Study on the Healthy Risk of the Workers: a survey in the Yangtse Rive Delta

Problems of occupational health and safety in small and medium size enterprises are severe in China. With this paucity of official statistics documenting work-related injuries, the auther undertook a project in the Yangtse Rive Delta last year in the hopes of injecting at least some preliminary data into the public discourse. The epidemic of work-related injuries, and the failure of local business and govennnent to address it either through prevention or adequate compensation stems from two functional dimensions: the technical and the institutional. The technical level includes the physical causes of work-related injuries, which are not unique to the Yangtse Rive Delta. The institutional problems, on the other hand, are rooted in China's unique developmental history, politics and growth. These include the absence of legal aid institutions, poor government oversight and official corruption on the local and provincial levels. Key words: healthy risk, workers, survey Résumé: Les problèmes de santé et de sécurité professionnelles dans les petites et moyennes entreprises s’avèrent graves en Chine. Avec l’insuffisance de statistiques officielles documentant l’accident du travail, l’auteur a effectué l’année dernière un projet dans le delta du Yangtsé dans l’espoir d’injecter au moins des données préliminaires dans la conversation du public. L’augmentation des accidents du travail, l’échec des entreprises locales et du gouvernement à résoudre le problème soit par la prévention soit par la compensation adéquate sur les plans technique et institutionnel. Le niveau technique inclut les causes physiques de l’accident du travail qui n’est pas unique dans le delta du Yangtsé. De l’autre côté, les problèmes institutionnels s’enracinent dans l’unique histoire de développement de la Chine, ses politiques et sa croissance, comme l’absence d’aide institutionnelle légale, la vue courte du gouvernement et la corruption des officiers à l’échelle locale et provinciale. Mots-Clés: risque de santé, travailleurs, enquêt

Prevalence and spectrum of Nkx2.5 mutations associated with idiopathic atrial fibrillation

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and spectrum of Nkx2.5 mutations associated with idiopathic atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS: A cohort of 136 unrelated patients with idiopathic atrial fibrillation and 200 unrelated, ethnically matched healthy controls were enrolled. The coding exons and splice junctions of the Nkx2.5 gene were sequenced in 136 atrial fibrillation patients, and the available relatives of mutation carriers and 200 controls were subsequently genotyped for the identified mutations. The functional characteristics of the mutated Nkx2.5 gene were analyzed using a dual-luciferase reporter assay system. RESULTS: Two novel heterozygous Nkx2.5 mutations (p.N19D and p.F186S) were identified in 2 of the 136 unrelated atrial fibrillation cases, with a mutational prevalence of approximately 1.47%. These missense mutations co-segregated with atrial fibrillation in the families and were absent in the 400 control chromosomes. Notably, 2 mutation carriers also had congenital atrial septal defects and atrioventricular block. Multiple alignments of the Nkx2.5 protein sequences across various species revealed that the altered amino acids were completely conserved evolutionarily. Functional analysis demonstrated that the mutant Nkx2.5 proteins were associated with significantly reduced transcriptional activity compared to their wild-type counterpart. CONCLUSION: These findings associate the Nkx2.5 loss-of-function mutation with atrial fibrillation and atrioventricular block and provide novel insights into the molecular mechanism involved in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation. These results also have potential implications for early prophylaxis and allele-specific therapy of this common arrhythmia

Preparation of a nano emodin transfersome and study on its anti-obesity mechanism in adipose tissue of diet-induced obese rats

OBJECTIVE: To describe the preparation of nano emodin transfersome (NET) and investigate its effect on mRNA expression of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and G0/G1 switch gene 2 (G0S2) in adipose tissue of diet-induced obese rats. METHODS: NET was prepared by film-ultrasonic dispersion method. The effects of emodin components at different ratios on encapsulation efficiency were investigated.The NET envelopment rate was determined by ultraviolet spectrophotometry. The particle size and Zeta potential of NET were evaluated by Zetasizer analyzer. Sixty male SD rats were assigned to groups randomly. After 8-week treatment, body weight, wet weight of visceral fat and the percentage of body fat (PBF) were measured. Fasting blood glucose and serum lipid levels were determined. The adipose tissue section was HE stained, and the cellular diameter and quantity of adipocytes were evaluated by light microscopy. The mRNA expression of ATGL and G0S2 from the peri-renal fat tissue was assayed by RT-PCR. RESULTS: The appropriate formulation was deoxycholic acid sodium salt vs. phospholipids 1:8, cholesterol vs. phospholipids 1:3, vitamin Evs. phospholipids 1:20, and emodin vs. phospholipid 1:6. Zeta potential was −15.11 mV, and the particle size was 292.2 nm. The mean encapsulation efficiency was (69.35 ± 0.25)%. Compared with the obese model group, body weight, wet weight of visceral fat, PBF and mRNA expression of G0S2 from peri-renal fat tissue were decreased significantly after NET treatment (all P < 0.05), while high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), the diameter of adipocytes and mRNA expression of ATGL from peri-renal fat tissue were increased significantly (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The preparation method is simple and reasonable. NET with negative electricity was small and uniform in particle size, with high encapsulation efficiency and stability. NET could reduce body weight and adipocyte size, and this effect was associated with the up-regulation of ATGL, down-regulation of G0S2 expression in the adipose tissue, and improved insulin sensitivity

Return of 4U~1730--22 after 49 years silence: the peculiar burst properties of the 2021/2022 outbursts observed by Insight-HXMT

After in quiescence for 49 years, 4U~1730--22 became active and had two outbursts in 2021 \& 2022; ten thermonuclear X-ray bursts were detected with Insight-HXMT. Among them, the faintest burst showed a double-peaked profile, placing the source as the 5th accreting neutron star (NS) exhibiting double/triple-peaked type-I X-ray bursts; the other bursts showed photospheric radius expansion (PRE). The properties of double-peaked non-PRE burst indicate that it could be related to a stalled burning front. For the five bright PRE bursts, apart from the emission from the neutron star (NS) surface, we find the residuals both in the soft ($$10 keV) X-ray band. Time-resolved spectroscopy reveals that the excess can be attributed to an enhanced pre-burst/persistent emission or the Comptonization of the burst emission by the corona/boundary-layer. We find, the burst emission shows a rise until the photosphere touches down to the NS surface rather than the theoretical predicted constant Eddington luminosity. The shortage of the burst emission in the early rising phase is beyond the occlusion by the disk. We speculate that the findings above correspond to that the obscured part (not only the lower part) of the NS surface is exposed to the line of sight due to the evaporation of the obscured material by the burst emission, or the burst emission is anisotropic ($\xi>1$) in the burst early phase. In addition, based on the average flux of PRE bursts at their touch-down time, we derive a distance estimation as 10.4 kpc.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2208.13556; text overlap with arXiv:2208.1212

Trace the Accretion Geometry of H 1743--322 with Type C Quasi-periodic Oscillations in Multiple Outbursts

We present a systematic analysis of type C quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) observations of H 1743--322 throughout the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) era. We find that, while different outbursts have significant flux differences, they show consistent positive correlations between the QPO fractional root-mean-square (rms) amplitude and non-thermal fraction of the emission, which indicate an independence of the intrinsic QPO rms on individual outburst brightness in H 1743--322. However, the dependence of the QPO rms on frequency is different between the outburst rise and decay phases, where QPO fractional rms of the decay phase is significantly lower than that of the rise phase at low frequencies. The spectral analysis also reveals different ranges of coronal temperature between the two outburst stages. A semi-quantitative analysis shows that the Lense-Thirring precession model could be responsible for the QPO rms differences, requiring a variable coronal geometric shape. However, the variable-Comptonization model could also account for the findings. The fact that the rms differences and the hysteresis traces in the hardness-intensity diagram (HID) accompany each other indicates a connection between the two phenomena. By correlating the findings with QPO phase lags and the quasi-simultaneous radio flux previously published, we propose there could be corona-jet transitions in H 1743--322 similar to those that have been recently reported in GRS 1915+105.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figure

Gap Junction Mediated Intercellular Metabolite Transfer in the Cochlea Is Compromised in Connexin30 Null Mice

Connexin26 (Cx26) and connexin30 (Cx30) are two major protein subunits that co-assemble to form gap junctions (GJs) in the cochlea. Mutations in either one of them are the major cause of non-syndromic prelingual deafness in humans. Because the mechanisms of cochlear pathogenesis caused by Cx mutations are unclear, we investigated effects of Cx30 null mutation on GJ-mediated ionic and metabolic coupling in the cochlea of mice. A novel flattened cochlear preparation was used to directly assess intercellular coupling in the sensory epithelium of the cochlea. Double-electrode patch clamp recordings revealed that the absence of Cx30 did not significantly change GJ conductance among the cochlear supporting cells. The preserved electrical coupling is consistent with immunolabeling data showing extensive Cx26 GJs in the cochlea of the mutant mice. In contrast, dye diffusion assays showed that the rate and extent of intercellular transfer of multiple fluorescent dyes (including a non-metabolizable D-glucose analogue, 2-NBDG) among cochlear supporting cells were severely reduced in Cx30 null mice. Since the sensory epithelium in the cochlea is an avascular organ, GJ-facilitated intercellular transfer of nutrient and signaling molecules may play essential roles in cellular homeostasis. To test this possibility, NBDG was used as a tracer to study the contribution of GJs in transporting glucose into the cochlear sensory epithelium when delivered systemically. NBDG uptake in cochlear supporting cells was significantly reduced in Cx30 null mice. The decrease was also observed with GJ blockers or glucose competition, supporting the specificity of our tests. These data indicate that GJs facilitate efficient uptake of glucose in the supporting cells. This study provides the first direct experimental evidence showing that the transfer of metabolically-important molecules in cochlear supporting cells is dependent on the normal function of GJs, thereby suggesting a novel pathogenesis process in the cochlea for Cx-mutation-linked deafness