The study aims were to present in vitro susceptibilities of clinical isolates from Gram-negative bacteria bloodstream infections (GNBSI) collected in China. GNBSI isolates were collected from 18 tertiary hospitals in 7 regions of China from 2018 to 2020. Minimum inhibitory concentrations were assessed using a Trek Diagnostic System. Susceptibility was determined using CLSI broth microdilution, and breakpoints were interpreted using CLSI M100 (2021). A total of 1,815 GNBSI strains were collected, with E. coli (42.4%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (28.6%) being the most prevalent species, followed by P. aeruginosa (6.7%). Susceptibility analyses revealed low susceptibilities (<40%) of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumonia to third-/fourth-generation cephalosporins, monobactamases, and fluoroquinolones. High susceptibilities to colistin (95.0%) and amikacin (81.3%) were found for K. pneumoniae, while Acinetobacter baumannii exhibited a high susceptibility (99.2%) to colistin but a low susceptibility to other antimicrobials (<27.5%). Isolates from ICUs displayed lower drug susceptibility rates of K. pneumoniae and A. baumannii than isolates from non-ICUs (all P < 0.05). Carbapenem-resistant and ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae detection was different across regions (both P < 0.05). E. coli and K. pneumoniae were major contributors to GNBSI, while A. baumannii exhibited severe drug resistance in isolates obtained from ICU departments.

This study proposes two novel time-varying model-averaging methods for time-varying parameter regression models. When the number of predictors is small, we propose a novel time-varying complete subset-averaging (TVCSA) procedure, where the optimal time-varying subset size is obtained by minimizing the local leave-h-out cross-validation criterion. The TVCSA method is asymptotically optimal for achieving the lowest possible local mean squared error. When the number of predictors is relatively large, we propose a factor TVCSA method to reduce the computational burden by first reducing the dimension of predictors by extracting a few factors using principal component analysis and then obtaining the TVCSA forecasts from time-varying models with the generated factors. We show that the TVCSA estimator remains asymptotically optimal in the presence of generated factors. Monte Carlo simulation studies have provided favorable evidence for the TVCSA methods relative to the popular model-averaging methods in the literature. Empirical applications to equity premiums and inflation forecasting highlight the practical merits of the proposed methods.

This paper is the first to use the WeChat platform, one of the largest social networks, to conduct an online experiment of artificial investment games. We investigate how people’s forecasts about the financial market and investment decisions are shaped by whether they can observe others’ forecasts and whether they engage in public or private investment decisions. We find that with forecast sharing, subjects’ forecasts converge but in different directions across groups; consequently, forecast sharing does not lead to better forecasts nor more individually rational investment decisions. Whether or not subjects engage in public investment decisions does not significantly affect forecasts or investment.

The ubiquitous marine radiocarbon reservoir effect (MRE) constrains the construction of reliable chronologies for marine sediments and the further comparison of paleoclimate records. Different reference values were suggested from various archives. However, it remains unclear how climate and MREs interact. Here we studied two pre-bomb corals from the Hainan Island and Xisha Island in the northern South China Sea (SCS), to examine the relationship between MRE and regional climate change. We find that the MRE from east of Hainan Island is mainly modulated by the Southern Asian Summer Monsoon-induced precipitation (with 11.4% contributed to seawater), rather than wind induced upwelling. In contrast, in the relatively open seawater of Xisha Island, the MRE is dominated by the East Asian Winter Monsoon, with relatively more negative (lower) ΔR values associated with high wind speeds, implying horizontal transport of seawater. The average SCS ΔR value relative to the Marine20 curve is –161±39 14C years. Our finding highlights the essential role of monsoon in regulating the MRE in the northern SCS, in particularly the tight bond between east Asian winter monsoon and regional MRE.

Local influence analysis is an important statistical method for studying the sensitivity of a proposed model to model inputs. One of its important issues is related to the appropriate choice of a perturbation vector. In this paper, we develop a general method to select an appropriate perturbation vector and a second-order local influence measure to address this issue in the context of latent variable models. An application to nonlinear structural equation models is considered. Six perturbation schemes are investigated, including three schemes under which simultaneous perturbations are made on components of latent vectors to assess the influence of these components and pinpoint the influential ones. The proposed procedure is illustrated by artificial examples and a simulation study as well as a real example.

Natural infection by Trichinella sp. has been reported in humans and more than 150 species of animals, especially carnivorous and omnivorous mammals. Although the presence of Trichinella sp. infection in wild boars (Sus scrofa) has been documented worldwide, limited information is known about Trichinella circulation in farmed wild boars in China. This study intends to investigate the prevalence of Trichinella sp. in farmed wild boars in China. Seven hundred and sixty-one (761) muscle samples from farmed wild boars were collected in Jilin Province of China from 2017 to 2020. The diaphragm muscles were examined by artificial digestion method. The overall prevalence of Trichinella in farmed wild boars was 0.53% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.51–0.55]. The average parasite loading was 0.076 ± 0.025 larvae per gram (lpg), and the highest burden was 0.21 lpg in a wild boar from Fusong city. Trichinella spiralis was the only species identified by multiplex polymerase chain reaction. The 5S rDNA inter-genic spacer region of Trichinella was amplified and sequenced. The results showed that the obtained sequence (GenBank accession number: OQ725583) shared 100% identity with the T. spiralis HLJ isolate (GenBank accession number: MH289505). Since the consumption of farmed wild boars is expected to increase in the future, these findings highlight the significance of developing exclusive guidelines for the processing of slaughtered farmed wild boar meat in China.

Objectives: Depression is the second most prevalent mental illness among the elderly. Nonetheless, treatment- resistant depression (TRD) is prevalent among the elderly; one-third of elderly patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who received antidepressant treatment failed to achieve remission. Although there have been several studies regarding the associations between MDD and increased mortality and suicidal risk, studies between TRD and mortality/suicidal risk in the elderly still remains limited. In this national cohort study, we examined the association between TRD, non-TRD MDD, and non-depression with all-cause mortality, accident mortality, and suicide mortality.

Methods: For this retrospective longitudinal analysis on the entire population, the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, which comprises claims data from a lifetime insurance program and provided comprehensive medical inpatient and outpatient information categorized by ICD-9-CM and ICD-10. The National Mortality Registry offered information regarding mortality resulting from all causes, natural causes, suicide, and accidents. A cohort of ≥60-year-old patients, including both those with and without MDD, was observed between January 2003 and December 2017. Individuals were classified as TRD if they had undergone aminimum of two distinct antidepressant trials within the current episode’s two-year duration and dose, as documented in the prescribing records. Adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for mortality risk utilizing Cox regression models.

Results: Among those >60 years old, after adjusting with sex and comorbidities, TRD was associated with increased risk of suicide (aHR 7.4, 95% CI [5.6-9.8]; MDD without TRD 4.4 [4.1- 4.6], compared with non-MDD group). Simliar risk of accident mortality was observed among three groups (TRD aHR 1.3 [0.9-1.9]; MDD without TRD 0.9 [0.9-1.0], compared with non-MDD group). Surprisely, TRD might presented lower mortality risk of natural mortality than the non- MDD group (TRD aHR 0.8 [0.7-0.8]; MDD without TRD 0.9 [0.8-0.9], compared with non- MDD group).

Conclusions: The suicide mortality among elderly patients with TRD is higher in comparison to non-MDD patients; nevertheless, accident mortality does not appear to have increased and the natural mortality rate is reduced. The lower mortality may reflect patient selection, and the contributing factors need further evaluation.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of low-carbohydrate diet, balanced dietary guidance and pharmacotherapy on weight loss among individuals with overweight or obesity over a period of 3 months. The study involves 339 individuals with overweight or obesity and received weight loss treatment at the Department of Clinical Nutrition at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2023. The primary outcome is the percentage weight loss. Among the studied patients, the majority chose low-carbohydrate diet as their primary treatment (168 (49·56 %)), followed by balanced dietary guidance (139 (41·00 %)) and pharmacotherapy (32 (9·44 %)). The total percentage weight loss for patients who were followed up for 1 month, 2 months and 3 months was 4·98 (3·04, 6·29) %, 7·93 (5·42, 7·93) % and 10·71 (7·74, 13·83) %, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified low-carbohydrate diet as an independent factor associated with percentage weight loss of ≥ 3 % and ≥ 5 % at 1 month (OR = 0·461, P < 0·05; OR = 0·349, P < 0·001). The results showed that a low-carbohydrate diet was an effective weight loss strategy in the short term. However, its long-term effects were comparable to those observed with balanced dietary guidance and pharmacotherapy.

Studies on obesity and risk factors from a life-course perspective among residents in the Tibet Plateau with recent economic growth and increasing obesity are important and urgently needed. The birth cohort in this area provides a unique opportunity to examine the association between maternal dietary practice and neonatal obesity. The study aims to detect the prevalence of obesity among neonates, associated with maternal diet and other factors, supporting life-course strategies for obesity control. A cohort of pregnant women was enrolled in Tibet Plateau and followed till childbirth. Dietary practice during pregnancy was assessed using the Chinese FFQ – Tibet Plateau version, food items and other variables were associated with the risk for obesity of neonates followed by logistic regression, classification and regression trees (CART) and random forest. Of the total 1226 mother–neonate pairs, 40·5 % were Tibetan and 5·4 % of neonates with obesity. Consuming fruits as a protective factor for obesity of neonates with OR (95 % CI) = 0·61 (0·43, 0·87) from logistic regression; as well as OR = 0·20 (0·12, 0·35) for consuming fruits (≥ weekly) from CART. Removing fruit consumption to avoid overshadowing effects of other factors, the following were influential from CART: maternal education (more than middle school, OR = 0·22 (0·13, 0·37)) and consumption of Tibetan food (daily, OR = 3·44 (2·08, 5·69). Obesity among neonates is prevalent in the study population. Promoting healthy diets during pregnancy and strengthening maternal education should be part of the life-course strategies for obesity control.

We establish some inequalities that arise from truncating Lerch sums and derive uniform asymptotic formulae for the spt-crank of ordinary partitions. The uniform asymptotic formulae improve upon a result of Mao [‘Asymptotic formulas for spt-crank of partitions’, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 460(1) (2018), 121–139].