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Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) affect children's development, and their harm to health is pervasive throughout the life course. To identify ACEs and their risk factors in Chinese household with or without parental mental illness. A controlled study was conducted among 181 young adults with parental mental illness (positive group) and 201 demographically matched individuals without parental mental illness (negative group). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to study the correlation between ACEs and their risk factors. The positive group suffered emotional abuse, domestic violence, bullying, and cumulative ACEs more frequently than the negative group. In the positive group, living in rural areas and having a low household economic status during childhood were identified as risk factors for cumulative ACEs, whereas a higher education level of the mother was a protective factor for cumulative ACEs in univariate analyses. Low household economic status remained an independent risk factor for cumulative ACEs in the positive group in multivariate analyses. Children living with parental mental illness are more vulnerable to ACEs, and our findings highlight the importance of socioeconomic factors in increasing the risk of ACEs. To alleviate the deleterious impact of parental mental illness on offspring, multidimensional supports are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate the predictive clinical role of neurofilament light chain (NfL), amyloid-β (Aβ), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and phosphorylated tau at threonine 181 (p-tau181) proteins in human aqueous humor (AH) and quantify the retinal macular microvascular parameters by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) as early diagnostic markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: This prospective, single-site, cross-sectional, cohort study enrolled 55 participants, including 38 patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and 17 individuals with senile cataracts. The singlemolecule array platform was used to quantitatively measure the levels of AH NfL, Aβ40, Aβ42, GFAP, and p-tau181 proteins in AH. The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score was used to assess the global cognitive function. OCTA scan with 6 × 6 mm macular area was used to quantify the retinal thickness and microvascular densities of superficial retinal capillary plexuses and deep retinal capillary plexuses. Results: NfL, Aβ40, Aβ42, GFAP, and p-tau181 were detected in all AH samples by Simoa platform. Individuals with cataract had higher concentrations of NfL and p-tau181 but lower Aβ40 and Aβ42 and similar GFAP compared to those with nAMD. Lower MMSE scores showed a negative correlation with NfL concentration of AH not only in the nAMD group (p = 0.043), but also in the cataract group (p = 0.032). However, the MMSE scores were not associated with the levels of Aβ40, Aβ42, GFAP, or p-Tau181. Further analysis found that the Aβ40 and Aβ42 concentrations showed a strong positive correlation (p < 0.0001). In addition, the NfL concentration showed a mild positive correlation with that of GFAP in the cataract group (p = 0.021). Although it has not reached statistical significance, there was a correlation between the levels of NfL and Aβ42 in the nAMD group (p = 0.051). Moreover, the macular superficial vessel density values had a negative correlation with the concentration of NfL (p = 0.004) but a positive correlation with MMSE scores (p = 0.045). The macular deep vessel density values were negatively correlated with the concentration of p-tau181 (p = 0.031) and positively correlated with MMSE scores (p = 0.020). Conclusion: The examination of AD-related biomarkers in human AH and OCTA may improve the ocular-based AD detection methods and contribute to forestalling the progression of preclinical AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and physical activity (PA) in different domains among male coal miners of Shanxi Province in China. Method: The study was conducted from July 2013 to December 2013. A two-stage stratified cluster sampling method was used. Data regarding the general information of participants were collected by well-trained interviewers. MetS was denned according to IDF criteria. Self-reported PA was obtained with the IPAQ and categorized into three tertiles of intensity levels across occupation, transportation, household, and leisure-time domains. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analysis were applied to compute the odds ratios and their 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: A total of 3076 males aged 18-65 years old were recruited in this cross-sectional study. The prevalence of MetS was 40.5% in the study subjects. The percentages of vigorous-intensity PA in MetS and non-MetS groups were 70.07% and 62.92%, respectively. Participants spent most of their time on occupation (2034 MET-min/w) and transportation (693MET-min/w) domains. Higher-intensity levels in occupation domains were significantly associated with lower risk of MetS (OR: 0.759,95% CI: 0.633-0.911; OR: 0.627, 95% CI: 0.516-0.762). Conclusions: Across four types of workers, the relationships between PA domains and MetS were different. For underground and underground auxiliary workers, the negative relationship was found between occupation PA and MetS. For office workers, the negative relationship was found between household PA and MetS. For ground workers, only leisure-time PA had positively related to MetS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to investigate the clinical and molecular epidemiology and biofilm formation of Staphylococcus aureus (SA) isolated from pediatricians in China.Methods: SA strains were isolated from Beijing Children's hospital from February 2016 to January 2017. Isolates were typed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST), spa and SCCmec typing (for Methicillin-resistant SA [MRSA] only). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by agar dilution method except sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim (E-test method). Biofilm formation and biofilm associated genes were detected.Results: Totally 104 children (41 females and 63 males; median age, 5.2 months) were enrolled in this study, in which 60 patients suffered from MRSA infection. Among the 104 cases, 54.8% were categorized as community associated SA (CA-SA) infections. The children under 3 years were more likely to occur CA-SA infections compared with older ones (P = 0.0131). ST59-SCCmec IV-t437 (61.7%) was the most prevalent genotype of MRSA, and ST22-t309 (18.2%), ST5-t002 (9.1%), ST6-t701 (9.1%), ST188-t189 (9.1%) were the top four genotypes of methicillin-sensitive SA (MSSA). All the present isolates were susceptible to linezolid, vancomycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, mupirocin, tigecyclin, fusidic acid. No erythromycin-susceptible isolate was determined, and only a few isolates (3.8%) were identified as susceptible to penicillin. Multi-drug resistant isolates were reponsible for 83.8% of the ST59-SCCmec IV-t437 isolates. The isolates with strong biofilm formation were found in 85% of MRSA and 53.2% of MSSA, and in 88.7% of ST59-SCCmec IV-t437 isolates. Biofilm formation ability varied not only between MRSA and MSSA (P = 0.0053), but also greatly among different genotypes (P < 0.0001). The prevalence of the biofilm associated genes among ST59-SCCmec IV-t437 clone was: icaA (100.0%), icaD (97.3%), fnbpA (100.0%), fnbpB (0), clfA (100%), clfB (100%), cna (2.7%), bbp (0), ebpS (88.5%), sdrC (78.4%), sdrD (5.4%), and sdrE (94.5%).Conclusions: These results indicated strong homology of the MRSA stains isolated from Chinese children, which was caused by spread of multiresistant ST59-SCCmec IV-t437 clone with strong biofilm formation ability. The MSSA strains, in contrast, were very heterogeneity, half of which could produce biofilm strongly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is commonly used in China for the management of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, few studies have been conducted to investigate the prevalence, perceived effectiveness, types, and reasons of CAM use in patients diagnosed with CAD. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was adopted. Questionnaires were distributed at the outpatient cardiac clinics of four tertiary-level teaching general hospitals in Beijing. Quantitative data were analyzed using Student's t-test. Categorical data were analyzed using chi-square test. Logistic regression was employed to explore factors associated with the use of CAM as well as CAM use features in Chinese medicine (CM) hospitals when significant differences were found upon comparisons. Results: From May to July, 2009, a total of 600 questionnaires were distributed, and 546 patients with a diagnosis of CAD responded with valid values and were included in the present study. CAM was used by 69.1% of the patients with CAD; the majority (75.9%) of these CAM users believes that CAM is effective. "Few side effects" (49.6%) was the main reason of CAM use; whereas "doubt of effect" (61.5%) was the main reason for non-use. Patent herbal medicine (90.7%) was the most commonly used CAM type. Compared with non-CAM users, CAM users tended to be older (p < 0.01), have a longer disease duration (p = 0.02) and better current health status. In addition, CAM users had significant lower odds for emergency admission and hospitalization within the past one year. Patients with CAD from CM and WM hospitals differ in CAM use frequency, types, perceived effectiveness, as well as reasons for CAM use or non-CAM use. Conclusion: The present study suggested a group of significant factors which could influence the use of CAM in patients with CAD. CAM use patterns differ in patients from CM and WM hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) has been applied to identify type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in the U.S. and European countries. It has not been used in China mainly due to lack of a standardized approach to measure HbA1c, short of knowledge about racial-specific standard and deficiency of an optimal cut-off point. Methods: To evaluate combination of HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) in diagnosing T2DM in Chinese adults, a multistage sampling cross-sectional study was conducted in Shanghai, China, in 2009. The FPG measurement, HbA1c assay, and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) were performed in 6,661 Chinese adults (3057 men, 3604 women) who had no prior history of diabetes to identify unrecognized T2DM. Results: A total of 454 participants were identified as T2DM based on the 1999 World Health Organization (WHO) diagnostic criteria. Of these patients, 239 were detected using an FPG ≥ 7.0 mmol/l and 141 were further identified using an HbA1c ≥ 43 mmol/mol (6.1%), achieving a sensitivity of 83.7% and a specificity of 89.3% for combining use of FPG and HbA1c. In subjects at high risk of diabetes, the combining use of FPG and HbA1c produced a higher sensitivity and an improved positive predictive value (PPV), and had a satisfactory specificity and negative predictive value (NPV). Conclusions: The combining use of FPG and HbA1c is a potential screening and diagnosis approach for T2DM in Chinese adults, especially among those at high risk of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. To investigate the specific link between lung and large intestine. Methods. Rat COPD-like model was prepared. Mirabilite or Chinese rhubarb was administrated intragastrically to stimulate the large intestine. Histological analysis of lung inflammation was assessed. The tissues levels of SP, VIP, NK1R, VIPR1, and VIPR2 were measured by using ELISA kits. In addition, mouse model of allergic asthma was prepared. Mirabilite was administrated intragastrically to stimulate the large intestine. Airway responsiveness and lung inflammation were assessed. The tissues levels of SP, VIP, NKA, NKB, NK1R, VIPR1, and VIPR2 were measured by using ELISA kits. Results. Stimulating the intestine with Mangxiao or Dahuang, SP, NK-1R, VIP, VIPR1, and VIPR2 were significantly increased in intestine tissues of rats with COPD and mice with asthma. Meanwhile, the SP and NK1R were significantly decreased, while VIP, VIPR1, and VIPR2 were significantly increased in lung tissues. An abnormal secretion of SP and VIP can be observed in other tissues; however, no marked changes were found in the receptors. The NKA and NKB levels were similar in lung tissues of mice with asthma among groups. Conclusions. Stimulating intestine with Mangxiao or Dahuang can specifically regulate the secretion of SP, VIP, and the receptors in lung tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. To evaluate the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) plus conventional treatment in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods and Results. Participants (n = 808) with ACS who underwent PCI from thirteen hospitals of mainland China were randomized into two groups: CHMs plus conventional treatment group (treatment group) or conventional treatment alone group (control group). All participants received conventional treatment, and participants in treatment group additionally received CHMs for six months. The primary end point was the composite of cardiac death, nonfatal recurrent MI, and ischemia-driven revascularization. Secondary endpoint was the composite of readmission for ACS, stroke, or congestive heart failure. The safety endpoint involved occurrence of major bleeding events. The incidence of primary endpoint was 2.7% in treatment group versus 6.2% in control group (HR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.21 to 0.87; P = 0.015). The incidence of secondary endpoint was 3.5% in treatment group versus 8.7% in control group (HR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.21 to 0.72; P = 0.002).No major bleeding events were observed in any participant. Conclusion. Treatment with CHMs plus conventional treatment further reduced the occurrence of cardiovascular events in patients with ACS after PCI without increasing risk of major bleeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Obesity is a major risk factor for endometrial cancer. Obesity, particularly central obesity, is considered as a systemic inflammatory condition and is related strongly to insulin resistance. C-reactive protein (CRP) is the most recognized biologic marker of chronic systematic inflammation, and it is conceivable that the CRP gene may work together with obesity in the development of endometrial cancer.Methods: On the basis of a population-based case-control study in a Chinese population, the authors obtained obesity measurements and data on 6 CRP single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 1046 patients with newly diagnosed endometrial cancer (cases) and from 1035 age frequency-matched controls. The association of the CRP SNPs with endometrial cancer risk and their modification on the association between obesity and endometrial cancer risk were evaluated.Results: Although CRP SNPs alone were not associated with endometrial cancer, the associations of endometrial cancer with central obesity, measured as the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and the waist circumference, seemed to be stronger in women who were homozygous for the major allele of reference SNP (rs)1130864 (cytidine [C]/C) than in women who had the C/thymidine (T) and T/T genotypes (interaction test: P = .013 for WHR; P = .083 for waist circumference). When the women were stratified further by menopausal status, the observed interactions persisted mainly in premenopausal women (interaction test: P < .001 for WHR; P = .002 for waist circumference).Conclusions: The current results suggested that, in the Chinese population that was studied, obesity-related insulin resistance and proinflammatory effects may play an important role in endometrial cancer risk, and these effects were modified significantly by the CRP SNP rs1130864. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]