Associations of Educational Attainment, Occupation, Social Class and Major Depressive Disorder among Han Chinese Women

Background The prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) is higher in those with low levels of educational attainment, the unemployed and those with low social status. However the extent to which these factors cause MDD is unclear. Most of the available data comes from studies in developed countries, and these findings may not extrapolate to developing countries. Examining the relationship between MDD and socio economic status in China is likely to add to the debate because of the radical economic and social changes occurring in China over the last 30 years. Principal findings We report results from 3,639 Chinese women with recurrent MDD and 3,800 controls. Highly significant odds ratios (ORs) were observed between MDD and full time employment (OR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.25–0.46, logP = 78), social status (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.77–0.87, logP = 13.3) and education attainment (OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.86–0.90, logP = 6.8). We found a monotonic relationship between increasing age and increasing levels of educational attainment. Those with only primary school education have significantly more episodes of MDD (mean 6.5, P-value = 0.009) and have a clinically more severe disorder, while those with higher educational attainment are likely to manifest more comorbid anxiety disorders. Conclusions In China lower socioeconomic position is associated with increased rates of MDD, as it is elsewhere in the world. Significantly more episodes of MDD occur among those with lower educational attainment (rather than longer episodes of disease), consistent with the hypothesis that the lower socioeconomic position increases the likelihood of developing MDD. The phenomenology of MDD varies according to the degree of educational attainment: higher educational attainment not only appears to protect against MDD but alters its presentation, to a more anxious phenotype

Optimization of Microwave-Assisted Extraction Saponins from Sapindus mukorossi Pericarps and an Evaluation of Their Inhibitory Activity on Xanthine Oxidase

A microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) method was applied to separate saponins from Sapindus mukorossi pericarps. The most important factors of the six extraction parameters were selected using Plackett–Burman designs; therefore, the further extraction procedure was optimized using the Box–Behnken designs; meanwhile, the optimum processing parameters and well-pleasing saponins extraction rate were inferred. The final operation conditions were the ethanol concentration of 40%, soaking time of 3 h, particle size of 80–100 meshes, extraction time of 13 min, solvent-solid ratio of 19 mL/g, and microwave power of 425 W. Based on the optimal extraction parameters, the extraction rate of the saponins by means of MAE technique reached 280.55 ± 6.81 mg/g, which exceeds yields acquired using conventional manners. Saponins from S. mukorossi have obvious xanthine oxidase inhibitory properties in vitro compared with allopurinol. The saponins displayed a type of competitive inhibition of xanthine oxidase. In conclusion, a MAE technique in association with a response surface design provides an efficient extraction tactics, which could sufficiently isolate saponins from S. mukorossi pericarps; further, this technique could be applied to the dissociation of other bioactive substances from plant sources. In addition, the saponins may be a promising alternative to conventional medicine to treat gout and other inflammation-associated disorders to mitigate the side effects of traditional drugs

An overview and comprehensive analysis of interdisciplinary clinical research in endometriosis based on trial registry

Summary: Endometriosis is a chronic multisystem disease associated with immunological, genetic, hormonal, psychological, and neuroscientific factors, leading to a significant socioeconomic impact worldwide. Though multidisciplinary management is the ideal approach, there remains a scarcity of published interdisciplinary clinical trials at present. Here, we have conducted a comprehensive analysis of the characteristics and issues of interdisciplinary trials on endometriosis based on the clinical registration database ClinicalTrials.gov. Among all 387 endometriosis trials, 30% (116) were identified as interdisciplinary, mostly conducted in Europe and North America, and fully funded by non-industrial sources. We documented growth in both patient-centered multidisciplinary comprehensive management and collaboration between fundamental biomedical science and applied medicine. However, compared to traditional obstetric-gynecological trials, interdisciplinary studies exhibited negative characteristics such as less likely to be randomized and less likely to report results. Our study provides insights for future trial investigators and may contribute to fostering greater collaboration in medical research

Corrosion test and three-dimensional cellular machine simulation of Q235 steel by ion diffusion in different soil environments

In the actual soil environment, due to the unpredictable characteristics of metal pitting corrosion. Therefore, in this study, soil composed of different concentrations of corrosion medium was used for the mental corrosion test, and the experimental results of single ion and multiple ions were compared. At the same time, the corrosion behavior of metals is introduced in combination with the mathematical model of unsteady diffusion. In addition, the cellular automata model verification method is used to study the comparison and verification of the diffusion growth model of the model corrosion pit in different iteration steps under the discrete mathematical model. The results show that the growth and diffusion trend of corrosion pits controlled by the concentration of SO42-, HCO3–, and Cl- is consistent basically with the law reflected by cellular automata

Identification of the karst water flow system and its application in the tunnel line selection of water diversion projects

A critical water diversion project may face serious water inrush problems during tunnel construction when it crosses the carbonate rock formations of Julongshan syncline.Characteristics of karst water flow system in Julongshan syncline were identified by multi-methods such as karst hydrogeological field survey, hydrochemistry and isotope analysis, to find out the hydrogeological conditions of water inrush into the tunnel and select one water diversion scheme with lower risk of karst water disaster.The results show that the aquifer system in Julongshan syncline has a multi-layer structure with an impermeable layer between two aquifers.The Lower Permian is mainly buried underground with weak karst development, while the Upper Triassic bare karst area forms a giant karst basin with multi-stage water flow system.Three tunnel plans were demonstrated in Julongshan syncline area.Plan A passes through the recharge area of the karst water system in the western syncline, in which the length of soluble rock the tunnel passes through is the lowest and all belong to buried karst.It avoids to cross the Triassic karst water basin in the profile, therefore the risk of water-gushing for Plan A is relatively low.However, Plan B and Plan C will cross the Triassic karst water basin with longer soluble rock section and the risk of suffering karst water-gushing is much higher.So, Plan A is recommended.This study can provide a scientific basis for comparison and selection of diversion tunnel line, and also has reference value for similar deep-buried long tunnel construction

Characteristics of the karst water system on the northeast wing of the Huangling anticline and its impact on water diversion tunnel engineering

The strata in the northeast wing of the Huangling anticline consist of interbedded carbonate rocks and clastic rocks. As the carbonate rocks underwent strong karstification, karst water inrush would be a significant factor impacting the construction of underground engineering in this area. Taking the Huangling anticline section of a critical national water diversion project as the research object, the characteristics of the karst groundwater system and the water inrush conditions in tunnels were identified by various methods, such as karst hydrogeological surveys, tracer tests and hydrogeochemistry analysis. These results show that the aquifer system contains four sub-aqueous systems with a structure of strong and weak permeable interlayers in the vertical direction, in which a multi-stage karst groundwater system has developed with shallow rapid circulation, intermediate rapid circulation and a deep slow circulation subflow systems. The faults constitute the vertical channels for hydraulic exchange between sub-aquifer systems. The water diversion tunnel primarily crosses the deep Dengying Formation (Z2dn) and Tianheban-Shilongdong Formation(∈1t+sl) aquifer systems with weak karst development. However, a large-scale high-pressure water inrush accident may occur when passing through the Dianya fault, which may transfer groundwater from the upper karst sub-aquifer system of the Loushanguan Formation-Nanjinguan Formation (∈3l-O1n) into the tunnel. The risk of encountering conduit water inrush accidents is high during construction when the construction branch tunnel passes through the discharge area of the Bailongdong groundwater flow system in the ∈3l-O1n sub-aquifer systems. The accuracy of identifying of karst groundwater flow system features and inrush conditions can be improved by joint interpretation of multiple hydrogeological methods

Soft phonon modes and diffuse scattering in Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3-Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 relaxor ferroelectrics

0.29Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3-0.45Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.26PbTiO3 single crystals have been studied using triple-axis based elastic and inelastic neutron scattering. Elastic diffuse scattering reveals the presence of polar nano-regions (PNR's) in this system, which emerge at the Burns temperature (TB ∼630 K) and then grow continuously in population and correlation size down to 100 K. At 300 K, characteristic “butterfly” and ellipsoid shaped diffuse scattering patterns are observed in the HK0 scattering plane. Electrical poling along the [110] direction produces a marked asymmetry in the diffuse scattering patterns, with the parallel-to-the-field components enhanced while the perpendicular-to-the-field components suppressed. Several low-energy phonon branches along the [100] and [110] directions have been measured. Most significantly, the PNR-acoustic phonon coupling is confirmed for the [110] transverse acoustic (TA) phonons polarized along the [1-10] real space direction and the [100] TA phonons. This coupling appears to be anisotropic and correlated with the PNRs' distribution, and also affected by the relative length scales of the PNRs and phonon wave vectors. The well-known “waterfall” phenomenon is observed on the [100] and [110] transverse optical (TO) branches, near the zone center. The optical phonons exhibit a lowest-energy, zone center soft TO mode, whose squared energy increases linearly with decreasing temperature below TB

Numerical study on combustion characteristics and heat flux distributions of 660‐MW ultra‐supercritical double‐reheat tower‐type boiler

Ultra‐supercritical double‐reheat technology, as one of the most advanced coal‐fired power generation technology, is an important direction for emission reduction and energy saving in the world. In this study, the numerical calculation was executed in a 660‐MW ultra‐supercritical double‐reheat tower‐type boiler under deep‐air‐staging conditions. The refined HCN oxidation model was adopted to substitute the default model implemented by the user‐defined functions to calculate the NO x emission. The influences of the boiler load, over‐fire air (OFA) ratio, and excess air coefficient on temperature, species, and heat flux distributions were investigated. Results show that the decrement of the boiler load from boiler maximum continuous rating to 50% turbine heat acceptance gives rise to an increase of NO x emission. The heat flux distributions along with the furnace width direction present bell shaped. When the OFA ratio rises from 17% to 43%, NO x emission descends from 357.7 to 179.3 mg m −3 at the furnace outlet, and the heat flux distributions become more uniform along with the furnace width direction with lower peaks. Temperatures, species, and heat flux distributions are similar under the three different excess air coefficients. The NO x emission is the lowest when the excess air coefficient is 1.15. The results could provide a reference for combustion characteristics optimization and hydrodynamic calculation of ultra‐supercritical double‐reheat tower‐type boiler

Pediatric Langerhans cell histiocytosis of the temporal bone: clinical and imaging studies of 27 cases

Abstract Background We aimed to evaluate the clinical and imaging presentations of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) in the pediatric temporal bone. Methods This retrospective study included 27 pediatric cases with pathological confirmed LCH of the temporal bone. The clinical and imaging features of the cases were analyzed. The involvement of ossicular chain and otic capsule was also evaluated. Results A total of 38 lesions (27 cases) with 11 bilateral involvement were identified. For the 27 cases, the most common complaint was periauricular swelling (12/27, 44.4%), followed by otorrhea (9/27, 33.3%) and otalgia (5/27, 18.2%). The mastoid process was the most common involved subsite (31/38, 81.6%) among the 38 lesions. Ten (26.3%, 10/38) lesions belonged to the group of the diffuse involvement, 22 (57.9%, 22/38) were divided into the group of partial involvement and six (15.8%,6/38) localized lesions with punched-out appearance. Erosion of ossicular chains and otic capsule were found in three and seven lesions respectively. Conclusion The results indicate that the most common subsite for LCH of the pediatric temporal bone was the mastoid process. The location and extent of pediatric LCH of the temporal bone varied a lot between each other. The ossicular chains usually remain intact and the erosion of otic capsule can occur in some lesions

Exploration of a Novel Circadian miRNA Pair Signature for Predicting Prognosis of Lung Adenocarcinoma

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the primary histological subtype of lung cancer with a markedly heterogeneous prognosis. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify optimal prognostic biomarkers. We aimed to explore the value of the circadian miRNA (cmiRNA) pair in predicting prognosis and guiding the treatment of LUAD. We first retrieved circadian genes (Cgenes) from the CGDB database, based on which cmiRNAs were predicted using the miRDB and mirDIP databases. The sequencing data of Cgenes and cmiRNAs were retrieved from TCGA and GEO databases. Two random cmiRNAs were matched to a single cmiRNA pair. Finally, univariate Cox proportional hazard analysis, LASSO regression, and multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis were performed to develop a prognostic signature consisting of seven cmiRNA pairs. The signature exhibited good performance in predicting the overall and progression-free survival. Patients in the high-risk group also showed lower IC50 values for several common chemotherapy and targeted medicines. In addition, we constructed a cmiRNA–Cgenes network and performed a corresponding Gene Ontology and Gene Set enrichment analysis. In conclusion, the novel circadian-related miRNA pair signature could provide a precise prognostic evaluation with the potential capacity to guide individualized treatment regimens for LUAD