bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Genetic mapping and functional analysis of a classical tassel branch number mutant Tp2 in maize
Authors: Li Juan , Wang Xi , Wei Junfeng , Miao Xinxin , Shang Xiaoyang , Li Lin
Published: June 2023

Tassel branch number is a key trait that contributes greatly to grain yield in maize (Zea mays). We obtained a classical mutant from maize genetics cooperation stock center, Teopod2 (Tp2), which exhibits severely decreased tassel branch. We conducted a comprehensive study, including phenotypic investigation, genetic mapping, transcriptome analysis, overexpression and CRISPR knock-out, and tsCUT&Tag of Tp2 gene for the molecular dissection of Tp2 mutant. Phenotypic investigation showed that it is a pleiotropic dominant mutant, which is mapped to an interval of approximately 139-kb on Chromosome 10 harboring two genes Zm00001d025786 and zma-miR156h. Transcriptome analysis showed that the relative expression level of zma-miR156h was significantly increased in mutants. Meanwhile, overexpression of zma-miR156h and knockout materials of ZmSBP13 exhibited significantly decreased tassel branch number, a similar phenotype with Tp2 mutant, suggesting that zma-miR156h is the causal gene of Tp2 and targets ZmSBP13 gene. Besides, the potential downstream genes of ZmSBP13 were uncovered and showed that it may target multiple proteins to regulate inflorescence structure. Overall, we characterized and cloned Tp2 mutant, and proposed a zma-miR156h-ZmSBP13 model functioning in regulating tassel branch development in maize, which is an essential measure to satisfy the increasing demands of cereals.
Function analysis of GhWRKY53 regulating cotton resistance to verticillium wilt by JA and SA signaling pathways
Authors: Li Youzhong , Chen Haihong , Wang Youwu , Zhu Jincheng , Zhang Xiaoli , Sun Jie , Liu Feng , Zhao Yiying
Published: June 2023

WRKY transcription factors (TFs) play an important role in regulating the mechanism of plant self-defense. However, the function of most WRKY TFs in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is still unknown. Hence, studying the molecular mechanism of WRKY TFs in the resistance of cotton to Verticillium dahliae is of great significance to enhancing cotton disease resistance and improving its fiber quality. In this study, Bioinformatics has been used to characterize the cotton WRKY53 gene family. we analyzed the GhWRKY53 expression patterns in different resistant upland cotton cultivars treated with salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA). Additionally, GhWRKY53 was silenced using a virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) to determine the contribution of GhWRKY53 to V. dahliae resistance in cotton. The result showed that GhWRKY53 mediated SA and MeJA signal transduction pathways. After VIGS of the GhWRKY53, the ability of cotton to resist V. dahliae decreased, indicating that the GhWRKY53 could be involved in the disease resistance mechanism of cotton. Studies on the levels of SA and jasmonic acid (JA) and their related pathway genes demonstrated that the silencing of GhWRKY53 inhibited the SA pathway and activated the JA pathway, thereby reducing the resistance of plants to V. dahliae. In conclusion, GhWRKY53 could change the tolerance of upland cotton to V. dahliae by regulating the expression of SA and JA pathway-related genes. However, the interaction mechanism between JA and SA signaling pathways in cotton in response to V. dahliae requires further study.
The effects of executive coaching on behaviors, attitudes, and personal characteristics: a meta-analysis of randomized control trial studies
Authors: Nicolau Andreea , Candel Octav Sorin , Constantin Ticu , Kleingeld Ad
Published: June 2023

Background

A growing number of studies emphasize executive coaching as an effective developmental tool that managers can use to increase their performance in organizational settings. However, the coaching research suggests a large variety of processes and outcomes, lacking clarity on the primary psychological dimensions most impacted.

Method

Reviewing 20 studies with a rigorous methodological design that used control trials and pre-post tests, we evaluated and compared the relative effects of coaching on different types and sub-types of outcomes by means of a classification of coaching outcomes based on previously used taxonomies.

Results

The results indicate that the impact of coaching on behavioral outcomes was higher compared to attitudes and person characteristics outcomes, suggesting that behavioral coaching outcomes, especially cognitive behavioral activities, are the most impacted by executive coaching. Moreover, we found significant positive effects for some specific outcomes, such as self-efficacy, psychological capital, and resilience, indicating that executive coaching is effective in producing change even on dimensions considered relatively stable over time. The results show no moderation effects of the number of sessions. The length of the coaching program was a significant moderator only for the attitudes outcomes.

Discussion

These findings provide evidence that executive coaching is a powerful instrument for organizations to support positive change and personal development.
The influence of leadership on employees' employability: a bibliometric analysis, systematic literature review, and research agenda
Authors: Hoedemakers Joost , Vanderstukken Arne , Stoffers Jol
Published: June 2023

Introduction

Policymakers, researchers, and practitioners have recently begun treating employability-an individual's ability to possess and continuously adjust and acquire up-to-date competencies, flexibility, adaptability, and openness to change-as crucial to enabling employees to respond to ubiquitous and rapid changes in organizations (e.g., changing tasks and work-related processes). Research into ways to enhance employability, particularly through supervisor leadership, which, for example, facilitates training and competence development, has thus grown in popularity. A review on leadership as an antecedent of employability is both evident and timely. This review thus addresses the question of whether a supervisor's leadership influences employees' employability, and in which contexts and through which mechanisms it does so.

Methods

As preliminary study we conducted a bibliometric analysis (which corroborated employability's recent rise in popularity) and as main study we conducted a systematic literature review. For this, the authors independently searched for articles, which met the inclusion criteria and subsequently were included for full text analysis. The authors also independently used the forward and backward snowballing technique for identifying additional articles which met the inclusion criteria and subsequently were included for full text analysis. The procedure resulted in 17 articles in total.

Results

Most of the articles identified positive relationships among several conceptualizations of supervisor leadership and employee employability, such as transformational leadership and leader-member exchange, and to a lesser extent, servant leadership and perceived supervisor support. This review suggests that such relationships occur across different work contexts, such as educational, SMEs, healthcare, and several other industries, and these contexts also vary geographically.

Discussion

The relationships among supervisor leadership and employee employability are largely explained using a social exchange perspective, which means that the positive influence of leadership on employability is itself influenced by a two-way social exchange relationship between supervisor and employees. The quality of the dyadic relationship between leader and followers thus determines the extent to which leaders offer valuable resources such as training and feedback, which subsequently enhances employees' employability. This review demonstrates that investing in supervisors' leadership is a valuable HRM strategy that fosters employability, and it identifies practical implications that inform policy and practice and sets an agenda for future employability research.
Shape–color associations in an unrestricted color choice paradigm
Authors: Zelazny Aurore , Liu Xun , Sørensen Thomas Alrik
Published: June 2023

Since Kandinsky's claim for fundamental shape–color associations, several studies have revealed that those tendencies were not generalizable to the entire population and that different associations were more prevalent. Past studies, however, lacked a methodology that allowed participants to freely report their shape–color preferences. Here, we report data from 7,517 Danish individuals, using a free choice full color wheel for five different geometrical shapes. We find significant shape–hue associations for circle-red/yellow, triangle-green/yellow, square-blue, and pentagon/hexagon-magenta. The significant shape–hue associations are also more saturated than non-significant ones for the circle, triangle, and square. At the conceptual level, basic shapes, which show stronger associations, are linked to primary colors, and non-basic shapes to secondary colors. Shape-color associations seem indeed to follow the Berlin-Kay stages of entry into languages. This pattern had previously been described for graphemes and weekday–color associations. The methodology employed in our study can be repeated in different cultural contexts in the future. We also provide another instance of color associations for ordinal concepts that follow the stages of entry into languages.
Simplicity and predictability: a phenomenological study of psychological flow in transactional workers
Authors: Clapp Steven R. , Karwowski Waldemar , Hancock P. A.
Published: June 2023

Psychological flow is a positive experience achieved through a near-balance of task challenge and skill capability, creating a merging of awareness and action and leading to an intrinsically rewarding feeling. Flow has typically been documented in persons who participate in work and leisure activities where they can exercise a large degree of creativity and agency over their actions in pursuit of their goals. The objective of the present study is to explore the lived experiences of flow in workers in roles where creativity and agency are typically not expected. An interpretative phenomenological analysis approach was employed to attain this objective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 adults whose role is to perform transactional work, which by its nature affords less opportunity for creative execution. Common themes about participants’ flow experiences are documented. Two broad types of flow are described and a connection is made that the present study’s participants achieve one of those flow types while working. Participants’ feelings, preferences, and actions are mapped to the nine conventional dimensions of flow. Specific non-task work system factors are discussed relative to their influence on participants’ attainment of flow. Limitations of the present study and recommended future research are discussed.
Shall we play together? Game-based learning for engagement and classroom climate in Spanish socially deprived communities
Authors: Rodríguez-Ferrer José M. , Manzano-León Ana , Fernández-Jiménez Carolina , Luque de la Rosa Antonio , Fernández-Campoy Juan M. , Aguilar-Parra José M.
Published: June 2023

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of a game-based learning (GBL) program on the classroom climate and engagement of high schools in socially deprived communities in Spain.

Methods

The study included 277 students from two secondary schools located in Southern Spain, situated in Zones in Need of Social Transformation. Sampling was non-probabilistic and accidental, based on the accessibility of the school and the willingness of the management and teaching staff to participate in the GBL program. The study employed a control group and two experimental groups (cooperative games group only and cooperative and competitive games group) to compare pre-test and post-test data in both groups. The Brief Class Climate Scale and Engagement Inventory, validated in academic literature, were used as assessment instruments.

Results

The study used a series of ANOVA tests to compare the experimental groups with the control group. The results indicated statistically significant changes in all study variables. In all cases, the experimental groups demonstrated greater benefits than the control group.

Discussion and conclusion

The study findings reveal that games can provide significant benefits to students, regardless of whether they are cooperative or competitive. The study provides evidence of the benefits of GBL in high schools located in socially deprived communities in Spain.
Psychological wellbeing in adult adoptees: current age and developmental tasks
Authors: Melero Sandra , Verdugo Laura , Sánchez-Sandoval Yolanda
Published: June 2023

Introduction

Studies about adult adoptees are normally focused on the differences in adjustment difficulties between them and non-adoptees. However, there has been less research about adoptees' positive and developmental adjustment in adulthood. The aim of this study is to test a model of the mediating role of adoptees' achievement of adulthood tasks in the relationship between current age and psychological wellbeing.

Materials and methods

The sample consisted of 117 adults who were adopted as children by Spanish families. Their current mean age is 28.3 years. Participants underwent an interview and completed Ryff's Psychological WellBeing Scales.

Results

Findings show that current age is directly and negatively related to psychological wellbeing [c′ = −0.039, 95% CI (−0.078, −0.001)], and the relationship between these variables is mediated by adoptees' achievement of adulthood tasks [indirect effect = 0.035, 95% CI (.014, 0.059)].

Discussion

The findings support traditional theories about transitioning to adulthood, and adds relevant information about this transition in adoptees. Moreover, this work indicates a new way of assessing adoption success, based on long-term measures and normative variables. Services providers should account for the importance of supporting young people on their life transitions and promoting their wellbeing, especially among those who started from disadvantaged contexts.
Recommendations for selection and adaptation of rating scales for clinical studies of rapid-acting antidepressants
Authors: Yavorsky Christian , Ballard Elizabeth , Opler Mark , Sedway Jan , Targum Steven D. , Lenderking William
Published: June 2023

The novel mechanisms of action (MOA) derived from some recently introduced molecular targets have led to regulatory approvals for rapid acting antidepressants (RAADs) that can generate responses within hours or days, rather than weeks or months. These novel targets include the N-methyl-D-glutamate receptor antagonist ketamine, along with its enantiomers and various derivatives, and the allosteric modulators of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors. There has also been a strong resurgence in interest in psychedelic compounds that impact a range of receptor sites including D1, 5-HT7, KOR, 5-HT5A, Sigma-1, NMDA, and BDNF. The RAADs developed from these novel targets have enabled successful treatment for difficult to treat depressed individuals and has generated a new wave of innovation in research and treatment. Despite the advances in the neurobiology and clinical treatment of mood disorders, we are still using rating instruments that were created decades ago for drugs from a different era (e.g., The Hamilton and Montgomery-Åsberg depression rating scales, HDRS, and MADRS) continue to be used. These rating instruments were designed to assess mood symptoms over a 7-day time frame. Consequently, the use of these rating instruments often requires modifications to address items that cannot be assessed in short time frames, such as the sleep and appetite items. This review describes the adaptative approaches that have been made with the existing scales to meet this need and examines additional domains such as daily activities, side effects, suicidal ideation and behavior, and role functioning. Recommendations for future studies are described, including the challenges related to implementation of these adapted measures and approaches to mitigation.
Assessing hypertension and diabetes knowledge, attitudes and practices among residents in Akatsi South District, Ghana using the KAP questionnaire
Authors: Asante Dorothy O. , Dai Anran , Walker Anita N. , Zhou Zhou , Kpogo Senam A. , Lu Rongzhu , Huang Kaizong , Zou Jianjun
Published: June 2023

Objective

Low awareness of hypertension and diabetes is a public health concern in Ghana. Assessing the general population’s behaviour via knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) will be invaluable in these diseases, where prevention and control need a lifelong commitment to a healthy lifestyle. Hence, our goal was to assess the behaviour of Akatsi South residents towards the diseases to assist health providers in implementing tailored intervention programs.

Methods

This was a population-based cross-sectional study with 150 adults (18–70 years) from November to December 2021. A semi-structured questionnaire with face-to-face interviews was used to obtain data. All variables in the model had descriptive statistics. The Chi-square (χ2) test was used to examine correlations between variables, and a value of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The factors associated with checking blood sugar levels and blood pressure were determined using binary logistic regression.

Results

The respondents’ mean age and BMI were 32.40 years (± 12.07) and 24.98 kg/m2 (± 2.36), respectively. Only 46.67% of the respondents frequently monitor their blood pressure and 17.33% their blood glucose (at least once a year). Less than half of those surveyed had a good knowledge of hypertension (42.7%) and diabetes (32.0%), whereas nearly 3/4 had poor attitudes regarding both conditions. A binary logistic regression analysis revealed that having a good attitude toward hypertension (exp B = 2.479, p = 0.036) and diabetes (exp B = 4.547, p = 0.009) were the participants’ strongest predictor of blood pressure and sugar level checks. However, being overweight (exp B = 0.046, p = 0.002,) or obese (exp B = 0.144, p = 0.034) negatively influenced the frequency with which our respondents checked their blood glucose levels.

Conclusion

In the study, we found that the population generally has poor knowledge, which affects their behaviour (attitudes and practices) towards the diseases. To enable healthcare practitioners to reduce disease-associated mortality and morbidity in the future, frequent public health education and promotion about the conditions is critical to closing the knowledge gap.
Topic evolution and sentiment comparison of user reviews on an online medical platform in response to COVID-19: taking review data of Haodf.com as an example
Authors: Li Chaoyang , Li Shengyu , Yang Jianfeng , Wang Jingmei , Lv Yiqing
Published: June 2023

Introduction

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many patients have sought medical advice on online medical platforms. Review data have become an essential reference point for supporting users in selecting doctors. As the research object, this study considered Haodf.com, a well-known e-consultation website in China.

Methods

This study examines the topics and sentimental change rules of user review texts from a temporal perspective. We also compared the topics and sentimental change characteristics of user review texts before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. First, 323,519 review data points about 2,122 doctors on Haodf.com were crawled using Python from 2017 to 2022. Subsequently, we employed the latent Dirichlet allocation method to cluster topics and the ROST content mining software to analyze user sentiments. Second, according to the results of the perplexity calculation, we divided text data into five topics: diagnosis and treatment attitude, medical skills and ethics, treatment effect, treatment scheme, and treatment process. Finally, we identified the most important topics and their trends over time.

Results

Users primarily focused on diagnosis and treatment attitude, with medical skills and ethics being the second-most important topic among users. As time progressed, the attention paid by users to diagnosis and treatment attitude increased—especially during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, when attention to diagnosis and treatment attitude increased significantly. User attention to the topic of medical skills and ethics began to decline during the COVID-19 outbreak, while attention to treatment effect and scheme generally showed a downward trend from 2017 to 2022. User attention to the treatment process exhibited a declining tendency before the COVID-19 outbreak, but increased after. Regarding sentiment analysis, most users exhibited a high degree of satisfaction for online medical services. However, positive user sentiments showed a downward trend over time, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Discussion

This study has reference value for assisting user choice regarding medical treatment, decision-making by doctors, and online medical platform design.
Skeletal muscle fibre type and enzymatic activity in adult offspring following placental and peripheral malaria exposure in foetal life
Authors: Christensen Dirk L. , Mutabingwa Theonest K. , Bygbjerg Ib C. , Vaag Allan A. , Grunnet Louise G. , Lajeunesse-Trempe Fanny , Nielsen Jannie , Schmiegelow Christentze , Ramaiya Kaushik L. , Myburgh Kathryn H.
Published: June 2023

Background

Maternal malaria may restrict foetal growth. Impaired utero-placental blood flow due to malaria infection may cause hypoxia-induced altered skeletal muscle fibre type distribution in the offspring, which may contribute to insulin resistance and impaired glucose metabolism. This study assessed muscle fibre distribution 20 years after placental and/or peripheral in-utero malaria exposure compared to no exposure, i.e., PPM+, PM+, and M-, respectively.

Methods

We traced 101 men and women offspring of mothers who participated in a malaria chemosuppression study in Muheza, Tanzania. Of 76 eligible participants, 50 individuals (29 men and 21 women) had skeletal muscle biopsy taken from m. vastus lateralis in the right leg. As previously reported, fasting and 30 min post-oral glucose challenge plasma glucose values were higher, and insulin secretion disposition index was lower, in the PPM+ group. Aerobic capacity (fitness) was estimated by an indirect VO2max test on a stationary bicycle. Muscle fibre sub-type (myosin heavy chain, MHC) distribution was analysed, as were muscle enzyme activities (citrate synthase (CS), 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, myophosphorylase, phosphofructokinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and creatine kinase activities. Between-group analyses were adjusted for MHC-I %.

Results

No differences in aerobic capacity were found between groups. Despite subtle elevations of plasma glucose levels in the PPM+ group, there was no difference in MHC sub-types or muscle enzymatic activities between the malaria-exposed and non-exposed groups.

Conclusion

The current study did not show differences in MHC towards glycolytic sub-types or enzymatic activity across the sub-groups. The results support the notion of the mild elevations of plasma glucose levels in people exposed to placental malaria in pregnancy being due to compromised pancreatic insulin secretion rather than insulin resistance.
Positive youth development attributes, mental disorder, and problematic online behaviors in adolescents: a longitudinal study amidst the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Gan Xiong , Xiang Guo-Xing , Li Min , Jin Xin , Qin Ke-Nan
Published: June 2023

Introduction

During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents have increasingly suffered from online problem behaviors and mental disorders. But little research has paid attention to the protective factors among adolescents. Therefore, the present study attempted to investigate the role of positive youth development (PYD) attributes in adolescents’ depression, internet gaming disorder (IGD) and cyberbullying/victimization (CBV).

Methods

A total of 995 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 15.97 years, SD = 0.77, 325 boys) from two public high schools in Hubei province were recruited to participate in the three-wave longitudinal study over the span of 1 year during the pandemic (Time 1: November, 2020; Time 2: May, 2021; Time 3: November, 2021).

Results

T1 PYD attributes negatively predicted T2 depression and T3 online problematic behaviors. T2 depression positively predicted IGD at T3. T3 IGD significantly predicted greater involvement in T3 CBV, and vice versa. Moreover, depression and one online problem behavior mediated the relationships between PYD attributes and the other online problem behavior, separately and sequentially.

Discussion

These findings demonstrated the protective role of PYD attributes in prevention of mental disorders and online problem behaviors among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comprehensive measures should be taken to assist young people to develop more PYD attributes to promote healthy growth.
Research hotspots and new trends in the impact of resistance training on aging, bibliometric and visual analysis based on CiteSpace and VOSviewer
Authors: Mi Junmin , Zhang Litao , Sun Wei , Wang Zhen , Yang Pengbo , Zhang Jiachen , Zhang Yani
Published: June 2023

Purpose

Resistance training (RT) can intervene in aging, which can effectively improve trainees’ life. However, unhealthy living habits such as irregular life, obesity and hyperlipidemia, and chronic diseases lead to a significant decline in the energy level of the population, seriously affecting the health of the population. Our research identifies the research hotspots of RT to intervene in aging from the perspective of bibliometrics, predicts research frontiers and development trends, and provides more perspectives for research on aging populations.

Methods

In this study, we used CiteSpace and VOSviewer visualization software to draw the scientific knowledge map of countries/regions, institutions, authors, co-occurrence keywords, and co-cited references of published articles, and explore the Web of Science core collection database all about the RT intervention aging research status, hotspots, frontiers, and development trends of articles on aging.

Results

Among the 760 articles that meet the inclusion criteria, the number of articles published and the frequency of citations have increased steadily in the past 5 years. Judging from the countries/regions, institutions, scholars, and journals that published articles, the ones with the largest numbers are the USA, Univ Estadual Londrina, Cyrino ES, and Exp Gerontol. The ones with the highest influence are England, Univ Arkansas Med Sci, Frontera WR, and Biochem Biophys Rep Co. The top five co-occurrence keywords of include exercise, strength, resistance training, skeletal muscle, and muscle strength. The research frontier is physical function.

Conclusion

In the field of RT intervention aging research, relevant scholars deserve further in-depth research and exploration. The United States, Brazil, Canada, and other economically developed countries/regions, institutions, and authors have greater influence and productivity. These quantitative research results can provide references for relevant scholars’ follow-up research and government departments to formulate and modify health policies or measures.
COVID-19 vaccination coverage and its cognitive determinants among older adults in Shanghai, China, during the COVID-19 epidemic
Authors: Wei Lu , Zeng Wu , Huang Yangyang , Ye Guoxin , Chen Ying , Yang Ling , Cai Yuyang
Published: June 2023

Objectives

This study aimed to examine the coverage of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination and its cognitive determinants among older adults.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire to conduct a survey among 725 Chinese older adults aged 60 years and above in June 2022, 2 months after the mass COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai, China. The questionnaire covered demographic characteristics, COVID-19 vaccination status, internal risk perception, knowledge, and attitude toward the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines.

Results

The vaccination rate was 78.3% among the surveyed individuals. Self-reported reasons for unwillingness to get vaccinated (multiple selections) were “concerns about acute exacerbation of chronic diseases after vaccination (57.3%)” and “concerns regarding vaccine side effects (41.4%).” Compared to the unvaccinated group, the vaccinated group tended to have a higher score in internal risk perception (t = 2.64, P < 0.05), better knowledge of COVID-19 vaccines (t = 5.84, P < 0.05), and a more positive attitude toward the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines (t = 7.92, P < 0.05). The path analysis showed that the cognitive effect on vaccination behavior is relatively large, followed by the internal risk perception, and then the attitude toward COVID-19 vaccines. The more knowledgeable the participants were about COVID-19 vaccines, the more likely they were to receive the COVID-19 vaccines. In the multivariate logistic regression, the increased coverage of COVID-19 vaccination was associated with reduced age (OR = 0.53 95% CI 0.43–0.66, P < 0.001), being a resident in other places than Shanghai (OR = 0.40, 95% CI 0.17–0.92, P < 0.05), a shorter time of lockdown (OR = 0.33, 95% CI 0.13–0.83, P < 0.05), a history of other vaccines (OR = 2.58, 95% CI 1.45–4.60, P < 0.01), a fewer number of chronic diseases (OR = 0.49, 95% CI 0.38–0.62, P < 0.001), better knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines (OR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.17–2.19, P < 0.01), and a positive attitude toward COVID-19 vaccines (OR = 9.22, 95% CI 4.69–18.09, P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Acquiring accurate knowledge and developing a positive attitude toward COVID-19 vaccines are important factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination. Disseminating informed information on COVID-19 vaccines and ensuring efficacious communication regarding their efficacy and safety would enhance awareness about COVID-19 vaccination among older adults and consequently boost their vaccination coverage.
A study on the sustainability assessment of China’s basic medical insurance fund under the background of population aging–evidence from Shanghai
Authors: Yu Zhi-Qing , Chen Li-Peng , Qu Jun-Qiao , Wu Wan-Zong , Zeng Yi
Published: June 2023

Objective

As China’s population aging process accelerates, the expenditure of China’s basic medical insurance fund for employees may increase significantly, which may threaten the sustainability of China’s basic medical insurance fund for employees. This paper aims to forecast the future development of China’s basic medical insurance fund for employees in the context of the increasingly severe aging of the population.

Methods

This paper taking an empirical study from Shanghai as an example, constructs an actuarial model to analyze the impact of changes in the growth rate of per capita medical expenses due to non-demographic factors and in the population structure on the sustainability of the basic medical insurance fund for employees.

Results

Shanghai basic medical insurance fund for employees can achieve the goal of sustainable operation in 2021-2035, with a cumulative balance of 402.150–817.751 billion yuan in 2035. The lower the growth rate of per capita medical expenses brought about by non-demographic factors, the better the sustainable operation of the fund.

Conclusion

Shanghai basic medical insurance fund for employees can operate sustainably in the next 15 years, which can further reduce the contribution burden of enterprises, which lays the foundation for improving the basic medical insurance treatment for employees.
Sex differences in the risk factors of disability among community-dwelling older adults with hypertension: Longitudinal results from the Health, Aging, and Retirement in Thailand study (HART)
Authors: Wongsin Utoomporn , Chen Tuo-Yu
Published: June 2023

Background

Hypertension poses a serious health problem among Thai older adults which could subsequently lead to disability. However, little to no research has been conducted to understand modifiable risk factors of disability among community-dwelling older adults with hypertension in Thailand. In addition, sex is an important social determinant of health, but its role in disability among older adults with hypertension is less clear.

Objectives

This study focused on community-dwelling older adults with hypertension in Thailand and investigated predictors of disability and examined sex differences in the risk factors that were associated with disability in this population.

Methods

Longitudinal data were from the Health, Aging, and Retirement in Thailand (HART) survey (2015–2017; N = 916). The outcome variable was difficulty with the activity of daily living at follow-up. Potential risk factors included sociodemographic information, health behaviors/health status, and disability at baseline. Descriptive analysis and logistic regression analysis were employed to analyze the data.

Results

Most of the participants were female and between aged 60 and 69 years old. Being in an older age group (OR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.07–2.97, p < 0.05), having more chronic conditions (OR = 1.38, 95% CI: 1.10–1.73, p < 0.01), experiencing obesity (OR = 2.02, 95% CI: 1.11–3.69, p < 0.05), and having disability at baseline (OR = 2.42, 95% CI: 1.09–5.37, p < 0.05) significantly predicted disability at 2 year follow-up among community-dwelling Thai older adults with hypertension. The effects of these risk factors on disability at follow-up did not differ by sex. However, different risk factors of disability were observed across sexes.

Conclusion

The situations of disability among older adults with hypertension in Thailand are likely to aggravate due to the rapid aging of the population. Our analysis provided useful information regarding significant predictors of disability and sex-specific risk factors of disability. Tailored promotion and prevention programs should be readily available to prevent disability among community-dwelling older adults with hypertension in Thailand.
Prevalence and factors associated with multimorbidity in adults in Brazil, according to sex: a population-based cross-sectional survey
Authors: Pereira Cristina Camargo , Pedroso Charlise Fortunato , Batista Sandro Rogério Rodrigues , Guimarães Rafael Alves
Published: June 2023

Introduction

Multimorbidity, defined as the coexistence of two or more chronic diseases in the same individual, represents a significant health challenge. However, there is limited evidence on its prevalence and associated factors in developing countries, such as Brazil, especially stratified by sex. Thus, this study aims to estimate the prevalence and analyze the factors associated with multimorbidity in Brazilian adults according to sex.

Methods

Cross-sectional population-based household survey carried out with Brazilian adults aged 18 years or older. The sampling strategy consisted of a three-stage conglomerate plan. The three stages were performed through simple random sampling. Data were collected through individual interviews. Multimorbidity was classified based on a list of 14 self-reported chronic diseases/conditions. Poisson regression analysis was performed to estimate the magnitude of the association between sociodemographic and lifestyle factors with the prevalence of multimorbidity stratified by sex.

Results

A total of 88,531 individuals were included. In absolute terms, the prevalence of multimorbidity was 29.4%. The frequency in men and women was 22.7 and 35.4%, respectively. Overall, multimorbidity was more prevalent among women, the older people, residents of the South and Southeast regions, urban area residents, former smokers, current smokers, physically inactive, overweight, and obese adults. Individuals with complete high school/incomplete higher education had a lower prevalence of multimorbidity than those with higher educational level. The associations between education and multimorbidity differed between sexes. In men, multimorbidity was inversely associated with the strata of complete middle school/incomplete high school and complete high school/incomplete higher education, while in women, the association between these variables was not observed. Physical inactivity was positively associated with a higher prevalence of multimorbidity only in men. An inverse association was verified between the recommended fruit and vegetable consumption and multimorbidity for the total sample and both sexes.

Conclusion

One in four adults had multimorbidity. Prevalence increased with increasing age, among women, and was associated with some lifestyles. Multimorbidity was significantly associated with educational level and physical inactivity only in men. The results suggest the need to adopt integrated strategies to reduce the magnitude of multimorbidity, specific by gender, including actions for health promotion, disease prevention, health surveillance and comprehensive health care in Brazil.
Barriers and facilitators to physical activity and further digital exercise intervention among inactive British adolescents in secondary schools: a qualitative study with physical education teachers
Authors: Moore Richard , Edmondson Lee , Gregory Maxine , Griffiths Kerry , Freeman Elizabeth
Published: June 2023

Background

Previous studies indicated that physical education programs in schools were unsuccessful to ameliorate physical activity (PA) behaviors among adolescents. This study investigated PE teachers’ perceptions of barriers and facilitators to PA and further digital exercise interventions among inactive British adolescents in secondary schools based on the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior (COM-B) model, the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW), and Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF).

Method

A qualitative study was conducted among 156 PE teachers in England. deductive thematic analysis approach was applied to analyze data.

Results

A comprehensive perception of PE teachers revealed 21 barriers to PA among inactive adolescents in secondary schools. The study findings show that barriers exist across all categories of the COM-B model in physical opportunity (7), reflective motivation (5), social opportunity (4), psychological capability (4) and physical capability (1). The majority of these barriers were reported in previous studies as being barriers to PA from the perspective of children and adolescents. This shows that the findings are consistent with the views of children and adolescents that participated in these studies. Particular salient barriers for inactive adolescents were reported and greater insight into their experiences was highlighted. The study reported the main sources of behavior, intervention functions, policy functions, and behavior change tools that can be used for future behavior change interventions to support inactive adolescents.

Conclusion

The study recommends using its findings to design interventions for inactive adolescents to achieve recommended levels of physical activity (PA). The study’s comprehensive approach and evidence-based solutions provide extensive reference points for future intervention design, informing policy and contributing to enhancing support for inactive adolescents. Further development of digital exercise interventions, including conversational artificial intelligence (AI), is suggested to engage adolescents at scale and provide personalized support to overcome multiple barriers to PA.
Evaluation of feasibility and acceptability of a web-based diabetes prevention program (DPP) for diabetes risk reduction in Chinese Americans in New York City
Authors: Yeh Ming-Chin , Lau Wincy , Keady Claire Anselmo , Horlyck-Romanovsky Margrethe , Tung Ho-Jui , Hu Lu , Ma Grace X. , Wylie-Rosett Judith
Published: June 2023

Introduction

Intensive lifestyle intervention remains an effective modality to reduce diabetes incidence and delay the progression to type 2 diabetes. The primary aim of this study was to pilot-test the feasibility and acceptability of a culturally and linguistically tailored web-based DPP intervention among Chinese Americans with prediabetes living in New York City.

Methods

Thirteen Chinese American participants with prediabetes were recruited to complete a 1-year web-based Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) lifestyle intervention. Quantitative and qualitative measures such as retention rate and data collected from web-based questionnaires and focus groups were collected and analyzed to assess study feasibility and acceptability.

Results and Discussion

Participants were receptive to the program through high engagement, retention and satisfaction. Retention rate was 85%. 92% of participants completed at least 16 sessions out of 22 sessions. Post-trial surveys indicated high satisfaction of 27.2/32 based on Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8) score. Participants expressed the program increased their knowledge and methods to prevent onset of type 2 diabetes such as incorporating healthy eating habits and increasing physical activities. Although not a primary outcome, there was a significant weight reduction of 2.3% at the end of month 8 of the program (p < 0.05). The culturally and linguistically adapted DPP via online platform successfully demonstrated feasibility and acceptability among Chinese Americans with prediabetes. Further evaluation of the web-based Chinese Diabetes Prevention Program in a larger trial is warranted.
An external facilitation intervention to increase uptake of an adverse drug event reporting intervention
Authors: Lau Erica Y. , Small Serena S. , Butcher Kate , Cragg Amber , Loh Gabriel W. , Shalansky Steve , Hohl Corinne M.
Published: June 2023

Background

Adverse drug events (ADEs) are a leading cause of emergency department visits and hospital admissions in Canada. ActionADE prevents repeat ADEs by enabling clinicians to document and communicate standardized ADE information across care settings. We used an external facilitation intervention to promote the uptake of ActionADE in four hospitals in British Columbia, Canada. This study examined whether, how and in what context external facilitation influenced the uptake of ActionADE.

Methods

In this convergent-parallel mixed-methods study, an external facilitator used a four-step iterative process to support site champions using context-specific implementation strategies to increase the ADE reporting rate at their sites. We extracted archival data to assess implementation determinants before and after the implementation of the external facilitation and implementation strategies. We also retrieved data on the mean monthly counts of reported ADEs for each user from the ActionADE server. Zero-inflated Poisson models were used to examine changes in mean monthly counts of reported ADEs per user between pre-intervention (June 2021 to October 2021) and intervention (November 2021 to March 2022) periods.

Results

The external facilitator and site champions co-created three functions: (1) educate pharmacists about what and how to report in ActionADE, (2) educate pharmacists about the impact of ActionADE on patient outcomes, and (3) provide social support for pharmacists to integrate ADE reporting into clinical workflows. Site champions used eight forms to address the three functions. Peer support and reporting competition were the two common strategies used by all sites. Sites’ responses to external facilitation varied. The rate of mean monthly counts of reported ADEs per user significantly increased during the intervention period compared to the pre-intervention period at LGH (RR: 3.74, 95% CI 2.78 to 5.01) and RH (RR: 1.43, 95% CI 1.23 to 1.94), but did not change at SPH (RR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.43 to 1.09) and VGH (RR: 1.17, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.49). Leave of absence of the clinical pharmacist champion and failure to address all identified functions were implementation determinants that influenced the effectiveness of external facilitation.

Conclusion

External facilitation effectively supported researchers and stakeholders to co-create context-specific implementation strategies. It increased ADE reporting at sites where clinical pharmacist champions were available, and where all functions were addressed.
A comparison of three methods to determine the subject matter in textual data
Authors: Barnett George A. , Calabrese Christopher , Ruiz Jeanette B.
Published: June 2023

This study compares three different methods commonly employed for the determination and interpretation of the subject matter of large corpuses of textual data. The methods reviewed are: (1) topic modeling, (2) community or group detection, and (3) cluster analysis of semantic networks. Two different datasets related to health topics were gathered from Twitter posts to compare the methods. The first dataset includes 16,138 original tweets concerning HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) from April 3, 2019 to April 3, 2020. The second dataset is comprised of 12,613 tweets about childhood vaccination from July 1, 2018 to October 15, 2018. Our findings suggest that the separate “topics” suggested by semantic networks (community detection) and/or cluster analysis (Ward's method) are more clearly identified than the topic modeling results. Topic modeling produced more subjects, but these tended to overlap. This study offers a better understanding of how results may vary based on method to determine subject matter chosen.
Engineering sub-10 nm fluorescent nanodiamonds for quantum enhanced biosensing
Authors: Alkahtani Masfer H. , Alzahrani Yahya A. , Hemmer Philip R.
Published: June 2023

There is an increasing interest in the sensing of magnetic, electric, and temperature effects in biological systems on the nanoscale. While there are existing classical sensors, the possibility of using quantum systems promises improved sensitivity and faster acquisition time. So far, much progress has been made in diamond color centers like the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) which not only satisfy key requirements for biosensing, like extraordinary photostability and non-toxicity, but they also show promise as room-temperature quantum computers/sensors. Unfortunately, the most-impressive demonstrations have been done in bulk diamond, since NVs in fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) tend to have inferior properties. Yet FNDs are required for widespread nanoscale biosensing. In order for FND-based quantum sensors to approach the performance of bulk diamond, novel approaches are needed for their fabrication. To address this need we discuss opportunities for engineering the growth of FNDs.
Urban vegetable production in Beijing, China: current progress, sustainability, and challenges
Authors: Li Qiang , Yu Zhou , Li Mojun , Zhang Guiqin , Lu Tao , Li Yang , Yu Hongjun , Jiang Weijie
Published: June 2023

Urbanization in China has entered a stage of accelerated development that is accompanied by a range of issues concerning resource, ecological and society. Urban vegetable production (UVP), an important part of urban agriculture, has the potential to be an effective countermeasure for dealing with these problems. Here, we review the current state of UVP with its related technology and equipment, and show the major models of UVP in China with three representative implementation cases in Beijing. Through this review, we found the impact of UVP on urban vegetable supply should not be underestimated, while it is still considered as an urban entertainment by public now. Moreover, UVP extension is still limited when compared with China’s urbanization process. We analyze the possible reasons that restrict the development of UVP and give corresponding suggestions to improve it. Considering the scale of urbanization in China, and the potential contribution of UVP to food supply, environmental sustainability and social harmony, there is still much room for UVP development, which will bring opportunities and challenges to the government and scientific researchers.