Is there a correlation between sensory impairments and social isolation in middle-aged and older Chinese population? Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence from a nationally representative survey

PurposeThe aim of this study is to investigate the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between sensory impairments (SIs) including single vision impairment (SVI), single hearing impairment (SHI), and dual sensory impairments (DSI) with social isolation in the middle-aged and older Chinese population.MethodsData were obtained from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS). In total, 11,674 Chinese older adults aged over 45 were included at baseline 2011, and 6,859 participants who accomplished all four interviews from 2011 to 2018 were adapted for longitudinal analyses. Sensory status and social isolation measurements including social disconnectedness and self-perceived loneliness were collected. Assessment of social disconnectedness included the number of types of social activities in which they participated and the frequency of such participation. Loneliness referred to the subjective perception of loneliness. Other covariates included socio-demographic characteristics, medical conditions, and lifestyle-related factors. The impacts of baseline sensory status on social disconnectedness and loneliness were assessed using univariate and multivariate generalized linear models. A generalized linear model with generalized estimation equations (GEE) was used to assess the association between time-varying sensory statuses with social disconnectedness or loneliness over 8 years after being adjusted with multi-confounding factors.ResultsParticipants with SIs had significantly higher levels of social disconnectedness and self-perceived loneliness, compared to those who were free of SI. All kinds of SIs were significantly associated with loneliness according to both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. The correlations between DSI and social disconnectedness or loneliness at baseline and over 8 years were also noticed. SHI was found to be significantly associated with both frequency and types of social activities according to cross-sectional data and with the frequency of social activity participation in longitudinal analysis. SVI was only associated with the types of social activities at baseline (all p-values < 0.05).ConclusionSensory impairments, especially dual sensory impairments, have explicitly detrimental effects on social isolation among the older Chinese population. Over time, single hearing impairment specifically jeopardizes their frequency rather than types of social activities participation

MethylPurify: tumor purity deconvolution and differential methylation detection from single tumor DNA methylomes

We propose a statistical algorithm MethylPurify that uses regions with bisulfite reads showing discordant methylation levels to infer tumor purity from tumor samples alone. MethylPurify can identify differentially methylated regions (DMRs) from individual tumor methylome samples, without genomic variation information or prior knowledge from other datasets. In simulations with mixed bisulfite reads from cancer and normal cell lines, MethylPurify correctly inferred tumor purity and identified over 96% of the DMRs. From patient data, MethylPurify gave satisfactory DMR calls from tumor methylome samples alone, and revealed potential missed DMRs by tumor to normal comparison due to tumor heterogeneity. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-014-0419-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Zero-Configuration, Robust Indoor Localization: Theory and Experimentation

With the technical advances in ubiquitous computing and wireless networking, there has been an increasing need to capture the context information (such as the location) and to figure it into applications. In this paper, we establish the theoretical base and develop a localization algorithm for building a zero-configuration and robust indoor localization and tracking system to support location-based network services and management. The localization algorithm takes as input the on-line measurements of received signal strengths (RSSs) between 802.11 APs and between a client and its neighboring APs, and estimates the location of the client. The on-line RSS measurements among 802.11 APs are used to capture (in real-time) the effects of RF multi-path fading, temperature and humidity variations, opening and closing of doors, furniture relocation, and human mobility on the RSS measurements, and to create, based on the truncated singular value decomposition (SVD) technique, a mapping between the RSS measure and the actual geographical distance. The proposed system requires zero-configuration because the on-line calibration of the effect of wireless physical characteristics on RSS measurement is automated and no on-site survey or initial training is required to bootstrap the system. It is also quite responsive to environmental dynamics, as the impacts of physical characteristics changes have been explicitly figured in the mapping between the RSS measures and the actual geographical distances. We have implemented the proposed system with inexpensive off-the-shelf Wi-Fi hardware and sensory functions of IEEE 802.11, and carried out a detailed empirical study in our division building. The empirical results show the proposed system is quite robust and gives accurate localization results (i.e., with the localization error within 3 meters)

Trifluoromethylation of Arylsilanes with [(phen)CuCF3]

A method for the trifluoromethylation of arylsilanes is reported. The reaction proceeds with [(phen)CuCF3 ] as the CF3  source under mild, oxidative conditions with high functional-group compatibility. This transformation complements prior trifluoromethylation of arenes in several ways. Most important, this method converts arylsilanes formed by the silylation of aryl C-H bonds to trifluoromethylarenes, thereby allowing the conversion of arenes to trifluoromethylarenes. The unique capabilities of the reported method are demonstrated by the conversion of a C-H bond into a C-CF3 bond in active pharmaceutical ingredients which do not undergo this overall transformation by alternative functionalization processes, including a combination of borylation and trifluoromethylation

Sol-Gel Processed Cobalt-Doped Methylated Silica Membranes Calcined under N2 Atmosphere: Microstructure and Hydrogen Perm-Selectivity

Methyl-modified, cobalt-doped silica (Co/MSiO2) materials were synthesized by sol-gel technique calcined in N2 atmospheres, and membranes were made thereof by coating method. The effects of Co/Si molar ratio (nCo) on the physical-chemical constructions of Co/MSiO2 materials and microstructures of Co/MSiO2 membranes were systematically investigated. The gas permeance performance and hydrothermal stability of Co/MSiO2 membranes were also tested. The results show that the cobalt element in Co/MSiO2 material calcined at 400 °C exists not only as Si–O–Co bond but also as Co3O4 and CoO crystals. The introduction of metallic cobalt and methyl can enlarge the total pore volume and average pore size of the SiO2 membrane. The activation energy (Ea) values of H2, CO2, and N2 for Co/MSiO2 membranes are less than those for MSiO2 membranes. When operating at a pressure difference of 0.2 MPa and 200 °C compared with MSiO2 membrane, the permeances of H2, CO2, and N2 for Co/MSiO2 membrane with nCo = 0.08 increased by 1.17, 0.70, and 0.83 times, respectively, and the perm-selectivities of H2/CO2 and H2/N2 increased by 27.66% and 18.53%, respectively. After being steamed and thermally regenerated, the change of H2 permeance and H2 perm-selectivities for Co/MSiO2 membrane is much smaller than those for MSiO2 membrane

比利时

peer reviewedUltrasensitive and quantitative real-time detection of infectious disease has long been a challenge in prevention and diagnosis of epidemic disease. It’s essential to develop a quantitative point-of-care (POC) diagnostic approach. Herein, a fluorescent platform was designed, which was a sandwich type and applied noninfectious virus-like-particles (VLPs) as capture antigen, making the process safer and more efficient. The fluorescent europium microparticles (EuMSs) conjugated with staphylococcal protein-A (SPA), then antibody was bind with SPA and target antibody was further captured by VLPs at test line. The excessive labelled-SPA was captured by rabbit IgG at control line. Specifically, the fluorescent signal intensity at test line and control line was relative to the concentration of the target antibody. Moreover, the fluorescent assay can not only be monitored through fluorescent signal output within 15 min but also be observed under UV light with 5 min. The limit of detection (LOD) for quantitative detection of serotype O antibody against foot-and-mouth disease virus (O-FMDV) in serum was over 60 times more sensitive than conventional colored gold-colloids. Owing to the advantages of sensitivity and specificity, the fluorescent immunochromatographic test strips (ICTSs) would be a potential tool for rapid and sensitive probe for quantitative determination of O-FMDV antibody

A Variable-Structure Multi-Resonant DC–DC Converter with Smooth Switching

In this paper, a variable-structure multi-resonant soft-switching DC–DC converter and its transient smooth control method are proposed. Through the introduction of auxiliary switches, the converter can flexibly adjust its structure among three operating modes. Two switching processes can be obtained. Thus, a wide voltage gain range is achieved within a narrow frequency range. Moreover, to eliminate the large voltage fluctuation during modes switching, a drive signal gradual adjustment control method is proposed. Consequently, smooth switching between different modes can be realized and the voltage fluctuation is suppressed effectively. Finally, a 200 W experimental prototype is established to verify the theoretical analyses. Soft-switching performances for power switches and diodes are both guaranteed. The highest efficiency is 98.2%. With the proposed transient control method, a basically constant 400 V output voltage is ensured within a wide input voltage range (80 V–600 V). In particular, the transient voltage fluctuations during two switching processes decrease from 38.4 V to 10.8 V and from 37.2 V to 8.4 V, respectively

Identification and Characterization of a Ca(2+)-Dependent Actin Filament-Severing Protein from Lily Pollen

It is well known that a tip-focused intracellular Ca(2+) gradient and the meshwork of short actin filaments at the tip region are necessary for pollen tube growth. However, little is known about the connections between the two factors. Here, a novel Ca(2+)-dependent actin-binding protein with molecular mass of 41 kD from lily (Lilium davidii) pollen (LdABP41) was isolated and purified with DNase I chromatography. Our purification procedure yielded about 0.6 mg of LdABP41 with >98% purity from 10 g of lily pollen. At least two isoforms with isoelectric points of 5.8 and 6.0 were detected on two-dimensional gels. The results of N-terminal sequencing and mass-spectrometry analysis of LdABP41 showed that both isoforms shared substantial similarity with trumpet lily (Lilium longiflorum) villin and other members of the gelsolin superfamily. Negative-stained electron microscope images showed that LdABP41 severed in vitro-polymerized lily pollen F-actin into short actin filaments in a Ca(2+)-sensitive manner. Microinjection of the anti-LdABP41 antibody into germinated lily pollen demonstrated that the protein was required for pollen tube growth. The results of immunolocalization of the protein showed that it existed in the cytoplasm of the pollen tube, especially focused in the tip region. Our results suggest that LdABP41 belongs to the gelsolin superfamily and may play an important role in controlling actin organization in the pollen tube tip by responding to the oscillatory, tip-focused Ca(2+) gradient