Immigrants’ health education and economic behaviours: saving rates, social medical insurance and house purchase

Healthy China is a crucial policy for advancing global health, addressing inequality between rural and urban health education, and helping the domestic markets recover after the COVID-19 outbreak. This study combines life cycle mechanisms and safety beliefs to evaluate the long-lasting values of health education. We employed data from the China Migration Dynamic Surveys to examine the economic behaviours of 720,900 immigrants using a robust empirical approach combining an Extended Regression Model (E.R.M.), Average Treatment Effects (A.T.E.), and heterogeneous treatment effects. We find that health education increases participation in social medical insurance and the likelihood of purchasing a house. In contrast, the relationship between health education and saving rates is non-linear effects. Empirically robust heterogeneous treatment effects account for heterogeneity in the previous and the younger generations, as well as urban and rural citizens’ long-run effects of health education. This study’s findings suggest that health education stimulates immigrants’ consumption behaviours; however, extra health education is not desirable. Rural-urban citizenship acquisition bias is found to significantly affect health education

Ageing impairs the T cell response to dendritic cells

Dendritic cells (DCs) are critical in priming adaptive T-cell responses, but the effects of ageing on interactions between DCs and T cells are unclear. This study investigated the influence of ageing on the maturation of and cytokine production by human blood-enriched DCs, and the impact on T cell responses in an allogeneic mixed leucocyte reaction (MLR). DCs from old subjects (65-75y) produced significantly less TNF-α and IFN-γ than young subjects (20-30y) in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), but expression of maturation markers and co-stimulatory molecules was preserved. In the MLR, DCs from older subjects induced significantly restricted proliferation of young T cells, activation of CD8+ T cells and expression of IL-12 and IFN-γ in T cells compared with young DCs. T cells from older subjects responded more weakly to DC stimulation compared with young T cells, regardless of whether the DCs were derived from young or older subjects. In conclusion, the capacity of DCs to induce T cell activation is significantly impaired by ageing

Expression of EPO and related factors in the liver and kidney of plain and Tibetan sheep

Erythropoietin (EPO), hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), hypoxia-inducible factor-2α (HIF2α), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are key factors in the regulation of hypoxia, and can transcriptionally activate multiple genes under hypoxic conditions, thereby initiating large hypoxic stress in the network. The liver and kidneys are important metabolic organs of the body. We assessed the expression of EPO, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and VEGF in liver and kidney tissues of plain and Tibetan sheep using hematoxylin and eosin staining, immunohistochemistry, and RT-qPCR. The results showed that EPO, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and VEGF were expressed in tubular epithelial cells, collecting duct epithelial cells, mural epithelial cells, and the glomerular cytoplasm of Tibetan sheep, and their expression was significantly higher in Tibetan sheep than in plain sheep (P<0.05). EPO, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and VEGF are expressed in hepatocytes, interlobular venous endothelial cells, and interlobular bile duct epithelial cells. In plain sheep, positive signals for EPO, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and VEGF were localized mainly in interlobular venous endothelial cells, whereas VEGF and HIF-2α were negatively expressed in interlobular bile duct epithelial cells and positively expressed in EPO and HIF-1α. The differences in EPO, HIF-1α, and HIF-2α in Tibetan sheep were significantly higher than those in plain sheep (P<0.001). In the liver and kidney tissues of Tibetan sheep, EPO was associated with HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and VEGF (P<0.05). RT-qPCR results showed that EPO was not expressed, and HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and VEGF were expressed (P<0.05). The results showed that the expression of EPO, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and VEGF in the kidney and liver of Tibetan sheep was higher than that in of plain sheep. Therefore, EPO, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and VEGF may be involved in the adaptive response of plateau animals, which provides theoretical clarity to further explore the adaptive mechanism of plateau hypoxia in Tibetan sheep

Dysregulated circulating dendritic cell function in ulcerative colitis is partially restored by probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei Shirota

BACKGROUND: Dendritic cells regulate immune responses to microbial products and play a key role in ulcerative colitis (UC) pathology. We determined the immunomodulatory effects of probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS) on human DC from healthy controls and active UC patients. METHODS: Human blood DC from healthy controls (control-DC) and UC patients (UC-DC) were conditioned with heat-killed LcS and used to stimulate allogeneic T cells in a 5-day mixed leucocyte reaction. RESULTS: UC-DC displayed a reduced stimulatory capacity for T cells (P &lt; 0.05) and enhanced expression of skin-homing markers CLA and CCR4 on stimulated T cells (P &lt; 0.05) that were negative for gut-homing marker β7. LcS treatment restored the stimulatory capacity of UC-DC, reflecting that of control-DC. LcS treatment conditioned control-DC to induce CLA on T cells in conjunction with β7, generating a multihoming profile, but had no effects on UC-DC. Finally, LcS treatment enhanced DC ability to induce TGFβ production by T cells in controls but not UC patients. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate a systemic, dysregulated DC function in UC that may account for the propensity of UC patients to develop cutaneous manifestations. LcS has multifunctional immunoregulatory activities depending on the inflammatory state; therapeutic effects reported in UC may be due to promotion of homeostasis

Probiotic modulation of dendritic cell function is influenced by ageing

Dendritic cells (DCs) are critical for the generation of T-cell responses. DC function may be modulated by probiotics, which confer health benefits in immunocompromised individuals, such as the elderly. This study investigated the effects of four probiotics, Bifidobacterium longum bv. infantis CCUG 52486, B. longum SP 07/3, L. rhamnosus GG (L.GG) and L. casei Shirota (LcS) on DC function in an allogeneic mixed leucocyte reaction (MLR) model, using DCs and T-cells from young and older donors in different combinations. All four probiotics enhanced expression of CD40, CD80 and CCR7 on both young and older DCs, but enhanced cytokine production (TGF-β, TNF-α) by old DCs only. LcS induced IL-12 and IFNγ production by DC to a greater degree than other strains, while Bifidobacterium longum bv. infantis CCUG 52486 favoured IL-10 production. Stimulation of young T cells in an allogeneic MLR with DC was enhanced by probiotic pretreatment of old DCs, which demonstrated greater activation (CD25) than untreated controls. However, pretreatment of young or old DCs with LPS or probiotics failed to enhance the proliferation of T-cells derived from older donors. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that ageing increases the responsiveness of DCs to probiotics, but this is not sufficient to overcome the impact of immunosenescence in the MLR

The United States COVID-19 Forecast Hub dataset

Academic researchers, government agencies, industry groups, and individuals have produced forecasts at an unprecedented scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. To leverage these forecasts, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with an academic research lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to create the US COVID-19 Forecast Hub. Launched in April 2020, the Forecast Hub is a dataset with point and probabilistic forecasts of incident cases, incident hospitalizations, incident deaths, and cumulative deaths due to COVID-19 at county, state, and national, levels in the United States. Included forecasts represent a variety of modeling approaches, data sources, and assumptions regarding the spread of COVID-19. The goal of this dataset is to establish a standardized and comparable set of short-term forecasts from modeling teams. These data can be used to develop ensemble models, communicate forecasts to the public, create visualizations, compare models, and inform policies regarding COVID-19 mitigation. These open-source data are available via download from GitHub, through an online API, and through R packages

Impact of Replacing Soft Drinks with Dairy Products on Micronutrient Intakes of Chinese Preschool Children: A Simulation Study

At present, energy surplus and micronutrient deficiency coexist in preschool children in China. The low intake of dairy products accompanied by an increased consumption of soft drinks in this age group reveals some of the reasons for this phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the improvement of key micronutrients in preschool children by quantifying the dietary nutritional gap before and after simulating the use of dairy products instead of equal amounts of soft drinks. In the cross-sectional dietary intake survey of infants and young children in China (2018–2019), 676 preschool children aged 3–6 years were randomly selected. Four days of dietary data were collected through an online diary for simulation. The individual intake of soft drinks was substituted at a corresponding volume by soymilk, cow’s milk, or formulated milk powder for preschool children (FMP-PSC). In these three models, the simulated nutrient intake and nutrient inadequacy or surplus were compared with the actual baseline data of the survey. The results of this study indicated that all three models made the nutrient intakes of this group more in line with the recommendations. For the whole population, the replacement of soymilk improved the intake of zinc (from 4.80 to 4.85 mg/d), potassium (from 824.26 to 836.82 mg/d), vitamin A (from 211.57 to 213.92 μg retinol activity equivalent/d), and vitamin B9 (from 115.94 to 122.79 μg dietary folate equivalent/d); the simulation of cow’s milk improved the intake of calcium (from 311.82 to 330.85 mg/d), zinc (from 4.80 to 4.87 mg/d), potassium (from 824.26 to 833.62 mg/d), vitamin A (from 211.57 to 215.12 μg retinol activity equivalent/d), vitamin B2 (from 0.53 to 0.54 mg/d), and vitamin B12 (from 1.63 to 1.67 μg/d); and the substitution of FMP-PSC improved the intake of calcium (from 311.82 to 332.32 mg/d), iron (from 9.91 to 9.36 mg/d), zinc (from 4.80 to 4.96 mg/d), potassium (from 824.26 to 828.71 mg/d), vitamin A (from 211.57 to 217.93 μg retinol activity equivalent/d), vitamin B2 (from 0.53 to 0.54 mg/d), vitamin B9 (from 115.94 to 118.80 μg RA dietary folate equivalent/d), and vitamin B12 (from 1.63 to 1.70 μg/d). Therefore, correct nutritional information should be provided to parents and preschool children. In addition to changing the consumption behavior of soft drinks, it is also necessary to have a diversified and balanced diet. When necessary, the use of food ingredients or nutritional fortifiers can be encouraged