Human Resources

Nonprofit organizations must have a sound understanding of human resources management in order to effectively accomplish their mission. This training manual provides users of all experience levels with the fundamentals they need to build a successful human resources strategy for operating a nonprofit support organization for AIDS advocacy, prevention and treatment

DataSheet1_Does Social Pension Expansion Relieve Depression and Decrease Medical Costs? Evidence From the Rural Elderly in China.docx

Objectives: This study was designed to explore the effect of the New Rural Pension Scheme on depressive symptoms or medical costs induced by depression.Methods: We used the Logit, OLS and 2SLS models to explore the impact of the pension on depression and medical costs. We also adopt the method of quantile regression and discontinuity regression to verify the causal relationship between the New Rural Pension Scheme and depression or medical costs induced by depression of the rural elderly.Results: We have found that the New Rural Pension Scheme decreases depressive symptoms of elderly in rural China (OR = 0.90), and the medical costs induced by depressive symptoms by 4.6%. Regression discontinuity results showed that pension significantly reduced the depressive symptoms (depression) and the medical expenditure caused by depressive symptoms (depression) by using parametric and non-parametric methods, and performing a placebo test. The mediating effect results showed that pension may improve mental health by increasing confidence about the future.Conclusion: We demonstrate that the pension significantly decreased both mental health problems and the medical expenses due to depressive symptoms and depression of elderly in rural China. Therefore, our results suggest that the Chinese government should perfect the New Rural Pension Scheme to eliminate barriers to mental health resources, especially for the rural elderly.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Nomograms Predict Survival Advantages of Gleason Score 3+4 Over 4+3 for Prostate Cancer: A SEER-Based Study.PDF

Background: Different proportions of Gleason pattern 3 and Gleason pattern 4 lead to various prognosis of prostate cancer with Gleason score 7. The objective of this study was to compare the survival outcomes of Gleason score 3+4 and 4+3 based on data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registry database, and to investigate independent prognosis-associated factors and develop nomograms for predicting survival in Gleason score 7 prostate cancer patients.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 69,116 cases diagnosed as prostate adenocarcinoma with Gleason score 7 between 2004 and 2009. Prognosis-associated factors were evaluated using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis, and a 1:1 ratio paired cohort by propensity score matching with the statistical software IBM SPSS, to evaluate prognostic differences between Gleason score 3+4 and 4+3. The primary cohort was randomly divided into training set (n = 48,384) and validation set (n = 20,732). Based on the independent factors of prognosis, nomograms for prognosis were established by the training group and validated by the validation group using R version 3.5.0.Results: After propensity score matching, Cox regression analysis showed that Gleason 4+3 had an increased mortality risk both for overall survival (HR: 1.235, 95% CI: 1.179–1.294, P Conclusions: Prostate cancer with Gleason score 4+3 had worse overall survival and cancer-specific survival than Gleason score 3+4. Nomograms were formulated to predict 5-year and 10-year OS and CSS in patients with prostate cancer of Gleason score 7.</p

How Shockwaves Open Tight Junctions of Blood–Brain Barrier: Comparison of Three Biomechanical Effects

Revealing how blast shockwaves open the tight junction of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is very important for understanding blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) and shockwave-assisted drug delivery; however, the underlying mechanism remains unresolved. Here, we used multiscale molecular dynamics simulations to reveal the disruption mechanism of claudin-5 protein in a relatively complex BBB model by comparing three typical effects from blast loads. The results showed that the opening of claudin-5 did not result from the direct compressive loading of the single shockwave but from indirect cavitation and stretching effects induced by shockwaves. Importantly, stretch-mediated mechanical opening from the asymmetric distribution of overpressure in temporal and spatial dimensions is a novel damage mode. In detail, the nanojet from the cavitation pushed away two adjacent endothelial cell membranes and the embedded claudin-5 was rapidly stretched. Even α-helix showed a drastic conformational breakdown and its content was only 15.9%. Structural changes of this magnitude are difficult to repair in a short time, which may be related to chronic BBB dysfunction and persistent neurological deficits. This is a more common injury, since the tensile response of membranes to blast loads is relatively common. Taken together, we provided a biomechanical underpinning for acute disruption of tight junction proteins in BBB from exposure to blast shockwaves, and this may be helpful as a therapeutic strategy for bTBI

Extreme Membrane Tensile Loads Induce Half-Activation of the Thermosensitive TRPV1 Channel

Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are sensors for a wide range of cellular and environmental signals, but elucidating how these channels convert a wide range of physical and chemical stimuli into channel opening is essential to understanding their normal function. Here, half-activation of thermosensitive TRPV1 channel under extreme membrane stretching from blast loads was provided by molecular dynamics simulations. The results show that such extreme membrane stretch loading will only lead to half-activation of the TRPV1 channel: that is, the upper gate is open for high-speed stretching (>15m/s), but the lower gate is still closed. The corresponding activation threshold also depends on both the tensile speed and the area strain. This means that the direct mechanical gating of TRP channels in one step is unlikely to occur

Presentation_1_Simulation Study of Canal Switching in BPPV.PPTX

The objective of this research was to investigate the mechanism of canal switching in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo through a virtual simulation model. Using Unity 3D software and a built-in NVIDIA Physx physics engine, the virtual simulation software is developed using a browser-server architecture, and different models are imported. Based on the benign paroxysmal positional vertigo virtual simulation model, we constructed five different virtual reality scenes of diagnosis and treatment, set otoliths in different positions of the semicircular canals, and analyzed the effects of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures on otolith location. Through the analysis of otolith movement in five virtual scenes, we found that canal switching may be caused by otoliths in the utricle entering the semicircular canal in the supine position. Then, we used different methods to reposition the otolith, improved the repositioning maneuver, and explored in depth the mechanism of the canal switching. The results showed that the main reason for the canal switch is that in the supine position, the otolith in the utricle enters the semicircular canal. The repositioning maneuvers, including the Epley maneuver and Barbecue maneuver, will not directly lead to the canal switch in the ipsilateral inner ear. The supine roll maneuver leads to the otolith in the utricle entering the posterior or lateral semicircular canal, which is the most likely mechanism for canal switching.</p

Personality traits and village cadre adoption of rural environmental protection measures: a case study from China

Strengthening rural environmental protection measures is a requirement for improving agricultural production conditions, protecting rural living environments and ensuring public health in rural areas. Village cadres (leaders of the village) play a key role as decision makers. To provide insight into the effect of village cadre personality traits (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) on the adoption of rural environmental protection measures, we use data from a questionnaire survey of village cadres in Liaoning Province in China in 2017. According to our results, 88.9% of villages adopt environmental protection measures. Specifically, we find that village cadres with a higher level of agreeableness and neuroticism are more likely to adopt environmental protection measures. Our findings suggest that considering personality traits in the selection criteria for village cadres will be beneficial for the execution of village projects.</p

How Shockwaves Open Tight Junctions of Blood–Brain Barrier: Comparison of Three Biomechanical Effects

Revealing how blast shockwaves open the tight junction of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is very important for understanding blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) and shockwave-assisted drug delivery; however, the underlying mechanism remains unresolved. Here, we used multiscale molecular dynamics simulations to reveal the disruption mechanism of claudin-5 protein in a relatively complex BBB model by comparing three typical effects from blast loads. The results showed that the opening of claudin-5 did not result from the direct compressive loading of the single shockwave but from indirect cavitation and stretching effects induced by shockwaves. Importantly, stretch-mediated mechanical opening from the asymmetric distribution of overpressure in temporal and spatial dimensions is a novel damage mode. In detail, the nanojet from the cavitation pushed away two adjacent endothelial cell membranes and the embedded claudin-5 was rapidly stretched. Even α-helix showed a drastic conformational breakdown and its content was only 15.9%. Structural changes of this magnitude are difficult to repair in a short time, which may be related to chronic BBB dysfunction and persistent neurological deficits. This is a more common injury, since the tensile response of membranes to blast loads is relatively common. Taken together, we provided a biomechanical underpinning for acute disruption of tight junction proteins in BBB from exposure to blast shockwaves, and this may be helpful as a therapeutic strategy for bTBI

Anthropometric and biochemical parameters showing significant correlations with serum A-FABP and NT-proBNP after the 48-week rosiglitazone treatment.

<p><i>β</i>, Standardized regression coefficients.</p>†<p>Pearson correlation analyses were performed.</p><p>*A multiple stepwise regression analysis was performed. Variables included in the original model are age, gender, waist circumference, BMI, TC, TG, LDL-c, and NT-proBNP.</p>#<p>A multiple stepwise regression analysis was performed. Variables included in the original model are age, gender, BMI, SBP, HDL-c, FPG, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, AIR, and A-FABP.</p

How Shockwaves Open Tight Junctions of Blood–Brain Barrier: Comparison of Three Biomechanical Effects

Revealing how blast shockwaves open the tight junction of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is very important for understanding blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) and shockwave-assisted drug delivery; however, the underlying mechanism remains unresolved. Here, we used multiscale molecular dynamics simulations to reveal the disruption mechanism of claudin-5 protein in a relatively complex BBB model by comparing three typical effects from blast loads. The results showed that the opening of claudin-5 did not result from the direct compressive loading of the single shockwave but from indirect cavitation and stretching effects induced by shockwaves. Importantly, stretch-mediated mechanical opening from the asymmetric distribution of overpressure in temporal and spatial dimensions is a novel damage mode. In detail, the nanojet from the cavitation pushed away two adjacent endothelial cell membranes and the embedded claudin-5 was rapidly stretched. Even α-helix showed a drastic conformational breakdown and its content was only 15.9%. Structural changes of this magnitude are difficult to repair in a short time, which may be related to chronic BBB dysfunction and persistent neurological deficits. This is a more common injury, since the tensile response of membranes to blast loads is relatively common. Taken together, we provided a biomechanical underpinning for acute disruption of tight junction proteins in BBB from exposure to blast shockwaves, and this may be helpful as a therapeutic strategy for bTBI