INTRODUCTION: Health literacy plays an essential role in one's ability to acquire and understand critical medical information in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infodemic and in other pandemics. We aimed to summarise the assessment, levels and determinants of pandemic-related health literacy and its associated clinical outcomes. METHODS: A systematic review was performed in Medline ® , Embase ® , PsycINFO ® , CINAHL ® and four major preprint servers. Observational and interventional studies that evaluated health literacy related to the novel COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) were included. Items used in health literacy instruments were grouped under the themes of knowledge, attitudes and practices. Determinants of health literacy were grouped into five domains: sociodemographic, medical, psychological/psychiatric, health systems-related and others. RESULTS: Of the 2,065 articles screened, 70 articles were included. Of these, 21, 17 and 32 studies evaluated health literacy related to COVID-19, SARS and MERS, respectively. The rates of low pandemic health literacy ranged from 4.3% to 57.9% among medical-related populations and from 4.0% to 82.5% among nonmedical populations. Knowledge about the symptoms and transmission of infection, worry about infection, and practices related to mask usage and hand hygiene were most frequently evaluated. Sociodemographic determinants of health literacy were most frequently studied, among which higher education level, older age and female gender were found to be associated with better health literacy. No studies evaluated the outcomes associated with health literacy. CONCLUSION The level of pandemic-related health literacy is suboptimal. Healthcare administrators need to be aware of health literacy determinants when formulating policies in pandemics.
Humans ; Health Literacy ; COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/epidemiology* ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Pandemics ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology* ; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus ; Female ; Male

BACKGROUND: The mechanisms distinguishing metabolically healthy from unhealthy phenotypes within the same BMI categories remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the associations between regional fat distribution and metabolically unhealthy phenotypes in Chinese adults across different BMI categories. METHODS: This cross-sectional study involving 11833 Chinese adults aged 20 years and older. Covariance analysis, adjusted for age, compared the percentage of regional fat (trunk, leg, or arm fat divided by whole-body fat) between metabolically healthy and unhealthy participants. Trends in regional fat percentage with the number of metabolic abnormalities were assessed by the Jonckheere-Terpstra test. Odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by logistic regression models. All analyses were performed separately by sex. RESULTS: In non-obese individuals, metabolically unhealthy participants exhibited higher percent trunk fat and lower percent leg fat compared to healthy participants. Additionally, percent trunk fat increased and percent leg fat decreased with the number of metabolic abnormalities. After adjustment for demographic and lifestyle factors, as well as BMI, higher percent trunk fat was associated with increased odds of being metabolically unhealthy [highest vs. lowest quartile: ORs (95%CI) of 1.64 (1.35, 2.00) for men and 2.00 (1.63, 2.46) for women]. Conversely, compared with the lowest quartile, the ORs (95%CI) of metabolically unhealthy phenotype in the highest quartile for percent arm and leg fat were 0.64 (0.53, 0.78) and 0.60 (0.49, 0.74) for men, and 0.72 (0.56, 0.93) and 0.46 (0.36, 0.59) for women, respectively. Significant interactions between BMI and percentage of trunk and leg fat were observed in both sexes, with stronger associations found in individuals with normal weight and overweight. CONCLUSIONS Trunk fat is associated with a higher risk of metabolically unhealthy phenotype, while leg and arm fat are protective factors. Regional fat distribution assessments are crucial for identifying metabolically unhealthy phenotypes, particularly in non-obese individuals.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult ; Adipose Tissue ; Body Fat Distribution ; Body Mass Index ; China/epidemiology* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Health Surveys ; Phenotype

OBJECTIVE To investigate the changes in high performance liquid chromatography （HPLC） fingerprint spectra and nucleoside components between Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum cum Zingibere et Alumine and its processed product Succus bambusae pinella preparata， providing a reference for the quality evaluation of the latter. METHODS HPLC fingerprint was established for 10 batches of Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum cum Zingibere et Alumine and its processed product Succus bambusae pinella preparata following the Similarity Evaluation System of TCM Chromatographic Fingerprints （2012 Edition）. Hierarchical cluster analysis （HCA）， principal component analysis （PCA）， and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis （OPLS- DA） were conducted on their common peaks. The contents of four nucleoside components， hypoxanthine， uridine， adenine， and guanosine， in both Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum cum Zingibere et Alumine and Succus bambusae pinella preparata were determined. RESULTS The similarity between the fingerprints of the 10 batches of Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum cum Zingibere et Alumine， Succus bambusae pinella preparata， and their corresponding reference fingerprints ranged from 0.851 to 0.990. A total of 10 common peaks were obtained for both samples， and 4 components were identified as hypoxanthine， uridine， adenine， and guanosine. The results of HCA， PCA and OPLS-DA showed that the samples of Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum cum Zingibere et Alumine and Succus bambusae pinella preparata were clustered into separate categories， with OPLS-DA selecting 4 differential components between them， ranked by variable importance projection values as peak 8， peak 1， peak 6 （adenine） and peak 10. The content determination results showed that the average contents of hypoxanthine， uridine， adenine and guanosine in Succus bambusae pinella preparata declined by 15.90%， 12.00%， 26.04% and 22.18% compared to Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum cum Zingibere et Alumine， respectively， with statistically significant differences in the contents of hypoxanthine， adenine and guanosine （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. CONCLUSIONS The established fingerprint and content determination methods are simple to operate and have good repeatability， which are suitable for qualitative and quantitative analysis of Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum cum Zingibere et Alumine and Succus bambusae pinella preparata. The average contents of the four nucleoside components decreased after the processing of Succus bambusae pinella preparata.

Multimorbidity is significantly associated with life quality decline, disability, and increased mortality risk. Additionally, it leads to greater consumption of healthcare resources, presenting substantial challenges to healthcare systems globally. To better assess the burden of multimorbidity, its impact on patient health outcomes and healthcare services, and to explore the underlying mechanisms in its development, this paper summarizes the existing methods used for measuring and analyzing multimorbidity in research and practice, including disease count, disease-weighted indices, multimorbidity pattern recognition (such as disease association analysis, clustering analysis, and network analysis) and longitudinal methods to provide references for the accurate assessment of the prevalence of multimorbidity and its changes and improve the validity and universality of research findings.

Objective:To study the effect of astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) on proliferation and metastasis of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) by regulating cell autophagy and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).Methods:Normal thyroid cells Nthy-ori3-1 and PTC cells TPC-1, FTC-133, B-CPAP and SW579 were cultured in vitro. Real time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of AEG-1 in PTC cells. The PTC cells with the highest AEG-1 expression were selected for AEG-1 shRNA infection, and then divided into sh-NC group and sh-AEG-1 group. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) and EdU (5-ethynyl-2 ′- deoxyuridine) experiments were used to detect the effect of AEG-1 on the proliferation of PTC cells; Transwell test was used to detect the effect of AEG-1 on the metastasis of PTC cells; subcutaneous tumorigenesis test in nude mice was used to detect the effect of AEG-1 on the expression of autophagy related proteins and EMT related proteins. PTC cells in sh-NC group and sh-AEG-1 group were treated with rapamycin and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), respectively. CCK8 and transwell assay were used to detect the cell proliferation and metastasis ability of each group of cells, respectively. Results:Compared with normal thyroid cells Nthy-ori3-1, the expression level of AEG-1 in PTC cells was increased, with the highest expression in TPC-1 cells. After AEG-1 shRNA was transfected into TPC-1 cells, cell proliferation, metastasis and tumorigenicity in vivo were reduced ( P<0.05). Compared with the sh-NC group, the expression of autophagy-related proteins P62 and Beclin1 were increased and the expression of LC3B protein was decreased, and EMT-related proteins E-cadherin expression were increased and N-cadherin and Vimentin protein expression were decreased in the sh-AEG-1 group ( P<0.05). CCK8 and Transwell experiments showed that treatment with autophagy inducer Rapamycin and EMT inducer TGF-β attenuated the inhibitory effect of sh-AEG-1 on proliferation and metastasis ability of PTC cell ( P<0.05). Conclusions:AEG-1 promotes the proliferation and metastasis of PTC cells by inducing cell autophagy and EMT.

Objective:To analyze the differences and similarities of pre-treatment and post-treatment lung microbiome of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and find out the change rules of the lung microbiome in the progression of ARDS according to different prognosis.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted. Patients with ARDS caused by severe pneumonia admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) of Jiangmen Central Hospital from February 2019 to January 2020 were enrolled as the study subjects. The patients were divided into pre-treatment (ARDS-preT) group (24 cases), post-treatment survival (ARDS-poT-Survival) group (17 cases), and post-treatment death (ARDS-poT-Dead) group (7 cases). ICU patients with mild pulmonary infection and non-ARDS admitted to ICU during the same period were enrolled as control group (25 cases). The similarities and differences of lung microbiome in four groups were analyzed and compared, and the possible pathogenic bacteria (potential risk factors for death) and probiotics (potential survival and protective factors) related to death caused by ARDS were screened.Results:In terms of pathogenic microorganisms, the positive rates of Escherichia coli and Candida albicans in the ARDS-poT-Dead group were significantly higher than those in the ARDS-poT-Survival group [57.1% (4/7) vs. 5.9% (1/17) and 57.1% (4/7) vs. 0% (0/7), both P < 0.05]. In the screening of background bacteria, the decrease of bacteria in the ARDS-preT group compared with the ARDS-poT-Survival group, the ARDS-poT-Dead group compared with the ARDS-poT-Survival group, the ARDS-poT-Dead group compared with the control group, the reduced bacteria might be pulmonary probiotics (potential protective factor for ARDS). The screening result was Hydrobacter [ARDS-preT group vs. ARDS-poT-Survival group: 62.5% (15/24) vs. 94.1% (16/17); ARDS-poT-Dead group vs. ARDS-poT-Survival group: 14.3% (1/7) vs. 94.1% (16/17); ARDS-poT-Dead vs. control: 14.3% (1/7) vs. 96.0% (24/25), all P < 0.05]. In the screening of background bacteria, the increase of bacteria in the ARDS-poT-Dead group compared with the ARDS-preT group, the ARDS-poT-Dead group compared with the ARDS-poT-Survival group, the ARDS-poT-Dead group compared with the control group, and the increased bacteria might be potential pulmonary pathogen (potential risk factor for death of ARDS), which belonged to Enterobacteria: Edwardsiella, Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia, Klebsiella, Kluyvera, Lelliottia, Pantoea, Raoultella. Conclusions:The results revealed the increase of Escherichia coli or Candida albicans in pulmonary pathogenic microorganisms, or the increase of Enterobacteria in background bacteria may be the risk factors for the death of ARDS. Additionally, background bacteria Hydrobacter probably is a protective factor for the survival of ARDS. Whether it can be used as a novel treatment for ARDS is worth further investigation.

Objective: To explore the influence of birthweight and delivery mode on overweight/obesity and abdominal obesity in primary school students, and to provide evidence for childhood obesity prevention. Methods: After physical examination, questionnaire survey was conducted among 3 361 students and their parents from 3 primary schools in Guangzhou selected through stratified clustering sampling. Information about birthweight and delivery mode was collected. Logistic regression model was used to analyze the association of birthweight and delivery mode with overweight/obesity and abdominal obesity. The multiplicative interaction term and the Delta method was used to explore the potential interaction. Results: The prevalence rate of overweight and obesity for primary school students was 21.33%, and the rate of abdominal obesity was 12.08%. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that delivery by cesarean section was associated with 44% increased risk of overweight/obesity(OR=1.44, 95%CI=1.16-1.80), as compared to vaginal delivery. Higher birthweight was linked to increased risk of overweight/obesity(OR=1.62, 95%CI=1.09-2.42). There was no significant association of birth weight and delivery mode with abdominal obesity in multivariate analysis(P>0.05). Additionally, a positive additive interaction was seen between delivery mode and parental obesity for students risk of overweight/obesity(RERI=0.33, 95%CI=0.02-0.65), as well as for the risk of abdominal obesity(RERI=0.39, 95%CI=0.12-0.65). Conclusion Cesarean section delivery and higher birthweight are linked to increased risk of overweight and obesity in primary school students. The synergistic effect of cesarean section and parental obesity may increase the risk of childhood obesity.

Objective:To evaluate the consistency between bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in the measurement of body composition in children and adolescents aged 7-17 years.Methods:Fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) were measured by both BIA and DXA in 1 431 children. The consistency between the methods was evaluated by intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) and Bland-Altman analysis. Logarithmic transformation of both measurements was performed before Bland-Altman analysis.Results:The ICCs for FFM were 0.986 and 0.974 and ICCs for FM were 0.854 and 0.926 in boys and girls respectively. In boys, the mean ratio of FFMs by BIA and DXA was 1.04, with limits of Agreement (LoA) of 0.95-1.14, and in girls, the mean ratio of FFMs by BIA and DXA was 1.02, with the LoA of 0.90-1.15. The LoA of FFM became narrower with age in both boys and girls. Both boys and girls had the wide LoAs for FM (0.40-1.27 and 0.48-1.48, respectively). Additionally, the LoA ranges for FFM and FM narrowed with the increase of BMI level in both boys and girls.Conclusion:For all children, BIA showed good consistency with DXA for FFM, whereas significant errors occurred in FM measurement. The consistency between BIA and DXA was better for obese children than for underweight or normal-weight children.

Objective:To analyze the current status of body composition and development patterns of children and adolescents aged 6-17 years in Guangzhou.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study involving 8 169 school students from 3 elementary schools and 3 middle schools in Guangzhou from March to December 2019.The fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) were measured by the bioelectrical impedance analysis.The fat-free mass index (FFMI) and fat mass index (FMI) were calculated via the height standardization. T test was used to compare quantitative variables between groups.The growth pattern of body composition was described using the Hattori chart. Results:A total of 4 431 boys (54.24%) and 3 738 girls (45.76%) were involved in this study.FFM and FM both increased with age between boys and girls.Except for boys aged 11 years, FFM in boys were significantly higher than that in girls with the same age (all P<0.05). In the age of 7-10 years, FM in boys were significantly higher than that in girls with the same age, while it was significantly higher in girls aged 12 years and older than that of boys at the same age (all P<0.05). The Hattori chart showed that the difference in body composition between genders occurred after 11 years old.In contrast to girls, increases in the weight and body mass index (BMI) in boys were mainly attributed to the FFM development. Conclusions:The development of FFM and FM in children and adolescents varies with age, accompanied with the gender-specific features.FFM in boys is higher than that of girls at the same age.The weight gain in boys is mainly attributed to the development of fat-free tissues, and thus the utility of BMI may lead to the overestimation of obesity.

Objective: To understand the relationship between screen time and dietary behaviors among urban middle school students in Guangzhou, and to provide scientific evidence for improving students’ health. Methods: Based on the regular medical examinations for elementary and middle school students in Guangzhou, a total of 12 357 middle school students (grade 7 and grade 10) were investigated by using a cross-sectional study. The physical indicators and daily routine were collected by physical examination and questionnaire survey. Multiple Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the association between screen time and dietary behaviors among students. Results: The proportion of excessive screen time was 18.80% (2 323). There was no significant difference between boys (18.52%, 1 165/6 292) and girls (19.09%, 1 158/6 065) (χ2=0.67, P>0.05). Logistic regression results showed that excessive screen time was negatively associated with consumption of vegetables and fruits, with the aORs of 0.50 (95%CI=0.42-0.58) and 0.64 (95%CI=0.58-0.70) respectively, and positively associated with consumption of fried food (OR=1.90, 95%CI=1.70-2.09), western fast food (OR=1.90, 95%CI=1.65-2.19), sweets (OR=1.36, 95%CI=1.25-1.49) and sugar-sweetened beverage (OR=1.70, 95%CI=1.57-1.84). Conclusion Excessive screen time was associated with unhealthy dietary behaviors among middle school students in Guangzhou. Intervention should be tailored to screen time as well as dietary behaviors.