BackgroundFalls among older people have become a public health concern due to serious health consequences. Despite abundant literature on falls in older people, little is known about the rural-urban differentials in falls among older people in China. This research fills the voids of prior literature by investigating falls and the associated risk factors among Chinese seniors, with a particular focus on the rural-urban differences.MethodsData are from the 2010 wave of Chinese Longitudinal Survey on Urban and Rural Elderly. The analysis includes 16,393 respondents aged 65 and over, with 8440 and 7953 of them living in urban and rural areas, respectively. Descriptive analyses are performed to examine incidence, locations, circumstances and consequences of falls in older people. Regression analysis is used to investigate the effects of risk factors on falls among older people in urban and rural China.ResultsThe incidence of falls is higher among rural than urban older people. In both settings, older people are more likely to fell outside of home. But common outdoor falls among rural and urban older people differ in terms of locations and circumstances. Urban older people are more likely to report falling on the road whereas their rural counterparts have experienced more falls in the yard. Falls occurring within homes or immediate home surroundings are also common; but few falls occurred in public areas. The rate of hospitalization of urban seniors after falling is higher than that of rural ones. Most risk factors of falls show similar than different effects on rural and urban elders’ risks of falling.ConclusionsIncidence, locations, circumstances and consequences of falls vary among Chinese rural and urban older people. But most risk factors for falls show similar effects on rural and urban elders’ odds of falling. Implications drawn from this research provide suggestions for the government and local agencies to develop suitable fall prevention strategies which may well be applicable to other countries.

Postsynthetic modification represents an efficient strategy for the fabrication of tunable metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) and derived highperformance functional materials. Herein, we report the synthesis of a mixed-linker zinc(II)-based double-layered MOF (dlMOF) with dual-emissive luminescence, which was further applied as a host matrix to fabricate highly tunable Ln@dlMOF materials (Ln = Eu, Tb, Eu/Tb). The emission characteristics of these materials can be readily modulated over a wide spectrum, including white light emission, by simply tuning the Eu 3+ /Tb 3+ molar ratio in EuTb@dlMOF. Furthermore, by virtue of the difference in thermal sensitivity between triple-emissive sources, the Eu 3+ / Tb 3+ -codoped thermometer EuTb@dlMOF exhibits real-time successive chromogenic switches from red (room temperature) to white (intermediate temperature) to blue/green (cryogenic temperature) emission in a wide temperature region. The versatile performance and the facile assembly from easily available linkers suggest that postsynthetic lanthanide encapsulation represents an efficient strategy for the future engineering of advanced photoluminescent materials with stimuli-responsive and thermochromic properties.

The carrier role of exosomes from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUcMScs) containing microRNAs (miRNAs) has been implicated in gene and drug therapy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of exosomal microRNA-146a (miR-146a) from hUcMScs in ovarian cancer (Oc). Following the generation of docetaxel (dTX)-resistant SKOV3 cells and taxane-resistant A2780 cells, exosomes were isolated from hUcMScs and added to the chemoresistant cells. Microarray analysis revealed that miR-146a expression was upregulated in dTX/SKOV3 cells among 15 ectopically expressed miRNAs. Analysis using the StarBase and miRSearch databases demonstrated that miR-146a targeted laminin γ2 (LAMc2), which was further verified using dual-luciferase reporter assays. Subsequently, miR-146a inhibitor or LAMc2 overexpression vectors were transfected into hUcMScs or Oc cells, respectively, and their effects on growth and chemoresistance in Oc cells were assessed. The hUcMSc-derived exosomes reduced cell growth and chemoresistance in Oc. Furthermore, hUcMSc-derived exosomes with miR-146a expression knocked down increased Oc cell growth and chemoresistance, which was mediated by the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway via LAMc2.

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Stem-cell based in vitro differentiation for disease modeling offers great value to explore the molecular and functional underpinnings driving many types of cardiomyopathy and congenital heart diseases. Nevertheless, one major caveat in the application of in vitro differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) involves the immature phenotype of the CMs. Most of the existing methods need complex apparatus and require laborious procedures in order to monitor the cardiac differentiation/maturation process and often result in cell death. Here we developed an intrinsic color sensing system utilizing a microgroove structural color methacrylated gelatin film, which allows us to monitor the cardiac differentiation process of hiPSC-derived cardiac progenitor cells in real time. Subsequently this system can be employed as an assay system to live monitor induced functional changes on hiPSC-CMs stemming from drug treatment, the effects of which are simply revealed through color diversity. Our research shows that early intervention of cardiac differentiation through simple physical cues can enhance cardiac differentiation and maturation to some extent. Our system also simplifies the previous complex experimental processes for evaluating the physiological effects of successful differentiation and drug treatment and lays a solid foundation for future transformational applications.