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Objective: Adalimumab (ADA) is an effective treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), both ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). The equal effect between the original ADA and biosimilars from Europe and the United States has been shown. However, the biosimilar of ADA is different in China. The effectiveness and safety data of ADA biosimilar (HS016) in China have yet to be discovered. Patients and methods: 91 patients (75 CD, 16 UC) received HS016 treatment and were enrolled in this study. Therapeutic response and safety profiles were analyzed. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) was also carried out among nonresponse patients. After being considered as "nonresponse" (after three or 6 months of treatment), 20 patients' serum TNFα concentrations were measured and correlated to their disease severity. Results: Among active CD patients (n = 61), 75.4% (46/61) at 12 w, 73.8% (45/61) at 26 w, 50.8% (31/61) at 52 w achieved the clinical response, respectively; 55.7% (34/61) at 12 w, 65.6% (40/61) at 26 w, and 45.9% (28/61) at 52 w achieved clinical remission. The maintained remission rates of CD (n = 14) in clinical remission were 100% (14/14) at 12 w, 78.6% (11/14) at 26 w, and 63.6% (7/11) at 52 w, respectively. Among active UC patients, 37.5% (6/16) at 12 w and 50% (8/16) at 26 w achieved clinical response. Total adverse event rates were 5.5% (5/91) during 52-week visits. Due to the inadequate serum drug concentration, 30.4% (7/23) of patients had poor clinical responses. Elevations of serum anti-drug antibodies occurred in one additional patient (4.3%). Conclusion: ADA biosimilar HS016 had good efficacy and safety in Chinese IBD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 has become a global public health emergency, causing great psychological distress to nurses. It is unknown whether the pandemic will affect the work engagement of nurses, the relationship between psychological capital, job satisfaction, and work engagement among nurses, and whether there are differences between nurse specialists and general nurses during the pandemic. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare psychological capital, job satisfaction, and work engagement among nurse specialists and general nurses during the pandemic, as well as to test the role of job satisfaction as a mediator in the association between psychological capital and work engagement among nurses, and to examine whether the underlying mechanism of the relationship between psychological capital and job satisfaction differs between nurse specialists and general nurses. Materials and methods: A convenience sampling was used to assess a sample of 372 nurse specialists and 318 general nurses from nine provincial general hospitals in China to participate in the online survey. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires, including the following tools: self-designed sociodemographic questionnaire, psychological capital scale, job satisfaction scale, and work engagement scale. Results: Compared with general nurses, the nurse specialists had higher psychological capital, job satisfaction, and work engagement. Job satisfaction partially mediated the positive association between psychological capital and work engagement and the indirect effect was stronger in nurse specialists in comparison to general nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: The findings provide important practical implications for future intervention programs aimed at enhancing nurses' work engagement, which may be realized through strengthening psychological capital and job satisfaction during the pandemic. Moreover, considering the costeffectiveness of limited health care spending, nursing managers should pay more attention to the continuing professional development of young general nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of the study was to explore the relationship between social support and fatigue as well as the mediating role of social functioning on that relationship. Background: Psychosocial factors such as social support and social functioning may influence patients' fatigue symptoms. There is limited evidence on the relationship between social support, social functioning, and fatigue in liver transplant recipients. Methods: A total of 210 patients with liver transplants from two tertiary hospitals were enrolled in the current study. Questionnaires used include one for general demographic data, the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), Social Disability Screening Schedule (SDSS), and Fatigue Symptom Inventory (FSI). Results: A total of 126 (60%) recipients reported fatigue. Gender, residence, BMI, and liver function were the primary factors affecting fatigue. Social support was positively correlated with social functioning and was negatively correlated with fatigue. The effect of social support on fatigue was partially mediated by social functioning (35.74%). Conclusion: The fatigue of liver transplant recipients should be attended to. The higher the social support, the lower the fatigue of liver transplant recipients. Social support may also reduce fatigue through social functioning. The liver transplant team should help the liver transplant recipient establish a social support system, restore social functioning, and reduce fatigue symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large herbivores often co-occur and share plant resources with herbivorous insects in grassland ecosystems; yet, how they interact with each other remains poorly understood. We conducted a series of field experiments to investigate whether and how large domestic herbivores (sheep; Ovis aries) may affect the abundance of a common herbivorous insect (aphid; Hyalopterus pruni) in a temperate grassland of northeast China. Our exclosure experiment showed that 3 years (2010-2012) of sheep grazing had led to 86% higher aphid abundance compared with ungrazed sites. Mechanistically, this facilitative effect was driven by grazing altering the plant community, rather than by changes in food availability and predator abundance for aphids. Sheep significantly altered plant community by reducing the abundance of unpalatable forbs for the aphids. Our small-scale forb removal experiment revealed an "associational plant defense" by forbs which protect the grass Phragmites australis from being attacked by the aphids. However, selective grazing on forbs by sheep indirectly disrupted such associational plant defense, making P. australis more susceptible to aphids, consequentially increasing the density of aphids. These findings provide a novel mechanistic explanation for the effects of large herbivores on herbivorous insects by linking selective grazing to plant community composition and the responses of insect populations in grassland ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Genotyping of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is of great significance for clinical diagnosis and treatment. The object of this work was to establish a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method for four subtypes of HCV prevalent in China. Methods: Gene sequences of HCV-1b, 2a, 3, and 6a were downloaded from Genebank. Primer sets of the four HCV subtypes for LAMP method were designed by Primer Explorer V.4. LAMP reactions were performed at 65°C for 60 minutes. Sera of HCV-1b, 2a, 3, and 6a, HBV-A, HBV-B, HIV-1, HIV-2 and HAV, synthesized nucleic acid of HCV-4a, and 5a were used for evaluation of LAMP performance. For specificity evaluation, each primer set for HCV-1b, 2a, 3, and 6a was tested with all kinds of sera. Each serum of the above 4 HCV subtypes was diluted and aliquoted into 10 parts. RNA was subsequently extracted, which was detected by LAMP and Real-time PCR to verify limit of detection (LOD). Results: The LAMP assay established in this study could detect and distinguish HCV-1b, 2a, 3, and 6a. Consistent with gene sequencing methods, specificity of HCV-1b, 2a, 3, and 6a was 100%, 85%, 90%, and 100% detected by LAMP, respectively. The LOD of HCV-1b, 3, and 6a was 1.5 x 10³ IU/mL. The LOD of HCV2a was 1.0 x 103 IU/mL with the LAMP method. Conclusions: The LAMP method established in this study is feasible for distinguishing HCV-1b, 2a, 3, and 6a specifically and sensitively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the storage of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in glaciers located in China. The authors found the release efficiency of DOC based on their glacier volume to be more for Chinese mountain glaciers than for glaciers and ice sheets existing in polar regions. The snow pit samples were used to represent one year of deposition.

Background: Recurrent respiratory tract infections (RRTIs) have a negative impact on both children's health and family wellbeing. Deficiency of ZhengQi used to be an instinct factor driving RRTI in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Our clinical observations suggest that children with gastrointestinal heat retention syndrome (GHRS) may have a greater risk of catching respiratory tract infections (RTIs). GHRS is a new predisposing factor for RRTI and it is dietary related. This study is aimed to explore association between GHRS and RRTI. Methods: A prospective cohort study has been conducted in Beijing, China; children aged 1-18 were enrolled. TCM symptoms, demographic and physiological characteristics were recorded by using semi-structured questionnaire. GHRS was considered as a predisposing factor. Children were followed up for next 12 months. We contacted with their parents using a face-to-face questionnaire survey, via email or phone every 3 months. Episodes of RTIs were recorded in detail. Results: Three hundred thirty four children were enrolled and 307 (91.92 %) followed up for 12 months. The incidence of RTI was 4.32 episodes per child-year (95 % CI 4.03-4.61). 69 (43.13 %) children in the group with GHRS suffered from RRTI; there were 48 (32.65 %) children in group without GHRS. The risk ratio (RR) value of RRTI occurrence was 1.32 (95 % CI 0.91-1.91, P = 0.139), and the attributable risk percent (AR%) was 24.28 %. Dry stool and irritability were positively correlated with RTI episodes, age and BMI were negatively correlated with RTI episodes in a linear regression model. Dry stool (OR = 1.510) was positively correlated with RRTI occurrence, age (OR = 0.889) and BMI (OR = 0.858) were negatively correlated with RRTI occurrence in our logistic regression model. Conclusions: GHRS is associated with RRTI in this cohort. Dry stool was positively associated with RRTI, and BMI was negatively associated with RRTI. Studies with larger sample size and longer follow up are needed to further evaluate this association. Relieving GHRS should be considered when TCM practitioners treat RRTI children, and this may protect children from suffering RTIs. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry Number: ChiCTR-CCH-13003756 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though China had been plagued by famines since ancient times, it was not until the Great Chinese Famine in the late 1950s and early 1960s that the state became proactive against future famines. In 1979, under the conviction that overpopulation was threatening China's existence, Deng Xiaoping implemented the "one-child policy," a coercive population control (CPC) measure intended to reduce the country's fertility rate. However, because of the harsh nature of CPC, the disparate gender ratio that has developed, the imminent aging of China's population, and a number of other critical enforcement concerns, CPC has proven to be far from an ideal method of population control. There have been discourses on the relevance of this policy, and its impacts on fertility decline have become debatable in the light of the subsequent economic development and social and political stability, which accounts for the fertility reduction with a changing age profile. However, the decline in fertility in China, after the improvement of the economy and higher female labor force participation rates, do not offset the need for alternative policies to the current coercive population control measures, especially the necessity for providing higher levels of education for China's female citizens. Anew policy focused upon by the Chinese government should deal more with how to address the impacts of the socioeconomic and demographic phenomenon, instead of focusing on maintaining fertility reduction. Though there are a number of suggested alternatives to the one-child policy, educating the female population is the most satisfactory and comprehensive approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]