ObjectivesTo estimate prevalence and clustering of cardiovascular risk factors (CRFs), and investigate the association between relevant characteristics and CRF clustering among adults in eastern China.DesignCommunity-based cross-sectional study.SettingData were collected by interview survey, physical measurements and laboratory examinations from the 2011 Nanjing Chronic Disease and Risk Factor Surveillance.ParticipantsA representative sample of 41 072 residents aged ≥18 years volunteered to participate in the survey, with a response rate of 91.3%. We excluded 1232 subjects due to missing data or having a history of cardiovascular diseases; a total of 39 840 participants were included in the analysis.Outcome measuresPrevalence and clustering of five major CRFs including hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, overweight or obesity and current smoking.ResultsOf 39 840 participants (mean age 47.9±16.2 years), 17 964 (45.1%) were men and 21 876 (54.9%) were women. The weighted prevalence of CRFs ranged between 6.2% for diabetes and 35.6% for overweight or obesity. The proportion of CRFs tended to be higher in men, the elderly, participants who lost a life partner, or lived in rural areas, or had lower level of education and total annual income. Overall, 30.1% and 35.2% of participants had one and at least two CRFs, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that men, older age, loss of a life partner, lower level of socioeconomic status, rural areas, insufficient physical activity or unhealthy diets were positively associated with CVD risk factor clustering, compared with their counterparts.ConclusionsHigh regional prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidaemia, overweight or obesity and their clustering are present in Nanjing. The Nanjing government should develop effective public health policies at the regional level especially for high-risk groups, such as enhancing the public’s health awareness, organising health promotion programmes, implementing smoke-free law, producing healthy nutrient foods, providing free or low-cost public sports and fitness facilities.

We evaluated the reproducibility and validity of an FFQ used in a Chinese community-based nutrition and health survey. A total of ninety-nine males and 104 females aged 31-80 years completed four three consecutive 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDR, served as a reference method, one three consecutive 24-HDR for each season) and two FFQ (FFQ1 and FFQ2) over a 1-year interval. The reproducibility of the FFQ was estimated with correlation coefficients, misclassification and weighted κ statistic. The validity was evaluated by comparing the data obtained from FFQ2 with the mean 24-HDR (m24-HDR). Compared with the m24-HDR, the FFQ tended to underestimate intake of most nutrients and food groups. For all nutrients and food groups, the Spearman's and intra-class correlation coefficients between FFQ1 and FFQ2 ranged from 0·66 to 0·88 and from 0·65 to 0·87, respectively. Most correlation coefficients decreased after adjusting for energy. More than 90 % of the subjects were classified into the same or adjacent categories by both FFQ. For all nutrients and food groups, the crude, energy-adjusted and de-attenuated Spearman's correlation coefficients between FFQ2 and the m24-HDR ranged from 0·21 to 0·69, 0·19 to 0·58 and 0·25 to 0·71, respectively. More than 70 % of the subjects were classified into the same and adjacent categories by both instruments. Both weighted κ statistic and the Bland-Altman plots showed reasonably acceptable agreement between the FFQ2 and the m24-HDR. The FFQ developed for adults in the Nanjing area can be used to reliably and validly measure usual intake of major nutrients and food groups.Key words: FFQ: Reproducibility: Validity: China Accumulated evidence suggests that nutrient intakes are associated with the development of many diseases, especially chronic conditions (1,2) . In order to investigate this relationship, it is important to accurately assess food and nutrient intakes. The FFQ is a useful tool for the estimation of food and nutrient consumption and has been widely used in investigating the association between diet and chronic diseases in most epidemiological studies (3,4) . FFQ are easy to administer and relatively inexpensive to use in large population studies. However, the performance of an FFQ is very sensitive to the ethnic, social and cultural backgrounds of the study population (5) . For this reason, the reliability and the validity of an FFQ need to be evaluated for studies conducted in a new population.Reliability refers to the consistency of measurements on repetition, whereas validity refers to the ability to measure what the FFQ was designed to measure. At present, there is no perfect standard for the validation of dietary intake and a superior measurement is always used for comparison; 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDR) may be superior to FFQ and have been frequently used as the reference method in many Chinese validation studies (6)(7)(8)(9) . A critical review regarding validation of FFQ has shown that FFQ are validated against another dietary method in 75 % of studies. When ...

In high-power microwave diode design, the space-charge-limited current is important because of its relation to the diode impedance, and the formation of the virtual cathode. Although the Langmuir–Blodgett law, as a numerical solution, is helpful, a simple functional expression would be more convenient for practical research. In this paper, a physical approximation has been introduced to analyze the nonlinear Poisson’s equation in a one-dimensional (1-D) cylindrical vacuum diode. With the help of this physical approximation, a solution for the space-charge-limited current for 1-D cylindrical diodes has been investigated and developed. In addition, a comparison between our approximate result and the Langmuir–Blodgett numerical solution shows that the physical approximation method is valid in nonlinear differential equation analyses. This physical approximation can be used to analyze similar nonlinear differential equations. Also, a correction for the space-charge-limited current in a two-dimensional cylindrical diode is obtained within a limitation.

BackgroundPenicillium chrysogenum has been used in producing penicillin and derived β-lactam antibiotics for many years. Although the genome of the mutant strain P. chrysogenum Wisconsin 54-1255 has already been sequenced, the versatility and genetic diversity of this species still needs to be intensively studied. In this study, the genome of the wild-type P. chrysogenum strain KF-25, which has high activity against Ustilaginoidea virens, was sequenced and characterized.ResultsThe genome of KF-25 was about 29.9 Mb in size and contained 9,804 putative open reading frames (orfs). Thirteen genes were predicted to encode two-component system proteins, of which six were putatively involved in osmolarity adaption. There were 33 putative secondary metabolism pathways and numerous genes that were essential in metabolite biosynthesis. Several P. chrysogenum virus untranslated region sequences were found in the KF-25 genome, suggesting that there might be a relationship between the virus and P. chrysogenum in evolution. Comparative genome analysis showed that the genomes of KF-25 and Wisconsin 54-1255 were highly similar, except that KF-25 was 2.3 Mb smaller. Three hundred and fifty-five KF-25 specific genes were found and the biological functions of the proteins encoded by these genes were mainly unknown (232, representing 65%), except for some orfs encoding proteins with predicted functions in transport, metabolism, and signal transduction. Numerous KF-25-specific genes were found to be associated with the pathogenicity and virulence of the strains, which were identical to those of wild-type P. chrysogenum NRRL 1951.ConclusionGenome sequencing and comparative analysis are helpful in further understanding the biology, evolution, and environment adaption of P. chrysogenum, and provide a new tool for identifying further functional metabolites.