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Background: The impact of weather on human health has been proven, but the impact of extreme weather events on cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM) needs to be urgently explored. Objectives: Investigating the impact of extreme temperature, relative humidity (RH), and laboratory testing parameters at admission on adverse events in CMM hospitalizations. Designs: Time-stratified case-crossover design. Methods: A distributional lag nonlinear model with a time-stratified case-crossover design was used to explore the nonlinear lagged association between environmental factors and CMM. Subsequently, unbalanced data were processed by 1:2 propensity score matching (PSM) and conditional logistic regression was employed to analyze the association between laboratory indicators and unplanned readmissions for CMM. Finally, the previously identified environmental factors and relevant laboratory indicators were incorporated into different machine learning models to predict the risk of unplanned readmission for CMM. Results: There are nonlinear associations and hysteresis effects between temperature, RH and hospital admissions for a variety of CMM. In addition, the risk of admission is higher under low temperature and high RH conditions with the addition of particulate matter (PM, PM2.5 and PM10) and O3_8h. The risk is greater for females and adults aged 65 and older. Compared with first quartile (Q1), the fourth quartile (Q4) had a higher association between serum calcium (HR = 1.3632, 95% CI: 1.0732 ~ 1.7334), serum creatinine (HR = 1.7987, 95% CI: 1.3528 ~ 2.3958), fasting plasma glucose (HR = 1.2579, 95% CI: 1.0839 ~ 1.4770), aspartate aminotransferase/ alanine aminotransferase ratio (HR = 2.3131, 95% CI: 1.9844 ~ 2.6418), alanine aminotransferase (HR = 1.7687, 95% CI: 1.2388 ~ 2.2986), and gamma-glutamyltransferase (HR = 1.4951, 95% CI: 1.2551 ~ 1.7351) were independently and positively associated with unplanned readmission for CMM. However, serum total bilirubin and High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) showed negative correlations. After incorporating environmental factors and their lagged terms, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) demonstrated a more prominent predictive performance for unplanned readmission of CMM patients, with an average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.767 (95% CI:0.7486 ~ 0.7854). Conclusions: Extreme cold or wet weather is linked to worsened adverse health effects in female patients with CMM and in individuals aged 65 years and older. Moreover, meteorologic factors and environmental pollutants may elevate the likelihood of unplanned readmissions for CMM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon carbide, a wide bandgap semiconductor material platform, has emerged as an exceptional material for nonlinear integrated photonics. Among the different poly-structures, 4H-silicon carbide-on-insulator stacks show promising results to their low loss, which are crucial for commercial applications like communication, metrology, and spectroscopy. High Q-values and low-loss microring resonators are imperative for miniaturization and photonic integration in these applications. This Perspective emphasizes recent advancements in enhancing the quality factor of microresonators based on 4H-silicon carbide, as well as the strides made in experimental results of third-order nonlinearities. Furthermore, this Letter addresses and outlines the prospects of integrating 4H-silicon carbide microring resonators into frequency comb technologies and potential applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the drug resistance spectrum, genetic diversity, and transmission dynamics to provide a basis for the prevention and control of drug-resistant (DR) tuberculosis (TB) epidemics. Methods: This retrospective study is based on routine national drug resistance surveillance. The demographic, epidemiological, and clinical information on DR-TB patients from 2016 to 2021 was collected and used for phenotypic drug susceptibility testing and whole-genome sequencing. Results: It was indicated that L2.2.1 was the dominant lineage in Urumqi. The drug resistance spectrum in Urumqi was narrow, which means more drug combinations can be used for clinical treatment. Furthermore, mutations identification of drug-resistance gene katG, rpoB, embA/B, rrs, rpsL, eis, gyrA/B, folC and tryA are important for clinical drug use. However, mutations in cross-resistance genes rrs have limited guidance for clinical selection of KM, CPM and AK. Moreover, there is an increased risk of cluster transmission of DR-TB, and the difference in clustering rate among L2, L3, and L4 was not statistically significant (χ2 = 2.6410, p = 0.2670). Conclusion: In the Urumqi, DR-TB has a complex prevalence state, a narrow drug resistance spectrum, and a high clustering rate and burden of drug resistance. To reduce the burden of DR-TB, related research should be strengthened, and the development of prevention, control, and treatment strategies should be accelerated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To analyze the anxiety status and influencing factors among biosafety laboratory (BSL) personnel in Xinjiang. Methods In 2021, a total of 8 500 BSL workers from disease control centers, hospital laboratories, and other related departments in 106 counties of Xinjiang, selected by a cluster sampling method, were surveyed with the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). The logistic regression model was used to analyze the possible influencing factors for anxiety. Results A total of 7 924 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective recovery rate of 93.2%. The anxiety detection rate was 34.93% (2 768/7 924), including 19.95% mild anxiety, 8.99% moderate anxiety, and 5.99% severe anxiety. The logistic regression analysis showed that the females had a higher risk of developing anxiety than the males (OR = 1.418, P < 0.05). Compared with those aged < 24, those aged 30 - 44 and over 50 were more likely to develop anxiety (OR = 1.298, 1.482, P < 0.05). Compared with the unmarried, the married had an increased risk of developing anxiety (OR = 1.159, P < 0.05). Compared with those without asking for leave, those asking for leave had an increased risk of developing anxiety (OR = 1.228 - 4.405, P < 0.05). Compared with those with working time ≤ 5 years, those with working time over 6 years had an increased risk of developing anxiety (OR = 1.444, 2.002, P < 0.05). Compared with experimental technicians, logistics and engineering personnel had an increased risk of developing anxiety (OR = 1.280, P < 0.05). Compared with workers with a fixed-day shift, shift workers had an increased risk of developing anxiety (OR = 2.051, P < 0.05). The workers with coronary heart disease and peptic ulcer had an increased risk of developing anxiety (OR = 1.848, 2.951, P < 0.05) compared with workers without this disease. Compared with those with technical secondary school and below, those with the bachelor degree or above had a reduced risk of developing anxiety (OR = 0.685, P < 0.05). Compared with those who did not exercise, those who exercised weekly had a reduced risk of developing anxiety (OR = 0.708 - 0.775, P < 0.05). Compared with those with poor sleep quality, those with good sleep quality had a reduced risk of developing anxiety (OR = 0.201, P < 0.05). Compared with those with an average monthly income of less than 3 000 yuan, those with a monthly income of more than 4 000 yuan had a reduced risk of developing anxiety (OR = 0.685 - 0.771, P < 0.05). Conclusions The anxiety incidence rate of BSL workers in Xinjiang was high, and the influencing factors were multifaceted. The evaluation and intervention of their anxiety should be paid attention to. Relevant departments should intervene at multiple levels to improve the occurrence of employees' anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon carbide (SiC) photonic integrated platform has attracted significant research interest for on-chip optical applications, owing to its exceptional optical properties such as a broad transparency window, high refractive index, and strong nonlinearity. Among the various types of SiC, amorphous SiC (a-SiC) has particularly emerged as an accessible choice for forming thin-film SiC-on-insulator (SiCOI) stacks, demonstrating promising capabilities for wafer-scale photonic applications. In this work, we prepare three a-SiCOI samples using the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, with different refractive indices. We fabricate optical waveguides, conduct four-wave mixing measurements, and characterize the nonlinear refractive index in these samples. Our findings reveal that an increase in the refractive index of a-SiC leads to a corresponding increase in the nonlinear refractive index, which is comparable to that of silicon. Hence, a-SiC offers an approach to develop a SiC platform with a wider bandgap than that of silicon, minimizing two-photon absorption while also providing a higher refractive index and stronger nonlinearity compared to crystalline SiC.

Background: As SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants circulating globally since 2022, assessing the transmission characteristics, and the protection of vaccines against emerging Omicron variants among children and adolescents are needed for guiding the control and vaccination policies., Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study for SARS-CoV-2 infections and close contacts aged <18 years from an outbreak seeded by Omicron BA.5 variants. The secondary attack rate (SAR) was calculated and the protective effects of two doses of inactivated vaccine (mainly Sinopharm /BBIBP-CorV) within a year versus one dose or two doses above a year after vaccination against the transmission and infection of Omicron BA.5 were estimated., Results: A total of 3442 all-age close contacts of 122 confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections aged 0-17 years were included. The SAR was higher in the household setting and for individuals who received a one-dose inactivated vaccine or those who received a two-dose for more than one year, with estimates of 28.5% (95% credible interval [CrI]: 21.1, 37.7) and 55.3% (95% CrI: 24.4, 84.8), respectively. The second dose of inactivated vaccine conferred substantial protection against all infection and transmission of Omicron BA.5 variants within a year., Conclusions: Our findings support the rollout of the second dose of inactivated vaccine for children and adolescents during the Omciron BA.5 predominant epidemic phase. Given the continuous emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, monitoring the transmission risk and corresponding vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 variants among children and adolescents is important to inform control strategy., (© 2024. The Author(s).)