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"Ge Bai"
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Childhood starvation and elderly poverty in rural China: the mediating effect of human capital in adulthood
Background
Childhood malnutrition has well-documented long-term effects on well-being in later life. Understanding how childhood starvation contributes to deficits in adult human capital and elderly poverty is essential for informing life-course strategies to prevent malnutrition and reduce poverty in old age.
Methods
Data from the 2014 and 2018 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were used to examine elderly poverty in rural China, measured using the Alkire-Foster method. Logit regression models assessed the association between childhood starvation and elderly poverty, with propensity score matching used to address observable selection bias and E-values calculated to evaluate potential unmeasured confounding. Stepwise regression and causal mediation analysis were conducted to examine the mediating role of human capital in adulthood.
Results
Childhood starvation was positively associated with elderly poverty, and the association remained robust after propensity score matching and E-value analysis. Specifically, in subgroup analyses by gender and birth cohort, stronger associations were observed among men and individuals born in the 1920–1930s and 1940s, but not among those born in the 1950s. Human capital in adulthood accounted for 21.96% of the total effect, with education and health status accounting for 9.45% and 12.51%, respectively.
Conclusion
These findings highlight the need for a life-course-oriented approach to strengthening social support systems for individuals affected by childhood starvation and elderly poverty. Integrated life-course interventions—including early nutritional support, adult human capital development, and family-centered services—may mitigate both initial and cumulative disadvantages. Such efforts could help reduce vulnerability to poverty in old age and promote healthier aging trajectories.
Journal Article
Influence of large open-pit mines on the construction and optimization of urban ecological networks: A case study of Fushun City, China
Under the long-term effect of mineral resource exploitation, especially open-pit mining, ecosystems are severely disturbed. Constructing and optimizing urban ecological networks influenced by open-pit mines based on mine–city coordination helps integrate ecological restoration and the construction of urban ecological environments. We applied an InVEST model to Fushun City to evaluate urban ecosystem services under the influence of large open-pit mines. Twenty-one key patches important for maintaining landscape connectivity were screened as the ecological sources in the network, from which ecological resistance surfaces were constructed by combining the impacts of mines on the environment. Minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) and gravity models were then used to extract and classify ecological corridors favorable to species migration and diffusion. Fushun City had large spatial differences in ecosystem service functions, with high-value areas concentrated in the forest-rich Dongzhou District and the northern Shuncheng District. Under the influence of open-pit mining, the ecosystem service capacity of the region south of the Hunhe River was poor and lacked ecological sources. Urban ecological resistance surfaces reached a maximum in the open-pit mining area, and 210 ecological corridors were estimated using the MCR model, of which 46 were important. Only two corridors crossed the West and East open pit, forming two “ecological fracture surfaces.” The Dongzhou and eastern Shuncheng districts had complex network structures and stable ecological environments. In contrast, the central and southern parts of Fushun City lacked ecological corridors owing to the influence of mining pits and gangue mountains, had simple network structures, and low connectivities with other sources. Combined with Fushun City’s development plan, we propose that ecological network optimization should add new ecological source sites, reconstruct and repair ecological corridors, and upgrade ecological breakpoints. This study provides reference and basis for ecological network research in mining cities influenced by open-pit mines.
Journal Article
Screening, identification and evaluation of an acidophilic strain of Bacillus velezensis B4-7 for the biocontrol of tobacco bacterial wilt
Tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum L.) bacterial wilt, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum , is indeed a highly destructive plant disease, leading to substantial damage in tobacco production. While biological control is considered an effective measure for managing bacterial wilt, related research in this area has been relatively limited compared to other control methods. In order to discover new potential antagonistic bacteria with high biocontrol efficacy against tobacco bacterial wilt, we conducted an analysis of the microbial composition differences between disease-suppressive and disease-conducive soils using Illumina sequencing. As a result, we successfully isolated six strains from the disease-suppressive soil that exhibited antibacterial activity against Ralstonia solanacearum . Among these strains, B4-7 showed the strongest antibacterial activity, even at acidic conditions with a pH of 4.0. Based on genome analysis using Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI), B4-7 was identified as Bacillus velezensis . In greenhouse and field trials, strain B4-7 significantly reduced the disease index of tobacco bacterial wilt, with control efficiencies reaching 74.03% and 46.88% respectively. Additionally, B4-7 exhibited plant-promoting abilities that led to a 35.27% increase in tobacco production in field conditions. Quantitative real-time (qPCR) analysis demonstrated that strain B4-7 effectively reduced the abundance of R. solanacearum in the rhizosphere. Genome sequencing and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis revealed that strain B4-7 potentially produces various lipopeptide metabolites, such as microlactin, bacillaene, difficidin, bacilysin, and surfactin. Furthermore, B4-7 influenced the structure of the rhizosphere soil microbial community, increasing bacterial abundance and fungal diversity, while also promoting the growth of different beneficial microorganisms. In addition, B4-7 enhanced tobacco’s resistance to R. solanacearum by increasing the activities of defense enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO). Collectively, these findings suggest that B. velezensis B4-7 holds significant biocontrol potential and can be considered a promising candidate strain for eco-friendly management of tobacco bacterial wilt.
Journal Article
Flexible learning of quantum states with generative query neural networks
Deep neural networks are a powerful tool for characterizing quantum states. Existing networks are typically trained with experimental data gathered from the quantum state that needs to be characterized. But is it possible to train a neural network offline, on a different set of states? Here we introduce a network that can be trained with classically simulated data from a fiducial set of states and measurements, and can later be used to characterize quantum states that share structural similarities with the fiducial states. With little guidance of quantum physics, the network builds its own data-driven representation of a quantum state, and then uses it to predict the outcome statistics of quantum measurements that have not been performed yet. The state representations produced by the network can also be used for tasks beyond the prediction of outcome statistics, including clustering of quantum states and identification of different phases of matter.
The use of machine learning to characterise quantum states has been demonstrated, but usually training the algorithm using data from the same state one wants to characterise. Here, the authors show an algorithm that can learn all states that share structural similarities with the ones used for the training.
Journal Article
Varying Trends In The Financial Viability Of US Rural Hospitals, 2011–17
The financial viability of rural hospitals has been a matter of serious concern, with ongoing closures affecting rural residents access to medical services. We examined the financial viability of 1,004 US rural hospitals that had consistent rural status in 2011-17. The median overall profit margin improved for nonprofit critical access hospitals (from 2.5 percent to 3.2 percent) but declined for other hospitals (from 3.0 percent to 2.6 percent for nonprofit non-critical access hospitals, from 3.2 percent to 0.4 percent for for-profit critical access hospitals, and from 5.7 percent to 1.6 percent for for-profit non-critical access hospitals). Occupancy rate and charge markup were positively associated with overall margins: In 2017 hospitals with low versus high occupancy rates had median overall profit margins of 0.1 percent versus 4.7 percent, and hospitals with low versus high charge markups had median overall margins of 1.8 percent versus 3.5 percent. Rural hospital financial viability deteriorated in states that did not expand eligibility for Medicaid and was lower in the South. Rural hospitals that closed during the study period had a median overall profit margin of -3.2 percent in their final year before closure. Policy makers should compare the incremental cost of providing essential services between hospitals and other settings to balance access and efficiency.
Journal Article
Profitability and risk-return comparison across health care industries, evidence from publicly traded companies 2010–2019
We conducted the first profitability comparison study across health care industries in the United States, using the DuPont Analysis framework. The combination of Return on Equity (ROE) and ROE volatility was used to provide a comprehensive “risk-return” approach for profitability comparison. Based on the 2010–2019 financial disclosures of 1,231 publicly traded health care companies in the U.S. that reported positive assets and equity, we estimated the industry-specific fixed effects on ROE and its three components—profit margin, asset utilization, and financial leverage—for ten industries in the health care sector, classified by the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). For each industry, we also estimated its fixed effects on ROE volatility. We found that the pharmaceuticals industry and biotechnology industry have lower ROE—mainly driven by their relatively low profit margin and low assets utilization—and higher ROE volatility than other health care industries. We also found that the health care facilities industry relies most on debt financing. This study demonstrates a holistic approach for profitability comparison across industries.
Journal Article
Land, buildings, and equipment acquisitions in U.S. hospitals: A fifteen-year perspective
Hospitals acquire and maintain long-term operating assets such as land, buildings, and equipment. In this study, we analyzed hospitals’ long-term assets acquisitions data extracted from the Medicare Cost Report, a mandatory annual filing for all Medicare-certified hospitals. The first objective of this study is to examine the time trend of land, buildings, and equipment acquisitions of all general acute care hospitals in the U.S. from 2005 to 2019 to understand the relative magnitude and temporal changes for the operating assets. The second objective is to examine the 15-year accumulated acquisitions of land, buildings, and equipment per capita in each state to understand the variations of potential access to hospital operating resources across states. To understand the longitudinal changes in acquisitions of operating assets for each year from 2005 to 2019, we calculated the total acquisition amounts across all hospitals for land, buildings, and equipment, respectively, and adjusted the amounts to 2019 dollars based on the consumer price index (CPI). For each state (including Washington D.C.) and the whole nation, the 15-year accumulated CPI-adjusted acquisition amounts per capita for land, buildings, and equipment were also calculated, respectively. The nationwide acquisitions of those operating assets grew rapidly from 2005 to 2008 followed by a negative overall growth from 2008 to 2014 and since 2015, started increasing steadily again. In 2019, U.S. general acute care hospitals acquired$3.0 billion of land, $ 44.6 billion of buildings, and $33.9 billion of equipment. Huge geographical variation in per capita cumulative total asset investment were also found with the first place North Dakota having a per capita investment that is almost four times higher than that in the lowest ranked state of Alabama.
Journal Article