We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Discourse analysis is one of the clinical methods commonly used to assess the language ability of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the majority of published analytic frameworks are not geared for highlighting the pragmatic aspect of discourse deficits in acquired language disorders, except for those designed for quantifying conversational samples. This study aimed to examine how pragmatic competence is impaired and reflected in spoken monologues in Chinese speakers with TBI.
Methods:
Discourse samples of five tasks (personal narrative, storytelling, procedural, single- and sequential picture description) were elicited from ten TBI survivors and their controls. Each discourse sample was measured using 16 indices (e.g., number of informative words, percentage of local/global coherence errors, repeated words or phrases) that corresponded to the four Gricean maxims. Twenty-five naïve Chinese speakers were also recruited to perform perceptual rating of the quality of all 50 TBI audio files (five discourse samples per TBI participant), in terms of erroneous/inaccurate information, adequacy of amount of information given, as well as degree of organization and clarity.
Results:
The maxim of quantity best predicted TBI’s pragmatic impairments. Naïve listeners’ perception of pragmatics deficits correlated to measures on total and informative words, as well as number and length of terminable units. Clinically, personal narrative and storytelling tasks could better elicit violations in pragmatics.
Conclusion:
Applying Gricean maxims in monologic oral narratives could capture the hallmark underlying pragmatic problems in TBI. This may help provide an additional approach of clinically assessing social communications in and subsequent management of TBI.
Caregiver-mediated intervention (CMI), based on parent skills training, is a family-mediated intervention model for children with neurodevelopmental disorders, in particular autism spectrum disorder. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of CMI.
Methods:
Thirty-three children (aged 22–69 months from our department) and their caregivers participated in a two-week training course of ten 90-minute lessons. Caregivers were encouraged to try their best to apply intervention skills in both home routines and play routines to encourage the development of cognition, motion, social adaptability, and behavior of children. Demographic information, video-recorded data, and diagnostic scales were collected at two key time points: baseline and post-training (PT – within six months).
Results:
Three aspects were assessed – primary variables, secondary variables, and correlation analyses. Results showed an improvement in PT in (1) Adult/Child Interaction Fidelity Rating (P < 0.01) and (2) adaptability of Gesell Developmental Scale and stereotyped behaviors and limited interests of Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Moreover, a negative correlation occurred between caregiver skill improvement and parent education (P < 0.05), but without correlations with other demographics.
Conclusions:
As an efficacious family intervention for both children and their caregivers, CMI is worth being generalized widely.
Late Palaeozoic igneous rock associations in response to subduction, accretion, and final closure of the eastern Palaeo-Asian Ocean play a significant role in understanding the geodynamic evolution of the southeastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt. Previous studies have identified a Permian arc magmatic belt associated with the southward-dipping subduction of the eastern Palaeo-Asian Ocean along the Solonker–Changchun suture zone. The genetic mechanism and associated geodynamic settings are of great importance in deciphering the evolution of the eastern Palaeo-Asian Ocean. This paper presents zircon U–Pb–Hf isotope and whole-rock geochemical analyses for a suite of magmatic rocks including the early Permian diorite porphyrites (ca. 281.0 Ma), andesites (ca. 276 Ma) and rhyolites (ca. 275 Ma) in the Kulun region. The diorite porphyrites and andesites have high SiO2 and total alkali contents, and low MgO contents and Mg no. values, with enrichments in large ion lithophile elements and depletions in high-field-strength elements. These geochemical characteristics, together with low-Sr and high-Yb contents, a weak concave-upward shape of middle rare earth elements and negative Eu anomalies, suggest that these intermediate igneous rocks were generated by partial melting of amphibolitic lower crust at a crustal depth of 30–40 km. The rhyolites have heterogeneous isotopic compositions, with ϵHf(t) values and TDM2 ages of –20.8 to +0.5 and 3578∼1494 Ma, implying that they were likely derived from partial melting of a mixed source dominated by recycled ancient crust with minor juvenile crustal materials. The rhyolites show potassic affinity with relatively high K2O and very low Na2O, which was attributed to liquid immiscibility of felsic magma and subsequent limited fractional crystallization of plagioclase. The regional igneous associations, metamorphic events, and coeval sedimentary rocks along the Solonker–Changchun suture zone indicate that the early Permian igneous rocks were formed in an active continental arc environment in response to southward subduction of the eastern Palaeo-Asian Ocean.
Sporadic clusters of healthcare-associated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred despite intense rostered routine surveillance and a highly vaccinated healthcare worker (HCW) population, during a community surge of the severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) B.1.617.2 δ (delta) variant. Genomic analysis facilitated timely cluster detection and uncovered additional linkages via HCWs moving between clinical areas and among HCWs sharing a common lunch area, enabling early intervention.
Mounting evidence showed that insula contributed to the neurobiological mechanism of suicidal behaviors in bipolar disorder (BD). However, no studies have analyzed the dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) of insular Mubregions and its association with personality traits in BD with suicidal behaviors. Therefore, we investigated the alterations of dFC variability in insular subregions and personality characteristics in BD patients with a recent suicide attempt (SA).
Methods
Thirty unmedicated BD patients with SA, 38 patients without SA (NSA) and 35 demographically matched healthy controls (HCs) were included. The sliding-window analysis was used to evaluate whole-brain dFC for each insular subregion seed. We assessed between-group differences of psychological characteristics on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2. Finally, a multivariate regression model was adopted to predict the severity of suicidality.
Results
Compared to NSA and HCs, the SA group exhibited decreased dFC variability values between the left dorsal anterior insula and the left anterior cerebellum. These dFC variability values could also be utilized to predict the severity of suicidality (r = 0.456, p = 0.031), while static functional connectivity values were not appropriate for this prediction. Besides, the SA group scored significantly higher on the schizophrenia clinical scales (p < 0.001) compared with the NSA group.
Conclusions
Our findings indicated that the dysfunction of insula–cerebellum connectivity may underlie the neural basis of SA in BD patients, and highlighted the dFC variability values could be considered a neuromarker for predictive models of the severity of suicidality. Moreover, the psychiatric features may increase the vulnerability of suicidal behavior.
Evidence of couples’ BMI and its influence on birth weight is limited and contradictory. Therefore, this study aims to assess the association between couple’s preconception BMI and the risk of small for gestational age (SGA)/large for gestational age (LGA) infant, among over 4·7 million couples in a retrospective cohort study based on the National Free Pre-pregnancy Checkups Project (NFPCP) between December 1, 2013 and November 30, 2016 in China. Among the live births, 256,718 (5·44%) SGA events and 506,495 (10·73%) LGA events were documented, respectively. After adjusting for confounders, underweight men had significantly higher risk [OR 1·17 95%CI (1·15-1·19)] of SGA infants compared with men with normal BMI, while a significant and increased risk of LGA infants was obtained for overweight and obese men [OR 1·08 (95% CI: 1·06-1·09); OR 1·19 (95%CI 1·17-1·20)] respectively. The restricted cubic spline (RCS) result revealed a non-linearly decreasing dose-response relationship of paternal BMI (less than 22·64) with SGA. Meanwhile, a non-linearly increasing dose-response relationship of paternal BMI (more than 22·92) with LGA infants was observed. Moreover, similar results about the association between maternal preconception BMI and SGA/LGA infants were obtained. Abnormal preconception BMIs in either women or men were associated with increased risk of SGA/LGA infants, respectively. Overall, couple’s abnormal weight before pregnancy may be an important preventable risk factor for SGA/LGA infants.
We aimed to investigate the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related knowledge and practices of cancer patients and to assess their anxiety- and depression-related to COVID-19 during the early surge phase of the pandemic.
Methods:
An online questionnaire survey of cancer patients was conducted from February 10-29, 2020. Knowledge and practices related to COVID-19 were assessed using a custom-made questionnaire. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was used to assess the presence of anxiety and depression, with scores beyond 7 indicating anxiety or depressive disorder. Univariate and multiple linear regression analyses were used to identify the high-risk groups according to the level of knowledge, practices, anxiety, and depression scores.
Results:
A total of 341 patients were included. The rate of lower level of knowledge and practices was 49.9% and 18.8%, respectively. Education level of junior high school degree or lower showed a significant association with lower knowledge score (β: −3.503; P < 0.001) and lower practices score (β: −2.210; P < 0.001) compared to the education level of college degree and above. The prevalence of anxiety and depression among the respondents was 17.6% and 23.2%, respectively. A higher depression score was associated with older age, marital status of the widowed, and lower level of education, knowledge score, and practices score (P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Targeted COVID-19-related education interventions are required for cancer patients with a lower level of knowledge to help improve their practices. Interventions are also required to address the anxiety and depression of cancer patients.
Parasitoid wasps are key agents for controlling insect pests in integrated pest management programs. Although many studies have revealed that the behavior of parasitic wasps can be influenced by insecticides, the strategies of patch time allocation and oviposition have received less attention. In the present study, we forced the endoparasitoid Meteorus pulchricornis to phoxim exposure at the LC30 and tested the foraging behavior within patches with different densities of the host, the larvae of the tobacco cutworm Spodoptera litura. The results showed that phoxim treatment can significantly increase the patch-leaving tendency of female wasps, while host density had no impact. The number of oviposition and the number of previous patch visits also significantly influenced the patch time allocation decisions. The occurrence of oviposition behavior was negatively affected by phoxim exposure; however, progeny production was similar among patches with different host densities. Phoxim exposure shaped the offspring fitness correlates, including longer durations from cocoon to adult wasps, smaller body size, and shorter longevity. The findings of the present study highlight the sublethal effects that reduce the patch residence time and the fitness of parasitoid offspring, suggesting that the application of phoxim in association with M. pulchricornis should be carefully schemed in agroecosystems.
To explore the accuracy of estimated 24-h urinary iodine excretion (24-h UIEest) in assessing iodine nutritional status.
Design:
Fasting venous blood, 24-h and spot urine samples were collected during the day. The urinary iodine concentration (UIC) and urinary creatinine concentration (UCrC) were measured, and the urinary iodine-to-creatinine ratio (UI/Cr), 24-h UIEest, and 24-h urinary iodine excretion (24-h UIE) were calculated. At the population level, correlation and consistency between UIC, UI/Cr, 24-h UIEest and 24-h UIE were assessed using correlation analysis and Bland–Altman plots. At the individual level, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to analyse the accuracy of the above indicators for evaluating insufficient and excessive iodine intake. The reference interval of 24-h UIEest was established based on percentile values.
Setting:
Indicator can accurately evaluate individual iodine nutrition during pregnancy remains controversial.
Participants:
Pregnant women (n 788).
Results:
Using 24-h UIE as standard, the correlation coefficients of 24-h UIEest from different periods of the day ranged from 0·409 to 0·531, and the relative average differences ranged from 4·4 % to 10·9 %. For diagnosis of insufficient iodine intake, the area under the ROC curve of 24-h UIEest was 0·754, sensitivity and specificity were 79·6 % and 65·4 %, respectively. For diagnosis of excessive iodine intake, the area of 24-h UIEest was 0·771, sensitivity and specificity were 66·7 % and 82·0 %, respectively. The reference interval of 24-h UIEest was 58·43–597·65 μg.
Conclusions:
Twenty-four-hour UIEest can better indicate iodine nutritional status at a relatively large sample size in a given population of pregnant women. It can be used for early screening at the individual level to obtain more lead time for pregnant women.
Self-efficacy is a pivotal factor in the etiology and prognosis of major depression. However, longitudinal studies on the relationship between self-efficacy and major depressive disorder (MDD) are scarce. The objectives were to investigate: (1) the associations between self-efficacy and the 1-year and 2-year risks of first onset of MDD and (2) the associations between self-efficacy and the 1-year and 2-year risks of the persistence/recurrence of MDD, in a sample of first-year university students.
Methods
We followed 8079 first-year university students for 2 years from April 2018 to October 2020. MDD was ascertained by the Chinese version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI-3.0) based on self-report. Self-efficacy was measured by the 10-item General Self-efficacy (GSE) scale. Random effect logistic regression modeling was used to estimate the associations.
Results
Among participants without a lifetime MDD, the data showed that participants with high baseline GSE scores were associated with a higher risk of first onset of MDD over 2 years [odds ratio (OR) 1.04, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01–1.08]. Among those with a lifetime MDD, participants with high baseline GSE scores were less likely to have had a MDD over 2 years (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.88–0.99) compared to others.
Conclusions
A high level of GSE may be protective of the risk of persistent or recurrent MDD. More longitudinal studies in university students are needed to further investigate the impact of GSE on the first onset of MDD.
Coastal surveillance video helps officials to obtain on-site visual information on maritime traffic situations, which benefits building up the maritime transportation detection infrastructure. The previous ship detection methods focused on detecting distant small ships in maritime videos, with less attention paid to the task of ship detection from coastal surveillance video. To address this challenge, a novel framework is proposed to detect ships from coastal maritime images in three typical traffic situations in three consecutive steps. First the Canny detector is introduced to determine the potential ship edges in each maritime frame. Then, the self-adaptive Gaussian descriptor is employed to accurately rule out noisy edges. Finally, the morphology operator is developed to link the detected separated edges to connected ship contours. The model's performance is tested under three typical maritime traffic situations. The experimental results show that the proposed ship detector achieved satisfactory performance (in terms of precision, accuracy and time cost) compared with other state-of-the-art algorithms. The findings of the study offer the potential of providing real-time visual traffic information to maritime regulators, which is crucial for the development of intelligent maritime transportation.
Late Mesozoic igneous rocks are important for deciphering the Mesozoic tectonic setting of NE China. In this paper, we present whole-rock geochemical data, zircon U–Pb ages and Lu–Hf isotope data for Early Cretaceous volcanic rocks from the Tulihe area of the northern Great Xing’an Range (GXR), with the aim of evaluating the petrogenesis and genetic relationships of these rocks, inferring crust–mantle interactions and better constraining extension-related geodynamic processes in the GXR. Zircon U–Pb ages indicate that the rhyolites and trachytic volcanic rocks formed during late Early Cretaceous time (c. 130–126 Ma). Geochemically, the highly fractionated I-type rhyolites exhibit high-K calc-alkaline, metaluminous to weakly peraluminous characteristics. They are enriched in light rare earth elements (LREEs) and large-ion lithophile elements (LILEs) but depleted in high-field-strength elements (HFSEs), with their magmatic zircons ϵHf(t) values ranging from +4.1 to +9.0. These features suggest that the rhyolites were derived from the partial melting of a dominantly juvenile, K-rich basaltic lower crust. The trachytic volcanic rocks are high-K calc-alkaline series and exhibit metaluminous characteristics. They have a wide range of zircon ϵHf(t) values (−17.8 to +12.9), indicating that these trachytic volcanic rocks originated from a dominantly lithospheric-mantle source with the involvement of asthenospheric mantle materials, and subsequently underwent extensive assimilation and fractional crystallization processes. Combining our results and the spatiotemporal migration of the late Early Cretaceous magmatic events, we propose that intense Early Cretaceous crust–mantle interaction took place within the northern GXR, and possibly the whole of NE China, and that it was related to the upwelling of asthenospheric mantle induced by rollback of the Palaeo-Pacific flat-subducting slab.
The aim of this study was to assess the current status of disease-related knowledge and to analyze the relationship among the general condition, illness perception, and psychological status of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Methods:
A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 118 patients using convenience sampling. The general questionnaire, disease-related knowledge questionnaire of COVID-19, Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ), and Profile of Mood States (POMS) were used to measure the current status of participants.
Results:
The overall average score of the disease-related knowledge of patients with COVID-19 was (79.19 ± 14.25), the self-care situation was positively correlated with knowledge of prevention and control (r = 0.265; P = 0.004) and total score of disease-related knowledge (r = 0.206; P = 0.025); the degree of anxiety was negatively correlated with the knowledge of diagnosis and treatment (r = −0.182; P = 0.049). The score of disease-related knowledge was negatively correlated with negative cognition (volatility, consequences, emotional statements) and negative emotions (tension, fatigue, depression) (P < 0.05); positively correlated with positive cognition (disease coherence) and positive emotion (self-esteem) (P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
It was recommended that we should pay more attention to the elderly and low-income groups, and increase the knowledge about diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 and self-care in the future health education for patients.
Recent work in structure–processing relationships of polymer semiconductors have demonstrated the versatility and control of thin-film microstructure offered by meniscus-guided coating (MGC) techniques. Here, we analyze the qualitative and quantitative aspects of solution shearing, a model MGC method, using coating blades augmented with arrays of pillars. The pillars induce local regions of high strain rates—both shear and extensional—not otherwise possible with unmodified blades, and we use fluid mechanical simulations to model and study a variety of pillar spacings and densities. We then perform a statistical analysis of 130 simulation variables to find correlations with three dependent variables of interest: thin-film degree of crystallinity and transistor field-effect mobilities for charge-transport parallel (μpara) and perpendicular (μperp) to the coating direction. Our study suggests that simple fluid mechanical models can reproduce substantive correlations between the induced fluid flow and important performance metrics, providing a methodology for optimizing blade design.
Sugarcane brown rust, caused by Puccinia melanocephala, is one of the main diseases of sugarcane in China. The identification and discovery of new resistance genes have important theoretical and practical significance for preventing outbreaks of brown rust and ensuring the sustainable production of sugarcane. To screen for polymorphic simple-sequence repeat (SSR) molecular markers for localization of brown rust resistance genes, we used two populations that are suitable for genetic linkage map construction and mapping of new resistance genes to construct resistant and susceptible genetic pools. We then screened 449 pairs of primers to identify polymorphic SSR markers in the parental lines and the resistant/susceptible genetic pools. The results showed that 25 pairs of primers directed amplification of polymorphic DNA fragments between the parents of the cross combination ‘Yuetang 03-393’ × ‘ROC 24’, and 16 pairs of primers amplified polymorphic fragments between the parents of the cross combination ‘Liucheng 03-1137’ × ‘Dezhe 93-88’. Four pairs of primers (SMC236CG, SCESSR0928, SCESSR0636 and SCESSR2551) amplified polymorphic DNA fragments between the parental lines and the resistant/susceptible genetic pools in ‘Yuetang 03-393’ × ‘ROC 24’. The results of this study will establish a solid foundation for the mapping of new brown rust resistance genes, genetic linkage map construction and the development of closely-associated molecular markers in sugarcane.
To assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Chinese adults living in Ningbo and to examine the association between alcohol consumption and MetS and its medical components.
Design:
A representative survey in Ningbo was conducted in 2015 covering socio-demography. A FFQ together with additional questionnaires was used to collect information on alcohol consumption, diet, demography, lifestyle and medical information. Multivariable logistic regression and generalised linear models were used to examine the association between alcohol consumption and both MetS and its medical components, respectively.
Setting:
Ningbo, China.
Participants:
A total of 2853 adults ≥ 20 years (44 % men) in this final analysis.
Results:
The prevalence of frequent alcohol drinkers and MetS was 29·9 % and 28·0 %, respectively. Significantly higher prevalence of MetS and mean values of medical components were found in the group of frequent alcohol drinkers with an exception for HDL-cholesterol, compared with less or non-alcohol drinkers. Frequent alcohol consumption was associated with higher odds of developing MetS and positively associated with medical components excepting waist circumference.
Conclusions:
Frequent alcohol consumption contributed to a higher prevalence of MetS and unfavourable influence on MetS and its medical components among Chinese adults. A public health intervention on alcohol restriction is necessary for the prevention and control of the ongoing epidemic MetS.
The upsurge in the number of people affected by the COVID-19 is likely to lead to increased rates of emotional trauma and mental illnesses. This article systematically reviewed the available data on the benefits of interventions to reduce adverse mental health sequelae of infectious disease outbreaks, and to offer guidance for mental health service responses to infectious disease pandemic. PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, PsycINFO, WHO Global Research Database on infectious disease, and the preprint server medRxiv were searched. Of 4278 reports identified, 32 were included in this review. Most articles of psychological interventions were implemented to address the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, followed by Ebola, SARS, and MERS for multiple vulnerable populations. Increasing mental health literacy of the public is vital to prevent the mental health crisis under the COVID-19 pandemic. Group-based cognitive behavioral therapy, psychological first aid, community-based psychosocial arts program, and other culturally adapted interventions were reported as being effective against the mental health impacts of COVID-19, Ebola, and SARS. Culturally-adapted, cost-effective, and accessible strategies integrated into the public health emergency response and established medical systems at the local and national levels are likely to be an effective option to enhance mental health response capacity for the current and for future infectious disease outbreaks. Tele-mental healthcare services were key central components of stepped care for both infectious disease outbreak management and routine support; however, the usefulness and limitations of remote health delivery should also be recognized.
More than 80% of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases are mild or moderate. In this study, a risk model was developed for predicting rehabilitation duration (the time from hospital admission to discharge) of the mild-moderate COVID-19 cases and was used to conduct refined risk management for different risk populations.
Methods:
A total of 90 consecutive patients with mild-moderate COVID-19 were enrolled. Large-scale datasets were extracted from clinical practices. Through the multivariable linear regression analysis, the model was based on significant risk factors and was developed for predicting the rehabilitation duration of mild-moderate cases of COVID-19. To assess the local epidemic situation, risk management was conducted by weighing the risk of populations at different risk.
Results:
Ten risk factors from 44 high-dimensional clinical datasets were significantly correlated to rehabilitation duration (P < 0.05). Among these factors, 5 risk predictors were incorporated into a risk model. Individual rehabilitation durations were effectively calculated. Weighing the local epidemic situation, threshold probability was classified for low risk, intermediate risk, and high risk. Using this classification, risk management was based on a treatment flowchart tailored for clinical decision-making.
Conclusions:
The proposed novel model is a useful tool for individualized risk management of mild-moderate COVID-19 cases, and it may readily facilitate dynamic clinical decision-making for different risk populations.