Platelets can reflect the severity of Crohn’s disease without the effect of anemia

OBJECTIVES: Anemia and changes in platelets (PLT) are common in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In our study, we aimed to verify whether PLT count can independently reflect the severity of IBD. METHODS: In our hospital, 137 Crohn’s Disease (CD), 69 Ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, and 412 healthy controls were included to compare the differences in PLT count. In addition, the effect of anemia, C-reactive protein (CRP), age, CD activity index (CDAI) or Mayo on PLTs was also analyzed. If PLTs independently affected CD or UC, we used the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to verify the diagnostic value and obtain the cut-off value of PLT. RESULTS: CD and UC patients had higher PLT than controls (po0.001, po0.001; respectively). In CD patients, the results showed that patients with anemia (Po0.01), Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA) (po0.001), CRPX8 mg/L (p=0.046), and CDAIX150 (po0.001) had higher PLT, while in UC patients, those with anemia (p=0.018), CRPX8 mg/L (p=0.045), and MayoX3 (p=0.029) had higher PLT. Univariate analysis showed that CDAI was positively correlated with PLT count (po0.001), while hemoglobin (p=0.001) and age (po0.001) were negatively correlated with PLT in CD. In UC patients, Mayo (p=0.001) and CRP (po0.001) were positively correlated with PLT, while hemoglobin (p=0.002) was negatively correlated. Finally, by linear stepwise multivariate analysis, we clarified the positive relationship between PLT and CD (po0.001) by eliminating the interference of hemoglobin, and determined the cut-off value of PLT as 298 109/L. For UC, we did not obtain similar results. CONCLUSIONS: PLT can be an indicator of disease severity in CD, while there is a lack of evidence regarding this finding in UC

Social Interaction Patterns of the Disabled People in Asymmetric Social Dilemmas

The social participation of the disabled people is unsatisfactory and low, one of the reasons often overlooked but of great importance may lie in the disparate patterns of social interaction between the disabled people and the abled people. The current study respectively recruited 41 and 80 disabled people in two experiments and adopted give-some games and public good dilemma to explore social interaction patterns between the disabled abled people. The results were as follows: (1) the disabled people preferred to interact with the disabled people and the abled people preferred to interact with the abled people. (2) The disabled abled people had higher cooperation, satisfaction and sense of justice when interacting with the disabled people than interacting with the abled people. (3) Advantage in the number of the disabled people could reverse their disadvantage in the identity. These results are of important practical value, which provides related theoretical support for the disabled people’s federation and communities when carrying out activities for the disabled people

Cost-effective online trending topic detection and popularity prediction in microblogging

Identifying topic trends on microblogging services such as Twitter and estimating those topics’ future popularity have great academic and business value, especially when the operations can be done in real time. For any third party, however, capturing and processing such huge volumes of real-time data in microblogs are almost infeasible tasks, as there always exist API (Application Program Interface) request limits, monitoring and computing budgets, as well as timeliness requirements. To deal with these challenges, we propose a cost-effective system framework with algorithms that can automatically select a subset of representative users in microblogging networks in offline, under given cost constraints. Then the proposed system can online monitor and utilize only these selected users’ real-time microposts to detect the overall trending topics and predict their future popularity among the whole microblogging network. Therefore, our proposed system framework is practical for real-time usage as it avoids the high cost in capturing and processing full real-time data, while not compromising detection and prediction performance under given cost constraints. Experiments with real microblogs dataset show that by tracking only 500 users out of 0.6 million users and processing no more than 30,000 microposts daily, about 92% trending topics could be detected and predicted by the proposed system and, on average, more than 10 hours earlier than they appear in official trends lists

The Effect of the Irreversible Inequality on Pro-social Behaviors of People With Disabilities

Inequalities have always been central to psychology, sociology and related fields such as social policy, gender studies, critical race studies, and human geography. Although inequality affects pro-social behaviors, there are still some controversies over this issue among people with disabilities. The current study aimed to investigate pro-social behaviors of people with disabilities and the effect of the irreversible inequality on pro-social behaviors. A dictator game was used to explore the difference of pro-social behaviors between people with disabilities and people without disabilities, when facing intra- or inter-group members. The results showed that compared to people with disabilities, people without disabilities were likely to show more pro-social behaviors. People with disabilities preferred intra-group cooperation, while people without disabilities preferred inter-group cooperation. Indeed, the intra-group cooperation was significantly greater than the expected cooperation of the intra-group members for people with disabilities. When facing the inter-group members, people without disabilities showed more than expected, that others would cooperate with them. These findings indicated that social avoidance was a common phenomenon for people with disabilities in China, but the situation would be different when they faced different groups. In addition, irreversible inequality could influence individuals’ cooperative strategies when facing individuals in a different status

Effects of gingipain extract on the biological characteristics of oral squamous cell carcinoma cell HN6

Objective·To observe the effects of gingipain extract on the biological characteristics of oral squamous cell carcinoma cell HN6.Methods·The HN6 cell line was selected, cultivated, and divided into different groups based on the protein concentration of gingipain extract from Porphyromonas gingivalis: control group, 3.125 μg/mL group, 6.25 μg/mL group, 12.5 μg/mL group, 25 μg/mL group, 50 μg/mL group, and 100 μg/mL group. After 24 and 48 h of cultivation, CCK-8 assay was used to detect the effects of gingipain extract on HN6 cell proliferation activity. Subsequent experiments were divided into control group, 25 μg/mL group and 50 μg/mL group. Flow cytometry was used to examine the effects of gingipain extract on cell cycle. Scratch assay and Transwell assay were performed to evaluate cell migration and invasion ability. Real-time PCR (RT-PCR) and Western blotting were used to measure the expression of E-cadherin and N-cadherin proteins and genes in cells.Results·Stimulated with gingipain extract for 24 h, the HN6 cells showed significantly increased proliferation activity in the 25 μg/mL (P=0.025), 50 μg/mL (P=0.000), and 100 μg/mL (P=0.049) groups compared to the control group. After 48 h, proliferation activity was significantly higher in the 6.25 μg/mL(P=0.024), 12.5 μg/mL (P=0.006), 25 μg/mL (P=0.000), 50 μg/mL (P=0.000), and 100 μg/mL (P=0.000) groups compared to the control group. Cell cycle analysis revealed that, after 24 h of gingipain stimulation, the proportion of HN6 cells in the G1 phase decreased, while the proportion in the S+G2 phase significantly increased compared to the control group (25 μg/mL group: P=0.024; 50 μg/mL group: P=0.001). Compared to the control group, the scratch assay demonstrated a significant increase in the percentage of scratch closure as the concentration of gingipain extract increased (P=0.001). Compared to the control group, the Transwell invasion assay showed a significant increase in the number of cells passing through the bottom of the chamber as the concentration of gingipain extract increased. RT-PCR and Western blotting results indicated that as the concentration of gingipain extract increased, the expression levels of N-cadherin mRNA and protein in HN6 cells significantly increased, while the expression levels of E-cadherin mRNA and protein significantly decreased compared to the control group.Conclusion·Gingipain extract could promote proliferation, migration, and invasion of oral squamous cell carcinoma HN6 cells

Using a Relative Quantitative Proteomic Method to Identify Differentially Abundant Proteins in Brucella melitensis Biovar 3 and Brucella melitensis M5-90

Brucellosis, caused by Brucella spp., is one of the most widespread bacterial zoonoses worldwide. Vaccination is still considered the best way to control brucellosis. An investigation into the differential proteome expression patterns of wild and vaccine strains may help researchers and clinicians differentiate between the strains to diagnose and better understand the mechanism(s) underlying differences in virulence. In the present study, a mass spectrometry-based, label-free relative quantitative proteomics approach was used to investigate the proteins expressed by the wild strain, B. melitensis biovar 3 and compare it with those expressed by B. melitensis M5-90. The higher level of virulence for B. melitensis biovar 3 compared to B. melitensis M5-90 was validated in vitro and in vivo. A total of 2133 proteins, encompassing 68% of the theoretical proteome, were identified and quantified by proteomic analysis, resulting in broad coverage of the B. melitensis proteome. A total of 147 proteins were identified as differentially expressed (DE) between these two strains. In addition, 9 proteins and 30 proteins were identified as unique to B. melitensis M5-90 and B. melitensis biovar 3, respectively. Pathway analysis revealed that the majority of the DE proteins were involved in iron uptake, quorum sensing, pyrimidine metabolism, glycine betaine biosynthetic and metabolic processes, thiamine-containing compound metabolism and ABC transporters. The expression of BtpA and VjbR proteins (two well-known virulence factors) in B. melitensis biovar 3 was 8-fold and 2-fold higher than in B. melitensis M5-90. In summary, our results identified many unique proteins that could be selected as candidate markers for differentiating vaccinated animals from animals with wild-type infections. BtpA and VjbR proteins might be responsible for the residual virulence of B. melitensis M5-90, while ABC transporters and thiamine metabolism associated proteins may be newly identified Brucella virulence factors. All of the identified DE proteins provide valuable information for the development of vaccines and the discovery of novel therapeutic targets

Seizing the window of opportunity to mitigate the impact of climate change on the health of Chinese residents

The health threats posed by climate change in China are increasing rapidly. Each province faces different health risks. Without a timely and adequate response, climate change will impact lives and livelihoods at an accelerated rate and even prevent the achievement of the Healthy and Beautiful China initiatives. The 2021 China Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change is the first annual update of China’s Report of the Lancet Countdown. It comprehensively assesses the impact of climate change on the health of Chinese households and the measures China has taken. Invited by the Lancet committee, Tsinghua University led the writing of the report and cooperated with 25 relevant institutions in and outside of China. The report includes 25 indicators within five major areas (climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement) and a policy brief. This 2021 China policy brief contains the most urgent and relevant indicators focusing on provincial data: The increasing health risks of climate change in China; mixed progress in responding to climate change. In 2020, the heatwave exposures per person in China increased by 4.51 d compared with the 1986–2005 average, resulting in an estimated 92% increase in heatwave-related deaths. The resulting economic cost of the estimated 14500 heatwave-related deaths in 2020 is US$176 million. Increased temperatures also caused a potential 31.5 billion h in lost work time in 2020, which is equivalent to 1.3% of the work hours of the total national workforce, with resulting economic losses estimated at 1.4% of China’s annual gross domestic product. For adaptation efforts, there has been steady progress in local adaptation planning and assessment in 2020, urban green space growth in 2020, and health emergency management in 2019. 12 of 30 provinces reported that they have completed, or were developing, provincial health adaptation plans. Urban green space, which is an important heat adaptation measure, has increased in 18 of 31 provinces in the past decade, and the capacity of China’s health emergency management increased in almost all provinces from 2018 to 2019. As a result of China’s persistent efforts to clean its energy structure and control air pollution, the premature deaths due to exposure to ambient particulate matter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5) and the resulting costs continue to decline. However, 98% of China’s cities still have annual average PM2.5 concentrations that are more than the WHO guideline standard of 10 μg/m3. It provides policymakers and the public with up-to-date information on China’s response to climate change and improvements in health outcomes and makes the following policy recommendations. (1) Promote systematic thinking in the related departments and strengthen multi-departmental cooperation. Sectors related to climate and development in China should incorporate health perspectives into their policymaking and actions, demonstrating WHO’s and President Xi Jinping’s so-called health-in-all-policies principle. (2) Include clear goals and timelines for climate-related health impact assessments and health adaptation plans at both the national and the regional levels in the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for 2035. (3) Strengthen China’s climate mitigation actions and ensure that health is included in China’s pathway to carbon neutrality. By promoting investments in zero-carbon technologies and reducing fossil fuel subsidies, the current rebounding trend in carbon emissions will be reversed and lead to a healthy, low-carbon future. (4) Increase awareness of the linkages between climate change and health at all levels. Health professionals, the academic community, and traditional and new media should raise the awareness of the public and policymakers on the important linkages between climate change and health.</p

Passive cooling system: An integrated solution to the application in power electronics

Passive cooling systems are commonly used in power electronic industries to dissipate the tremendous excess heat generated in semiconductors devices to maintain the efficiency, reduce the thermal stress, and prevent the thermal runaway along with component failures. This research, which has been collaborated with our industrial partner, Delta-Q Technologies, aims to enhance the overall heat rejection capacity of a commercially-available naturally cooled battery charger heat sink by focusing on the fundamental heat transfer mechanisms of thermal radiation and natural convection at the same time. In this study, the effect of anodization in various types of aluminum alloy (die-cast A380, 6061) and its thermal impact was investigated. The thermal emissivity of anodized samples was measured with Fourier Transform Infrared Reflectometer (FTIR) spectroscopy. A customized test chamber was built in our lab to carry out the steady-state thermal tests. A conjugated numerical heat transfer model was developed in Ansys Fluent in case of both natural convection and thermal radiation. Various novel fin geometries for Naturally Cooled Heat Sinks (NCHx) were also designed, prototyped, tested, and compared in terms of different surface conditions and operational orientations. A sensitivity analysis of geometrical parameters in one of the most promising fin geometries, inclined interrupted fins, was performed and analyzed. The results reveal an up to 27% overall enhancement with regard to the current IC650 design (benchmark case)