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Background: Evidence about the association between Bisphenol A (BPA) and the risk of recurrent miscarriage (RM) in human being is still limited. Objective: We evaluated the association of urinary BPA concentrations with RM in human being. Methods: A hospital-based 1:2 matched case-control study on RM was carried out in Suzhou and Kunshan in Jiangsu Province in China between August 2008 and November 2011. Total urinary BPA concentrations in 264 eligible urine samples (102 RM patients and 162 controls) were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The Wilcoxon test and conditional logistic regression were used to estimate the differences between the groups and odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), respectively. Results: The median ± IQR (interquartile range) (P75-P25) values of non-creatinine-adjusted total urinary BPA levels in the RM patients and the controls were 1.66±3.69ng/ml and 0.58±1.07ng/ml, respectively (0.98±2.67μg/g Cr (creatinine) and 0.40±0.77μg/g Cr. The adjusted BPA level was significantly higher in the RM patients than in the controls (Wilcoxon test, Z = 4.476, P<0.001). Higher level of urinary BPA was significantly associated with an increased risk of RM (P-trend <0.001). Compared to the groups with urinary BPA levels less than 0.16μg/g Cr, the women with levels of 0.40–0.93μg/g Cr and 0.93μg/g Cr or above had a significantly higher risk of RM (OR = 3.91, 95%CI: 1.23–12.45 and OR = 9.34, 95%CI: 3.06–28.44) that persisted after adjusting for confounding factors. The time from recently RM date to recruitment does not significantly influence the urinary BPA level (P = 0.090). Conclusion: Exposure to BPA may be associated with RM risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curriculum reform is an important reform for China in the course of its social transformation since its inception in 1996. With curriculum reform as its core, the current education reform has a decade-long history. Internally, the objectives of the current round of education reform by the state government are in support of the 'socialist market economy' and 'the economic development' for the restructuring of the social fabric. Externally, the objective is to enhance the human capital of China in preparation for the new challenges and increasingly fierce competition of the global knowledge-based economy. Senior secondary school education has become the focal point of the current round of reform in basic education. The education reform is also an attempt for the state government to ease some of the pressure brought by the social transformation in areas like the school examination system and employment; to handle social inequalities resulting from economic reforms and others, and to enhance the ethics and values of the next generation, a growing concern in the transformation process. These attempts have created tensions with the objectives of enhancing human capital and economic development. Under such context, the mission of the curriculum reform and the new mechanism of curriculum production imply changes in the way the state produces its core values in school education. This paper examines the 'Phase II Curriculum Reform' in Shanghai and elucidates the tensions among the diverse reform objectives, the underlying concept, institutional design, organization, actual reform outcomes as well as the path of the reform. In so doing, the paper further reveals the predicament that a developing country is currently facing in its education reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lake eutrophication has become a serious environmental problem in China. Manipulations covering more elements of trophic pyramid are methods for lakes to obtain clear water state and should be studied in detail. In the present study, Meishan Dongpo Lake was divided into two parts, and a combined biomanipulation project was conducted in one part (RLake), and the other part was used as a control (CLake). Species of submerged-plant, fish, macrobenthos, and zooplankton were screened and a certain number of them were added to adjust the eco-chain in RLake. After restoration, the coverage of submerged macrophytes reached >85%; zooplankton greater than 0.6 mm in size increased in number, and the ratio of zooplankton biomass to chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration increased. The dominant fish species changed, and disturbance of the sediment was reduced. The average density of mollusks in RLake was 111.5 ± 19.8 ind m−2, which was much higher than that in CLake (36.7 ± 2.1 ind m−2). Water quality and clarity were substantially improved, and nutrient concentrations, particularly total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and Chl-a were significantly reduced. The aquatic community parameters were negatively correlated with the nutrient parameters and Chl-a. The ecological restoration have adjusted the aquatic ecosystem in RLake, and many positive feedback effects among the aquatic communities made them remove internal nutrients and Chl-a more efficiently. Image 1 • A field combined biomanipulation was conducted with a control. • Submerged macrophyte and aquatic animal communities were constructed. • Positive feedbacks within the groups make the lake remove nutrients efficiently. • Submerged macrophytes indirectly affected Chl-a through TN and TP. • T he water quality and clarity substantially improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The associations between ambient air pollutants and tuberculosis seasonality are unclear. We assessed the temporal cross-correlations between ambient air pollutants and tuberculosis seasonality. Monthly tuberculosis incidence data and ambient air pollutants (PM 2.5 , PM 10 , carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), ozone (O 3 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 )) and air quality index (AQI) from 2013 to 2017 in Shanghai were included. A cross-correlogram and generalized additive model were used. A 4-month delayed effect of PM 2.5 (0.55), PM 10 (0.52), SO 2 (0.47), NO 2 (0.40), CO (0.39), and AQI (0.45), and a 6-month delayed effect of O 3 (-0.38) on the incidence of tuberculosis were found. The number of tuberculosis cases increased by 8%, 4%, 18%, and 14% for a 10 μg/m 3 increment in PM 2.5 , PM 10 , SO 2 , and NO 2 ; 4% for a 10 unit increment in AQI; 8% for a 0.1 mg/m 3 increment in CO; and decreased by 4% for a 10 μg/m 3 increment in O 3 . PM 2.5 concentrations above 50 μg/m 3 , 70 μg/m 3 for PM 10 , 16 μg/m 3 for SO 2 , 47 μg/m 3 for NO 2 , 0.85 mg/m 3 for CO, and 85 for AQI, and O 3 concentrations lower than 95 μg/m 3 were positively associated with the incidence of tuberculosis. Ambient air pollutants were correlated with tuberculosis seasonality. However, this sort of study cannot prove causality., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.