Effect of long-term care insurance in a pilot city of China: Health benefits among 12,930 disabled older adults.

Background: The surge of disabled older people have brought enormous burdens to society. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of long-term care insurance (LTCI) implementation on mortality and changes in physical ability among disabled older adults.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study based on data from the government-led LTCI program in a pilot city of China from 2017 to 2021.

Rhein alleviates advanced glycation end products (AGEs)-induced inflammatory injury of diabetic cardiomyopathy in vitro and in vivo models.

In diabetic patients, diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the most common causes of death. The inflammatory response is essential in the pathogenesis of DCM. Rhein, an anthraquinone compound, is extracted from the herb rhubarb, demonstrating various biological activities.

Global, regional and national availability of essential medicines for children, 2009-2020: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Access to essential medicines is a vital component of universal health coverage. The low availability of essential medicines for children (EMC) has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to issue a number of resolutions calling on member states on its improvement. But its global progress has been unclear.

The price and affordability of essential medicines, progress and regional distribution in China: a systematic review.

Essential medicine is a vital component to assure universal access to quality healthcare. However, the trend of affordability to essential medicines in China and its regional differences were not yet fully understood. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the price and affordability of essential medicines, their progress, and regional distribution in China in the last decades.

Air pollution and timing of childbirth: a retrospective survey analysis based on birth registration data of Chinese newborns.

Objectives: Currently, there is a lack of research on whether people will take action to avoid the harm of air pollution and the heterogeneous behavior of different groups. The goal of this paper is to examine the effects of air pollution on the resulting differential effects on newborns and the timing of pregnancy.

Methods: Based on a survey of newborns in a total of 32 hospitals in 12 cities across China in 2011, and after matching with city-level air pollution data, a multiple regression statistical method is then used to examine how the pollution level in a certain period is related to the number of conceptions in that certain period, after controlling for region and season fixed effects.

Availability of essential medicines, progress and regional distribution in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Essential medicines are the backbone of healthcare and meet the priority healthcare needs of the population. However, approximately one-third of the global population does not have access to essential medicines. Although China formulated essential medicine policies in 2009, the progress of availability of essential medicines and regional variations remains unknown.

Pro-Inflammatory diet accounts for higher prevalence of retinopathy in diabetes participants rather than normal glucose and prediabetes: Results from NHANES, 2005-2008.

Retinopathy is a chronic inflammatory disease whose prognosis could be improved with dietary interventions. However, the association between a pro-inflammatory diet and the prevalence of retinopathy has not been fully elucidated. We assess the association between the dietary inflammatory index (DII), which is a comprehensive index determining inflammatory potential derived from food parameters according to literature, and the prevalence of retinopathy based on the data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2008 involving 2,403 participants.

Access to medicines for children in China.

Access to essential medicines for children is a big challenge, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries. In China, the average availability of essential medicines for children is 1.6%-46.

Patient-Reported Outcomes Following the Use of Jiang Tang San Huang Tablets in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Retrospective Cohort Study in a Chinese Population.

Purpose: We aimed to assess the efficacy of the Jiang Tang San Huang (JTSH) tablet for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: All data for this retrospective cohort study were acquired from the outpatient clinic database of our institution, and all enrolled patients received JTSH tablet for at least two months. Overall, 147 patients were included in the analysis.

Schisandrol A protects AGEs-induced neuronal cells death by allosterically targeting ATP6V0d1 subunit of V-ATPase.

Diabetes have been shown to cause progressive neuronal injury with pain and numbness advanced glycation end-products (AGEs)-induced neuronal cell apoptosis; however, the valuable drug targets for diabetic neuropathy have been poorly reported so far. In this study, we discovered a natural small-molecule schisandrol A (SolA) with significant protective effect against AGEs-induced neuronal cell apoptosis. ATP6V0D1, a major subunit of vacuolar-type ATPase (V-ATPase) in lysosome was identified as a crucial cellular target of SolA.

The effect of subjective life expectancy on the participation in commercial pension insurance of Chinese elderly.

Objective: This paper studies the impact of the subjective life expectancy of the elderly on their commercial pension insurance participation at micro perspective, providing new evidence to explain the motivation of commercial pension insurance participation in China.

Methods: Using 4 waves of data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2018, a multiple linear regression model is constructed to investigate the effect of subjective life expectancy on commercial pension insurance participation among the Chinese elderly, and IV model estimation shows that the results are robust. Meanwhile, the heterogeneity of the effect of elderly life expectancy on commercial pension insurance participation behavior among different characteristic groups is also studied.

The impact of national centralized drug procurement on health expenditures for lung cancer inpatients: A difference-in-differences analysis in a large tertiary hospital in China.

The availability and affordability of medicines remain major health challenges around the world. In March 2019, the Chinese government introduced a pilot National Centralized Drug Procurement (NCDP) program in order to reduce drug prices and improve the affordability of effective and safe medicines. This study aimed to assess the impact of NCDP policy on health expenditures of cancer patients.

A Study of the Protective Effect of Bushen Huoxue Prescription on Cerebral Microvascular Endothelia Based on Proteomics and Bioinformatics.

Diabetic cognitive dysfunction is a serious complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which can cause neurological and microvascular damage in the brain. At present, there is no effective treatment for this complication. Bushen Huoxue prescription (BSHX) is a newly formulated compound Chinese medicine containing 7 components.

Procyanidin B2 Alleviates Palmitic Acid-Induced Injury in HepG2 Cells via Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Pathway.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome featuring ectopic lipid accumulation in hepatocytes. NAFLD has been a severe threat to humans with a global prevalence of over 25% yet no approved drugs for the treatment to date. Previous studies showed that procyanidin B2 (PCB2), an active ingredient from herbal cinnamon, has an excellent hepatoprotective effect; however, the mechanism remains inconclusive.

Institutional Design and Incentives for Migrant Workers to Participate in Social Insurance in China: Evidence From a Policy Experiment in Chengdu City.

Rural-to-urban migration has increased rapidly in China since the early 1980s, with the number of migrants has reached 376 million by 2020. Despite this sharp trend and the significant contributions that migrants have made to urban development, the migrant workers have had very limited access to the social insurance that the majority of urban workers enjoy. Against the background of the social insurance system adjustment in Chengdu in 2011, this study uses a difference-in-differences (DID) model to empirically test the impacts of changes in the social insurance policy contribution rates on the social insurance participation rates of migrant workers, using the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) data for 2009-2016.

Quantifying the impacts of human mobility restriction on the spread of coronavirus disease 2019: an empirical analysis from 344 cities of China.

Background: Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), human mobility restriction measures have raised controversies, partly because of the inconsistent findings. An empirical study is promptly needed to reliably assess the causal effects of the mobility restriction. The purpose of this study was to quantify the causal effects of human mobility restriction on the spread of COVID-19.

Trading quality for quantity? Evidence from patient level data in China.

In China, overcrowding at hospitals increases the workload of medical staff, which may negatively impact the quality of medical services. This study empirically examined the impact of hospital admissions on the quality of healthcare services in Chinese hospitals. Specifically, we estimated the impact of the number of hospital admissions per day on a patient's length of stay (LOS) and hospital mortality rate using both ordinary least squares (OLS) and instrumental variable (IV) methods.

Deregulation and pricing of medical services: a policy experiment based in China.

Background: Price regulation is a common constraint in Chinese hospitals. Based on a policy experiment conducted in China on the price deregulation of private nonprofit hospitals, this study empirically examines the impact of medical service price regulation on the pricing of medical services by hospitals.

Methods: Using the claim data of insured inpatients residing in a major Chinese city for the period 2010-2015, this study constructs a DID (difference-in-differences) model to compare the impact of price deregulation on medical expenditure and expenditure structure between public and private nonprofit hospitals.

Effect of Bushen Huoxue Prescription on Cognitive Dysfunction of KK-Ay Type 2 Diabetic Mice.

Diabetic cognitive impairment is one of the common complications of type 2 diabetes, which can cause neurological and microvascular damage in the brain. Bushen Huoxue prescription (BSHX), a compound Chinese medicine, has been used clinically to treat diabetes-induced cognitive impairment. However, its underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

Gender differences in health insurance coverage in China.

Background: China initiated a reform of the health insurance system in the late 1990s. The new insurance, Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI), is employment-based, which makes it more difficult than it used to be for those unemployed or informal employed (most of whom are women) to be covered by health insurance.

Methods: Based on three large sample of micro datasets, we first use statistical methods to identify gender differences in health insurance.

SNX17 Recruits USP9X to Antagonize MIB1-Mediated Ubiquitination and Degradation of PCM1 during Serum-Starvation-Induced Ciliogenesis.

Centriolar satellites are non-membrane cytoplasmic granules that deliver proteins to centrosome during centrosome biogenesis and ciliogenesis. Centriolar satellites are highly dynamic during cell cycle or ciliogenesis and how they are regulated remains largely unknown. We report here that sorting nexin 17 (SNX17) regulates the homeostasis of a subset of centriolar satellite proteins including PCM1, CEP131, and OFD1 during serum-starvation-induced ciliogenesis.

Vitamin C-dependent lysine demethylase 6 (KDM6)-mediated demethylation promotes a chromatin state that supports the endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs)/progenitor cells (HPCs) are generated from hemogenic endothelial cells (HECs) during the endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition (EHT); however, the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, using an array of approaches, including CRSPR/Cas9 gene knockouts, RNA-Seq, ChIP-Seq, ATAC-Seq etc., we report that vitamin C (Vc) is essential in HPC generation during human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) differentiation in defined culture conditions.

Icariin Inhibits AGE-Induced Injury in PC12 Cells by Directly Targeting Apoptosis Regulator Bax.

Diabetic encephalopathy (DE) is a serious complication caused by long-term cognitive impairment in diabetic patients. At present, there is no effective treatment for DE. Icariin (ICA) is a bioactive ingredient isolated from .

Protective Effects of Kaempferol on D-Ribose-Induced Mesangial Cell Injury.

Recently, it has been found that the level of urinary D-ribose in type 2 diabetes is notably higher than that in age-matched normal control, and D-ribose is more reactive in the glycation than D-glucose and induces oxidative stress. Kaempferol is one of the main bioactive components in , with numerous physiological actives, such as antioxidant. The present study investigated the protective effects of kaempferol on D-ribose-treated mesangial cells.

Deficiency in class III PI3-kinase confers postnatal lethality with IBD-like features in zebrafish.

The class III PI3-kinase (PIK3C3) is an enzyme responsible for the generation of phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI3P), a critical component of vesicular membrane. Here, we report that PIK3C3 deficiency in zebrafish results in intestinal injury and inflammation. In pik3c3 mutants, gut tube forms but fails to be maintained.