The Effects of Near-Infrared Phototherapy Preirradiation on Lower-Limb Muscle Strength and Injury After Exercise: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To assess near-infrared preirradiation effects on postexercise lower-limb muscle damage and function and determine optimal dosage. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, EBSCO, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Data were systematically searched (2009-2023). STUDY SELECTION: Randomized controlled trials of near-infrared preirradiation on lower-limb muscles after fatigue exercise were incorporated into the meta-analysis. Out of 4550 articles screened, 21 met inclusion criteria. DATA EXTRACTION: The included studies' characteristics were independently extracted by 2 authors, with discrepancies resolved through discussion or by a third author. Quality assessment was performed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation System. DATA SYNTHESIS: In 21 studies, near-infrared preirradiation on lower-limb muscles inhibited the decline in peak torque (standardized mean difference [SMD], 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-1.59; p<.001; increasing 27.97±4.87N·m), reduced blood lactate (SMD, -0.2; 95% CI, -0.37 to -0.03; p=.272; decreasing 0.54±0.42mmol/L), decreased creatine kinase (SMD, -2.11; 95% CI, -2.57 to -1.65; p<.001; decreasing 160.07±27.96U/L), and reduced delayed-onset muscle soreness (SMD, -0.53; 95% CI, -0.81 to 0.24; p<.001). Using a 24-hour cutoff revealed 2 trends: treatment effectiveness depended on power and energy density, with optimal effects at 24.16 J/cm2 and 275 J/cm2 for energy, and 36.81 mW/cm2 and 5495 mW/cm2 for power. Noting that out of 21 studies, 19 are from Brazil, 1 from the United States, and 1 from Australia, and the results exhibit high heterogeneity. CONCLUSIONS: Although we would have preferred a more geographic dispersion of laboratories, our findings indicate that near-infrared preirradiation mitigates peak torque decline in lower-limb muscles. Influenced by energy and power density with a 24-hour threshold, optimal energy and power densities are observed at 24.16 J/cm2, 275 J/cm2, 36.81 mW/cm2, and 5495 mW/cm2, respectively. Laser preirradiation also reduces blood lactate, creatine kinase, and delayed-onset muscle soreness.

How to Identify e-Cigarette Brands Available in the United States During 2020-2022: Development and Usability Study.

BACKGROUND: Prior studies have demonstrated that the e-cigarette market contains a large number of brands. Identifying these existing e-cigarette brands is a key element of market surveillance, which will further assist in policy making and compliance checks. OBJECTIVE: To facilitate the surveillance of the diverse product landscape in the e-cigarette market, we constructed a semantic database of e-cigarette brands that have appeared in the US market as of 2020-2022. METHODS: In order to build the brand database, we searched and compiled e-cigarette brands from a comprehensive list of retail channels and sources, including (1) e-liquid and disposable brands sold in web-based stores, (2) e-cigarette brands sold in brick-and-mortar stores and collected by the Nielsen Retail Scanner Data, (3) e-cigarette brands compiled by Wikipedia, (4) self-reported e-cigarette brands from the 2020 International Tobacco Control Four-Country Smoking and Vaping (ITC 4CV) US survey, and (5) e-cigarette brands on Twitter. We also estimated the top 5 e-cigarette brands by sales volume in brick-and-mortar stores, by the frequency and variety of offerings in web-based shops, and by the frequency of self-reported brands from the 2020 ITC 4CV US survey. RESULTS: As of 2020-2022, a total of 912 e-cigarette brands have been sold by various retail channels. During 2020-2022, the top 5 brands are JUUL, vuse, njoy, blu, and logic in brick-and-mortar stores; blu, king, monster, twist, and air factory for e-liquids in web-based stores; hyde, pod mesh, suorin, vaporlax, and xtra for disposables sold in web-based stores; and smok, aspire, vaporesso, innokin, and eleaf based on self-reported survey data. CONCLUSIONS: As the US Food and Drug Administration enforces the premarket tobacco market authorization, many e-cigarette brands may become illegal in the US market. In this context, how e-cigarette brands evolve and consolidate in different retail channels will be critical for understanding the regulatory impacts on product availability. Our semantic database of e-cigarette brands can serve as a useful tool to monitor product and marketplace development, conduct compliance checks, assess manufacturers' marketing behaviors, and identify regulatory impacts.

Widespread distribution of human-infective Enterocytozoon bieneusi genotypes in small rodents in northeast China and phylogeny and zoonotic implications revisited.

Enterocytozoon bieneusi features high genetic diversity among host species and environmental sources and over 500 genotypes in 11 phylogenetic groups have been defined. Here we investigated 291 small rodents in Heilongjiang province, northeast China, for the presence of E. bieneusi by PCR of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS). Nine of 60 (15.0 %) gray squirrels from a park in Harbin, 120 of 201 (59.7 %) guinea pigs from a pet shop in Harbin, and two of 30 (6.7 %) peridomestic rats from a pasture in Qiqihar were positive for the parasite. Six known genotypes (EbpB, SCC-1, SCC-2, D, S7 and HLJ-CP1) and two novel genotypes (NESQ1 and NEGP1) were identified by sequence analysis of the ITS, with EbpB, SCC-1, SCC-2 and NESQ1 found in squirrels, D, S7 and NEGP1 in guinea pigs, and EbpB and HLJ-CP1 in rats. Widespread distribution of human-infective Group 10 genotype S7 and Group 1 genotype D in guinea pigs raised our concerns about the importance of pet animals as zoonotic reservoirs of microsporidiosis. Co-occurrence of Group 1 genotypes D and HLJ-CP1 in cancer patients and rodents in Heilongjiang indicated a possibility of zoonotic transmission. The host range of Group 1 genotype EbpB previously considered pig-adapted was extended. A potential variant of genotype S7, namely NESQ1, went into the existing Group 10 in phylogenetic analysis. The other new genotype, NEGP1, was clustered in an undefined clade we proposed as Group 15. With the emerging epidemiologic evidence, the host specificity of existing E. bieneusi genotypes is now being challenged.

Use of Machine Learning Tools in Evidence Synthesis of Tobacco Use Among Sexual and Gender Diverse Populations: Algorithm Development and Validation.

BACKGROUND: From 2016 to 2021, the volume of peer-reviewed publications related to tobacco has experienced a significant increase. This presents a considerable challenge in efficiently summarizing, synthesizing, and disseminating research findings, especially when it comes to addressing specific target populations, such as the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, Two Spirit, and other persons who identify as part of this community) populations. OBJECTIVE: In order to expedite evidence synthesis and research gap discoveries, this pilot study has the following three aims: (1) to compile a specialized semantic database for tobacco policy research to extract information from journal article abstracts, (2) to develop natural language processing (NLP) algorithms that comprehend the literature on nicotine and tobacco product use among sexual and gender diverse populations, and (3) to compare the discoveries of the NLP algorithms with an ongoing systematic review of tobacco policy research among LGBTQ+ populations. METHODS: We built a tobacco research domain-specific semantic database using data from 2993 paper abstracts from 4 leading tobacco-specific journals, with enrichment from other publicly available sources. We then trained an NLP model to extract named entities after learning patterns and relationships between words and their context in text, which further enriched the semantic database. Using this iterative process, we extracted and assessed studies relevant to LGBTQ+ tobacco control issues, further comparing our findings with an ongoing systematic review that also focuses on evidence synthesis for this demographic group. RESULTS: In total, 33 studies were identified as relevant to sexual and gender diverse individuals' nicotine and tobacco product use. Consistent with the ongoing systematic review, the NLP results showed that there is a scarcity of studies assessing policy impact on this demographic using causal inference methods. In addition, the literature is dominated by US data. We found that the product drawing the most attention in the body of existing research is cigarettes or cigarette smoking and that the number of studies of various age groups is almost evenly distributed between youth or young adults and adults, consistent with the research needs identified by the US health agencies. CONCLUSIONS: Our pilot study serves as a compelling demonstration of the capabilities of NLP tools in expediting the processes of evidence synthesis and the identification of research gaps. While future research is needed to statistically test the NLP tool's performance, there is potential for NLP tools to fundamentally transform the approach to evidence synthesis.

The associations between e-liquid characteristics and its pricing: Evidence from online vape shops.

Given the increase in electronic cigarette use during the past decade, the objectives of this study are to obtain comprehensive product-level information from online vape shops, which are one of the most common outlets for e-cigarette users to purchase vaping products, especially e-liquid products, and to examine the appeal of various e-liquid product attributes to consumers. We used web scraping and estimation of generalized estimating equation (GEE) models to obtain and analyze data from five popular online vape shops that sell nationwide across the US. The outcome measures are e-liquid pricing for the following e-liquid product attributes: nicotine concentration (in mg/ml), nicotine form (nicotine-free, freebase, or salt), vegetable glycerin/propylene glycol (VG/PG) ratio, and a variety of flavors. We find that the pricing for freebase nicotine and nicotine salt products are 1% (p<0.001) lower and 12% higher (p<0.001), respectively, than that for products that do not contain nicotine. For nicotine salt-based e-liquid products specifically, the pricing for a 50/50 VG/PG ratio is 10% (p<0.001) higher than the pricing for a more common 70/30 VG/PG ratio, and the pricing for fruity flavors is 2% (p<0.05) higher than that for tobacco/unflavored products. Regulating the nicotine form in all e-liquid products and fruity flavor in nicotine salt-based products will have a great impact on the market and consumers. The preference for VG/PG ratio varies by product nicotine form. More evidence on typical user patterns of a certain nicotine form (i.e., freebase or salt nicotine) is needed to assess the public health consequences of these regulations.

Effect of low-dose lanthanum carbonate on calcium and phosphorus metabolism in Asian Patients with end-stage renal disease, maintenance hemodialysis and hyperphosphatemia.

Objective: This study aimed to examine whether a 12-week small-dose lanthanum carbonate (LaCO3; 500 mg/d) treatment could improve calcium and phosphorus metabolism and parathyroid function in Asian patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) under hemodialysis. Methods: This was a prospective observational study of patients treated at our Hospital between 10/2014 and 02/2015. The patients were given 500 mg/d of LaCO3 with lunch for 12 weeks. Results: Baseline and after 12-week treatment serum phosphorus levels were 2.49±0.51 mmol/L and 1.65±0.34 mmol/L (P<0.001). The baseline and after 12-week treatment calcium×phosphorus product were 69.40±17.34 mg2/dL2 and 44.27±9.67 mg2/dL2 (P<0.001). There was no significant difference in serum calcium and iPTH levels from baseline to after 12 weeks treatment (both P>0.05). Fourteen (25.9%) patients developed gastrointestinal adverse reactions to LaCO3 and 10 patients improved after treatment. Conclusion: Far below the 1.5-3.0g/d required by the drug instructions, LaCO3 500 mg/d for 12 weeks can still reduce serum phosphorus level and calcium × phosphorus product, without serum calcium and iPTH levels increase.

Price Promotions of E-Liquid Products Sold in Online Stores.

BACKGROUND: Retailer price promotions are an important marketing strategy to attract consumers. However, there is scarce evidence on how retail price promotions are being implemented by e-cigarette online stores, particularly for e-liquid products that are not often found in brick-and-mortar stores and sold in lower prices compared to other types of e-cigarettes. OBJECTIVES: We collect data on e-liquid price-promotion activities from online stores using web scraping. From February to May 2021, we scraped the price promotion data of over 14,000 e-liquid products, from five popular online vape shops that sell nationwide in the US. We present descriptive analyses of price promotion on those products, assess price promotion practices in online stores, and discuss components of the final purchase price paid by online customers. FINDINGS: Of the 14,000 e-liquid products and over, 13,326 (92.36%) were on sale, and each online store on average offered discounts from 9.20% to 47.53% for these products. The distribution of the after-discount price was largely similar across the five stores, and there is evidence that each store had adopted different price-promotion strategies. CONCLUSION: Despite low prices, price promotions are common for e-liquid products, which may undermine the effect of e-cigarette pricing policies such as excise tax that are designed to raise e-cigarette prices.

Excise taxes and pricing activities of e-liquid products sold in online vape shops.

BACKGROUND: Although e-cigarette excise taxes have great potential to prevent the initiation and escalation of e-cigarette use, little information is available on pricing activities of online vape shops, and how well taxation is implemented during web-based sales remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: We examine e-liquid pricing activities in popular online vape shops that sell nationwide in the USA and present how those stores charge excise taxes based on shipping addresses in states and local jurisdictions that have e-cigarette taxation in place. METHODS: We collect e-liquid sales prices from five online vape shops using web data extraction, standardise prices for e-liquid products, and present e-liquid price distribution in the whole sample and in each store, as well as variations of excise taxes across states/local jurisdictions and between stores. The price data were scraped from the store websites from February to May in 2021. RESULTS: We collected data on 14 477 e-liquid products from five stores. The average price of e-liquids is $0.25/mL, and the median price is $0.20/mL in our sample. E-liquid products sold online are very affordable and the average prices are lower compared with price estimates using other sources (eg, self-reports, sales data). In addition, online stores charge state excise taxes inconsistently and fail to comply with county-level or city-level excise taxes. CONCLUSION: E-liquid products sold online are priced low, and stricter enforcement of e-cigarette excise tax is needed in online purchasing channels.

[Real-time Source Apportionment of PM2.5 and Potential Geographic Origins of Each Source During Winter in Wuhan].

China has always suffered from serious atmospheric fine particle (PM2.5) pollution in winter, and PM2.5 in Wuhan is particularly affected by regional transportation. Based on the hourly monitoring dataset of chemical components during the winter period, this study identified the real-time sources of PM2.5 in Wuhan using a positive matrix factorization (PMF) model. A cluster analysis of backward trajectories and the concentration weighted trajectory were applied to obtain the potential source regions and transportation routes. During the observation period, ρ(PM2.5) was (75.1±29.2) µg·m-3, and there were two pollution episodes, one of which was mainly affected by the air masses coming from the northwest direction. In the first pollution episode, the increasing concentration of water-soluble ions was the main reason for the high PM2.5 value, and the concentrations of NH4+, NO3-, and SO42- were 1.6, 1.7, and 2.1 times those during the cleaning period, respectively. The other episode was affected by the air masses coming from the east direction, and the secondary organic components were clearly formed. Secondary inorganic aerosol contributed the most (34.1%) to PM2.5, followed by vehicular exhaust (23.7%), coal combustion (11.5%), road dust (10.9%), iron- and steel-producing processes (8.7%), and firework displays (5.7%). Biomass burning contributed the least (5.3%). Our examination of the diurnal variation revealed that the maximum contribution of iron- and steel-producing processes appeared at 08:00[(17.5±18.8) µg·m-3], and the lowest was at 01:00[(10.4±10.9) µg·m-3], which stayed high in the daytime and low at night. The contribution of vehicular exhaust showed a double peak at 09:00[(42.1±24.8) µg·m-3] and 20:00[(41.6±19.5) µg·m-3]. In the first pollution period, the contribution rate of secondary inorganic aerosol increased significantly, indicating that the long-distance transport under the northwest air mass promoted the generation of secondary components. In the second pollution period, the contribution rates of vehicular exhaust, coal combustion, iron- and steel-producing processes, and road dust increased, mainly located in the local area, the northwest of Jiangxi and the south of Anhui province. This reflected the influence of industrial processes, road transportation, and dust contribution along the Yangtze River on PM2.5. Biomass burning had a relatively high contribution for air masses from the northern regions, including Henan, Anhui, the south of Hebei, and the southwest of Shanxi provinces. The regional transport of pollutants from biomass combustion in the North China Plain during the winter would have an impact on Wuhan. This study can provide scientific and technological support for identifying the causes of atmospheric haze pollution in Wuhan during the winter and for the joint prevention and control of atmospheric particulate matter.

Changes in the Intestinal Microbiota in Patients with Stage 5 Chronic Kidney Disease on a Low-Protein Diet and the Effects of Human to Rat Fecal Microbiota Transplantation.

BACKGROUND Dietary protein restriction is recommended for patients with stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD), or end-stage renal disease (ESRD). This study aimed to investigate the changes in the intestinal microbiota due to different dietary regimens in patients with stage 5 CKD and the effects of human to rat fecal microbiota transplantation. MATERIAL AND METHODS Second-generation high-throughput sequencing was used to analyze the amplifiers in the 16S rRNA V4 region in the intestinal microbiota of patients with stage 5 CKD and healthy individuals. The intestinal microbiota of patients with stage 5 CKD in the low-protein group and the healthy individual group was transferred by human to rat fecal microbiota transplantation using Sprague-Dawley rats. Data underwent meta-analysis using Meta-Stat. RESULTS Patients with CKD on a very low-protein diet showed an increase in intestinal Escherichia, Shigella, and Klebsiella, a decrease in Blautia, heat map analysis showed that Christensenellaceae R-7 group rs1 were significantly increased, and MetaStat analysis showed that Bacteroides, Prevotella, and Mitsuokella were significantly increased. Following human to rat fecal microbiota transplantation from patients with stage 5 CKD, the profile of the rat intestinal microbiota became similar to the human donors. The weight of the rats fed a very low-protein diet after fecal microbiota transplantation significantly decreased after six weeks compared with normal rats and rats that received normal fecal microbiota transplantation. CONCLUSIONS Patients with stage 5 CKD on a very low-protein diet showed changes in the intestinal microbiota that could be transferred from humans to rats by fecal microbiota transplantation.