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To examine the development of visual aesthetic sensitivity in students in China, 2,387 students from age 9 to age 22 (excluding ages 16–17) were tested by the Visual aesthetic Sensitivity Test-Revised. The development of visual aesthetic sensitivity across ages and genders, and the effect of artistic training on students’ visual aesthetic sensitivity were examined. The data of primary school and junior middle school students were collected by paper tests completed collectively in class, while the data of university students were collected by distributing and collecting online. Result suggests that students’ visual aesthetic sensitivity is relatively stable from age 9 to age 12 and increases at age 13. The visual aesthetic sensitivity of girls is significantly better than that of boys at age 15, 19, and 20 years of age. This study also found that artistic training improves students’ visual aesthetic sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In this study, we aim to investigate the safety and feasibility of robot-assisted kidney transplantation (RAKT) in children by reporting our initial experience. Methods: Using the Da Vinci robotic system, we performed a successful RAKT on a 12-year-old child who had been on hemodialysis for 27 months. Results: The total operative time for the RAKT procedure was 245 min. The vascular anastomosis took 41 min, while the ureterovesical anastomosis lasted 18 min. The estimated blood loss during the surgery was 100.0 ml. Following the removal of the arterial and venous clamp, the kidney was well perfused, and no perioperative complications were observed. Conclusion: This study presents the first pediatric RAKT in China, proving the safety and feasibility of the robotassisted technique for children awaiting kidney transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mutations of the glucocerebrosidase (GBA) gene have reportedly been associated with Parkinson disease (PD) in various ethnic populations such as Singaporean, Japanese, Formosan, Canadian, American, Portuguese, Greek, Brazilian, British, Italian, Ashkenazi Jewish, southern and southwestern Chinese. The purpose of this study is to determine in central China whether or not the reported GBA mutations remain associated with PD. Methods: In this project, we conducted a controlled study in a cohort of 208 central Chinese PD patients and 298 controls for three known GBA mutations (L444P, N370S and R120W). Results: Our data reveals a significantly higher frequency of L444P mutation in GBA gene of PD cases (3.4%) compared with the controls (0.3%) (P = 0.007, OR = 10.34, 95% CI = 1.26 - 84.71). Specifically, the frequency of L444P mutation was higher in the late onset PD (LOPD) cases compared with that in control subjects. The N370S and R120W mutations were detected in neither the PD group nor the control subjects. Conclusions: Our observations demonstrated that the GBA L444P mutation confers genetic risk for PD, especially LOPD, among the population in the central China area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, nursing has come to be considered a high-risk and high-pressure profession, given the fast-paced working environment and constant need to handle emergencies, especially for nurses working in hemodialysis centers. Nearly every day, nurses are confronted with life and death situations and are required to provide skilled, high quality care for their patients, in fast-paced and demanding environments. Thus, nurses are susceptible to both psychological stress and other mental health problems, making them more vulnerable to burnout when compared against other healthcare professions.An anonymous online questionnaire was completed by a group of participating nurses, using the web-based survey platform WeChat. Registered nurses working in hemodialysis centers were randomly selected from 5 comprehensive tertiary level hospitals in Sichuan Province, China. The data collection instrument comprised two parts: demographic data and a nurse burnout questionnaire-the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Overall, 70 nurses were invited to participate, with 65 returning completed questionnaires, giving a response rate of 92.9%. In this survey, the burnout level was set at28.15 ± 12.39 for emotional exhaustion (EE), 10.23 ± 5.47 for depersonalization (DP), and 37.19 ± 8.31 for personal accomplishment (PA)-EE and DP levels are found to be high at the level of burnout.Job burnout was found to exist widely among the nurses of hemodialysis centers, which may then result in adverse effects on their physical and mental health. Active interventions can significantly reduce job burnout and also help maintain the stability of nursing workforce levels.