Functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of XRCC2 may alter DNA repair capacity and affect cancer susceptibility. This study aims to evaluate the association between five tagSNPs in XRCC2 and breast cancer susceptibility in Han women of northwest China. Methods A total of 514 histopathologically confirmed breast cancer patients and 1028 region- and age-matched cancer-free controls provided blood samples for analysis of SNP genotypes in this case-control study using a QuantStudio™ 12K Flex Real-Time PCR System. Results After adjusting covariates, 2 SNPs in XRCC2 (rs3218536 and rs6964582) showed significant associations with the risk of breast cancer. In haplotype analysis, CGTTC haplotype conferred an increased risk of breast cancer(P=5.83×10-3), whereas TGTTA haplotype was associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer(P=1.17×10-3). Significant associations were shown between CGTTA, CCTTA haplotypes of XRCC2 and Her-2 statuses(P=2.15×10-3; P=4.06×10-3, respectively). Interaction analysis showed that the three-loci model (rs3218438, rs3218536 and rs6964582) was the best with the maximal testing balance accuracy of 0.6597, and the maximal 100% cross-validation consistency (P=0.001). Conclusion These results indicate that XRCC2 gene polymorphisms may affect the risk of breast cancer and show that some SNPs and haplotypes in XRCC2 are associated with breast cancer characteristics in the Han population of northwest China.

Objective: Fighting the COVID-19 pandemic requires many citizens to adopt disease-preventive practices. To enhance citizens' vaccination willingness, we explored the impact of national identity and different propaganda slogans on vaccination willingness. Methods: A total of 1098 questionnaires were collected in Study 1, and all participants completed the national identity questionnaire, knowledge of vaccine side effects, vaccine trust, and vaccination willingness. The initial vaccination willingness of the participants (N=804) was measured in Study 2. All participants were then randomly divided into three groups: self-interested, altruistic, and neutral; each group watched the corresponding propaganda video. Each video, which lasted about 11 seconds, consisted of five self-interested, altruistic, or neutral propaganda slogans. Vaccination willingness was then measured again. Results: 1. National identity can significantly predict vaccination willingness in the presence of side effects. 2. The effect of altruistic propaganda slogans on promoting individual vaccination willingness was significantly greater than that of the self-interested propaganda slogan, and the effect of altruistic propaganda slogans on individual vaccination willingness was significantly greater than that of neutral propaganda slogans. Conclusions: National identity, knowledge of vaccine side effects, and vaccine trust can jointly predict individual vaccination willingness in cases of strong national identity. Altruistic slogans have the greatest influence on the change in individuals’ vaccination willingness, and the influence of altruistic propaganda slogans can significantly improve individual vaccination willingness.

How to develop the warp sizing process with energy saving and emission reduction have been a problem for the textile sizing industry. In this work, a series of carboxymethyl cellulose nanofibers (CCNFs) with different degree of substitution (DS) were prepared from bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp, and their applications in warp size of textile were investigated in detail. AFM and TEM analyses confirmed that the prepared CCNFs were of nanoscale fibers. Zeta potential analysis showed that CCNFs aqueous dispersion had good stability. Response surface methodology was applied to optimize the high-count cotton warp sizing formula containing a small amount of CCNFs. It could be found that the optimized sizing formula still had much better sizing performance than that of the original sizing formula even if the sizing percentage and temperature were reduced. The results exhibited that CCNFs with DS of 0.38 had a potential industry application prospect as sizing auxiliary in pure cotton warp sizing, and the new developed sizing formula had the advantages of excellent sizing performance, environmental friendliness, energy saving and emission reduction.

Greenhouse gas emissions have brought a serious challenge to the global environment and climate. Efficient and accurate prediction of carbon emissions is essential for the decision-making sectors to control growth and formulate policies. Firstly, considering the economic, demographic, and energy factors, a novel nonlinear multivariate grey model (ENGM(1,4)) based on environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is proposed with respect to the data characteristics of the incomplete information of carbon emission of transportation sector. The model integrates the IPAT ("Influence = Population, Affluence, Technology") equation and the extended atochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology model (STIRPAT). Secondly, the derivation method is used to solve the time response equation of the model and the quantum particle swarm optimization algorithm (QPSO) is designed to optimize the model parameters. Then, 18 years of carbon emission data from China, the USA, and Japan are selected as the validation set. Comparative analysis indicates that the prediction accuracy of the statistical models and the intelligent models depends on sufficient samples and complex variables, and has certain limitations in limited sample prediction. The calculation results show that the new model outperforms other models in various evaluation indicators, indicating that its prediction accuracy is higher. Finally, the projections show that in 2019-2025, the average increase in carbon emissions from the transport sector in China and the USA was 2.837% and 2.394%, respectively, while Japan shows a downward trend with an average decline rate of 1.2231%. The analyzed prediction results are consistent with current situation of the three countries and the transport sectors, demonstrating the high accuracy and reliability of the new model.

As we all know, it is difficult for traditional traffic models to deal with the phenomenon of “catastrophes” in traffic state and the traffic problem with incomplete information at the same time. Aiming at the traffic congestion, this paper firstly takes traffic volume as a state variable, speed, and density as control variables to establish the system potential function and theoretically clarifies that the structure of the traffic system has catastrophe characteristics. Secondly, combined with the grey characteristics of traffic system, we construct the grey catastrophe model for traffic system and obtain the traffic potential function with the system time as the state variable by substituting the variables of the model. Finally, the traffic stability is analyzed theoretically based on the potential function. In this paper, the rationality of the grey catastrophe model of traffic system is expounded theoretically, and the grey model theory is well expanded.

PDF - 141K, Table S1. The relationships of age groups, gender, and smoking status to the levels of PAH metabolites, BPDE-Alb Adducts and genetic damage. Table S2. Levels of genetic damage in coke oven workers according to lung cancer risk-related SNPs. Table S3. Spearman correlations between genetic damage and potentially influential variables in coke oven workers. Tables S4. Relationships of internal exposure to PAHs and lung cancer risk-related SNPs to genetic damage of coke oven workers.

We explored the effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of nucleotide excision repair (NER) genes on DNA damage caused by exposure to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in 475 Chinese workers. We quantified urinary 1-hydroxypyrene using high-performance liquid chromatography, and the DNA damage level of lymphocytes was examined by the comet assay and represented as the Olive tail moment (OTM) value. We genotyped 38 tagSNPs in 10 NER genes. The SNP function was further investigated using luciferase reporter assay in three cell lines. Our results showed that two promoter SNPs, XPA rs1800975 and XPC rs3731055, were associated with lower OTM values (Ptrend = 0.01 and 0.02 respectively). However, another missense SNP rs2228001 in the XPC gene was positively associated with OTM value (Ptrend = 0.01). A stratified analysis found that the association between this SNP and DNA damage was only observed among subjects with higher PAH exposure levels but not among those with lower exposure levels (Pinteraction = 0.018). A dose-response association was found between the combined risk alleles of the above three genetic variants and increased DNA damage levels (Ptrend = 0.004). This association was more pronounced in subjects with higher PAH exposure than those with lower exposure levels (Pinteraction = 0.046). Our functional study indicated that XPA rs1800975G and XPC rs3731055A alleles had a higher luciferase expression than their corresponding SNP alleles (P < 0.05). These results suggested that genetic variations in key NER genes, especially in XPA and XPC genes, may modulate DNA damage levels when exposed to PAHs. Cancer Epidemiol Biomakers Prev; 19(1); 211–8

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified multiple single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) associated with lung cancer. However, whether these SNPs are associated with genetic damage, a crucial event in cancer initiation and evolution, is still unknown. We aimed to establish associations between these SNPs and genetic damage caused by the ubiquitous carcinogens, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).Methods: We cross-sectionally investigated the associations between SNPs from published GWAS for lung cancer in Asians and PAH-induced genetic damage in 1,557 coke oven workers in China. Urinary PAH metabolites, plasma benzo[a]pyrene-r-7,t-8,c-10-tetrahydrotetrol-albumin (BPDE-Alb) adducts, urinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), and micronuclei (MN) frequency were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, sandwich ELISA, high-performance liquid chromatography, and cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay, respectively.Results: 13q12.12-rs753955C was suggestively associated with elevated 8-OHdG levels (P = 0.003). Higher 8-OHdG levels were observed in individuals with rare allele homozygotes (CC) than in TT homozygotes (β, 0.297; 95% confidence interval, 0.124–0.471; P = 0.001). 9p21-rs1333040C, 10p14-rs1663689G, and 15q25.1-rs3813572G were significantly associated with lower MN frequency (P values were 0.002, 0.001, and 0.005, respectively). 10p14-rs1663689G polymorphism downregulated the relationship of the total concentration of PAH metabolites to 8-OHdG levels (Pinteraction = 0.002). TERT-rs2736100G and VTI1A-rs7086803A aggravated the relationship of BPDE-Alb adducts to MN frequency, whereas BPTF-rs7216064G attenuated that correlation (all Pinteraction < 0.001).Conclusions: Lung cancer risk–associated SNPs and their correlations with PAH exposure were associated with 8-OHdG levels and MN frequency.Impact: Lung cancer risk–associated SNPs might influence one's susceptibility to genetic damage caused by PAHs. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(6); 986–96. ©2014 AACR.

Supplementary Table 1 from Genetic Variants of Nucleotide Excision Repair Genes Are Associated with DNA Damage in Coke Oven Workers

PDf file - 549K

The heat shock protein Hsp70 is crucial for regulating cellular homeostasis in stressed cells. Although the tumorigenic potential and prognostic applications of Hsp70 have been widely investigated, it remains unclear whether genetic variations of the human isoforms HSPA1L, HSPA1A, and HSPA1B are associated with cancer risk and prognosis. In this study, we genotyped six tagSNPs in these genes in 1,152 paired patients with lung cancer and controls, and then validated the results in additional cohorts of 1,781 patients with lung cancer and 1,038 controls. In addition, we evaluated the associations of these tagSNPs with survival in 330 patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with additional validation in another 331 patients with advanced NSCLC. Functions of the risk variants identified were investigated using cell-based reporter assays. We found that the HSPA1B rs6457452T allele was associated with increased lung cancer risk compared with the rs6457452C allele in both data sets and also pooled analysis (adjusted OR = 1.41; P = 2.8 × 10−5). The HSPA1B rs2763979TT genotype conferred poor survival outcomes for patients with advanced NSCLC in two independent cohorts and pooled analysis [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 1.80, 1.61, and 1.66; P = 0.013, 0.036, and 0.002, respectively]. Lastly, we also found that the rs2763979T and rs6457452T alleles were each sufficient to reduce expression of transcriptional reporter constructs, when compared with the rs2763979C and rs6457452C alleles, respectively. Taken together, our findings define that functional HSPA1B variants are associated with lung cancer risk and survival. These Hsp70 genetic variants may offer useful biomarkers to predict lung cancer risk and prognosis. Cancer Res; 71(24); 7576–86. ©2011 AACR.

Supplementary Figures 1-2, Tables 1-6 from Genetic Variants on Chromosome 15q25 Associated with Lung Cancer Risk in Chinese Populations

Background Frailty describes an age-related state of deterioration in biological function. This study aimed to investigate the association between frailty and cognitive function and its combined effects with lifestyles. Methods A total of 3,279 participants from the Dongfeng-Tongji (DFTJ) cohort were tested the cognitive function by using the Chinese version of Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE). Frailty was evaluated based on a 35-item frailty index (FI). Frailty status was dichotomized into robust (FI Results FI was significantly associated with lower MMSE score [β (95%Cl) = -0.28 (-0.43, -0.13)] and cognitive impairment [OR (95%Cl) = 1.19 (1.04, 1.35)]. The association of frailty status with MMSE were found to be stronger among ever smokers [β(95%Cl) = -1.08 (-1.64, -0.51)] and physical inactive individuals [β(95%Cl) = -1.59 (-2.63, -0.54)] while weaker or not significant among never smokers [β(95%Cl) = -0.30 (-0.62, 0.01)] and physical active individuals [β(95%Cl) = -0.37 (-0.65, -0.08))]. There were significant combined effects of frailty status with unhealthy lifestyles including smoking, alcohol drinking, and physical inactive on cognitive impairment. Conclusions Frailty was associated with cognitive impairment among Chinese middle-aged and elderly people, while smoking cessation and regular physical exercise could attenuate the above associations, which highlight the potential preventive interventions.

ContextEvidence regarding the association between metabolically healthy overweight or obesity (MHOO) and diabetes is controversial, and mostly ignores the dynamic change of metabolic health status and obesity.ObjectiveTo explore the association between transitions of metabolic health status and obesity over 5 years and diabetes incidence.MethodsWe examined 17 309 participants derived from the Dongfeng–Tongji cohort and followed from 2008 to 2018 (median follow-up 9.9 years). All participants were categorized into 4 phenotypes based on body mass index (BMI) and metabolic health status: metabolically healthy normal weight (MHNW), metabolically unhealthy normal weight (MUNW), MHOO, and metabolically unhealthy overweight or obesity (MUOO). The associations of changes in BMI–metabolic health status (2008-2013) with diabetes incidence (2018) were performed among 12 206 individuals with 2 follow-up examinations.ResultsCompared with stable MHNW, stable MHOO (hazard ratio [HR] 1.76; 95% CI 1.26, 2.45) and transition from MHOO to metabolically unhealthy phenotypes were associated with higher risk for diabetes (HR 2.97; 95% CI 1.79, 4.93 in MHOO to MUNW group and HR 3.38; 95% CI 2.54, 4.49 in MHOO to MUOO group). Instead, improvements to metabolic healthy phenotypes or weight loss occurring in MUOO reduced the risk of diabetes compared with stable MUOO, changing from MUOO to MHNW, MUNW, and MHOO resulted in HRs of 0.57 (95% CI 0.37, 0.87), 0.68 (95% CI 0.50, 0.93), and 0.45 (95% CI 0.34, 0.60), respectively.ConclusionPeople with MHOO, even stable MHOO, or its transition to metabolically unhealthy phenotypes were at increased risk of diabetes. Metabolic improvements and weight control may reduce the risk of diabetes.