Reperfusion therapy is widely used to treat acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, further injury to the heart induced by rapidly initiating reperfusion is often encountered in clinical practice. A lack of pharmacological strategies in clinics limits the prognosis of patients with myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI). Dihydromyricetin (DMY) is one of the most abundant components in vine tea, commonly known as the tender stems and leaves of Ampelopsis grossedentata. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cardioprotection of DMY against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury and to further investigate the underlying mechanism. An I/R injury was induced by left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion in adult male rats in vivo and a hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) injury in H9c2 cardiomyocytes in vitro. We found that DMY pretreatment provided significant protection against I/R-induced injury, including enhanced antioxidant capacity and inhibited apoptosis in vivo and in vitro. This effect correlated with the activation of the PI3K/Akt and HIF-1α signaling pathways. Conversely, blocking Akt activation with the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 effectively suppressed the protective effects of DMY against I/R-induced injury. In addition, the PI3K inhibitor partially blocked the effects of DMY on the upregulation of Bcl-2, Bcl-xl, procaspase-3, -8, and -9 protein expression and the downregulation of HIF-1α, Bnip3, Bax, Cyt-c, cleaved caspase-3, -8, and -9 protein expression. Collectively, these results showed that DMY decreased the apoptosis and necrosis by I/R treatment, and PI3K/Akt and HIF-1α plays a crucial role in protection during this process. These observations indicate that DMY has the potential to exert cardioprotective effects against I/R injury and the results might be important for the clinical efficacy of AMI treatment.

ObjectiveCollagen peptides (CP) compounds, as bone health supplements, are known to play a role in the treatment of osteoporosis. However, the molecular mechanisms of this process remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of bovine CP compounds on the proliferation and differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells.MethodsMouse pre-osteoblast cell line MC3T3-E1 subclone 4 cells were treated with bovine CP compounds. Cell proliferation was analyzed by MTT assays and the cell cycle was evaluated by flow cytometry scanning. Furthermore, MC3T3-E1 cell differentiation was analyzed at the RNA level by real-time PCR and at the protein level by western blot analysis for runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), a colorimetric p-nitrophenyl phosphate assay for alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and ELISA for osteocalcin (OC). Finally, alizarin red staining for mineralization was measured using Image Software Pro Plus 6.0.ResultsCell proliferation was very efficient after treatment with different concentrations of bovine CP compounds, and the best concentration was 3 mg/mL. Bovine CP compounds significantly increased the percentage of MC3T3-E1 cells in G2/S phase. Runx2 expression, ALP activity, and OC production were significantly increased after treatment with bovine CP compounds for 7 or 14 days. Quantitative analyses with alizarin red staining showed significantly increased mineralization of MC3T3-E1 cells after treatment with bovine CP compounds for 14 or 21 days.ConclusionsBovine CP compounds increased osteoblast proliferation, and played positive roles in osteoblast differentiation and mineralized bone matrix formation. Taking all the experiments together, our study indicates a molecular mechanism for the potential treatment of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.

Monitoring and prediction of agricultural drought are paramount to food security at the global and regional scales, particularly under the influence of climate change and anthropogenic activities. Soil moisture is an effective indicator for monitoring and characterizing agricultural drought. Soil moisture (agricultural drought) is mainly affected by precipitation (meteorological drought) and temperature (hot conditions). Owing to the flexibility of vine copulas in handling multidimensional variables by decomposing them into pair copula constructions (PCCs), we propose a novel drought prediction method using three predictors, namely antecedent meteorological drought, previous hot conditions, and persistent agricultural drought, based on the conditional distributions of C‐vine copulas in a four‐dimensional scenario. The proposed model was applied to agricultural drought (characterized by the standardized soil moisture index (SSI)) prediction with 1–2‐months lead time for the summer season (i.e., August at a 6‐months timescale) in China. Taking two severe agricultural drought events that occurred in many regions across China in August of 2006 and 2014 as validation cases, the SSI predictions with 1–2‐months lead time using the conditional C‐vine copulas model were found to be generally consistent with the corresponding historical SSI observations in most parts of China. Performance evaluation using the Nash‐Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), coefficient of determination (R2), and F1 score (F1S) for different climate regions also indicated that this model provided a reliable prediction of agricultural drought for most areas of China. The outcome of this study can serve as a guidance for drought prediction, early warning, and drought mitigation.

This study aimed to develop and test the reliability and validity of a multi-item nurses’ presenteeism behaviour questionnaire. Study 1 administered the Nurse Presenteeism Questionnaire (NPQ) to 250 Chinese nurses. Study 2, surveyed 650 nurses with the NPQ, the Sickness Presenteeism Questionnaire, the Stanford Presenteeism Scale, the General Health Questionnaire, and the Emotional Exhaustion Scale using convenience sampling. After item analysis, the subjects were randomly divided into two groups to verify the questionnaire structure. Study 1 revealed the nurses’ core symptoms when they go to work with illness, and the NPQ with 11 items was developed. Study 2’s item analysis revealed that 11 NPQ items had good discrimination (t = 22.67∼36.11, p < 0.01) and high homogeneity. Besides, the scale had good reliability (Cronbach’s = 0.93) and external criterion validity (r = 0.24∼0.84, p < 0.01). Thus, the NPQ can be used to measure presenteeism behaviour in nursing.

Background: COVID-19 affects not only patients' physical health but also their mental health. For the general public, although their physical health may not be directly affected, their mental health may be affected by stress, anxiety, and social panic caused by COVID-19. Controlling the pandemic should focus on not only physical health but also mental health. For the general public, mental health is even more important, as good mental health at the individual level can form a positive social mentality conducive to pandemic prevention and control. Therefore, it is important to assess mental health during the pandemic, and analyze risk and protective factors. Methods: A self-compiled COVID-19 Social Mentality Questionnaire was used to conduct an online survey. A total of 16,616 participants responded, with 13,511 valid questionnaires. Results: Results showed that 10.7% of participants rated their mental health as “worse than usual” during the pandemic, and there were gender, age, and educational differences. Social support was positively correlated with pandemic-related knowledge and self-efficacy, and could indirectly predict mental health. Pandemic-related knowledge was positively correlated with self-efficacy and mental health, and risk level was negatively correlated with mental health. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that pandemic-related knowledge played a partial mediating role in the relationship between social support and self-efficacy, while self-efficacy played a complete mediating role in the relationship between social support and mental health. Logistic regression analysis showed that risk level moderated the relationship between self-efficacy and mental health. Conclusions: Social support can increase pandemic-related knowledge, thus improving self-efficacy and maintaining/promoting mental health. High risk levels can undermine the role of self-efficacy in promoting mental health. Therefore, in the fight against the COVID-19, people need to support and cooperate with each other, to improve self-efficacy and reduce risk, thus maintaining and promoting mental health.