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Objective: This study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in a representative sample of postmenopausal Chinese women.Methods: A total of 20,008 postmenopausal Chinese women were recruited to this cross-sectional study between February 2014 and March 2016. The prevalence of symptomatic POP, defined as any stage II or higher POP resulting in symptoms, was assessed using questionnaires and physical examinations. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with symptomatic POP.Results: Among all women with natural menopause included in the study (mean age =61.98 ± 10.62 years), 2962 of 20,008 women (14.80%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 14.3-15.3%) had symptomatic POP. In the multivariate analysis, women were more likely to have symptomatic POP if aged 50-59 years (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.322, 95% CI 1.123-1.560), 60-69 years (AOR 1.603, 95% CI 1.352-1.907), or above 70 years (AOR 1.824, 95% CI 1.158-2.197), compared with women aged 40-49 years. Having delivered two times (AOR 1.145, 95% CI 1.105-1.292) or three or more times (AOR 1.384, 95% CI 1.214-1.578) was significantly associated with symptomatic POP. Compared with normal weight women, overweight women (AOR 1.365, 95% CI 1.247-1.494) and obese women (AOR 1.548, 95% CI 1.344-1.780) were more likely to have POP. Living in an urban area, smoking, alcohol consumption, cough, constipation, mental labor, physical disease, and gynecological diseases were also associated with symptomatic POP.Conclusions: Symptomatic POP affects nearly 15% of postmenopausal women in China. The prevalence of symptomatic POP increases significantly with age, body mass index, and parity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public health research and interventions often assume that men who have sex with men (MSM) who use the Internet in China have similar characteristics to those in Western countries, though with little empirical evidence. This study aimed to describe and examine the sociodemographic and basic sexual behavioral characteristics of an online sample of MSM in Guangdong, China. In 2010, a total of 1100 MSM were recruited from an lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)-oriented website and were asked about their sociodemographic and sexual behavior characteristics. The majority of the participants (77.9%) self-identified as homosexual, and the mean age was 30.0 years (SD = 6.7). About 80% of the participants had attained a college degree and only 4.8% were unemployed. About 60% had a monthly salary of more than CNY 3000 (476 USD), and more than 10% were married. The majority (71.7%) had used condoms in the last anal sex. Nearly half of the participants have never been tested for HIV or other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (47.3% and 47.7%, respectively). More than 80% were willing to be contacted by researchers after the survey. Findings indicate that the sociodemographic characteristics of Chinese MSM who use the Internet are relatively similar to those in the Western countries. However, Chinese MSM are less likely to self-identify as homosexual and be tested for HIV and other STIs than Western MSM. On a positive note, Chinese MSM would be likely to engage in e-technology research showing potential feasibility of an online HIV/STI intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fly ash generated from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration is frequently classified as hazardous material and requires special disposal. The management of the large amount of fly ash has caused increasing problems in China. This work describes a novel approach for melting MSW incineration fly ash, and the distribution of heavy metals was characterized during the iron bath-melting separation process. Four hundred grams of pelletized fly ash was fed into the furnace in molten iron bath atmosphere. After the melting separation process, the distribution of heavy metals in samples and the leaching characteristics of the slag were investigated. The results indicated that iron bath-melting promoted the transfer of Cr, Mn and Cu from the slag phase to the iron phase, which also improved Zn and Pb volatilization. The leaching concentrations, determined by the Chinese Standard Method (rollover leaching procedure) of the target metals of the slag from leaching tests were lower than the Chinese regulatory thresholds. Therefore, this method was proposed as an environmentally friendly technology to achieve a satisfactory solution for MSW incineration fly ash management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acouso-physical properties of sea floor sediments in the southeast offshore sea area of Hainan Island on the northern continental shelf of the South China Sea are analyzed. In many cruises, conductivity-temperature-depth measurements of seawater, measurements of shallow stratum and side-scan sonar have been made. Acoustic parameters, basic sedimentary parameters, physical-mechanical parameters and 14C age, etc., have been measured. The sediment elastic parameters, including Young's modulus, bulk modulus, constrained modulus, rigidity modulus, Poisson's ratio, Lames constant, etc., have been calculated. Results show that the compression wave velocity of the seafloor sediment in the sea area ranges from 1474-1700 m/s, and there are high and low sound velocity sediment types in the different sea areas; the shear wave velocity is 150-600 m/s; at 100 kHz the sediment sound attenuation is 35-260 dB/m, the sediment density is 1.4-2.0 g/cm3; the sediment porosity is 42-88%. Sound field parameters and describing sound reciprocity between sea and seafloor are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dragon spruce (Picea asperata Mast.) is widely planted on clear-cuts from natural subalpine coniferous forests in western Sichuan. To assess the natural regeneration potential of this species in spruce plantations of different ages, field studies on the seed rain, seed bank, and seedling recruitment were conducted in 20-year, 30-year, and 60-year plantations, and in a retained natural forest ca. 150 years old for comparison. Moreover, a series of temperature and light regimes were also designed in March 2003 to test germination/dormancy responses of the P. asperata seeds to different conditions. In the plantations considered, both the densities of seed rain and soil seed bank increased with increasing stand age, whereas they were both low beneath the natural forest partially due to low adult density of P. asperata adult trees. P. asperata has a transient seed bank, and ca. 60% of seeds were found in the litter layer. Seed decay and seed predation were the two most important factors affecting soil seed bank dynamics, which caused a number of seed losses from the soil. Only a small fraction germinated and produced seedlings, and the indices of the losses from the seed bank via germination in the 30-year plantation, 60-year plantation and natural forest were 4.75, 5.10, and 2.80%, respectively. High seedling mortality was observed after seedling emergence, and most of the germinated seedlings died out within one growing season. The P. asperata seeds showed a high percent germination and no significant differences under most light and temperature regimes except for full sunlight or temperature below 5°C. In conclusion, despite a substantial number of seed produced, the high depletion of soil seed, the low seedling output, and high seedling mortality may obscure the natural regeneration potential of this tree species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]