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Background We investigated the prospective bidirectional association between depressive symptoms and chronic lung disease (CLD) and explored biologically and behaviorally relevant mediators in this bidirectional association among Chinese middle-aged and older population in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Methods Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine baseline depressive symptoms in relation to incident CLD risk among 12,546 adults and examine CLD condition in association with incidence of elevated depressive symptoms among 6,929 participants from 2011 to 2018. Elevated depressive symptoms were assessed with the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale and CLD was determined by self-reported physician diagnosis. Causal mediation analysis was performed to examine the direct and indirect effects of a priori selected nine blood biomarkers and four lifestyle factors in the bidirectional association. Results Elevated depressive symptoms significantly increased CLD risk by 68% (HR=1.68, 95%CI=1.46–1.93) after a mean follow-up of 5.9 years and the strong positive association was consistently shown in almost all the subgroups. Having positive CLD status at baseline was associated with 17% increased risk of developing elevated depressive symptoms (HR=1.17, 95%CI=1.01–1.35) during an average of 4.6 years follow-up period. Significant inflammatory, metabolic or pulmonary function related mediators were not identified. Limitations Inadequate follow-up time and limited mediator variable information may reduce chance of identifying significant mediators. Conclusions Elevated depressive symptoms and CLD were mutual risk factors in middle-aged and older Chinese adults. Early screening and treatment of depression is needed to reduce CLD risk and related comorbidities including new-onset depression so as to relieve substantial disease burdens of CLD and depression in China.

Human gut microbiome research, especially gut microbiome, has been developing at a considerable pace over the last decades, driven by a rapid technological advancement. The emergence of high-throughput technologies, such as genomics, transcriptomics, and others, has afforded the generation of large volumes of data, and in relation to specific pathologies such as different cancer types. The current review identifies high-throughput technologies as they have been implemented in the study of microbiome and cancer. Four main thematic areas have emerged: the characterization of microbial diversity and composition, microbial functional analyses, biomarker prediction, and, lastly, potential therapeutic applications. The majority of studies identified focus on the microbiome diversity characterization, which is reaching technological maturity, while the remaining three thematic areas could be described as emerging.

The Greater Bay Area of southern China has a population of over 71 million people. The area is well-connected with Hubei province, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. Macau, as the most densely populated city in the world, is very vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks. Since its return to the sovereignty of China 20 years ago, the city has experienced outbreaks such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Swine flu, and COVID-19. At the time of writing, 10 confirmed imported/local transmission cases were recorded. The government undertook measures to attain and then maintain 40 days without new cases. In this article, we report on the 10 confirmed cases and discuss the measures that the Macau Special Administrative Region (S.A.R.) government undertook during the COVID-19 pandemic.