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Coix lacryma-jobi L. is a traditional medicinal plant in east Asia and is an important crop in Guizhou province, southwest China, where there are elevated levels of soil mercury and arsenic (As). Exposure to multiple potentially toxic elements (PTEs) may affect plant accumulation of metal(loid)s and food safety in regions with high geological metal concentrations. Field experiments were conducted to study the effects of PTEs on metal(loid) accumulation and physiological response of C. lacryma in different plant parts at three pollution levels. Total root length, number of root tips, number of branches, and number of root crosses increased with increasing pollution level, with increases in highly polluted areas of 44.2, 57.0, 79.6, and 97.2%, respectively, compared to lightly polluted areas. Under multi-element stress the activity of C. lacryma antioxidant oxidase showed an increase at low and medium PTE concentrations and inhibition at high concentrations. The As contents were all below the maximum limit of cereal food contaminants in China (GB 2762-2022, As < 0.5 mg kg−1). The stems had high Tl bioconcentration factors but the translocation factors from stem to grain were very low, indicating that the stems may be a key plant part restricting Tl transport to the grains. C. lacryma increased root retention and reduced the transport effect, thus reducing metal accumulation in the grains. C. lacryma adapted to PTE stress through root remodeling and enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and subjective wellbeing (SWB) of infertility patients in mainland China and to investigate the relationships between HRQoL and SWB instruments in infertility patients. Methods: We conducted this cross-sectional study in the Hospital for Reproductive Medicine Affiliated of Shandong University between April 2019 and November 2019. Participants self-completed the five-level EQ-5D (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire, the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL)-8D, and the WHO-5 wellbeing index (WHO-5). The agreements between EQ-5D-5L and AQoL-8D were assessed employing intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman plots. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to examine the difference in descriptive systems among the three instruments. Results: We analyzed a valid sample of 618 infertility patients (84.4%). The mean scores of the total EQ-5D-5L, AQoL-8D, and WHO-5 were 0.96 (95%CI 0.96, 0.96), 0.80 (95%CI 0.79, 0.81), and 16.92 (95%CI 16.52, 17.31), respectively. Patients diagnosed with primary infertility had significantly lower HRQoL and SWB than those with secondary infertility. The ICC of EQ-5D-5L and AQoL-8D was 0.14. The AQoL-8D (r = 0.625) was more strongly correlated with WHO-5 than with the EQ-5D-5L (r = 0.262). The EFA results indicated that HRQoL instruments and the WHO-5 instruments were complementary rather than substitutable. Conclusions: Poorer HRQoL and SWB were found that primary than secondary infertility patients. There exists a poor agreement between EQ-5D-5L and AQoL-8D and the difference in the psychosocial components may explain the difference. Measuring both HRQoL and SWB could provide complementary information for infertility patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: With the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in China, the general public but also medical staff were confronted with psychological challenges, suffering from the highly infectious and unknown characteristics of COVID-19. In this study, we surveyed psychological symptoms including anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders in medical staff. Method: A questionnaire star/WeChat link-based survey assessing the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 depression, the Insomnia Severity Index, Social Support scales in addition to lifestyle, and income level was conducted and included 8,288 medical staff from 24 provinces in China. Pearson Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U -tests were used to evaluate single risk factors and significant differences in psychological symptoms before and during the outbreak of COVID-19. Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted for the risk factors of anxiety, depression, and sleep disorder symptoms. Results: Medical staff had a high incidence of psychological symptoms, which was more prominent during the COVID-19 epidemic. Comparatively, females, nurses, first-line department, never exercised, and low income were risk factors for psychological symptoms. Social support including objective support, subjective support, support utility, and regular sports over 3 times per week were protective and manageable elements that could protect from and manage the psychological symptoms of medical staff. Conclusion: The susceptibility of psychological symptoms among medical staff should be of concern to policymakers and the public in the long-term, and the aggravation of mental health problems of medical staff could be eased by providing adequate social support during and after the COVID-19 outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. Based on a case–control study, we investigated the relationship between +869T/C and +915G/C gene polymorphisms in transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), protein levels and essential hypertension (EH) in the Kazakh and Han Chinese populations selected from the Boertonggu countryside of Shawan region in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China ( n=1600). The polymorphisms of TGF-β1 and the blood levels were detected using polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism assays and sandwich ELISA, respectively. Major findings. An association was found between +869C-allele with higher risk of EH in these two populations. We also found that the CG haplotype of the two polymorphisms was associated with EH in the Kazakh EH patients. The levels of TGF-β1 in the blood were positively correlated with diastolic blood pressure both in the Kazakh and Han EH patients. Levels of the TGF-β1 protein in the Kazakh EH patients were significantly higher than those in the Han EH patients. Principal conclusion. These results suggest that the TGF-β1 +869 C allele is potentially a genetic factor of EH in these two ethnicities, the CG haplotype can be a genetic marker of EH in the Kazakh Chinese and the high concentration of TGF-β1 is possibly associated with EH, especially in the Kazakh population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To obtain representative models of aerosol size distributions in the vertical dimension, we performed an extensive investigation on aerosol number concentration distributions from 0.1 µm to 3.0 µm based on airborne aerosol measurements, which were measured by a PCASP-100X on 33 flights over Northern China. A multi-modal lognormal size distribution with a base 10 logarithm is applied to fit the measured aerosol size distributions at different altitudes. Most of them can be fitted well by using a tri-modal distribution, while some of the data need to be fitted using a four-mode distribution. As the height increases, the aerosol distributions gradually become monotonous and display double-peak or single-peak lognormal distributions. Vertical variations in aerosol distributions over four days were analyzed and compared to each other. Statistical parameters of aerosol size distributions in the vertical dimension were obtained and analyzed. Relatively stable modal parameters from the ground to a height of 7 km were found for modes 1 and 2. The first and second peaks in the aerosol distributions were found from 0.08 µm to 1.2 µm and from 0.12 µm to 0.4 µm, and their medians were approximately 0.1 µm and 0.3 µm. The standard deviation did not change very much, from 0.05 µm to 0.6 µm and from 0.2 µm to 0.6 µm. The mean particle sizes in modes 1 and 2 were similar and showed an exponential decline with increasing height. Typical modal distributions of aerosol concentrations ranging in size from 0.1 µm to 3.0 µm over the vertical dimension in Northern China are presented along with statistical data. The parameterized formula is also provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Four common CD36 SNPs were detected among the premature CHD case-control sample. • Four CD36 SNPs with statistically opposite gender-specific lipid profile effects. • Four CD36 SNPs with statistically significant atherogenic effects in males. • Independent risk of premature multi-vessel CHD: current smoker, LDL-C and diabetes. • 3′-UTR CD36 SNPs could be a novel target for the metabolic abnormalities in males. The aim of the present study was to detect potential gender-specific associations between some common CD36 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the lipid profile, as well as the susceptibility to premature multi-vessel coronary artery heart disease (CHD) in the Han population of Northern China. A systematic three-step study process was employed to detect associations between CD36 gene variants and blood lipid profiles, as well as premature multi-vessel CHD in a gender-specific manner. The current study documented the following novel findings: (I) the full population-based association study in 329 Northern Han Chinese showed that four common CD36 polymorphisms were significantly related to extreme lipid profiles, with statistically significant effects based on gender interactions (rs1049673: P = 0.001; rs7755: P = 0.008; rs3211956: P = 0.034; and rs3173798: P = 0.004); (ii) these statistically significant effects could be decomposed into statistically significant atherogenic effects in males, but non-significant non-atherogenic effects in females; (iii) the results of logistic regression analysis indicated that current smoking status, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, and type-2 diabetes were independent risk factors for premature multi-vessel CHD phenotype (P < 0.0001). Four common CD36 polymorphisms (rs1049673, rs7755, rs3211956, and rs3173798) were identified to be significantly associated with extreme lipid profiles and had statistically opposite gender-specific clinical lipid profile effects. Thus, the 3′-untranslated regions (3′-UTR) CD36 SNPs could be a novel target for metabolic abnormalities in males of the Han nationality from Northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effectiveness of heterologous booster regimes with ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine in a large, diverse population during the national-scale outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 omicron predominance in China has not been reported, yet. We conducted a large-scale cohort-control study in six provinces in China, and did a retrospective survey on the COVID-19 attack risk during this outbreak. Participant aged ≥18 years in five previous trials who were primed with 1 to 3 doses of ICV received heterologous booster with either intramuscular or orally inhaled ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine were included in the heterologous-trial cohort. We performed propensity score-matching at a ratio of 1:4 to match participants in the heterologous-trial cohort individually with the community individuals who received three-dose of ICV as a control (ICV-community cohort). From February 4 to April 10, 2023, 41504 (74.5%) of 55710 individuals completed the survey. The median time since the most recent vaccination to the onset of the symptoms of COVID-19 was 303.0 days (IQR 293.0-322.0). The attack rate of COVID-19 in the heterologous-trial cohort was 55.8%, while that in the ICV-community cohort was 64.6%, resulting in a relative effectiveness of 13.7% (95% CI 11.9 to 15.3). In addition, a higher relative effectiveness against COVID-19 associated outpatient visits, and admission to hospital was demonstrated, which was 25.1% (95% CI 18.9 to 30.9), and 48.9% (95% CI 27.0 to 64.2), respectively. The heterologous booster with ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine still offered some additional protection in preventing COVID-19 breakthrough infection versus homologous three-dose regimen with ICV, 10 months after vaccination.

Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) with FGFR alterations is relatively rare, and its identification is important in the era of targeted therapy. We collected a large series of FGFR-altered cases in the Chinese population and characterized their clinicopathological and genetic features. Among the 18 FGFR-altered cases out of 260 iCCAs, 10 were males and 8 were females, ranging in age from 35 to 74 years (mean, 57.3 years; median, 58 years). Pathologically, they include 9 cases of large duct (LD, 50 %) and small duct (SD, 50 %) types each. All of them (100 %, 18/18) showed microsatellite stable (MSS) and low tumor mutation burden (TMB). Genetically, FGFR alterations involved FGFR1 (20 %), FGFR2 (70 %), and FGFR3 (10 %), with FGFR2 rearrangement accounting for the most (11/18). The most frequently altered genes/biological processes were development/proliferation-related pathways (44 %), chromatin organization (20 %), and tumor suppressors (32 %). Our study further revealed the clinicopathological and genetic features of FGFR-altered iCCA and demonstrated that its occurrence may show regional or ethnic variability and is less common in the Chinese population. A significant number of LD-type iCCA cases also have FGFR alterations rather than the SD type., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest We confirm that none of conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants and the waning of vaccine-elicited neutralizing antibodies suggests that additional coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine doses may be needed for individuals who initially received CoronaVac. We evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of the recombinant adenovirus type 5 (AD5)-vectored COVID-19 vaccine Convidecia as a heterologous booster versus those of CoronaVac as homologous booster in adults previously vaccinated with CoronaVac in an ongoing, randomized, observer-blinded, parallel-controlled phase 4 trial ( NCT04892459 ). Adults who had received two doses of CoronaVac in the past 3-6 months were vaccinated with Convidecia (n = 96) or CoronaVac (n = 102). Adults who had received one dose of CoronaVac in the past 1-3 months were also vaccinated with Convidecia (n = 51) or CoronaVac (n = 50). The co-primary endpoints were the occurrence of adverse reactions within 28 d after vaccination and geometric mean titers (GMTs) of neutralizing antibodies against live wild-type SARS-CoV-2 virus at 14 d after booster vaccination. Adverse reactions after vaccination were significantly more frequent in Convidecia recipients but were generally mild to moderate in all treatment groups. Heterologous boosting with Convidecia elicited significantly increased GMTs of neutralizing antibody against SARS-CoV-2 than homologous boosting with CoronaVac in participants who had previously received one or two doses of CoronaVac. These data suggest that heterologous boosting with Convidecia following initial vaccination with CoronaVac is safe and more immunogenic than homologous boosting., (© 2022. The Author(s).)