Objective This study was aimed at examining the trends and correlates of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviors among Chinese children.Methods A total of 4,341 subjects (6,936 observations) aged 6–17 years who participated in the China Health and Nutrition Survey (2004–2015) were included. Of the subjects, 41% participated in the survey twice or more. Random-effects ordinal regression models and repeated-measures mixed-effects models were used to examine the PA trends. Quantile regression models were applied to examine the factors influencing PA and sedentary behaviors.Results From 2004 to 2015, the prevalence of physical inactivity among Chinese children aged 6–17 years increased by 5.5% [odds ratio (OR), 1.51; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.19–1.90; P < 0.001]. The PA volume declined by 5.8 metabolic equivalent of task-hr/week (P < 0.001), and the time spent in sedentary behaviors increased by 1.8 hr/week (P < 0.001). Age, ethnicity, and region showed significant effects on the PA volume across the quartiles (P < 0.001). Across the quartiles, sedentary time was significantly higher in the children residing in urban areas (P < 0.001) or areas with high urbanization levels (P ≤ 0.005) than in their counterparts.Conclusions A declining PA trend among Chinese children aged 6–17 years was observed from 2004 to 2015, and certain subgroups and geographical areas are at higher risk of physical inactivity.
Objective To investigate the changes in the cytokine profiles of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients undergoing antiviral treatment.Methods Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive patients were treated with Pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and entecavir (ETV). Clinical biochemistry and cytokines were detected at baseline and every 3 months.Results In all, 200 patients completed 48 weeks of treatment, 100 in the PEG-IFN group and 100 in the ETV group. During 3–6 months of treatment, compared with baseline, the PEG-IFN group showed a significant decrease in interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), interleukin-17A (IL-17A), interleukin-6(IL-6), interleukin-10(IL-10), and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) (P < 0.001) and a significant increase in interferon-alpha 2(IFN‐α2) (P < 0.001). In the ETV group, IL-10 and TGF-β1 decreased significantly (P < 0.001). After 3 months, the levels of IFN‐α2, IL-17A, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-α) in the PEG-IFN group were significantly higher than those in the ETV group (P < 0.01). The levels of IL-6 and TGF-β3 were significantly lower than those in the ETV group (P < 0.01). After 6 months, the levels of IFN‐α2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α in the PEG-IFN group were significantly higher than those in the ETV group (P < 0.01), while the levels of IL-6 and TGF-β3 were significantly lower than those in the ETV group (P < 0.01). Compared with ETV, PEG-IFN had higher HBeAg and HBsAg disappearance rates.Conclusion During antiviral therapy, a change in the cytokine profile occurred; in the aspect of immune control and functional cure, PEG-IFN was significantly better than ETV.
Objective This study was performed to compare the genetic diversity, virulence, and antimicrobial resistance of Aeromonas strains isolated from patients and healthy individuals.Methods A total of 38 clinical strains and 19 strains from healthy individuals were isolated from the samples collected in Ma’anshan City, Anhui Province. Their taxonomy was investigated using concatenated gyrB-cpn60 sequences, and their resistance to 12 antibiotics was evaluated. The pathogenicity of these strains was examined through beta-hemolysis, protease activity, and virulence gene assays.Results The 57 Aeromonas strains were divided into 55 sequence types. Of these types, 21 were novel, suggesting that their genetic diversity was high. These Aeromonas isolates could be divided into 7 species, and the positive rates of beta-hemolysis and protease activity were 49.1% and 73.7%, respectively. The detection rate of clinical patients in terms of beta-hemolysis and protease activity was higher than that of healthy individuals. Among the four most common Aeromonas strains, A. dhakensis had the highest detection rate of virulence genes. The multidrug resistance rate of the clinical isolates was much higher than that of the strains isolated from healthy individuals.Conclusions The taxonomy, virulence properties, and antibiotic resistance of Aeromonas isolates from patients differ from those of the isolates from healthy individuals.
Objective To investigate the molecular mechanism of high phosphorylation levels of cofilin-1 (p-CFL-1) associated with paclitaxel resistance in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cells.Methods Cells displaying varying levels of p-CFL-1 and CFL-1 were created by plasmid transfection and shRNA interference. Cell inhibition rate indicating paclitaxel efficacy was assessed by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. Apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry and protein levels were detected by western blotting. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to measure the expression levels of phosphokinases and phosphatases of CFL-1. Survival analysis evaluated the correlation between the prognosis of EOC patients and the levels of p-CFL-1 and slingshot-1 (SSH-1).Results High levels of p-CFL-1 were observed in EOC cells that survived treatment with high doses of paclitaxel. SKOV3 cell mutants with upregulated p-CFL-1 showed impaired paclitaxel efficacy, as well as decreased apoptosis rates and pro-survival patterns of apoptosis-specific protein expression. Cytoplasmic accumulation of p-CFL-1 inhibited paclitaxel-induced mitochondrial apoptosis. SSH-1 silencing mediated CFL-1 phosphorylation in paclitaxel-resistant SKOV3 cells. Clinically, the high level of p-CFL-1 and the low level of SSH-1 in EOC tissues were closely related to chemotherapy resistance and poor prognosis in EOC patients.Conclusion The SSH-1/p-CFL-1 signaling pathway mediates paclitaxel resistance by apoptosis inhibition in EOC and is expected to be a potential prognostic predictor.
We aimed to assess the risks of Cryptosporidium and Giardia infections associated with drinking water for local residents, based on a quantitative microbial risk assessment, in three densely populated regions of China. In total, 45 source water samples and 45 treated water samples were collected from June to December 2014. Five Cryptosporidium-positive samples and 5 Giardia-positive samples were found. The annual probability of infection for individuals in Jintan (6.27 × 10−4−2.05 × 10−3 for Cryptosporidium and 7.18 × 10−4−2.32 × 10−3 for Giardia), Ezhou (6.27 × 10−4−1.10 × 10−2 for Cryptosporidium and 3.65 × 10−4−1.20 × 10−3 for Giardia), and Binyang (3.79 × 10−4−1.25 × 10−3 for Cryptosporidium) exceeded the tolerable risk of infection of 10−4 set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Moreover, the corresponding disease burdens of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis, due to direct drinking and residual water in these regions, exceeded the threshold of 10−6 disability-adjusted life years per person per year set by the World Health Organization. These results provide insights into strategies to improve the safety of drinking water.
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