Gender disparities in health and well-being among older adults in China.

Based on data from the 2008-2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, this study uses multiple regression models to investigate the gender disparities in health and well-being among older adults in China. Women are found to have severe disadvantages in health, reflected in more chronic diseases, higher disability levels, lower physical and cognitive functions than men. Although older Chinese females are more likely to have good life satisfaction than their male counterparts, they are experiencing significantly higher negative affect than males. These results are further verified robust, providing practical policy implications of improving gender equalities in older adults.

Gender Disparities in Healthy Aging: A Cross-National Comparative Study in the United States and South Korea from 2006 to 2016.

Using the 2006-2016 wave of Health and Retirement Study and Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, this study explores the gender disparities in the health of older adults in the United States and South Korea. A logit model is adopted to explore the differences in the likelihood of aging healthily by gender in two countries. Results indicate that older females in the United States have a significantly higher probability of healthy aging than their male counterparts. However, the opposite finding is demonstrated among the older population in South Korea. These results are verified using various robustness check methods. The heterogeneities in the gender disparities in healthy aging across age groups and income levels are further explored. The gender effect in each healthy aging domain is investigated to understand the underlying causes of gender disparities. These findings can provide cross-national insights for policymakers to establish targeted aging policies with a gender perspective.

Does Stimulus Check Payment Improve People's Mental Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence from U.S. Household Pulse Survey.

BACKGROUND: As the COVID-19 pandemic quickly spread worldwide, mental health deterioration was found to be closely associated with not only the contagious disease itself but also the financial struggles caused by job or income loss during this difficult time. OBJECTIVE: This study investigates how stimulus check payments are associated with the probable anxiety and depression faced by U.S. individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Using data from Phase 3.1 of the Household Pulse Survey between April 14 and July 5, 2021, this research applies a probit model to estimate the marginal effects of stimulus check payments on people's mental health in the United States during the pandemic period. After checking the robustness of the main results, this study explores the heterogeneities in the association between stimulus payments and mental health by gender, race, income, and work status. We further evaluated how the spending of stimulus checks affected people's mental health in terms of probable anxiety and depression. RESULTS: This analysis finds a significantly positive association between mental health and stimulus check availability. For people who have received stimulus checks, the likelihood of probable anxiety and depression is significantly lower than those who have not. Furthermore, a COVID-19 stimulus payment has a more significant positive impact among males, white people, and those who have low income or lost jobs. Regarding the spending of stimulus payments, we found that paying off debt could significantly reduce the possibility of respondents having probable anxiety and depression. DISCUSSION: These results can provide important insights into understanding the effectiveness of stimulus payments initiated during the health and economic crisis. The study focuses on the one-time stimulus checks, which are not the only income compensation programs for individuals who have experienced income or job loss during the pandemic. We suggested future studies could include sustainable social welfare programs to analyze their effects on mental health during and after the crisis. POLICY IMPLICATIONS: The findings justify the necessity of implementing stimulus programs, particularly for financially vulnerable groups who have urgent debt, low income, or job loss. Policymakers should carefully identify populations in urgent need during a crisis, aiming to efficiently implement direct payment programs.

Does the provision of informal care matter for caregivers' mental health? Evidence from China.

This paper investigates the causal effect of informal care on the mental health of caregivers and disentangles the mechanisms of such effect. Using 2011-2018 CHARLS data, the fixed effects and instrumental variable approaches was conducted to address fundamental endogeneity problems. This study found that there was no impact of informal caregiving on caregivers' mental health in general. However, the intensity of caregiving was shown to negatively impair mental health. The impact of informal caregiving varied by kinship, cultural context, and residential area. Participation in social and exercise activities and life satisfaction mediated the association between the provision of informal care and caregivers' mental health. Long-term care insurance and the provision of formal care substantially modified the negative impacts of informal caregiving.

Contribution of aquatic products consumption to total human exposure to PAHs in Eastern China: The source matters.

Demand for aquatic products surges, due to the increasing concerns on high-quality nutrition and food security. Eastern China is the leading area in contributing significantly to both production and consumption of aquatic products from inland aquaculture, coastal fishing, and distant-water fishing. It is imperative to comprehensively assess the dietary risks of common chemical hazards, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in aquatic products of these supply origins, and the contribution of aquatic product consumption to total human exposure. The observed body loads of total PAHs in the coastal aquatic products varied significantly, indicating an unstable food quality from the east coast of China. In the meantime, benzo[a]pyrene equivalent concentrations (BaPeq) exhibited the highest level in the aquatic products from inland farm ponds. High BaPeq, along with high consumption of inland aquaculture products, led to higher corresponding cumulative carcinogenic risks (ILCRs) than the other two kinds of products, which further indicate that the origins and consumption rates of the aquatic products do matter. Furthermore, it is confirmed that the consumption of aquatic products is an important contributor to the total daily exposure to PAHs, especially for children and pregnant women. Finally, it is necessary to apply practical remediation in aquaculture farm ponds to provide high-quality products, especially for the population groups of children and pregnant women, and alleviate the exposure and risk due to the PAHs in aquatic products.

The Double-Burden Effect: Does the Combination of Informal Care and Work Cause Adverse Health Outcomes Among Females in China?

Objective: This study investigates the impact of informal care and work stress on women's health and further disentangles this effect through intensity and channel analysis. Method: This research uses the 2000-2015 China Health and Nutrition Survey and employs the propensity score matching model with fixed effects. Results: The care and work burden significantly increases the probability of women suffering from chronic diseases, being underweight or overweight, and self-reporting poor health by 0.63%, 1.69%, and 2.35%, respectively. This double-burden effect is exacerbated as the care and work hours increase. Women who care for more than 20 hr and work for more than 50 hr per week experience the most serious health decline. We further find that the double burden leads to health deterioration through channels of reduced exercise and increased psychological stress. Discussion: This study provides a reliable decision-making basis for policy makers to formulate strategies for informal caregivers in China.

Vitamin D Deficiency Aggravates Hepatic Oxidative Stress and Inflammation during Chronic Alcohol-Induced Liver Injury in Mice.

Vitamin D deficiency has been reported in alcoholics. This study is aimed at evaluating the effects of vitamin D deficiency on chronic alcohol-induced liver injury in mice. Mice were fed with modified Lieber-DeCarli liquid diets for 6 weeks to establish an animal model of chronic alcohol-induced liver injury. In the VDD+EtOH group, mice were fed with modified diets, in which vitamin D was depleted. Vitamin D deficiency aggravated alcohol-induced liver injury. Furthermore, vitamin D deficiency aggravated hepatocyte apoptosis during alcohol-induced liver injury. Although it has a little effect on hepatic TG content, vitamin D deficiency promoted alcohol-induced hepatic GSH depletion and lipid peroxidation. Further analysis showed that vitamin D deficiency further increased alcohol-induced upregulation of hepatic inducible nitric oxide synthase (inos), two NADPH oxidase subunits p47phox and gp91phox, and heme oxygenase- (HO-) 1. By contrast, vitamin D deficiency attenuated alcohol-induced upregulation of hepatic antioxidant enzyme genes, such as superoxide dismutase (sod) 1 and gshpx. In addition, vitamin D deficiency significantly elevated alcohol-induced upregulation of hepatic proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Taken together, these results suggest that vitamin D deficiency aggravates hepatic oxidative stress and inflammation during chronic alcohol-induced liver injury.

The hidden cost of informal care: An empirical study on female caregivers' subjective well-being.

Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), this study investigated the impact of informal care on female caregivers' subjective well-being in China. We found that informal care significantly reduced the subjective well-being of female caregivers using the instrumental variable (IV) ordered probit model. Our results revealed that the care effect on subjective well-being was more significant for rural caregivers than for urban caregivers. The more hours or more recipients care was provided for, the greater the negative impact on subjective well-being. Based on these findings, we further identified the two channels of 'wealth' and 'health' through which informal care lowered subjective well-being. These results have implications for policy makers in overcoming the challenges involved in constructing and developing a supportive system of informal care in China.

[Effect of induced occlusal disorders and removed occlusal disorders on the expression of bone morphogenetic protein-2 of condylar cartilage in rats].

OBJECTIVE: This article was to study the effect of induced occlusal disorders and removed occlusal disorders on the expression of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) of condylar cartilage. METHODS: Young and adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided respectively into induced occlusal disorders group, removed occlusal disorders group and control group, 3 rats every group. For induced occlusal disorders rats, the elastic rubbers were inserted between the first and second molar in the left upper side and right lower side to form the disordered occlusion. They were killed under anaesthesia 8 weeks after the treatment. For removed occlusal disorders rats, the first molars that caused disordered occlusion were extracted 6 weeks after forming disordered occlusion. 2 weeks later, they were killed under anaesthesia. For normal rats, they were killed at the same time with experimental rats. Hibateral temporomandibular joints of each rat were removed and stained with HE and monoclone antibody of BMP-2. The thickness of condylar cartilage was measured. The expression of BMP-2 in condylar cartilage was detected by half-quantity immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: For adult induced occlusal disorders group, the thickness of cartilage in intermediate part of condyle decreased. However, it increased in the posterior part. After removing occlusal disorders, the thickness of posterior condylar cartilage returned to normal level. But it was still thinner than control group in the intermediate part. The expression of BMP-2 in anterior, intermediate, posterior part of condylar cartilage of young induced occlusal disorders group was higher than that of young removed occlusal disorders group expression of BMP-2 showed induced occlusal disorders group was higher than removed occlusal disorders group, which was higher than control group. and control group. No difference of the expression of BMP-2 was found in young removed occlusal disorders group and control group. For the expression of BMP-2 in intermediate part of condylar cartilage, both adult induced and removed occlusal disorders groups were higher than adult control group. For the posterior part of adult condyle cartilage, the expression of BMP-2 showed induced occlusal disorders group was higher than removed occlusal disorders group, which was higher than control group. CONCLUSION: Induced occlusal disorders can lead higher expression of BMP-2 in condylar cartilage of young and adult rats. Adaptability of condylar cartilage of adult rats is weaker than young rats, especially the intermediate part.

[Effect of gradually induced occlusal disorders on the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor of condylar cartilage in rat].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of gradually induced occlusal disorders on the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) of condylar cartilage in rat. METHODS: The model of gradually induced occlusal disorders was established in rat. The expression of bFGF was examined by SABC technique of immunohistochemistry. The expression of bFGF was analyzed by amount of positive cells. RESULTS: bFGF was expressed positively in the proliferative cell layer, maturative layer and hypertrophical cell layer in the rat mandibular condyle cartilage. In control group, expression of bFGF increased from 2-week-old to 6-week-old, then it had a decrease during experiment. Compared with the control group, bFGF of experiment group was increasing at 2 week, 6 week and 8 week during experiment. But there was decreaseing at 4 week. There was no difference between young experiment group and the adult experiment group. CONCLUSION: The gradually induced occlusal disorders may lead to significant increase of expressiong of bFGF in condyle cartilage, which suggests that the bFGF may be involve in the procedure of repairing process of articular cartilage.

[Effect of gradually induced occlusal disorders on the expression of FGFR1 of the condylar cartilage in rats].

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of gradually induced occlusal disorders on the expression of FGFR1 in rat condylar cartilage. METHODS: A model of gradually induced occlusal disorders in rat was established.The expression of FGFR1 was detected by SABC immunocytochemistry and analyzed by density of positive cells in condylar cartilage. The data were analyzed using SPSS 11.0 software package. RESULTS: FGFR1-positive chondrocytes were abundant in the maturative layer and hypertrophic layer, but only few FGFR1-positive chondrocytes were found in the proliferative layer. In the control group, the expression of FGFR1 increased from 6-week-old to 10-week-old rats, and then decreased and went stable. In both young and adult group, the expression of FGFR1 in the experimental group was significantly lower at 4, 6 weeks and higher at 8 weeks than that in the control group, especially in the young group(P<0.05). But no difference was found between the experimental group and the control group at 2 weeks in both groups. CONCLUSION: FGFR1 may play an important role in the remodling of condylar cartilage induced by occlusal disorders.