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Inefficiency and resource misallocation in the financial system, coupled with a shortage of traditional financial services, have hindered export product quality improvement in China. Against this backdrop, there is an evident need to examine the dynamics between digital finance and export product quality. Hence, this study focuses on the impact of digital finance on export product quality upgrades in China. The examination draws on panel data of 39,387 firm-level samples from 2011 to 2014. Empirical results show that digital finance helps upgrade export product quality by enhancing enterprises' financial stability. Moreover, the positive effect of the depth of digital finance usage is more pronounced than that of the breadth of digital finance coverage. Our findings imply that China must continue deepening the digital financial market and expand and improve the scope and efficiency of financial services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different from the overwhelming evidence in support of the negative effect of economic policy uncertainty on firm value, our findings show that economic policy uncertainty has positive impact on firm value in firms with high managerial ability using the firm-level data from China over the time period 2003 to 2020. Moreover, our mechanism analyses reveal that firms with high managerial ability differ from those with low managerial ability by conducting more acquisitions and innovation activities and improving cost efficiency when faced with high economic policy uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periodontitis is among most common human inflammatory diseases and characterized by destruction of tooth-supporting tissues that will eventually lead to tooth loss. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by chronic hyperglycemia which results from defects in insulin secretion and/or insulin resistance. Numerous studies have provided evidence for the inter-relationship between DM and periodontitis that has been considered as the sixth most frequent complication of DM. However, the mechanisms are not fully understood yet. The impact of DM on periodontitis through hyperglycemia and inflammatory pathways is well described, but the effects of DM on oral microbiota remain controversial according to previous studies. Recent studies using next-generation sequencing technology indicate that DM can alter the biodiversity and composition of oral microbiome especially subgingival microbiome. This may be another mechanism by which DM risks or aggravates periodontitis. Thus, to understand the role of oral microbiome in periodontitis of diabetics and the mechanism of shifts of oral microbiome under DM would be valuable for making specific therapeutic regimens for treating periodontitis patients with DM or preventing diabetic patients from periodontitis. This article reviews the role of oral microbiome in periodontal health (symbiosis) and disease (dysbiosis), highlights the oral microbial shifts under DM and summarizes the mechanism of the shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feathers are important economic products. Anser cygnoide (AC) is superior in reproduction, growth and feather quality, while Anser anser (AA) has an advantage in feather yield. Understanding the development of feather follicles facilitates deliberate crossbreeding. Here, we compared feather follicles morphogenesis between AC and AA. Feathers and dorsal skin were sampled at multiple embryonic days to investigate feather phenotypes, feather follicle morphology and the expression of hub molecules (FZD4, β-catenin, LEF1, TCF4 and c-Myc) in the Wnt signalling pathway. We found a marked difference in plumage colour between the two breeds. Feather colour in AA has undergone a 'black dorsum' stage and cavity formation in AC was earlier. Furthermore, different trends in molecular hub expression helped explain the phenotypical and morphological differences: the upregulated Wnt signals in AC at E12 and/or E15, as well as in AA at E18, were associated with early epidermal placode formation and cavity formation in AC, also, related to the development of the secondary feather follicles and 'black dorsum' in AA. Summarily, breed-specific expression patterns of Wnt signalling pathway between AC and AA might participate in the shaping of breed-specific feather follicles morphogenesis and feather phenotypes. This work provides references for feather follicles development in geese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Few studies have examined factors affecting the high frequency of hospitalization for pediatric asthma. This study identifies individual and environmental characteristics of children with asthma from a low-income community with a high number of hospitalizations. Methods: The study population included 902 children admitted at least once to a children's hospital in South Texas because of asthma from 2010 to 2016. The population was divided into three groups by utilization frequency (high: ≥4 times, medium: 2–3 times, or low: 1 time). Individual-level factors at index admission and environmental factors were included for the analysis. Unadjusted and adjusted multivariate ordered logistic regression models were applied to identify significant characteristics of high hospital utilizers. Results: The high utilization group comprised 2.4% of total patients and accounted for substantial hospital resource utilization: 10.8% of all admissions and 13.5% of days stayed in the hospital. Patients in the high utilization group showed longer length of stay (LOS) and shorter time between admissions on average than the other two groups. The multivariate ordered logistic regression models revealed that age of 5–11 years (OR = 0.57, 95%CI = 0.35–0.93), longer LOS (2 days: OR = 1.80, 95%CI = 1.15–2.84; ≥3 days: OR = 3.38, 95%CI = 2.10–5.46), warm season at index admission (OR = 1.49, 95%CI = 1.01–2.20), and higher average ozone level in children's residential neighborhoods (OR = 1.78, 95%CI = 1.01–3.14) were significantly associated with a higher number of asthma hospitalizations. Conclusions: The findings suggest the importance of monitoring high hospital utilizers and establishing strategies for such patients based on their characteristics to reduce repeated hospitalizations and to increase optimal use of hospital resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypertension is highly prevalent among people living with HIV (PLWH). We sought to characterize the hypertension incidence among PLWH on antiretroviral therapy, focusing on the effect of change in general and abdominal obesity on hypertension during follow-up. This was a prospective analysis of 229 treated PLWH aged over 40 years without hypertension at baseline. Overall a median follow-up of 2.9 years, 26.2% PLWH developed hypertension. In multivariable models, compared to those without obesity measures at both baseline and follow-up visit, PLWH with general obesity at both occasions (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 3.83, P = 0.006) or at baseline only (aOR = 5.45, P = 0.003), abdominal obesity (measured as waist circumference) at both occasions (aOR = 3.87, P = 0.001) or at follow-up only (aOR = 2.27; 9P = 0.060), abdominal obesity (measured as waist-to-hip ratio) at both occasions (aOR = 2.27, P = 0.077) were at increased risk of incident hypertension. Our data show that both general and abdominal obesity especially in the persistent status increase the hypertension risk in treated PLWH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although plastic materials play an essential role in life, the intensive production of plastic products and mismanagement of plastic waste worldwide have resulted in microplastic pollution. The two major characteristics of environmental microplastics are having small size and resistance to degradation, which make microplastics a persistent organic pollutant. As microplastic pollution has been observed in diverse environmental matrices, it has attracted great attention of scholars globally. Over the last decade, scholars have mainly documented the particle properties of microplastics, such as size, shape or color and their adverse effects on organisms. However, no research has updated on environmental microplastics from the perspective of multi-media. Our review first summarized the literature in the occurrence, distribution, and characteristics of microplastics in three kinds of environmental matrices (water, soil, and air) to the public. We then identify the methodological challenges in researches and discuss the advantages and limitations of popular methods to analyze environmental microplastics. Eventually, our paper highlights the current challenges and proposes suggestions for the future research on microplastic pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]