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As part of the Energy Golden Triangle in northwest China and the largest coal-to-liquids industry in the world, the emission and contamination of fine particles in the Ningdong National Energy and Chemical Industrial Base (NECIB) are unknown. There are also large knowledge gaps in the association of air pollution with coal-to-liquids industry. This paper reports the chemical composition and source apportionment of PM1 and PM2.5 collected at two industrial sites Yinglite (YLT) and Baofeng (BF) from a field campaign during summer 2016 and winter 2017. Major chemical components in PM1 and PM2.5, including carbonaceous aerosols, water-soluble inorganic ions, and metal elements were analyzed. The Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model and the ISORROPIA II thermodynamic equilibrium model were used to track possible sources and contributions of these chemical components to the formation of the two fine particles. The results identified four primary sources of the fine particles, including vehicle emissions, biomass burning and waste incineration, the secondary aerosols and coal combustion, and soil dust. The PM1 and PM2.5 concentrations were higher in winter than summer. The summed secondary inorganic and carbonaceous aerosols accounted for 36.1–40.0% of PM2.5 mass. The total mass of chemical components identified in the source apportionment only explained about 64.2 to 72.4% of the PM2.5 mass. These results imply some missing sources in this large-scale coal chemical industry base. A coupled weather forecasting and atmospheric chemistry model WRF-Chem was employed to simulate the PM2.5 mass and concentrations of OC and EC, and to examine the origins of PM2.5 across the NECIB. The modeled concentrations of OC and EC were consistent with the sampled data, but the modeled mass of PM2.5 is lower considerably than the measurements, again suggesting unknown sources of fine particles in this energy industrial base.

Severe air pollution in China is primarily caused by heavy demands for energy, especially from fossil fuels. Having the majority of China’s energy resources, northwestern China played an increasingly significant role in China’s energy supply over the past two decades, but the associated environmental consequences and energy justice are almost unknown or ignored. Here we conduct extensive model simulations using a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model to measure sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions resulting from the interprovincial trade associated with the west-east energy transmission in China. We examine the environmental consequences using a coupled weather forecast–atmospheric chemistry model. We show that SO2 emissions from the virtual west-east energy transmission accounted for over 40% of total SO2 emissions in northwestern China in the 2000s. Accordingly, 35–52% of SO2 atmospheric concentrations in this region could be attributed to the virtual west-east energy transmission for the same period. At some of the large-scale national energy and chemical industry bases in northwestern China, SO2 concentrations induced by the energy supply due to the demand from eastern China exceeded 60%. A tagging technique was employed to identify the source-receptor relationship of SO2 emissions embodied in west-east energy transmission by estimating the sensitivity and efficiency of the energy demanding regions to energy and heavy industry products. The results discerned eastern China to be a major sensitive energy demand region causing SO2 emission from the energy and high energy consuming industries in northwestern China. We propose that the Chinese authorities should subsidize the environmental losses in northwestern China subject to the virtual west-east energy transmission to promote energy justice.

Aim Long-acting injectable antipsychotic drugs (LAIs) are often used as an alternative to oral antipsychotics (OAPs) in individuals with psychosis who demonstrate poor medication adherence. Previous meta-analyses have found mixed results on the efficacy of LAIs, compared to OAPs, in patients with psychotic disorders. The objective of this meta-analysis was to compare the effectiveness of using LAIs versus OAPs in the early stages of psychosis. Methods Major electronic databases were used to search for any studies examining the comparative effectiveness (i.e., relapse, adherence, hospitalization, and all-cause discontinuation) of any LAIs versus OAPs in early stages of psychosis. Studies published up to 6 June, 2019 were included and no language restriction was applied. Inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of schizophrenia or related disorder, where patients were in their first episode or had a duration of illness ≤5 years. Data were analysed using a random-effects model. Results Fifteen studies (n = 10 584) were included, of which were 7 RCTs, 7 observational studies, and 1 post-hoc analysis. We found that LAIs provided advantages over OAPs in terms of relapse rates. No significant differences were found between LAI and OAP groups in terms of all-cause discontinuation, hospitalization, and adherence rates. However, considering only RCTs revealed advantages of LAIs over OAPs in terms of hospitalization rates. Conclusions LAIs may provide benefits over OAPs with respect to reducing relapse and hospitalization rates in early psychosis patients. There is a need for larger and better-designed studies comparing OAPs and LAIs specifically in early psychosis patients.

Wind farms have been found to alter local and regional meteorology and climate. Here, we show that multiple large-scale wind farms might disturb air quality forecasts and affect PM2.5 air pollution. We explore the impact of large-scale wind farms on PM2.5 concentrations and forecasts in the Northern China Plain in winter and summer using a coupled weather forecast – atmospheric chemistry model (WRF-Chem). Modelling results reveal that the large-scale wind farms decrease PM2.5 levels within the wind farms and increase PM2.5 concentrations by 49 % and 16 % of the modelled monthly mean PM2.5 concentrations in proximate areas and regions hundreds of kilometres downstream. The wind farm-forced changes in PM2.5 are more evident in the simulated hourly PM2.5 concentrations. The model sensitivity studies reveal that hourly concentration fractions in winter induced by wind farms vary from −40 % to 250 % in nearby and distant downstream regions and metropolises, comparing with the cases without the wind farms. The impact of wind farms on modeled PM2.5 during the nighttime is stronger than that in the daytime. Our results suggested that the wind farm perturbed changes in PM2.5 should not be overlooked because such changes might affect air quality forecast on an hourly basis, particularly in heavily contaminated Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region by PM2.5.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the most successful pathogen with multiple mechanisms to subvert host immune response, resulting in insidious disease. There are few studies on whether the bacteria undergo antigenic variation in response to host immune pressure. Studies on T cell epitopes of M. tuberculosis can help us further understand the mechanism of interaction between the bacteria and host immune system. Here, we selected 180 M. tuberculosis complex in China, amplified 462 experimentally verified human T cell epitopes, sequenced and compared the results to analyze the diversity of those epitopes. It proved that a large majority human T cell epitopes of M. tuberculosis are conserved. However, polymorphisms of T cell epitopes indicated different categories of proteins suffered divergence from host immune pressure. Moreover, Beijing strains are more conservative than non-Beijing strains in T cell epitopes, which might make them easier to transmit than non-Beijing strains.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of ubiquitous organic contaminants which poses an adverse health impact on environment and humans. This study assesses the PAHs environmental contamination and associated lung cancer risk attributable to interprovincial trade in goods and services in China. Virtual trade driven PAHs flow mainly from well-developed and industrialized provinces to less-developed provinces that provide energy and raw materials. In 2007, Shanxi (with a net PAHs outflow of 3743 tons) and Hebei (with a net PAHs outflow of 851 tons) account for 66.8% of total PAH emission outflow attributable to interprovincial trade. The largest single net PAHs flow was from Shanxi to Zhejiang (399 tons), followed by Shanxi to Jiangsu (371 tons), and Hebei to Zhejiang (194 tons). Our results also reveal a switching from outflow to inflow of industrial products with high PAH emissions in some provinces from 2007 to 2012 due to the changes in their industrial structure. The estimated incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) based on modeled benzo [a]pyrene (BaP) concentrations and considering trade driven emissions shows that excess nonoccupational lung cancer cases associated with trade related industrial BaP emissions totaled 2176 in 2007, accounting for 42% of lung cancer cases induced by all Chinese BaP emissions. Without interprovincial trade, Chinese lung cancer cases would increase to 3677 in 2007, indicating that interprovincial trade reduces lung cancer cases in well-developed and populated coastal provinces and increases cases in less populated and less developed provinces, which reduces the overall number of Chinese lung cancer cases. It is recommended that well-developed provinces in eastern and southern China should subsidize those inland provinces providing goods and services to eastern and southern China, in addition to the interprovincial trade.

The objective of this study was to investigate the drug resistance characteristics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates to four first-line antituberculous drugs (ATDs) from tuberculosis (TB) patients with AIDS in Beijing, China. All M. tuberculosis strains were isolated from specimens from TB patients with AIDS hospitalised between April 2010 and October 2012. Isolates were cultured by mycobacterial culture methods and were identified by multilocus PCR. Drug sensitivity testing was performed by the proportion method with the following first-line ATDs: isoniazid; rifampicin; streptomycin; and ethambutol. Results were compared with the drug resistance status of M. tuberculosis strains isolated from TB patients without HIV infection in Beijing. Among 41 M. tuberculosis isolates from TB patients with AIDS, the rates of total drug resistance (58.5%), initial drug resistance (46.7%) and acquired drug resistance (90.9%) were significantly higher than in TB patients without HIV infection (34.1%, 24.5% and 48.5%, respectively; P

Objectives.We studied the genetic diversity of clinical isolates from patients with tuberculosis in the multiethnic area of Xinjiang autonomous region in China. A total of 311 clinicalM. tuberculosisisolates were collected in 2006 and 2011 and genotyped by two genotyping methods. All isolates were grouped into 68 distinct spoligotypes using the spoligotyping method. The Beijing family was dominant, followed by T1 and CAS. MIRU-VNTR results showed that a total of 195 different VNTR types were identified. Ten of the 15 loci were highly or moderately discriminant according to their HGDI scores, and 13 loci had good discriminatory power in non-Beijing family strains, whereas only two loci had good discriminatory power in Beijing family strains. Chi-square tests demonstrated that there were no correlations between four characteristics (sex, age, type of case, and treatment history) and the Beijing family. In summary, Beijing family strains were predominant in Xinjiang, and theVNTR-15Chinalocus-set was suitable for genotyping all Xinjiang strains, but not for the Beijing family strains. Thus, these data suggested that different genotype distributions may exist in different regions; MLVA locus-sets should be adjusted accordingly, with newly added loci to increase resolution if necessary.

Pulmonary diseases caused by nontuberculousmycobacteria(NTM) are increasing in incidence and prevalence worldwide. In this study, we identified NTM species of the clinical isolates from 8 provinces in China, in order to preliminarily provide some basic scientific data in the different species and distribution of NTM related to pulmonary disease in China. A total of 523 clinical isolates from patients with tuberculosis (TB) diagnosed clinically from 2005 to 2012 were identified to the species using conventional and molecular methods, including multilocus PCR,rpoBandhsp65PCR-PRA,hsp65,rpoB, and16S-23Sinternal transcribed spacer region sequencing. The isolates were identified into 3 bacterium genera, including NTM,Gordonia bronchialis,andNocardia farcinica, and, for the 488 NTM isolates, 27 species were identified. For all the 27 species of NTM which were found to cause pulmonary infections in humans, the most prevalent species wasM. intracellulare, followed byM. aviumandM. abscessus. And seven other species were for the first time identified in patients with TB in China. NTM species identification is very important for distinguishing between tuberculosis and NTM pulmonary diseases, and the species diversity drives the creation of diverse and integrated identification methods with higher accuracy and efficacy.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is still a big threat to human health, especially in children. However, an isolation of Mycobacteriumtuberculosis culture frompediatric cases remainsachallenge. In order to provide some scientific basis for children TB control, we investigated the genotyping and drug resistance characteristics of M. tuberculosis isolates from pediatric cases in China. Methods&Materials: In this study, a total of 440 strains including 90 from children ( 18 years) isolated in 25 provinces across Chinawere subjected to spoligotyping and drug susceptibility testing. Results:As a result, Beijing family strainswere shown to remain predominant in China (85.6%, 81.1% and 75.4% in three above groups, respectively), especially among new children cases (91.0% vs. 69.6% in previously treated cases, P =0.03). The prevalence of the Beijing genotype isolates was higher in northern and central China in the total collection (85.1% in northern and 83.9% in central vs. 61.6% in southern China, P

Background Tuberculosis (TB) is still a big threat to human health, especially in children. However, an isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture from pediatric cases remains a challenge. In order to provide some scientific basis for children TB control, we investigated the genotyping and drug resistance characteristics of M. tuberculosis isolates from pediatric cases in China. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, a total of 440 strains including 90 from children (18 years) isolated in 25 provinces across China were subjected to spoligotyping and drug susceptibility testing. As a result, Beijing family strains were shown to remain predominant in China (85.6%, 81.1% and 75.4% in three above groups, respectively), especially among new children cases (91.0% vs. 69.6% in previously treated cases, P = 0.03). The prevalence of the Beijing genotype isolates was higher in northern and central China in the total collection (85.1% in northern and 83.9% in central vs. 61.6% in southern China, P

Background Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious public health problem in China, and within China, Inner Mongolia has a high prevalence area of TB. Though studies on the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) have been reported in many provinces, there are no such studies to date in Inner Mongolia. In this study, we investigated the genetic diversity of MTB in Inner Mongolia. Methodology/principal findings In this study, we analyzed 372 clinical MTB isolates with 22-loci mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit and variable-number tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR), spoligotyping, large sequence polymorphism (LSP), and NTF region analysis to understand the TB genotypes prevalent in Inner Mongolia. We found that the Beijing family was the most prevalent genotype (85.48%, 318/372), and the "modern" sublineage accounted for 76.73% (244/318) of the isolates. Our data also showed that there was no statistically significant association between the two major nationalities and the Beijing genotype (χ(2) = 3.612, P = 0.057; P>0.05). Conclusion/significance The Beijing genotype is the most prevalent family of M. tuberculosis in Inner Mongolia, and we do not find any correlation between the Beijing genotype and the major nationalities.

SummaryMycobacterium septicum is a rapidly growing Mycobacterium (RGM) that rarely causes pulmonary disease globally. We describe a case of M. septicum pulmonary disease, which to our knowledge is the first reported in China. The isolates were identified as M. septicum and were susceptible in vitro to amikacin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin, kanamycin, and sulfamethoxazole.