Egg consumption associated with all-cause mortality in rural China: A 14-year follow-up study

Background: Dietary recommendations regarding egg intake remain controversial topic for public health. We hypothesized that there was a positive association between egg consumption and all-cause mortality. Methods: To test this hypothesis, we enrolled 9885 adults from a community-based cohort in Anhui Province, China during 2003-05. Egg consumption was assessed by food questionnaire. Stratified analyses were performed for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, smoking, drinking and laboratory tests. Results: After an average follow-up of 14.1 years, 9444 participants were included for analysis. A total of 814 deaths were recorded. Participants\u27 BMI and lipid profile had no significantly difference between three egg consumption groups. BMI was 21.6±2.7 of the whole population, especially BMI\u3e24 was only 17.3%. A bivariate association of egg consumption \u3e6/week with increased all-cause mortality was observed compared with ≤6/week (RR: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.73, P = 0.018). A significant interaction was observed for BMI ≥ 21.2 kg/m2 vs. BMI\u3c21.2 kg/m2 (P for interaction: 0.001). No other significant interactions were found. Conclusions: In this study, consuming \u3e6 eggs/week increased risk of all-cause mortality, even among lean participants, especially who with BMI ≥ 21.2 kg/m2. Eggs are an easily accessible and constitute an affordable food source in underdeveloped regions. Consuming \u3c6 eggs/week may be the most suitable intake mode

C5aR1 shapes a non-inflammatory tumor microenvironment and mediates immune evasion in gastric cancer

C5a receptor 1 (C5aR1) is associated with various inflammatory processes, the pathogenesis of immune diseases, and tumor growth. However, its role in the tumor microenvironment of gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. In this study, the expression of C5aR1 in GC and normal gastric mucosa tissues was compared using data retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases, and the results were validated by in vitro qRT-PCR and immunohistochemical analyses. The relationship between C5aR1 expression and the overall survival of patients with GC was analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method. Subsequently, enrichment analysis was performed, and the signaling pathways were screened. C5aR1 expression was also correlated with genes related to the immune checkpoint and immune cell infiltration. The results revealed that C5aR1 expression was enhanced in GC tissues compared to normal gastric tissues, and that patients with high expression of C5aR1 had a worse 10-year overall survival compared to those showing low expression of C5aR1. Functional analysis revealed that C5aR1 is a gene related to theimmune system and may play a crucial role in inflammatory and tumor immune responses. Additionally, C5aR1 showed a positive correlation with most immune checkpoint-related genes and a negative correlation with natural killer cells, dendritic cells, and CD8+ T cells. Immune evasion risk was observed to be significantly greater in patients with higher expression of C5aR1 than in those with lower expression. The results of this study reveal that C5aR1 shapes a non-inflammatory tumor microenvironment in GC and mediates immune evasion

Definitive characterization of CA 19-9 in resectable pancreatic cancer using a reference set of serum and plasma specimens

The validation of candidate biomarkers often is hampered by the lack of a reliable means of assessing and comparing performance. We present here a reference set of serum and plasma samples to facilitate the validation of biomarkers for resectable pancreatic cancer. The reference set includes a large cohort of stage I-II pancreatic cancer patients, recruited from 5 different institutions, and relevant control groups. We characterized the performance of the current best serological biomarker for pancreatic cancer, CA 19-9, using plasma samples from the reference set to provide a benchmark for future biomarker studies and to further our knowledge of CA 19-9 in early-stage pancreatic cancer and the control groups. CA 19-9 distinguished pancreatic cancers from the healthy and chronic pancreatitis groups with an average sensitivity and specificity of 70-74%, similar to previous studies using all stages of pancreatic cancer. Chronic pancreatitis patients did not show CA 19-9 elevations, but patients with benign biliary obstruction had elevations nearly as high as the cancer patients. We gained additional information about the biomarker by comparing two distinct assays. The two CA 9-9 assays agreed well in overall performance but diverged in measurements of individual samples, potentially due to subtle differences in antibody specificity as revealed by glycan array analysis. Thus, the reference set promises be a valuable resource for biomarker validation and comparison, and the CA 19-9 data presented here will be useful for benchmarking and for exploring relationships to CA 19-9

“丝绸之路经济带”战略构想与中俄能源合作深化展望 / The Outlook of China-Russia Energy Cooperation in The Light of the Strategic Framework of The Silk Road Economic Belt

2013年9月，中国国家主席习近平提出建设“丝绸之路经济带”的新构想。在这一新构想下，各国将利用全方位的区域合作实现共同发展和繁荣。其中，中俄作为相互毗邻的大国，在世界大国关系中具有重要的政治和经济地位，而能源合作又是中俄关系中最为关键、影响巨大的重点领域之一。本文在围绕中俄能源合作中具体问题探讨的基础上，以“丝绸之路经济带”为视角，对新构想下中俄能源合作的前景进行展望，并就深化中俄能源合作提出政策建议参考。 In September 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping initially proposed the building of the Strategic Framework of The Silk Road Economic Belt. Against this background, the involved countries will achieve joint development and co-prosperity by carrying out all-round regional cooperation. As close neighbors, both China and Russia have very important political and economic positions in the world; meanwhile, energy cooperation is one of most significant and influential fields in the China-Russia relationship. This paper tries to analyze some concrete issues in the process of the China-Russia energy cooperation, illustrate the outlook of the cooperation between the two countries in terms of the Silk Road Economic Belt, and finally raise policy references to deepen the China-Russia energy cooperation in the future

Analysis of the decoupling effect and driving factors of carbon emissions from the transportation sector in Guangdong Province

Abstract To propel the green transformation of the transportation industry in Guangdong Province. Against the backdrop of the five-year plan, this study employs the Tapio decoupling model and the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index decomposition method to analyze the decoupling status and driving factors of carbon emissions from transportation and economic growth in Guangdong Province from 2001 to 2020. The results show that:(1) Both the total volume of carbon emissions from transportation and per capita emissions exhibit an overall upward trend, with petroleum-based emissions accounting for an overwhelming 96%, with diesel emissions register the highest proportion and most substantial increase. (2) The decoupling status predominantly manifests as weak decoupling, with intermittent years expansive coupling,, expansive negative decoupling, strong decoupling, and recessive coupling, thus indicating a persistent state of decoupling instability. (3) The study introduces the urbanization effect, wherein the effects of income urbanization, as well as spatial urbanization, predominantly exert positive driving influences. Conversely, the effects of energy intensity, population urbanization, industry scale, and energy structure collectively exert negative driving influences. Notably, the effect of income urbanization emerges as the primary factor propelling the augmentation of carbon emissions, while the energy intensity effect serves as the primary factor curbing such escalation. Finally, pertinent policy recommendations are put forth

Optimal Contract Design in Contract Farming under Asymmetric Effort Information

This paper studies the contract design, optimal financing, and pricing decision of the leading agricultural enterprise when the level of effort of the farmer is private information. We use buyer direct finance and add agricultural income insurance to transfer risks to overcome the farmer’s loan difficulty and contract default caused by information asymmetry. We design four kinds of contracts, including the uninsured and symmetric information contract (SN contract), the uninsured and asymmetric information contract (AN contract), the insured and symmetric information contract (SY contract), and the insured and asymmetric information contract (AY contract). Through comparative analysis of the different types of contracts, several results are obtained. First, when there is no insurance, supervision of the leading enterprise can improve the farmer’s level of effort; but supervision costs are incurred, and incentive contracts can avoid the farmer’s moral hazard. Second, agricultural income insurance improves the farmer’s level of effort when information is asymmetric, which transfers risks and saves costs for all the game participants. Third, the leading enterprise prefers an asymmetric information contract and the farmer prefers AN contract when the probability of loan repayment is high

Optimal Contract Design in Contract Farming under Asymmetric Effort Information

This paper studies the contract design, optimal financing, and pricing decision of the leading agricultural enterprise when the level of effort of the farmer is private information. We use buyer direct finance and add agricultural income insurance to transfer risks to overcome the farmer’s loan difficulty and contract default caused by information asymmetry. We design four kinds of contracts, including the uninsured and symmetric information contract (SN contract), the uninsured and asymmetric information contract (AN contract), the insured and symmetric information contract (SY contract), and the insured and asymmetric information contract (AY contract). Through comparative analysis of the different types of contracts, several results are obtained. First, when there is no insurance, supervision of the leading enterprise can improve the farmer’s level of effort; but supervision costs are incurred, and incentive contracts can avoid the farmer’s moral hazard. Second, agricultural income insurance improves the farmer’s level of effort when information is asymmetric, which transfers risks and saves costs for all the game participants. Third, the leading enterprise prefers an asymmetric information contract and the farmer prefers AN contract when the probability of loan repayment is high

The effect of cascaded huge dams on the downstream movement of Coreius guichenoti (Sauvage & Dabry de Thiersant, 1874) in the upper Yangtze River

Huge dams (installed capacity > 100 MKW) are generally built on large rivers that display high biodiversity and include major migration routes for many diadromous and potamodromous fish. As a result, these dams lead to severe ecological impacts and receive more attention than smaller dams. Most previous work on the impact of huge dams on fish downstream movement has focused on a single dam and reservoir, so little is known about the effect of cascaded huge dams and reservoirs on downstream movement. During the period 2012-2014, two huge dams (the Xiangjiaba and the Xiluodu) were constructed on the upper Yangtze River and the reservoir impoundments began, respectively in October 2012 and May 2013. These cascaded hydroelectric projects could have a large adverse effect on the downstream movement of an important potamodromous fish species, Coreius guichenoti. To study the effect of cascaded impact of sequential huge dams and reservoirs on passive and active downstream movement of C. guichenoti, eggs and larvae were collected in the Yibin section during 2012-2014 and fish were collected monthly at a site in the Hejiang section from June 2012 to July 2014. Our results showed that, compared to one huge reservoir and dam, cascaded dams exert a more serious effect and obstruct downstream movement of eggs, larvae and young fish (particularly the yearlings and two-year-olds) of C. guichenoti. Individual C. guichenoti were able to pass with relative ease through one reservoir and dam, but passing through both reservoirs and dams was very difficult. To allow access to the spawning grounds upstream, a fish passage should be built on the Xiluodu dam. However, due to the hydropower development in the whole upper basin, captive breeding and maintaining at least 60 km of riverine habitat upstream of a spawning ground could be a more cost-effective approach to maintaining C. guichenoti populations in the Upper Yangtze River