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It has always been one of the hot spots of the whole society to improve teachers' quality and ability. With the progress of the era and the rapid development of biology, it puts forward higher requirements for the cultivation of biology teachers of middle school. How to cultivate a large number of high-quality biology teachers of middle school with good ethics and outstanding abilities is a focus problem worth exploring. There are some problems in the traditional training mode of biology normal students, such as backward teaching idea, unreasonable teaching arrangement and uneven teaching level. In view of these problems, normal universities should take a series of reform measures to promote the professional development of middle school biology teachers. Therefore, this paper summarizes the reform necessity, current situation and existing problems of the talent training mode. It also puts forward a series of reform measures on the talent training mode in the aspects of learning, innovation and reflection. Thus, this paper will provide important reference for the reform of talent training mode of middle school biology teachers in the future.

The 21st century is the century of life science. With the rapid development of life science and technology, the social needs of biological professionals are changing dramatically, and the requirements for their theoretical quality and practical ability are becoming higher and higher. The construction of characteristic disciplines in Henan Province is advancing steadily, which is having a far-reaching impact on the talent cultivation of colleges and universities in the province, and the talent training mode of colleges and universities has also changed greatly. With the continuous expansion of the national undergraduate enrollment scale, it is of great theoretical and practical significance for local normal universities to cultivate biological professionals to adapt to the development of life science and social needs, and to explore a new model for the cultivation of biological professionals. Xinyang Normal University, based on the experience of biological talents training in the past 45 years, especially in the past five years around the construction of Henan Province's characteristic disciplines, focuses on the construction of "teaching staff, teaching team and practice team", focusing on improving the theoretical quality and practical ability of students majoring in biology, that is, a new training model of "one center, two improvements" for biological professionals. The new model has important theoretical significance and potential application value for the continuous improvement of teaching quality of biology education.

In the document "Curriculum Standard of General Senior High School Curriculum and Biology (2017 ed.)" published in 2018, developing students' core literacy as the fundamental task and value pursuit of current educational and teaching curriculum reform in China. Life concept is the key element of the core literacy of biology in senior high school. This paper expounds the position and value of life concept in the biology curriculum of senior high school, and analyses the connotation of life concept, which will provide an important reference for the effective cultivation of the life concept of senior high school students in the future.

In order to effectively investigate the current situation of biology teachers in Southern Henan, this study used the method of interviews and questionnaires to investigate and analyze the current situation of biology teachers in Southern Henan from their living status and professional development. The survey results show that: (1) The overall satisfaction of biology special post teachers in southern Henan is general, the office conditions can meet the teaching needs, the salary and housing conditions need to be improved, and the spare-time and family life needs of biology special post teachers attract attention; (2) Professional development is generally satisfactory. Specialized biology teachers in Southern Henan are willing to participate in educational and teaching reform, but their participation in teaching and research activities needs to be further strengthened. Specialized biology teachers have a large workload and high labor intensity. In view of the above findings, this paper puts forward some countermeasures for the development of biology special post teachers in Southern Henan, with a view to providing theoretical reference for the follow-up research on biology special post teachers, as well as providing important information for improving the living status of specialty post teachers, promoting professional development and improving the quality of education and teaching.

Syncollisional magmatism plays an important but underappreciated role in continental crust growth and maturation. However, the origin of syncollisional intermediate magmas in continental subduction zones is controversial, with some models suggesting they form by arc-related processes, and others indicating they form by later slab breakoff-induced melting. Diorite porphyry dikes intruding granitic gneiss in the Paleo-Tethyan Sulu ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) continental collisional orogen have inherited zircon grains with 206Pb/238U ages of ca. 749-238 Ma, and magmatic zircons with weighted mean ages of 216-215 Ma, falling within the well-constrained time range (ca. 235-208 Ma) tracking exhumation of the Sulu UHP rocks from UHP peak conditions to amphibolite facies; they are thus syncollisional. The dikes have high Cr (330-402 ppm), Ni (84.5-103 ppm), and Mg# (64-66) values, showing a mantle origin. The porphyries have relatively high Sm/Yb, Nb/Y, La/Yb, and Gd/Yb ratios, representing a classic signature of slab breakoff magmatism. Together with the arc-like traceelement patterns and enriched Sr-Nd isotope compositions, ages, and εHf(t) values (-19.5 to -17.0) of magmatic zircons and their tectonic setting, we propose a syncollisional slab breakoff model in which the melts were initially generated from asthenospheric upwelling in the gap created when the oceanic slab attached to the Yangtze craton detached underneath the North China craton during Late Triassic collision following Paleo-Tethys Ocean closure. The diorite porphyry dikes have consistent Sr-Nd isotope compositions and spatiotemporal relationships with the nearby Shidao gabbro-syenite-granite complex, for which the tectonic affinity is controversial. Thus, we argue that the diorite porphyries and Shidao complex were sourced from two cratons, including the enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle of the North China craton, which interacted with abundant felsic melts derived from the sinking slab breaking away from the subducted crust of the Yangtze continental-ocean transitional margin. This study sheds new light on crustal recycling versus continental growth in collisional orogens and implies that considerable syncollisional intermediate magmas can be generated by slab breakoff in continental subduction zones, representing hybrid additions to continental growth that are different and more evolved than arc magmas and have a composition similar to that of the bulk continental crust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese overcapacity in the steel and coal industry has been on the rise since 2013, which leads to the misallocation of resources and decreases in production efficiency. In 2015, the Chinese central government adopted a series of de-capacity policies to resolve excess capacity and improve corporate profitability. However, there is scant evidence on the impacts of de-capacity policies on the firm profitability. Based on the data from Chinese listed companies in the steel and coal industry, this study constructs the difference-in-difference (DID) method to investigate the effects of the de-capacity policy on the profitability of listed companies in the steel and coal industry empirically. The results show that the de-capacity policy significantly increases the return on equity (ROE) of the experimental group, which is higher than that of the control group by 12.4%. That is partially because of the improvement in gross profit margin, management efficiency, and return on manpower due to the de-capacity policy. This study offers new evidence on the efficiency of China's de-capacity policy toward the steel and coal industries through data at the enterprise level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable development of China's high-tech manufacturing (HTM) sector is restricted by dependence on technology introduction and foreign direct investment (FDI), low input-output efficiency, and environmental pollution. This study aimed to examine the roles of technology introduction and FDI in improving the technical efficiency of Chinese HTM from an environmental perspective. By integrating stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and projection pursuit (PP) based on the real-coded accelerated genetic algorithm (RAGA), this study constructed a RAGA-PP-SFA model that considers undesirable outputs. This model includes various outputs, including environmental pollution, in the production function to improve estimation accuracy. Moreover, to verify the robustness of the estimation results, the results were provided when environmental pollutants were taken as input factors. The results showed that technology introduction could significantly promote HTM's technical efficiency, while FDI had no significant positive effect. By comparing the estimated results with those that did not consider environmental pollution, this study not only reveals different roles of technology introduction and FDI in improving HTM's technical efficiency but also confirms that ignoring environmental pollution will overestimate their roles (especially the role of FDI) in such improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the status of oral health--related quality of life (OHRQoL) in Chinese adolescents aged 12 to 15 years based on the 4th National Oral Health Survey and to explore its associated factors. Methods: Students aged 12 to 15 years were recruited using to a multistage stratified random sampling method. All the subjects received oral examination and completed a questionnaire. Information relating to OHRQoL was collected through a Mandarin version of the child oral impacts on daily performances (Child-OIDP) questionnaire. The relationship between the Child-OIDP scores and independent variables was assessed using a Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis test and a multivariate Poisson regression. Results: A total of 89,582 subjects were included in the analysis, of whom 76.6% reported oral impacts in the last 6 months. Eating was the most affected daily performance. The results of the regression analysis showed that factors associated with adolescents' OHRQoL included sex, location of residence, region, only child status, parents' level of education, frequency of sugar consumption, self-perception of general/oral health, dental appointments in the past 12 months, oral health knowledge status, age, decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) index and number of teeth with gingival bleeding. Conclusion: Oral impacts were common among Chinese adolescents, although most were not so severe. Eating was the most commonly affected performance. Sex, location of residence, region, only child status, parents' level of education, frequency of sugar consumption, selfperception of general/oral health status, dental appointments in the previous 12 months, oral health knowledge status, age, DMFT index and number of teeth with gingival bleeding were found to be associated with OHRQoL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier studies on the innovation process in the high-tech manufacturing industry failed to take environmental pollution into account, making it difficult to estimate green innovation efficiency in the industry. From a perspective of innovation value chain, this paper decomposes green innovation process in the high-tech manufacturing industry into two stages: R&D stage and achievement transformation stage; a network DEA approach considering undesirable outputs is utilized to estimate the green innovation efficiency in China's high-tech manufacturing industry. Compared with the method of conventional innovation efficiency without considering environmental pollution, the estimation method for green innovation efficiency can not only avoid bias of estimation results of provinces producing low pollution emissions like Inner Mongolia and Hainan but also reflect the volatility in efficiency of the high-tech manufacturing industry before and after the implementation of the environmental law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exotic Haiyangsuo complex is structurally part of the Sulu belt but its contact relationship with surrounding Sulu gneisses is unexposed and therefore unknown, making its affinity uncertain. It comprises gneisses with in-source leucosomes that host minor metabasite bodies; both are cut by leucogranite dikes. In this study, we determine the timing and petrogenesis of leucosomes and leucogranites and assess the tectonic affinity of the complex based on data from gneisses and metabasites. Most zircon from gneisses and leucosomes has oscillatory-zoned cores with CL-bright overgrowth rims, but some has CL-dark cores or mantles between cores and rims. CL-dark and bright zircon yield weighted mean ages of ca. 1817-1812 Ma. CL-dark zircon has flat heavy rare earth element (HREE) patterns and crystallization temperatures of 829-875 °C, suggesting metamorphic growth, whereas rims have steep HREE patterns but a similar range of crystallization temperatures, suggesting growth from anatectic melt; eHf (t = 1813 Ma) of -18.3 to -10.8 indicates a North China Craton source. Magmatic zircon from metabasites yields ages of ca. 825 Ma, similar to those of scattered metabasite occurrences in the North China Craton. Paleoproterozoic zircon cores were scavenged during magma ascent. By contrast, zircon cores from the leucogranites yield concordant dates of 776- 701 Ma, consistent with protolith ages in the Sulu belt, whereas overgrowth mantles and rims yield weighted mean ages of ca. 220 Ma and 162 Ma, respectively. Both mantles and rims host multiphase solid inclusions, representing former melt, suggesting anatexis and crystallization of zircon first during initial decompression and then during orogenic collapse of the Sulu belt; whole-rock Nd and Sr isotope compositions implicate the Sulu belt gneisses as the source of these melts. Our interpretation of these data is that the Haiyangsuo complex has an early geologic history similar to the Jiaobei terrane from the southeastern part of the North China Craton and was incorporated into the Sulu belt during Triassic collision of the Yangtze and North China Cratons. The two stages of melting relate to Upper Triassic early exhumation and Upper Jurassic late-stage orogenic collapse, during which the leucogranite magma was derived from a source similar to one elsewhere in the Sulu belt such as the subducted Yangtze Craton and not the North China Craton. This shows that during continental collisions, crust from the upper plate may be dragged into the subduction channel, deformed, and subsequently exhumed in association with partial melting of the crust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As we previously reported, the presence of preoperative metabolic syndrome can predict the significant risk of gastric cancer mortality. As a further extension, we evaluated the prediction of three lipid derivatives generated from triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high- and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC and LDLC) at baseline for postoperative gastric cancer mortality by prospectively analysing 3012 patients. The three lipid derivatives included the ratio of TC minus HDLC to HDLC known as atherogenic index (AI), the ratio of TG to HDLC abbreviated as THR and the ratio of LDLC to HDLC abbreviated as LHR.Methods: Gastric cancer patients who received gastrectomy between January 2000 and December 2010 were consecutively recruited from Fujian Cancer Hospital. Follow-up assessment was implemented annually before December 2015.Results: Finally, there were 1331 deaths from gastric cancer and 1681 survivors, with a median follow-up time of 44.05 months. 3012 patients were evenly randomized into the derivation group and the validation group, and both groups were well balanced at baseline. Overall adjusted estimates in the derivation group were statistically significant for three lipid derivatives (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.20, 1.17 and 1.19 for AI, THR and LHR, respectively, all P < 0.001), and were reproducible in the validation group. The risk prediction of three lipid derivatives was more obvious in males than females, in patients with tumor-node-metastasis stage I-II than stage III-IV, in patients with intestinal-type than diffuse-type gastric cancer, in patients with normal weight than obesity, and in patients without hypertension than with hypertension, especially for AI and LHR, and all results were reproducible. Calibration and discrimination statistics showed good reclassification performance and predictive accuracy when separately adding three lipid derivatives to baseline risk model. A prognostic nomogram was accordingly built based on significant attributes to facilitate risk assessment, with a good prediction capability.Conclusions: Our results indicate that preoperative lipid derivatives, especially AI and LHR, are powerful predictors of postoperative gastric cancer mortality, with more obvious prediction in patients of male gender or with tumor-node-metastasis stage I-II or intestinal-type gastric cancer, and in the absence of obesity or hypertension before gastrectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: European researchers have underscored associations between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2287622 of the hepatobiliary bile salt export pump (BSEP) gene and the risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The distributions of SNP rs2287622 are racially specific. This study was aimed to preliminarily investigate the distribution of BSEP gene SNP rs2287622 in the Han patients with chronic HCV-infection (CHC) in Hunan, China.Methods: BSEP gene SNP rs2287622 of 165 CHC patients, 99 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection (CHB) and 99 healthy individuals were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and nucleotide sequencing.Results: The overall frequencies of the C allele of BESP gene SNP rs2287622 in the CHC patients, CHB patients and healthy individuals were 74.2, 72.7 and 74.2%, respectively (P > 0.05). The overall odds ratios (ORs) aiming at predicting CHC risk by comparing the ratios of the frequency distribution of alleles or genotypes in the CHC group with those in the non-CHC group had no statistical significance (P > 0.05). However, the CHC ORs of CC vs TT, TC vs TT and CC + CT vs TT among the individuals aged over 40 years were 2.680, 3.122 and 2.824 respectively (P < 0.05), and the higher risk did not relate to gender, HCV genotypes and presence of HCV-related liver cirrhosis.Conclusions: Among the Han individuals aged over 40 years in Hunan, China, genotype CC or CT of BSEP gene SNP rs2287622 may correlate with higher risk of CHC in comparison with genotype TT. Further study with a larger cohort is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assessed the association between 5 well-defined polymorphisms of the transforming growth factor-β1 (TGFB1) gene and coronary artery disease (CAD) among patients with hypertension from northeast China. All study participants were classified into patients with CAD (n = 679) and controls (n = 686) according to angiographic results. Genotyping was carried out with the ligase detection reaction method. In single-locus analysis, only genotypes of rs1800469 differed significantly between patients with CAD and controls (P = .001); patients carrying the mutant allele of rs1800469 exhibited a 73% increased risk of CAD (P < .001). Haplotype analysis indicated that haplotype A-T-T-C-C (alleles in the order of rs1800468, rs1800469, rs1800470, rs1800471, and rs1800472) was associated with a 1.49-fold increased risk (P = .003). Interaction analysis identified an overall best 3-locus model including rs1800469, rs1800468, and rs1800471 (P = .003). Taken together, we identified a synergistic interaction between TGFB1 gene multiple polymorphisms that entailed greater risk of CAD in Chinese patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panzhihua city (26°05′-27°21′N, 101°08′-102°15′E), located in a mountainous area, is one of the large cities in Sichuan province, China. A landslide occurred in the filling body of the eastern part of the Panzhihua airport on October 3, 2009 (hereafter called the 10.3 landslide). We conducted field survey on the landslide and adopted emergency monitoring and warning models based on the Internet of Things (IoT) to estimate the losses from the disaster and to prevent a secondary disaster from occurring. The results showed that four major features of the airport site had contributed to the landslide, i.e, high altitude, huge amount of filling rocks, deep backfilling and great difficulty of backfilling. The deformation process of the landslide had six stages and the unstable geological structure of high fillings and an earthquake were the main causes of the landslide. We adopted relative displacement sensing technology and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology to achieve remote, real-time and unattended monitoring of ground cracks in the landslide. The monitoring system, including five extensometers with measuring ranges of 200, 450 and 700 mm, was continuously working for 17 months and released 7 warning signals with an average warning time of about 26 hours. At 10 am on 6 December 2009, the system issued a warning and on-site workers were evacuated and equipment protected immediately. At 2:20 pm on 7 December, a medium-scale collapse occurred at the No. 5 monitoring site, which justified the alarm and proved the reliability and efficiency of the monitoring system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Maintenance therapy for extensive stage small cell lung cancer ( ES-SCLC) is still under debate. Many new agents fail during the maintenance course. As an active agent for SCLC, oral etoposide is worth being re-evaluated. Methods This phase II study was performed to evaluate the toxicity/efficacy of the maintenance of patients with oral etoposide with ES-SCLC responding (complete remission [ CR] + partial remission [ PR]) to the induction of four cycles of etoposide plus cisplatin ( EP) chemotherapy. Maintenance therapy with oral etoposide (50 mg/m2, day 1-14, repeated every 21 days until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity occurs) was administered. The primary endpoints were grade 3 and 4 toxicities and progression free survival ( PFS). Results Fifty-four patients with ES-SCLC received standard EP regimens as induction therapy; 31 responding patients were administered oral etoposide as the maintenance treatment. The most common hematological and non-hematological toxicity of the maintenance course was neutropenia and fatigue, respectively. Median PFS was nine months (95% confidence interval ( CI): 8.33∼9.67 months), median overall survival ( OS) was 14 months (95% CI: 11.58∼16.42 months). Significantly better PFS and OS were seen in patients responding to the induction EP chemotherapy. Conclusions Oral etoposide maintenance is safe and effective for patients with ES-SCLC who responded to the induction of EP chemotherapy. Significant survival benefit was revealed in patients completely responding to an EP regimen. Further randomized control study is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First comprehensive investigation of PHCs in golden pompano. • PHC congener profiles in golden pompano varied by geographical location. • DDTs were the predominant PHCs in golden pompano from South China. • Agrochemical inputs contributed a considerable source of PHCs. • Consumption of farmed golden pompano in China would not pose health risks. Persistent halogenated compounds (PHCs) contamination has become a major concern over the world. Here we investigated occurrence, spatial distributions, congener profiles, as well as health risks of PHCs in farmed golden pompano in China using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The concentrations of PCBs, PBDEs and OCPs were in the range of 0.78–4.79 ng/g wet weight (ww), not detected (nd)-1.14 ng/g ww and 1.1–38.8 ng/g ww, respectively. Furthermore, ρ,ρ′-DDT, ο,ρ′-DDT and PCB 101 were the dominant PHC contaminants. The estimated daily intakes of PHCs through consumption of golden pompano were up to 12.86 and 131.34 ng/kg body weight/day based on the mean and 95th concentrations determined in golden pompano, respectively. Risk-based analysis indicates that target PHCs in golden pompano would not pose risks to human. Our study presents the first report of a nationwide survey of PHCs contamination in farmed golden pompano in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ARG richness and abundance in waters increased from rural to urban regions. • ARGs profiles showed a temporal stability in downstream waters over five years. • Deterministic and stochastic processes mainly shaped ARGs and OTUs, respectively. • Bacterial function and taxonomy community were decoupled in urbanizing watershed. • Progressive urbanization promotes the enrichment and stability of ARGs in waters. Although the occurrence and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in various aquatic ecosystems are well explored, understanding of the ecological processes and mechanisms governing the composition and dynamics of bacterial ARGs still remains limited across space and time. Here, we used high-throughput approaches to detect spatial patterns of bacterial ARGs and operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in an urbanizing subtropical watershed, Xiamen, southeast China over a five-year period. At watershed scale, the OTU profiles were undergoing a directional change, but the ARG profiles showed a high stability or stochastic change over time. Compared with the upstream and midstream, the richness, absolute abundance, normalized abundance and diversity of ARGs were significantly higher in the downstream waters. Our results revealed a clear rural-urban disparity in ARG and OTU profiles which were mainly governed by deterministic and stochastic assembly processes, respectively. With the increase of urban building area along the river, the ecological processes of ARG profiles shifted from stochastic to deterministic. In downstream waters, the bacterial ARG profiles were much more stable than bacterial OTUs. Further, our results indicated that both human-dominated environment (e.g., land use) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) played an important role in shaping the ARG profiles and dynamics. Overall, this was a response to spatially extensive human-landscape interactions that included urban development in the river downstream region, which were common across subtropical coastal cities of China and can alter the ARG profile dynamics along rural-urban gradient. Therefore, watershed management actions aiming at reducing threats posed by ARGs in urbanizing watershed should first consider the surrounding urbanization level and the mode and intensity of human activity. Our findings also imply that due to the decoupling of bacterial function and taxonomy, both aspects should be studied separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart safety management (SSM) in organizations is an inevitable trend in a more intelligent era. However, the adoption of safety science theory lags behind the application of intelligent technology in SSM, posing several challenges (functional dispersion, low-quality data, and lack of versatility). Thus, the accident causation theory (ACT) is adopted to address the existing problem. This study develops a conceptual framework for SSM using the 24Model, a popular ACT in China. The main work conducted in this study is summarized as follows: (a) the description of 24Model and its characteristics, as well as an analysis of its feasibility and applicability in SSM; (b) a detailed presentation of the functions, operation principle, and control paths of unsafe acts in the 24Model-based SSM framework; and (c) a discussion of the framework's advantages, limitations in this research, and suggestions for future research. Research shows that the SSM framework based on the ACT can integrate the functions of the current SSM, establish management sustainability, enhance data quality, and ensure the versatility of the industry, which are the key factors that facilitate SSM. This study can offer a theoretical and practical basis for safety management in the intelligent era and provide implications for the application of the ACT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parabens are of particular concern due to their ubiquity in aquatic environments and endocrine-disrupting effects. However, information on their bioaccumulation and trophic magnification is limited. In the present study, we performed a comprehensive survey to investigate the occurrence, bioaccumulation and trophic magnification of parabens and their metabolite 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HB) in a marine food web from the Beibu Gulf, South China Sea. Results showed that methylparaben (MeP) and 4-HB were the predominant target pollutants in marine organisms, with their concentrations being in the range of 0.18-13.77 and 13.48-222.24 ng/g wet weight, respectively. The bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) for target analytes were all lower than 5000, suggesting negligible bioaccumulation. However, the biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) for MeP and 4-HB were 4.51 and 3.21, respectively, which indicates significant bioaccumulation from the sediment. Furthermore, the estimated trophic magnification factor (TMF) was 2.88 for MeP, suggesting its biomagnification along the food web. In contrast, a lower TMF of 0.45 was found for 4-HB, suggesting trophic dilution along the food web. The hazard quotients (HQs) for parabens were far less than 1 in all organisms, suggesting low risks for humans through consuming marine organisms from the Beibu Gulf. This study provides substantial data on the fate and trophic transfer of parabens in a subtropical marine ecosystem., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We evaluated the effect of a trans-theoretical model-based intervention on child safety seat (CSS)‒use behaviors among parents of newborns in Shantou, China. Parents' knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy scores on CSS use were significantly higher at one, three, and six months after the intervention compared with scores at baseline. Parents' stage of CSS use also advanced as the intervention progressed. The trans-theoretical model‒based intervention and evidence generated from this study may provide guidance for future individualized interventions to improve CSS use. ( Am J Public Health. 2023;113(12):1271-1275. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307415).

In China, early childhood care and education services for children under the age of three are neglected to some extent. Based on survey data from the Health Commission in Sichuan Province of China, this study analyzes the situation of early childhood care and education services in Sichuan through a qualitative method, using an analytical framework of matching the demand and supply. The findings reveal a mismatch between demand and supply of early childhood care and education services. This gap is likely to have a negative impact on children's self-development, family stability, and even the construction of national early childhood care and education service system. Drawing on the findings, suggestions for improving the mismatch between demand and supply are provided at the state, community and institution levels., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Peng, Zhan, Yang and Tian.)

Background: Freshwater salinization may result in significant changes of microbial community composition and diversity, with implications for ecosystem processes and function. Earlier research has revealed the importance of large shifts in salinity on microbial physiology and ecology, whereas studies on the effects of smaller or narrower shifts in salinity on the microeukaryotic community in inland waters are scarce. Our aim was to unveil community assembly mechanisms and the stability of microeukaryotic plankton networks at low shifts in salinity., Results: Here, we analyzed a high-resolution time series of plankton data from an urban reservoir in subtropical China over 13 consecutive months following one periodic salinity change ranging from 0 to 6.1‰. We found that (1) salinity increase altered the community composition and led to a significant decrease of plankton diversity, (2) salinity change influenced microeukaryotic plankton community assembly primarily by regulating the deterministic-stochastic balance, with deterministic processes becoming more important with increased salinity, and (3) core plankton subnetwork robustness was higher at low-salinity levels, while the satellite subnetworks had greater robustness at the medium-/high-salinity levels. Our results suggest that the influence of salinity, rather than successional time, is an important driving force for shaping microeukaryotic plankton community dynamics., Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that at low salinities, even small increases in salinity are sufficient to exert a selective pressure to reduce the microeukaryotic plankton diversity and alter community assembly mechanism and network stability. Our results provide new insights into plankton ecology of inland urban waters and the impacts of salinity change in the assembly of microbiotas and network architecture. Video abstract.

Introduction: Patients with ALK rearranged non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) show survival benefits from tyrosine-kinase inhibitor (TKI). Widely application of DNA sequencing revealed various rearrangement pattern in addition to single EML4-ALK fusion. Here, we retrospectively analyzed the distribution and coexistence of ALK rearrangement and therapeutic outcome of patients with ALK rearranged NSCLC., Method: ALK positive NSCLC patients were screened at West China Hospital. NGS was performed on pre-treatment samples. Clinical characteristics and therapeutic outcomes were collected to retrospectively analyzed., Results: Among the 89 patients with 22 ALK rearrangements, fusions of intergenic sequences with ALK were found in 15 (16.85 %). Non-EML4-ALK fusions were present in 18 patients (20.22 %). Coexistence of rearrangements were present in 16 patients (17.98 %). Intergenic sequence-ALK and non-EML4-ALK fusions occurred at higher rates in patients with at least two fusions (62.5 % versus 6.85 % for intergenic sequence-ALK, 62.5 % versus 10.96 % for non-EML4-ALK). There were 40 ALK-rearranged NSCLC patients receiving the first-line crizotinib. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 9.7 months when excluding three lost patients. In the seven patients who had at least two fusions, the median PFS was 11.9 months, compared with 9.0 months among those with single (p = 0.336). No significant difference in median PFS was found between patients with and without intergenic-ALK fusion (12.0 months versus 9.6 months, p = 0.989). The median PFS was 9.0 months in patients harboring a single EML4-ALK fusion versus 13.0 months in those with other ALK alterations (P = 0.890). The PFS of patients with single intergenic sequence-ALK fusion reached to 2.9 months, 27 months, and 28.9 months respectively., Conclusion: Our study reports the distribution of intergenic sequence-ALK and coexisting fusions in ALK-rearranged NSCLC. Intergenic sequence-ALK and non-EML4-ALK are prone to coexist with other fusions. Neither intergenic sequence-ALK nor coexistence of fusions had a significant effect on the therapeutic benefit of treatment with crizotinib., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: We aimed to identify potential risk factors for severe or critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and establish a prediction model based on significant factors., Methods: A total of 370 patients with COVID-19 were consecutively enrolled at The Third People's Hospital of Yichang from January to March 2020. COVID-19 was diagnosed according to the COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment plan released by the National Health and Health Committee of China. Effect-size estimates are summarized as odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI)., Results: 326 patients were diagnosed with mild or ordinary COVID-19, and 44 with severe or critical COVID-19. After propensity score matching and statistical adjustment, eight factors were significantly associated with severe or critical COVID-19 ( p <0.05) relative to mild or ordinary COVID-19. Due to strong pairwise correlations, only five factors, including diagnostic delay (OR, 95% CI, p : 1.08, 1.02 to 1.17, 0.048), albumin (0.82, 0.75 to 0.91, <0.001), lactate dehydrogenase (1.56, 1.14 to 2.13, 0.011), white blood cell (1.27, 1.08 to 1.50, 0.004), and neutrophil (1.40, 1.16 to 1.70, <0.001), were retained for model construction and performance assessment. The nomogram model based on the five factors had good prediction capability and accuracy (C-index: 90.6%)., Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence for the significant contribution of five independent factors to the risk of severe or critical COVID-19, and their prediction was reinforced in a nomogram model.

Humans are exposed to various anthropogenic chemicals in daily life, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). However, there are limited data on chronic, low-level exposure to such contaminants among the general population. Here hair analysis was used to investigate the occurrence of four polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), seven polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and two bisphenols (BPs) in 204 Chinese women living in the urban areas of Baoding and Dalian and 311 pregnant French women. All the PCBs and PBDEs tested here were more frequently detected in the hair samples of the French women than in those of the Chinese women. In both cohorts, PCB 180 and BDE 47 were the dominant PCB and PBDE congener, respectively. PCB 180 was found in 82% of the French women and 44% of the Chinese women, while the corresponding values of BDE 47 were 54% and 11%, respectively. A discriminant analysis further demonstrated the difference in PCBs and PBDEs exposure profile between the two cohorts. These results demonstrate that hair analysis is sufficiently sensitive to detect exposure to these pollutants and highlight differences in exposure between populations even at environmental levels. Although BPA and BPS were found in 100% of the hair samples in both cohorts, the French women had significantly higher levels of BPA and BPS than the Chinese women. The median concentrations of BPA were one order of magnitude higher than BPS in both the Chinese (34.9 versus 2.84 pg/mg) and the French women (118 versus 8.01 pg/mg) respectively. Our results suggest that both French and Chinese populations were extensively exposed to BPA and BPS., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: In this era of precision medicine, prognostic heterogeneity is an important feature of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with brain metastases (BM). This multi-institutional study is aimed to verify the applicability of the adjusted Lung-molGPA model for NSCLC with BM in a Chinese cohort., Methods: This retrospective study included 1903 patients at three hospitals in Southwest China. The performance of the Lung-molGPA model was compared with that of the adjusted DS-GPA model in terms of estimating the survival of NSCLC with BM., Results: The median OS of this patient cohort was 27.0 months, and the adenocarcinoma survived longer than the non-adenocarcinoma (28.0 months vs 18.7 months, p < 0.001). The adjusted Lung-molGPA model was more accurate in predicting survival of adenocarcinoma patients than the adjusted DS-GPA model (C-index: 0.615 vs 0.571), and it was not suitable for predicting survival of non-adenocarcinoma patients (p = 0.286, 1.5-2.0 vs 2.5-3.0; p = 0.410, 2.5-3.0 vs 3.5-4.0)., Conclusions: The adjusted Lung-molGPA model is better than the DS-GPA model in predicting the prognosis of adenocarcinoma patients. However, it failed to estimate the prognosis for non-adenocarcinoma patients., (© 2020 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Urban rivers often function as sinks for various contaminants potentially placing the benthic communities at risk of exposure. We performed a comprehensive biological survey of the benthic macroinvertebrate and bacterial community compositions in six rivers from the suburb to the central urban area of Guangzhou city (South China), and evaluated their correlations with emerging organic contaminants, heavy metals and nutrients. Overall, the benthic macroinvertebrate community shifted from molluscs to oligochaete from the suburban to the central urban rivers that receive treated and untreated sewage. An exception was the site in the Sha River where chironomids were most abundant. The differences in macroinvertebrate community assemblages were significantly associated with chromium, total phosphorus, galaxolide, triclosan and sand content in the sediment. There was no significant difference in benthic macroinvertebrate composition between the dry and wet season. As assessed by double constrained ordination, sexual reproduction was the only trait of benthic macroinvertebrates that showed a significant correlation with pollution variables, as it was significantly positively correlated with chromium and total phosphorus. This suggests that r-strategist occurs in polluted sampling sites. The benthic bacterial community composition showed a significant difference between seasons and among the Liuxi River, Zhujiang River and central urban rivers. The differences in community composition of the benthic bacteria were significantly correlated with galaxolide, total phosphorus, lead and triclosan. These results suggest that input of treated and untreated sewage significantly altered the benthic macroinvertebrate and bacterial community compositions in urban rivers., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To assess the cost-effectiveness of crizotinib verses platinum-based doublet chemotherapy as the first-line treatment for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the real-world setting. Methods: Data from 163 advanced ALK positive NSCLC patients were collected from West China Hospital, Sichuan University (Chengdu, China). They were categorized into two groups as treated with crizotinib (n = 83) or chemotherapy (n = 80) as a first-line therapy. The progression-free survival (PFS) as the primary clinical outcome, and the direct medical costs were collected from hospital information systems. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated with costs, quality-adjusted life-years, as well as the costs discounted at 3% annually. Additionally, two different kinds of medical insurance (MI) for pharma-economic assessment were considered. Results: Crizotinib improved PFS versus chemotherapy in ALK positive patients (median PFS 19.67 m vs 5.47 m; p < 0.001). Moreover, crizotinib obtained an ICER of US$36,285.39 before the end of 2016, when crizotinib, pemetrexed and anti-angiogenesis drugs were not MI covered. This is more than the willingness to pay threshold (three-times of gross domestic product per capita in mainland China or Sichuan Province). However, ICER was US$7321.16, which is less than willingness to pay, when crizotinib and all chemotherapy drugs were covered by MI from the end of 2016. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated a 99.7% probability for crizotinib to be more cost-effective than chemotherapy, when crizotinib and all anticancer drugs were MI covered. One-way sensitivity analysis for the reimbursement ratio of crizotinib indicated that cost-effective tendency for crizotinib increased as reimbursement ratio increased. Conclusion: Crizotinib could be an effective, and cost-effective first-line treatment for ALK positive advanced NSCLC with the MI coverage currently available in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.

Physical inactivity is a worldwide public health problem, and it is a risk factor for several chronic diseases. Square dancing nightly may be an efficient way to promote physical activity among Chinese residents. This study aims to explore factors that affect resident participation in square dancing on the basis of social cognitive theory constructs (outcome expectations, outcome expectancies, self-efficacy, self-control, and environment) that may provide a scientific basis for designing interventions to promote physical activity in the future.Forty squares near neighborhood communities in Chongqing were randomly selected. A sample of 1732 residents who came to these squares at 18:00-21:00 were interviewed using a social cognitive theory questionnaire jointly developed by researchers from Chongqing Medical University and Jackson State University.Among 1732 respondents, 279 (16.1%) were male and 1457 (83.9%) were female. A total of 939 (54.2%) of the respondents were square dancers. The mean age of the dancers was 58.6 (SD = 9.1) years. Of the dancers, 825 (87.9%) danced at least 150 minutes every week, and 792 (84.2%) indicated that they had danced for more than 1 year. All the constructs of social cognitive theory were significantly different between residents whether they danced or not (P < .001 for all). Women (OR = 1.54, 95% CI: 1.03-2.31) were more likely to dance. Nonretired residents (OR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.39-0.74) were less likely to dance. Residents with income of more than CNY 4000 per month were less likely to dance (OR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.23-0.86). Residents with high self-efficacy (OR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.81-2.22), and high self-control (OR = 1.26, 95% CI: 1.18-1.34) were more likely to dance.This study provides salient implications for developing interventions to promote square dancing by using social cognitive theory. Gender, retirement, income, and self-efficacy would be the factors influencing whether residents participate in square dancing.

Although seasonality is a key driver of environmental fluctuation in aquatic ecosystems, there exists limited knowledge on the factors controlling the distribution of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) across seasons at a watershed scale. Here we used high-throughput quantitative PCR to quantify 285 ARGs conferring resistance to most major classes of antibiotics, reveal their spatial and seasonal distribution patterns, and depict the underlying mechanisms in a subtropical riverine ecosystem under low and high human pressures, in Xiamen city, southeast China. Our results showed that spatial differences in ARG richness and abundance overwhelmed their seasonal variations, with only ARGs that confer resistance to sulfonamide and vancomycin being significantly different across seasons. Only a few abundant ARGs (19 ARGs) could contribute to >70% of the total ARGs abundance and were found in all seasons. The significantly higher number of ARGs in the summer rainy period than other seasons coincided with high number of significant edges in ARG co-occurrence networks. Summer rainfall had strong dilution effect on ARGs in upstream waters and enrichment effect in downstream waters. The variance partitioning analysis indicated that the environment explained larger variance of ARG profiles than mobile genetic elements (MGEs), spatial predictors and the rainfall. Nevertheless, strong and significant correlations between transposase gene absolute abundance and aminoglycoside, chloramphenicol, MLS, multidrug and tetracycline classes of resistance genes inferred the role of MGEs on ARG distribution. Overall, our results imply that the modelling and management of ARGs in highly dynamic ecosystems could be better implemented by considering priority genes that dominate at spatial and seasonal gradients., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Central nervous system (CNS) progression is frequently detected in patients with favorable initial responses to first-generation epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs), but data are incomplete with respect to clinical features and prognostic factors of CNS failure in this population. We retrospectively evaluated 420 advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with first-generation EGFR-TKI for over 3 months. We analyzed CNS progression of these patients, defining as newly developed CNS metastases or progression of preexisting brain lesions after EGFR-TKI treatment. Of the 420 patients, 99 (23.6%) with CNS progression after EGFR-TKI initiation were identified. The median time to CNS progression was 12 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 10.5-13.5). Patients with L858R mutation were more likely to experience CNS failure than those with exon 19 deletion ( p  = 0.008). For patients with previous brain metastases (BM), the median time to CNS progression of patients with EGFR-TKI and local CNS therapy was significantly longer than those treated with EGFR-TKI alone (14.0 months vs. 11.2 months; p  = 0.016). The median survival time after CNS progression was 11.2 months (95% CI 8.8-13.5). L858R mutation, multiple BM progression and CNS with other site failures were negative prognostic factor, while localized CNS therapy was the only significant favorable prognostic factor for overall survival after CNS progression. For advanced NSCLC patients treated successfully with first-generation EGFR-TKI, careful monitoring for CNS progression should be considered, especially for those with L858R mutation. Localized CNS therapy should be considered for CNS progression.

Background: European researchers have underscored associations between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2287622 of the hepatobiliary bile salt export pump (BSEP) gene and the risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The distributions of SNP rs2287622 are racially specific. This study was aimed to preliminarily investigate the distribution of BSEP gene SNP rs2287622 in the Han patients with chronic HCV-infection (CHC) in Hunan, China., Methods: BSEP gene SNP rs2287622 of 165 CHC patients, 99 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection (CHB) and 99 healthy individuals were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and nucleotide sequencing., Results: The overall frequencies of the C allele of BESP gene SNP rs2287622 in the CHC patients, CHB patients and healthy individuals were 74.2, 72.7 and 74.2%, respectively (P > 0.05). The overall odds ratios (ORs) aiming at predicting CHC risk by comparing the ratios of the frequency distribution of alleles or genotypes in the CHC group with those in the non-CHC group had no statistical significance (P > 0.05). However, the CHC ORs of CC vs TT, TC vs TT and CC + CT vs TT among the individuals aged over 40 years were 2.680, 3.122 and 2.824 respectively (P < 0.05), and the higher risk did not relate to gender, HCV genotypes and presence of HCV-related liver cirrhosis., Conclusions: Among the Han individuals aged over 40 years in Hunan, China, genotype CC or CT of BSEP gene SNP rs2287622 may correlate with higher risk of CHC in comparison with genotype TT. Further study with a larger cohort is essential.

Background and Objective: Apelin is a bioactive peptide manifesting a potent vasodilatory property. In this meta-analysis, we aimed to investigate for the first time whether circulating apelin differed significantly between hypertensive patients and normotensive controls., Methods: Both PubMed and Embase were searched for eligible articles. Eligibility evaluation and data collection were done independently by two investigators. Weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated under random-effects model by STATA., Results: Ten studies were synthesized finally, including 1610 patients and 1105 controls. Overall analysis revealed that circulating apelin was significantly lowered in patients than in controls (WMD = -39.85 pg/mL, 95% CI: -65.56 to -14.15; P = 0.002), with significant heterogeneity (I 2 = 89.4%). By race, patients had lower circulating apelin than controls in Caucasian populations (WMD = -79.82 pg/mL, 95% CI: -105.80 to -53.85; P < 0.001), without heterogeneity (I 2 =0.0%), while no significance was observed in Chinese and African-Americans. Further grouping studies by source of controls found a significant reduction in circulating apelin in studies with hospital-based controls (WMD = -96.28 pg/mL, 95% CI: -129.67 to -62.88; P < 0.001) (I 2 = 49.4%), but not in studies with population-based controls., Conclusions: Via a meta-analysis of 10 studies and on 2715 subjects, our findings demonstrated that lowered circulating apelin was significantly associated with an increased risk for hypertension, especially in Caucasian populations.

Biocides are widely formulated in household and personal care products. We investigated the distribution and ecological risks of 16 household biocides in aquatic environments of a highly urbanized region in South China, evaluated triclosan as a chemical indicator for this group of household chemicals, and proposed a novel approach to predict the environmental occurrence and fate of these household biocides by using triclosan usage data and a level-III fugacity model. Eleven biocides were quantitatively detected at concentrations up to 264 ± 15.3 ng/L for climbazole in surface water, and up to 5649 ± 748 ng/g for triclocarban in sediment of four rivers in the region. The distribution of biocides in the aquatic environments was significantly correlated with environmental variables such as total nitrogen, total phosphorus and population. Domestic sewage in the region was the dominant pollution source for most biocides such as azole fungicides (fluconazole, climbazole, clotrimazole, ketoconazole, miconazole, and carbendazim) and disinfectants (triclosan and triclocarban). Preliminary risk assessment showed high ecological risks posed by two biocides carbendazim and triclosan in river waters. Mostly important, triclosan was found to be a reliable chemical indicator to surrogate household biocides both in water and sediment based on the correlation analysis. In addition, the fugacity modeling could provide simulated concentrations comparable to the monitoring results. Therefore, with the usage data of the chemical indicator triclosan and correlation formula with other biocides, this model can be applied for predicting the occurrence and fate of various household biocides in a catchment., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Indoor simulation experiment was carried out to evaluate the formation and consumption rates of methane (CH4) in Xiangxi Bay of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), China. The results show that both the CH4 formation and consumption rates were significantly positively correlated with temperature. CH4 efflux decreased with rising temperature due to its potential increasing oxidation rate. CH4 oxidation in surface sediments accounted for 51.8% of the total production and it even reached to 77.4% at 35°C. The methane oxidation rate in water column ranged from 1.26 to 4.65 mg/(m(2)h), of which the average and greatest rate accounted for 46.7% and 73.9% of CH4 production respectively under the condition of 30 m water column and 35°C. The methane oxidation may increase by 41.04 mg/(m(2)h) under average water level of TGR (160 m), and most methane resulted from sediments can be oxidized in the water column.

Two different exopolysaccharides (EPSs) were first time-fractionated from submerged mycelia culture of Phellinus mori (PM) by gel-filtration chromatography: PM-EPS1 and PM-EPS3. Results of compositional analysis using high-performance anion exchange chromatography indicated that both PM-EPS1 and PM-EPS3 were heteropolysaccharides consisting of mannose, glucose, galactose, and rhamnose. Gel permeation chromatography analysis showed that the weight-average molecular mass of PM-EPS1 and PM-EPS3 were 4,990 g/mol and 27,890 g/mol, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectral analysis of PM-EPS1 and PM-ESP3 revealed prominent characteristic groups corresponding to carbohydrates. 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analysis indicated that PM-EPS3 had a (1→4)-linked mannopyranosyl backbone, with branches of (1→4)-linked glucosyl residues and (1→3, 4)-linked galactopyranosyl residues. Preliminary activity tests in vitro revealed that the hydroxyl radical scavenging activity and total superoxide dismutase activities of PM-EPS3 obviously increased with an increase in concentration at the range 0.1-2.5 mg/mL.