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Background: Along with the improvement of lung cancer screening implementation, the identification of interstitial lung abnormality (ILA) is increasing. Currently, there is a limited description of the oncogenic status and ILA subtypes among newly diagnosed non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with ILA in the Chinese population. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, characteristics, oncogenic status and factors associated with overall survival (OS) among NSCLC patients with ILA. Methods: A total of 765 newly diagnosed NSCLC cases at our hospital were reviewed and ILA was diagnosed according to the criteria of the Fleischner Society. The characteristics, clinical pathological features and OS of NSCLC patients with ILA were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Of the 765 patients included in the study, 101 (13.2%) cases experienced ILA at the time of NSCLC diagnosis. Multivariate analysis revealed that ILA was more likely to be detected in NSCLC patients who were age ≥60 (OR 2.404, p = 0.001), male gender (OR 2.476, p = 0.004), and EGFR wild‐type (OR 2.035, p = 0.007). Additionally, according to the multivariate Cox model, the presence of ILA in NSCLC patients was significantly associated with a shorter OS period than those without ILA (751 days vs. 445 days, HR 0.6, p = 0.001). Following analysis, it was determined that OS in patients with usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) was shorter than in those without UIP (HR 1.82, p = 0.037). Conclusion: ILA is a common comorbidity among newly diagnosed NSCLC patients. We found that patients with EGFR wild‐type NSCLC were more likely to develop ILA. The presence of ILA, especially UIP, was significantly associated with poor NSCLC prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The direct ingestion of indoor dust particles at historical heritage sites is a primary exposure pathway for employees to heavy metals. Water-soluble ions (WSIs) and heavy metal levels, sources, bioaccessibility, and health risks associated with indoor dust in the Mogao Grottoes were analyzed using comprehensive methods to determine the differences in the concentrations and distribution characteristics of WSIs and heavy metals between statue dust and floor dust. The concentrations of WSIs and heavy metals and the magnetic values of χ lf and SIRM in indoor dust were higher than those in street dust and topsoil. The mean χ lf and SIRM of statue dust particles were 100.3 × 10 − 8 m 3 k g − 1 and 1686.9 × 1 0 − 5 Am 2 k g − 1 . Specifically, the concentration of Pb was 277 mg k g − 1 , 15-fold higher than the background value, indicating the continual receipt of heavy metals with high magnetic minerals during dust deposition. WSIs mainly originate from the weathering of surrounding rocks and earthen plaster; Pb originates from the shedding of paint of murals and sculptures; and Zn, Cu, and magnetic minerals originate from traffic sources. The bioaccessibility of heavy metals is high in the gastrointestinal phases of indoor dust. Overall, the health risks posed by heavy metals in indoor dust were low, with moderate to high risks in individual caves. Ingestion presents the highest noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risk to employees. These results provide essential knowledge on indoor dust characteristics in the Mogao Grottoes, facilitating strategies for dust pollution mitigation and employee health risk control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intake of each nutrient was calculated using the Chinese Food Composition Tables, by first multiplying the quantity (grams) of each food and beverage item consumed by their nutrient content per gram, and then adding the nutrient contributions from all food items. We also collected data on the intake of 110 food items by using a validated FFQ for most of the participants; this allowed us to explore the associations between intake of food items and nutrients, as well as dietary patterns and health outcomes. Key Features Only few large, prospective cohort studies on interaction between dietary and environmental exposures and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have been conducted in Northeast China. Daily food intake The intake of food and beverage items was calculated by multiplying fitted portion sizes (according to sex, g/time) by the frequency at which each food and beverage item was consumed per day in the FFQ. [Extracted from the article]

Solanum nigrum is a noxious weed in agricultural ecosystem that limits many crops' production. The aim of the present study was to understand the level of genetic diversity and population structure of S. nigrum in China. A specific-locus amplified fragment (SLAF) sequencing method was conducted to detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genomes of S. nigrum from 66 populations in China. A total of 616,533 high-quality SNPs were identified from 189,840 SLAFs, with an average sequencing depth of 10.59× fold and a Q30 value of 93% and a GC content of 42.78%. It showed a considerable amount of genetic diversity and genetic variability of S. nigrum among samples. The genetic differentiation of S. nigrum indicated that there was a low level of genetic differentiation (Fst < 0.1000) among geographical populations. A cluster analysis showed that populations of S. nigrum were divided into two subgroups, with some samples from adjacent position roughly clustered together, which showed some correlation between geographic origins. A population structure analysis suggested the 66 S. nigrum samples could have originated from three different genetic clusters. The Xinjiang site was the only location where all genetic clusters were found, which suggested these populations were genetically diverse. These results showed that there was a high degree of genetic diversity and low difference among the different geographical populations of S. nigrum. The results from the genetic structure of the SNP markers indicated that wide genetic variability exists among the population of S. nigrum in China, which may contribute to the adaptation and infestation of this weed species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orobanche cumana Wallr. is the most serious parasitic weed that threatens sunflower production in China, it infects sunflower roots and causes severe yield and economic losses. This study determined the effects of O. cumana infection on sunflower growth, physiological, biochemical, photosynthesis indexes and used RNA-Seq to investigate the potential regulatory factors involved in the parasitic interaction. Results showed that O. cumana infestation significantly inhibited sunflower height, fresh weight, chlorophyl contents, photosynthetic and the MDA content, SOD and POD activities were increased in different degrees, which might be related to sunflower resistance to O. cumana infestation. Additionally, six parasite-related genes were selected, which markedly enriched in plant hormone signal transduction, photorespiration and phenylpropanoid metabolism pathway. Among these genes, HsP90A, MYC2 and HAO were discovered for the first time in sunflowers and O. cumana parasitic interaction. Undoubtedly, the results lay a foundation for revealing the parasitic interactions molecular mechanism of O. cumana and sunflowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are well known to reduce environmental quality, visibility, atmospheric radiation, and damage the human respiratory system. Satellite-based aerosol retrievals are widely used to estimate surface PM2.5 levels because satellite remote sensing can break through the spatial limitations caused by sparse observation stations. In this work, a spatiotemporal weighted bagged-tree remote sensing (STBT) model that simultaneously considers the effects of aerosol optical depth, meteorological parameters, and topographic factors was proposed to map PM2.5 concentrations across China that occurred in 2018. The proposed model shows superior performance with the determination coefficient (R2) of 0.84, mean-absolute error (MAE) of 8.77 μg/m3 and root-mean-squared error (RMSE) of 15.14 μg/m3 when compared with the traditional multiple linear regression (R2 = 0.38, MAE = 18.15 μg/m3, RMSE = 29.06 μg/m3) and linear mixed-effect (R2 = 0.52, MAE = 15.43 μg/m3, RMSE = 25.41 μg/m3) models by the 10-fold cross-validation method. The results collectively demonstrate the superiority of the STBT model to other models for PM2.5 concentration monitoring. Thus, this method may provide important data support for atmospheric environmental monitoring and epidemiological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The performances of CatBoost, GRNN and RF were assessed to estimate daily ET 0. • CatBoost model provided the most accurate results among the considered models. • GRNN model showed comparable estimates of daily ET 0 to the RF model. • The generalized analysis confirmed the results obtained in the local analysis. Establishing a computational model for accurate prediction of reference crop evapotranspiration (ET 0) is critical for regional water resources planning and irrigation scheduling design. FAO Penman-Monteith equation is recommended as the standard model to predict ET 0. However, its application is restricted by lack of complete meteorological data in many regions. This study evaluated the performance of CatBoost, an algorithm for gradient boosting on decision trees, for estimating daily ET 0 using limited meteorological data in arid and semi-arid regions of Northern China. The CatBoost model was further compared with their corresponding generalized regression neural network (GRNN) and random forests (RF) models. Eight input combinations of daily meteorological data including daily maximum air temperature (T max), daily minimum air temperature (T min), wind speed at 2 m height (u 2), relative humidity (RH) and net radiation (R n) from 15 weather stations during 1996–2015 were used to train and test the models. Four statistical indicators were used to evaluate the accuracy and performance of the models, including coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean bias error (MBE). The results showed that all the three models using T max , T min , u 2 and R n could obtain satisfactory ET 0 estimates in arid and semi-arid regions of Northern China with incomplete sets of data. For the local models, CatBoost (on average RMSE ranging 0.096–0.821 mm d−1) was superior to GRNN (on average RMSE ranging 0.206–0.847 mm d−1) and RF (on average RMSE ranging 0.169–0.866 mm d−1) under the same meteorological parameters as input. The results of the generalized models were similar to the local models, but the former ones performed worse than the latter ones. Overall, CatBoost is observed to be the best alternative for estimating ET 0 , which is helpful for irrigation scheduling in arid and semi-arid regions of Northern China and maybe elsewhere with similar climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: After the eradication of smallpox in China in 1979, vaccination with the vaccinia virus (VACV) Tiantan strain for the general population was stopped in 1980. As the monkeypox virus (MPXV) is rapidly spreading in the world, we would like to investigate whether the individuals with historic VACV Tiantan strain vaccination, even after more than 40 years, could still provide ELISA reactivity and neutralizing protection; and whether the unvaccinated individuals have no antibody reactivity against MPXV at all., Results: We established serologic ELISA to measure the serum anti-MPXV titer by using immunodominant MPXV surface proteins, A35R, B6R, A29L, and M1R. A small proportion of individuals (born before 1980) with historic VACV Tiantan strain vaccination exhibited serum ELISA cross-reactivity against these MPXV surface proteins. Consistently, these donors also showed ELISA seropositivity and serum neutralization against VACV Tiantan strain. However, surprisingly, some unvaccinated young adults (born after 1980) also showed potent serum ELISA activity against MPXV proteins, possibly due to their past infection by some self-limiting Orthopoxvirus (OPXV)., Conclusions: We report the serum ELISA cross-reactivity against MPXV surface protein in a small proportion of individuals both with and without VACV Tiantan strain vaccination history. Combined with our serum neutralization assay against VACV and the recent literature about mice vaccinated with VACV Tiantan strain, our study confirmed the anti-MPXV cross-reactivity and cross-neutralization of smallpox vaccine using VACV Tiantan strain. Therefore, it is necessary to restart the smallpox vaccination program in high risk populations., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Background: At present, there is no epidemiological evidence of the association between metabolic kidney diseases (MKD) and exposure to air pollution., Methods: We investigated the association between exposure to long-term air pollution and the risk of developing MKD using samples from the Northeast China Biobank., Results: Data from 29 191 participants were analyzed. MKD prevalence was 3.23%. Every standard deviation increment in PM2.5 increased the risk of MKD [odds ratio (OR) = 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19-1.58), diabetic kidney disease (DKD) (OR = 2.03, 95% CI 1.52-2.73), hypertensive kidney disease (BKD) (OR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.11-1.56), hyperlipidemic kidney disease (PKD) (OR = 1.39, 95% CI 1.19-1.63) and obese kidney disease (OKD) (OR = 1.34, 95% CI 1.00-1.81). PM10 increased the risk of MKD (OR = 1.42, 95% CI 1.20-1.67), DKD (OR = 1.38, 95% CI 1.03-1.85), BKD (OR = 1.30, 95% CI 1.07-1.58) and PKD (OR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.26-1.80). Sulfur dioxide increased the risk of MKD (OR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.34-1.85), DKD (OR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.36-2.40), BKD (OR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.19-1.74) and PKD (OR = 1.72, 95% CI 1.44-2.04). Ozone decreased the risk of PKD (OR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.70-0.99). Age, ethnicity and air pollution interacted to affect the risk of MKD, BKD and PKD. Associations between air pollution and CKD or metabolic disease were weaker than those with MKD. The association between air pollution and MKD became stronger when compared with participants with non-metabolic disease., Conclusions: Air pollution may cause MKD or facilitate the progression from metabolic disease to renal failure., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the ERA.)

Purpose: To explore the prevalence of major anxiety and its associated risk factors in residents in China., Method: This multicenter, cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2019 to February 2020; 1,343 residents from 8 hospitals in Northeast China were included in the final analysis (effective response rate of 86.48%). Demographic characteristics, dietary habits, life-related factors, work-related factors, and psychological characteristics were collected from participants via a self-reported questionnaire. This questionnaire measured sleep quality, physical activity, anxiety, perceived organizational support, psychological capital, and burnout. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals were determined using binary logistic regression. Cutoff values and the area under the curve were calculated for risk factors using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis., Results: Of participants, 441 (32.80%) reported anxiety symptoms and 133 (9.90%) reported major anxiety symptoms. Four independent risk factors for major anxiety were identified: poor sleep quality (OR = 1.282, P < .001) and 3 dimensions of burnout: higher emotional exhaustion (OR = 1.085, P < .001), higher depersonalization (OR = 1.064, P = .002), and reduced personal accomplishment (OR = 0.951, P < .001). The optimal cutoff values for these risk factors were 7, 10, 9, and 22 scores, respectively., Conclusions: This study found a considerable prevalence of major anxiety symptoms in residents in China and identified poor sleep quality and higher levels of burnout as having a close association with major anxiety. These findings enrich the existing literature on anxiety and demonstrate a critical need for additional studies that investigate intervention strategies to improve sleep quality and combat burnout, which could improve the mental health of residents., (Copyright © 2021 by the Association of American Medical Colleges.)

This study improves traditional PM 2.5 estimation models by combining an hourly aerosol optical depth from the Advanced Himawari Imager onboard Himawari-8 with a newly introduced predictor to estimate hourly PM 2.5 concentrations in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region from November 1, 2018 to October 31, 2019. The new predictor is an hourly PM 2.5 forecasting product from the Model of Aerosol Species IN the Global AtmospheRe (MASINGAR). Comparative experiments were conducted by utilizing three extensively used regression models, namely, multiple linear regression (MLR), geographically weighted regression (GWR), and linear mixed effects (LME). A ten-fold cross validation (CV) demonstrated that the MASINGAR product significantly improved the performances of these models. The introduced product increased the model's determination coefficients (from 0.316 to 0.379 for MLR, from 0.393 to 0.445 for GWR, and from 0.718 to 0.765 for LME), decreased their root mean square errors (from 38.2 μg/m 3 to 36.4 μg/m 3 for MLR, from 36.0 μg/m 3 to 34.4 μg/m 3 for GWR, and from 24.5 μg/m 3 to 22.4 μg/m 3 for LME) and mean absolute errors (from 25.2 μg/m 3 to 23.3 μg/m 3 for MLR, from 23.5 μg/m 3 to 21.8 μg/m 3 for GWR, and from 15.2 μg/m 3 to 13.7 μg/m 3 for LME). Then, a well-trained LME model was utilized to estimate the spatial distributions of hourly PM 2.5 concentrations. Highly polluted localities were clustered in the central and southern areas of the BTH region, and the least polluted area was in northwestern Hebei. Seasonal PM 2.5 levels averaged from the hourly estimations exhibited the highest concentrations (55.4 ± 56.8 μg/m 3 ) in the winter and lowest concentrations (25.1 ± 18.2 μg/m 3 ) in the summer. MAIN FINDING: Introducing the PM 2.5 products from MASINGAR can significantly improve the performance of traditional models for surface PM 2.5 estimations by 7-20%., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Eating behaviors play an important role in individuals' development, and restrained eaters have a higher risk of obesity in the future. In the present study, we used the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire to measure restrained eating, uncontrolled eating, and emotional eating in 158 young, normal-weight, Chinese women. We developed a multiple linear regression model to identify significant structural brain changes associated with the above-mentioned eating behaviors. Uncontrolled eating scores were positively associated with the gray matter volume (GMV) of the cerebellum, and negatively associated with the GMV on the left side of the anterior cingulate cortex, middle cingulate cortex, and supplementary motor areas, indicating that uncontrolled eating behaviors not only are less inhibitory but also appear to be associated with the low-level processing of appetite. Increased GMV on the right side of the precuneus was associated with a higher level of restrained eating, which might be thus related to a lower sensitivity to behavioral inhibition in young females who follow a diet. In addition, we did not find a relationship between emotional eating behavior and GMV. Our findings show that eating-behavior-related structural brain changes may lead to a decrease in inhibition and an increase in food sensitivity., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Fibulin-3 has been reported as a potential biomarker for mesothelioma. However, little is known about the diagnostic efficacies of fibulin-3 for asbestos-related diseases (ARDs) in China. This study was to investigate the utility of fibulin-3 for asbestos exposure and ARDs. A total of 430 subjects were recruited from Southeast China, including healthy individuals, asbestos-exposed (AE) individuals, and patients with pleural plaques (PP), asbestosis, and malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Plasma fibulin-3 was measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Linear regression analyses were applied to explore the influencing factors of fibulin-3. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the cutoff values. The median fibulin-3 level of subjects in the mesothelioma group was higher than that in other groups. Subjects in the asbestosis group had higher median fibulin-3 level than those in the control group. A higher fibulin-3 level was found in the group with ≥10 years of asbestos exposure as compared with control groups. The AUCs of fibulin-3 for distinguishing MPM subjects from control, AE, PP, and asbestosis subjects were 0.92, 0.88, 0.90, and 0.81, respectively. Our study provided evidence that fibulin-3 could be a potential biomarker for the early screening of MPM, but not of other nonmalignant ARDs in Chinese populations.

Objectives: This study investigated the mesothelin (MSLN) methylation and its relationship with soluble mesothelin-related protein (SMRP) levels in participants stratified by asbestos exposure scenarios and benign asbestos-related diseases (ARDs)., Methods: The presence of benign ARDs was confirmed through chest X-ray and the asbestos exposure history was obtained using a standardized questionnaire in this study, including 262 participants. Sera SMRP were measured using MESOMARK, and MSLN methylation in genomic DNA extracted from whole blood was detected by real-time methylation-specific PCR. Covariates were compared with SMRP concentrations using correlation analysis and the potential covariates affecting SMRP were determined by multiple linear regression analysis, and the distribution of methylation status was analyzed by Chi-square test., Results: There was a trend toward elevation of SMRP values in healthy individuals exposed to asbestos as compared with those without asbestos exposure. The highest median level of SMRP was 1.3 nM in subjects with asbestosis, followed by cases with pleura plaque and asbestosis (1.2 nM), pleura plaque (0.9 nM), healthy subjects with occupational exposure (0.9 nM), non-occupational exposure (0.8 nM), and mixed exposure (0.8 nM). Within asbestosis cases, those with higher profusion scores had higher SMRP values than those with lower profusion scores (1.6 vs. 0.8 nM). Based on multi-regression analysis, the trend toward elevation of SMRP remained significant in subjects with occupational exposure or in those with asbestosis, as compared with healthy subjects without exposure (p < 0.01), although body mass index had an effect on SMRP (p < 0.0001). Regardless of the differences in SMRP levels among these subgroups, MSLN methylation ranged from 80.5 to 92.5 %, with no significant difference. The elevated level of SMRP in asbestosis with higher profusion scores could not be attributed to low MSLN methylation status., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the elevation of SMRP is related to asbestos exposure and benign ARDs especially for cases with high profusion scores, which is independent of MSLN methylation.