Elephant Culture Matter for China’s Asian Elephants Conservation

Traditional anthropogenic impacts such as hunting, using as war-elephant, trading of ivory, paying tribute to the imperial court and so on, were once thought to be directly responsible for the rapid decline of Asian elephants in China. But in Yunnan Province, China, a unique human factor such as the traditional elephant culture of local ethnic minorities, is an important factor in the conservation of Asian elephants. In these areas, we investigated by means of village interviews, field surveys and data collection, the results show that the elephant culture of ethnic minorities has a great impact on people's thoughts and behaviors, these traditional culture and belief (that mean taking elephant as the God, holding elephant as a belief, worshipping elephant and praise it) urges people to actively protect elephants and avoid more human-elephant conflicts. To enhance the public awareness of Asian elephant conservation, the Chinese Government or international environmental organizations should give higher attention and support to these elephant cultures.

Reduced Intrinsic Non-Radiative Losses Allow Room-Temperature Triplet Emission from Purely Organic Emitters

Persistent luminescence from triplet excitons in organic molecules is rare, as fast non-radiative deactivation typically dominates over radiative transitions. This work demonstrates that the substitution of a hydrogen atom in a derivative of phenanthroimidazole with an N-phenyl ring can substantially stabilize the excited state. This stabilization converts an organic material without phosphorescence emission into a molecular system exhibiting efficient and ultralong afterglow phosphorescence at room temperature. Results from systematic photophysical investigations, kinetic modeling, excited-state dynamic modeling, and single-crystal structure analysis identify that the long-lived triplets originate from a reduction of intrinsic non-radiative molecular relaxations. Further modification of the N-phenyl ring with halogen atoms affects the afterglow lifetime and quantum yield. As a proof-of-concept, an anticounterfeiting device is demonstrated with a time-dependent Morse code feature for data encryption based on these emitters. A fundamental design principle is outlined to achieve long-lived and emissive triplet states by suppressing intrinsic non-radiative relaxations in the form of molecular vibrations or rotations

A Comparative Analysis of Medical Education Models and Curriculums of A Medical University and A Medical Education Center

Introduction: In order to solve the shortage of competent healthcare manpower at the village level of Yunnan Province, We compared the training mode of Kunming Medical University and The Medical Educational Center, Hat Yai of PSU. The aim of this study is to compare the difference of the two institutions and learn from each other’s advantages. Methods: The review covered relevant policy areas and stipulations governing general practitioner training for both countries. Quantitative research was done by using a questionnaire developed in house by the project team, students from the inaugural cohort at KMU and students from the MECH. In Qualitative research, in-depth interviews were carried out with the teaching administration and students from both schools. Results: In Kunming Medical University, besides the conventional lectures, teaching methods such as case based learning and problem based learning have been worked into the basic science, laboratory, and clerkship/internship sessions. The desired end product is a general practitioner.  In Prince of Songkla University, the first and second phases consist of basic science and preclinical integrated topics taught at PSU. For the third and final phase, the students have core clinical modules and selective at MECH where the methods are learner centered, problem based, integrated and set in the context of community primary healthcare practice. Conclusions: We should start with the integration of the medical disciplines and the humanities, so as to restore the lost “art of doctoring”. We need to integrate the various foundational and clinical disciplines into an organ system based curriculum, not just in form, but also in function and purpose. Keywords: curriculums; Hat Yai; Kunming Medical University; medical education models; Medical Education Center

Social and spatial inequalities in allostatic load among adults in China: A multilevel longitudinal study

Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. Objectives To investigate potential geographical and socioeconomic patterning of allostatic load (AL) in China. Design Multilevel longitudinal study of the 2010 Chronic Disease Risk Factor Surveillance linked to the National Death Surveillance up to 31 December 2015. Setting All 31 provinces in China, not including Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan. Participants 96 466 ≥ 18 years old (women=54.3%). Exposures Person-level educational attainment and mean years of education in counties. Outcome AL was measured using clinical guidelines for nine biomarkers: body mass index; waist circumference; systolic blood pressure; diastolic blood pressure; fasting blood glucose; total cholesterol; triglycerides; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Results Multilevel logistic regressions adjusted for sex, age, marital status, person-level education, county mean years of education and urban/rural reported ORs of 1.22 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.38) for 5-year all-cause mortality (n=3284) and 1.20 (1.04-1.37) for deaths from non-communicable diseases (n=2891) among people in AL quintile 5 (high) compared with quintile 1 (low). The median rate ratio estimated from unadjusted multilevel negative binomial regression showed AL clustered geographically (province=1.14; county=1.12; town=1.11; village=1.14). After adjusting for aforementioned confounders, AL remained higher with age (rate ratio 1.02, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.02), higher in women compared with men (1.17, 1.15 to 1.19), lower among singletons (0.83, 0.81 to 0.85) and widowers (0.96, 0.94 to 0.98). AL was lower among people with university-level compared with no education (0.92, 0.89 to 0.96), but higher in counties with higher mean education years (1.03, 1.01 to 1.05). A two-way interaction suggested AL was higher (1.04, 1.02 to 1.06) among those with university-level compared with no education within counties with higher mean years of education. Similar results were observed for alternative constructions of AL using 75th and 80th percentile cut-points. Conclusions AL in China is patterned geographically. The degree of association between AL and person-level education seems to be dependent on area-level education, which may be a proxy for other contextual factors that warrant investigation

Fabrication of Polymer Micelles with Zwitterionic Shell and Biodegradable Core for Reductively Responsive Release of Doxorubicin

To achieve a high stability in physiological environment and rapid intracellular drug release, a biodegradable zwitterionic triblock copolymer with a disulfide-linked poly-ε-caprolactone and polycarboxybetaine methacrylate (PCBMA-SS-PCL-SS-PCBMA) was prepared for micellar carrier to delivery doxorubicin (DOX) into tumor cells. PCBMA-SS-PCL-SS-PCBMA was obtained by following steps: i) introducing disulfide bonds through end-group modification of PCL diol with cystamine dihydrochloride; ii) preparing PCL-RAFT macromolecular chain transfer agent by EDC/NHS chemistry; iii) RAFT polymerization of zwitterionic monomer. Self-assembling from PCBMA-SS-PCL-SS-PCBMA, polymeric micelles had many advantages, such as ultra-low protein absorption in serum and obvious reduction-responsiveness in the presence of DTT. Furthermore, DOX-loaded micelles exhibited high stability upon centrifugation and lyophilization, a fast intracellular drug release and enhanced drug efficacy due to GSH-triggered PCBMA shell shedding and micellar reassembling. Thus, the polymeric micelles integrated several functions and properties could be prospectively utilized as valuable nanocarriers in cancer chemotherapeutics

Associations between maternal occupational exposures and pregnancy outcomes among Chinese nurses: a nationwide study

Abstract Background Several studies have provided evidence about adverse pregnancy outcomes of nurses involved in occupational exposure. However, the pregnancy outcomes among nurses in middle-income countries are not well demonstrated. The main aim of this study is to present the prevalence and influencing factors of pregnancy outcomes among female nurses in China. Methods We included 2243 non-nurse health care workers, and 4230 nurses in this national cross-sectional study in China. Information on occupational exposures and pregnancy outcomes was collected using a face-to-face investigation. Odds ratios (ORs) were estimated through logistic regression. Results The proportion of threatened abortion, spontaneous abortion, and stillbirth of female nurses was 2.6%, 7%, and 2.1%, respectively. We found an increased risk of threatened abortion among nurses with overtime work (OR = 1.719, 95% CI 1.158–2.550). The risk of threatened abortion and spontaneous abortion was elevated among nurses handling disinfectant (OR = 2.293 and 1.63, respectively). We found a nearly twofold increased risk of premature birth (OR = 2.169, 95% CI 1.36–3.459) among nurses handling anti-cancer drugs. Conclusions Our findings suggested that maternal occupational exposures might be associated with the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes among female nurses in China. We recommend that policy-markers and hospital managers work together to reduce exposure to occupational hazards and improve pregnancy outcomes among female nurses

Urine Metabolic Profiling for Rapid Lung Cancer Screening: A Strategy Combining Rh-Doped SrTiO₃‑Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry and Machine Learning

Lung cancer ranks among the cancers with the highest global incidence rates and mortality. Swift and extensive screening is crucial for the early-stage diagnosis of lung cancer. Laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) possesses clear advantages over traditional analytical methods for large-scale analysis due to its unique features, such as simple sample processing, rapid speed, and high-throughput performance. As n-type semiconductors, titanate-based perovskite materials can generate charge carriers under ultraviolet light irradiation, providing the capability for use as an LDI-MS substrate. In this study, we employ Rh-doped SrTiO3 (STO/Rh)-assisted LDI-MS combined with machine learning to establish a method for urine-based lung cancer screening. We directly analyzed urine metabolites from lung cancer patients (LCs), pneumonia patients (PNs), and healthy controls (HCs) without employing any pretreatment. Through the integration of machine learning, LCs are successfully distinguished from HCs and PNs, achieving impressive area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.940 for LCs vs HCs and 0.864 for LCs vs PNs. Furthermore, we identified 10 metabolites with significantly altered levels in LCs, leading to the discovery of related pathways through metabolic enrichment analysis. These results suggest the potential of this method for rapidly distinguishing LCs in clinical applications and promoting precision medicine