Development of a Composite Technique for Preconditioning of 41Cr4 Steel Used as Gear Material: Examination of Its Microstructural Characteristics and Properties

Commercial 41Cr4 (ISO standard) steel was treated by a composite technique. An intermediate layer was introduced firstly at the 41Cr4 steel surface by traditional carburizing and nitriding. Then a hard Cr coating was brush-plated on the intermediate layer. Finally, the coating layer was modified by high current pulsed electron beam (HCPEB), followed by quenching and subsequent tempering treatment. The microstructure, mechanical properties, and fracture behavior were characterized. The results show that a nanocrystalline Cr coating is formed at the 41Cr4 steel surface by the treatment of the new composite technique. Such nanocrystalline Cr coating has acceptable hardness and high corrosion resistance performance, which satisfies the demands of the gears working under high speed and corrosive environment. The composite process proposed in this study is considered as a new prospect method due to the multifunction layer design on the gear surface

The Community Health Supporting Environments and Residents’ Health and Well-Being:The Role of Health Literacy

We evaluate the impacts that health supporting environments have on residents’ health and well-being. Using a stratified multi-stage sampling method, we select a sample of 12,360 permanent adult residents aged 15–69, and collect information on their health literacy level, as well as their demographic background and health. This individual level data is then merged with the administrative health supporting environment data. More than two thirds of residents self-reported having good/excellent health, and the percent of adults living in communities with healthy parks, healthy trails, and healthy huts in their community is 23 percent, 43 percent, and 25 percent, respectively. Controlling for a series of confounding factors at the community and individual levels, we find that healthy parks and healthy trails are positively correlated with self-reported health, which increases the probability of self-reporting good health by 2.0 percentage points (p < 0.10) and 6.0 percentage points (p < 0.01), respectively. Access to healthy huts is negatively associated with self-reported health, decreasing the probability of self-reporting good health by 5.0 percentage points (p < 0.01). Health literacy plays a role in moderating the effect of health parks, and a positive effect is more likely to be observed among adults with lower health literacy. Health supporting environments may play a role in reducing the likelihood of undiagnosed diseases and changing residents’ lifestyles, which promotes the health and well-being of residents, especially among those with inadequate health literacy

Psoriasis comorbid with atherosclerosis meets in lipid metabolism

Psoriasis (PSO) is a common skin disease affecting approximately 1%–3% of the population, and the incidence rate is increasing yearly. PSO is associated with a dramatically increased risk of cardiovascular disease, the most common of which is atherosclerosis (AS). In the past, inflammation was considered to be the triggering factor of the two comorbidities, but in recent years, studies have found that lipid metabolism disorders increase the probability of atherosclerosis in patients with psoriasis. In this review, we discuss epidemiological studies, clinical treatment methods, risk factors, and lipid metabolism of psoriasis and atherosclerosis comorbidities

Design and baseline characteristics of the finerenone in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in diabetic kidney disease trial

Background: Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. Patients and Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate >= 25 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio >= 30 to <= 5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level alpha = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. Conclusions: FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049

The Effect of Off-Farm Employment on Agricultural Production Efficiency: Micro Evidence in China

With ensuring food security becoming a priority for the Chinese government, the prevalence of off-farm employment (OE) may cast a shadow on agricultural productivity. Based on the data of the China Family Panel Studies in 2018, the Tobit model and threshold effect model have been applied to investigate the impact of off-farm employment on agricultural productivity efficiency (APE), measured by data envelopment analysis (DEA). The result has shown that: (1) OE contributes to a low level of APE. (2) Both self-employed off-farm employment (SOE) and wage-based off-farm employment (WOE) result in lower APE levels when endogenous issues are addressed. However, SOE had a greater negative impact on APE than WOE. (3) There exists a threshold for OE associated with a lower level of APE, indicating that the negative effect of OE on APE disappears when the degree of OE is high enough, SOE has a lower threshold than WOE. The study findings have implications for improving agricultural production efficiency in the context of large-scale off-farm employment of Chinese farmers

How Birth Season Affects Vulnerability to the Effect of Ambient Ozone Exposure on the Disease Burden of Hypertension in the Elderly Population in a Coastal City in South China

Birth season is an important factor that reflects prenatal nutritional conditions during early development, and which might have lifelong impacts on health. Moreover, ambient ozone pollution has been considered an important environmental risk factor for hypertension. However, whether birth season affects vulnerability to the effect of ambient ozone exposure on late-life hypertension is still unknown. A flexible case&ndash;crossover design was used to explore the effect of ambient ozone exposure on the disease burden of hypertension using years of life lost (YLL) in the elderly population in a coastal city in South China from 2013 to 2016. The influence of birth season was also explored. Ozone exposure was significantly associated with increased YLL from hypertension. The association was higher in the elderly individuals who were born in autumn than in those born in other seasons. Specifically, every 10 &mu;g/m3 increase in ozone was associated with 0.68 (95% CI: 0.27, 1.10) YLL from hypertension in the elderly population born in autumn, while nonsignificant associations were found for those born in other seasons. The birth season, which affects the nutritional condition during early development, could affect vulnerability to the effect of ambient ozone exposure on the disease burden of hypertension in late life. The findings highlighted the importance of taking birth season into consideration when exploring the hypertensive effects of ozone exposure

The Effect of Off-Farm Employment on Agricultural Production Efficiency: Micro Evidence in China

With ensuring food security becoming a priority for the Chinese government, the prevalence of off-farm employment (OE) may cast a shadow on agricultural productivity. Based on the data of the China Family Panel Studies in 2018, the Tobit model and threshold effect model have been applied to investigate the impact of off-farm employment on agricultural productivity efficiency (APE), measured by data envelopment analysis (DEA). The result has shown that: (1) OE contributes to a low level of APE. (2) Both self-employed off-farm employment (SOE) and wage-based off-farm employment (WOE) result in lower APE levels when endogenous issues are addressed. However, SOE had a greater negative impact on APE than WOE. (3) There exists a threshold for OE associated with a lower level of APE, indicating that the negative effect of OE on APE disappears when the degree of OE is high enough, SOE has a lower threshold than WOE. The study findings have implications for improving agricultural production efficiency in the context of large-scale off-farm employment of Chinese farmers

Atmospheric occurrence, transport and gas-particle partitioning of polychlorinated biphenyls over the northwestern Pacific Ocean

Ship-board air samples were collected during March to May 2015 from the East China Sea (ECS) to the northwestern Pacific Ocean (NWP) to explore the atmospheric occurrence and gas particle partitioning of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) when the westerly East Asian Monsoon prevailed. Total PCB concentrations in the atmosphere ranged from 56.8 to 261 pg m(-3). Higher PCB levels were observed off the coast and minor temperature-induced changes showed that continuous emissions from East Asia remain as an important source to the regional atmosphere. A significant relationship between K-oa (octanol air partition coefficient) and K-p (gas particle partition coefficient) for PCBs was observed under continental air masses, suggesting that land-derived Organic aerosols affected the PCB gas particle partitioning after long-range transport, while an absence of this correlation was identified in marine air masses. The PCB partitioning cannot be fully explained by the absorptive mechanism as the predicted Kp were found to be 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than the measured K-p, while the prediction was closely matched when soot adsorption was considered. The results suggested the importance of soot carbon as a transport medium for PCBs during their long-range transport and considerable impacts of continental outflows on PCBs across the downwind area. The estimated transport mass of particulate PCBs into the ECS and NWP totals 2333 kg during the spring, constituting ca. 17% of annual emission inventories of unintentionally produced PCB in China. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved