Are Women Willing to Delay Their Retirement? A Research on 270 Female Teachers in Inner Mongolia of China

Women’ retirement age is earlier than men in China, which has a negative effect on the problem-solving of aging society and the protection of women’s rights and interests. Therefore, prolonging the retirement age for women has become an important policy choice to alleviate the above problems. But are women themselves willing to delay their retirement? What factors effect women’s intention to delay their retirement? Those should be an important basis for the decision-making of a new retirement policy. This paper explores female delayed retirement intention by selecting the group of female teachers which is an important category of professional women in China. Taking 270 female teachers in Inner Mongolia of China as samples, this paper analyzes the effect of personal, occupational, and policy factors on female teachers’ delayed retirement intention. The results show that the health, children, monthly income, cumulative length of working, professional title and work units have a statistically significant impact on female teachers’ delayed retirement intention. Accordingly, this article puts forward policy implications on gender equity including eliminating the gender difference of retirement age, making flexible retirement policy and protecting women’s occupational interests

Extramedullary versus intramedullary tibial alignment technique in total knee arthroplasty: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

The aim of this study was to establish whether the use of an extramedullary or intramedullary tibial cutting guide leads to superior mechanical leg axis and implant positioning. A meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials including 350 knees was performed. For the mechanical axis, frontal tibial component angle and tibial slope, there were no significant differences in the mean values or the number of outliers (±3°) between the extramedullary and intramedullary groups. A reduced tourniquet time was associated with the intramedullary guide. No significant difference in the complication rate was noted between the two groups. Neither extramedullary nor intramedullary tibial alignment was more accurate in facilitating the tibial cut. Use of an intramedullary guide results in a shorter tourniquet time and exhibits a similar complication rate as the extramedullary guide

Quantitative measurement of mechanical properties in wound healing processes in a corneal stroma model by using vibrational optical coherence elastography (OCE)

Corneal wound healing, caused by frequent traumatic injury to the cornea and increasing numbers of refractive surgeries, has become a vital clinical problem. In the cornea, wound healing is an extremely complicated process. However, little is known about how the biomechanical changes in wound healing response of the cornea. Collagen-based hydrogels incorporating corneal cells are suitable for replicating a three-dimensional (3D) equivalent of the cornea in-vitro. In this study, the mechanical properties of corneal stroma models were quantitatively monitored by a vibrational optical coherence elastography (OCE) system during continuous culture periods. Specifically, human corneal keratocytes were seeded at 5 × 105 cells/mL in the hydrogels with a collagen concentration of 3.0 mg/mL. The elastic modulus of the unwounded constructs increased from 2.950 ± 0.2 kPa to 11.0 ± 1.4 kPa, and the maximum thickness decreased from 1.034 ± 0.1 mm to 0.464 ± 0.09 mm during a 15-day culture period. Furthermore, a traumatic wound in the construct was introduced with a size of 500 µm. The elastic modulus of the neo-tissue in the wound area increased from 1.488 ± 0.4 kPa to 6.639 ± 0.3 kPa over 13 days. This study demonstrates that the vibrational OCE system is capable of quantitative monitoring the changes in mechanical properties of a corneal stroma wound model during continuous culture periods and improves our understanding on corneal wound healing processes

Coverage of harm reduction services and HIV infection: A multilevel analysis of five Chinese cities

__Background:__ Since 2003, a harm reduction program for injecting drug users has been rolled out countrywide in China. It entails services for condom promotion, a needle and syringe program (NSP), and methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). However, it remains unknown if and to what extent the coverage of these services at city level is related to a reduced risk of HIV infection among drug users. __Methods:__ We wished to quantify the extent to which city-level characteristics (such as NSP and MMT service coverage) and individual-level determinants (e.g., self-reported exposure to NSP and MMT services, knowledge, motivation, and skills) were associated with the risk of HIV infection among drug users. In 2006, we conducted an integrated serological and behavioral survey among drug users in five cities of Yunnan Province, China (N = 685), constructing a multilevel logistic regression model with drug users clustered within these cities. __Results:__ Drug users who reported having received NSP or MMT services were about 50% less likely to be infected with HIV than those who reported not having received them (OR 0.45, 95% CI, 0.26-0.83 for NSP and 0.48, 95% CI, 0.31-0.73 for MMT). Despite a between-city variation of HIV infection risk (ICC 0.24, 95% CI 0.08-0.54), none of the city-level factors could explain this difference. Individual-level determinants such as perceived risk of infection and use of condoms were not associated with HIV infection. __Conclusions:__ Although people who had used NSP or MMT services were less likely to be HIV infected, this study found no relationship between city-level coverage of HIV prevention programs and variations in HIV infection between cities. This may have been due to the low number of cities in the analysis. Future research should include the analysis of data from a larger number of cities, which are collected widely in China through integrated behavioral and serological surveys

Biomechanics and bioengineering of orthopedic and cardiovascular rehabilitation

Musculoskeletal problem, such as traumatic injury, osteoporosis, and osteoarthritis, is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide and is therefore a crucial branch of public health. Biomechanics has been proven to play a critical role in musculoskeletal pathology, treatment, and rehabilitation. Rehabilitation describes specialized healthcare dedicated to improving, maintaining, or restoring physiological strength, cognition, and mobility with maximized results. It helps an individual achieve the highest level of function or greatest independence and quality of life possible after illness, injury, or surgery using physical training, instruments, devices, or other methods. Advances in rehabilitation, including the theory, paradigm, protocol, modality, invention, and engineering, can improve the development of modern medicine and also the quality of life especially for the disabled and elderly people. The main focus of this special issue is on innovative theory and application of biomechanics to understand musculoskeletal pathology and to improve the techniques for the treatment and rehabilitation

Heating of multi‐species upflowing ion beams observed by Cluster on March 28, 2001

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149495/1/epp320083.pd

Replication of a Gene-Diet Interaction at CD36, NOS3 and PPARG in Response to Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplements on Blood Lipids: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Modulation of genetic variants on the effect of omega-3 fatty acid supplements on blood lipids is still unclear. METHODS: In a double-blind randomized controlled trial, 150 patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) were randomized into omega-3 fatty acid group (n = 56 for fish oil and 44 for flaxseed oil) and control group (n = 50) for 180 days. All patients were genotyped for genetic variants at CD36 (rs1527483), NOS3 (rs1799983) and PPARG (rs1801282). Linear regression was used to examine the interaction between omega-3 fatty acid intervention and CD36, NOS3 or PPARG variants for blood lipids. FINDINGS: Significant interaction with omega-3 fatty acid supplements was observed for CD36 on triglycerides (p-interaction = 0.042) and PPAGR on low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (p-interaction = 0.02). We also found a significant interaction between change in erythrocyte phospholipid omega-3 fatty acid composition and NOS3 genotype on triglycerides (p-interaction = 0.042), total cholesterol (p-interaction = 0.013) and ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p-interaction = 0.015). The T2D patients of CD36-G allele, PPARG-G allele and NOS3-A allele tended to respond better to omega-3 fatty acids in improving lipid profiles. The interaction results of the omega-3 fatty acid group were mainly attributed to the fish oil supplements. INTERPRETATION: This study suggests that T2D patients with different genotypes at CD36, NOS3 and PPARG respond differentially to intervention of omega-3 supplements in blood lipid profiles