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Augmented reality (AR) technology can enhance picture book reading experience. The present study aimed to explore the influence of reading AR picture books on primary school students' reading comprehension, story retelling, and reading motivation. Eighty second graders, who were from two classes at a rural primary school in a coastal city in East China, were recruited through convenience sampling to participate in this quasi-experimental study. The two classes were randomly assigned to be either the experimental group (AR picture book reading) or control group (print picture book reading), and both groups read three traditional Chinese picture books during reading classes throughout three weeks. T-test analyses revealed that, before the study began, the two groups did not have significant differences in reading comprehension, story retelling, or reading motivation. However, after the three weeks of instructional intervention, the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in all three aspects. Furthermore, MANCOVA analysis showed that reading AR picture books was more effective in boosting participants' performance on implicit questions during the reading comprehension tests. They also performed significantly higher on story retelling tests, especially when it came to story structures regarding settings and plots. In addition, AR picture book reading was more conducive to improving participants' level of attention and confidence in reading. This work adds to the ongoing endeavors in incorporating AR picture books into classroom settings, and will inform future development of original Chinese picture books with AR technology.

Parents' happiness orientation has garnered early attention in school choice studies but has not been cautiously examined. Drawing on Aristotle's framework of Eudaimonia and Hedonia, along with Ahmed's concept of the happiness promise, this study transcends a perspec­tive of preference and examines how parents understand and pursue happiness in school choice. Based on interviews with 32 Shanghai middle-class parents, this study indicates five happiness objects: bachelor's degree, expertise, non-cognitive development, good physical and mental health, and hobby. These happiness objects shape parents' school choice preferences. In pursuing happiness objects, parents follow the philosophies of 'no sweet without sweat' and 'prioritize sweet with due consideration to sweat' and employ an authoritative approach when making choices. This study challenges the cultural stereotype that Chinese parents are solely academic-oriented and authoritarian in school choice. Instead, parents integrate happiness and academics and strive to balance children's future fulfilment and present enjoyment.

In a developing city, urban green space (UGS) plays an increasingly significant role in improving the urban environment and beautifying the urban landscape. In the meantime, UGS has been substantially and frequently interfered with by human activities. Taking Shenzhen city (a great metropolis of China) as an example, this study investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of UGS and its influence on the urban thermal environment with Landsat images. From 1978 to 2018, all croplands and more than 50% of water bodies disappeared, while the built-up area increased more than 6 times. The rapid expansion of impervious surface and loss of UGS led to the spread of a surface urban heat island. The study shows that UGS has a significantly mitigating impact on urban land surface temperature, with cold islands mainly located at city parks. The results will be of great significance for improving UGS management, alleviating the urban heat island effect, and establishing a sustainable eco-environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review summarizes the general developments of the operational mesoscale model system based on the Global / Regional Assimilation and Prediction System-Tropical Monsoon Model (GRAPES-TMM) at the Guangzhou Regional Meteorological Center. GRAPES-TMM consists of the Tropical Regional Atmospheric Model System for the South China Sea (TRAMS, a typhoon model with a horizontal resolution of 9 km), the Mesoscale Atmospheric Regional Model System (MARS, 3km) and the fine-scale Rapid Update Cycling (RUC, 1km) forecasting system. The main advances of model dynamical core and physical processes are summarized, including the development of the 3D reference atmosphere scheme, the coupling scheme between dynamics and model physics, the calculation of nonlinear terms by fractional steps, the gravity wave drag scheme induced by sub-grid orography and a simplified model for land-surface scheme. The progress of model applications is reviewed and evaluated. The results show that the updated 9-3-1 forecasting system provides an overall improved performance on the weather forecasting in south China, especially for typhoon-genesis and typhoon-track forecasting as well as short-range weather forecasting. Capabilities and limitations as well as the future development of the forecasting system are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Sleep disturbances are common in cancer patients, but little is known about preoperative insomnia and its associated factors in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between preoperative insomnia and its associated factors (i.e., pain, anxiety, self-esteem, and coping styles) in CRC patients.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in consecutive CRC inpatients (N = 434), who were required to complete the questionnaires about insomnia, pain, anxiety, self-esteem, and coping styles (acceptance/resignation, confrontation, avoidance) before the day of surgery. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to explore the relationships between preoperative anxiety and its associated factors.Results: Based on the cutoff value of Athens Insomnia Scale (scores ≥ 6) in Chinese cancer patients, the prevalence of insomnia was 38.2% before surgery. Pain (β = 0.087, p = 0.015) and anxiety (β = 0.372, p < 0.001) were positively associated with preoperative insomnia, while self-esteem (β = - 0.479, p < 0.001) and confrontation coping (β = - 0.124, p = 0.003) showed protective effects on preoperative insomnia when putting them together into hierarchical regression. The associated factors together accounted for an additional variance of preoperative insomnia (47.6%).Conclusions: In line with previous findings, the detrimental effects of pain and anxiety on preoperative insomnia were also observed in our study. More importantly, our main new findings were that self-esteem and confrontation coping played important roles in alleviating preoperative insomnia among CRC patients. Clinicians should take these results into account when developing cancer care management to relieve preoperative insomnia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2 Mei Q, Cheng XX, Qian WC et al (2021) Pestalotiopsis trachicarpicola, a novel pathogen causes twig blight of Pinus bungeana (Pinaceae: Pinoideae) in China. I Pestalotiopsis i -like isolates were obtained from symptomatic tissues by histological isolation method (Mei et al. [2]), and one representative isolate FJSQ-1 was selected for identification. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Obesity has become an epidemic in developing countries including China. The use of bariatric surgery to treat obesity has grown in popularity worldwide, but it is still a new concept in China. This study aims to investigate the trends in bariatric surgery in China. Methods: An electronic search of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure was conducted to select studies for this survey. Results: A total of 7779 bariatric procedures were reported from 2001 to 2015, most of which (89.2 %) were performed in the most recent 5 years. Further, 70.9 % of all procedures were performed to treat obesity and related comorbidities, defined as metabolic surgery. The data showed 89.4 % of all operations were performed laparoscopically. The absolute number of bariatric surgeries increased 148.7 times in the last 5 years compared to the 2001-2005 period. The percentage of laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypasses performed increased from 0 to 62.2 %, and the percentage of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomies from 0 to 12.7 %. The percentage of laparoscopic adjustable gastric bands increased dramatically from 0 to 73.3 % in the 2006-2010 period, but it dropped quickly to 12.9 % in the 2011-2015 period. Most operations (66.7 %) were conducted in the East area, which is the most developed economic region in China. There was limited surgical innovation or original research reported in China. Conclusions: Bariatric surgery is still at an early stage in China, but is now experiencing an explosive growth. A national registry system needs to be established to record and provide precise data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study that compared the impact of marine barrier against upland peak barrier on the population genetic structure and diversification of Hong Kong newt, Paramesotriton hongkongensis, using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) DNA markers. Considerable genetic differentiation was shown based on the 476 AFLP markers with 102 polymorphic loci. It is suggested that genetic divergence is influenced by terrestrial biogeographic barrier.

Dwarf bamboos impose intense resource competition in subalpine coniferous forests, and their exclusive densities have crucial impacts on tree regeneration and understory species diversity. We studied the factors influencing the distribution and growth of dwarf bamboo, Fargesia nitida, in a subalpine forest in southwest China. TWINSPAN, based on an attribute matrix, could divide the subalpine forest into 11 sub-associations, and more clearly reflected ecological functional features of the subalpine forest than analysis based on a species matrix. TWINSPAN was also generally consistent with DCA ordination based on the attribute matrix. DCA and DCCA ordination showed relationships between the distribution of F. nitida population and environment factor. The first DCCA axis showed topography and disturbance gradients (except fallen trees and broken branches); the second DCCA axis showed canopy density and composition gradients. Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that distribution (culm density and coverage) of F. nitida decreased significantly with landslide and slope aspect, and increased significantly with soil status. The light condition had positive effects on growth and size of bamboo. A stable environment in the northern slope and more broadleaved species dominating in canopy would increase the dwarf bamboo biomass. Thus, the disturbance regimes, the slope aspect and the BA of evergreen conifer trees can provide useful guidelines for the control and management of F. nitida populations, and in helping to understand the succession and regeneration of subalpine forest in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple sequence repeats (SSR) and random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) molecular markers were used to assess the genetic diversity of 80 isolates of Phytophthora infestans in potato (Solanum tuberosum) from Fujian, Heilongjiang, Hebei and Inner Mongolia Provinces in China. Polymorphism was identified by 13 SSR primers and 14 RAPD primers in the isolates of P. infestans in potato. A total of 76 bands were amplified by SSRs, with the percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) being 78.9% and the similarity coefficient ranging between 0.00 and 0.42. A total of 189 bands were amplified by RAPDs, with the percentage of polymorphic bands being 95.2% and the similarity coefficient ranging between 0.04 and 0.66. Analysis of genetic diversity showed that there exists higher genetic variation in the Fujian population in comparison to the populations of Heilongjiang, Hebei and Inner Mongolia. Nei's genetic identity analysis indicates that the genetic similarity between populations of Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia is the highest and that between Fujian and Hebei is the lowest. A cluster analysis revealed that isolates from Fujian, in the south of China, are distantly related to those from Heilongjiang, Hebei and Inner Mongolia in the north, and the Fujian population is distributed among more groups than the other three, exhibiting a higher genetic diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic severity assessment and progression prediction can facilitate admission, triage, and referral of COVID-19 patients. This study aims to explore the potential use of lung lesion features in the management of COVID-19, based on the assumption that lesion features may carry important diagnostic and prognostic information for quantifying infection severity and forecasting disease progression. A novel LesionEncoder framework is proposed to detect lesions in chest CT scans and to encode lesion features for automatic severity assessment and progression prediction. The LesionEncoder framework consists of a U-Net module for detecting lesions and extracting features from individual CT slices, and a recurrent neural network (RNN) module for learning the relationship between feature vectors and collectively classifying the sequence of feature vectors. Chest CT scans of two cohorts of COVID-19 patients from two hospitals in China were used for training and testing the proposed framework. When applied to assessing severity, this framework outperformed baseline methods achieving a sensitivity of 0.818, specificity of 0.952, accuracy of 0.940, and AUC of 0.903. It also outperformed the other tested methods in disease progression prediction with a sensitivity of 0.667, specificity of 0.838, accuracy of 0.829, and AUC of 0.736. The LesionEncoder framework demonstrates a strong potential for clinical application in current COVID-19 management, particularly in automatic severity assessment of COVID-19 patients. This framework also has a potential for other lesion-focused medical image analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  Tongjiang cattle are a local cattle population of Sichuan Province, China, numbering approximately half a million in 2005. They have long been grouped into the Bashan breed, although they have a unique breeding history and phenotypic characteristics, as well as a restricted geographic distribution. Morphologically, they can be divided into two groups based on the basic coat color (black and russet). In order to dissect the matrilineal components of Tongjiang cattle and to compare the body size traits of the two morphological groups, we measured five body size traits among 59 Tongjiang cattle samples and further sequenced the mtDNA D-loop sequence of 54 individuals. Among the 54 mtDNAs, 37 (68.5%) were Bos taurus types and 17 (31.5%) were Bos indicus types. Four known B. taurus haplogroups (T1–T4) and one B. indicus haplogroup (I1) were detected in these samples. Two body size traits differed significantly (P B. taurus haplogroups in one local Chinese cattle population. Our results suggest that the contribution of different matrilineal lineages to Chinese cattle might be more complex than we originally thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the damage and defects related to rolling contact fatigue (RCF), together with wear occurring at the rail surface, the microscopic characteristics of the rail material change with the accumulation of wheel cycles. To find the relationship between rail material characteristics and RCF damage under wheel-rail contact situations, a series of twin-disc rolling-sliding tests, based on real wheel-rail contact situations at a radius of 80 mm rail profile, was established for a heavy-haul railway in China. The microscale characteristics of the rail disc contact surface was researched, including crack, wear, roughness, and hardness of the U75V rail with different load cycles. The results show that the damage mechanism of RCF and wear alternately dominates the rail disc surface at the microscale, taking a certain cycle as a boundary which makes the RCF crack number and wear rate have opposite evolutionary trends. The above factors also affect the wear at the surface rail discs, alternating between fatigue and adhesion. Meanwhile, increasing the surface micro-hardness leads to a decrease in the relative wear rate and an increase in the roughness, length and number of RCF cracks. The plastic deformation layers, including the severely deformed layer (SDL) and the transition layer (TL), almost maintain the same thickness and the dynamic equilibrium increases during the cycles. Two kinds of cracks are initiated and propagated at the rail disc surface, one at the SDL and the other at the junction of SDL and TL. The number of each kind of crack depends on the SDL thickness. • The RCF and wear mechanisms dominated the rail surface alternately by a certain cycle. • Increasing the microhardness makes wear decreasing followed by an increase in roughness and RCF cracks. • The adhesive and fatigue wear happened alternately during the cycles. • The fracture mode of along or through the crystal depends on plastic deformation layer. • The thickness of the severely deformed and transition layers changes on opposite while keeps the entire thickness constant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease in the world, and liver fibrosis has been proven to be associated with liver disease related events and total mortality. Several noninvasive methods have been developed, but whether those methods are suitable for the detection of fibrosis in Chinese patients with obesity and NAFLD has not been completely elucidated. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of fibrosis-4 (FIB-4), aspartate transaminase to platelet ratio index (APRI), modified aspartate transaminase to platelet ratio index (m-APRI), BARD (BARD (BMI (body mass index) > 28 = 1 point, AAR (aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase) > 0.8 = 2 points, DM (diabetes mellitus) = 1 point)), NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS), and shear wave elastography (SWE) in the evaluation of the degree of liver fibrosis in Chinese patients with obesity and NAFLD., Materials and Methods: A retrospective study consisted of 100 patients. The accuracy of FIB-4, APRI, m-APRI, BARD, NFS, and SWE in the assessment of significant or advanced liver fibrosis in Chinese patients with obesity and NAFLD was compared., Results: Weight and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were independent risk factors for liver fibrosis. SWE, APRI, and m-APRI had significant efficiency in the diagnosis of significant fibrosis in patients with obesity and NAFLD. APRI and SWE were superior to the other methods in the diagnosis of significant and advanced liver fibrosis in patients with obesity and NAFLD. APRI and SWE showed no statistically significant difference in diagnostic efficiency., Conclusions: Weight and ALT are independent risk factors for liver fibrosis progression in NAFLD patients. SWE and APRI have predictive value for significant and advanced fibrosis of NAFLD in Chinese patients with obesity., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Disability has become a global population health challenge. Due to difficulties in self-care or independent living, patients with disability mainly live in community-based care centers or institutions for long-term care. Nonetheless, these settings often lack basic medical resources, such as ultrasonography. Thus, remote ultrasonic robot technology for clinical applications across wide regions is imperative. To date, few experiences of remote diagnostic systems in rural care centers have been reported., Objective: To assess the feasibility of a fifth-generation cellular technology (5G)-based robot-assisted remote ultrasound system in a care center for disabled patients in rural China., Methods: Patients underwent remote robot-assisted and bedside ultrasound examinations of the liver, gallbladder, spleen, and kidneys. We compared the diagnostic consistency and differences between the two modalities and evaluated the examination duration, image quality, and safety., Results: Forty-nine patients were included (21 men; mean age: 61.0 ± 19.0 [range: 19-91] years). Thirty-nine and ten had positive and negative results, respectively; 67 lesions were detected. Comparing the methods, 41 and 8 patients had consistent and inconsistent diagnoses, respectively. The McNemar and kappa values were 0.727 and 0.601, respectively. The mean duration of remote and bedside examinations was 12.2 ± 4.5 (range: 5-26) min and 7.5 ± 1.8 (range: 5-13) min ( p < 0.001), respectively. The median image score for original images on the patient side and transmitted images on the doctor side was 5 points (interquartile range: [IQR]: 4.7-5.0) and 4.7 points (IQR: 4.5-5.0) ( p = 0.176), respectively. No obvious complications from the examination were reported., Conclusions: A 5G-based robot-assisted remote ultrasound system is feasible and has comparable diagnostic efficiency to traditional bedside ultrasound. This system may provide a unique solution for basic ultrasound diagnostic services in primary healthcare settings., 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 Chai, Ye, Xiong, Xu, Chen, Xu, Hu, Jiang and Peng.)

Background: Until January 18, 2021, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has infected more than 93 million individuals and has caused a certain degree of panic. Viral pneumonia caused by common viruses such as respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, human metapneumovirus, human bocavirus, and parainfluenza viruses have been more common in children. However, the incidence of COVID-19 in children was significantly lower than that in adults. The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical manifestations, treatment and outcomes of COVID-19 in children compared with those of other sources of viral pneumonia diagnosed during the COVID-19 outbreak., Methods: Children with COVID-19 and viral pneumonia admitted to 20 hospitals were enrolled in this retrospective multi-center cohort study. A total of 64 children with COVID-19 were defined as the COVID-19 cohort, of which 40 children who developed pneumonia were defined as the COVID-19 pneumonia cohort. Another 284 children with pneumonia caused by other viruses were defined as the viral pneumonia cohort. The epidemiologic, clinical, and laboratory findings were compared by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, t-test, Mann-Whitney U test and Contingency table method. Drug usage, immunotherapy, blood transfusion, and need for oxygen support were collected as the treatment indexes. Mortality, intensive care needs and symptomatic duration were collected as the outcome indicators., Results: Compared with the viral pneumonia cohort, children in the COVID-19 cohort were mostly exposed to family members confirmed to have COVID-19 (53/64 vs. 23/284), were of older median age (6.3 vs. 3.2 years), and had a higher proportion of ground-glass opacity (GGO) on computed tomography (18/40 vs. 0/38, P < 0.001). Children in the COVID-19 pneumonia cohort had a lower proportion of severe cases (1/40 vs. 38/284, P = 0.048), and lower cases with high fever (3/40 vs. 167/284, P < 0.001), requiring intensive care (1/40 vs. 32/284, P < 0.047) and with shorter symptomatic duration (median 5 vs. 8 d, P < 0.001). The proportion of cases with evaluated inflammatory indicators, biochemical indicators related to organ or tissue damage, D-dimer and secondary bacterial infection were lower in the COVID-19 pneumonia cohort than those in the viral pneumonia cohort (P < 0.05). No statistical differences were found in the duration of positive PCR results from pharyngeal swabs in 25 children with COVID-19 who received antiviral drugs (lopinavir-ritonavir, ribavirin, and arbidol) as compared with duration in 39 children without antiviral therapy [median 10 vs. 9 d, P = 0.885]., Conclusion: The symptoms and severity of COVID-19 pneumonia in children were no more severe than those in children with other viral pneumonia. Lopinavir-ritonavir, ribavirin and arbidol do not shorten the duration of positive PCR results from pharyngeal swabs in children with COVID-19. During the COVID-19 outbreak, attention also must be given to children with infection by other pathogens infection.

Introduction: Western studies have explored post-bariatric patients concerning their views on excess skin and body contouring surgery (BCS), but Asian data were lacking. This study aims to investigate the experience of excess skin and attitude to BCS of a Chinese post-bariatric population., Methods: A total of 210 Chinese patients who underwent bariatric surgery from March 2015 to September 2018 were cross-sectional studied using the Sahlgrenska Excess Skin Questionnaire and a study-specific questionnaire., Results: The survey response rate was 61.4%. Most responders (78.2%) reported they had excess skin, and the most common sites were the abdomen (70.2%) and the upper arms (61.3%). Most responders (66.1%) reported being bothered by impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and the most common problem was "the feeling of having unattractive body appearance" (42.7%). Many patients (37.9%) desired for BCS, and "the impact of excess skin is not serious enough" was the reason why not undergoing BCS being chosen most (28.1%), then "the cost is too high" (20.2%) and "worrying about the risk or complications of BCS" (18.4%). Younger age, female gender, higher weight loss, having full-time job, and earning higher income were independent factors increasing their desires for BCS., Conclusions: Most Chinese post-bariatric patients have excess skin and are bothered by impaired HRQoL. The abdomen and upper arms are the sites where patients are most seriously affected and most eager for BCS. The conservative attitude toward BCS and the cost without reimbursement are the main barriers., (© 2021 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Background: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is currently the most commonly performed bariatric procedure worldwide. However, the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) after LSG is high., Objectives: The aim of this systematic review was to identify the optimal surgical strategy for treating GERD after LSG., Setting: West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China., Methods: A systematic literature search was performed to identify studies on surgical treatments for GERD after LSG. The effectiveness and safety profile of surgical management on GERD after LSG were analyzed., Results: A total of 40 articles enrolling 2049 patients were included in this review. Surgical strategies to prevent GERD after LSG were mainly of 2 types: concomitant LSG + antireflux procedures (hiatal hernia repair or fundoplication) and secondary procedures (conversion to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass [RYGB] or repeat sleeve gastrectomy). The short-term remission or improvement rate of GERD was 34.6%-100% after concomitant LSG + antireflux procedures. The postoperative complication rate was the same (3.0%) for both LSG + antireflux procedures and LSG alone. The remission or improvement rate of GERD was 57.1%-100% after conversion to RYGB and 100% after repeat sleeve gastrectomy., Conclusions: The effectiveness and safety profile of concomitant LSG + antireflux procedures is uncertain. However, secondary operations after LSG, such as conversion to RYGB, appear to provide good results. The data overall are heterogeneous, with imprecise methods of documenting and defining GERD complicating LSG. More cohort studies or RCT studies of high quality with long-term follow-up are needed in the future., (Copyright © 2020 American Society for Bariatric Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Two unusual dendrobine-type alkaloids, findlayines E and F (1, 2), along with five known dendrobine-type alkaloids (3-7), were isolated from the stems of Dendrobium findlayanum Par. et Rchb. f. Compound 1 is the first example of dendrobine-type alkaloids with a 2-ethoxy-2-oxoethyl group attaching to the C-2, and compound 2 is a nor-dendrobine-type alkaloid, featuring a 5-decarboxylated structure. The structures of compounds 1 and 2 were elucidated by means of extensive spectroscopic analyses, and their absolute configuration were confirmed by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. All isolates were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549 and MCF-7 human cancer cells., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Three new sesquiterpene glycosides with alloaromadendrane and ylangene-derived type aglycones, named dendrofindlayanosides A-C (1-3), one new cyclopacamphane type sesquiterpene named dendrofindlayanobilin A (4), together with five known compounds have been isolated from stems of Dendrobium findlayanum. Their structures were determined on the basis of spectroscopic and chemical methods., (Copyright © 2019 China Pharmaceutical University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: A study to evaluate the prevalence of uric acid (UA) nephrolithiasis with dual-energy CT (DECT) and explore the risk factors for kidney stones in primary gout patients., Methods: Eighty-four consecutive gout patients underwent urinary tract ultrasonography or DECT to confirm the existence of kidney stones. Urine and blood samples were also taken for laboratory analysis., Results: Forty-one subjects (48.8%) had nephrolithiasis diagnosed; 38 had a kidney stone. Thirty-two of the 38 patients underwent a DECT scan, and 27 patients had nephrolithiasis in DECT. Among them, 63.0% (17/27) and 14.8% (4/21) of the patients had pure UA and UA-based mixed stone, respectively, and 22.2% (6/27) had a non-UA stone. Those with nephrolithiasis suffered from more frequent acute attacks and had longer disease durations of gout. At least one urine biochemical abnormality was found in 81% of patients. Forty-four (55.0%) patients presented hypomagnesuria. Forty-three (51.8%) patients had low urine volume. Unduly acidic urine (UAU) was present in 36 patients (44.4%). Hyperuricosuria was only found in ten (12.2%) patients. In comparison to the non-lithiasic group, the lithiasic group was more likely to have a UAU. Binary logistic regression showed that female gender was a protective factor, while disease duration of gout and low urine pH were risk factors for nephrolithiasis., Conclusion: Our results indicated that nephrolithiasis, especially UA stones, were more common than previous reports in gout patients indicated, and that disease duration of gout, and low urine pH, were risk factors for nephrolithiasis.

Methods for constructing trees using DNA sequences, known as molecular phylogenetics, have been applied to analyses of phylogenetic origin, evolutionary relatedness and taxonomic classification. Combining data sequenced in this study and downloaded from GenBank, we sampled 112 (chloroplast data) / 122 (ITS data) specimens belonging to 49 (chloroplast data) / 46 (ITS data) poplar species or hybrids from six (chloroplast data) / five sections (ITS data). Maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference were used to analyze phylogenetic relationships within the genus Populus based on eight chloroplast combinations and ITS regions. The results suggested that Bayesian inference might be more suitable for the phylogenetic reconstruction of Populus. All Populus species could be divided into two clades: clade 1, including subclades 1 and 2, and clade 2, including subclades 3 and 4. Species within clade 1, involving five sections except for Leuce, clustered coinciding with their two specific main geographical distribution areas: China (subclade 1) and North America (subclade 2). Clustering in subclade 3, section Leuce was confirmed to be of monophyletic origin and independent evolution. Its two subsections, namely Albidae and Trepidae, could be separated by chloroplast data but had frequent gene flow based on ITS data. Phylogeny analysis based on chloroplast data demonstrated once more that section Aigeiros was paraphyletic and further showed that the P. deltoides lineage is restricted in subclade 2 and that P. nigra lineage, located in subclade 3, originated from a hybrid of which an Albidae ancestor species was the material parent. Similarly, section Tacamahaca was found to be paraphyletic and had two lineages: a clade 1 lineage, such as P. cathayana, and a clade 2 lineage, such as P. simonii. Section Leucoides was paraphyletic and closely linked to section Tacamahaca. Their section boundaries were not conclusively delimitated by sequencing information., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Acute diarrhea remains the serious problem in developing countries, especially among children under 5 years of age. Currently, only two or three common diarrhea pathogens were screened at most hospitals in China. The aim of this study was to provide a wide variety of diarrhea pathogens and their antimicrobial resistance patterns in children under 5 years of age., Methods: Totally 381 stool samples collected from Tongji Hospital between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015 were tested by culture and/or polymerase chain reaction for eight kinds of bacteria and five kinds of viruses. An antimicrobial sensitivity test was performed using dilution method recommended by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute., Results: Viral infections were mainly identified in infants (0-11 months), whereas bacterial infections were more prevalent in the age of 24-59 months. About 69.8% of samples were positive for at least one pathogen, 51.7% of samples were virus positive, followed by bacteria positive cases (19.4%), and 12.6% of cases displayed co-infections with two viruses or a virus and a bacterium. Rotavirus was the most prevalent pathogen, followed closely by norovirus, while Salmonella was the most commonly isolated bacteria, followed by diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) and Campylobacter. More than 40% of Salmonella spp. and DEC isolates were resistant to first-line antibiotics (ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and tetracycline). Around 10% of Salmonella spp. isolates were resistant to ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin simultaneously. Campylobacter spp. displayed high resistance to ciprofloxacin but kept low resistance to azithromycin and doxycycline., Conclusions: The etiology of acute diarrhea varies in children of different age groups. The high frequency of infection with viruses suggests the urgent demand for new viral vaccine development. Proper use of antibiotics in the treatment of acute diarrhea is crucial due to the high level of antibiotic resistance.

Ten new prostaglandin derivatives (PGs), sarcoehrendins A-J (1-10), together with five known analogues (11-15) were isolated from the soft coral Sarcophyton ehrenbergi. Compounds 4-8 represented the first examples of PGs featuring an 18-ketone group. The structures including the absolute configurations were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis and chemical evidence. All of the isolates and six synthetic analogues (3a, 3b, 4a, and 11a-11c) were screened for inhibitory activity against phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4), which is a drug target for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Compounds 2, 10, 11a, 11b, and 13-15 exhibited inhibition with IC50 values less than 10 μM, and compound 15 (IC50 = 1.4 μM) showed comparable activity to the positive control rolipram (IC50 = 0.60 μM). The active natural PGs (2, 10, and 13-15) represent the first examples of PDE4 inhibitors without an aromatic moiety, and a preliminary structure-activity relationship is also proposed.

Background: Surfactant proteins play a key role in alveolar stability. We examined whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to the surfactant protein genes are associated with severe influenza., Methods: In the first cohort, 12 SNPs related to surfactant protein genes were compared between Chinese patients with severe and mild pandemic 2009 influenza A(H1N1) (A[H1N1]pdm09) infection who were matched for age, sex, and underlying risk conditions. The SNP rs1130866, which was significantly different between the two groups, was further genotyped in a second cohort of patients. Multivariate analysis was performed to control for confounding factors. The genotype frequencies were also compared with those of the general Han Chinese population., Results: This study consisted of 380 patients with A(H1N1)pdm09 infection. In the first cohort of 84 patients, the C allele of rs1130866, an SNP in the surfactant protein B gene (SFTPB), was significantly associated with severe disease (OR = 3.37, P = .0048), although the P value was .057 after Bonferroni correction. In the second cohort of 296 patients, the C/C genotype was confirmed in the univariate analysis to be associated with severe disease. Multivariate analysis of the second cohort showed that genotype C/C was an independent risk factor for severe A(H1N1)pdm09 infection (second cohort: OR = 2.087, P = .023). Compared to the general Han Chinese population, the C/C genotype was overrepresented in patients with severe A(H1N1)pdm09 infection (OR = 3.232, P = .00000056)., Conclusions: SFTPB polymorphism is associated with severe influenza. The role of SFTPB in influenza warrants further studies.

To investigate the resources of medicinal plant, such as wild Apocynum, supervised classification based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and texture feature were used to monitor wild medicinal plants from image captured by ZY-3 and World-view-2 and compare which satellite Image are more appropriate to monitor the wild medicinal plants. The research results shows that: for more complex growth conditions wild medicinal plants Apocynum, high-resolution images Worldview-2 is more suitable for its remote identification, the low-resolution satellite ZY-3 can only recognizes the wild medicinal plants which distributed intensively. If the study target distribution is more intensive and larger scale, and cultivated type medicinal plants, the use of satellite ZY-3 in low resolution remote sensing data to identify the target can be a good choice, it is not necessary to buy high-resolution data, in order to avoid waste of expenditure, for the scattered distribution, the high-resolution satellite imagery data may be indispensable to identify targets.

Aims: Mesenchyme forkhead 1 (FoxC2) is an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-inducing factor. Previous studies have demonstrated that FoxC2 binds directly to the promoter region of p120-catenin (p120ctn). The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of FoxC2 expression and the inter-relationship between FoxC2 and p120ctn, in gastric cancer., Methods and Results: Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expression of FoxC2 and p120ctn proteins in 325 gastric cancer samples. Staining for FoxC2 in cancer tissues was markedly stronger than in normal tissues. High FoxC2 expression was associated significantly with differentiation, invasion depth, lymph node metastasis and tumour stage. Patients with high FoxC2 expression or low p120ctn expression had a poor prognosis. In the high p120ctn expression group, the prognosis for patients with low FoxC2 expression was better than for the high FoxC2 group. Moreover, stepwise Cox regression showed that p120ctn was an independent prognostic factor, but FoxC2 in combination with p120ctn was not correlated significantly with survival., Conclusions: We found that FoxC2 and p120ctn play important roles in the progression and prognosis of gastric cancer. Moreover, FoxC2 and p120ctn should be evaluated further as novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for gastric cancer treatment., (© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a serious threat for agricultural production in China. Eight soil bacterial isolates with activity against R. solanacearum TM15 (biovar 3) were tested in this study for their in vitro activity towards ten genetically diverse R. solanacearum isolates from China. The results indicated that each antagonist showed remarkable differences in its ability to in vitro antagonize the ten different R. solanacearum strains. Strain XY21 (based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing affiliated to Serratia) was selected for further studies based on its in vitro antagonistic activity and its excellent rhizocompetence on tomato plants. Under greenhouse conditions XY21 mediated biocontrol of tomato wilt caused by seven different R. solanacearum strains ranged from 19 to 70 %. The establishment of XY21 and its effects on the bacterial community in the tomato rhizosphere were monitored by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rRNA gene fragments PCR-amplified from total community DNA. A positive correlation of the in vitro antagonistic activities of XY21 and the actual biocontrol efficacies towards seven genetically different R. solanacearum strains was found and further confirmed by the efficacy of XY21 in controlling bacterial wilt under field conditions.

Background/aims: Primary pancreatic leiomyoarcoma (PLMS) is a rare disease; its clinical characters and prognosis are poorly demonstrated. This study aimed to investigate the tumor's clinical characters and to reveal the true outcome., Methodology: A retrospective review of both Chinese and worldwide PLMS patients were performed. Data was collected and analyzed and overall survival was described by Kaplan-Meier curve., Results: In total, there were 9 cases identified in China and 55 cases identified in the worldwide literature. Incidence rate was general equal in gender and had an increased trend with age(mean +SD: 55+14 years). Abdominal pain, mass and weight loss were the most common presentations, mean tumor size was 10cm (SD 7.2cm) and most of them presented as a solid mass. Forty six cases accepted operation, 33 of which obtained a radical resection. Median overall survival time was 27 months.The patients who accepted radical resection had an obviously improved prognosis over non-resectable patients., Conclusions: PLMS commonly occurred in the mid-age people and there was lack of specific non-invasive methods for precise preoperative diagnosis.PLMS has a much better prognosis compared with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Radical resection is the only hope for improving the outcome of this malignancy.

Objective: To understand the water infectivity of schistosome in key water regions of Wuhan City and explore the role of a sentinel mouse technique on surveillance and forecast system for schistosomiasis., Methods: Schistosome-endemic areas of the Yangtze River, the Dongjing-Tongshun River system, the Fu-Lun River system and the Jinshui River of Wuhan City were chosen as the surveillance and forecast sites. The Oncomelania snail distribution and infection were surveyed before the flood season. The water infectivity was detected by using the sentinel mouse technique during the flood season. The infection status of people in the villages around the surveillance sites and the activities of human beings and domestic animals were surveyed. The correlation between the infection rate of sentinel mice and snail status was tested by the rank correlation method. The emergency response mechanism was initiated when the areas with schistosomes were detected in water., Results: Among the 18 surveillance sites, 15 sites with infected sentinel mice were found, accounting for 83.33%. A total of 554 sentinel mice were placed and 540 recovered, with a recovery rate of 97.47%. All the recovered mice were dissected and 75 infected, with a total infection rate of 13.89%. Totally 172 adult worms were collected, with mean worm burden of 2.29 +/- 0.71 worms per mouse. The infection rates of sentinel mice in 4 water systems were 8.33%, 24.53%, 10.85% and 6.56%, respectively, and the mean worm burdens of infected sentinel mice were 2.33 +/- 0.71, 2.28 +/- 0.76, 2.22 +/- 0.60 and 2.75 +/- 0.96 worms per mouse, respectively. The infection rates of sentinel mice in 4 water systems had a statistically significant difference (chi2 = 19.131, P = 0.000). The mean worm burdens of the infected sentinel mice in 4 water systems had no statistically significant difference (F = 0.638, P = 0.593). The correlation coefficient among the infection rate of sentinel mice, snail area, the average density of living snails and infected snail rate had no statistical significance. Among the 15 sites with infected sentinel mice, 8 sites with fisherman activities, 8 sites with anglers or planters, 10 sites with cattle keepings and 4 of which with infected cattle. All the 15 sites with cercariae-infected water bodies started the emergency response and no epidemic situation happened., Conclusions: The water infectivity of schistosome in key water regions of Wuhan City was relatively high. Detecting water infectivity based on a sentinel mouse technique is an important part of surveillance and forecast system for schistosomiasis.

Glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) is a critical enzyme in the phase II detoxification pathway. One of the common functional polymorphisms of GSTP1 is A→G at nucleotide 313, which results in an amino acid substitution (Ile105Val) at the substrate binding site and reduced catalytic activity. We evaluated the interaction between GSTP1 Val allele and Helicobacter pylori infection, smoking and alcohol consumption, increasing the risk of gastric cancer among the Chinese population. Information on potential gastric cancer risk factors and blood specimens were collected from 618 incident gastric cancer cases and 1,830 non-cancer controls between March 2002 and December 2011 in Liaoning Province, China. GSTP1 Ile105Val was genotyped by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Serum levels of anti-H. pylori IgG were measured by ELISA. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using multivariate logistic regression, adjusted by sex and age. The risk of gastric cancer was significantly elevated in patients with the GSTP1 Val/Val genotype (adjusted OR = 3.324; 95% CI = 1.790-6.172). An elevated risk of gastric cancer was observed in patients with H. pylori infection, smoking, or alcohol consumption, and together with the GSTP1 Ile/Val +Val/Val genotype (OR = 3.696; 95% CI = 2.475-5.521; OR = 1.638; 95% CI = 1.044-2.571; OR = 1.641; 95% CI = 0.983-2.739, respectively) (p<0.05). The GSTP1 Val allele shows an interaction with smoking, alcohol consumption, and especially H. pylori infection for increasing the risk of gastric cancer. These findings could demonstrate new pathophysiological pathways for the development of gastric cancer.

Reproductive performance of 750 adult female Forest musk deer (FMD, Moschus berezovskii) was monitored (from 2005 to 2009) on two Forest musk deer farms in Sichuan province, China. The mean (± SEM) lengths of the estrous cycle, pregnancy, and consecutive fawning intervals were 17.5 ± 0.8 d (n = 64), 182.9 ± 0.8 d (n =190), and 363.2 ± 2.4 d (n = 120), respectively. Copulation occurred from the end of October to early March, with the majority (84.1 ± 1.9%) during November and December (P < 0.05). The fawning rate was 68.7 ± 2.2% in yearling hinds and 73.3 ± 1.3% in adult hinds. Fawning occurred from the end of April to early September, with the majority (88. 9 ± 2.2%) during May and June (P < 0.005), including a peak in May (52.0 ± 1.0%). Yearling hinds fawned later (7.3 ± 1.8 d) than adult hinds. Rates of premature delivery and dystocia were 2.7 ± 0.4 and 2.0 ± 0.3%, respectively. There was a 1.07:1 female-to-male ratio at birth (P > 0.05), with 67.7% twins, but only two cases of triplets and one set of quadruplets among 537 fawns. Birth weight averaged 518.7 ± 10.3 g, ranging from 304 to 775 g (n = 240), with male fawns slightly heavier than females (521.1 ± 14.8 vs 516.9 ± 14.3 g). Postnatal and pre-weaning mortality rates were 25.0 ± 1.2 and 17.9 ± 3.1%, respectively. Postnatal mortality and urinary calculus were much more common in male fawns (P < 0.01). The mortality rate due to suppuration and dyspepsia were different (P < 0.001) between postnatal and pre-weaning periods. Due to higher mortality of male fawns, the adult sex ratio was significantly female-biased. In conclusion, captive FMD had similar seasonal patterns of copulation and fawning as wild FMD and other musk deer species., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Since 2005, schistosomiasis comprehensive control was implemented in Shitai County, Anhui Province, the infection rates of schistosome in human populations and domestic animals reduced from 0.38% and 0.83% in 2005 to 0.09% and 0 in 2009, respectively. The densities of living snails and infected snails decreased from 4.79 snails/0.1 m2 and 0.007 7 snails/0.1 m2 in 2005 to 1.01 snails/0.1 m2 and 0.001 2 snails/0.1 m2 in 2009, respectively. No acute infections were found in 2009, and 71.2% of villages reached the criteria of transmission control or transmission interruption. The endemic situation of schistosomiasis in Shitai County is effectively controlled, but consolidation and enlargement of the control achievements still remains a challenge.

Tongjiang cattle are a local cattle population of Sichuan Province, China, numbering approximately half a million in 2005. They have long been grouped into the Bashan breed, although they have a unique breeding history and phenotypic characteristics, as well as a restricted geographic distribution. Morphologically, they can be divided into two groups based on the basic coat color (black and russet). In order to dissect the matrilineal components of Tongjiang cattle and to compare the body size traits of the two morphological groups, we measured five body size traits among 59 Tongjiang cattle samples and further sequenced the mtDNA D-loop sequence of 54 individuals. Among the 54 mtDNAs, 37 (68.5%) were Bos taurus types and 17 (31.5%) were Bos indicus types. Four known B. taurus haplogroups (T1-T4) and one B. indicus haplogroup (I1) were detected in these samples. Two body size traits differed significantly (P < 0.05) between the black group and the russet group, although the two groups possessed similar matrilineal genetic structure. This is the first report to identify all four B. taurus haplogroups in one local Chinese cattle population. Our results suggest that the contribution of different matrilineal lineages to Chinese cattle might be more complex than we originally thought.

Objective: To analyze the appropriate producing area of Cistanche tubulosa by mean of TCMGIS-I., Method: The TCMGIS-I (Suitability evaluation geographic information system of traditional Chinese medicine producing area) was used to analyze the appropriate producing area of C. tubulosa basing on the optimum ecological factors of Sorth Sinkiang municipality which is the traditional producing area of C. tubulosa., Result: The suitable producing areas of C. tubulosa include 56 counties with 190952.1 km2 total areas in Sinkiang municipality, Neimongd municipality and Gansu province; Sinkiang municipality, Gansu and Qinghai provinces have the second-suitable producing areas of C. tubulosa, with 46 counties and 41217.37 km2 total areas; Sinkiang municipality, Inner Mongolia municipality, Gansu province and Ningxia municipality have the third-suitable producing areas of C. tubulosa with 56 counties and 421145.2 km2 total areas., Conclusion: It is important to analyze the appropriate producing area of C. tubulosa by means of TCMGIS-I. The results are useful for development of C. tubulosa transplanting and cultivation.

Objective: To analyze the appropriate producing area of Cistanche desertiola., Method: The TCMGIS-I (suitability evaluation geographic information system of traditional Chinese medicine producing area) was used to analyze the appropriate producing area of C. desertiola basing on the optimum ecological factors of Aalashan, Inner-Mongolia autonomous region and North Xinjiang au-tonomous region, the traditional producing areas of C. desertiola., Result: The results showed that the suitable producing areas of C. desertiola included 159 counties of 5 autonomous regions and provinces, i.e. Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia autonomous regions, and Gansu as well as Qinghai provinces. The total area was 675 354.9 km2 and distributed mainly in Aalashan of Inner Mongolia, eastern part of North Xinjiang, northern part of Gansu and in the middle of Ningxia., Conclusion: The suitable producing areas based on TCMGIS-I covered all areas registered in the 3rd national investigation of Chinese traditional medicine resource. And the results were also corresponding to the traditional producing area of C. desertiola recorded in ancient literature and the successful cultivation areas nowadays. It suggested the rationality and reliability of TCMGIS-I.