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Human–environment interactions within and across borders are now more influential than ever, posing unprecedented sustainability challenges. The framework of metacoupling (interactions within and across adjacent and distant coupled human–environment systems) provides a useful tool to evaluate them at diverse temporal and spatial scales. While most metacoupling studies have so far addressed the impacts of distant interactions (telecouplings), few have addressed the complementary and interdependent effects of the interactions within coupled systems (intracouplings) and between adjacent systems (pericouplings). Using the production and trade of a major commodity (soybean) as a demonstration, this paper empirically evaluates the complex effects on deforestation and economic growth across a globally important soybean producing region (Mato Grosso in Brazil). Although this region is influenced by a strong telecoupling process (i.e., soybean trade with national and international markets), intracouplings pose significant effects on deforestation and economic growth within focal municipalities. Furthermore, it generates pericoupling effects (e.g., deforestation) on adjacent municipalities, which precede economic benefits on adjacent systems, and may occur during and after the soybean production takes place. These results show that while economic benefits of the production of agricultural commodities for global markets tend to be localized, their environmental costs tend to be spatially widespread. As deforestation also occurred in adjacent areas beyond focal areas with economic development, this study has significant implications for sustainability in an increasingly metacoupled world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the emergency capacity of rain-flood disaster in provinces along the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), China, from 2013 to 2017. In this study, the evaluation index system of emergency capacity on rain-flood disaster was built from the economic-social and environmental-natural aspects, and spatial auto-correlation analysis was used to analyze spatial differentiation characteristics of the emergency capacity. Then, the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) was used to analyze the influence mechanism of the development level of economic-social factors (ESF) subsystem, environmental-natural factors (ENF) subsystem and the coupling level of these two subsystems on the emergency capacity of rain-flood disaster in provinces. The findings show that the emergency capacity distribution of rain-flood disaster in the YREB presented a "decreasing" spatial pattern of eastern, central and western regions. The development of two subsystems has produced spatial spillover effect and diffusion effect on the neighboring areas. There was a high coupling degree between these two subsystems in the YREB. Although spillover effect existed in space, the spillover did not depend on economic distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the unprecedented situation that all countries around the globe are facing due to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has also had severe socioeconomic consequences, it is imperative to explore novel approaches to monitoring and forecasting regional outbreaks as they happen or even before they do so. To that end, in this paper, the role of Google query data in the predictability of COVID-19 in the United States at both national and state level is presented. As a preliminary investigation, Pearson and Kendall rank correlations are examined to explore the relationship between Google Trends data and COVID-19 data on cases and deaths. Next, a COVID-19 predictability analysis is performed, with the employed model being a quantile regression that is bias corrected via bootstrap simulation, i.e., a robust regression analysis that is the appropriate statistical approach to taking against the presence of outliers in the sample while also mitigating small sample estimation bias. The results indicate that there are statistically significant correlations between Google Trends and COVID-19 data, while the estimated models exhibit strong COVID-19 predictability. In line with previous work that has suggested that online real-time data are valuable in the monitoring and forecasting of epidemics and outbreaks, it is evident that such infodemiology approaches can assist public health policy makers in addressing the most crucial issues: flattening the curve, allocating health resources, and increasing the effectiveness and preparedness of their respective health care systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cigarette smoking is a risk factor of mortality and morbidity from various cancerous, respiratory, and myocardial diseases. Nicotine dependence is assessed based on the degree of physical dependence. We aimed to determine the clinical, socioeconomic and psychological factors associated with the smoking status and degree of nicotine dependence of smokers. From April 2009 to September 2010, we retrospectively collected data from 17,577 subjects aged ≥ 18 years who had undergone a general health examination at a health promotion center. The instruments used included the Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Stress Response Inventory (SRI), and Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). Of the current smokers (N = 3946), 2345 (59%), 1154 (29%), and 447 (12%) had low, moderate, and high nicotine dependence, respectively. In multiple logistic analysis, predictors of high nicotine dependence were male sex (odds ratio [OR] 3.705, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.997–6.945), older age (≥ 65 years) (OR 1.016, 95% CI 1.004–1.029), higher body mass index (BMI) (OR 1.048, 95% CI 1.018–1.078), diabetes (OR 1.870, 95% CI 1.251–2.794), single marital status (OR 1.575, 95% CI 1.186–2.092), lower education level (OR 1.887, 95% CI 1.463–2.433), and a higher stress level (OR 1.018, 95% CI 1.997–6.945). Thus, clinical, psychological, socioeconomic status including male, older age, higher BMI, diabetes, single marital status, lower education, and higher stress should be taken into consideration by promoting smoking cessation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactions between the prokaryotic microbiome and eukaryotic parasites in the vertebrate gut may affect overall host health and disease. While intertropical areas exhibit a high rate of parasites carriers, such interactions are understudied in these populations. Our objectives were to (1) describe the gut microbiome of individuals living in Madagascar, (2) identify potential associations between bacterial taxa and parasites colonizing the digestive tract and (3) highlight main determinants of the gut microbiota composition in this developing country. Metadata (socioeconomic, diet, clinical) and fecal samples were collected from 219 volunteers from North-West Madagascar (Mahajanga). Fecal microbiome was assessed through 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metabolomics, and related to dietary habits and parasites carriage. We highlight important Malagasy gut microbiome peculiarities. Out of three detected enterotypes, only one is similar to that observed in Westernized countries (Ruminococcus-driven). Functions associated with the two others (Clostridium sensu stricto-driven and Escherichia/Shigella-driven) are mostly directed toward amino acids biosynthesis and degradation, respectively. Diet and protozoan carriage were the main drivers of microbiota composition. High protozoan carriage was associated with higher diversity, richness and microbial functionalities. The gut microbiome of Malagasy strongly differs from that of Westernized countries. Asymptomatic protozoan carriage and dietary habits are the external factors with the deepest impact on gut microbiome. Further studies are needed to understand whether gut microbial richness constitute a predilection niche for protozoans colonization, due to their gazing features, or whether the parasites themselves induce a higher bacterial richness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using information contained in the eighteenth to twentieth century British administrative documents, preserved in the National Archives of India (NAI), we present a 218-year (1729–1947 AD) record of socioeconomic disruptions and human impacts (famines) associated with 'rain failures' that affected the semi-arid regions (SARs) of southern India. By mapping the southern Indian famine record onto long-term spatiotemporal measures of regional rainfall variability, we demonstrate that the SARs of southern India repeatedly experienced famines when annual rainfall reduced by ~ one standard deviation (1 SD), or more, from long-term averages. In other words, 'rain failures' listed in the colonial documents as causes of extreme socioeconomic disruptions, food shortages and human distress (famines) in the southern Indian SARs were fluctuations in precipitation well within the normal range of regional rainfall variability and not extreme rainfall deficits (≥ 3 SD). Our study demonstrates that extreme climate events were not necessary conditions for extreme socioeconomic disruptions and human impacts rendered by the colonial era famines in peninsular India. Based on our findings, we suggest that climate change risk assessement should consider the potential impacts of more frequent low-level anomalies (e.g. 1 SD) in drought prone semi-arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The built environment affects mental health outcomes, but this relationship is less studied and understood. This article proposes a novel multi-level scenario-based predictive analytics framework (MSPAF) to explore the complex relationships between community mental health outcomes and the built environment conditions. The MSPAF combines rigorously validated interpretable machine learning algorithms and scenario-based sensitivity analysis to test various hypotheses on how the built environment impacts community mental health outcomes across the largest metropolitan areas in the US. Among other findings, our results suggest that declining socio-economic conditions of the built environment (e.g., poverty, low income, unemployment, decreased access to public health insurance) are significantly associated with increased reported mental health disorders. Similarly, physical conditions of the built environment (e.g., increased housing vacancies and increased travel costs) are significantly associated with increased reported mental health disorders. However, this positive relationship between the physical conditions of the built environment and mental health outcomes does not hold across all the metropolitan areas, suggesting a mixed effect of the built environment's physical conditions on community mental health. We conclude by highlighting future opportunities of incorporating other variables and datasets into the MSPAF framework to test additional hypotheses on how the built environment impacts community mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood maltreatment has been shown to relate to adult obesity. In this epidemiological study, we investigate the association between childhood maltreatment and waist-to-height-ratio (WHtR) in a sample of the German adult population, comprising of N = 2936 participants. WHtR, an indicator for risk of obesity, was the primary outcome. Childhood maltreatment was assessed by the Childhood Trauma Screener (CTS), which assesses emotional and physical neglect, abuse as well as sexual abuse. Cohort-data were harmonized and analyzed within DataSHIELD. We used multivariable regression models to estimate the association of childhood maltreatment and WHtR at different levels of adjustments for potential confounders. Overall childhood maltreatment was associated with a higher WHtR in both sexes (women: p = 0.004, men: p < 0.001); associations were no longer significant in women after adding socioeconomic variables, but remained significant in men (p = 0.013). Additionally, we were able to identify sex specific patterns for childhood maltreatment predicting the WHtR. Emotional neglect and abuse had stronger impacts on the WHtR in women than in men, whereas physical neglect and abuse had stronger impacts in men. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive population-based study testing various types of childhood maltreatment with WHtR in sex-, region- and weight-stratified analyses. Future studies in clinical populations are warranted to examine U-shaped correlations between increased WHtR and childhood maltreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to assess the magnitude and trend of mortality rates due to oral (OC) and oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) in the 133 Intermediate Geographic Regions (IGR) of Brazil between 1996 and 2018 and to analyze its association with sociodemographic variables and provision of health services. It also aims to compare the trend of mortality from neoplasms that have been reported as associated with HPV (OPC) with the trend of neoplasms that have been reported as not associated with HPV (OC). We obtained mortality data from the Mortality Information System in Brazil and analyzed the trends using the Prais-Winsten method. Then, we assessed the relationship between mortality trends and socioeconomic, health spending, and health services provision variables. The median of the annual percent change of the country's mortality rates was 0.63% for OC and 0.83% for OPC. Trends in mortality in the IGRs correlated significantly with the Human Development Index and government expenditure on ambulatory health care and hospitalizations. Mortality from both types of cancer decreased in those IGR in which the government spent more on health and in the more socioeconomically developed ones. This study found no epidemiological indication that HPV plays the leading etiological factor in OPC in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-perception of ethnicity is a complex social trait shaped by both, biological and non-biological factors. We developed a comprehensive analysis of ethnic self-perception (ESP) on a large sample of Latin American mestizos from five countries, differing in age, socio-economic and education context, external phenotypic attributes and genetic background. We measured the correlation of ESP against genomic ancestry, and the influence of physical appearance, socio-economic context, and education on the distortion observed between both. Here we show that genomic ancestry is correlated to aspects of physical appearance, which in turn affect the individual ethnic self-perceived ancestry. Also, we observe that, besides the significant correlation among genomic ancestry and ESP, specific physical or socio-economic attributes have a strong impact on self-perception. In addition, the distortion among ESP and genomic ancestry differs across age ranks/countries, probably suggesting the underlying effect of past public policies regarding identity. Our results indicate that individuals' own ideas about its origins should be taken with caution, especially in aspects of modern life, including access to work, social policies, and public health key decisions such as drug administration, therapy design, and clinical trials, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epilepsy has garnered increased public health focus because patients who suffer from epilepsy experience pronounced and persistent health and socioeconomic disparities despite treatment and care advances. The epidemiology of epilepsy is diverse in different countries and regions. This nationwide population-based cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the life time prevalence and health related factors of epilepsy for the first time in Iran through a two-phase door-to-door survey method. In phase I, a screening for epilepsy was performed on 68,035 people. Then in phase II, after the neurological evaluation of participants and reviewing medical records, 1130 subjects with epilepsy was confirmed. The life time prevalence of epilepsy was achieved to be 16.6 per 1000 people (95% CI 15.4–17.8) with the average age onset 19.1 ± 21.1 (active prevalence 9.5 per 1000 people). Focal seizure (59.3%), generalized epilepsy (38%) and unknown types of epilepsy (2.7%) were detected among participants. The overall life time prevalence of febrile convulsion was 4.1 per 1000 people. The frequency of attacks per year and per month were 3.0 ± 1.6 and 0.5 ± 0.1, respectively. Age-specific life time prevalence was highest among the age group of 15–19 years old [32.7 per 1000 persons (95% CI 29.1–36.8)] and it was higher in male (53.8%) than female (46.2%) participants. Our results showed that the life time prevalence of epilepsy in Iran is higher than worldwide average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the use of network modeling to capture the shifting spatiotemporal nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. The most common approach to tracking COVID-19 cases over time and space is to examine a series of maps that provide snapshots of the pandemic. A series of snapshots can convey the spatial nature of cases but often rely on subjective interpretation to assess how the pandemic is shifting in severity through time and space. We present a novel application of network optimization to a standard series of snapshots to better reveal how the spatial centres of the pandemic shifted spatially over time in the mainland United States under a mix of interventions. We find a global spatial shifting pattern with stable pandemic centres and both local and long-range interactions. Metrics derived from the daily nature of spatial shifts are introduced to help evaluate the pandemic situation at regional scales. We also highlight the value of reviewing pandemics through local spatial shifts to uncover dynamic relationships among and within regions, such as spillover and concentration among states. This new way of examining the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of network-based spatial shifts offers new story lines in understanding how the pandemic spread in geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Derelict abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear have profound adverse effects. We assessed gear-specific relative risks from derelict gear to rank-order fishing methods based on: derelict gear production rates, gear quantity indicators of catch weight and fishing grounds area, and adverse consequences from derelict gear. The latter accounted for ghost fishing, transfer of microplastics and toxins into food webs, spread of invasive alien species and harmful microalgae, habitat degradation, obstruction of navigation and in-use fishing gear, and coastal socioeconomic impacts. Globally, mitigating highest risk derelict gear from gillnet, tuna purse seine with fish aggregating devices, and bottom trawl fisheries achieves maximum conservation gains. Locally, adopting controls following a sequential mitigation hierarchy and implementing effective monitoring, surveillance and enforcement systems are needed to curb derelict gear from these most problematic fisheries. Primary and synthesis research are priorities to improve future risk assessments, produce the first robust estimate of global derelict gear quantity, and assess the performance of initiatives to manage derelict gear. Findings from this first quantitative estimate of gear-specific relative risks from derelict gear guide the allocation of resources to achieve the largest improvements from mitigating adverse effects of derelict gear from the world's 4.6 million fishing vessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies exploring when social inequalities in body mass index (BMI) and its composites emerge and how these evolve with age are limited. Thus, this study explored parental income and education related inequalities in children's weight, height, weight velocity and body mass index among Norwegian children from 1 month to 8 years. The study population included 59,927 family/children pairs participating in the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study. Growth was modelled using the Jenss–Bayley model and linear mixed effects analyses were conducted. Maternal and paternal educational differences in children's weight and BMI trajectories emerged during infancy, continuing to age 8 years. Parental income-related inequalities in children's weight were observed from the age of 1 month to 4 years for maternal and up to 1 year for paternal income-related differences but then disappeared. Parental income-related inequalities in child's BMI were observed from 18 months to 8 years for maternal income, and from 9 months to 8 years for paternal income-related differences. These results suggest that social inequalities in children's BMI present early in infancy and continue to 8 years of age. The inequalities sometimes differed by indicator of socioeconomic position used. Interventions to combat these inequalities early in life are, thus needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future dynamics of the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in African countries is largely unclear. Simultaneously, required strengths of intervention measures are strongly debated because containing COVID-19 in favor of the weak health care system largely conflicts with socio-economic hardships. Here we analyze the impact of interventions on outbreak dynamics for South Africa, exhibiting the largest case numbers across sub-saharan Africa, before and after their national lockdown. Past data indicate strongly reduced but still supracritical growth after lockdown. Moreover, large-scale agent-based simulations given different future scenarios for the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality with 1.14 million inhabitants, based on detailed activity and mobility survey data of about 10% of the population, similarly suggest that current containment may be insufficient to not overload local intensive care capacity. Yet, enduring, slightly stronger or more specific interventions, combined with sufficient compliance, may constitute a viable option for interventions for South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How well one does at school is predictive of a wide range of important cognitive, socioeconomic, and health outcomes. The last few years have shown marked advancement in our understanding of the genetic contributions to, and correlations with, academic attainment. However, there exists a gap in our understanding of the specificity of genetic associations with performance in academic subjects during adolescence, a critical developmental period. To address this, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children was used to conduct genome-wide association studies of standardised national English (N = 5983), maths (N = 6017) and science (N = 6089) tests. High SNP-based heritabilities (h2SNP) for all subjects were found (41–53%). Further, h2SNP for maths and science remained after removing shared variance between subjects or IQ (N = 3197–5895). One genome-wide significant single nucleotide polymorphism (rs952964, p = 4.86 × 10–8) and four gene-level associations with science attainment (MEF2C, BRINP1, S100A1 and S100A13) were identified. Rs952964 remained significant after removing the variance shared between academic subjects. The findings highlight the benefits of using environmentally homogeneous samples for genetic analyses and indicate that finer-grained phenotyping will help build more specific biological models of variance in learning processes and abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change threatens biodiversity directly by influencing biophysical variables that drive species' geographic distributions and indirectly through socio-economic changes that influence land use patterns, driven by global consumption, production and climate. To date, no detailed analyses have been produced that assess the relative importance of, or interaction between, these direct and indirect climate change impacts on biodiversity at large scales. Here, we apply a new integrated modelling framework to quantify the relative influence of biophysical and socio-economically mediated impacts on avian species in Vietnam and Australia and we find that socio-economically mediated impacts on suitable ranges are largely outweighed by biophysical impacts. However, by translating economic futures and shocks into spatially explicit predictions of biodiversity change, we now have the power to analyse in a consistent way outcomes for nature and people of any change to policy, regulation, trading conditions or consumption trend at any scale from sub-national to global. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood have a higher rate of inflammation-related diseases decades later. Little is known about the mechanisms linking early life experiences to the functioning of the immune system in adulthood. To address this, we explore the relationship across social-to-biological layers of early life social exposures on levels of adulthood inflammation and the mediating role of gene regulatory mechanisms, epigenetic and transcriptomic profiling from blood, in 2,329 individuals from two European cohort studies. Consistently across both studies, we find transcriptional activity explains a substantive proportion (78% and 26%) of the estimated effect of early life disadvantaged social exposures on levels of adulthood inflammation. Furthermore, we show that mechanisms other than cis DNA methylation may regulate those transcriptional fingerprints. These results further our understanding of social-to-biological transitions by pinpointing the role of gene regulation that cannot fully be explained by differential cis DNA methylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the transition to renewable energies will intensify the global competition for land, the potential impacts driven by solar energy remain unexplored. In this work, the potential solar land requirements and related land use change emissions are computed for the EU, India, Japan and South Korea. A novel method is developed within an integrated assessment model which links socioeconomic, energy, land and climate systems. At 25–80% penetration in the electricity mix of those regions by 2050, we find that solar energy may occupy 0.5–5% of total land. The resulting land cover changes, including indirect effects, will likely cause a net release of carbon ranging from 0 to 50 gCO2/kWh, depending on the region, scale of expansion, solar technology efficiency and land management practices in solar parks. Hence, a coordinated planning and regulation of new solar energy infrastructures should be enforced to avoid a significant increase in their life cycle emissions through terrestrial carbon losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various non-pharmaceutical interventions were adopted by countries worldwide in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with adverse socioeconomic side effects, which raises the question about their differential effectiveness. We estimate the average dynamic effect of each intervention on the incidence of COVID-19 and on people's whereabouts by developing a statistical model that accounts for the contemporaneous adoption of multiple interventions. Using daily data from 175 countries, we show that, even after controlling for other concurrent lockdown policies, cancelling public events, imposing restrictions on private gatherings and closing schools and workplaces had significant effects on reducing COVID-19 infections. Restrictions on internal movement and public transport had no effects because the aforementioned policies, imposed earlier on average, had already de facto reduced human mobility. International travel restrictions, although imposed early, had a short-lived effect failing to prevent the epidemic from turning into a pandemic because they were less stringent. We interpret the impact of each intervention on containing the pandemic using a conceptual framework which relies on their effects on human mobility behaviors in a manner consistent with time-use and epidemiological factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence from social psychology suggests that men compared to women more readily display and pursue control over human resources or capital. However, studying how status and gender shape deliberate impression formation is difficult due to social desirability concerns. Using univariate and multivariate fMRI analyses (n = 65), we examined how gender and socioeconomic status (SES) may influence brain responses during deliberate but private impression formation. Men more than women showed greater activity in the VMPFC and NAcc when forming impressions of high-SES (vs. low-SES) targets. Seed partial least squares (PLS) analysis showed that this SES-based increase in VMPFC activity was associated with greater co-activation across an evaluative network for the high-SES versus low-SES univariate comparison. A data-driven task PLS analysis also showed greater co-activation in an extended network consisting of regions involved in salience detection, attention, and task engagement as a function of increasing target SES. This co-activating network was most pronounced for men. These findings provide evidence that high-SES targets elicit neural responses indicative of positivity, reward, and salience during impression formation among men. Contributions to a network neuroscience understanding of status perception and implications for gender- and status-based impression formation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioerosion is a process with a high socio-economic impact that contributes to coastal retreat, and likely to increase with climate change. Whereas limestone bioerosion is well explained by a combination of mechanical and chemical pathways, the bioerosion mechanisms of silicates, which are harder and chemically more resistant, remain elusive. Here we investigated the interface between siltstone and freshwater rock-boring bivalves Lignopholas fluminalis (Bivalvia: Pholadidae). Remains of a microbial biofilm were observed only in the poorly consolidated part of the rock within the macroborings created by bivalves. Secondary Mn-bearing minerals identified in the biofilm suggest that microbes promoted silicate rock weathering by dissolving Mn-rich chlorites. Moreover, hard mineral debris found in a biofilm attached to the shells likely contributed to the abrasion of the rock substrate. Thus, beyond the classical view of chemical and/or mechanical action(s) of macroborers, silicate bioerosion may also be facilitated by an unexpected synergistic association between macro- and microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In orthognathic surgery, the use of patient-specific osteosynthesis devices is a novel approach used to transfer the virtual surgical plan to the patient. The aim of this study is to analyse the quality of mandibular anatomy reproduction using a mandible-first mandibular-PSI guided procedure on 22 patients. Three different positioning guide designs were compared in terms of osteosynthesis plate positioning and mandibular anatomical outcome. PSIs and positioning guides were designed according to virtual surgical plan and 3D printed using biocompatible materials. A CBCT scan was performed 1 month after surgery and postoperative mandibular models were segmented for comparison against the surgical plan. A precision comparison was carried out among the three groups. Correlations between obtained rami and plates discrepancies and between planned rami displacements and obtained rami discrepancies were calculated. Intraoperatively, all PSIs were successfully applied. The procedure was found to be accurate in planned mandibular anatomy reproduction. Different guide designs did not differ in mandibular outcome precision. Plate positional discrepancies influenced the corresponding ramus position, mainly in roll angle and vertical translation. Ramus planned displacement was found to be a further potential source of inaccuracy, possibly due to osteosynthesis surface interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the spatial and temporal patterns of human pressures provides a foundation for understanding interactions between human and environment and managing human activities for a sustainable development. This study is the first attempt focused within China at calculating the spatial–temporal human footprint and its driving forces in a highly urbanized area with intensive human activities. Population, land use, night-time lights, and road impacts were used to generate human footprint maps of Jiangsu Province for 2000, 2010 and 2015 with a resolution of 1 km * 1 km. Five natural drivers and four anthropogenic drivers were employed to construct generalized additive models for explaining the spatial variation of human footprint and its change. It shows that a large difference is between the human footprint in northern and southern Jiangsu, and the pattern of human pressures conforms to the "Matthew effect", with spatial aggregation of high human footprint areas accelerating. Slope, industrialization level are significant in explaining the spatial variation of human footprint in 2000, 2010 and 2015. The effect of natural drivers decreases for explaining the human footprint over time. Furthermore, annual precipitation, mean annual temperature and urban per capita disposable income are also significant drivers for human footprint in 2010 and 2015. And the increasing of human footprint slows with increasing of industrialization level. The difference of industrialization level and urban income between northern and southern Jiangsu mainly caused different driving pattern for human footprint and its change. Our study has generated new insights on the interaction pattern between human and nature in highly developed regions based on the human footprint concept, and can provide references for managing human activities in similar regions rapid socioeconomic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floods in urban environments often result in loss of life and destruction of property, with many negative socio-economic effects. However, the application of most flood prediction models still remains challenging due to data scarcity. This creates a need to develop novel hybridized models based on historical urban flood events, using, e.g., metaheuristic optimization algorithms and wavelet analysis. The hybridized models examined in this study (Wavelet-SVR-Bat and Wavelet-SVR-GWO), designed as intelligent systems, consist of a support vector regression (SVR), integrated with a combination of wavelet transform and metaheuristic optimization algorithms, including the grey wolf optimizer (GWO), and the bat optimizer (Bat). The efficiency of the novel hybridized and standalone SVR models for spatial modeling of urban flood inundation was evaluated using different cutoff-dependent and cutoff-independent evaluation criteria, including area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), Accuracy (A), Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC), Misclassification Rate (MR), and F-score. The results demonstrated that both hybridized models had very high performance (Wavelet-SVR-GWO: AUC = 0.981, A = 0.92, MCC = 0.86, MR = 0.07; Wavelet-SVR-Bat: AUC = 0.972, A = 0.88, MCC = 0.76, MR = 0.11) compared with the standalone SVR (AUC = 0.917, A = 0.85, MCC = 0.7, MR = 0.15). Therefore, these hybridized models are a promising, cost-effective method for spatial modeling of urban flood susceptibility and for providing in-depth insights to guide flood preparedness and emergency response services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRFs) demonstrate significant geographic variation in their distribution. The study aims to quantify the general contextual effect of the areas on CMRFs; and the geographic variation explained by area-level socioeconomic disadvantage. A cross sectional design and multilevel logistic regression methods were adopted. Data included objectively measured routine pathology test data between years 2012 and 2017 on: fasting blood sugar level; glycated haemoglobin; total cholesterol; high density lipoprotein; urinary albumin creatinine ratio; estimated glomerular filtration rate; and body mass index. The 2011 Australian census based Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage (IRSD) were the area-level study variables, analysed at its smallest geographic unit of reporting. A total of 1,132,029 CMRF test results from 256,525 individuals were analysed. After adjusting for individual-level covariates, all CMRFs significantly associated with IRSD and the probability of higher risk CMRFs increases with greater area-level disadvantage. Though the specific contribution of IRSD in the geographic variation of CMRF ranged between 57.8 and 14.71%, the general contextual effect of areas were found minimal (ICCs 0.6–3.4%). The results support universal interventions proportional to the need and disadvantage level of populations for the prevention and control of CMRFs, rather than any area specific interventions as the contextual effects were found minimal in the study region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imprinted genes, giving rise to parent-of-origin effects (POEs), have been hypothesised to affect type 1 diabetes (T1D) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, maternal effects may also play a role. By using a mixed model that is able to simultaneously consider all kinds of POEs, the importance of POEs for the development of T1D and RA was investigated in a variance components analysis. The analysis was based on Swedish population-scale pedigree data. With P = 0.18 (T1D) and P = 0.26 (RA) imprinting variances were not significant. Explaining up to 19.00% (± 2.00%) and 15.00% (± 6.00%) of the phenotypic variance, the maternal environmental variance was significant for T1D (P = 1.60 × 10−24) and for RA (P = 0.02). For the first time, the existence of maternal genetic effects on RA was indicated, contributing up to 16.00% (± 3.00%) of the total variance. Environmental factors such as the social economic index, the number of offspring, birth year as well as their interactions with sex showed large effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Official data on daily PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO, and maximum 8-h average O3 (O3_8h) concentrations from January 2015 to December 2018 were evaluated and air pollution status and dynamics in Shanghai municipality were examined. Factors affecting air quality, including meteorological factors and socio-economic indicators, were analyzed. The main findings were that: (1) Overall air quality status in Shanghai municipality has improved and number of days meeting 'Chinese ambient air quality standards' (CAAQS) Grade II has increased. (2) The most frequent major pollutant in Shanghai municipality is O3 (which exceeded the standard on 110 days in 2015, 84 days in 2016, 126 days in 2017, 113 days in 2018), followed by PM2.5 (120days in 2015, 104 days in 2016, 67 days in 2017, 61 days in 2018) and NO2 (50 days in 2015, 67 days in 2016, 79 days in 2017, 63 days in 2018). (3) PM2.5 pollution in winter and O3 pollution in summer are the main air quality challenges in Shanghai municipality. (4) Statistical analysis suggested that PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and NO2 concentrations were significantly negatively associated with precipitation (Prec) and atmosphere temperature (T) (p < 0.05), while the O3 concentration was significantly positively associated with Prec and T (p < 0.05). Lower accumulation of PM, SO2, NO2, and CO and more serious O3 pollution were revealed during months with higher temperature and more precipitation in Shanghai. The correlation between the socio-economic factors and the air pollutants suggest that further rigorous measures are needed to control PM2.5 and that further studies are needed to identify O3 formation mechanisms and control strategies. The results provide scientific insights into meteorological factors and socio-economic indicators influencing air pollution in Shanghai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Acceleration of the anthropogenic impact on the Earth system is marked by the ubiquitous distribution of anthropogenic materials throughout the global environment, including technofossils, radionuclides and the exponential increases of methane and carbon dioxide concentrations. However, personal care products as direct tracers of human domestic habits are often overlooked. Here, we present the first research combining fragrances, as novel personal care products, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as combustion and industrial markers, across the onset of the Great Acceleration in the Elbrus, Caucasus, ice core. This archive extends from the 1930s to 2005, spanning the profound changes in the relationship between humans and the environment during the twentieth century. Concentrations of both fragrances and PAHs rose throughout the considered period, reflecting the development of the Anthropocene. However, within this rising trend, remarkable decreases of the tracers track the major socioeconomic crises that occurred in Eastern Europe during the second half of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In France, 110,000 patients are admitted to hospital per year for stroke. Even though the relationship between stroke and risk factors such as low socio-economic status is well known, research in the spatial distribution (SD) of stroke as a contributing risk factor is less documented. Understanding the geographic differences of the disease may improve stroke prevention. In this study, a statistical spatial analysis was performed using a French cohort (STROKE 69) to describe spatial inequalities in the occurrence of stroke. STROKE 69 was a cohort study of 3,442 patients, conducted in the Rhône department of France, from November 2015 to December 2016. The cohort included all consecutive patients aged 18 years or older, with a likelihood of acute stroke within 24 hours of symptoms onset. Patients were geolocated, and incidence standardized rates ratio were estimated. SD models were identified using global spatial autocorrelation analysis and cluster detection methods. 2,179 patients were selected for analysis with spatial autocorrelation methods, including 1,467 patients with stroke, and 712 with a transient ischemic attack (TIA). Within both cluster detection methods, spatial inequalities were clearly visible, particularly in the northern region of the department and western part of the metropolitan area where rates were higher. Geographic methods for SD analysis were suitable tools to explain the spatial occurrence of stroke and identified potential spatial inequalities. This study was a first step towards understanding SD of stroke. Further research to explain SD using socio-economic data, care provision, risk factors and climate data is needed in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To estimate dementia incidence rates using Australian administrative datasets and compare the characteristics of people identified with dementia across different datasets. This data linkage study used a cohort of 267,153 from the Australian 45 and Up Study. Participants completed a survey in 2006–2009 and subsequent dementia was identified through pharmaceutical claims, hospitalisations, aged care eligibility assessments, care needs at residential aged care entry and death certificates. Age-specific, and age-standardised incidence rates, incidence rate ratios and survival from first dementia diagnosis were estimated. Estimated age-standardised dementia incidence rates using all linked datasets was 16.8 cases per 1000 person years for people aged 65+. Comparing incidence rates to the global published rates suggested 77% of cases were identified but this varied by age with highest coverage among those aged 80–84 years (92%). Incidence rate ratios were inconsistent across datasets for: sex, socio-economic disadvantage, size of support network, marital status, functional limitations and diabetes. Median survival from first dementia diagnosis ranged from 1.80 years in the care needs dataset to 3.74 years in the pharmaceutical claims dataset. Characteristics of people identified with dementia in different administrative datasets reflect the factors that drive interaction with specific services; this may introduce bias in observational studies using a single data-source to identify dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic factors explain a major proportion of human height variation, but differences in mean stature have also been found between socio-economic categories suggesting a possible effect of environment. By utilizing a classical twin design which allows decomposing the variation of height into genetic and environmental components, we tested the hypothesis that environmental variation in height is greater in offspring of lower educated parents. Twin data from 29 cohorts including 65,978 complete twin pairs with information on height at ages 1 to 69 years and on parental education were pooled allowing the analyses at different ages and in three geographic-cultural regions (Europe, North America and Australia, and East Asia). Parental education mostly showed a positive association with offspring height, with significant associations in mid-childhood and from adolescence onwards. In variance decomposition modeling, the genetic and environmental variance components of height did not show a consistent relation to parental education. A random-effects meta-regression analysis of the aggregate-level data showed a trend towards greater shared environmental variation of height in low parental education families. In conclusion, in our very large dataset from twin cohorts around the globe, these results provide only weak evidence for the study hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic macular edema (DME) refractory to anti-VEGF drugs is a socioeconomic burden. In this retrospective study, we investigated the relationship between DME remission and hyperreflective walls in foveal cystoid spaces, a novel finding on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images in DME. In a cross-sectional study, we assessed the relationship between hyperreflective walls in foveal cystoid spaces and other OCT findings in 110 eyes of 110 DME patients. Hyperreflective walls were delineated in 27 of 171 foveal cystoid spaces. Eyes with hyperreflective walls in foveal cystoid spaces had poorer visual acuity and more severe photoreceptor disruption than did those without such findings (P = 0.008 and P < 0.001, respectively). In the other longitudinal study, we evaluated the relationship between this finding and the remission in 54 eyes of 51 DME patients treated with as-needed ranibizumab injections for 24 months. Foveal cystoid spaces with hyperreflective walls were often persistent, and the cumulative rates of DME remission among eyes with and without the hyperreflective walls were 7.7% (1 eye) and 48.8% (20 eyes) at 18 months (hazard ratio, 0.092; P = 0.025). We characterized hyperreflective walls in foveal cystoid spaces and designated them as a predictor of no DME remission under ranibizumab injections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apart from high levels of energy, proteins, micro- and macronutrients, milk contains calcium and the insulin-like growth factor-1 that are of major relevance for children's development and growth. Using Demographic and Health Survey data between 1990 and 2017 with information on milk consumption and anthropometric measurements from all low- and middle-income countries available, we investigate whether milk consumption in childhood is associated with stunting, wasting, and underweight. We specify logistic regression models and adjust for a range of covariates and fixed effects on the primary sampling unit level. We analyze heterogeneity in the association by wealth quintiles and age groups and present country-specific estimates. The final samples for wasting, underweight and stunting include 668.463, 693.376, and 673.177 observations of children aged 6 to 59 months, respectively. Our results suggest that milk consumption is associated with a reduced probability of being underweight of 1.4 percentage points (95% confidence interval −0.02, −0.01) and a reduced probability of being stunted of 1.9 percentage points (95% confidence interval −0.02, −0.01). The association for wasting is not robust. The association is stronger for children from wealthier households, which might indicate that milk consumption is a proxy for better overall nutrition or socio-economic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although low socioeconomic status (SES) is related to poor glycemic control, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We examined potentially modifiable factors involved in the association between low SES and poor glycemic control using data from the baseline survey of a multicenter, prospective cohort study. Five hundred adult type 2 diabetes patients were recruited from three diabetes centers. Glycemic control was poorer in diabetic individuals with low SES than in those with higher SES. Adverse health-related behaviors, such as non-adherence to medication (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.07, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–1.13) and diet (AOR = 1.04, 95% CI 1.02–1.06); existing comorbidities, such as depressive symptoms (AOR = 1.05, 95% CI 1.04–1.09); and non-adherence to essential health service-related practices concerning diabetes care, such as irregular scheduled clinic visits (AOR = 1.04, 95% CI 1.03–1.06) and not practicing self-monitoring of blood glucose (AOR = 1.05, 95% CI 1.03–1.07), mediated the relationship between social adversity and poor glycemic control specially in urban areas of Bangladesh. Those identified factors provide useful information for developing interventions to mitigate socioeconomic disparities in glycemic control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence seems deeply rooted in human nature and an endemic potential for such is today frequently associated with differing ethnic, religious or socio-economic backgrounds. Ethnic nepotism is believed to be one of the main causes of inter-group violence in multi-ethnic societies. At the site of Els Trocs in the Spanish Pyrenees, rivalling groups of either migrating early farmers or farmers and indigenous hunter-gatherers collided violently around 5300 BCE. This clash apparently resulted in a massacre of the Els Trocs farmers. The overkill reaction was possibly triggered by xenophobia or massive disputes over resources or privileges. In the present, violence and xenophobia are controlled and sanctioned through social codes of conduct and institutions. So that, rather than representing an insurmountable evolutionary inheritance, violence and ethnic nepotism can be overcome and a sustainable future achieved through mutual respect, tolerance and openness to multi-ethnic societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to determine if prematurity and lower birth weight are associated with poorer lung function in a non-western developed setting with less marked confounding by socioeconomic position. Using multivariable linear regression in Hong Kong's "Children of 1997" birth cohort, adjusted associations of prematurity and birth weight with forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory flow at 25–75% of the pulmonary volume (FEF25–75%) at ~17.5 years were assessed. Associations for birth weight were stronger in boys for FEV1 (boys: 0.31 L, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.24 to 0.38, girls: 0.18 L, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.25), FVC (boys: 0.36 L, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.44, girls: 0.22 L, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.28) and FEF25–75% (boys: 0.35 L, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.49, girls: 0.22 L, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.34) adjusted for age, socioeconomic position and infant and maternal characteristics. Similarly adjusted, preterm birth (compared to full-term birth) was associated with lower FEV1/FVC and FEF25–75%. Thus, associations of lower birth weight, especially in boys, and prematurity with poorer lung function at 17.5 years were found. Identifying underlying mechanism might contribute to the improvement of pulmonary health and the prevention of adult respiratory illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) on outcomes remains unclear in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients despite its importance in socioeconomic aspects and individual health. We aim to identify the relationship between HRQOL and progression of CKD in pre-dialysis patients. A total 1622 patients with CKD were analyzed in the KoreaN cohort Study for Outcomes in patients With Chronic Kidney Disease, a prospective cohort study. CKD progression was defined as one or more of the following: initiation of dialysis or transplantation, a two-fold increase in baseline serum creatinine levels, or a 50% decline in the estimated glomerular filtration rate during the follow-up period. The group with CKD progression had lower scores of HRQOL than the group without CKD progression. A fully adjusted Cox proportional hazard ratio model showed that each low baseline physical and mental component summary score was associated with a higher risk of CKD progression. In Kaplan-Meier survival analysis using propensity score matched data, only low physical component summary scores showed statistical significance with CKD progression. Our study highlights low physical component summary score for an important prognostic factor of CKD progression. Risk-modification interventions for high-risk patients may provide benefits to individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was carried out to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of Giardia infection among indigenous people in rural Malaysia. Faecal samples were collected from 1,330 participants from seven states of Malaysia and examined by wet mount and formalin-ether sedimentation methods while demographic, socioeconomic and environmental information was collected using a pre-tested questionnaire. The overall prevalence of Giardia infection was 11.6% and was significantly higher among those aged ≤ 12 years compared to their older counterparts. Multivariate logistic regression identified age of ≤ 12 years, lacking of toilet at household, not washing hands before eating, not washing hands after playing with animals, not boiling water before consumption, bathing in the river, and not wearing shoes when outside as the significant risk factors of Giardia infection among these communities. Based on a multilocus genotyping approach (including tpi, gdh and bg gene sequences), 69 isolates were identified as assemblage A, and 69 as assemblage B. No association between the assemblages and presence of symptoms was found. Providing proper sanitation, as well as provision of clean drinking water and proper health education regarding good personal hygiene practices will help significantly in reducing the prevalence and burden of Giardia infection in these communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding quantitative relationships between urban elements is crucial for a wide range of applications. The observation at the macroscopic level demonstrates that the aggregated urban quantities (e.g., gross domestic product) scale systematically with population sizes across cities, also known as urban scaling laws. However, at the mesoscopic level, we lack an understanding of whether the simple scaling relationship holds within cities, which is a fundamental question regarding the spatial origin of scaling in urban systems. Here, by analyzing four extensive datasets covering millions of mobile phone users and urban facilities, we investigate the scaling phenomena within cities. We find that the mesoscopic infrastructure volume and socioeconomic activity scale sub- and super-linearly with the active population, respectively. For a same scaling phenomenon, however, the exponents vary in cities of similar population sizes. To explain these empirical observations, we propose a conceptual framework by considering the heterogeneous distributions of population and facilities, and the spatial interactions between them. Analytical and numerical results suggest that, despite the large number of complexities that influence urban activities, the simple interaction rules can effectively explain the observed regularity and heterogeneity in scaling behaviors within cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to evaluate the socioeconomic inequality related to lung cancer mortality rates and trends between 2000 and 2015 according to gender in Brazil. We retrieved the death records for cases of lung cancer (ICD-10 C33 C34) from 2000 to 2015 in adults age 30 years and older in Brazilian Regions from official databases (DATASUS) and corrected for ill-defined causes. The Prais-Winsten regression method and Pearson correlation were applied. The results were considered statistically significant when p < 0.05. The correlation between the lung cancer mortality rates and the HDI decreased when the rates for the first and last years of the historical series were compared in men (r = 0.77; r = 0.58) and women (r = 0.64; r = 0.41). However, the correlation between the trends in the lung cancer mortality rates and the HDI was negative in men (r = − 0.76) and women (r = − 0.58), indicating larger reductions (or smaller additions) among the Federative Units with the highest HDI, in contrast to trends reflecting a greater increase in those with the lowest HDI. Our results suggest a relevant inequality in the trends of mortality from lung cancer in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geriatric trauma is a major socio-economic problem, especially among the aging Japanese society. Geriatric people are more vulnerable to trauma than younger people; thus, their outcomes are often severe. This study evaluates the characteristics of geriatric trauma divided by age in the Japanese population. We evaluated trauma characteristics in patients (n = 131,088) aged ≥ 65 years by segregating them into 2 age-based cohorts: age 65–79 years (65–79 age group; n = 70,707) and age ≥ 80 years (≥ 80 age group; n = 60,381). Clinical characteristics such as patient background, injury mechanism, injury site and severity, treatment, and outcome were examined. Injuries among men were more frequent in the 65–79 age group (58.6%) than in the ≥ 80 age group (36.3%). Falls were the leading cause of trauma among the 65–79 age group (56.7%) and the ≥ 80 age group (78.9%). In-hospital mortality was 7.7% in the 65–79 age group and 6.6% in the ≥ 80 age group. High fall in the ≥ 80 age group showed 30.5% mortality. The overall in-hospital mortality was 11.8% (the 65–79 age group, 12.3%; the ≥ 80 age group, 11.2%). Most hospitalized patients were transferred to another hospital (the 65–79 age group, 52.5%; the ≥ 80 age group, 66.2%). We demonstrated the epidemiological characteristics of Japanese geriatric trauma patients. The overall in-hospital mortality was 11.8%, and fall injury in the ≥ 80 age group required caution of trauma care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid increases in meat trade generate complex global networks across countries. However, there has been little research quantifying the dynamics of meat trade networks and the underlying forces that structure them. Using longitudinal network data for 134 countries from 1995 to 2015, we combined network modeling and cluster analysis to simultaneously identify the structural changes in meat trade networks and the factors that influence the networks themselves. The integrated network approach uncovers a general consolidation of global meat trade networks over time, although some global events may have weakened this consolidation both regionally and globally. In consolidated networks, the presence of trade agreements and short geographic distances between pairs of countries are associated with increases in meat trade. Countries with rapid population and income growth greatly depend on meat imports. Furthermore, countries with high food availability import large quantities of meat products to satisfy their various meat preferences. The findings from this network approach provide key insights that can be used to better understand the social and environmental consequences of increasing global meat trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is compelling evidence that depressive symptoms (depression hereafter) are common in university students and are considerably influenced by the given socioeconomic context. Being former European colonies, Macau and Hong Kong are China's special administrative regions, with different sociocultural and economic background compared to mainland China. This study compared the prevalence of depression in university students between Macau, Hong Kong and mainland China and examined the association between depression and quality of life (QOL). The Beck Depression Inventory-II and the World Health Organization Quality of Life—Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) were used to measure depression and QOL, respectively. Altogether, 2,312 university students participated in this study. The overall prevalence of depression was 28.9%; 35.2% in Macau, 41.0% in Hong Kong, and 16.8% in mainland China. Compared to the "No depression" group, students with depression had significantly lower QOL scores in the physical, psychological, social and environmental domains. Factors associated with depression were different between the three study sites. Sleep disturbances and high academic pressure were positively associated with depression in all the three samples. In mainland China, male students (OR = 1.68; 95% CI: 1.10–2.56) were more likely to have depression while those who were interested in their major (OR = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.29–0.69) were less likely to have depression. In Macau, students in Grade 3 (OR = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.36–0.89) and those who were interested in their major (OR = 0.58; 95% CI: 0.42–0.81) or had optimistic perspective about their future (OR = 0.51; 95% CI: 0.36–0.73) were less likely to have depression. Nursing students (OR = 1.86; 95% CI: 1.21–2.87) and students with the average score on major subject less than 65 (OR = 3.13; 95% CI: 1.70–5.78) were more likely to have depression. In Hong Kong, students with optimistic perspective about their future (OR = 0.44; 95% CI: 0.22–0.91) were less prone to have depression. Depression is common among Chinese university students, particularly in Macau and Hong Kong. Considering the negative impact of depression on QOL, regular screening and effective treatments should be offered to this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with high neuroticism had the decreased control functions of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) over amygdala (emotion regions) and low socioeconomic status (SES) had negative effects on the functions of ACC. Based on these, we hypothesized that the decreased functions of ACC might make individuals with low SES had high level of neuroticism. According to the score of objective SES (OSES) and subjective SES (SSES) scales, subjects were divided into four groups (low SSES, high SSES, low OSES and high OSES) to investigate the roles of dynamic characteristics related to the ACC in the relationships between SES and neuroticism using resting-state EEG (RS-EEG) microstates analysis. It had been found that RS-EEG microstates can be divided into four types (MS1, MS2, MS3 and MS4) and the MS3 was related cingulo-opercular brain networks (including ACC and anterior insular). As our prediction, SSES had direct effects on neuroticism relative to OSES. Moreover, the neuroticism for low SSES was positively related to the occurrence and contribution of MS3, as well as the possibilities of transitions between MS3 and MS1. Based on these, we thought that low-SSES individuals might be more difficult to inhibit the negative emotions, especially inhibit the spontaneous thoughts related to these emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is less transmissible than drug-susceptible (DS-)TB on a population level is uncertain. Even in the absence of a genetic fitness cost, the transmission potential of individuals with MDR-TB may vary by infectiousness, frequency of contact, or duration of disease. We used a compartmental model to project the progression of MDR-TB epidemics in South Africa and Vietnam under alternative assumptions about the relative transmission efficiency of MDR-TB. Specifically, we considered three scenarios: consistently lower transmission efficiency for MDR-TB than for DS-TB; equal transmission efficiency; and an initial deficit in the transmission efficiency of MDR-TB that closes over time. We calibrated these scenarios with data from drug resistance surveys and projected epidemic trends to 2040. The incidence of MDR-TB was projected to expand in most scenarios, but the degree of expansion depended greatly on the future transmission efficiency of MDR-TB. For example, by 2040, we projected absolute MDR-TB incidence to account for 5% (IQR: 4–9%) of incident TB in South Africa and 14% (IQR: 9–26%) in Vietnam assuming consistently lower MDR-TB transmission efficiency, versus 15% (IQR: 8–27%)and 41% (IQR: 23–62%), respectively, assuming shrinking transmission efficiency deficits. Given future uncertainty, specific responses to halt MDR-TB transmission should be prioritized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]