Robust Non-Parametric Mortality and Fertility Modelling and Forecasting : Gaussian Process Regression Approaches

Funding: This research received no external funding. Acknowledgments: The authors thank the editor and the reviewers for their very helpful and constructive comments.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Multipopulation mortality modelling and forecasting : the weighted multivariate functional principal component approaches

Acknowledgments The authors thank the Associate Editor and the reviewers for their constructive suggestions and very helpful comments.This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Meeting the care priorities of people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions : priorities for action

We would like to thank the Nuffield Foundation Oliver Bird Fund who have funded the RHEUMAPs study, and our patient partners and study collaborators for generously giving their time and who have supported this work by designing the survey, taking part in interviews, providing advice, and commenting on drafts

Parenting approaches, family functionality, and internet addiction among Hong Kong adolescents

© 2016 Wu et al. Background: Internet addiction (IA) among adolescents has become a global health problem, and public awareness of it is increasing. Many IA risk factors relate to parents and the family environment. This study examined the relationship between IA and parenting approaches and family functionality. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 2021 secondary students to identify the prevalence of IA and to explore the association between adolescent IA and familial variables, including parents' marital status, family income, family conflict, family functionality, and parenting approaches. Results: The results revealed that 25.3 % of the adolescent respondents exhibited IA, and logistic regression positively predicted the IA of adolescents from divorced families, low-income families, families in which family conflict existed, and severely dysfunctional families. Interestingly, adolescents with restricted Internet use were almost 1.9 times more likely to have IA than those whose use was not restricted. Conclusions: Internet addiction is common among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong, and family-based prevention strategies should be aligned with the risk factors of IA.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Aberrant Transferrin and Ferritin Upregulation Elicits Iron Accumulation and Oxidative Inflammaging Causing Ferroptosis and Undermines Estradiol Biosynthesis in Aging Rat Ovaries by Upregulating NF-Κb-Activated Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase: First Demonstration of an Intricate Mechanism

We report herein a novel mechanism, unraveled by proteomics and validated by in vitro and in vivo studies, of the aberrant aging-associated upregulation of ovarian transferrin and ferritin in rat ovaries. The ovarian mass and serum estradiol titer plummeted while the ovarian labile ferrous iron and total iron levels escalated with age in rats. Oxidative stress markers, such as nitrite/nitrate, 3-nitrotyrosine, and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal, accumulated in the aging ovaries due to an aberrant upregulation of the ovarian transferrin, ferritin light/heavy chains, and iron regulatory protein 2(IRP2)-mediated transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1). Ferritin inhibited estradiol biosynthesis in ovarian granulosa cells in vitro via the upregulation of a nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) and p65/p50-induced oxidative and inflammatory factor inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). An in vivo study demonstrated how the age-associated activation of NF-κB induced the upregulation of iNOS and the tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα). The downregulation of the keap1-mediated nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), that induced a decrease in glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), was observed. The aberrant transferrin and ferritin upregulation triggered an iron accumulation via the upregulation of an IRP2-induced TfR1. This culminates in NF-κB-iNOS-mediated ovarian oxi-inflamm-aging and serum estradiol decrement in naturally aging rats. The iron accumulation and the effect on ferroptosis-related proteins including the GPX4, TfR1, Nrf2, Keap1, and ferritin heavy chain, as in testicular ferroptosis, indicated the triggering of ferroptosis. In young rats, an intraovarian injection of an adenovirus, which expressed iron regulatory proteins, upregulated the ovarian NF-κB/iNOS and downregulated the GPX4. These novel findings have contributed to a prompt translational research on the ovarian aging-associated iron metabolism and aging-associated ovarian diseases

Characterising personal, household, and community PM2.5 exposure in one urban and two rural communities in China

Background: Cooking and heating in households contribute importantly to air pollution exposure worldwide. However, there is insufficient investigation of measured fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure levels, variability, seasonality, and inter-spatial dynamics associated with these behaviours. Methods: We undertook parallel measurements of personal, household (kitchen and living room), and community PM2.5 in summer (May-September 2017) and winter (November 2017-Janauary 2018) in ∼480 participants from one urban and two rural communities in China. These recorded ∼61,000-81,000 person-hours of processed data per microenvironment. Age- and sex-adjusted geometric means of PM2.5 were calculated by key participant characteristics, overall and by season. Spearman correlation coefficients between PM2.5 levels across different microenvironments were computed. Findings: Overall, 25.1% reported use of solid fuel for both cooking and heating. Solid fuel users had ∼90% higher personal and kitchen 24-hour average PM2.5 exposure than clean fuel users. Similarly, they also had a greater increase (∼75% vs ∼20%) in personal and household PM2.5 from summer to winter, whereas community levels of PM2.5 were 2-3 times higher in winter regardless of fuel use. Compared with clean fuel users, solid fuel users had markedly higher weighted annual average PM2.5 exposure at personal (77.8 [95% CI 71.1-85.2] vs ∼40 µg/m3), kitchen (103.7 [91.5-117.6] vs ∼50 µg/m3) and living room (62.0 [57.1-67.4] vs ∼40 µg/m3) microenvironments. There was a remarkable diurnal variability in PM2.5 exposure among the participants, with 5-minute moving average 700-1,200µg/m3 in typical meal times. Personal PM2.5 was moderately correlated with living room (Spearman r: 0.64-0.66) and kitchen (0.52-0.59) levels, but only weakly correlated with community levels, especially in summer (0.15-0.34) and among solid fuel users (0.11-0.31). Conclusion: Solid fuel use for cooking and heating was associated with substantially higher personal and household PM2.5 exposure than clean fuel users. Household PM2.5 appeared a better proxy of personal exposure than community PM2.5 in this setting

Characterising personal, household, and community PM2.5 exposure in one urban and two rural communities in China

Background Cooking and heating in households contribute importantly to air pollution exposure worldwide. However, there is insufficient investigation of measured fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure levels, variability, seasonality, and inter-spatial dynamics associated with these behaviours. Methods We undertook parallel measurements of personal, household (kitchen and living room), and community PM2.5 in summer (May–September 2017) and winter (November 2017-Janauary 2018) in 477 participants from one urban and two rural communities in China. After stringent data cleaning, there were 67,326–80,980 person-hours (ntotal = 441; nsummer = 384; nwinter = 364; 307 had repeated PM2.5 data in both seasons) of processed data per microenvironment. Age- and sex-adjusted geometric means of PM2.5 were calculated by key participant characteristics, overall and by season. Spearman correlation coefficients between PM2.5 levels across different microenvironments were computed. Findings Overall, 26.4 % reported use of solid fuel for both cooking and heating. Solid fuel users had 92 % higher personal and kitchen 24-h average PM2.5 exposure than clean fuel users. Similarly, they also had a greater increase (83 % vs 26 %) in personal and household PM2.5 from summer to winter, whereas community levels of PM2.5 were 2–4 times higher in winter across different fuel categories. Compared with clean fuel users, solid fuel users had markedly higher weighted annual average PM2.5 exposure at personal (78.2 [95 % CI 71.6–85.3] μg/m3 vs 41.6 [37.3–46.5] μg/m3), kitchen (102.4 [90.4–116.0] μg/m3 vs 52.3 [44.8–61.2] μg/m3) and living room (62.1 [57.3–67.3] μg/m3 vs 41.0 [37.1–45.3] μg/m3) microenvironments. There was a remarkable diurnal variability in PM2.5 exposure among the participants, with 5-min moving average from 10 μg/m3 to 700–1200 μg/m3 across different microenvironments. Personal PM2.5 was moderately correlated with living room (Spearman r: 0.64–0.66) and kitchen (0.52–0.59) levels, but only weakly correlated with community levels, especially in summer (0.15–0.34) and among solid fuel users (0.11–0.31). Conclusion Solid fuel use for cooking and heating was associated with substantially higher personal and household PM2.5 exposure than clean fuel users. Household PM2.5 appeared a better proxy of personal exposure than community PM2.5

Long-term ambient air pollution exposure and cardio-respiratory disease in China: findings from a prospective cohort study

Background Existing evidence on long-term ambient air pollution (AAP) exposure and risk of cardio-respiratory diseases in China is mainly on mortality, and based on area average concentrations from fixed-site monitors for individual exposures. Substantial uncertainty persists, therefore, about the shape and strength of the relationship when assessed using more personalised individual exposure data. We aimed to examine the relationships between AAP exposure and risk of cardio-respiratory diseases using predicted local levels of AAP. Methods A prospective study included 50,407 participants aged 30–79 years from Suzhou, China, with concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), fine (PM2.5), and inhalable (PM10) particulate matter, ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) and incident cases of cardiovascular disease (CVD) (n = 2,563) and respiratory disease (n = 1,764) recorded during 2013–2015. Cox regression models with time-dependent covariates were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for diseases associated with local-level concentrations of AAP exposure, estimated using Bayesian spatio–temporal modelling. Results The study period of 2013–2015 included a total of 135,199 person-years of follow-up for CVD. There was a positive association of AAP, particularly SO2 and O3, with risk of major cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Each 10 µg/m3 increase in SO2 was associated with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of 1.07 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.12) for CVD, 1.25 (1.08, 1.44) for COPD and 1.12 (1.02, 1.23) for pneumonia. Similarly, each 10 µg/m3 increase in O3 was associated with adjusted HR of 1.02 (1.01, 1.03) for CVD, 1.03 (1.02, 1.05) for all stroke, and 1.04 (1.02, 1.06) for pneumonia. Conclusions Among adults in urban China, long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with a higher risk of cardio-respiratory disease

Inhibitory role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma in hepatocarcinogenesis in mice and in vitro

Although peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) agonist have been shown to inhibit hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development, the role of PPARγ in hepatocarcinogenesis remains unclear. We investigated the therapeutic efficacy of PPAR