Slow water transport in MgSO₄ aerosol droplets at gel-forming relative humidities

The effect of gel formation on water transport in MgSO4 aerosol droplets is investigated by deriving apparent diffusion coefficients of water.</p

Students and their parental attitudes toward the education of children affected by HIV/AIDS: a cross‐sectional study in AIDS prevalent rural areas, China

Abstract Objective : To investigate the prevalence and determinants of student and parental attitudes toward the education of children affected by HIV/AIDS in areas of rural China where AIDS is prevalent. Methods : A cross‐sectional study of a random sample of students (n=732) and their parents (n=732) conducted in April 2010, using a questionnaire and in‐depth interview. Results : Twenty‐six per cent of students and 29% of parents had a ‘good’ attitude toward the education of children affected by HIV/AIDS. Following adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, students’ attitudes were significantly associated with knowledge of HIV/AIDS non‐transmission (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]= 3.13) and their parents’ attitudes (aOR= 2.38), but not with knowledge of HIV/AIDS transmission, prevention or their parents’ knowledge. Parents’ attitudes were significantly associated with knowledge of HIV/AIDS non‐transmission (aOR= 2.12) and their children's attitudes (aOR= 2.52), but not with knowledge of HIV/AIDS transmission, prevention or their children's knowledge. Conclusion : Stigma and discrimination undermine the right to education of HIV/AIDS‐affected children in rural China. Improving non‐transmission knowledge may improve caring attitudes. Implications : HIV/AIDS public health educational campaigns highlighting non‐transmission and extending family education, combined with school education, may help to enhance an environment of non‐discrimination and safeguard public support programs for the right to education of children affected by HIV/AIDS

Doxorubicin-loading core-shell pectin nanocell: A novel nanovehicle for anticancer agent delivery with multidrug resistance reversal.

Tumor is a prevalent great threat to public health worldwide and multidrug resistance (MDR) of tumor is a leading cause of chemotherapy failure. Nanomedicine has shown prospects in overcoming the problem. Doxorubicin (DOX), a broad-spectrum anticancer drug, showed limited efficacy due to MDR. Herein, a doxorubicin containing pectin nanocell (DOX-PEC-NC) of core-shell structure, a pectin nanoparticle encapsulated with liposome-like membrane was developed. The DOX-PEC-NC, spheroid in shape and sized around 150 nm, exerted better sustained release behavior than doxorubicin loading pectin nanoparticle (DOX-PEC-NP) or liposome (DOX-LIP). In vitro anticancer study showed marked accumulation of doxorubicin in different tumor cells as well as reversal of MDR in HepG2/ADR cells and MCF-7/ADR cells caused by treatment of DOX-PEC-NC. In H22 tumor-bearing mice, DOX-PEC-NC showed higher anticancer efficacy and lower toxicity than doxorubicin. DOX-PEC-NC can improve anticancer activity and reduce side effect of doxorubicin due to increased intracellular accumulation and reversal of MDR in tumor cells, which may be a promising nanoscale drug delivery vehicle for chemotherapeutic agents

Reported prevalence of childhood maltreatment among Chinese college students: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE:To estimate the prevalence of childhood maltreatment among college students in China by a systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS:A systematic search of relevant articles in Pubmed, Wanfang Data, Chinese Scientific Journals Fulltext Database (CQVIP), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and China Biology Medicine disc (CBMdisc) was conducted on September 1, 2017. A random-effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence and sources of heterogeneity were explored using subgroup analyses. RESULTS:In total, 32 studies were included in our review. The pooled prevalence of childhood maltreatment among college students was 64.7% (CI: 52.3%-75.6%). For childhood physical abuse(CPA), childhood emotional abuse(CEA), childhood sexual abuse(CSA), childhood physical neglect(CPN)and childhood emotional neglect (CEN), the pooled estimates were 17.4% (13.8%-21.3%), 36.7%(25.1%-49.1%), 15.7%(11.6%-20.2%), 54.9%(41.2%-68.1%) and 60.0% (45.0%-74.0%), respectively. Use of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) yielded a higher pooled estimate than any other measurement tools in the subgroup analyses of CPA, CEA, CSA, CPN and CEN. The Egger's tests revealed no evidence of publication bias(P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS:Childhood maltreatment is common among college students in China. Prevention policies and programmes should be urgently developed to stop the occurrence of child maltreatment, and special attention should be paid to maltreated college students

Reported Estimates of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes among Women with and without Syphilis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

<div><p>Background</p><p>To estimate probability of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) among women with and without syphilis through a systematic review of published literatures.</p><p>Methodology/Principal Findings</p><p>Chinese and English literatures were searched for studies assessing pregnancy outcomes in the presence of maternal syphilis through August 2013. The prevalence estimates were summarized and analyzed by meta-analysis. Fifty-four literatures involving 11398 syphilitic women and 43342 non-syphilitic women were included from 4187 records initially found. <i>Among untreated mothers with syphilis</i>, pooled estimates were 76.8% for all APOs, 36.0% for congenital syphilis, 23.2% for preterm, 23.4% for low birth weight, 26.4% for stillbirth or fetal loss, 14.9% for miscarriage and 16.2% for neonatal deaths. <i>Among syphilitic mother receiving treatment only in the late trimester (>28 weeks)</i>, pooled estimates were 64.4% for APOs, 40.6% for congenital syphilis, 17.6% for preterm, 12.4% for low birth weight, and 21.3% for stillbirth or fetal loss. <i>Among syphilitic mothers with high titers (≥1∶8)</i>, pooled estimates were 42.8% for all APOs, 25.8% for congenital syphilis, 15.1% for preterm, 9.4% for low birth weight, 14.6% for stillbirth or fetal loss and 16.0% for neonatal deaths. A<i>mong non-syphilitic mothers</i>, the pooled estimates were 13.7% for all APOs, 7.2% for preterm birth, 4.5% for low birth weight, 3.7% for stillbirth or fetal loss, 2.3% for miscarriage and 2.0% for neonatal death. Begg's rank correlation test indicated little evidence of publication bias (<i>P</i>>0.10). Substantial heterogeneity was found across studies in the estimates of all adverse outcomes for both women with syphilis (<i>I</i>² = 93.9%; <i>P</i><0.0001) and women without syphilis (<i>I</i>² = 94.8%; <i>P</i><0.0001).</p><p>Conclusions/Significance</p><p>Syphilis continues to be an important cause of substantial perinatal morbidity and mortality, which reminds that policy-makers charged with resource allocation that the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of syphilis is a public health priority.</p></div

Summary estimates of the proportion (%) of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) among women with syphilis and women without syphilis.

<p>M = Median; IQR = Inter-quartile range; APOs =  adverse pregnancy outcomes; CI = Confidence interval.</p>#<p>Summary estimates and their corresponding 95% CI were calculated using either fixed-effects models or, in the presence of heterogeneity, random-effects models.</p

Association of MTR gene polymorphisms with the occurrence of non-syndromic congenital heart disease: a case–control study

Abstract To exhaustively explore the association of infant genetic polymorphisms of methionine synthase (MTR) gene with the risk of non-syndromic congenital heart disease (CHD). A hospital-based case–control study involving 620 CHD cases and 620 health controls was conducted from November 2017 to March 2020. Eighteen SNPs were detected and analyzed. Our date suggested that the genetic polymorphisms of MTR gene at rs1805087 (GG vs. AA: aOR = 6.85, 95% CI 2.94–15.96; the dominant model: aOR = 1.77, 95% CI 1.35–2.32; the recessive model: aOR = 6.26, 95% CI 2.69–14.54; the addictive model: aOR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.44–2.29) and rs2275565 (GT vs. GG: aOR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.15–1.20; TT vs. GG: aOR = 4.93, 95% CI 1.93–12.58; the dominant model: aOR = 1.66, 95% CI 1.27–2.17; the recessive model: aOR = 4.41, 95% CI 1.73–11.22; the addictive model: aOR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.32–2.13) were significantly associated with the higher risk of CHD. And three haplotypes of G-A-T (involving rs4659724, rs95516 and rs4077829; OR = 5.48, 95% CI 2.58–11.66), G-C-A-T-T-G (involving rs2275565, rs1266164, rs2229276, rs4659743, rs3820571 and rs1050993; OR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.63–0.97) and T-C-A-T-T-G (involving rs2275565, rs1266164, rs2229276, rs4659743, rs3820571 and rs1050993; OR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.26–2.04) were observed to be significantly associated with risk of CHD. Our study found that genetic polymorphisms of MTR gene at rs1805087 and rs2275565 were significantly associated with higher risk of CHD. Additionally, our study revealed a significant association of three haplotypes with risk of CHD. However, the limitations in this study should be carefully taken into account. In the future, more specific studies in different ethnic populations are required to refine and confirm our findings. Trial registration: Registration number: ChiCTR1800016635; Date of first registration: 14/06/2018

Association of Maternal Diabetes Mellitus and Polymorphisms of the NKX2.5 Gene in Children with Congenital Heart Disease: A Single Centre-Based Case-Control Study

Background. Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most common birth defects among newborns, accounting for a large proportion of infant mortality worldwide. However, the mechanisms remain largely undefinable. This study aimed to investigate the association of CHD in offspring of mothers with diabetes mellitus (DM) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of NKX2.5. Methods and Results. A case-control study of 620 mothers of CHD patients and 620 mothers of healthy children admitted to Hunan Children’s Hospital from November 2017 to December 2019 was conducted. We collected the mothers’ information by questionnaire and detected children’s NKX2.5 variants with a MassARRAY system. The interaction coefficient (γ) was used to quantify the estimated gene-environment interactions. Univariate and multivariate analyses both showed that the infants had a higher risk of CHD if their mothers had a history of DM, including gestational DM (GDM) during this pregnancy (adjusted odds ratio [aOR=4.98]), GDM in previous pregnancies (aOR=4.30), and pregestational DM (PGDM) in the 3 months before this pregnancy (aOR=6.78). Polymorphisms of the NKX2.5 gene at rs11802669 (C/C vs. T/T: aOR=4.97; C/T vs. T/T: aOR=2.15) and rs2277923 (T/T vs. C/C, aOR=1.74; T/C vs. C/C, aOR=1.61) were significantly associated with the risk of CHD in offspring. In addition, significant interactions between maternal DM and NKX2.5 genetic variants at rs11802669 (aOR=8.12) and rs2277923 (aOR=17.72) affecting the development of CHD were found. Conclusions. These results suggest that maternal DM, NKX2.5 genetic variants, and their interactions are significantly associated with the risk of CHD in offspring

Subgroup analysis based on baseline titers of nontreponemal antibodies for the proportion (%) of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) among syphilis-infected women.

<p>M = Median; IQR = Inter-quartile range; APOs =  adverse pregnancy outcomes; CI = Confidence interval.</p>#<p>Summary estimates and their corresponding 95% CI were calculated using either fixed-effects models or, in the presence of heterogeneity, random-effects models.</p

Flow chart showing the meta-analysis studies selection.

<p>n, the number of prevalence estimates included in meta-analysis.</p