Periodontal health: A national cross‐sectional study of knowledge, attitudes and practices for the public oral health strategy in China

Aim To assess the status of periodontal health knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) among Chinese adults. Materials and Methods A cross‐sectional study was conducted in a nationally representative sample of adults (N = 50,991) aged 20 years or older from ten provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. Percentages of Chinese adults with correct periodontal knowledge, positive periodontal attitudes, and practices were estimated. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to examine the related factors. Results Less than 20% of Chinese adults were knowledgeable about periodontal disease. Very few (2.6%) of Chinese adults use dental floss ≥once a day and undergo scaling ≥once a year and visit a dentist (6.4%) in the case of gingival bleeding. Periodontal health KAP was associated with gender, age, body mass index, marital status, place of residence, education level, income, smoking status, and history of periodontal disease. Conclusions Periodontal health KAP are generally poor among the Chinese adult population. Community‐based health strategies to improve periodontal health KAP need to be implemented. Increasing knowledge of periodontal disease, the cultivation of correct practices in response to gingival bleeding, and the development of good habits concerning the use of dental floss and regular scaling should be public oral health priorities

Genetic disruption of oncogenic Kras sensitizes lung cancer cells to Fas receptor-mediated apoptosis

Genetic lesions that activate KRAS account for approximately 30% of the 1.6 million annual cases of lung cancer. Despite clinical need, KRAS is still undruggable using traditional small-molecule drugs/inhibitors. When oncogenic Kras is suppressed by RNA interference, tumors initially regress but eventually recur and proliferate despite suppression of Kras Here, we show that tumor cells can survive knockout of oncogenic Kras, indicating the existence of Kras-independent survival pathways. Thus, even if clinical KRAS inhibitors were available, resistance would remain an obstacle to treatment. Kras-independent cancer cells exhibit decreased colony formation in vitro but retain the ability to form tumors in mice. Comparing the transcriptomes of oncogenic Kras cells and Kras knockout cells, we identified 603 genes that were specifically up-regulated in Kras knockout cells, including the Fas gene, which encodes a cell surface death receptor involved in physiological regulation of apoptosis. Antibodies recognizing Fas receptor efficiently induced apoptosis of Kras knockout cells but not oncogenic Kras-expressing cells. Increased Fas expression in Kras knockout cells was attributed to decreased association of repressive epigenetic marks at the Fas promoter. Concordant with this observation, treating oncogenic Kras cells with histone deacetylase inhibitor and Fas-activating antibody efficiently induced apoptosis, thus bypassing the need to inhibit Kras. Our results suggest that activation of Fas could be exploited as an Achilles\u27 heel in tumors initiated by oncogenic Kras

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing induces exon skipping by alternative splicing or exon deletion

CRISPR is widely used to disrupt gene function by inducing small insertions and deletions. Here, we show that some single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs) can induce exon skipping or large genomic deletions that delete exons. For example, CRISPR-mediated editing of β-catenin exon 3, which encodes an autoinhibitory domain, induces partial skipping of the in-frame exon and nuclear accumulation of β-catenin. A single sgRNA can induce small insertions or deletions that partially alter splicing or unexpected larger deletions that remove exons. Exon skipping adds to the unexpected outcomes that must be accounted for, and perhaps taken advantage of, in CRISPR experiments. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-017-1237-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

The oyster genome reveals stress adaptation and complexity of shell formation

The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas belongs to one of the most species-rich but genomically poorly explored phyla, the Mollusca. Here we report the sequencing and assembly of the oyster genome using short reads and a fosmid-pooling strategy, along with transcriptomes of development and stress response and the proteome of the shell. The oyster genome is highly polymorphic and rich in repetitive sequences, with some transposable elements still actively shaping variation. Transcriptome studies reveal an extensive set of genes responding to environmental stress. The expansion of genes coding for heat shock protein 70 and inhibitors of apoptosis is probably central to the oyster's adaptation to sessile life in the highly stressful intertidal zone. Our analyses also show that shell formation in molluscs is more complex than currently understood and involves extensive participation of cells and their exosomes. The oyster genome sequence fills a void in our understanding of the Lophotrochozoa. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

The Devil is in the Detail: A Framework for Macroscopic Prediction via Microscopic Models

Macroscopic data aggregated from microscopic events are pervasive in machine learning, such as country-level COVID-19 infection statistics based on city-level data. Yet, many existing approaches for predicting macroscopic behavior only use aggregated data, leaving a large amount of fine-grained microscopic information unused. In this paper, we propose a principled optimization framework for macroscopic prediction by fitting microscopic models based on conditional stochastic optimization. The framework leverages both macroscopic and microscopic information, and adapts to individual microscopic models involved in the aggregation. In addition, we propose efficient learning algorithms with convergence guarantees. In our experiments, we show that the proposed learning framework clearly outperforms other plug-in supervised learning approaches in real-world applications, including the prediction of daily infections of COVID-19 and medicare claims

Dynamic and Heterogeneous Demand for Urban Green Space by Urban Residents: Evidence from the Cities in China

With the increasing number of people starting to attach importance to urban green space (UGS), estimating urban residents’ demand for UGS has become critical. Previous studies have estimated residents’ demands for UGS in different cities using the Rosen–Roback model. However, there has been little analysis of the renters’ requirements for UGS or the dynamic and heterogeneous demands for UGS by residents in cities with varying characteristics. In this study, the prefecture-level cities in China were selected as the object of study for their wide representation of various city characteristics, and the Rosen–Roback model was used to address the abovementioned issues. Residents’ demand for UGS in 285 prefecture-level cities was assessed from 2010 to 2017. The results confirm our hypothesis that when UGS increases by 1%, house prices will increase by about 3% and rents will increase by about 7%, and the demand continues to grow. We also analyzed the heterogeneous demands for UGS by urban residents in different types of cities from three aspects: population density, economic level, and the effects of the National Forest City policy. Finally, we provided suggestions based on empirical results for planning and managing UGS

Interleukin-10 -592C/A, -819C/T and -1082A/G Polymorphisms with Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A HuGE Review and Meta-analysis.

Several studies have been conducted in recent years to evaluate the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and polymorphisms of interleukin (IL)-10. However, the results remain conflicting rather than conclusive. This meta-analysis aimed to summarize the current evidence from case-control studies that evaluated this association.We carried out a search in Medline, EMBASE, and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database for relevant studies. Data were extracted using a standardized form and pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the strength of the association.10 studies were included in our meta-analysis and systemic review. Our meta-analysis indicated that IL-10 -1082A/G polymorphism was associated with the risk of T2DM (GA vs. AA: OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.03-1.14; GA/GG vs. AA: OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.05-1.41), whereas there was no association between IL-10 -592C/A (CC/CA vs. AA: OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.59-1.93) or -819C/T (CC/CT vs. TT: OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.49-1.75) polymorphism and T2DM risk was found in our study.This meta-analysis provides strong evidence that IL-10 -1082A/G polymorphism associated with risk of T2DM. However, no association of the IL-10 -592C/A or -819C/T polymorphism with T2DM risk was found. Additional well-designed large studies were required for the validation of our results

Preparation and Characterization of Antioxidative and UV-Protective Larch Bark Tannin/PVA Composite Membranes

In order to prepare functional materials for antioxidant and ultraviolet (UV)-protective green food packaging, condensed tannin, previously extracted from larch bark, was mixed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and then the mixture was used to cast composite membranes. An antioxidative assay using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)—a free radical scavenger—and starch–potassium iodide oxidation–discoloration analyses showed that the composite membranes have good antioxidative activities. The low UV transmission and protective effect of the composite films on vitamin E indicated the UV protection ability of the composite membranes. Both larch bark tannin and PVA are rich in hydroxyl groups; scanning electron microscopy analysis demonstrated their compatibility. Also, the mechanical and crystallization properties of the composite membranes did not significantly decrease with the addition of larch bark tannin

Disturbed subjective sleep in Chinese females with type 2 diabetes on insulin therapy.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence and determine the possible risk factors of poor sleep quality in Chinese type 2 diabetes patients with insulin treatment. METHODS: 140 type 2 diabetes patients with insulin treatments were enrolled in our study. General characteristics and laboratory testing such glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), post-prandial plasma glucose (PPG) were measured. Every patient completed Chinese version of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. PSQI global score>5 was defined as poor sleep quality. RESULTS: Global PSQI score was significantly higher in female type 2 diabetes patients with insulin treatment than male (7.52 vs 6.08, P<0.05). After adjusting for age, BMI, FPG, PPG, HbA1c and duration of diabetes, female is still an independent risk factor for poor sleep quality [OR = 2.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.24-5.27, P = 0.01]. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that we found poor sleep quality in female Chinese type 2 diabetes patients with insulin treatment and these findings may contribute to sleep disorder control in female type 2 diabetes