Chronic Hepatitis B in Indian Americans: Lack of Screening and Poor Linkage to Care

Background: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is a major cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality in the United States (US) and globally. CHB disproportionately affects Asian Americans and many other immigrant minority populations, primarily owing to the high prevalence of CHB in their countries of origin. India is a country with a medium-to-high prevalence of hepatitis B (HB) (>2%) and has over 40 million people infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), with more than 115,000 deaths annually from HBV-related complications. Indian Americans are one of the largest immigrant populations in the US but remain underdiagnosed and poorly linked to clinical care. We, therefore, assessed the HBV prevalence and evaluated the linkage-to-care (LTC) among Indian Americans to develop strategic plans to reduce the impact of HBV in the US. Methods: Between April 2022 and January 2024, serologic screening and surveys were provided to 328 Indian American adults (age 20 - 80) in New York City. All participants were tested for a triple panel consisting of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs), and hepatitis B core IgG antibody (anti-HBc). A survey was conducted on the subjects chronically infected with HBV regarding their histories of infection. Self-administered questionnaires were employed to evaluate demographic and epidemiologic characteristics. Results: Of 328 screened and evaluated (246 males and 82 females), 10 (3.0%) were HBV-infected, 222 (67.7%) were susceptible to HBV, and 96 (29.3%) were immune. The prevalence of chronic HBV varied between the age groups: 4.6% (age 20 - 40), 3.4% (age 41 - 60), and 1.7% (age 61 - 80). Of 10 chronically infected, only two subjects had been previously diagnosed but were not engaged in care. Conclusion: HBV disproportionately affects Asian Americans, primarily owing to immigration from parts of the world where the disease is endemic. Indian Americans belong to an intermediate-risk group, with an HBV prevalence of >2%, but remain underdiagnosed and poorly linked to care. Our pilot study on Indian American populations, the first of its kind, demonstrates a 3% prevalence of CHB, none of whom are linked to care. In addition, this population has a high percentage of unimmune subjects, creating a large reservoir for future infection. With the growing population of Indian Americans, our findings can be used to develop community-based strategies for HBV screenings and LTC that target high-risk groups.

Analysis on Bicultural Identities of Chinese Americans Based on Acculturation Theory

In the context of globalization,the communication between countries is gradually enhanced and the immigration is increasing.Chinese Americans,as a unique ethnic group,are easy to fall into the difficult problem of self-identity construction when facing the bicultural identity conflict between Chinese and American.This paper selects the film The Farewell created by a Chinese American director as the research object,analyzes the cultural identity crisis of Chinese Americans,introduces the cultural adaption strategy adopted by Chinese Americans from the perspective of Acculturation Theory,and provides reference for Chinese Americans about how to realize the bicultural identities in the cultural diaspora.

A Study on the Infiltration Methods of British and American Literature in High School English Reading Teaching

Reading is the key content of high school English teaching,which can improve students’mastery of words,grammar,and other knowledge,and can expand their horizons.British and American literature is the essence of British and American culture,and its application in high school English reading teaching can help improve students’English proficiency.This paper outlines the problems of high school English teaching,analyzes the role of British and American literature in high school English reading teaching,and explores the infiltration methods of British and American literature in high school English reading teaching,in order to provide references for teachers.

A Corpus Study of Acupuncture from the Perspective of Mass Media Based on the Corpus of Contemporary American English

Based on the Corpus of Contemporary American English(COCA),this study examines acupuncture from the perspective of mass media.Acupuncture has been circulating throughout the Chinese Cultural Circle since the Qin and Han Dynasties,and has since spread directly or indirectly to the rest of the world.The United States boasts the world’s second-largest acupuncture market,with its laws,regulations,industry growth,research,and education all positively influencing the development of acupuncture in other nations.This study uses COCA to analyze the form and content of acupuncture’s dissemination in eight different types of media.The findings show that acupuncture appears in COCA a total of 1,788 times,with the highest frequency in magazines,followed by blogs,and the lowest frequency in fiction.These findings reveal the popularity of acupuncture in mass media in the United States and provide empirical data and insights for the future dissemination and development of acupuncture in the United States.

Impacts of Neo-Conservatism

Before and after the Iraq war, one of the most salient changes in U. S. political and diplomatic arena is the dramatic emergence of neoconservatism. It has become one of the most important factors that affect the tendency of U. S. global strategy.

Gender differences of lower urinary tract symptoms in older Chinese Americans

Objective To describe whether or not there are gender differences in lower urinary tract symptoms(LUTS)prevalence and risk factors in community-dwelling older Chinese Americans.Methods We performed a secondary analysis of a prospective cross-sectional population-based survey of Chinese Americans aged 60 years and older between January 2011 and December 2013 in English,Mandarin,Cantonese,Taishanese,or Teochew.A clinical review of systems was used to assess LUTS,which included urinary frequency,urgency,burning and/or pain,blood in urine,and urinary incontinence.Results Of the total 3157 people queried,42%were men and 58%were women.More men reported LUTS compared to women(32.9%vs.28.6%,p=0.01).In a multivariable analysis,female gender(adjusted odds ratio[aOR]0.60,95%confidence interval[CI]0.49-0.73),being married(aOR 0.79,95%CI 0.65-0.97),and smoking(aOR 0.66,95%CI 0.49-0.88)were found to be protective,while traditional Chinese medicine use(aOR 1.51,95%CI 1.28-1.78),heart disease(aOR 1.54,95%CI 1.24-1.91),and anxiety(aOR 1.69,95%CI 1.25-2.28)were most strongly associated with increased odds of LUTS.When examining genders separately,being married was found to be protective only in women.Meanwhile,unique factors found in men were hypertension,heart disease,and practice of Tai Chi.Conclusion In this large population-based study,LUTS were more prevalent in older Chinese American men than women.We also found gender-specific factors that influenced the odds of reporting LUTS;however,traditional Chinese medicine use was the only factor that was shared by both genders.Future longitudinal investigations are needed to elucidate these underlying mechanisms to provide evidence-based and culture-specific guidelines for this rapidly growing population.

The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Double Threat to Chinese Americans’ Mental Health

Objective:To explore the double psychosocial threats of the COVID-19 pandemic,targeted behavior toward Chinese Americans,and the correlates to their mental health.Methods:A quantitative,cross-sectional,and descriptive design was utilized by using a purposive convenience sample of 301 Chinese Americans over the age of 18 residing in the United States.Online data collection was conducted through the social media platform WeChat from April 8–21,2021.Descriptive statistical analysis was used for the participants’demographic charac-teristics,Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support(MSPSS),Double Threat Situations,COVID-19 Racial Discrimination,and General Anxiety Disorder-7(GAD-7).Stepwise logistic regression was conducted to verify predictors for anxiety levels by GAD-7.Results:In this sample(N=301),127(42.19%)were male and 174(57.81%)were female.The average age was 41.67(SD=5.89).Among MSPSS subscales,social support from family(MSPSS-Fam,79.73%,n=240)and social support from significant others(MSPSS-SO,73.75%,n=222)were high.231(76.74%)reported threats due to their Chinese ethnic background during the COVID-19 outbreak.Predictors for the high anxiety level by GAD-7 were COVID-19 racial discrimination from the local community(OR=0.47,95%CI=0.39–0.71,p<0.001),media/online(OR=0.36,95%CI=0.26–0.53,p<0.001),the perceived threat from the COVID-19 virus(OR=0.33,95%CI=0.23–0.51,p<0.001)and Perceived racism threat from Chinese back-ground related to COVID-19(OR=0.31,95%CI=0.21–0.49,p<0.001).Conclusions:COVID-19 double-threats(The virus and racial discrimination)situations are significantly related to the high level of anxiety among Chinese Americans.The sense of belonging and social perceptions of Chinese immigrants is closely related to public health problems in Western societies and needs to be addressed at all levels.Ourfindings call for the attention of health-care workers to specific racism double-threatened situations and high mental health risks,as well as direct and indirect ethnic discrimination that Chinese Americans are experiencing during this pandemic,the long-term influ-ences and effective coping ways related to this issue should be explored in further research.

Status Quo and Application of North American Wisteria in Shijiazhuang

The introduction and planting of three cultivars of North American wisteria in Shijiazhuang were observed.By comparing the inflorescences of Chinese wisteria,Japanese wisteria and North American wisteria,it is concluded that North American wisteria has compact inflorescence,rich color and late flowering period,and can prolong the ornamental time of wisteria when collocating with Chinese wisteria and Japanese wisteria in landscape application.The application of North American wisteria in Chinese gardens can not only enrich the species diversity of the region,but also have positive significance for improving the landscape effect of the whole city.

In Her Mother’s House:Mother-Daughter Dissonance in Post-1990s Chinese American Fiction

This paper attempts to examine the trope of“home”and the depiction of mother-daughter dissonance“in her mother’s house”in post-1990s Chinese American fiction.The research selects four novels in the case study and focuses on how mother-daughter dissonance“in her mother’s house”is presented,what cultural connotations the trope of“home”carries and how they are affected by such extra-contextual factors as racism,sexism and classism.In comparison with two representative mother-daughter narrative works in pre-1990s period,the new characteristics and connotations of“home”in mother-daughter dissonance in post-1990s Chinese American fiction are revealed.

A Comparative Study of British Gentleman Culture and American Cowboy Culture

This paper makes a comparative analysis by selecting British gentleman culture and American cowboy culture,the two distinctive cultures,to trace their roots,explore their connotations,and search for their similarities and differences,so as to better understand the respective characteristics of British and American cultures.The result shows that although the two cultures have different styles,which can interpret two different ethnic cultures,they are related by blood and have certain commonalities.

Discourse Construction of the Belt and Road Initiative in British and American Media:The Perspective of Proximization Theory

This study takes the reports on China’s“One Belt,One Road”in the British and American media as the object of study,mainly by collecting more than 10,000 words from the relevant reports published in the British media The Times,The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian from 2019-2022,to create a British corpus.A number of US media outlets,such as the New York Times,Los Angeles Times and Washington Post,were also collected to extract over 10,000 words of relevant corpus to create a US corpus.The BFSU Qualitative Coder 1.1,AntConc 3.5.7 and the LLX2 chi-square test were used to analyse the perceptions of the British and American corpora on China’s“One Belt,One Road”initiative,and to explore the temporal,spatial and value convergence of speakers and addressees in the corpus in the context of convergence theory.In this paper,we explore the specific distribution and pragmatic functions of the convergence of speakers and addressees in the corpus,in order to explore and reveal the different features of the application of convergence strategies in the British and American corpora in relation to China’s“One Belt,One Road”initiative.

Theoretical and Practical Exploration of Ideology and Politics in British and American Literature Curriculum

British and American literature is the essence of culture and civilization created in the long historical development process and a bright pearl in the treasure house of world literature.Different types of civilization history,ideological history,and values can better help students understand the literary quality and ideology in various periods of Western civilization.Studying British and American literature aids students in using cross-cultural perspectives to distinguish Chinese and foreign literature and culture.Therefore,the ideological and political tasks of the curriculum are particularly prominent.This research takes a fragment of selected British and American literature as an example to analyze the paths and methods of ideological and political coordination between British and American literature and curriculum,and to explore new ways of educating students in colleges and universities using British and American literature in the new era.

The dry and hot American Southwest under the present and future climates

由于正在持续的特大干旱,更频繁的洪水,热浪以及导致空气污染的山火,美国西南部目前正在经历气候危机.这些气候危机主要与水文气候过程相关,尤其是气候系统各圈层之间的水汽通量.本研究主要讨论目前一些水文系统的科学基站以及物理驱动因素,比如北美夏季风以及太平洋北美遥相关.本研究指出降水以及气温对于干旱的相对作用的理论和工具.确定内部变率和外部强迫对于美国西南部水文气候系统的相对作用尤为重要.展望未来,需要研究高分辨率模拟系统,加强降水以及温度对于水文气候系统相对作用的理解,外部强迫的作用以及通过科学家以及其他利益相关者之间的合作.

区块链产业发展:经济特性与中美路径差异

区块链具有去中心化、可追溯性两大核心特征和不可篡改、去信任化、信息透明、可匿名性四大衍生特征,并进一步引致出能够作用于经济领域的五大经济特性:减少信息不对称、降低组织的集中度、提供可置信的承诺、生成新的价值标的、减少交易成本。区块链是否能与产业良好融合是其能否有效发挥上述重要经济特性的一个重要因素。本文通过对中美区块链行业的对比分析发现,中国对于区块链的应用领域态度更为审慎,同时也具有更强的政策导向,主要应用领域为实体经济;而美国虽然对区块链的政策导向不如中国明显,但其在技术、人才培养等方面都具有显著优势,区块链应用规模在全球范围内处于绝对领先地位。总的来看,中国区块链产业发展面临审慎的金融政策与区块链特征不匹配、结合区块链与实体经济的配套设施相对缺失、区块链适用领域有待细化、区块链技术有待提升等问题。为进一步推动中国区块链产业发展,需要推动央行数字货币发展、加强数字化基础设施建设、针对性推动区块链行业发展、加强区块链技术基础研究。

美洲莲地下茎顶芽离体培养

以美洲莲地下茎顶芽为外植体,主要对消毒处理方法、顶芽初代培养激素种类及其浓度进行摸索,并比较取材时间和培养温度对顶芽离体培养成苗的影响。研究表明:对顶芽采取消毒后去掉一层鳞片再消毒,或在此基础上再去掉一层鳞片,将去掉一层或两层鳞片后的剩余部分接种至含有0.1%植物组培抗菌保护剂(Plant preservative mixture,PPM)或250 mg∕L头孢霉素的培养基中培养,污染率能降低到10.71%—15.99%。外植体在含3 mg∕L激动素(Kinetin,KT)+0.2 mg∕L萘乙酸(1-Naphthaleneacetic acid,NAA)的MS(Murashige and Skoog)培养基上培养1个月后转移至含1 mg∕L KT+0.1 mg∕L NAA的培养基上,或始终在含2 mg∕L KT+0.2 mg∕L NAA培养基上培养,能获得较好的成苗和增殖效果。10—12月份冬季休眠期的芽比3—5月份春季萌芽期至营养生长前期的芽更易培养成苗。30℃较25℃培养更利于顶芽的成苗。该研究建立的美洲莲地下茎顶芽离体培养体系可为该物种的推广应用以及试验研究提供一致性的材料和技术支持。

绕道而行:1913—1914年华尔纳的中国考察

20世纪初,随着美国经济实力的增强以及与中国关系的拉近,美国学界对中国问题产生了浓厚兴趣。1913—1914年,华尔纳受收藏家弗利尔的派遣,代表史密森研究院等机构,前往中国调查考古发掘的前景与建立考古学校的可能性。专攻日本艺术史的华尔纳非常倚重欧洲汉学与日本学界,长时间逗留于欧洲及中国周边区域,在中国内地调查的时间反而极短。考古学校终未建立,乃美国汉学尝试进一步发展时遭遇的一次挫折。

美国司法政治化现象探析

美国政治的司法化让法官能够审理具有政策意义的案件,拥有较大的自由裁量空间,这又反过来促成“司法政治化”现象,法官可能诉诸于法律之外的标准,作出具有政治意义的决定,催生了司法机构内的政治斗争。在美国司法政治化中,美国司法领域的意识形态两极分化现象日趋严重,并且具有愈演愈烈的特征和趋势,主要体现在法官任命和司法决策等方面。如今美国总统在任命联邦大法官上主要关注意识形态的兼容性和可靠性;美国法官基本上被意识形态划分——共和党人的投票基本上倾向于保守主义,民主党人的投票基本上倾向于自由主义。美国司法政治化日益严重主要源于社会经济不平等加剧、文化战争愈演愈烈、政党政治极化现象日益严重、司法机构受到精英政治的影响逐渐增强。美国司法政治化损害了司法机构的权威,加剧了美国政治极化和社会分裂程度。

美国教师表达自由的法律标准及实践

美国在规制教师表达自由时有比普通公民更严格的法律标准。其实质标准要求教师在私人生活中模范遵守公序良俗,在教育实践中遵守履职专业规范;形式标准主要有分类规制原则、价值中立原则和公共论坛原理。在规制教师表达时,美国司法审查围绕“教育”形成了教育本位、利益衡平、路径清晰等特点。这些做法对我国完善规制教师表达自由的法规政策有一定参考价值。

美国布什政府对韩国反美主义的认识与应对——基于美国解密档案的解读

上世纪80年代的韩国是全球最反美的国家之一。美国解密档案显示,里根政府总体上对韩国的反美主义采取置若罔闻的态度,但继任的布什政府则不一样。由于布什一上台就计划访问韩国,所以如何应对反美主义一开始就进入了决策视野。美国在详细分析韩国反美主义产生的原因和发展趋势后,采取了一些针对性措施,包括公开阐明美国与光州事件无关,降低美国在韩国公众视野中的存在感,修改《驻韩美军地位协定》,移交韩军平时作战控制权,满足韩国虚荣心等。美国的举措在一段时间内和一定程度上缓和了韩国人的反美情绪,但显然未能从根本上化解这一问题。因为美国对韩国反美主义产生根源的认识并不深刻,也不愿公开承认反美主义主要是美国造成的,所以采取的政策措施不够彻底。这导致潜伏的反美情绪遇到适合的气候和土壤时又会重新出现。

西洋参果正丁醇部位的化学成分研究

为探究西洋参果正丁醇部位的化学成分,本研究采用硅胶、MCI、RP-C18柱色谱及半制备HPLC等方法对西洋参果正丁醇部位的化学成分进行分离纯化,根据波谱学数据分析及文献比对鉴定其结构。从西洋参果中共分离得到25个人参皂苷类化合物,分别鉴定为人参皂苷Rg_(6)(1)、人参皂苷Rh_(2)(2)、20(22)E-人参皂苷Rh_(4)(3)、拟人参皂苷RT_(5)(4)、人参皂苷Rh_(1)(5)、20(R)-人参皂苷Rh_(1)(6)、人参皂苷F_(1)(7)、拟人参皂苷F_(11)(8)、人参皂苷Rg_(1)(9)、人参皂苷Rg_(2)(10)、20(R)-人参皂苷Rg_(2)(11)、人参皂苷F_(2)(12)、人参皂苷Rg_(3) (13)、20 (R)-人参皂苷Rg_(3) (14)、人参皂苷Re (15)、人参皂苷Rs_(3) (16)、人参皂苷Rc (17)、人参皂苷Rd (18)、人参皂苷Rb_(1)(19)、人参皂苷Rb_(2)(20)、人参皂苷Rb_(3)(21)、人参皂苷Ro(22)、绞股蓝皂苷Ⅶ(23)、三七皂苷R_(1)(24)和三七皂苷Fe(25)。化合物1、3、6、11、12、16和23~25为首次从西洋参果中分离得到,其中化合物1、3、16和24为首次从西洋参中分离得到,该研究可为西洋参的综合开发利用提供化学物质基础。