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This study extends previous research by examining the mental health issues of international mainland Chinese college students in Thailand. The research specifically proposed that mental health issues originate from the relationship between life adaptation and mental health disorders, and this study was conducted to test this assertion. Nine hundred international mainland Chinese college students in Thailand participated in an online survey. The results showed that life adaptation in respect of family relationships, interpersonal relationships, emotions, and learning had a positive effect on mental health disorders and that female and junior students who stayed in Thailand for 1 to 2 years were likely to have significant mental health issues.

Pramipexole is the first‐line medication recommended by the British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Pramipexole is predominantly eliminated by renal excretion. The aim was to develop a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model of pramipexole, providing a basis for its individualized administration. The role of glomerular filtration and organic cation transporter 2 (OCT2) in renal tubular secretion was considered. Plasma concentration‐time profiles of pramipexole were predicted and validated, first in healthy populations and then in PD patients with varied renal function. Finally, the pharmacokinetics of PD patients with different degrees of renal impairment were predicted. The simulated pharmacokinetic parameters, including maximum plasma concentration (Cmax), area under the plasma concentration‐time curve (AUC), time to maximum plasma concentration (tmax), and steady‐state trough plasma concentration values, obtained using the PBPK model were validated using fold error values, which were all smaller than 2. The successfully validated model supported that OCT2‐mediated tubular secretion was affected proportionally to changes in glomerular filtration for various degrees of renal impairment. The predicted AUC0‐inf values were increased 1.16‐, 1.76‐, 3.26‐, and 9.48‐fold in mild, moderate, and severe renal impairment and end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) subjects, resepctively, compared with PD patients with normal renal function. It appears that PD patients with mild renal impairment are unlikely to require dose adjustment (0.125 mg 3 times a day). The pramipexole dose should be reduced to approximately 0.125 mg twice daily, 0.125 mg once daily, and 0.0375 mg once daily in PD patients with moderate renal impairment, severe renal impairment, and ESRD, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Study Aim: The commonly used minimally invasive methods for patients with infected pancreatic necrosis (IPN) are initial endoscopic transluminal drainage (ETD) and percutaneous catheter drainage (PCD), which are followed, if necessary, by endoscopic or surgical necrosectomy. This study intends to explore which of the two minimally invasive treatments leads to a better prognosis.Patients and Methods: Patients with IPN and an indication for intervention were prospectively enrolled and underwent either initial ETD or PCD followed, if necessary, by endoscopic or surgical necrosectomy.Results: Initial treatment success occurred in 8 of 11 patients after ETD (72.7%) and in 3 of 13 patients after PCD (30.8%) (risk ratio [RR] with ETD, 2.36; 95% CI 0.97-5.77; P = 0.04). After 1 year of follow-up, 72.7% of patients survived with ETD, and 69.2% survived with PCD (RR 1.05; 95% CI 0.63-1.75; P = 0.85). Intestinal fistula seems to have occurred less in the patients who received initial ETD rather than PCD therapy (9.1 vs. 38.5%; RR 0.24; 95% CI 0.03-1.73; P = 0.098). Fewer patients who underwent an initial ETD were transferred to surgery (9.1 vs. 46.2%; RR 0.20; 95% CI 0.03-1.40; P = 0.047). A higher rate of new-onset diabetes (3 cases) or impaired glucose tolerance (1 case) occurred in initial PCD compared to ETD (40 vs. 0%, P = 0.042).Conclusion: The outcomes of initial endoscopic transluminal drainage are superior to percutaneous drainage for patients with infected pancreatic necrosis (ChiCTR-ONRC-13003653). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: High-dose intravenous esomeprazole is the only approved pharmacological treatment for the prevention of peptic ulcer rebleeding (currently approved in over 100 countries worldwide), but has not yet been approved in China. This study aimed to evaluate a high-dose esomeprazole intravenous regimen vs. an active control (cimetidine) for the prevention of rebleeding in Chinese patients with a high risk of peptic ulcer rebleeding who had undergone primary endoscopic hemostatic treatment.Methods: This was a parallel-group study conducted at 20 centers in China. The study comprised a randomized, double-blind, intravenous treatment phase of 72 h in which 215 patients received either high-dose esomeprazole (80 mg + 8 mg/h) or cimetidine (200 mg + 60 mg/h), followed by an open-label oral treatment phase in which all patients received esomeprazole 40 mg tablets once daily for 27 days. The primary outcome was the rate of clinically significant rebleeding within the first 72 h after initial endoscopic hemostatic therapy. Secondary outcomes included the rates of clinically significant rebleeding within 7 and 30 days; proportions of patients who had endoscopic retreatment and other surgery due to rebleeding; and number of blood units transfused.Results: The rate of clinically significant rebleeding within 72 h was low overall (3.3%) and numerically lower in patients treated with esomeprazole compared with cimetidine (0.9% vs. 5.6%). Overall, the results of the secondary outcomes also showed a numerical trend towards superiority of esomeprazole over cimetidine. All treatments were well tolerated.Conclusion: In this phase 3, multicenter, randomized trial conducted in China, esomeprazole showed a numerical trend towards superior clinical benefit over cimetidine in the prevention of rebleeding in patients who had successfully undergone initial hemostatic therapy of a bleeding peptic ulcer, with a similar safety and tolerability profile. These findings suggest that esomeprazole may be an alternative treatment option to cimetidine for this indication in China.Funding: AstraZeneca.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT01757275. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The technology of hot metal pretreatment had tremendous improvements in past decades and was widely used by the overwhelming majority of steelworks in Japan. While, since the first hot metal pretreatment station was established in Taiyuan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd in the later period of 1980s, this process began to be applied in domestic steel plants. And now 30 years have passed, the desilionization and dephosphorization process are still rarely seldom used in China except desulphurization process in most carbon steel plants. So in this paper, the metallurgical principles and effects of hot metal desiliconization were analyzed in great details. Meanwhile, the optimum silicon content of hot metal between iron-making and steelmaking process was summarized and calculated. The necessity of hot metal desiliconizaiton was discussed for the iron and steel companies in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Excessive sulfur and nitrogen deposition is a threat to natural ecosystems. This study investigated the spatio-temporal changes of wet sulfur and nitrogen deposition in Jiuzhaigou to understand the responses of wet deposition chemistry to local and national air pollutant emission changes and to assess relevant ecological risks. The results show that local emission sources (e.g., tourism, post-earthquake reconstruction, and vegetation damages) largely elevated the concentrations of SO 4 2−, NO 3 −, NH 4 +, and Ca2+ at the non-background sites during 2021–2022; However, the gaps of annual sulfur and nitrogen wet deposition fluxes among the background, semi-background, and non-background sites were reduced by annual precipitation. The pH was also higher at the non-background sites due to stronger acid neutralization capacities from crustal dust there, and acid precipitation (pH < 5.6) was not detected at all the sites. During the 2010 to 2022 period, the wet deposition of SO 4 2− and TIN (i.e. total inorganic nitrogen) and the equivalent ratio of SO 4 2−: NO 3 − generally presented a declining trend at the background and semi-background sites, as a result of regional and national emission reductions. The TIN reduction from 2015 to 2016 to 2021–2022 at the background site was more from wet NH 4 + deposition and the site's NO 3 − concentrations and fluxes were relatively stable. Compared to the critical loads (CLs) of sulfur and nitrogen for acidification and eutrophication, the annual wet and wet+dry deposition fluxes of sulfur and nitrogen were lower in almost the entire watershed, except for the CL min of nitrogen for acidification in considerable areas. However, all the wet deposition samples were calcite-unsaturated and had annual TIN concentrations higher than the national environmental standard of total nitrogen for surface water. More field investigations are needed to better assess the ecological risks. [Display omitted] • Acid precipitation (pH < 5.60) was not observed during 2021–2022. • National emission controls decreased acid deposition at the background site. • Local human emissions enhanced acid deposition at the non-background sites. • Alkaline dust well buffered the acidity of precipitation. • CLs were not violated in almost the entire watershed, except for the CL min of nitrogen for acidification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Within the normal range, elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels are associated with an increased risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD)., Aim: To investigate the associations between repeated high-normal ALT measurements and the risk of new-onset MAFLD prospectively., Methods: A cohort of 3553 participants followed for four consecutive health examinations over 4 years was selected. The incidence rate, cumulative times, and equally and unequally weighted cumulative effects of excess high-normal ALT levels (ehALT) were measured. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to analyse the association between the cumulative effects of ehALT and the risk of new-onset MAFLD., Results: A total of 83.13% of participants with MAFLD had normal ALT levels. The incidence rate of MAFLD showed a linear increasing trend in the cumulative ehALT group. Compared with those in the low-normal ALT group, the multivariate adjusted hazard ratios of the equally and unequally weighted cumulative effects of ehALT were 1.651 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.199-2.273] and 1.535 (95%CI: 1.119-2.106) in the third quartile and 1.616 (95%CI: 1.162-2.246) and 1.580 (95%CI: 1.155-2.162) in the fourth quartile, respectively., Conclusion: Most participants with MAFLD had normal ALT levels. Long-term high-normal ALT levels were associated with a cumulative increased risk of new-onset MAFLD., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article., (©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

As a new concept in clinical research,the real world research(RWR) has attracted the attention of researchers in the world with its unique advantages. This research mainly analyzed it through visual methods,the specific steps were as follows. Firstly,the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database,China National Knowledge Infrastructure,Wan Fang Database,Medline and EMbase were searched and RWS were included,414 articles in Chinese and 2 158 articles in English were included in this research after layer-bylayer screening; secondly,the main information was extracted and sorted by BICOMS 2 software and generated its co-occurrence matrix; the network relationship diagram was drawn by Net Draw software; the cluster analysis was carried out by using g CLUTO software;finally,this research results show that the numbers of domestic and foreign literatures have shown an overall growth trend,but compared with foreign countries,China's research on the real world started late,the overall strength of research was not as good as abroad;and the domestic and foreign research on the real world was uneven in the region,the research in China was mainly distributed in developed provinces and cities,such as Beijing,Guangdong,Shanghai,etc,and there was a lack of close cooperation between provinces and cities; the foreign research are mainly distributed in developed countries such as the United States,the United Kingdom,Germany,et al; the cooperation between countries was relatively close. And the hotspots and core directions of domestic and foreign research were also different. This research was intended to provide reference for the further research of Chinese researchers through the current description of the themes and capability of the real world research in the world.

Chinese chiropterologists have made significant improvements into research on bat taxonomy and distribution. Overall, scholars recorded 6 new species of bats, alongside 11 species recorded species in the Chinese Mainland and 4 new bat species of Murina in Taiwan. Chinese chiropterologists intensively cooperated with the international experts on bats, and adopted several new, multidisciplinary methods to carry out their studies. Likewise, in China, an increased awareness of bat conservation has been growing. While publications on Chiroptera are continuing to increase increased in China, the methodology of these studies remains to be further developed in hopes of revealing the new and cryptic bat species. Considering the vast territory of China and the migrational habit of bats, we expect that with more refined methodology, more new species of bats and their distributions may be uncovered in the near future. Concurrently, it is important to reexamine the known species by the new taxonomic methods and fauna analysis through which the distribution and subdivision of bats can be updated. Additionally, an international platform for exchanging information of bats needs to be established to enhance the academic cooperation for bat researches. It is highly possible that China will soon become an important research center on taxonomy, distribution, phylogenetics and diversity evolution of Chiroptera, especially as Chinese researchers continues create new knowledge for bats at the α, β and γ taxonomic levels.

In order to explore the genetic mutations of the H9N2 subtype avian influenza viruses isolated in Shandong, sixteen avian influenza virus subtype H9N2 were isolated from different areas of Shandong Province. The complete HA fragments of the viruses were amplified by RT-PCR and the sequences were analyzed on homology and heredity evolution after the cloning and sequencing of the products. The results showed that the amino acid motif of cleavage sites for all the sixteen virus in the HA gene were RSSR decrease GLF, which was consistent with the characterization of the LPAIV. Seven to nine potential glycosylation sites were found during the analysis and the receptor binding sites were relatively conservative except the 198 site. The Leucine(L) at the amino acid position 234 in the HA genes of all isolates indicated the potential of binding with SAalpha,2-6 receptor of mammals. Homology analysis showed that the homology of HA nucleotide and amino acid sequences was 96.3%-99.9% and 97.1%-99.6% for different strains. They belonged to a branch of the A/Duck/Hong Kong/Y280/97 in the phylogenetic tree.

A novel Gram-stain-positive, slightly halophilic, facultatively alkaliphilic, catalase-positive, oxidase-negative, endospore-forming, motile, rod-shaped, aerobic bacterium, designated strain JSM 082006(T), was isolated from an oyster collected from Naozhou Island in the South China Sea. The isolate grew in 0-18 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0.5-4.0 %), at pH 6.0-10.5 (optimum, pH 8.0) and at 15-45 °C (optimum, 30 °C). meso-Diaminopimelic acid was present in the cell-wall peptidoglycan. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C(15 : 0), iso-C(15 : 0) and C(16 : 0). Strain JSM 082006(T) contained MK-7 as the predominant respiratory quinone and diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine as the major polar lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content was 40.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons revealed that strain JSM 082006(T) should be assigned to the genus Bacillus and that it was most closely related to the type strains of Bacillus barbaricus (sequence similarity 99.1 %) and Bacillus arsenicus (97.5 %), followed by those of Bacillus rigui (96.6 %) and Bacillus solisalsi (96.1 %). Phylogenetic analysis, DNA-DNA relatedness values, phenotypic characteristics and chemotaxonomic data support the view that strain JSM 082006(T) represents a novel species of the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus nanhaiensis sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is JSM 082006(T) ( = DSM 23009(T)  = KCTC 13712(T)).

A moderately halophilic, Gram-positive, catalase- and oxidase-positive, rod-shaped, aerobic bacterium, designated strain JSM 071068(T), was isolated from a sea anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) collected from the Naozhou Island on the Leizhou Bay in the South China Sea. Cells were motile by means of peritrichous flagella and formed ellipsoidal endospores lying in subterminal swollen sporangia. Strain JSM 071068(T) was able to grow with 1-20% (w/v) total salts (optimum, 6-9%), at pH values of 6.0-10.0 (optimum, pH 7.5) and a temperature range of 10-35 degrees C (optimum, 25 degrees C). meso-Diaminopimelic acid was present in the cell-wall peptidoglycan. The predominant menaquinone was MK-7 and the major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C(15:0), anteiso-C(17:0) and iso-C(15:0). The genomic DNA G + C content was 42.8 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons revealed that strain JSM 071068(T) belonged to the genus Halobacillus. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities between strain JSM 071068(T) and the type strains of the recognized Halobacillus species ranged from 97.9% (with Halobacillus alkaliphilus) to 95.3% (with Halobacillus kuroshimensis). The levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between the new isolate and the type strains of H. alkaliphilus, Halobacillus campisalis, Halobacillus halophilus and Halobacillus seohaensis were 25.6, 22.1, 10.8 and 13.2%, respectively. The combination of phylogenetic analysis, DNA-DNA relatedness, phenotypic characteristics and chemotaxonomic data supported the view that strain JSM 071068(T) represents a new species of the genus Halobacillus, for which the name Halobacillus naozhouensis sp. nov. is proposed, with JSM 071068(T) (=DSM 21183(T) =KCTC 13234(T)) as the type strain.

Objective: To understand the current epidemic situation and high risk factors of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among paid blood donors living in Shandong provincial China Comprehensive Response (CARES) Project Areas., Methods: All residents between 20 to 60 years old were selected from one or several counties in August 2003., Results: There were 19 HIV(+) infections among 661 subjects interviewed. HIV prevalence rate among paid blood donors was higher (3.98%) than that of others (0.48%) while HIV prevalence rate was higher in plasma donors (7.24%) than that in both plasma and full blood donors (2.90%). There was no infections identified in full blood donors. Donors who donated blood during 1994 - 1995 had a higher prevalence rate (7.07%) than those who started donation after 1995 and those began donation before 1993 (0.99%). The rate of condom use was lower among paid blood donors (13.72%) than that of others. There was a lower rate of voluntary HIV testing among paid blood donors than that of others., Conclusion: The main high risk population of HIV infection were paid donors in CARES Project Areas, whose risk factor was plasma donation and were infected mainly before 1995. Both the rate of condom use and HIV testing were all very low, indicating that they knew little on HIV/AIDS and paid less attention to self-proctection. It is necessary to enhance HIV/AIDS health education and behavior intervention on paid blood donors.

Allergic rhinitis is a major public health problem and has seen its prevalence increase during the past few decades. Interleukin 13 (IL-13) has been implicated in the pathogenesis and in the regulation of immunoglobulin E (IgE) production. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been found in both the coding sequence and the promoter region of IL-13, and such SNPs have been associated with allergic asthma. We have investigated whether IL-13 SNPs are associated with allergic rhinitis. Among 188 Chinese adult patients with allergic rhinitis and 87 normal controls, no significant difference was found in either allele or haplotype frequency of the SNPs between the two groups. Within patients, there was a significant association of the IL-13 Arg130Gln SNP, but not of the IL-13 promoter -1112(C/T) SNP, with serum total IgE levels. Patients with a Gln/Gln genotype showed much higher serum total IgE than those with an Arg/Arg genotype. When tested for serum-specific IgE, patients allergic to Derp 1, but not those allergic to Artemisia pollen, showed a significant association with the IL-13 promoter SNP. Thus, our results suggest a possible involvement of IL-13 SNPs in the regulation of IgE production in response to allergens in this Chinese population.