China used to be among the countries with a high prevalence of trachoma. At the launch of The Global Elimination of Trachoma (GET) 2020 campaign by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1996, China ...was placed on the list of countries endemic for trachoma based on historical data. However, empirical observation and routinely collected eye care data were suggesting that trachoma was no longer a public health problem. To determine whether the GET 2020 goals had been met in P. R. China, we conducted a targeted assessment with national scope.
Province assessment teams, trained in WHO Trachoma Rapid Assessment (TRA) methodology and in WHO simplified trachoma grading system, carried out assessments in 16 provinces (among them, 2 provinces conducted pilot assessment). Based on the published literature, including national and international reports, suspected trachoma-endemic areas within each province were identified. Within these areas, trachomatous inflammation- follicular (TF) assessments were carried out in at least 50 grade-one children in primary schools serving villages with the lowest socio-economic development. Trachomatous trichiasis (TT) and corneal opacity (CO) assessments were conducted among persons aged 15 and over in villages within the catchment area of the selected schools. Of 8,259 children examined in 128 primary schools in 97 suspected trachoma endemic areas, only 16 cases of conjunctivitis were graded as TF. 38 cases with TT were found among the 339,013 examined residents in villages surrounding the schools. Among these 97 suspected trachoma endemic areas in only three was the prevalence of TT more than 0.2%.
This large study suggested that trachoma was not a public health problem in 16 provinces that had been previously suspected to be endemic. These findings will facilitate planning for elimination of trachoma from PR China.
Caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) primarily manifests as respiratory dysfunction. However, emerging evidence suggests ...SARS‐CoV‐2 can invade the brain, leading to cognitive impairment (CI). It may spread to other brain regions through transsynaptic neurons, including the olfactory, optic, and vagus nerves. Moreover, it may invade the central nervous system through blood transmission or the lymphatic system. This review summarizes the neuroimaging evidence from clinical and imaging studies of COVID‐19‐associated CIs, including magnetic resonance imaging and 18F‐fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography‐computed tomography. The mechanisms underlying COVID‐19‐associated CIs are currently being actively investigated. They include nonimmune effects, such as viral proteins, tissue hypoxia, hypercoagulability, and pathological changes in neuronal cells, and immune effects, such as microglia and astrocyte activation, peripheral immune cell infiltration, blood‐brain barrier impairment, cytokine network dysregulation, and intestinal microbiota. Inflammation is the central feature. Both central and systemic inflammation may cause acute and persistent neurological changes, and existing evidence indicates that inflammation underlies the elevated risk of Alzheimer's disease. Finally, potential therapeutic options for COVID‐19‐associated CIs are discussed. In‐depth research into the pathological mechanisms is still needed to help develop new therapies.
The impact of SARS‐CoV‐2 extends beyond respiratory effects. It may invade the brain through diverse pathways, affecting cognitive functions via both immune and nonimmune mechanisms. Its infection initiates a cascade of effects disrupting the intricate inflammatory network in the central nervous system, exacerbating disease progression.
The conformation of complementary determining region (CDR) is crucial in dictating its specificity and affinity for binding with an antigen, making it a focal point in artificial antibody ...engineering. Although desirable, programmable scaffolds that can regulate the conformation of individual CDRs with nanometer precision are still lacking. Here, we devise a strategy to program the CDR conformation by anchoring both ends of a free CDR loop to specific sites of a DNA framework structure. This method allows us to define the span of a single CDR loop with an ∼2 nm resolution. Using this approach, we create a series of DNA framework based artificial antibodies (DNFbodies) with varied CDR loop spans, leading to different antibody–antigen binding affinities. We find that an optimized single CDR loop (∼2.3 nm span) exhibits ∼3-fold improved affinity relative to natural antibodies, confirming the critical role of the CDR conformation. This study may inspire the rational design of artificial antibodies.
(1) Background: polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a heterogeneous syndrome with a constellation of cardiometabolic risk factors. We aimed to investigate if the association of body fat mass (BFM) ...and skeletal muscle mass (SMM) with cardiometabolic risk differed in PCOS subtypes. (2) Methods: 401 participants (245 PCOS and 156 controls) were assessed for anthropometric measurements, glucose-lipid profiles, reproductive hormones and body composition with propensity score-matched (PSM) analysis. The association of the cardiometabolic risk score (z score, calculated based on levels of obesity and gluco-lipid measurements) with BFM (estimated by trunk BFM/Height
) and SMM (estimated by SMM/Height
) was calculated. (3) Results: Trunk BFM/Height
and SMM/Height
were both positively associated with cardiometabolic risk in PCOS (trunk BFM/Height
, OR 2.33, 95% CI 1.49-3.65; SMM/Height
, OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.12-3.76). SMM/Height
associated with increased cardiometabolic risk in obese PCOS (BMI ≥ 28 kg/m
, OR 2.27, 95% CI 1.15-4.47). For those with lower BMI (<28 kg/m
), trunk BFM/Height
showed a higher OR in both groups (PCOS, OR 2.12, 95% CI 1.06-4.24; control 2.04, 95% CI 1.04-4.02). Moreover, distinct associations among BMI-stratified groups were validated in hierarchical clustering identifying metabolic and reproductive clusters. (4) Conclusions: BFM and SMM are synergistically associated with higher cardiometabolic risk in PCOS women. Although BFM contributes to increased cardiometabolic risk, SMM also plays a primary role in obese PCOS. Our results highlight the importance of body composition in the management of PCOS.
Facing the huge pressure of emission reduction, China officially launched a national carbon emission trading system at the end of 2017. The power industry is an important breakthrough in the ...construction of China's carbon emission trading system. To push the optimization of the power structure through carbon constraint is the necessary path to promote the transformation of the power industry from fossil energy to clean and low-carbon energy. From the perspective of power consumption, this paper constructs the linkage mechanism model of China's carbon emission trading market, energy market and capital market and applies the DCC-MVGARCH model to analyze the dynamic linkage mechanism of the three markets. The results show that the price fluctuation of the yield series of products in each market has clustering characteristics, and the dynamic correlation has significant time-varying characteristics and persistent characteristics. The dynamic conditional correlation between the carbon emission trading market and the oil market and between the carbon emission trading market and the natural gas market are basically consistent. The dynamic correlation coefficient between the carbon emission trading market and the capital market is negative, which is related to the unreasonable quota setting in China's carbon emission market. On the basis of empirical analysis, the optimal balance weight and the optimal hedging ratio of each asset are determined.
Subunit vaccines consisting of highly purified antigens require the presence of adjuvants to create effective and long-lasting protective immunity. Advances on adjuvant research include designing ...combination adjuvants which incorporate two or more adjuvants to enhance vaccine efficacy. Previously, an oil-in-water emulsion adjuvant (OW-14) composed of mineral oil and an inexpensive gum Arabic emulsifier has been reported demonstrating enhanced and robust immune responses when used as an adjuvant in swine subunit vaccines. This study presents a modified version of OW-14 prepared with food-grade Quillaja saponin extract (OWq). In new OWq emulsion, saponin extract served as an emulsifier for stabilization of emulsion droplets and as an immunoactive compound. The use of saponins allowed to reduce the required amount of emulsifier in the original OW-14. However, emulsion stabilized with saponins demonstrated extended physical stability even at elevated temperature (37°C). The two-dose vaccination with a classical swine fever virus (CSFV) glycoprotein E2-based vaccine formulated with OWq produced higher levels of E2-specific IgG and virus neutralizing antibodies in pigs in contrast with animals that received the vaccine adjuvanted with oil only. In addition, new OWq adjuvant was safe to use in the vaccination of pigs.
To compare the microstructural differences in fresh corneal tissue (FCT) with glycerin-cryopreserved corneal tissue (GCCT) used during deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK).
The medical records ...of 48 consecutive patients who underwent DALK for stromal opacity without endothelial abnormalities were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups: an FCT group (n = 22) and a GCCT group (n = 26), according to the corneal tissue used. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), slit lamp, corneal topography, pachymetry, and laser scanning in vivo confocal microscopy examinations at 2 weeks and 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after surgery were analyzed.
No graft rejection developed in the GCCT group, whereas stromal rejection developed in one eye in the FCT group. There were no significant differences in spherical equivalent (P = 0.37), astigmatism (P = 0.26), BCVA (P = 0.64), central corneal thickness (P = 0.73), or endothelial cell density (P = 0.49) between the two groups at 24 months. Confocal microscopy showed that GCCT was acellular, whereas dendritelike cells and keratocytes were found in the FCT group 2 weeks after surgery. The keratocyte density improved significantly in the GCCT group at 3 months after surgery, whereas it decreased significantly after surgery in the FCT group during follow-up. No significant difference in regeneration of nerve fibers was found in the subbasal layer and anterior stroma between the two groups at 24 months.
DALK using GCCT provides clinical results comparable to FCT. GCCT can be used safely and effectively for DALK and may minimize stromal rejection after surgery.
Diffractive optical elements are gradually replacing some conventional optical elements and becoming a key component of optical systems due to their unique phase modulation function. However, the ...imaging performance will be reduced due to the fact that this single-sided microstructured lens still produces chromatic aberration. Therefore, the key issue for the application of diffractive optical elements in optical systems is the reduction of chromatic aberration, and diffractive lenses with double-sided microstructures are proposed as a solution. This research describes the design and analysis of a 70-mm-diameter, 296-mm-focal-length double-sided microstructured hybrid-order monolithic imaging diffractive lens operating in the mid-wave infrared region (3.7-4.7 μm). The design minimizes chromatic aberration by up to 30 times compared to a standard harmonic diffractive lens and improves the image performance of a single-lens optical system operating in the infrared range. Experiments indicate that this design is capable of achieving single-lens imaging with high sensitivity for optical systems with a measured NETD ≤ 50 mK. The analysis of the experiments yielded suggestions for future research.
Background:
This study investigates the mediating effect of rumination on the associations between depressive symptoms and insomnia.
Methods:
This is a cross-sectional study. Insomnia Severity Index ...(ISI), Ruminant Response Scale (RRS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were determined in 12,178 college students in Qinghai province by a questionnaire network platform.
Results:
The prevalence of insomnia was 38.6% in the participants. Insomnia symptoms interquartile range: 6 (3, 9), depressive symptoms interquartile range: 5 (1, 9), and rumination interquartile range: 22 (20, 26) were positively correlated (
r
= 0.25–0.46,
p
< 0.01). Mediation effect analysis showed that the depressive symptoms affected insomnia directly and indirectly. The direct effect and the indirect effect through rumination account for 92.4 and 7.6% of the total effect, respectively.
Conclusion:
The study shows that insomnia, depressive symptoms, and rumination are related constructs in college students in Qinghai province. It demonstrates the direct effects and the rumination-mediated indirect effects between depressive symptoms and insomnia; the direct effects seem to be dominant.
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