China's human resources for maternal and child health:a national sampling survey

Background: In order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 4 and 5, the Chinese Government has invested greatly in improving maternal and child health (MCH) with impressive results. However, one of the most important barriers for further improvement is the uneven distribution of MCH human resources. There is little information about the distribution, quantity and capacity of the Chinese MCH human resources and we sought to investigate this. Methods: Cities at prefectural level were selected by random cluster sampling. All medical and health institutions providing MCH-related services in the sampled areas were investigated using a structured questionnaire. The data were weighted based on the proportion of the sampled districts/cities. Amount, proportions and numbers per 10,000 population of MCH human resources were estimated in order to reveal the quantity of the Chinese MCH human resources. The capacity of MCH human resources was evaluated by analyzing data on the education level and professional skills of the staff. Results: There were 77,248 MCH workers in China in 2010. In general, 67.6 % and 71.9 % of the women's and children's health care professionals had an associate degree or higher, whereas around 30 % had only high-school or lower degrees. More than 40 % of the women's health workers were capable of providing skilled birth attendance, but these proportions varied between different institutions and locations. Conclusions: Evidence from this study highlights that Chinese MCH human resources are not in shortage in the national level. However, the quantity and capacity of MCH human resources are not evenly distributed among different institutions and locations. Finally there is a need in the improvement of the MCH services by improving the quality of MCH human resources.UNICEFSCI(E)[email protected]

An analysis of women's and children's health professional requirements in China in 2010 based on workload

Background: To make health services more equitable and accessible for women and children and to achieve a universal coverage, human resources for women and children's health (WCH) should be evaluated. However, since there is still no consensus on the real situation of Chinese WCH professionals, we aim with this study to compare the actual and required amount of WCH professionals for China. Methods: The data of the actual number of WCH professionals and workload of each service type was obtained by a national institution-based sampling survey. We then estimated the time that a WCH professional spends at work (annually), the time norm of each service schedule and the required number of WCH professionals based on workload. We evaluated the situation of Chinese WCH professionals in 2010 by comparing the actual and required WCH professionals and by calculating the ratios of the actual-to-required number of staff. Results: There were 515,778 health professionals providing WCH services in the investigated 5,168 medical/health institutions in 2010. Workloads of most WCH services in east areas were larger than that in the central and the west. For women's health, the numbers of required WCH professionals were 48510, 43992, 40571 and 133073 for the east, the central, the west areas and the whole nation respectively. For children's health professionals, the corresponding numbers were 56241, 36818, 40618 and 133677 for the east, the central, the west and the whole nation. Conclusions: The WCH professionals in China were sufficient for workload in 2010, there were still lots of potential capacities to provide better services, especially for women. Strategies should be taken to improve the quality of WCH professionals or their working motivation.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000347346200001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701Health Care Sciences & ServicesSCI(E)[email protected]

Dynamic Multiscale Information Spillover among Crude Oil Time Series

This study investigated information spillovers across crude oil time series at different time scales, using a network combined with a wavelet transform. It can detect the oil price, which plays an important role in the dynamic process of spillovers, and it can also analyze the dynamic feature of systematic risk based on entropy at different scales. The results indicate that the network structure changes with time, and the important roles of an oil price can be identified. WTI and Brent act as important spillover transmitters, and other prices are important spillover receivers at a scale. With the increase in time scale, both the number of neighbors and the importance of spillovers of Brent and WTI as spillover transmitters show downward trends. The importance for spillovers of China–Shengli and Dubai as spillover receivers shows a downward trend. This paper provides new evidence for explaining WTI and Brent as global benchmark oil prices. In addition, systematic risk is time-varying, and it is smaller at short-term scale than at long-term scale. The trend of systematic risk is also discussed when typical oil-related events occur. This paper provides a new perspective for exploring dynamic spillovers and systematic risk that offers important implications for policymakers and market investors

The Spatial Heterogeneity Effect of Green Finance Development on Carbon Emissions

This paper uses the entropy method to estimate China’s green financial development from four aspects, namely, green credit, green securities, green insurance, and green investment, based on the provincial-level panel data from 2008 to 2019. The spatial Durbin model (SDM) is adopted to estimate the spatial effect of green finance on carbon emissions. We then compare the heterogeneous effect in the South and North of China. The results show that China’s green financial development can significantly reduce carbon emissions, and regional heterogeneities are obvious. In the South of China, this effect from local and adjacent regions is not significant, while on the whole, green finance can significantly reduce carbon emissions; but for Northern China, this effect is not significant; nationally, the development of green finance and carbon emissions in adjacent areas showed an inverted U-shaped relationship. China’s green financial development and carbon emissions also showed an inverted U-shaped relationship. These results suggest that the effect of green finance development on carbon emissions exhibits substantial regional heterogeneity in China. Our paper provides some concrete empirical evidence for policymakers to formulate green financial policies to achieve the double carbon goal in China

Sequential extraction results in improved proteome profiling of medicinal plant Pinellia ternata tubers, which contain large amounts of high-abundance proteins.

Pinellia ternata tuber is one of the well-known Chinese traditional medicines. In order to understand the pharmacological properties of tuber proteins, it is necessary to perform proteome analysis of P. ternata tubers. However, a few high-abundance proteins (HAPs), mainly mannose-binding lectin (agglutinin), exist in aggregates of various sizes in the tubers and seriously interfere with proteome profiling by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE). Therefore, selective depletion of these HAPs is a prerequisite for enhanced proteome analysis of P. ternata tubers. Based on differential protein solubility, we developed a novel protocol involving two sequential extractions for depletion of some HAPs and prefractionation of tuber proteins prior to 2-DE. The first extraction using 10% acetic acid selectively extracted acid-soluble HAPs and the second extraction using the SDS-containing buffer extracted remaining acid-insoluble proteins. After application of the protocol, 2-DE profiles of P. ternata tuber proteins were greatly improved and more protein spots were detected, especially low-abundance proteins. Moreover, the subunit composition of P. ternata lectin was analyzed by electrophoresis. Native lectin consists of two hydrogen-bonded subunits (11 kDa and 25 kDa) and the 11 kDa subunit was a glycoprotein. Subsequently, major HAPs in the tubers were analyzed by mass spectrometry, with nine protein spots being identified as lectin isoforms. The methodology was easy to perform and required no specialized apparatus. It would be useful for proteome analysis of other tuber plants of Araceae

Proteome Profiling of Maize Pollen Coats Reveals Novel Protein Components

The pollen coat, which covers the exine wall of pollen, is essential for initial sexual contact and thus successful fertilization in flowering plants. Pollen coat proteins (PCPs) not only mediate species specificity but are also needed for pollen–stigma recognition and pollen germination on the stigma. Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most common cereal crops in the world. To date, only a few PCPs from maize have been identified and characterized. In the present study, we extracted the pollen coat fraction from maize inbred line B73 with chloroform and purified the PCPs via a phenolbased protocol prior to two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). By proteomic analysis, 26 protein spots were successfully identified and classified into 12 unique proteins. The protein composition of the maize pollen coat is distinctly different from those of the dicot plants Arabidopsis and rapeseed. Of the proteins identified in this study, eight (including p r o f i l i ns , caleos i n , Zea m 2 , β- expans i n - 1 0 , exopolygalacturonase, Rho GDP-dissociation inhibitor 1, Ras-related protein Rab-2-A, and putative subtilase) had not previously been observed in the maize pollen coat. Bioinformatic analysis showed that nine of the PCPs were secreted proteins and that most of them were extracellular. These PCPs are potentially involved in pollen germination and tube growth. The current study extracted and identified the pollen coat proteins of maize, one of the most important crops throughout the world. Proteome profiling of the maize pollen coat revealed many novel protein components potentially involved in pollen–stigma interactions and pollen germination. Our results provide basic knowledge and further the functional characterization of PCPs in wind-pollinated species such as maize

Identification of subunit compositions of lectins in <i>P. ternata</i> tubers.

<p><b>A</b>, native gel, total tuber proteins. <b>B</b>, total tuber proteins and purified Bands 1–3 were resolved by SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions (with DTT). <b>C</b>, total tuber proteins and purified Bands 1–3 were resolved by SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions (without DTT).</p

Protein profiles of total proteins of <i>Pinellia ternata</i> tubers separated by SDS-PAGE and 2-DE.

<p>Total protein was extracted from acetone tissue powder of <i>P. ternata</i> tubers with SDS-containing buffer and purified by phenol extraction. Protein loads were 30 μg (<b>A</b>) and 400 μg (<b>B</b>), respectively. Gels were stained with CBB R. HAPs in tuber extract were indicated. Rectangles: indicating the mask effect of HAPS on other protein spots (<b>B</b>).</p

Sequential protein extraction improved the SDS-PAGE profiles of <i>P. ternata</i> tuber proteins.

<p><b>A</b>, equal amounts of proteins (25 μg) from each extract were separated by SDS-PAGE. <b>B</b>, depletion effect of different concentrations of acetic acid. <b>C</b>, detection of glycoproteins in <i>P. ternata</i> tubers. Total tuber proteins were resolved by SDS-PAGE and visualized by CBB (protein load 25 μg) and Alcian stain (protein load 10 μg), respectively. Only the 11 kDa band was stained by Alcian staining, indicating a glycoprotein.</p

Workflow for sequential protein extraction protocol.

<p>Acetone tissue powder of <i>Pinellia ternata</i> tubers was sequentially extracted by 10% acetic acid, followed by SDS-containing buffer.</p