[Investigation of Anisakis infections in coastal marine fishes and awareness of anisakiasis control knowledge among residents in Yantai City in 2021]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the prevalence of Anisakis infections in coastal marine fishes and awareness of anisakiasis control knowledge among local residents in Yantai City, Shandong Province in 2021, so as to provide insights into formulation of anisakiasis control interventions.

METHODS

Marine fishes were purchased from Shunxin Port, Yantai City, Shandong Province in November 2021, and the presence of Anisakis was detected in different species of fishes and different fish sites. The correlations between body length and weight of marine fish and intensity of Anisakis infections were examined using Spearman's rank correlation analysis, and the dietary habits and anisakiasis control knowledge were investigated using questionnaire surveys among local residents.

RESULTS

A total of 201 marine fishes belonging to 20 species were dissected, and Anisakis was detected in 77 marine fishes (38.31%) belonging to 11 species (55.00%), with a mean infection intensity of 45.04 parasites per fish (3 468/77). Spearman's rank correlation analysis revealed that the body length (rs = 0.74, P < 0.05) and weight (rs = 0.79, P < 0.01) of the monkfish correlated positively with the intensity of Anisakis infections, and the body length (rs = 0.68, P < 0.05) of the flatfish correlated positively with the intensity of Anisakis infections, while no correlations were examined between the body length or weight of other marine fishes and the intensity of Anisakis infections. Of all respondents, 53.38% men and 56.67% women did not know anisakiasis control knowledge at all, and there was a significant difference in the proportion of respondents using separate chopping boards for raw and cooked food from different villages (χ2 = 17.89, P < 0.01), while there was an age-specific proportion of respondents with habitats of eating raw or semi-raw seafood (χ2 = 28.27, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence and intensity of Anisakis infections were high in coastal marine fishes in Yantai City in 2021, and the awareness of anisakiasis control knowledge was low among local residents. Intensified health education pertaining to anisakiasis control knowledge is recommended to reduce the risk of Anisakis infections.

Feature pyramid network-based computer-aided detection and monitoring treatment response of brain metastases on contrast-enhanced MRI

AIM

To investigate the value of feature pyramid network (FPN)-based computer-aided detection (CAD) of brain metastases (BMs) before and after non-surgical treatment, and to evaluate its performance in monitoring treatment response of BM on contrast-enhanced (CE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Eighty-five cancer patients newly diagnosed with BM who had undergone initial and follow-up three-dimensional (3D) CE MRI at Liaocheng People's Hospital were included retrospectively in this study. Manual detection (MD) was performed by reviewer 1. Computer-aided detection (CAD) was performed by reviewer 2 using uAI Discover-BMs software. The treatment response was assessed by the two reviewers for each patient separately. A paired chi-square test was used to compare the differences in the detection of BM between MD and CAD. Agreement between MD and CAD in monitoring treatment response was assessed by kappa test.

RESULTS

The sensitivities of MD and CAD on initial 3D CE MRI were 78.65% and 99.13%, respectively. The sensitivities of MD and CAD on follow-up 3D CE MRI were 76.32% and 98.24%, respectively. There was a very good agreement between Reviewer 1 and Reviewer 2 in evaluating the treatment response of BM.

CONCLUSION

FPN-based CAD has a higher sensitivity of close to 100% and lower false negatives (FNs) for BM detection, compared to MD. Although CAD had a few shortcomings in reflecting changes of BMs after treatment, it had high performance in monitoring treatment response of BM on CE MRI.

Air pollution and corporate innovation: incentive or resistance? Evidence from regression discontinuity

The potentially serious economic consequences of China's severe air pollution problem cannot be overlooked, especially the impact on corporate innovation, which is a core driver guiding firms towards efficient and high-quality development. However, the existing literature has more often investigated the effect of pollution on corporate innovation from the perspective of environmental regulation, while relatively little research is available directly from the perspective of air pollution. In this study, for better causal identification and endogeneity treatment, we consider the Qin ling Mountains-Huai River heating policy as a quasi-natural experiment and explore for the first time the causal effect of air pollution on Chinese industrial firms' innovation through a geographical regression discontinuity (RD) approach. The results find that air pollution has a significant inhibitory effect on the industrial firms' innovation, especially for green innovation, where the innovation of state-owned enterprises, high pollution, and low monopoly firms are more sensitive to pollution. Specifically, a 1% increase in PM_2.5 emissions leads to a 0.803% reduction in the corporate total innovation, a 0.924% reduction in invention patents, a 0.574% reduction in utility model patents, and a 1.087% reduction in design patents. We have verified the robustness of this core finding through a series of robustness checks including adjustment bandwidth, IV estimation, and placebo test. Further to this, we find that air pollution may negatively affect corporate innovation through three channels: crowding out R&D investment, reducing total factor productivity (TFP), and reducing labor supply and the proportion of highly skilled employees. This study sheds light on the severe losses caused by air pollution on corporate innovation capabilities at the micro-level, deepening the understanding of the economic harm caused by air pollution. This suggests that as firms strive to improve their innovative capacity and competitiveness, they should also be aware of environmental protection and green development; otherwise, unnecessary losses in innovation dynamics will be incurred.

The effect of stringent environmental regulation on firms' TFP-new evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in Chongqing's daily penalty policy

Using data from Chinese industrial firms from 2003 to 2012, this paper utilizes a difference-in-differences approach to investigate the impact of stringent command-and-control environmental regulations on firm productivity through Chongqing's daily penalty policy (DPP). Unlike the previous command-and-control environmental regulations of "low penalty amounts", "one-size-fits-all", and "one-off penalties", the DPP with "high deterrent effect" and "high cost of non-compliance" imposes continuous high fines of a fixed daily amount on persistent environmental violators. This is conducive to improving environmental quality while significantly increasing firms' total factor productivity (TFP). It provides empirical evidence for the validity of the strong Porter hypothesis in developing countries. A series of robustness tests ensure the credibility of these findings. The mechanism analysis shows that DPP can improve TFP of firms by stimulating the innovation compensation effect of firms and crowding out high polluting and inefficient firms in the industry. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the productivity of highly polluting, private, non-exporting and small-scale firms is significantly increased under the influence of DPP. This study provides new ideas for improving command-and-control environmental regulation to bring into play its Porter effect, and offers experiences and insights for regulating firms' emission behaviors to achieve a win-win situation for both economic growth and green development.

Space Weathering Effects in Troilite by Simulated Solar-Wind Hydrogen and Helium Ion Irradiation

Space weathering is a key process in the interpretation of airless planetary surfaces. As we engage new missions to planetary objects with potentially novel surfaces such as 16 Psyche, there is renewed interest in expanding our knowledge of space weathering effects to a wider variety of analog materials, including the physical/chemical effects of solar-wind ions on planetary regoliths. We have experimentally simulated the effects of solar ions on two polished thick sections of meteoritic troilite (FeS) via irradiation with 1 keV hydrogen (H⁺) and 4 keV helium (He⁺), to investigate effects resulting from different ion species. We detected depletion of sulfur over the course of each irradiation using in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Sulfur depletion rates were surprisingly similar for H⁺ and He⁺, interpreted as a function of subsurface ion-activated diffusion. By comparing XPS-derived elemental abundances with SDTrimSP computer simulations, we further quantified sulfur diffusion, sputtering yield, and altered-layer composition with respect to incident-ion fluence, and accounted for the influence of surface oxidation due to atmospheric sample storage. Using scanning electron microscopy, we detected an increase in nanoscale surface roughness resulting from the irradiation, which we quantified using atomic force microscopy. Based on these results, we estimate that an exposure time of order 10³ Earth-years is required for troilite on Psyche to reach equilibrium sulfur depletion within the first atomic layer.

The emission reduction effect of daily penalty policy on firms

As one of the "four sharp teeth" of China's new environmental protection law, the daily penalty policy which is characterized by high deterrent effect and high violation cost plays an important role in restraining repeated violations of polluting firms. In order to further test the effectiveness of the daily penalty policy in pollution control and emission reduction, this study evaluates the policy through the time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) method using data from Chinese industrial firms from 2003 to 2012. The results show that the daily penalty policy significantly reduced industrial SO₂ emissions, which is supported by a series of robustness tests. Further mechanistic tests found that the daily penalty policy can reduce emissions by promoting the use of clean energy at the front-end prevention and increasing pollution control equipment and product innovation at end-governance. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the daily penalty policy has a significant emission reduction effect on low energy consumption firms, large-scale firms and firms in clean industry. The SO₂ emission of foreign-funded firms is more reduced than that of state-owned and private firms. In addition, the level of emission reduction by exporting firms and firms in a mature recession are more affected by this policy. This study validates the effect of the daily penalty policy on emission reduction of firms. We found that the stringent command-and-control environmental regulations can also effectively encourage firms to control pollution and promote the transformation of firms toward long-term green development strategies and energy-saving and emission-reducing production patterns, and achieve a reasonable combination with market-based incentive environmental regulations. It provides new ideas and inspiration for implementation and improvement of the daily penalty policy and the strategic deployment of environmental governance in China.

Meta-analysis of the association between PADI4 -92C/G polymorphism and rheumatoid arthritis in the Chinese population

Many studies have evaluated the correlation between peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PADI4) -92C/G polymorphism and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the results remain inconclusive. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis in the Chinese population to provide comprehensive data on the association between PADI4 -92C/G polymorphism and RA. Eligible studies published before May 2016 were identified in PubMed and Chinese databases. The strengths of these associations were assessed by pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Eight studies documenting a total of 1351 RA cases and 1585 controls were included in this meta-analysis. In the overall analysis, a significant association between the PADI4 -92C/G polymorphism and RA was found in the Chinese population (G vs C: OR=1.32, 95%CI=1.02-1.71; GG+CG vs CC: OR=1.75, 95%CI=1.20-2.53). The subgroup analyses stratified by geographic area(s) and source of controls revealed significant results in South China, in hospital-based studies and population-based studies. In summary, this meta-analysis suggested that PADI4 -92C/G polymorphism may be associated with the RA incidence in the Chinese population, especially for South China. Further studies conducted on other ethnic groups are required for definite conclusions.

Autoantibodies to plasminogen and tissue plasminogen activator in women with recurrent pregnancy loss

Reduced fibrinolytic activity has been described in primary anti-phospholipid syndrome (PAPS), and may be responsible for thrombotic events. Antibodies to tissue type plasminogen activator (t-PA) or plasminogen (PLG) might contribute to the hypofibrinolytic state in autoimmune diseases, but the clinical significance of these antibodies is still unclear in recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence and clinical significance of anti-PLG and anti-t-PA antibodies in 87 patients with a history of RPL: 54 women with well-defined PAPS (mean age 32.5 years; range 26-38) and 33 women with unexplained RPL (mean age 30 years; range 24-39). IgG anti-PLG antibodies were found in 20 and four patients from the group with RPL/PAPS and unexplained RPL, respectively; IgG anti-t-PA antibodies were found in 11 and two patients from the above two groups, respectively. IgG anti-PLG antibodies were associated with the high risk of RPL (OR 7.2, P = 0.004), especially with RPL/PAPS (OR 11.2, P < 0.001) evaluated by Fisher's exact test, while IgG anti-t-PA were associated with RPL/PAPS (OR 10.0, P = 0.01) but not with RPL (OR 6.8, P = 0.06). A significant inhibition of exogenous fibrinolysis was observed by IgG fractions from patients with anti-PLG or anti-t-PA antibodies on microplates and on the human umbilical vein endothelial cells, compared with those from healthy controls. The prevalence of IgG anti-PLG antibodies was high in RPL patients, especially in RPL/PAPS, while the prevalence of IgG anti-t-PA antibodies was high in RPL/PAPS but not in RPL, and some of them might inhibit fibrinolysis in patients.

[Clinical applications of island and myocutaneous flaps]

OBJECTIVE

This is to introduce the experience in clinical applications of the island and myocutaneous flaps.

METHODS

Since 1985 fifteen types of vascularized island and myocutaneous flaps have been applied in 52 cases (21 positions) for the following purposes: repairing traumatic soft tissue defects on the limb, scar contracture, congenital recto-vaginal fistula, reconstructing congenital nasal deformity and rehabilitating function. The non-major artery island flap was used in 47 cases (90.38%) and the retrograde island flap was used in 24 cases (46.15%). The size of the flap ranged from 2.5 cm x 1.5 cm to 15 cm x 12 cm.

RESULTS

All the flaps survived with primary healing. Follow-up for 8 months to 11 years showed aesthetically and functionally satisfactory results in all cases.

CONCLUSION

These island and myocutaneous flaps have rich blood supply and are highly anti-infective. The operation is easy and the success rate is high.