Measuring the importance of influencing factor for COVID-19 vaccination intention in China

BackgroundVaccination is considered an effective approach to deter the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, vaccine hesitancy is a common issue that makes immunization programs more challenging. To promote vaccination in a targeted and efficient way, this study aims to develop and validate a measurement tool for evaluating the importance of influencing factors related to COVID-19 vaccination intention in China, and to examine the demographic differences.MethodsIn study 1, we developed a Factor Importance Evaluation Questionnaire (FIEQ) based on semi-structured interview results and used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to explore its factor structure. In study 2, we verified the four-factor structure of FIEQ by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). We then administered FIEQ to Chinese participants and conducted a student t-test and analysis of variance to examine the differences in the importance evaluation of factors based on gender and educational level.ResultsIn study 1, we developed a four-factor construct and retained 20 items after EFA (N = 577), with acceptable reliability (alpha = 0.87) and validity. In study 2, we found that the model fit was good (χ2 = 748.03 (162), p < 0.001, GFI = 0.949, RMSEA = 0.049, SRMR = 0.048, AGFI = 0.934), and reliability was acceptable (alpha = 0.730) (N = 1,496). No gender difference was found in factor importance. However, individuals with different educational levels reported significantly different importance evaluations of three factors, including perceived benefits and social norms (F = 3.786, p = 0.005), perceived influences from reference groups (F = 17.449, p < 0.001), and perceived risks (F = 2.508, p = 0.04).ConclusionThis study developed and validated FIEQ for measuring the importance of influencing factors related to the COVID-19 vaccination intention in Chinese participants. Moreover, our findings suggest that the educational level may play a role in how individuals evaluate the importance of factors. This study provides insights into the concerns that individuals have regarding vaccination and offers potentially effective and targeted strategies for promoting COVID-19 vaccination

Application of Principal Component Analysis Method to Determine Prediction Indexes Sensibility Sequence

AbstractScreening out sensitivity prediction indexes fit for the coal mine is very important technical work in coal and gas outburst prediction process. The feasibility that principal component analysis method been used in the coal and gas outburst prediction index screening is discussed. Through using gray correlation analysis method and principal component analysis method to analysis a batch of measured data of a coal mine, the validity of the latter is proved. Through the contrast of process between the gray correlation analysis and the principal component analysis method, the vantage of principal component analysis method is obvious, that is the better maneuverability, simplicity and easier to extend

A Comparison of Sentinel-1 Biased and Unbiased Coherence for Crop Monitoring and Classification

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) holds significant potential for applications in crop monitoring and classification. Interferometric SAR (InSAR) coherence proves effective in monitoring crop growth. Currently, the coherence based on the maximum likelihood estimator is biased towards low coherence values. Therefore, the main aim of this work is to access the performance of Sentinel-1 time-series biased coherence and unbiased coherence in crop monitoring and classification. This study was conducted during the 2018 growing season (April-October) in Komoka, an agricultural region in southwestern Ontario, Canada, primarily cultivating three crops: soybean, corn, and winter wheat. To verify the ability of coherence to monitor crops, a linear correlation coefficient between temporal coherence and dual polarimetric radar vegetation index (DpRVI) was fitted. The results revealed a stable correlation between temporal coherence and DpRVI time-series, with the highest correlation observed for soybean (0.7 < R < 0.8), followed by wheat and corn. Notably, unbiased coherence of the VV channel exhibited the highest correlation (R > 0.75). In addition, we applied unbiased coherence to crop classification. The results show that unbiased coherence exhibits very promising classification performance, with the overall accuracy (84.83%) and kappa coefficient (0.76) of VV improved by 8.35% and 0.12, respectively, over biased coherence, and the overall accuracy (73.25%) and kappa coefficient (0.57) of VH improved by 7.56% and 0.14, respectively, over biased coherence, and all crop classification accuracies were also effectively improved. This study demonstrates the feasibility of coherence monitoring of crops and provides new insights in enhancing the higher separability of crops

Lactic acid bacteria with a strong antioxidant function isolated from “Jiangshui,” pickles, and feces

Excessive free radicals and iron death lead to oxidative damage, which is one of the main causes of aging and diseases. In this field of antioxidation, developing new, safe, and efficient antioxidants is the main research focus. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are natural antioxidants with good antioxidant activity and can regulate gastrointestinal microecological balance and immunity. In this study, 15 LAB strains from fermented foods (“Jiangshui” and pickles) or feces were evaluated in terms of their antioxidant attributes. Strains with strong antioxidant capacity were preliminarily screened by the following tests: 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl radical, superoxide anion radical scavenging capacity; ferrous ion chelating assay; hydrogen peroxide tolerance capacity. Then, the adhesion of the screened strains to the intestinal tract was examined using hydrophobic and auto-aggregation tests. The safety of the strains was analyzed based on their minimum inhibitory concentration and hemolysis, and 16S rRNA was used for molecular biological identification. Antimicrobial activity tests showed them probiotic function. The cell-free supernatant of selected strains were used to explore the protective effect against oxidative damage cells. The scavenging rate of DPPH, hydroxyl radicals, and ferrous ion-chelating of 15 strains ranged from 28.81–82.75%, 6.54–68.52%, and 9.46–17.92%, respectively, the scavenging superoxide anion scavenging activity all exceeded 10%. According to all the antioxidant-related tests, strains possessing high antioxidant activities J2-4, J2-5, J2-9, YP-1, and W-4 were screened, these five strains demonstrated tolerance to 2 mM hydrogen peroxide. J2-4, J2-5, and J2-9 were Lactobacillus fermentans and γ-hemolytic (non-hemolytic). YP-1 and W-4 were Lactobacillus paracasei and α-hemolytic (grass-green hemolytic). Although L. paracasei has been proven as a safe probiotic without hemolytic characteristics, the hemolytic characteristics of YP-1 and W-4 should be further studied. Due to the weak hydrophobicity and antimicrobial activity of J2-4, finally, we selected J2-5, J2-9 for cell experiment, J2-5 and J2-9 showed an excellent ability that resistant to oxidative damage by increasing SOD, CAT, T-AOC activity of 293T cells. Therefore, J2-5, and J2-9 strains from fermented foods “Jiangshui” could be used as potential antioxidants for functional food, health care, and skincare

The use of Rheum palmatum L. In the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome: a meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials

Background: Chinese medicine theory shows that “lung being connected with large intestine”, and the modern western medicine also shows that the lung and intestinal tract affect each other in physiological and pathological conditions. If the lung ventilation dysfunction is caused by inflammatory exudate or secretions obstruction of the small airway ventilation, blood gas partial pressure is increased and intestinal gas absorption difficulty may lead to intestinal inflation and dysfunction (Wang N et al., 2011). Rheum palmatum L. can play the roles of anti-coagulation and anti-thrombosis, and improve microcirculation through lowering the endotoxin-induced permeability of microvascular tissue, reducing tissue oedema, decreasing inflammatory exudation and necrosis, and enhancing cyto-protection mechanism (Yang TZ et al., 2014). Therefore, systemic evaluation of the evidence pertaining to the usage of Rheum palmatum L. in treating acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has significant clinical significance.Materials and Methods: Various Electronic Databases CBM, CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, PubMed and Cochrane Library were searched until December 2015. Numerous randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the efficacy of Rheum palmatum L. for the treatment of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome were collected. The quality of the included studies was evaluated and a meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan5.0 software.Results: Eight RCTs involving 489 patients were selected for this review. The results of the Meta-analysis revealed that Rheum palmatum L. therapy, combined with routine comprehensive treatment, was significantly superior to that of routine comprehensive treatment alone, in the areas of decreasing mortality, the mechanical ventilation time, the level of interleukin-6,8 and the untoward effect, and also in improving arterial blood gas (PaO2/FiO2, PaO2) (P<0.05).Conclusion: Compared with treatment with routine comprehensive alone, Rheum palmatum L. treatment combined with routine comprehensive, has been shown to effectively decrease the mortality, mechanical ventilation time and ameliorate the arterial blood gas, the cytokine levels, and the untoward effect. However, the evidence appears not to be very compelling due to the poor quality of the original studies.Keywords: Rheum palmatum L., Western medicine therapy, ALI/ARDS, Systematic Review, Meta-analysi

Optimization algorithms for light pollution management based on TOPSIS-non-linear regularization model

Rapid urbanization and economic development have inevitably led to light pollution. However, currently the world has not yet formed a unified technical standard for light pollution, and light pollution cannot be effectively controlled when the environmental protection department is unable to operate. To effectively solve this problem, this paper establishes a combined weight ideal point method evaluation model based on TOPSIS evaluation method to obtain comprehensive index weights to evaluate the light pollution risk levels of four different land types in urban, suburban, rural and nature reserve areas in Beijing, China, and uses one-way ANOVA to test the differences among the four regions. Based on the Random Forest algorithm to determine the three variables with the top three feature importance weights, and based on the nonlinear optimization algorithm, using the SLSQP method, the optimal parameter combinations with the smallest cost are obtained after iteration, so as to put forward three feasible intervention strategies such as adjusting the design of the nightscape lighting, reducing the time of nonessential lighting, and rationally planning the layout of the city’s lighting, etc., to solve the light pollution problem, which effectively promote the urban nightscape lighting’s it effectively promotes the healthy and sustainable development of urban nightscape lighting

Alpha-fetoprotein level as a biomarker of liver fibrosis status: a cross-sectional study of 619 consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis B

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious public health problem worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels and pathological stages of liver biopsy in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). METHODS: The study included 619 patients who were diagnosed with CHB from March 2005 to December 2011. AFP levels were measured by electrochemiluminescence. Liver biopsy samples were classified into five levels of inflammation (G) and fibrosis (S) stages, according to the Chinese guidelines for prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis. Two multivariable ordinal regression models were performed to determine associations between AFP, GGT, and APRI (AST/PLT ratio) and stages of inflammation and fibrosis. RESULTS: Significant positive and moderate correlations were shown between AFP levels and inflammation stages and between AFP levels and fibrosis stages (ρ = 0.436 and 0.404, p < 0.001). Median values of AFP at liver fibrosis stages S0-1, S2, S3, and S4 were 3.0, 3.4, 5.4, and 11.3 ng/ml, respectively, and median APRI (AST/PLT ratio) was 0.41. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses revealed that the areas under the curves (AUCs) were 0.685, 0.727, and 0.755 (all p <0.001) for judging inflammation stages of G ≥ 2, G ≥ 3, G = 4 by AFP; and 0.691, 0.717, and 0.718 (all p <0.001) for judging fibrosis stages of S ≥ 2, S ≥ 3, and S = 4 by AFP. APRI levels showed significant positive and moderate correlations with inflammation stages (ρ = 0.445, p < 0.001). AST, GGT, and APRI levels showed significant positive but very weak to weak correlations with fibrosis stages (ρ = 0.137, 0.237, 0.281, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Serum AFP levels increased as pathological levels of inflammation and fibrosis increased in CHB patients. Our data showed the clinical significance of serum AFP levels in diagnosing liver inflammation and fibrosis. Assessment of liver pathology may be improved by creating a predictive mathematical model by which AFP levels with other biomarkers