Wealth inequalities in physical and cognitive impairments across Japan and Europe: the role of health expenditure and infrastructure

Although prior research has provided insights into the association between country-level factors and health inequalities, key research gaps remain. First, most previous studies examine subjective rather than objective health measures. Second, the wealth dimension in health inequalities is understudied. Third, a handful of studies explicitly focus on older adults. To bridge these research gaps, this study measures wealth-related inequalities in physical and cognitive impairments and examines the extent to which welfare states moderate wealth inequalities in physical and cognitive impairments among older people across Japan and Europe. We utilized harmonized data on non-institutionalized individuals aged 50–75 from the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR) and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (N = 31,969 for physical impairments and 31,348 for cognitive impairments). Our multilevel linear regression analyses examined whether national public health spending and healthcare access resources explained cross-country differences in wealth inequalities in physical and cognitive impairments. We applied a concentration index to quantify the degree of wealth inequalities in impairments. The findings indicate that inequalities in both impairment outcomes favored wealthier individuals in all countries, but the magnitude of inequality varied by country. Furthermore, a higher share of public health spending, lower out-of-pocket expenditure, and higher investment in healthcare resources were associated with lower wealth inequalities, especially for physical impairments. Our findings suggest that different health interventions and policies may be needed to mitigate specific impairment inequalities

Characterization of methionine oxidation and methionine sulfoxide reduction using methionine-rich cysteine-free proteins

Background: Methionine (Met) residues in proteins can be readily oxidized by reactive oxygen species to Met sulfoxide (MetO). MetO is a promising physiological marker of oxidative stress and its inefficient repair by MetO reductases (Msrs) has been linked to neurodegeneration and aging. Conventional methods of assaying MetO formation and reduction rely on chromatographic or mass spectrometry procedures, but the use of Met-rich proteins (MRPs) may offer a more streamlined alternative. Results: We carried out a computational search of completely sequenced genomes for MRPs deficient in cysteine (Cys) residues and identified several proteins containing 20% or more Met residues. We used these MRPs to examine Met oxidation and MetO reduction by in-gel shift assays and immunoblot assays with antibodies generated against various oxidized MRPs. The oxidation of Cys-free MRPs by hydrogen peroxide could be conveniently monitored by SDS-PAGE and was specific for Met, as evidenced by quantitative reduction of these proteins with Msrs in DTT- and thioredoxin-dependent assays. We found that hypochlorite was especially efficient in oxidizing MRPs. Finally, we further developed a procedure wherein antibodies made against oxidized MRPs were isolated on affinity resins containing same or other oxidized or reduced MRPs. This procedure yielded reagents specific for MetO in these proteins, but proved to be ineffective in developing antibodies with broad MetO specificity. Conclusion: Our data show that MRPs provide a convenient tool for characterization of Met oxidation, MetO reduction and Msr activities, and could be used for various aspects of redox biology involving reversible Met oxidation

Learning evolving relations for multivariate time series forecasting

Multivariate time series forecasting is essential in various fields, including healthcare and traffic management, but it is a challenging task due to the strong dynamics in both intra-channel relations (temporal patterns within individual variables) and inter-channel relations (the relationships between variables), which can evolve over time with abrupt changes. This paper proposes ERAN (Evolving Relational Attention Network), a framework for multivariate time series forecasting, that is capable to capture such dynamics of these relations. On the one hand, ERAN represents inter-channel relations with a graph which evolves over time, modeled using a recurrent neural network. On the other hand, ERAN represents the intra-channel relations using a temporal attentional convolution, which captures the local temporal dependencies adaptively with the input data. The elvoving graph structure and the temporal attentional convolution are intergrated in a unified model to capture both types of relations. The model is experimented on a large number of real-life datasets including traffic flows, energy consumption, and COVID-19 transmission data. The experimental results show a significant improvement over the state-of-the-art methods in multivariate time series forecasting particularly for non-stationary data

Indoor PM₀.₁ and PM₂.₅ in Hanoi: Chemical characterization, source identification, and health risk assessment

This study attempted to provide comprehensive insights into the chemical composition, source identification, and health risk assessment of indoor particulate matter (PM) in urban areas of Vietnam. Three hundred and twenty daily samples of PM₀.₁ and PM₂.₅ were collected at three different types of dwellings in Hanoi in two seasons, namely summer and winter. The samples were analyzed for 10 trace elements (TEs), namely Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Ni, Zn, As, Cd, Sn, and Pb. The daily average concentrations of indoor PM₀.₁ and PM₂.₅ in the city were in the ranges of 7.0–8.9 μg/m³ and 43.3–106 μg/m³, respectively. The average concentrations of TEs bound to indoor PM ranged from 66.2 ng/m³ to 216 ng/m³ for PM₀.₁ and 391 ng/m³ to 2360 ng/m³ for PM₂.₅. Principle component analysis and enrichment factor were applied to identify the possible sources of indoor PM. Results showed that indoor PM₂.₅ was mainly derived from outdoor sources, whereas indoor PM₀.₁ was derived from indoor and outdoor sources. Domestic coal burning, industrial and traffic emissions were observed as outdoor sources, whereas household dust and indoor combustion were found as indoor sources. 80% of PM₂.₅ was deposited in the head airways, whereas 75% of PM₀.₁ was deposited in alveolar region. Monte Carlo simulation indicated that the intake of TEs in PM₂.₅ can lead to high carcinogenic risk for people over 60 years old and unacceptable non-carcinogenic risks for all ages at the roadside house in winter

Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity for Toluene Removal of CDs/TiO2 - Zeolite Y

Hydrothermally synthesized carbon nanodots (CDs) were impregnated on TiO2. The product (CDs/TiO2) was mechanically mixed with zeolite Y for application in toluene photocatalytic oxidation reaction under UV radiation. Material properties of the samples were investigated by different methods. Toluene vapor was chosen as a typical volatile organic compound to investigate the performance of CDs/TiO2 – zeolite Y photocatalyst when these technological parameters were changed: toluene concentration, gas flow rate, humidity and UV light intensity. In each reaction, only one parameter was changed and the remaining conditions were fixed. The toluene concentrations at the beginning and the end of each reaction were analyzed with the use of gas chromatography (GC). The results of different reaction conditions show the trends for toluene treatment of the CDs/TiO2 – zeolite Y catalyst, thereby providing specific explanations for these trends. The experiments also show that toluene removal is highest when the toluene concentration in the inlet gas is 314 ppmv, the flow rate is 3 L/h, the humidity is 60%, and the catalyst (CDs/TiO2 – zeolite Y composite with 70% zeolite in weight) is illuminated by 4 UV lamps. Copyright © 2022 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

Tin Dioxide Nanocrystals as an Effective Sensitizer for Erbium Ions in Er-Doped SnO 2

Undoped SnO2 and erbium-doped SnO2 powders were successfully prepared by precipitation method. The effect of the heat treatment and doping contents on the structure of tin oxide and optical properties was also studied. The XRD data and Raman spectra indicate that the SnO2 crystals have formed after being heat-treated at 400°C and the average size of grains is about 8 nm for doping content of 1 mol%. An increase of doping concentration has controlled the growth of nanocrystals. The principle of the visible and infrared emissions of SnO2 and SnO2:Er is also discussed. All photoluminescence study shows that the Er3+ ions can be located in SnO2 nanocrystals and that there is energy transfer from defect levels of SnO2 nanoparticles to neighboring Er3+ ions of crystals

The Vietnamese Version of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire and the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire:Translation and Cross-cultural Adaptation

OBJECTIVE: To translate and cross-culturally adapt the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) and the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) into Vietnamese. METHODS: We followed the guideline by Beaton et al. (2000 & 2007). Stage I: two translators (informed and uninformed) translated the questionnaires. Stage II: the translations were synthesized. Stage III: back translation was performed by two translators fluent in both Vietnamese and English but naïve to the outcome measurement. Stage IV: seven experts reached consensus on the pre-final Vietnamese version (BIPQ-V and BMQ-V). Stage V: field test of the questionnaires on 16 twelve-year-old students and 31 Vietnamese patients. In addition, we determined the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the questionnaires in 34 Vietnamese patients with acute coronary syndrome. RESULTS: All experts agreed that there was semantic, idiomatic, experiential, and conceptual equivalence between the original and pre-final Vietnamese versions of the BIPQ and BMQ. Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the internal consistency were acceptable for the BMQ-V Specific-Necessity (0.64), BMQ-V Specific-Concerns (0.62), and BMQ-V General-Harm (0.60), with the exception of BMQ-V General-Overuse (0.27). Intra-class correlation coefficients of the test-retest reliability was acceptable for the subscales of BMQ-V (range: 0.77-0.86), and BIPQ-V items (range: 0.62-0.85) with the exception of BIPQ-V 1 (0.44, 95% CI -014-0.72) and BIPQ-V 4 (0.57, 95% CI 0.22-0.81). CONCLUSIONS: The Vietnamese version of BIPQ and BMQ are reliable tools to assess illness perceptions and beliefs about medicines of patients with acute coronary syndrome. Psychometric properties of these questionnaires should be tested in different patient populations