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Plant invasion causes changes in floristic composition, and structural and functional degradation of tropical rainforest, which is driven by global changes, deforestation and habitat fragmentation, with temperature increasing as a marked trait in rainforest remnants. Here, we hypothesized that microclimate change, particularly increased temperature, is a major driver for plant invasion to tropical rainforest. Laboratory and field experiments were designed to investigate the germination ecology and high-temperature tolerance of intermediate seeds from three species: Cinnamomum burmanni, Citrus maxima, and Coffea arabica, which are cultivated in Xishuangbanna, tropical China though not native. It was found that the seeds all exhibited sensitivity to high-temperature, including low germination when incubated at ≥ 35 °C or ≥ 9 h daily warm period at 40 °C, and viability loss after ≥ 4 d continuous heating at 40 °C or 30-min heating at temperature ≥ 50 °C, although with interspecific variations. Meanwhile, these species demonstrated a strong preference for forest habitats during plant regeneration from seeds, including higher germination percentage and longer seeds and seedling survival under forest conditions. Overall, intermediate seeds had high-temperature sensitivity, close to or slightly lower than recalcitrant seeds, but markedly higher than orthodox seeds of pioneer and weed species previously reported. We suggest that Cinnamomum burmanni, Citrus maxima, and Coffea arabica all have the potential to enter Xishuangbanna tropical rainforests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acquired brain ischemia-and reperfusion-injury (IRI), including both Ischemic stroke (IS) and Traumatic Brain injury (TBI), is one of the most common causes of disability and death in adults and represents a major burden in both western and developing countries worldwide. China's clinical neurological therapeutic experience in the use of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), including TCM-derived active compounds, Chinese herbs, TCM formulations and decoction, in brain IRI diseases indicated a trend of significant improvement in patients' neurological deficits, calling for blind, placebo-controlled and randomized clinical trials with careful meta-analysis evaluation. There are many TCMs in use for brain IRI therapy in China with significant therapeutic effects in preclinical studies using different brain IRI-animal. The basic hypothesis in this field claims that in order to avoid the toxicity and side effects of the complex TCM formulas, individual isolated and identified compounds that exhibited neuroprotective properties could be used as lead compounds for the development of novel drugs. China's efforts in promoting TCMs have contributed to an explosive growth of the preclinical research dedicated to the isolation and identification of TCM-derived neuroprotective lead compounds. Tanshinone , is a typical example of TCM-derived lead compounds conferring neuroprotection toward IRI in animals with brain middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) or TBI models. Recent reports show the significance of the inflammatory response accompanying brain IRI. This response appears to contribute to both primary and secondary ischemic pathology, and therefore anti-inflammatory strategies have become popular by targeting pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, other inflammatory mediators, reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide, and several transcriptional factors. Here, we review recent selected studies and discuss further considerations for critical reevaluation of the neuroprotection hypothesis of TCMs in IRI therapy. Moreover, we will emphasize several TCM's mechanisms of action and attempt to address the most promising compounds and the obstacles to be overcome before they will enter the clinic for IRI therapy. We hope that this review will further help in investigations of neuroprotective effects of novel molecular entities isolated from Chinese herbal medicines and will stimulate performance of clinical trials of Chinese herbal medicine-derived drugs in IRI patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the main factors influencing changes in hydrogen concentration in a fault zone and analyzes the relationship between hydrogen and tectonic activity. Based on the hydrogen concentration in the fault gas and continuous observation data from Mashankou, Neixiang County, Henan Province, the relationships between the variation in hydrogen concentration and ground temperature, atmospheric temperature, and atmospheric pressure are analyzed. In addition, the earth tide effect on hydrogen in the fault zone is discussed. The results show that the direct influence of atmospheric or ground temperatures on the hydrogen concentration is not significant. The atmospheric and ground temperatures have some impact on the hydrogen concentration only when ground temperature increases. By means of a wavelet analysis method, which separates the semidiurnal wave and diurnal wave signals of hydrogen, the results show that the hydrogen concentration is capable of indicating the solid earth tide when comparing the pressure tide and solid earth tide signals in the same period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Depressive symptoms (depression thereafter) are common among menopausal women but findings across studies have been inconsistent. This meta-analysis examined the pooled prevalence of depression among Chinese menopausal women.Methods: Two investigators independently searched both international (PubMed, EMBASE and PsycINFO) and Chinese (CNKI, WanFang, SinoMed and VIP) databases from their inception date until 9 April 2019. Studies that reported the prevalence of depression as measured by the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) were pooled using a random-effects model.Results: Twenty-three cross-sectional studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of depression in menopausal Chinese women was 36.3% (95% CI: 27.5-45.1%), with mild depression of 18.6% (95% CI: 13.4-23.8%), moderate depression of 15.3% (95% CI: 9.4-21.3%), and severe depression of 3.7% (95% CI: 1.9-5.5%). Meta-regression analyses revealed that older age (B = 0.12, z = 8.18, p < 0.001) and better study quality (B = 0. 24, z = 8.33, p < 0.001) was significantly associated with higher depression prevalence.Conclusions: Depression is common among menopausal Chinese women. Due to its negative impact on health, regular screening and effective treatments should be developed for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to examine the prevalence of sexual harassment (SH) toward Chinese psychiatric nurses and its association with quality of life (QOL)., Methods: A total of 2124 psychiatric nurses were consecutively recruited from 10 psychiatric hospitals distributed across 10 provinces of China; of them, 1,449 were included for analyses. Participants' socio-demographic characteristics, experiences of workplace SH in the past year, and QOL were recorded., Results: Overall, 21.5% (n = 311) of participants reported SH, with 8.4% (n = 121) reporting once, 7.1% (n = 103) reporting twice and 6.0% (n = 87) reporting three times or more. Psychiatric nurses who experienced SH had lower QOL in physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains. Multiple logistic regression analysis found that nurses with shorter clinical experience were more likely to experience SH., Conclusions: Workplace SH toward psychiatric nurses is common in mental health treatment settings in China. Considering its deleterious impact on nurses' well-being and care quality, effective staff training on the management of SH and a zero tolerance policy against SH should be developed for this population., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Sexual harassment experienced by nurses and nursing students is common and significantly associated with negative consequences. This study is a meta-analysis of the pooled prevalence of sexual harassment of nurses and nursing students in China. Electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Ovid, China National Knowledge Internet, WanFang, SinoMed and Chinese VIP Information) were independently and systematically searched by two reviewers from their commencement date to 12 March 2018. Forty-one studies that reported the prevalence of sexual harassment were analyzed using the random-effects model. The pooled prevalence of sexual harassment was 7.5% (95% CI: 5.5%-10.1%), with 7.5% (5.5%-10.2%) in nurses and 7.2% (3.0%-16.2%) in nursing students. Subgroup analyses showed that the year of survey and sample size were significantly associated with the prevalence of sexual harassment, but not the seniority of nursing staff, department, hospital, economic region, timeframe, age, working experience or subtypes of harassment. In China, sexual harassment was found to be common in nurses and nursing students. Considering the significant negative impact of sexual harassment, effective preventive and workplace measures should be developed., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

A rapid technique based on microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) coupled online with derivatization, restricted access material cleanup, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for the determination of formaldehyde in aquatic products. Formaldehyde was first extracted with water under the action of microwaves and then directly introduced into a derivatization reservoir containing 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH). The formaldehyde-DNPH derivative (100 μL) was loaded into a restricted access material (RAM) precolumn for online cleanup. Subsequently, the analyte was transferred from the precolumn to an analytical column and determined by UV absorption spectrum at 352 nm. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.27 mg kg(-1). The intraday and interday precisions expressed as RSDs were 3.5% and 5.0%, respectively. This method was applied to determine the presence of formaldehyde in various aquatic products. The results were in agreement with those obtained by the state standard method (steam-distillation and offline HPLC analysis) used in China and higher than those obtained by the online ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) method. The recoveries obtained by analyzing 11 spiked aquatic products were in the range of 70.0%-105.0%. The online technique was demonstrated to be rapid with little consumption of samples and reagents.