Abstract Culture always plays an important role in creating and affecting happiness in human beings. This study examined the predictive power of cultural factors of differences in happiness and well-being. It explored how different dimensions of cultural and psychological indices differ in their effects on happiness. Growing evidence suggests that happiness is associated with success in multiple domains, such as work, education, culture, and social relationships. We used both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the relationship between the various factors of well-being and happiness. This study investigates the relationship between happiness and well-being in cultural and psychological resources through the concept of psychological capital, education, workplace well-being, and perceived happiness. This study compares the personal and group level cultural, social, and economic aspects of the Pakistani community that resides in cities in mainland China. Moreover, the main pillars of workplace happiness were determined to be understanding goals, finding meaning in work, and establishing social relationships at both the personal and group levels. We found that happiness and well-being are strongly associated with the behaviour of the people and leadership.
AbstractCommunication poses a challenge for the deaf and hearing loss community. This difficulty is even more pronounced in the families of Children of Deaf Adults (CODAs) and Parents of Deaf Children (PODCs). To help these families overcome this challenge, we design an AI-empowered interactive bi-directional Australian Sign Language (i.e., Auslan) dictionary application to facilitate communication within a household. Technically, our APP can not only look up sign gestures for the given English words but also translate isolated Auslan gestures into English. Through an inviting user interface and experience design, we can further improve engagement within the CODA and PODC families while enabling Auslan education at home. The positive user experience underscores the success of our APP not only in leveraging AI to revolutionise Auslan education but also in promoting cross-generational language acquisition and communication.
In: Ecotoxicology and environmental safety: EES ; official journal of the International Society of Ecotoxicology and Environmental safety, Band 207, S. 111485
Background: Since December 2019, over 4,600 deaths and 84,000 confirmed cases were reported in China because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, there is a dearth of studies on the psychological resilience in residents. Aims: This study aims to measure the psychological resilience of Chinese residents to reflect their psychological status as well as influencing factors during the pandemic. Method: We conducted a combination of stratified sampling and snowball sampling to select survey subjects. We employed the psychological resilience and influencing factor questionnaire based on the 10-item Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC10) for survey. We collected data from 3,398 residents in China between 31 January and 29 February 2020. Multivariable linear stepwise regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with psychological resilience in residents. Results: The mean score of psychological resilience among Chinese residents was 27.11 ± 8.45 ( SD = 7.98). There were some factors significantly associated with psychological status among the Chinese residents during the COVID-19 outbreak. Residents with lower financial status, living in rural areas, unmarried, lacking fixed employment or retirement guarantees, and lacking knowledge of policies were more likely to report a lower level of psychological resilience. Conclusion: Health service policy makers in many countries should adopt relevant measures to improve the psychological resilience of residents during the pandemic. This includes short-term aggressive treatment, strengthening health education, and improving the awareness of residents with respect to emergency health policies. In addition, the financial status, health levels, and risk management capabilities of residents should be increased over the long term.
Background: Burnout is considered a global problem, particularly in the emergency health sector; however, no large-sample cross-sectional study has assessed the prevalence of burnout among emergency physicians and its associated factors. Methods: A nationally representative cross-sectional survey of 15,243 emergency physicians was conducted in 31 provinces across China between July and September 2019. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify correlates of burnout. Results: The participants' mean scores were 25.8 (SD = 15.9) on the emotional exhaustion (EE) subscale, 8.1 (SD = 7.9) on the depersonalization (DP) subscale, and 26.80 (SD = 12.5) on the personal accomplishment (PA) subscale, indicating a pattern of moderate EE, moderate DP, and high PA. The results of the large-sample survey found that 14.9% of emergency physicians had a high level of burnout in China, with 46.8% scoring high for EE, 24.1% scoring high for DP, and 60.5% having a high risk of low PA. Having poor self-perceived health status and sleep quality, working in developed regions and governmental hospitals, having an intermediate professional title, experiencing depression, performing shift work and experiencing workplace violence made emergency physicians more likely to experience occupational burnout. Conclusion: Positive measures should be taken to reduce the burnout of emergency physicians and improve their work enthusiasm to maintain the quality of emergency medical services.
Xin Shen,1,* Nan Zhou,1,* Le Mi,1 Zishuo Hu,2 Libin Wang,1 Xueying Liu,1 Shengyong Zhang1 1Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, 2Student Brigade, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: The present study investigated the possible antiobesity and hypoglycemic effects of phloretin (Ph). In an attempt to discover the hypoglycemic effect and potential mechanism of Ph, we used the streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats and (L6) myotubes. Daily oral treatment with Ph for 4 weeks significantly (P<0.05) reduced postprandial blood glucose and improved islet injury and lipid metabolism. Glucose consumption and glucose tolerance were improved by Ph via GOD–POD method. Western blot results revealed that the expression of Akt, PI3K, IRS-1, and GLUT4 were upregulated in skeletal muscle of T2D rats and in L6 myotubes by Ph. The immunofluorescence studies confirmed that Ph improved the translocation of GLUT4 in L6 myotubes. Ph exerted hypoglycemic effects in vivo and in vitro, hence it may play an important role in the management of diabetes. Keywords: phloretin, diabetes, insulin sensitivity, blood glucose consumption, skeletal muscle
In: Child abuse & neglect: the international journal ; official journal of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Band 131, S. 105764
Background: Policymakers must promote the development of public health education and human resources. As a feature of the political environment, public opinion is essential for policy-making, but virtually the attitudes of Chinese citizens toward human resources development in public health is unknown. Methods: This study conducted a crosssectional survey from February 4, 2021 to February 26, 2021 in China. We adopted a convenient sampling strategy to recruit participators. Participants filled out the questions, which assess the attitudes of the expanding public health professionals. A logistic regression analysis was given to identify the predictors associated with the attitudes of the subjects. Results: There were 2,361 residents who have finished our questionnaire. Chinese residents who lived in urban (OR = 1.293, 95% CI = 1.051–1.591), "themselves or relatives and friends have participated in relevant epidemic prevention work" (OR = 1.553, 95% CI = 1.160–2.079), "themselves or family members engaged in medical-related work" (OR = 1.468, 95% CI = 1.048–2.056), and those who "were aware of public health before the outbreak of COVID-19" (OR = 1.428, 95% CI = 1.125–1.812) were more likely to support the promotion of public health education and training. Conclusions: The present study found that 74.50% of Chinese citizens supported the promotion of public health education and training in China, in which economic status, personal perception, and comprehension are the crucial factors that influence public opinion. COVID-19 has aroused the attention of Chinese residents to public health education, with only 22.11% of residents being aware of public health before the outbreak of COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has profound implications for human society. Literally, this impact will feed back into future public health policies based on public opinion. This innovative perspective will also help us better understand the potential social impact of COVID-19 on human resources and development for health in the modern world.
Abstract Background Rabies reemerged in China during the 1990s with a gradual increase in the number and geographical dispersion of cases. As a consequence, a national surveillance program was introduced in 2005 to investigate the outbreak in terms of vaccination coverage, PEP treatment, and geographical and social composition. Methods The surveillance program was coordinated at the national level by the Chinese Center for Disease Control (CCDC) with data collected by regional health centres and provincial CCDCs, and from other official sources. Various statistical and multivariate analysis techniques were then used to evaluate the role and significance of implemented policies and strategies related to rabies prevention and control over this period. Results From 2005–2012, 19,221 cases were reported across 30 provinces, but these primarily occurred in rural areas of southern and eastern China, and were predominantly associated with farmers, students and preschool children. In particular, detailed analysis of fatalities reported from 2010 to 2011 shows they were associated with very low rates of post exposure treatment compared to the cases with standard PEP. Nevertheless, regulation of post-exposure prophylaxis quality, together with improved management and vaccination of domesticated animals, has improved prevention and control of rabies. Conclusions The various control policies implemented by the government has played a key role in reducing rabies incidences in China. However, level of PEP treatment varies according to sex, age, degree and site of exposure, as well as the source of infection. Regulation of PEP quality together with improved management and vaccination of domesticated animals have also helped to improve prevention and control of rabies.
13 Pages, 1 Figure, 4 tables. The authors' affiliations are listed in the Supplementary Appendix, available at NEJM.org. Supplementary Material, available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1800474 ; BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization recommends drug-susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex for all patients with tuberculosis to guide treatment decisions and improve outcomes. Whether DNA sequencing can be used to accurately predict profiles of susceptibility to first-line antituberculosis drugs has not been clear. METHODS: We obtained whole-genome sequences and associated phenotypes of resistance or susceptibility to the first-line antituberculosis drugs isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide for isolates from 16 countries across six continents. For each isolate, mutations associated with drug resistance and drug susceptibility were identified across nine genes, and individual phenotypes were predicted unless mutations of unknown association were also present. To identify how whole-genome sequencing might direct first-line drug therapy, complete susceptibility profiles were predicted. These profiles were predicted to be susceptible to all four drugs (i.e., pansusceptible) if they were predicted to be susceptible to isoniazid and to the other drugs or if they contained mutations of unknown association in genes that affect susceptibility to the other drugs. We simulated the way in which the negative predictive value changed with the prevalence of drug resistance. RESULTS: A total of 10,209 isolates were analyzed. The largest proportion of phenotypes was predicted for rifampin (9660 [95.4%] of 10,130) and the smallest was predicted for ethambutol (8794 [89.8%] of 9794). Resistance to isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide was correctly predicted with 97.1%, 97.5%, 94.6%, and 91.3% sensitivity, respectively, and susceptibility to these drugs was correctly predicted with 99.0%, 98.8%, 93.6%, and 96.8% specificity. Of the 7516 isolates with complete phenotypic drug-susceptibility profiles, 5865 (78.0%) had complete genotypic predictions, among which 5250 profiles (89.5%) were correctly predicted. Among the 4037 phenotypic profiles that were predicted to be pansusceptible, 3952 (97.9%) were correctly predicted. CONCLUSIONS: Genotypic predictions of the susceptibility of M. tuberculosis to first-line drugs were found to be correlated with phenotypic susceptibility to these drugs. (Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others.). ; Supported by grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1133541, to CRyPTIC, plus separate support to Dr. Rodwell), a Wellcome Trust/Newton Fund–MRC Collaborative Award (200205/Z/15/Z, to CRyPTIC), the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance at University of Oxford in partnership with Public Health England, the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Barts, the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Imperial, the NIHR and NHS England (to the 100,000 Genomes Project, which is managed by Genomics England, a wholly owned company of the U.K. Department of Health), the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, Public Health England, a grant from the National Science and Technology Key Program of China (2014ZX10003002), a grant from the National Basic Research program of China (2014CB744403), a grant from the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB29020000), a grant from the European Commission Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013, to Borstel under grant agreement 278864 in the framework of the Patho-NGen-Trace project), the German Center for Infection Research (to Borstel), Leibniz Science Campus Evolutionary Medicine of the Lung (EvoLUNG), the Belgian Ministry of Social Affairs (to the Belgian Reference Center for Tuberculosis and Mycobacteria from Bacterial Diseases Service through a fund within the Health Insurance System), the French governmental program "Investing for the Future" (to Genoscreen), a grant from the European Commission Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013, to Genoscreen under grant agreement 278864 in the framework of the Patho-NGen-Trace project), grants from the Drug Resistant Tuberculosis Fund (R015833003, to Dr. Chaiprasert), the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University (to Dr. Chaiprasert), a grant from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Spain (SAF2016-77346-R, to Dr. Comas), a grant from the European Research Council (638553-TB-ACCELERATE, to Dr. Comas), a grant from the BC Centre for Disease Control Foundation for Population and Public Health (to Dr. Gardy), a grant from the British Colombia Lung Association (to Dr. Gardy), grants from the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (101237/Z/13/Z and 102541/A/13/Z, to Drs. Wilson and Iqbal [Sir Henry Dale Fellows]), a grant from the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Aspiration Fund (NUHSRO/2014/069/AF-New Idea/04, to Drs. Ong and Teo), a European Commission Seventh Framework Program European Genetic Network (EUROGEN) grant (201483, to Dr. Drobniewski), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health (to Dr. Rodwell). Dr. T. Walker is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer, and Drs. Crook, Peto, and Caulfield are NIHR Senior Investigators. No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported. Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org. We thank Stéphanie Duthoy, Carina Hahn, Alamdar Hussain, Yannick Laurent, Mathilde Mairey, Vanessa Mohr, and Mahmood Qadir for technical assistance and George F. Gao, Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, for directing the Chinese grant and sequencing program ; Peer reviewed