Objective : To investigate the knowledge, attitude and practice on e-cigarette use among college students in Guiyang City, so as to provide insights into tobacco control health education among colleges and universities. Methods College students were sampled from full-time colleges and universities in Guiyang City using a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method from March to May in 2022. Students' knowledge, attitude and practice on e-cigarette use were collected using a questionnaire designed based on the 2019 China National Youth Tobacco Survey Questionnaire, and factors affecting the attempt to use e-cigarette were identified using a multivariable logistic regression model. Methods: College students were sampled from full-time colleges and universities in Guiyang City using a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method from March to May in 2022. Students' knowledge, attitude and practice on e-cigarette use were collected using a questionnaire designed based on the 2019 China National Youth Tobacco Survey Questionnaire, and factors affecting the attempt to use e-cigarette were identified using a multivariable logistic regression model. Results : Totally 2 800 questionnaires were recovered, including 2 694 valid questionnaires, with an effective recovery rate of 96.21%. The respondents included 687 males (25.50%) and 2 007 females (74.50%). The total score of knowledge on e-cigarette use was (2.95±1.02) points, and there were low proportions of knowing that e-cigarettes contained hazardous substances, including nicotine and tar (59.06%) and knowing that e-cigarette use may cause diseases (53.27%). The total score of attitudes towards e-cigarette use was (5.09±2.36) points, and 93.50% of respondents did not use e-cigarettes given by companions. There were 132 students with attempts to use e-cigarettes (4.90%), and there were 29 current e-cigarette users (1.08%). Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified age of 20 years and lower (OR=0.438, 95%CI: 0.267-0.719), living in rural areas (OR=0.458, 95%CI: 0.264-0.794), thinking that e-cigarettes are addictive (OR=0.449, 95%CI: 0.217-0.928), and thinking that e-cigarette smoking is harmful (OR=0.263, 95%CI: 0.131-0.527) as factors protecting from e-cigarette use, and monthly living expenses of more than 2 000 Yuan (OR=2.995, 95%CI: 1.135-7.902), cigarette smoking (OR=19.826, 95%CI: 11.385-34.527), and using companions' e-cigarettes (OR=9.141, 95%CI: 5.534-15.101) and thinking that people around me support my use of e-cigarettes (OR=2.673, 95%CI: 1.426-5.013) were risk factors for e-cigarette use among college students. Conclusions There is a low awareness rate of e-cigarette use among college students in Guiyang City, and the majority oppose e-cigarette use, with a low proportion of attempt to use e-cigarettes. Age, source of students, monthly living expenses, e-cigarette smoking, knowledge on e-cigarette use and use of companions' e-cigarettes may affect the attempt to use e-cigarettes.

The neural stimulator is a core component of animal robots. While the control effect of animal robots is influenced by various factors, the performance of the neural stimulator plays a decisive role in regulating animal robots. In order to optimize animal robots, embedded neural stimulators had been developed using flexible printed circuit board technology. This innovation not only enabled the stimulator to generate parameter-adjustable biphasic current pulses through control signals, but also optimized its carrying mode, material, and size, overcoming the disadvantages of traditional backpack or head-inserted stimulators, which have poor concealment and are prone to infection. Static, in vitro, and in vivo performance tests of the stimulator demonstrated that it not only had precise pulse waveform output capability, but also was lightweight and small in size. It had excellent in vivo performance in both laboratory and outdoor environments. Our study has high practical significance for the application of animal robots.
Animals ; Robotics

This study aims to gain insight into the DNA-specific recognition mechanism of c-Myb transcription factor during the regulation of cell early differentiation and proliferation. Therefore, we chose the chicken myeloid gene, mitochondrial import protein 1 (mim-1), as a target to study the binding specificity between potential dual-Myb-binding sites. The c-Myb-binding site in mim-1 is a pseudo-palindromic sequence AACGGTT, which contains two AACNG consensuses. Simulation studies in different biological scenarios revealed that c-Myb binding with mim-1 in the forward strand (complex F) ismore stable than that inthereverse strand (complex R). The principal component analysis (PCA) dynamics trajectory analyses suggested an opening motion of the recognition helices of R2 and R3 (R2R3), resulting in the dissociation of DNA from c-Myb in complex R at 330 K, triggered by the reduced electrostatic potential on the surface of R2R3. Furthermore, the DNA confirmation and hydrogen-bond interaction analyses indicated that the major groove width of DNA increased in complex R, which affected on the hydrogen-bond formation ability between R2R3 and DNA, and directly resulted in the dissociation of DNA from R2R3. The steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulation studies also suggested that the electrostatic potential, major groove width, and hydrogen bonds made major contribution to the DNA‍-specific recognition. In vitro trials confirmed the simulation results that c-Myb specifically bound to mim-1 in the forward strand. This study indicates that the three-dimensional (3D) structure features play an important role in the DNA-specific recognition mechanism by c-Myb besides the AACNG consensuses, which is beneficial to understanding the cell early differentiation and proliferation regulated by c-Myb, as well as the prediction of novel c-Myb-binding motifs in tumorigenesis.
Molecular Dynamics Simulation ; Consensus ; DNA ; Hydrogen

Objectives:To investigate the clinical and genetic features of young Chinese patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) .Methods:In this cross-sectional study, anonymous questionnaires were distributed to patients with MPN patients nationwide. The respondents were divided into 3 groups based on their age at diagnosis: young (≤40 years) , middle-aged (41-60 years) , and elderly (>60 years) . We compared the clinical and genetic characteristics of three groups of MPN patients.Results:1727 assessable questionnaires were collected. There were 453 (26.2%) young respondents with MPNs, including 274 with essential thrombocythemia (ET) , 80 with polycythemia vera (PV) , and 99 with myelofibrosis. Among the young group, 178 (39.3%) were male, and the median age was 31 (18-40) years. In comparison to middle-aged and elderly respondents, young respondents with MPN were more likely to present with a higher proportion of unmarried status (all P<0.001) , a higher education level (all P<0.001) , less comorbidity (ies) , fewer medications (all P<0.001) , and low-risk stratification (all P<0.001) . Younger respondents experienced headache (ET, P<0.001; PV, P=0.007; MF, P=0.001) at diagnosis, had splenomegaly at diagnosis (PV, P<0.001) , and survey (ET, P=0.052; PV, P=0.063) . Younger respondents had fewer thrombotic events at diagnosis (ET, P<0.001; PV, P=0.011) and during the survey (ET, P<0.001; PV, P=0.003) . JAK2 mutations were found in fewer young people (ET, P<0.001; PV, P<0.001; MF, P=0.013) ; however, CALR mutations were found in more young people (ET, P<0.001; MF, P=0.015) . Furthermore, mutations in non-driver genes (ET, P=0.042; PV, P=0.043; MF, P=0.004) and high-molecular risk mutations (ET, P=0.024; PV, P=0.023; MF, P=0.001) were found in fewer young respondents. Conclusion:Compared with middle-aged and elderly patients, young patients with MPN had unique clinical and genetic characteristics.

Objective:To explore the setup errors of vacuum pad combined with breast bracket in linear accelerator intensity-modulated radiotherapy for breast cancer.Methods:The clinical data of 72 patients who received linear accelerator intensity-modulated radiotherapy after breast conserving surgery in Hai'an Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from July 2017 to March 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the radiotherapy fixation schemes, they were divided into vacuum pad group (24 patients), breast bracket group (27 patients) and vacuum pad combined with breast bracket group (21 patients). Cone-beam CT was used to analyze the setup errors of the fixation, and the mean value of the overall errors and the standard deviation of the system errors were calculated. The relative factors affecting the fixed setup errors were analyzed.Results:There were statistical differences among vacuum pad group, breast bracket group and vacuum pad combined with breast bracket group in the level of forward and backward (Z) direction translation error (2.11±0.41, 2.67±0.26 and 1.79±0.21) and Z direction rotation error (1.14±0.24, 1.05±0.21 and 0.91±0.22) ( F values were 45.86 and 6.21, both P < 0.05). The level of Z direction translation error in vacuum pad group was higher than that in vacuum pad combined with breast bracket group, and the difference was statistically significant ( t = 12.37, P = 0.001). The level of Z direction rotation error in breast bracket group was higher than that in vacuum pad combined with breast bracket group, and the difference was statistically significant ( t = 3.41, P = 0.001). In the breast bracket group, the planning target volume (PTV) extension boundary values in the left and right (X), up and down (Y), and Z directions were 2.02, 2.09 and 1.97; the PTV release boundary values in X, Y and Z directions of the vacuum pad group were 1.81, 2.07 and 2.25; the external boundary values of PTV in X, Y and Z directions of the vacuum pad combined with breast bracket group were 1.13, 1.51 and 1.49. The result of multifactor analysis showed that body mass index (BMI) ( OR = 4.208, 95% CI 1.438-12.312) and breast volume ( OR = 4.023, 95% CI 1.375-11.769) were the independent influencing factors of fixed setup errors (both P < 0.05). Conclusions:The application of vacuum pad combined with breast bracket in the fixed setup of linear accelerator intensity-modulated radiotherapy of breast cancer is helpful to reduce the fixed setup errors, but at the same time, the fixed setup errors is affected by the patient's BMI, breast volume and other factors.

Obesity is increasingly prevalent globally, searching for therapeutic agents acting on adipose tissue is of great importance. Equisetin (EQST), a meroterpenoid isolated from a marine sponge-derived fungus, has been reported to display antibacterial and antiviral activities. Here, we revealed that EQST displayed anti-obesity effects acting on adipose tissue through inhibiting adipogenesis in vitro and attenuating HFD-induced obesity in mice, doing so without affecting food intake, blood pressure or heart rate. We demonstrated that EQST inhibited the enzyme activity of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1), a therapeutic target of obesity in adipose tissue. Anti-obesity properties of EQST were all offset by applying excessive 11β-HSD1's substrates and 11β-HSD1 inhibition through knockdown in vitro or 11β-HSD1 knockout in vivo. In the 11β-HSD1 bypass model constructed by adding excess 11β-HSD1 products, EQST's anti-obesity effects disappeared. Furthermore, EQST directly bond to 11β-HSD1 protein and presented remarkable better intensity on 11β-HSD1 inhibition and better efficacy on anti-obesity than known 11β-HSD1 inhibitor. Therefore, EQST can be developed into anti-obesity candidate compound, and this study may provide more clues for developing higher effective 11β-HSD1 inhibitors.

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics, etiology and outcome of early-onset neonatal sepsis (EONS) and late-onset neonatal sepsis (LONS).Methods:The clinical data of 265 neonates with NS admitted in the neonatal ward of the the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from January 2014 to September 2020 were enrolled, including 76 cases of EONS and 189 cases of LONS. The general information, clinical manifestation, laboratory findings, pathogen distribution, treatment and outcome of the two groups were analyzed with SPSS25.0 statistical software.Results:The rates of meconium-stained amniotic fluid, prenatal maternal fever, abnormal white blood cell (WBC) count and neutrophil count in EONS group were significantly higher than those in LONS group ( P<0.05 or <0.01). However, the rates of indwelling central venous catheters, mechanical ventilation, fever, abdominal distension, abnormal platelet count and serum prealbumin level in LONS group were significantly higher than those in EONS group ( P<0.05 or <0.01). Staphylococcus epidermidis(135/265)and Staphylococcus aureus (22/265) were the most common gram-positive bacteria and Escherichia coli (13/265) was the most common gram-negative bacteria in NS. The proportion of gram-positive bacteria was the highest in both EONS group (85.5%) and LONS group (84.7%), which was mainly Staphylococcus epidermidis of coagulase negative staphylococci. The proportion of Listeria monocytogenes and Streptococcus infections in EONS group was significantly higher than that in LONS group ( P<0.05 or <0.01). The proportion of Staphylococcus aureus infection in LONS group was significantly higher than that in EONS group ( P<0.01). There was no significant difference in case fatality rate between EONS group and LONS group (6.6% vs 2.6%, P>0.05). Conclusions:Perinatal amniotic fluid pollution and prenatal maternal fever are risk factors for the occurrence of EONS, while indwelling central venous catheter and mechanical ventilation are risk factors for the occurrence of LONS. Abnormal platelet count and abnormal serum prealbumin are more common in the LONS group. The bacteria detected in EONS and LONS are mainly Staphylococcus epidermidis. Clinical diagnosis and treatment of EONS and LONS should be managed differently.

Objectives:To explore health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and identify its associated variables in Chinese patients with Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) .Methods:In this cross-sectional study, anonymous questionnaires were distributed to adult patients with MPNs to assess symptom burden measured by MPN-10 and HRQoL measured by Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) .Results:The data from 1405 respondents with MPNs, including 645 (45.9%) with essential thrombocythemia (ET) , 297 (21.1%) with polycythemia vera (PV) , and 463 (33.0%) with myelofibrosis (MF) , were analyzed. 646 (46.0%) respondents were male. The median age was 56 (range, 18-99) years. The mean MPN-10 scores were 13.0±12.7, 15.0±14.7, and 21.0±16.6 ( P<0.001) , and the physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores were 48.0±8.5, 47.0±9.0, and 42.0±10.0 ( P<0.001) and 51.0±11.0, 50.0±10.8, and 49.0±11.1 ( P=0.002) for respondents with ET, PV, and MF, respectively. Respondents with MF reported the lowest score of physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, social function, and global health status (all P<0.01) and the highest score of fatigue, pain, dyspnea, appetite loss, diarrhea, and financial problems (all P<0.05) in EORTC QLQ-C30. Multivariate analyses revealed that higher MPN-10 scores were significantly associated with lower PCS (-0.220 to -0.277, P<0.001) and MCS (-0.244 to -0.329, P<0.001) scores; increasing age (-1.923 to -4.869; all P<0.05) , lower PCS score. Additionally, comorbidity (ies) , symptom at diagnosis, splenomegaly, anemia, unknown driver gene, and higher annual out-of-pocket cost were significantly associated with lower PCS and/or MCS scores. However, age ≥ 60 years, urban household registration, concomitant medication, and receiving ruxolitinib therapy in respondents with MF were associated with higher MCS scores. Weak correlations were found between MPN-10 score (except the subscale of appetite loss and constipation) and EORTC QLQ-C30 score in majority of subscales in respondents with ET (| r| = 0.193-0.457, all P<0.001) , PV (| r| = 0.192-0.529, all P<0.01) , and MF (| r| = 0.180-0.488, all P<0.001) , respectively. Conclusions:HRQoL in patients with MPN was significantly reduced, especially in patients with MF. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were significantly associated with the HRQoL in patients with MPNs.

Objective:To investigate the clinical risk factors of preterm infants and its severity in premature infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).Methods:Retrospective clinical study was performed. A total of 126 preterm infants with BPD in the Neonatal Department of the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from January 2016 to December 2018 were enrolled in the study. Among them, 69 were males and 57 were females, whose gestational age<32 weeks and birth weight<1500 g. BPD grades Ⅰ , Ⅱ , and Ⅲ were 63, 40, and 23 cases respectively. According to the presence or absence of ROP, children were divided into ROP group and non-ROP group, with 48 (38.1%) and 78 (61.9%) cases respectively. The differences of clinical data between the two groups were compared and analyzed. Quantitative data comparison between groups was performed by t test, and count data comparison was performed by χ2 test. The risk factors of ROP in BPD premature infants were analyzed by multi-factor logistics regression. The correlation between BPD severity and ROP severity was tested by Spearman rank correlation test. Results:Compared with the non-ROP group, the ROP group had a smaller gestational age ( t=5.988), lower birth weight ( t=7.371), higher the application rate of oxygen concentration> 30% (duration of service> 24 h), high rate ( χ2=17.244) and longer noninvasive ventilation time ( t=-7.139), the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05). In the logistic regression model, the noninvasive ventilation time was the risk factor for ROP in preterm infants with BPD ( OR≈1.054, P<0.05), while gestational age and birth weight were importantly protective factors for ROP in preterm infants with BPD ( OR≈0.938, 0.996; P<0.05). The results of the correlation analysis found that the severity of BPD was significantly positively correlated with the severity ofROP. As the severity of BPD increased, the severity of ROP increased, and the difference was statistically significant ( rs=0.306, P<0.035). Conclusions:Fetal gestational age, low birth weight, hyperoxia, and long-term non-invasive mechanical ventilation are the main risk factors for ROP in preterm infants with BPD. The severity of BPD is positively correlated with the incidence and severity of ROP.

Objective:To explore the expressions of estrogen receptor α (ERα) and estrogen receptor β (ERβ) in Chinese female esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and their relationship with clinical pathological characteristics, marriage and childbearing factors and their prognostic impact.Methods:A total of 110 female patients with primary ESCC in Nanyang Center Hospital from January 2001 to December 2016 were selected. The expression levels of ERα and ERβ proteins were examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Logistic regression was used to analyze the correlations of ERα and ERβ expressions with marriage and childbearing factors (menstrual status, age of menarche, age of first birth and the number of pregnancy) and clinical pathological parameters (tumor location, tumor invasion depth, lymph node metastasis and tumor stage). Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis and log-rank test was used. Cox proportional hazard model was used for survival multivariate analysis.Results:The expression rates of ERα and ERβ proteins were 37.3% (41/110) and 64.5% (71/110) in tissues of female ESCC patients, respectively. ERβ expression was closely correlated with tumor location ( χ2 = 0.999, P = 0.030), tumor stage ( χ2 = 11.097, P < 0.01) and the number of pregnancy ( χ2 = 6.304, P = 0.012). The number of pregnancy ( HR = 2.553, 95% CI 1.051-6.203, P = 0.039) and ERβ expression ( HR = 2.580, 95% CI 1.966-3.386, P < 0.01) were independent protective factors for the survival of patients. Furthermore, ERα expression ( HR = 0.530, 95% CI 0.384-0.739, P < 0.01) and lymph node metastasis ( HR = 0.663, 95% CI 0.512-0.858, P = 0.002) were independent risk factors for survival. Conclusion:ERα and ERβ expressions can predict the prognosis of female ESCC patients.