Gender differences in the relationship between loneliness and health-related behavioral risk factors among the Hakka elderly in Fujian, China

IntroductionTo explore gender differences in the relationship between loneliness and health-related behavioral risk factors (BRFs) among the Hakka elderly.MethodsLoneliness was measured by the UCLA Loneliness Scale Short-form (ULS-8). Seven BRFs were examined. Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, and post hoc tests were conducted to compare the differences in ULS-8 scores among the Hakka elderly with different BRFs. Generalized linear regression models were employed to examine the associations of specific BRF and its number with the ULS-8 scores among the Hakka elderly in male, female, and total samples.ResultsPhysical inactivity (B = 1.96, p < 0.001), insufficient leisure activities participation (B = 1.44, p < 0.001), unhealthy dietary behavior (B = 1.02, p < 0.001), and irregular sleep (B = 2.45, p < 0.001) were positively correlated with the ULS-8 scores, whereas drinking (B = −0.71, p < 0.01) was negatively associated with the ULS-8 scores in the total sample. In males, insufficient leisure activities participation (B = 2.35, p < 0.001), unhealthy dietary behavior (B = 1.39, p < 0.001), and irregular sleep (B = 2.07, p < 0.001) were positively associated with the ULS-8 scores. In females, physical inactivity (B = 2.69, p < 0.001) and irregular sleep (B = 2.91, p < 0.001) was positively correlated with the scores of ULS-8, while drinking (B = −0.98, p < 0.05) was negatively associated with the ULS-8 scores. More BRFs were significantly related to greater loneliness (p < 0.001).ConclusionThere are gender differences in the relationship between loneliness and BRFs among the Hakka elderly, and individuals with more BRFs were more likely to feel loneliness. Therefore, the co-occurrence of multiple BRFs requires more attention, and integrated behavioral intervention strategies should be adopted to reduce the loneliness of the elderly

CsPbBr3量子点用于大鼠脑微透析中硫化氢的灵敏荧光传感器。

The instability and insolubility of perovskite quantum dots in aqueous solution prohibit applications in polar solvents. As a highly toxic gas pollutant and also an endogenous gaseous signaling molecule existing in a variety of physiological processes, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), with high selectivity and high specificity, detection is of great significance. In this study, a simple device has been designed to separate H2S from aqueous solution and CsPbBr3 quantum dots (CsPbBr3 QDs) have been used as the detection probe to develop a novel fluorescent sensor for rapid H2S detection. The addition of hydrogen sulfide to the phosphoric acid solution results in the escape of H2S from the aqueous sample and hence it passing into the n -hexane solution containing CsPbBr3 QDs, resulting in the quenching of the fluorescence of CsPbBr3 QDs. The fluorescence intensity of the system has a linear relationship with the concentration of H2S in the range of 0-100 μM with the detection limit of 0.18 μM. The proposed system has been applied to detection of H2S in rat brain microdialysate with satisfying results. The potential mechanism regarding the quenching of fluorescence from CsPbBr3 QDs by H2S has been studied as well

Magnetron sputtered zinc oxide nanorods as thickness-insensitive cathode interlayer for perovskite planar-heterojunction solar cells

Suitable electrode interfacial layers are essential to the high performance of perovskite planar heterojunction solar cells. In this letter, we report magnetron sputtered zinc oxide (ZnO) film as the cathode interlayer for methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3) perovskite solar cell. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrate that the sputtered ZnO films consist of c-Axis aligned nanorods. The solar cells based on this ZnO cathode interlayer showed high short circuit current and power conversion efficiency. Besides, the performance of the device is insensitive to the thickness of ZnO cathode interlayer. Considering the high reliability and maturity of sputtering technique both in lab and industry, we believe that the sputtered ZnO films are promising cathode interlayers for perovskite solar cells, especially in large-scale production

Identification and architecture of a putative secretion tube across mycobacterial outer envelope.

Tuberculosis-causing mycobacteria have thick cell-wall and capsule layers that are formed from complex structures. Protein secretion across these barriers depends on a specialized protein secretion system, but none has been reported. We show that Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv3705c and its homologous MSMEG_6251 in Mycobacterium smegmatis are tube-forming proteins in the mycobacterial envelope (TiME). Crystallographic and cryo-EM structures of these two proteins show that both proteins form rotationally symmetric rings. Two layers of TiME rings pack together in a tail-to-tail manner into a ring-shaped complex, which, in turn, stacks together to form tubes. M. smegmatis TiME was detected mainly in the cell wall and capsule. Knocking out the TiME gene markedly decreased the amount of secreted protein in the M. smegmatis culture medium, and expression of this gene in knocked-out strain partially restored the level of secreted protein. Our structure and functional data thus suggest that TiME forms a protein transport tube across the mycobacterial outer envelope

Magnetron Sputtered Zinc Oxide Nanorods as Thickness-Insensitive Cathode Interlayer for Perovskite Planar-Heterojunction Solar Cells

Suitable electrode interfacial layers are essential to the high performance of perovskite planar heterojunction solar cells. In this letter, we report magnetron sputtered zinc oxide (ZnO) film as the cathode interlayer for methylammonium lead iodide (CH₃NH₃PbI₃) perovskite solar cell. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrate that the sputtered ZnO films consist of <i>c</i>-axis aligned nanorods. The solar cells based on this ZnO cathode interlayer showed high short circuit current and power conversion efficiency. Besides, the performance of the device is insensitive to the thickness of ZnO cathode interlayer. Considering the high reliability and maturity of sputtering technique both in lab and industry, we believe that the sputtered ZnO films are promising cathode interlayers for perovskite solar cells, especially in large-scale production

Multiplexed detection of viral antigen and RNA using nanopore sensing and encoded molecular probes.

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Professor Ruijie Deng for providing the pseudovirus. A.P.I. and J.B.E. acknowledge support from BBSRC grant BB/R022429/1, EPSRC grant EP/V049070/1, and Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund grant 600322/05. This project has also received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement Nos. 724300 and 875525). A.E. and P.G. acknowledge support from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Agreement No. 075-15-2022-264, unique scientific facility reg. No 2512530. R.R. and Y.K. acknowledge support from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grants 21H01770, 22K04890, and World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, Japan. Research in the P.C. laboratory is supported by the Francis Crick Institute, which receives its core funding from Cancer Research UK (CC2058), the UK Medical Research Council (CC2058), and the Wellcome Trust (CC2058). This research was funded in whole, or in part, by the Wellcome Trust (CC2058). For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. We acknowledge the UK Health Security Agency and St Mary’s Hospital for providing clinical samples.We report on single-molecule nanopore sensing combined with position-encoded DNA molecular probes, with chemistry tuned to simultaneously identify various antigen proteins and multiple RNA gene fragments of SARS-CoV-2 with high sensitivity and selectivity. We show that this sensing strategy can directly detect spike (S) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins in unprocessed human saliva. Moreover, our approach enables the identification of RNA fragments from patient samples using nasal/throat swabs, enabling the identification of critical mutations such as D614G, G446S, or Y144del among viral variants. In particular, it can detect and discriminate between SARS-CoV-2 lineages of wild-type B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.617.2 (Delta), and B.1.1.539 (Omicron) within a single measurement without the need for nucleic acid sequencing. The sensing strategy of the molecular probes is easily adaptable to other viral targets and diseases and can be expanded depending on the application required