BACKGROUND: Vitamin D plays an important role in the health of adolescents, whereas vitamin D status of Chinese college students was seldom studied in China. To explore the vitamin D status and its relationship with ethnicity and geographic location in Chinese college students.
METHODS: The freshmen were taken a physical examination by trained medical personnel after they reported to university. Demographic information including age, gender, ethnicity, region of original residence was collected using a questionnaire survey. Serum 25(OH)D3 concentrations were measured using a liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer. Multiple regression analyses were used to explore the factors that influence serum 25(OH)D3 levels.
RESULTS: Totally 3220 freshmen who came from 26 provinces, autonomous districts or municipalities were recruited, with a mean age of 18.75 ± 1.18 years and 70.2% of them were female. The mean serum 25(OH)D3 levels were 18.51 ± 6.54 ng/mL, and the proportion of vitamin D deficiency (< 20 ng/mL) and insufficiency (20 ~  < 30 ng/mL) was 64.4% and 30.2%, respectively. The combined proportion of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency was increased with the latitude increased. Miao had the highest serum 25(OH)D3 levels, whereas Kazak ethnic had the lowest (22.51 ng/mL vs. 13.94 ng/mL) among different ethnic groups. Female students, students from city, Uighur and Kazak ethnic, residing in high latitude was significantly associated with lower serum 25(OH)D3 levels (P < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D deficiency is an important health problem in Chinese college students. Sunlight activities, dietary and life-style intervention for college students according to geographic location and ethnicities should be considered.

As a potential anti-predatory defensive structure, the shell ornamentation of marine calcifiers is usually used to understand the macro coevolution of the interactions between predators and preys. Marine calcifiers\' shell ornamentation complexity is generally believed to vary negatively with latitude and water depth. In this paper, we explored the association between shell ornamentation and latitude/bathymetry using the latest global database of living brachiopods. We found that (1) ~59% of living brachiopods species are characterized by smooth shells and that (2) there is no statistically significant linear trend, either positive or negative, between the ornamentation index and latitudes nor with water depths. Both findings are puzzling for living brachiopods as they are sharply contrasted to the patterns of fossil brachiopods whereby the latter, especially Paleozoic brachiopods, are known to exhibit (1) a much greater ornamentation diversity and (2) (at least for the geological periods that have been studied) a linear latitudinal gradient of ornamentation complexity existed. The reasons why living brachiopods have such a high proportion of smooth or weakly ornamented shells and fail to demonstrate an unequivocal linear latitudinal ornamentation gradient were explored and are linked to a multitude of potential factors rather than uniquely only to the predation pressure. Among these, the most plausible factor seems to be the cryptic (refuge-type) habitats (e.g., deep waters, cold polar regions, and submarine rock caves) that living brachiopods have been adapted to due to their low metabolism, where predation pressure is low, allowing brachiopods to enact the predator avoidance strategy rather than having to manufacture robust shell ornamentation to survive in an otherwise highly engaged predator-prey global marine ecosystem.

The biotic interaction hypothesis, which states the species interaction becomes stronger in the tropics, is deeply rooted in classic ecological literature and widely accepted to contribute to the latitudinal gradients of biodiversity. Tests in latitudinal insect-plant interaction have emphasized leaf-eating insects on a single or a few plant species rather than within an entire community and mixed accumulating evidence, leaving the biotic interaction hypothesis disputed. We aimed to test the hypothesis by quantifying insect seed predation in a pair of tropical and temperate forest communities with similar elevations. We applied a consistent study design to sample predispersal seeds with systematically set seed traps in 2019-2020 and examined internally feeding insects. The intensity of seed predation was measured and further applied to tropical versus temperate comparison at two levels (cross-species and community-wide). Our results showed every latitudinal pattern associated with different study levels and years, that is, negative (greater granivory in the tropics in community-wide comparison in 2020), positive (less granivory in the tropics in community-wide and cross-species comparison in 2019), and missing (similar level of granivory in the tropics in cross-species comparisons in 2020). The cross-species level analyses ignore differences among species in seed production and weaken or even lose the latitudinal trend detected by community-wide comparisons. The between-year discrepancy in tropical-temperate comparisons relates to the highly variable annual seed composition in the temperate forest due to mast seeding of dominant species. Our study highlights that long-term community-level researches across biomes are essential to assess the latitudinal biotic interaction hypothesis.

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) act as a vital role in the development of infant\'s gut microbiome and immune function. This study aimed to measure 12 oligosaccharides in milk from Chinese donors (n = 203), and evaluated the influences of multiple factors on the HMOs profiles. The results indicated that concentrations of 6\'-sialyllactose were the highest among 12 oligosaccharides (2.31 ± 0.81 g/L). HMOs concentrations varied depending on geographical location. Latitude was observed to be related to concentrations of Lacto-N-neohexaose, lacto-N-fucopentaose III, 3\'-sialyllactose (r = -0.67, r = +0.63 and r = +0.50, respectively). Environmental factors like seasons correlated with lacto-N-difucohexaose Ⅱ, Lacto-N-neohexaose and 2\'-fucosyllactose (r = -0.47, r = -0.4, r = -0.35, respectively). Several HMOs concentrations were correlated with maternal diet. As a consequence, the HMOs profiles measured were influenced by geographical, environmental, maternal anthropometric as well as dietary factors.

The purpose of this study is to explore 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) levels in patients with cancer in the palliative phase in relation to season, sex, age, tumor type, colectomy, and survival. To this end, we performed a post-hoc analysis of ‘Palliative-D’, a randomized placebo-controlled, double-blind trial investigating the effect of daily supplementation with 4000 IU of vitamin D for 12 weeks on pain in patients in palliative cancer care. In the screening cohort (n = 530), 10% of patients had 25-OHD levels < 25 nmol/L, 50% < 50, and 84% < 75 nmol/L. Baseline 25-OHD did not differ between seasons or tumor type and was not correlated with survival time. In vitamin D deficient patients supplemented with vitamin D (n = 67), 86% reached sufficient levels, i.e., >50 nmol/L, after 12 weeks. An increase in 25-OHD was larger in supplemented women than in men (53 vs. 37 nmol/L, p = 0.02) and was not affected by season. In the placebo-group (n = 83), decreased levels of 25-OHD levels were noted during the study period for patients recruited during the last quarter of the year. In conclusion, cancer patients in palliative phase have adequate increase in 25-OHD after vitamin D supplementation regardless of season, age, tumor type, or colectomy.

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory demyelinating disease that causes significant disabilities. Latest MS epidemiological data in Australia reveal rising prevalence. No epidemiological study of MS has been conducted so far in the Illawarra region.
OBJECTIVE: To calculate prevalence and incidence of MS in the Illawarra region and compare with data from other regions, states and the national prevalence.
METHODS: Data of MS patients in the Illawarra region were collected from hospital medical records, ambulatory care units and hospital pharmacy. Prevalence was calculated for alive MS patients on 30 June 2018 expressed per 100 000 population. Yearly adjusted incidence rate was calculated for 10 years (2009-2019), expressed as cases per 100 000 population-years.
RESULTS: Estimated MS prevalence in the Illawarra region was 116.6 per 100 000 population with yearly incidence (2009-2019) of 5.06 cases per 100 000 population-years (female to male, 3:1). Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) was the most common type (277/397; 69.7%) with primary progressive MS (PPMS) in 52/397 (13%), and secondary progressive MS (SPMS) in 45/397 (11.3%; unknown in 23). The commonest age at diagnosis ranged between 30 and 39 years for all types with RRMS and PPMS between 30-39 years and 40-49 years respectively. The most common recorded treatment was natalizumab (103 patients), followed by fingolimod (82 patients) and interferon (58 patients).
CONCLUSIONS: The calculated MS prevalence in the Illawarra region is higher than New South Wales and the Australian average MS prevalence. Further epidemiological studies focussing on MS risk factors and other factors bearing on MS prevalence in the Illawarra region are required.

This review compares adult locomotor activity rhythms and photoperiodic induction of diapause in 3 common species of blow fly, Calliphora vicina, Lucilia sericata, and Protophormia terraenovae. Activity rhythms were broadly similar in all 3 species, although P. terraenovae is much less sensitive to constant light inducing arrhythmicity. Photoperiodic induction of diapause, on the other hand, varies more widely between species. C. vicina and L. sericata overwinter in a larval diapause induced by autumnal short days (long nights) acting both maternally and directly upon the larvae. P. terraenovae, on the other hand, shows an adult (reproductive) diapause induced by short daylength and low temperature experienced by the larvae. In the Nanda-Hamner protocol, C. vicina shows 3 clear peaks of high diapause incidence in cycle lengths close to 24, 48, and 72 h, without dampening and therefore suggesting a photoperiodic mechanism based on a self-sustained circadian oscillator acting in a clock of the external coincidence type. Entrainment of the locomotor activity rhythm to extended Nanda-Hamner photocycles, as well as to LD cycles close to the limits of the primary range of entrainment, demonstrates that overt circadian rhythmicity may act as \'hands\' of the otherwise covert photoperiodic system, as suggested by Bünning, nearly 8 decades ago. In 24 h LD cycles, both locomotor activity rhythms and the photoperiodic oscillator are set to constant phase (CT 12) at light-off, so that the photoperiodic clock measures changes in nightlength by the coincidence (or not) of dawn light with a \'photoinducible phase\' late in the subjective night (at about CT 21.5 h) as photoperiod changes with the seasons. Apparent differences between quantitative and qualitative photoperiodic responses are discussed.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to contribute to the literature about the prevalence of OME by conducting a research in a wide geography examining most of the associating factors together with a questionnaire. Additionally, possible effects of altitudes and latitudes, concordance between the otoscopic examination findings and tympanometric and acoustic reflex test results were evaluated in 4-7 years old children in the same season in different countries.
METHODS: In the randomly sampled schools from different regions of different cities where people of different scoioecomonic statuses live, 4-7 year-old children were included in the study. The results of the questionnaire covering the potential factors in OME etiology were evaluated together with the results of the otoscopic examination and tympanometry findings, and also the acoustic reflex findings to direct the interpretation in cases of low amplitude - blunted peak tympanograms which can be interpreted as a \"Type B\" or \"Type As\". All the results were gathered in the same season.
RESULTS: Ten centers from nine countries participated in the study. A total of 4768 children were evaluated. The frequency of OME diagnosed by otosopic examination was 22.48% (n=1072) and the diagnosis rate when otoscopic examination plus type B tympanometry were taken into account was found as 11.3% (n=539) in general population. Factors increasing the prevalence of OME were found as; mother\'s educational level (p=0.02), child\'s age (p=0.006), history of upper respiratory tract infection (p=0.001), smoking father (p=0.01), mother being a housewife or laborer (p=0.01), history of allergy (p=0.001), asthma (p=0.04), or allergy symptoms (p=0.02). No direct relationship was found between altitudes or latitudes and prevalence of OME.
CONCLUSIONS: The important affecting factors found after analyzing all of the potential risk factors in the same model are secondhand smoke exposure, low level of mother\'s education, mother\'s occupation, positive history of URTI, and age of the child being less than 7. By paying attention to the factors that increase the prevalence of OME, putting particular emphasis on the preventable ones such as smoking, education, and fighting with allergies could decrease the prevalence of this public health issue.

Vitamin D can be synthesized in the skin via sunlight exposure as well as ingested through diet. Vitamin D deficiency is currently a major global public health issue, with increasing prevalence in both low and high latitude locations. This cross-sectional analysis aimed to compare the intensity of individual Ultraviolet B radiation levels between women of the same ethnicity living in England and Brazil, respectively; and to investigate the association with circulating 25(OH)D concentrations. We analysed data from 135 Brazilian women (England, n = 56, 51° N; Brazil, n = 79, 16° S) recruited for the D-SOL study (Interaction between Vitamin D Supplementation and Sunlight Exposure in Women Living in Opposite Latitudes). Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were analysed by high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), individual UVB radiation via UVB dosimeter badges and dietary intake via 4-day diet diaries. Anthropometric, skin phototype, sociodemographic and lifestyle patterns were also assessed. Mean serum 25(OH)D concentration of England residents was significantly lower than Brazil residents. Daily individual UVB radiation level showed a strong significant positive correlation with serum 25(OH)D concentrations. The required UVB radiation to achieve 75 nmol/L was 2.2 SED and 38.8% of the total variance in 25(OH)D concentrations was explained uniquely by daily individual UVB radiation, after controlling for the influence of age and body mass index. Thus, these results highlight the strong positive association between serum 25(OH)D concentrations and individual UVB radiation and the influence of different individual characteristics and behaviours. Collectively, these factors contribute to meaningful, country-specific, public health strategies and policies for the efficient prevention and treatment of vitamin D inadequacy.

Participatory approaches, such as community photography, can engage the public in questions of societal and scientific interest while helping advance understanding of ecological patterns and processes. We combined data extracted from community-sourced, spatially explicit photographs with research findings from 2018 fieldwork in the Yukon, Canada, to evaluate winter coat molt patterns and phenology in mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus), a cold-adapted, alpine mammal. Leveraging the community science portals iNaturalist and CitSci, in less than a year we amassed a database of almost seven hundred unique photographs spanning some 4,500 km between latitudes 37.6°N and 61.1°N from 0 to 4,333 m elevation. Using statistical methods accounting for incomplete data, a common issue in community science datasets, we identified the effects of intrinsic (sex and presence of offspring) and broad environmental (latitude and elevation) factors on molt onset and rate and compared our findings with published data. Shedding occurred over a 3-month period between 29 May and 6 September. Effects of sex and offspring on the timing of molt were consistent between the community-sourced and our Yukon data and with findings on wild mountain goats at a long-term research site in west-central Alberta, Canada. Males molted first, followed by females without offspring (4.4 days later in the coarse-grained, geographically wide community science sample; 29.2 days later in our fine-grained Yukon sample) and lastly females with new kids (6.2; 21.2 days later, respectively). Shedding was later at higher elevations and faster at northern latitudes. Our findings establish a basis for employing community photography to examine broad-scale questions about the timing of ecological events, as well as sex differences in response to possible climate drivers. In addition, community photography can help inspire public participation in environmental and outdoor activities specifically with reference to iconic wildlife.