The impact of using community home-based elderly care services on older adults’ self-reported health: fresh evidence from China

BackgroundThe rapid population aging in China, characterized by a higher prevalence of illnesses, earlier onset of diseases, and longer durations of living with ailments, substantially engenders challenges within the domain of older adults’ healthcare. Community home-based elderly care services (CHECS) are a feasible solution to solve the problem of older adults’ care and protect older adults’ health. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship, heterogeneity effects and influential mechanisms between older adults’ use of CHECS and their self- reported health.MethodsThe study employs the Instrumental Variable technique and empirically investigates the relationship, heterogeneity effects and influential mechanisms between older adults using CHECS and their self-reported health using data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey from 2018.ResultsThe findings indicate, firstly, that using CHECS considerably improves older adults’ self-reported health. Secondly, the heterogeneity test reveals that the effect is more pronounced for older adults who are under the age of 80, have functional disabilities, are free of chronic diseases, have never attended school, reside in lower-income households, are single, rarely interact with their children, and live in central urban or city/county regions. Thirdly, the mechanism test reveals that the “social network effect” and “family care effect” are the key influence channels of using CHECS.ConclusionAn empirical foundation for the policy reform of community home-based care for seniors is provided by this study with the limitations to discuss the other socioeconomic aspects such as government health expenditure and discuss the specific services aspects such as health care. The findings carry substantial implications for improving the health of older individuals and provide suggestions for establishing a socialized aged care system in China

Identification of HSP90 gene from the Chinese oak silkworm, Antheraea pernyi

The heat shock proteins (Hsp) play an important role in protein folding and protection of cells from stress. To investigate the role of Hsp90 in silk-producing insect Antheraea pernyi (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), a full-length cDNA encoding Hsp90 from A. pernyi was cloned, sequenced and characterized. The complete cDNA (2,482 bp) contained a 2,154 bp open reading frame encoding 717 amino acid residues and had 94.5% identity with Antheraea yamamai Hsp90. The relative expression levels of Hsp90 in five different tissues at normal and high temperatures were evaluated with real-time fluorescence quantitative RT-PCR. The expression of Hsp90 was obviously changed in the examined tissues except for fat bodies after induced by high temperature. SDS-PAGE of purified protein demonstrated that an 86 KD recombinant protein was successfully expressed in transformed Escherichia coli cells. These results shed light on studying the mechanism of tolerance in A. pernyi.Key words: Antheraea pernyi, HSP90, sequence analysis, expression

An adaptive evolutionary algorithm for bi-level multi-objective VRPs with real-time traffic conditions

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.The research of vehicle routing problem (VRP) is significant for people traveling and logistics distribution. Recently, in order to alleviate global warming, the VRP based on electric vehicles has attracted much attention from researchers. In this paper, a bi-level routing problem model based on electric vehicles is presented, which can simulate the actual logistics distribution process. The classic backpropagation neural network is used to predict the road conditions for applying the method in real life. We also propose a local search algorithm based on a dynamic constrained multi-objective optimization framework. In this algorithm, 26 local search operators are designed and selected adaptively to optimize initial solutions. We also make a comparison between our algorithm and 3 modified algorithms. Experimental results indicate that our algorithm can attain an excellent solution that can satisfy the constraints of the VRP with real-time traffic conditions and be more competitive than the other 3 modified algorithms

Arylsulfatase B Mediates the Sulfonation-Transport Interplay in Human Embryonic Kidney 293 Cells Overexpressing Sulfotransferase 1A3

ABSTRACT Elucidating the intricate relationships between metabolic and transport pathways contributes to improved predictions of in vivo drug disposition and drug-drug interactions. Here we reported that inhibited excretion of conjugative metabolites [i.e., hesperetin 39-O-sulfate (H39S) and hesperetin 7-O-sulfate (H7S)] by MK-571 led to reduced metabolism of hesperetin (a maximal 78% reduction) in human embryonic kidney 293 cells overexpressing sulfotransferase 1A3 (named SULT293 cells). The strong dependence of cellular sulfonation on the efflux transport of generated sulfated metabolites revealed an interplay of sulfonation metabolism with efflux transport (or sulfonation-transport interplay). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blot analyses demonstrated that SULT293 cells expressed multiple sulfatases such as arylsulfatase A (ARSA), ARSB, and ARSC. Of these three desulfonation enzymes, only ARSB showed significant activities toward hesperetin sulfates. The intrinsic clearance values for the hydrolysis of H39S and H7S were estimated at 0.6 and 0.5 ml/h/mg, respectively. Furthermore, knockdown of ARSB attenuated the regulatory effect of efflux transporter on cellular sulfonation, whereas overexpression of ABSB enhanced the transporter effect. Taken together, the results indicated that ARSB mediated the sulfonation-transport interplay in SULT293 cells

Soil Moisture Retrieval Using BuFeng-1 A/B Based on Land Surface Clustering Algorithm

A new land surface clustering algorithm is developed to retrieve soil moisture (SM) using the Global Navigation Satellite System reflectometry (GNSS-R) technique. Data from the BuFeng-1 (BF-1) twin satellites A/B, a pilot mission for the Chinese GNSS-R constellation, is used for SM retrieval. The core concept of the algorithm is to cluster global land areas into different types according to the land properties and calculate the SM type by type, based on the linear relationship between equivalent specular reflectivity and SM. The global comparison between the results and SM product from the Soil Moisture Active Passive mission shows the correlation coefficient (R) is 0.82, and unbiased root mean square error (ubRMSE) is 0.070 cm3·cm-3. The results also show good agreement compared with in situ SM measurements with the mean ubRMSE of 0.036 cm3·cm-3. This study proves that the global SM can be retrieved successfully from the BF-1 mission with the land surface clustering algorithm. By taking full advantage of the similarity of land surface physical properties in different regions, the algorithm provides a practical approach for global SM retrieval using spaceborne GNSS-R data.10.13039/501100001809-National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 41971377). China Spacesat Company, Ltd. ESA-MOST China Dragon5 Programme (Grant Number: ID.58070) 10.13039/501100003392-Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (Grant Number: 2019J01853

Recent Activities on Cal/Val of the First Chinese GNSS-R Mission Bufeng-1 A/B

Ponencia expuesta online en el 2021 Dragon Symposium celebrado el 22 de julio de 2021Respect to the objectives and schedule of our project, the first-year report will include on-going activities and results of Bufeng-1 data processing, calibration workflow, and validation of the calibrated results on hurricane winds, soil moisture, and sea level measurements. The presentation has three parts. Firstly, a short introduction will be given about Bufeng-1 twin satellites that carry the Chinese first generation spaceborne GNSS-R instruments started using reflected GNSS signals to perform earth observation. Secondly, by utilizing the Bufeng-1 Normalized Bistatic Radar Cross Section (NBRCS), earth reflectivity, and range measurements, the preliminary results show that BuFeng-1 has a high agreement compared with other observations on severe sea surface winds, soil moisture, and sea level. In this presentation, the measurements of Bufeng-1 will be aligned with SFMR collected hurricanes, SMAP derived soil moisture, and DTU10 sea level models. Then, the validations of the accuracy and correlation coefficients will be analyzed to discuss the limitations and issues for the future research. For the last part, we will give the outlook about our future works of the objectives and the future plan of Bufeng missions

Conjugate nonlinear-optical loop mirror (Conj-NOLM)-based phase-preserving multilevel amplitude regenerator

We propose a novel phase-preserving multilevel amplitude regenerator scheme by cascading two nonlinear-optical loop mirrors (NOLMs) with an intermediate optical phase conjugator (OPC) stage. Joint parameter optimization of the two NOLM units has been carried out to cancel the introduced phase distortion and enable a more power-efficient performance. Moreover, our scheme combines the operation of the NOLM and the OPC in a single subsystem, enabling the compensation of both amplitude and phase distortions when located symmetrically in a transmission link. To this end, extensive numerical simulations have been performed to evaluate the regeneration performance in a transmission link dominated by amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise and Kerr-induced nonlinear distortions (self-phase modulation-induced phase distortion), achieving over 100% reach extension compared to the cases of un-regenerative, or a mid-span OPC-based transmission links

Biodegradable double-network GelMA-ACNM hydrogel microneedles for transdermal drug delivery

As a minimally invasive drug delivery platform, microneedles (MNs) overcome many drawbacks of the conventional transdermal drug delivery systems, therefore are favorable in biomedical applications. Microneedles with a combined burst and sustained release profile and maintained therapeutic molecular bioactivity could further broaden its applications as therapeutics. Here, we developed a double-network microneedles (DN MNs) based on gelatin methacrylate and acellular neural matrix (GelMA-ACNM). ACNM could function as an early drug release matrix, whereas the addition of GelMA facilitates sustained drug release. In particular, the double-network microneedles comprising GelMA-ACNM hydrogel has distinctive biological features in maintaining drug activity to meet the needs of application in treating different diseases. In this study, we prepared the double-network microneedles and evaluated its morphology, mechanical properties, drug release properties and biocompatibility, which shows great potential for delivery of therapeutic molecules that needs different release profiles in transdermal treatment

EDN1 Lys198Asn is Associated with Diabetic Retinopathy in Type 2 Diabetes

Purpose: We tested the hypothesis that genetic variants in vasoactive and angiogenic factors regulating the retina vasculature contribute to the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods: A case-control study was performed to study the genetic association between DR and polymorphic variants of EDN1 (Lys198Asn), LTA (IVS1–80C>A, IVS1–206G>C, IVS1–252>G), eNOS (Glu298Asp), and ITGA2 (BgI II) in a Chinese population with type 2 diabetes mellitus. A well defined population with type 2 diabetes, consisting of 127 controls and 216 DR patients, was recruited. Results: A higher frequency of the Asn/Asn genotype of EDN1 was found in individuals with at least 10 years of diabetes and no retinopathy (controls) compared with DR patients with any duration of diabetes (DR: 2.3%; control: 11.0%; p=0.0002). The Asn allele was also more frequent in controls than DR patients (DR: 16.4%; control: 29.5%; p=0.007). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the Asn/Asn genotype was the factor most significantly associated with reduced risk of DR (odds ratio=0.19; 95% CI: 0.07-0.53; p=0.002) and with late onset of diabetes (Asn/Asn: 59 years; Lys/Lys + Lys/Asn: 53 years; p=0.02). Moreover, the Lys/Lys genotype was more common among patients with nonproliferative (75.7%) than proliferative DR (56.9%; p=0.008). The distributions of Lys198Asn alleles in hypertension did not differ from normotensive subjects. No associations between DR and polymorphisms of LTA, eNOS, or ITGA2 were detected, and there were no detectable gene-gene or gene-environmental interactions among the polymorphisms.Conclusions The Asn/Asn genotype of EDN1 was associated with a reduced risk of DR and with delayed onset of type 2 diabetes