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A 1‐month field campaign (May 29–June 29, 2018) was conducted at a mountain site (862 m above sea level) on the Wudang Mountains in China. The particle number size distribution (3–400 nm), size‐resolved cloud condensation nuclei (CCN, at 0.2% and 0.8% SS), and nonrefractory PM1 chemical composition were measured, respectively. The occurrence of the three chosen new particle formation (NPF) events (June 4, 7, and 11) was facilitated by southwest or west winds with a speed of about 3–4 m s−1. The hygroscopicity parameter (κ) value of newly grown particles varied in a wide range (0.25–0.8) during the events, leading to large uncertainties (−98% to 38%) on the NCCN prediction compared to the campaign. During growth of the newly formed particles for the three events, condensation of sulfuric acid vapor accounts for 14%–42%, 2%–8%, and 3%–9%, respectively, indicating that organic vapors may play an important role in particle growth. For plume‐type events with rapid growth, the observed high CCN activity (i.e., June 7 event) may be explained by the contribution of amines and depression of surface tension in the presence of organic surfactants during particle growth. Our study demonstrates that the contribution of NPF to CCN concentration is modulated by many key factors including growth rate, hygroscopicity, concentrations of new particles and preexisting particles, and variation of those factors from one event to another leads to large uncertainties on the CCN prediction. Plain Language Summary: A 1‐month field experiment (May 29–June 29, 2018) was conducted at a mountain site (862 m above sea level) on the top of the Wudang Mountains in China. Several particle characteristics including particle sizes, chemical composition, and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) were measured using advanced analytical instruments. During the campaign, events corresponding to a well‐known atmospheric phenomenon called new particle formation were observed and facilitated by southwest or west winds. New particles, once they are formed, can grow to CCN sizes to enhance cloud formation. Prediction of CCN concentration is subject to large uncertainties during particle formation events because of large variation of particle hygroscopicity. In the atmosphere, sulfuric acid, an important condensable gas, plays an important role in particle growth. However, in our study, sulfuric acid vapor contributes minor to particle growth compared to organic compounds. Our study concludes that contribution of new particles to CCN concentration was controlled by many factors and might vary substantially from one event to another. Key Points: Substantial variation of hygroscopicity leads to significant uncertainties in cloud condensation nuclei predictionContribution of new particle formation to cloud condensation nuclei concentration varies in a large range from one event to anotherThe growth rate, hygroscopicity, new particle concentration, and preexisting particles are the key factors of the cloud condensation nuclei contribution [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundGray matter (GM) atrophy and disrupted intrinsic functional connectivity (IFC) are often present in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), which shows high risk of developing into Alzheimer's disease. Little is known, however, about the relationship between GM atrophy and altered IFC, and whether they are related to cognitive decline.MethodA total of 30 aMCI and 26 cognitively normal (CN) subjects were recruited for this study. Optimized voxel-based morphometric and resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging approaches were performed to measure the GM volumes (GMVs) and atrophy-related IFC, respectively. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to examine the effects of GM atrophy and IFC on cognitive performance across subjects, after controlling for the effects of age, education, gender and group.ResultsCompared with CN subjects, aMCI subjects showed significantly reduced GMVs and decreased IFC in the frontal-parietal and medial temporal lobe systems. Multivariate regression analysis further demonstrated that the GMVs and decreased IFC simultaneously affected the cognitive function. Specifically, GMVs were positively correlated with cognitive performances, including global cognition and episodic memory, and showed a strong trend in correlation between GMVs and non-episodic memory, whilst IFC was positively correlated with the above three cognitive measures, across all subjects. In addition, significant correlation was found between GMVs and altered IFC strength across all subjects.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrated that GMVs and IFC jointly contribute to cognitive performance, and combining quantitative information about GMVs and the strength of functional connectivity may serve as an indicator of cognitive deficits in non-demented elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simulations of sulfuric acid concentration and new particle formation are performed by using the zerodimensional version of the model MALTE (Model to predict new Aerosol formation in the Lower TropospherE) and measurements from the Campaign of Air Quality Research in Beijing and Surrounding areas (CAREBeijing) in 2008. Chemical reactions from the Master Chemical Mechanism version 3.2 (MCM v3.2) are used in the model. High correlation (slope=0.72, R = 0.74) between the modelled and observed sulfuric acid concentrations is found during daytime (06:00-18:00). The aerosol dynamics are simulated by the University of Helsinki Multicomponent Aerosol (UHMA) model including several nucleation mechanisms. The results indicate that the model is able to predict the on- and offset of new particle formation in an urban atmosphere in China. In addition, the number concentrations of newly formed particles in kinetic-type nucleation including homogenous homomolecular (J = K[H2SO4]²) and homogenous heteromolecular nucleation involving organic vapours (J = Khet[H2SO4][Org]) are in satisfactory agreement with the observations. However, the specific organic compounds that possibly participate in the nucleation process should be investigated in further studies. For the particle growth, only a small fraction of the oxidized total organics condense onto the particles in polluted environments. Meanwhile, the OH and O3 oxidation mechanism contribute 5.5% and 94.5% to the volume concentration of small particles, indicating the particle growth is more controlled by the precursor gases and their oxidation by O3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In conjunction with hosting the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the municipal government implemented a series of stringent air quality control measures. To assess the impacts on variation of ambient non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), the whole air was sampled by canisters at one urban site and two suburban sites in Beijing, and 55 NMHC species were quantified by gas chromatography equipped with a quadrupole mass spectrometer and a flame ionization detector (GC/MSD/FID) as parts of the field Campaign for the Beijing Olympic Games Air Quality program (CareBeijing). According to the control measures, the data were presented according to four periods: 18-30 June, 8-19 July, 15- 24 August (during the Olympic Games), and 6-15 September (during the Paralympic Games). Compared with the levels in June, the mixing ratios of NMHCs obtained in the Olympic and Paralympic Games periods were reduced by 35% and 25%, respectively. Source contributions were calculated using a chemical mass balance model (CMB 8.2). After implementing the control measures, emissions from target sources were obviously reduced, and reductions in vehicle exhaust could explain 48-82% of the reductions of ambient NMHCs. Reductions in emissions from gasoline evaporation, paint and solvent use, and the chemical industry contributed 9- 40%, 3-24%, and 1-5%, respectively, to reductions of ambient NMHCs. Sources of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and biogenic emissions were not controlled, and contributions from these sources from July to September were stable or even higher than in June. Ozone formation potentials (OFPs) were calculated for the measured NMHCs. The total OFPs during the Olympic and Paralympic Games were reduced by 48% and 32%, respectively, compared with values in June. Reductions in the OFPs of alkenes and aromatics explained 77-92% of total OFP reductions. The alkenes and aromatics were mainly from vehicle exhausts, and reductions of vehicle exhaust gases explained 67-87% of reductions in alkenes and 38-80% of reductions in aromatics. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the air quality control measures enacted for the 2008 Olympics and indicate that controlling vehicular emissions could be the most important measure to improve air quality in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The intake of iron is positively related to the risk of diabetes, whilst magnesium intake is inversely related. However, it is unknown whether there is an interaction between dietary magnesium and iron expressed as a ratio and diabetes. Methods This is a cross-sectional household survey carried out in 2002 in Jiangsu Province, China. A total of 2849 men and women aged ≥ 20 years participated (participation rate 89.0%). Iron and magnesium intake was assessed by 3-day weighed food records. Fasting plasma glucose, serum ferritin and haemoglobin were measured. Results The mean intake of iron and magnesium was 25 mg/day and 332 mg/day, respectively. The prevalence of diabetes was 3.0% in men and 2.6% in women. Magnesium intake was negatively associated with diabetes when adjusted for age and sex, but not in a fully adjusted model. A strong inverse association between magnesium : iron intake ratio and diabetes was observed. In the fully adjusted model, the odds ratios of diabetes across quartiles of magnesium : iron intake ratio were: 1.0, 0.63 [95% confidence interval 0.32–1.25], 0.36 (0.16–0.81) and 0.48 (0.20–1.14) ( P for trend 0.038). There was an interaction between central obesity and magnesium : iron ratio. Conclusion Magnesium : iron intake ratio is an independent risk marker for diabetes in Chinese adults. As this is a cross-sectional study, we cannot establish any causal relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:To investigate the association between a vegetable-rich food pattern and obesity among Chinese adults.Design:A food pattern rich in vegetables is associated with lower risk of obesity and non-communicable chronic disease in Western countries. A similar food pattern is found in the Chinese population but the cooking method is different. A cross-sectional household survey of 2849 men and women aged 20 years and over was undertaken in 2002 in Jiangsu Province (response rate, 89.0%). Food intake was assessed by food frequency questionnaire. Factor analysis was used to identify food patterns. Nutrient intake was measured by food weighing plus consecutive individual 3-day food records. Height, weight and waist circumference were measured.Results:The prevalence of general obesity (BMI 28 kg m−2) was 8.0% in men and 12.7% in women, central obesity was 19.5% (90 cm) and 38.2% (80 cm), respectively. A four-factor solution explained 28.5% of the total variance in food frequency intake. The vegetable-rich food pattern (whole grains, fruits and vegetables) was positively associated with vegetable oil and energy intake. Prevalence of obesity/central obesity increased across the quartiles of vegetable-rich food pattern. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors and four distinct food patterns, the vegetable-rich pattern was independently associated with obesity. Compared with the lowest quartile of vegetable-rich pattern, the highest quartile had higher risk of general obesity (men, prevalence ratio (PR): 1.82, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05–3.14; women, PR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.45–3.49).Conclusion:The vegetable-rich food pattern was associated with higher risk of obesity/central obesity in Chinese adults in both genders. This association can be linked to the high intake of energy due to generous use of oil for stir-frying the vegetables.International Journal of Obesity (2008) 32, 975–984; doi:10.1038/ijo.2008.21; published online 4 March 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which describes the history of rainbow trout parasites at a fish farm in Qinling Mountains, China. It has discovered intense infections of monogeneans known as gyrodactylus brachymystacis. The rainbow trout was infected with a parasite that originated from a host fish in the country that led to chronic gyrodactylosis. The morphology and molecular taxonomy of the said parasite are also discussed.

Round green tea (RGT) presents unique properties and is widely distributed in China, and during processing, it undergoes dynamic changes in non-volatile metabolites (NVMs), which are poorly understood. Utilizing UHPLC-Q-Exactive/MS analysis, this study comprehensively characterized 216 NVMs during RGT processing and identified fixation and pan-frying as key processes influencing NVMs. Additionally, 23 key differential NVMs were screened, with amino acid and flavonoid metabolism highlighted as key metabolic pathways for RGT taste and color quality. The impact of pan-frying degree on shape, color, and taste was also explored. Moderate pan-frying led to optimal results, including a tight and round shape, green and bright color, mellow and umami taste, and reduced astringent and bitter taste NVMs, including epigallocatechin gallate, procyanidin B2, myricetin 3-O-galactoside, quinic acid, strictinin, phenylalanine, and theobromine. This study addresses the NVM research gap in RGT processing, thus providing a technical foundation for the precision-oriented processing of high-quality tea., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest regarding the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: In supporting primary healthcare in delivering high-quality care for individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), previous research emphasized strategies to facilitate communication and collaboration between primary healthcare providers and hospitals. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of case discussion conferences between specialists from hospitals and primary healthcare providers in China on the optimization of diabetes management and the improvement of patient health outcomes., Methods: This study will be a parallel cluster randomized controlled trial in which primary healthcare institutions in Shouguang city and Shangsi County will be randomly allocated to the intervention and control groups. The intervention will involve regular case discussion conferences where attendants will meet to discuss complex cases with patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus, exchange experiences, and seek and provide expert advice. Family doctor teams from primary healthcare institutions and specialists from secondary or tertiary hospitals will engage in these conferences. Data will be collected at baseline and at the 6- and 12-month follow-ups. The primary clinical outcome measures will focus on the changes in the HbA1c and FBG levels of patients under management. The secondary outcomes will include other physiological indicators, such as blood pressure, BMI, and cholesterol. The evaluation will extend to changes in the capabilities and behaviors of primary healthcare providers. Furthermore, the feasibility and adherence of this intervention will be thoroughly assessed., Discussion: This study is designed to generate robust evidence on the effectiveness of case discussion conferences, an interprofessional collaboration strategy, in enhancing diabetes care delivery in primary healthcare, with the ultimate goal of improving patient health outcomes., Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2300078829. Registered on December 19, 2023. https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=210293., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: An increased incidence of brain abscesses was observed post-COVID-19 pandemic. However, it remains unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the epidemiology of brain abscesses. This study aimed to investigate changes in the epidemiology of brain abscesses pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: A retrospective study of demographic, clinical, radiological, and laboratory characteristics of patients with brain abscesses in Children's Hospital of Soochow University from 2015-2023 was performed., Results: A total of 34 patients were admitted to the hospital during the study. The post-COVID-19 cohort had an average of 5.5 cases/year, which is a 129.2% increase compared to the pre-COVID-19 cohort's average of 2.4 cases/year. Additionally, the rates of fever upon admission (86.36% vs 50%, p = 0.04) and experiencing high-grade fever within 6 weeks before admission (40.91% vs 8.33%, p = 0.044) were significantly increased. A potential rise in the rate of intensive care unit admission was observed (36.36% vs 8.33%, p = 0.113). The average value of globulin in the post-COVID cohort was significantly higher compared to the pre-COVID cohort (31.60 ± 5.97 vs 25.50 ± 5.08, p = 0.009). Streptococcal infections were the predominant cause of brain abscesses in both cohorts (40% vs 43.75%, p = 0.57)., Conclusions: There was a significant increase in the number of brain abscess patients after the COVID-19 pandemic. This underscores the importance of children receiving the streptococcal vaccine., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Since 2009, China has made large investments in strengthening the primary healthcare system. This study aimed to examine the trends in the number and distribution of health resources in rural China following the health system reform and to decompose the sources of inequalities. Data were collected from standardized reports compiled by each county in rural China and compiled by the National Health Commission and Bureau of Statistics. From the findings of this empirical study, resource allocation per capita for primary health care (PHC) improved gradually from 2008 to 2014. The distribution of beds across counties (ranked by level of economic development) was relatively equitable. However, the concentration curve analysis indicated that the distribution of primary care professionals remained skewed in favour of wealthier and more urbanised counties. Economic status was proved to be a major contributor to the inequality of health human resource. China's primary care reforms resulted in simultaneously improved supply of PHC resources as well as pro-rich inequality in distribution of the workforce. To advance equality in health resource allocation, greater attention should be paid to the substantial inequality of economic status within counties., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: The incidence of herpes zoster (HZ) is rapidly increasing, causing both clinical and economic burdens in China. Very little is known about Chinese residents' HZ vaccine preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for each vaccination attribute., Objective: This study aims to elicit the preferences of Chinese urban adults (aged 25 years or older) regarding HZ vaccination programs and to calculate WTP for each vaccination attribute., Methods: In this study, we interviewed 2864 residents in 9 cities in China. A discrete choice experiment was conducted to investigate the residents' preferences for HZ vaccination and to predict the uptake rate for different vaccine scenarios. A mixed logit model was used to estimate the preferences and WTP for each attribute. Seven attributes with different levels were included in the experiment, and we divided the coefficients of other attributes by the coefficient of price to measure WTP., Results: Vaccine effectiveness, protection duration, risk of side effects, place of origin, and cost were proven to influence Chinese adults' preferences for HZ vaccination. The effectiveness of the HZ vaccine was the attribute that had the most predominant impact on residents' preferences, followed by protection duration. The residents were willing to pay CN ¥974 (US $145) to increase the vaccine effectiveness from 45% to 90%, and they would barely pay to exchange the vaccination schedule from 2 doses to 1 dose. It is suggested that the expected uptake could be promoted the most (by 20.84%) with an increase in the protection rate from 45% to 90%., Conclusions: Chinese urban adults made trade-offs between vaccine effectiveness, protection duration, place of origin, side effects, and cost of HZ vaccination. Vaccine effectiveness was the most important characteristic. The residents have the highest WTP (CN ¥974; US $145) for enhancing the effectiveness of vaccines. To maximize HZ vaccine uptake, health authorities should promote vaccine effectiveness., (©Yiqi Xia, Ming Wang, Mingzheng Hu, Yanshang Wang, Beibei Yuan, Dawei Zhu, Ping He. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (https://publichealth.jmir.org), 09.08.2024.)

Ecosystem carbon storage (ECS) is a critical consideration in reducing the impact of global warming and tackling environmental challenges, positioning it at the forefront of contemporary research. Due to the significant differences in the influence of land usage patterns on ECS in various policy contexts and China's commitment to attaining a carbon-neutral status, a model simulating different scenarios is needed to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics and evolutionary process of carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems accurately. To address this challenge, this study established a coupling model of "Geographical analysis -Evolution analysis -Predicting (GEP)" for assessing ecosystem ECS and analyzing its spatial characteristics and evolutionary patterns and projecting the spatial distribution of ECS under various developmental scenarios, which analyzed variations in ECS across different levels of magnitude and delineated the changing areas across a range of varying scenarios in the future additionally. The outcomes suggested that the ECS decreased by 1.17 × 10 6 t from 1990 to 2020, which pertaining to the utilization transfer of land in the area, whose change in ECS levels with a positive trend. It is predicted that the ECS will grow by 1.15 × 10 6 t and 1.44 × 10 6 t, in 2030 and 2060 compared with 2020 within the framework of natural development scenario (NDS), while within the framework of ecological protection scene (EPS), ECS will increase significantly, increasing by 3.06 × 10 6 t and 4.44 × 10 6 t. There will be more areas where ECS increases within the framework of EPS, by comparing with the NDS. This study offers a comprehensive analysis of Hanzhong City's carbon storage trends, demonstrating its significant impact on climate change mitigation and serving as a predictive model for similar regions, which underscores the importance of localized carbon management strategies, offering valuable insights for local governments in formulating effective climate adaptation and mitigation policies., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: With the recent exponential increase in express deliveries across China, the number of patients with flame burns caused by electric bicycle battery chargers (BEBBC) has markedly increased in burn units. In this study, we aimed to characterize BEBBC to systematically explore measures to prevent their occurrence., Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of patients with flame burns who visited the Burn Department of Rui Jin Hospital between January 2015 and December 2021., Results: Sixty-three patients with BEBBC and 1412 with types of other flame burn were included in this study. Fifty-six of the 63 BEBBC cases occurred between 9 pm and 7 am. BEBBC incidents involved a higher incidence of group burn in which multiple individuals were affected. Non-local patients with BEBBC were significantly younger than their local counterparts. BEBBC had a higher mortality than types of other flame burn., Conclusions: The rising incidence of BEBBC calls for greater attention because of the associated high mortality and heavy burden on society. Enacting related legislation, disseminating information to the public, and improving treatment to control infection can help prevent BEBBC, increase its cure rate, and reduce patient mortality., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestThe authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Deposition of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in soils due to different types of mining activities has been an increasingly important concern worldwide. Quantitative differences of soil PTEs contamination and related health risk among typical mines remain unclear. Herein, data from 110 coal mines and 168 metal mines across China were analyzed based on 265 published literatures to evaluate pollution characteristics, spatial distribution, and probabilistic health risks of soil PTEs. The results showed that PTE levels in soil from both mine types significantly exceeded background values. The geoaccumulation index (I geo ) revealed metal-mine soil pollution levels exceeded those of coal mines, with average I geo values for Cd, Hg, As, Pb, Cu, and Zn being 3.02-15.60 times higher. Spearman correlation and redundancy analysis identified natural and anthropogenic factors affecting soil PTE contamination in both mine types. Mining activities posed a significant carcinogenic risk, with metal-mine soils showing a total carcinogenic risk an order of magnitude higher than in coal-mine soils. This study provides policymakers a quantitative foundation for developing differentiated strategies for sustainable remediation and risk-based management of PTEs in typical mining soils., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Pay-for-performance (P4P) schemes are commonly used to incentivize primary healthcare (PHC) providers to improve the quality of care they deliver. However, the effectiveness of P4P schemes can vary depending on their design. In this study, we aimed to investigate the preferences of PHC providers for participating in P4P programs in a city in Shandong province, China., Method: We conducted a discrete choice experiment (DCE) with 882 PHC providers, using six attributes: type of incentive, whom to incentivize, frequency of incentive, size of incentive, the domain of performance measurement, and release of performance results. Mixed logit models and latent class models were used for the statistical analyses., Results: Our results showed that PHC providers had a strong negative preference for fines compared to bonuses (- 1.91; 95%CI - 2.13 to - 1.69) and for annual incentive payments compared to monthly (- 1.37; 95%CI - 1.59 to - 1.14). Providers also showed negative preferences for incentive size of 60% of monthly income, group incentives, and non-release of performance results. On the other hand, an incentive size of 20% of monthly income and including quality of care in performance measures were preferred. We identified four distinct classes of providers with different preferences for P4P schemes. Class 2 and Class 3 valued most of the attributes differently, while Class 1 and Class 4 had a relatively small influence from most attributes., Conclusion: P4P schemes that offer bonuses rather than fines, monthly rather than annual payments, incentive size of 20% of monthly income, paid to individuals, including quality of care in performance measures, and release of performance results are likely to be more effective in improving PHC performance. Our findings also highlight the importance of considering preference heterogeneity when designing P4P schemes., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Population aging and global warming have become everyday concerns of all countries. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2003 to 2019, this paper uses the panel fixed effect model and two-stage least square method to analyze the effect of population aging on domestic energy carbon emissions of urban and rural residents. On this basis, the threshold regression model is introduced to explore the heterogeneity of the effect under different aging levels. The results show that (1) the progress of population aging at the overall level will significantly increase the level of carbon emissions from household energy consumption. At the regional level, the effect of population aging on carbon emissions from household energy consumption in rural areas is higher than in urban areas. (2) Population aging has a nonlinear effect on the carbon emissions of residential energy consumption. For urban areas, when the level of population aging crosses the threshold, its marginal impact on living carbon emissions in urban areas is further enhanced. In contrast, the opposite is true in rural areas. (3) Heterogeneity analysis results show that the impact of population aging on residential energy carbon emissions differs in different regions at the national and rural levels but does not show regional heterogeneity at the urban level., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Risk assessment is a critical part of risk management for contaminated sites. However， in the specific management practice of As-contaminated sites， it is difficult to obtain realistic health risks for contaminated sites based on the total amount of pollutants and determined values of the model， thus preventing the control requirements of later remediation to be met. An increasing number of studies have recently been conducting risk assessments by considering bioavailability， modification parameters， and combined probabilistic models. To improve the accuracy of risk assessment results， taking a large As-contaminated site as a case， 432 sampling sites were set up and collected at different depths to analyze the level and distribution characteristics of As pollution， and probabilistic risk assessment was conducted with the modification of model parameters through literature research and Monte Carlo simulation. Then， the impact of traditional methods and probabilistic methods on health risk assessment was explored in comparison. The results indicated that ω （As） in the top soil of the study area ranged from 2.70-97.0 mg·kg -1 ， with a spatial variation coefficient of 0.61 and weaker spatial continuity. The carcinogenic risk and hazard index obtained by the traditional risk assessment method were 2.12E-4 and 8.36， respectively， which obviously overestimated the actual risk level and were not conductive to the refined management of As-contaminated sites. Combined with modification of model parameters and probabilistic risk assessment， the non-carcinogenic risk for adults and children was found to be at an acceptable level， and the carcinogenic risk was reduced by nearly an order of magnitude compared to that in the conventional method. Considering the relative biological effectiveness （RBA） of As， the 95% quantile of the total carcinogenic risk was 1.24E-5， a reduction of up to 36.41% compared to the uncorrected corresponding risk value of 1.95E-5. The carcinogenic risk of soil As for adults and children in the study area exceeded acceptable risk levels 1E-6， with oral ingestion of soil being the primary route of exposure. In addition， the results of the sensitivity analysis of the parameters showed that As concentration， daily oral ingestion rate of soils， and exposure duration of children had relatively larger effects for health risks. This work will provide a methodological and theoretical basis for achieving accurate risk assessment of As-contaminated sites and provide concepts for refined risk management.

Introduction of African swine fever (ASF) to China in mid-2018 and the subsequent transboundary spread across Asia devastated regional swine production, affecting live pig and pork product-related markets worldwide. To explore the spatiotemporal spread of ASF in China, we reconstructed possible ASF transmission networks using nearest neighbour, exponential function, equal probability, and spatiotemporal case-distribution algorithms. From these networks, we estimated the reproduction numbers, serial intervals, and transmission distances of the outbreak. The mean serial interval between paired units was around 29 days for all algorithms, while the mean transmission distance ranged 332 -456 km. The reproduction numbers for each algorithm peaked during the first two weeks and steadily declined through the end of 2018 before hovering around the epidemic threshold value of 1 with sporadic increases during 2019. These results suggest that 1) swine husbandry practices and production systems that lend themselves to long-range transmission drove ASF spread; 2) outbreaks went undetected by the surveillance system. Efforts by China and other affected countries to control ASF within their jurisdictions may be aided by the reconstructed spatiotemporal model. Continued support for strict implementation of biosecurity standards and improvements to ASF surveillance is essential for halting transmission in China and spread across Asia.

Modern Bai Jiu(liquor) was called Shao Jiu in ancient times.By consulting ancient books, it was found that there was a distillation and preparation process of Shao Jiu before the Ming Dynasty, but due to its high toxicity, the scope of application was limited, and there were few records of its medicinal use.However many records of its medicinal use was found in the Compendium of Materia Medica («»).By comparing the medical books that recorded Shao Jiu in previous dynasties, it is found that the Compendium of Materia Medica comprehensively records the relevant cognition and application of the medicinal use of Shao Jiu for the first time. The book lists in detail the causes of the toxicity of Shao Jiu and the methods to avoid it, comprehensively expounds its characteristics, efficacy and indications, lists a variety of ways to use it, skillfully uses Shao Jiu to treat syphilis sores, and proposes that high-concentration Shao Jiu can be used as a solvent for medical liquor.The record of Shao Jiu in the Compendium of Materia Medica had a profound impact on the medical liquor of later generations.The use of Shao Jiu in the Qing Dynasty continued to expand, and the types of medicinal liquor were also constantly enriched. The record of Shao Jiu in the Compendium of Materia Medica can also provide a reference for the medicinal use of modern liquor.

Iron (Fe) plaques in coastal wetlands are widely recognized because of their strong adsorption affinity for natural particles, but their interaction behaviors and mechanisms with plastics remain unknown. Through laboratory incubation experiments, paired with multiple characterization methods and microbial analysis, this work focused on the characteristics of Fe plaques on low-density polyethylene plastic surfaces and their relationship with environmental factors in coastal wetlands (Mangrove and Spartina alterniflora soil). The results showed that iron plaques increased the adhesive force of the plastic surface from 65.25 to 300 nN and promoted the oxidation of the plastic surface. Fe plaque formation was stimulated by salinity, anaerobic conditions, natural organic matter, and a weak alkaline scenario (pH 8.0-8.3). The Fe content showed a stable positive correlation with heavy metals loading (i.e., As, Mn, Co, Cr, Pb, and Zn). Furthermore, we revealed that Fe plaque was positively regulated by Nitrospirae through 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing analysis. Meanwhile, Verrucomicrobia and Kiritimatiellaeota. may act as depressants by consuming salt. This work illustrated that iron plaques could enhance the role of plastics in contaminant migration by altering their adsorption performance, providing new insights into plastic interface behavior and potential ecological effects in coastal wetlands., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Echinolaelaps fukienensis is the dominant mite species parasitic on the body surface of the genus Niviventer. The mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) has its own independent genetic material and genetic system, and is now widely used in population genetics, genealogical biogeography, phylogeny and molecular evolution studies. Species diversity of the superfamily Dermanyssoidea is very rich, but its mitogenomes AT content is high, and it is difficult to amplify the complete mitogenome by routine PCR. To date, we have only obtained the mitogenomes of 6 species, scarcity on sequence data has greatly impeded the studies in the superfamily Dermanyssoidea., Methods: Echinolaelaps fukienensis were collected in 2019 from the body surface of Niviventer confucianus (Rodentia, Muridae) in Yunnan Province. The E. fukienensis mitogenome was determined and analyzed for the first time using the Illumina Novoseq 6000 platform. Phylogenetic analyses of the superfamily Dermanyssoidea were conducted based on the entire mitogenome sequences., Results: The E. fukienensis mitogenome was 14,402 bp, which is known the smallest genome of the superfamily Dermanyssoidea, encoding a total of 37 genes, including 13 PCGs, 22 tRNAs, 2 rRNAs and 1 control region. Most protein-coding genes use ATN as the start codon and TAN as the stop codon. AT and GC skew of atp8 genes in E. fukienensis were both 0. The average length of 22 tRNA genes of E. fukienensis was 64 bp, and secondary structures of tRNAs showed base mismatches and missing D-arms in many places. Compared with gene arrangement pattern of the hypothetical ancestor of arthropods, the E. fukienensis mitogenome shows a novel arrangement pattern. Phylogenetic tree supported the monophyly of the superfamily Dermanyssoidea. Echinolaelaps fukienensis being the least genetic distant (0.2762) and most closely related to Varroa destructor., Conclusions: This study analyzed comprehensive the structure and evolution of the E. fukienensis mitogenome for the first time, enriches molecular data of the genus Echinolaelaps, which will contribute to further understand phylogeny and rearrangement patterns of the superfamily Dermanyssoidea., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright: © 2023 He et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Considerable efforts have been devoted to characterising the chemical components of vehicle exhaust. However, these components may not accurately reflect the contribution of vehicle exhaust to atmospheric reactivity because of the presence of species not accounted for ("missing species") given the limitations of analytical instruments. In this study, we improved the laser photolysis-laser-induced fluorescence (LP-LIF) technique and applied it to directly measure the total OH reactivity (TOR) in exhaust gas from light-duty gasoline vehicles in China. The TOR for China I to VI-a vehicles was 15.6, 16.3, 8.4, 2.6, 1.5, and 1.6 × 10 4 sec -1 , respectively, reflecting a notable drop as emission standards were upgraded. The TOR was comparable between cold and warm starts. The missing OH reactivity (MOR) values for China I to IV vehicles were close to zero with a cold start but were much higher with a warm start. The variations in oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) under different emission standards and for the two start conditions were similar to those of the MOR, indicating that OVOCs and the missing species may have similar production processes. Online measurement revealed that the duration of the stable driving stage was the primary factor leading to the production of OVOCs and missing species. Our findings underscore the importance of direct measurement of TOR from vehicle exhaust and highlight the necessity of adding OVOCs and other organic reactive gases in future upgrades of emission standards, such that the vehicular contribution to atmospheric reactivity can be more effectively controlled., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Daytime HONO photolysis is an important source of atmospheric hydroxyl radicals (OH). Knowledge of HONO formation chemistry under typical haze conditions, however, is still limited. In the Multiphase chemistry experiment in Fogs and Aerosols in the North China Plain in 2018, we investigated the wintertime HONO formation and its atmospheric implications at a rural site Gucheng. Three different episodes based on atmospheric aerosol loading levels were classified: clean periods (CPs), moderately polluted periods (MPPs) and severely polluted periods (SPPs). Correlation analysis revealed that HONO formation via heterogeneous conversion of NO 2 was more efficient on aerosol surfaces than on ground, highlighting the important role of aerosols in promoting HONO formation. Daytime HONO budget analysis indicated a large missing source (with an average production rate of 0.66 ± 0.26, 0.97 ± 0.47 and 1.45 ± 0.55 ppbV/hr for CPs, MPPs and SPPs, respectively), which strongly correlated with photo-enhanced reactions (NO 2 heterogeneous reaction and particulate nitrate photolysis). Average OH formation derived from HONO photolysis reached up to (0.92 ± 0.71), (1.75 ± 1.26) and (1.82 ± 1.47) ppbV/hr in CPs, MPPs and SPPs respectively, much higher than that from O 3 photolysis (i.e., (0.004 ± 0.004), (0.006 ± 0.007) and (0.0035 ± 0.0034) ppbV/hr). Such high OH production rates could markedly regulate the atmospheric oxidation capacity and hence promote the formation of secondary aerosols and pollutants., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The environmental protection tax (EPT) is an important environmental policy in China. However, it remains unclear whether the EPT has reduced environmental pollution effectively since its implementation in 2018. Based on the panel data of 229 prefecture-level cities in China during 2015-2019 and the difference-in-differences (DID) model, this study empirically assesses the causal effect of the EPT on environmental pollution. It is found that the EPT has a significantly negative effect on industrial sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and industrial soot (dust) emissions but has no significant impact on industrial wastewater emissions. The mechanism analysis reveals that the EPT has the tax enforcement effect and energy efficiency effect, that is, the EPT reduces pollution emissions through increasing actual tax burden and improving the efficiency of energy utilization. However, the innovation effect is weak, which is only effective in reducing industrial SO 2 emissions. Finally, we compare how different types of cities responded to the EPT. The results show that the EPT has limited effect on environmental pollution in large cities and southern China., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Black carbon (BC) has a significantly negative impact on air quality, climate and human health. Here we investigated the sources and health effects of BC in urban area of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) based on online data measured by Aerodyne soot particle high-resolution time of flight aerosol mass spectrometer (SP-AMS). In urban PRD, BC particles mainly came from vehicle emissions especially heavy-duty vehicle exhausts (contributing 42.9 % of total BC mass concentration), long-range transport (27.6 %), and aged biomass combustion emissions (22.3 %). Indicated by source analysis using simultaneous aethalometer data, BC associated with local secondary oxidation and transport may also be originated from fossil fuel combustion, especially traffic sources in urban and surrounding areas. Size-resolved BC mass concentrations provided by SP-AMS, for the first time to our best knowledge, were used to calculate BC deposition in the human respiratory tract (HRT) of different populations (children, adults, and the elderly) by the Multiple-Path Particle Dosimetry (MPPD) model. We found that submicron BC was deposited more in the pulmonary (P) region (49.0-53.2 % of the total BC deposition dose), while less in the tracheobronchial (TB, 35.6-37.2 %) and head (HA, 11.2-13.8 %) regions. Adults suffered the highest BC deposition (1.19 μg day -1 ) than the elderly (1.09 μg day -1 ) and children (0.25 μg day -1 ). BC deposition rate was greater at night (especially 18:00-24:00) than during the daytime. The maximum deposition in the HRT was found for BC particles around 100 nm, mainly in deeper respiratory regions (TB and P), which may cause more serious health effects. Adults and the elderly group are confronted with the notable carcinogenic risk of BC in the urban PRD, up to 29 times higher than the threshold. Our study emphasizes the need to control BC pollution in the urban area, especially nighttime vehicle emissions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: As the direct providers of diabetes management care in primary health care facilities (PHFs) in China, health professionals' performance on management care of diabetes determines the quality of services and patients' outcomes. This study aims to analyze the key determinants of health professionals' performance on diabetes management care in PHFs in China., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 72 PHFs in 6 cities that piloted the contracted family doctor service (CFDS). Self-developed questionnaire was used to measure three kinds of factors (capacity, motivation and opportunity) potentially influencing the performance of health professionals. The performance of diabetes management care in the study was measured as whether health professionals delivered 7 service items required by the National Basic Public Health Service Guideline with a total of 7 points and was divided into three grades of good, medium and bad. The questionnaire is self-administered by all the health professionals involved in the study with the number of 434. The Chi-square tests were used to compare differences of performance on diabetes management care among health professionals with different characteristics. The ordinal logistic regression was used to analyze the determinants on the performance of diabetes management care., Results: Health professionals who got higher score on diabetes knowledge test had odds of better performance on diabetes management care (OR = 1.529, P < 0.001). health professionals with higher degree of self-reported satisfaction on training (OR = 1.224, P < 0.05) and perception of decreasing workload (OR = 3.336, P < 0.01) had odds of better performance on diabetes management care. While health professionals with negative feeling on information system support had odds of worse performance on diabetes management care (OR = 0.664, P < 0.01)., Conclusions: Attention should be paid to the training of health professionals' knowledge on diabetes management capacity. Furthermore, measures to improve training for health professionals could satisfying their needs for self-growth and improve the motivation of health professionals. The information system supporting management care should be improved continuously to improve the health professionals' working opportunities and decrease the workload., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Continuity of care (COC) is highly regarded in health promotion and health system strengthening. However, there is a lack of multidimensional quantitative assessment of continuity, making it challenging to evaluate and compare. Our objective was to create a novel measurement for COC and apply it in two rural counties in China to assess its validity and feasibility in evaluating health system reform., Method: This study conducted a scoping literature review on COC, examining existing frameworks and indicators. Following an online expert poll, a composite indicator was developed using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The measurement tool was then applied to assess the current state of COC in two rural counties in China. In addition to descriptive analysis, demographic and economic characteristics were analyzed for their association with COC scores using t-tests and multiple linear regression models., Results: The final COC measurement encompasses three dimensions, six sub-dimensions, and ten individual indicators, which integrated and improved the current frameworks and indicators. Relational continuity, informational continuity, and management continuity were identified as the primary dimensions of COC measurement. The COC score is 0.49 in County A and 0.41 in County B, with information continuity being the highest-scoring dimension. Notably, the disparity in continuity scores is most pronounced among individuals with varying attitudes towards health, demonstrating a positive correlation., Conclusion: The construction of the composite indicator in this study offers a scientific and effective metric for comprehensively measuring continuity of care. The empirical data analysis conducted in Western China serves as an illustrative application of the indicator, demonstrating its efficiency. The results obtained from this analysis provide a solid foundation and valuable reference for strengthening the health system., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

A multi-isotopes approach involving the use of stable nitrate isotopes (δ 15 N-NO 3 - and δ 18 O-NO 3 - ) combined with stable water isotopes (δD-H 2 O and δ 18 O-H 2 O) and SIAR model as tracers can help identify the nitrogen source and understand the transformation process in a river-cascade reservoirs system. In this study, we identify the potential impact of the N source in the Lancang River basin, clarified the seasonal variations in the isotope values and estimated the probability distribution and proportional contribution of multi-terminal NO 3 - -N sources using Bayesian isotope mixing model. In addition, we investigate the factors that led to the seasonal variations of the stable isotopes and evaluated the relationship between the uncertainty of the contribution ratio of the N sources and isotopic variations in the river-cascade reservoirs system. The NO 3 - -N is the main component of DIN (dissolved inorganic nitrogen), accounting for 68.1 % of DIN. The ratios of δ 15 N-NO 3 - and δ 18 O-NO 3 - ranged from +4.2 ‰ to +10.3 ‰, and from +5.9 ‰ to +9.3 ‰ in the Lancang River. The δD-H 2 O and δ 18 O-H 2 O of the surface waters ranged from -109.47 ‰ to -76.44 ‰, and from -15.13 ‰ to -11.61 ‰, respectively. The SIAR model analysis results show that nitrification of livestock and poultry manure is the main source of NO 3 - -N in the upstream natural reach, accounting for 40.2 %. There is little difference between the wet season and the dry season. Nitrification of soil organic nitrogen is the main source of NO 3 - -N in the cascade development reach, accounting for 42.3 %. The contribution rate of atmospheric precipitation to nitrate concentration in both sampling periods is low (<5 %). This study provides a useful insight for reservoir water environmental managers to verify cascade development river pollution contributors and to better apply remedial solutions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Exploring the vertical variations in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere and quantifying the sources of VOCs at different heights can help control atmospheric photochemical pollution in summer. Here, VOCs were vertically detected at three heights (47 m, 200 m and 320 m) along a 325 m tower of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, in the mornings (8:00) and afternoons (15:00) from May 19 to June 18, 2021. The VOC concentrations in Beijing in summer were 16.2 ± 5.6 ppbv, 14.7 ± 2.5 ppbv and 14.9 ± 3.8 ppbv at 47 m, 200 m and 320 m, respectively, and alkanes accounted for the largest proportion at all heights (>56%). The vertical gradients of the VOC concentrations and components did not significantly change, which was consistent with the summer observations of other stations in North China in recent years, but these results significantly differed from observations from more than a decade ago. To determine the reason for this, a classification based on atmospheric stability was performed, revealing that the vertical distribution of VOCs was uniform in convective and stable conditions and decreased with increasing height in neutral condition. With the transition of atmospheric stability from neutral to convective to stable, the contributions of fuel combustion sources and solvent use sources gradually increased, while those of biogenic sources and background sources gradually decreased. With increasing height, the contributions of background sources increased, those of biogenic sources, solvent use and gasoline vehicular emissions decreased, and those of fuel combustion and industrial emissions remained basically unchanged. The above results indicated that with air pollution treatment, the potential for reducing emissions of VOCs in Beijing has decreased. Therefore, regional joint prevention and control are the main ways to control VOC pollution in Beijing., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study tracked the longstanding effect of childhood adversities on health status over the course of a life. This study used the data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study which was a nationally representative survey and documented the generation who had arrived in the middle- and old-age phase and experienced the difficult time in the early founding of PR China in their childhood. Results shown the significant associations between multiple forms of children adversities (economic distress, child neglect, child abuse, lack of friends, parental mental health problems) and health status in adolescence (from 0.068 to 0.102, p <0.01), and health status in mid and late adulthood, including self-rated general health problems (from 0.039 to 0.061, p <0.01), chronic conditions (from 0.014 to 0.120, p <0.01 except for lack of friends), body aches (from 0.016 to 0.062, p <0.01 except for child neglect), and depression (from 0.047 to 0.112, p <0.01). Meanwhile, results also shown an underlying pathway (i.e., health status in adolescence) linking childhood adversities and health status in mid and late adulthood. Results suggested that the experience of multiple forms of adversities in childhood represented a substantial source of health risk throughout life.

Objective: To understand the knowledge, attitude, and current status of vaccination of herpes zoster vaccination among urban residents aged 25 years and above in China. Methods: In August to October 2022, a convenience sampling method was used to survey residents aged 25 years and above at 36 community centers in 9 cities across China. Questionnaires were used to collect basic information, knowledge, and attitude toward herpes zoster and its vaccination, as well as vaccination status and reasons for non-vaccination among residents. Results: A total of 2 864 urban residents were included in the study. The total score of residents' cognition of herpes zoster and its vaccine was 3.01±2.08, and the total score of their attitude was 18.25±2.76. Factors such as being male ( β =-0.45, P <0.001), older than 40-59 years ( β =-0.34, P =0.023) or ≥60 years ( β =-0.68, P <0.001), married ( β =-0.69, P =0.002) were negatively associated with knowledge score. The educational level of high school or secondary school ( β =0.44, P =0.036), college ( β =0.65, P =0.006), bachelor's degree and above ( β =1.20, P <0.001), annual net household income ≥120 000 Yuan in 2021 ( β =0.42, P =0.020), having urban employee medical insurance ( β =0.62, P =0.030), having public or commercial medical insurance ( β =0.65, P =0.033), and having a history of chickenpox ( β =0.29, P =0.025) were positively associated with knowledge scores. Being male ( β =-0.38, P =0.008) and not remembering a history of chickenpox ( β =-0.49, P =0.012) were negatively associated with attitude scores. Annual net household income in 2021 was between 40 000-80 000 Yuan ( β =0.44, P =0.032) or between 80 000-120 000 Yuan ( β =0.62, P =0.002) or ≥120 000 Yuan ( β =0.93, P <0.001), and a history of herpes zoster ( β =0.59, P =0.004) were positively associated with attitude scores. Of the 2 864 residents surveyed, only 29 (1.01%) had received the herpes zoster vaccine, with a vaccination rate of 1.70% for those aged 50 years and above, with the main reason for non-vaccination being lack of knowledge about the herpes zoster vaccine, followed by the high price. 42.67% of the population said they would consider getting the herpes zoster vaccine in the future. Conclusion: Low knowledge of herpes zoster and its vaccine, positive attitudes towards the preventive effects of herpes zoster and its vaccine, and extremely low vaccination rates among the urban population in China call for multiple measures to strengthen health education and vaccination recommendations for residents, especially for the elderly, low-education and low-income populations.

Background: Epidemic zoning is an important option in a series of measures for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. We aim to accurately assess the disease transmission process by considering the epidemic zoning, and we take two epidemics with distinct outbreak sizes as an example, i.e., the Xi'an epidemic in late 2021 and the Shanghai epidemic in early 2022., Methods: For the two epidemics, the total cases were clearly distinguished by their reporting zone and the Bernoulli counting process was used to describe whether one infected case in society would be reported in control zones or not. Assuming the imperfect or perfect isolation policy in control zones, the transmission processes are respectively simulated by the adjusted renewal equation with case importation, which can be derived on the basis of the Bellman-Harris branching theory. The likelihood function containing unknown parameters is then constructed by assuming the daily number of new cases reported in control zones follows a Poisson distribution. All the unknown parameters were obtained by the maximum likelihood estimation., Results: For both epidemics, the internal infections characterized by subcritical transmission within the control zones were verified, and the median control reproduction numbers were estimated as 0.403 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.352, 0.459) in Xi'an epidemic and 0.727 (95% CI: 0.724, 0.730) in Shanghai epidemic, respectively. In addition, although the detection rate of social cases quickly increased to 100% during the decline period of daily new cases until the end of the epidemic, the detection rate in Xi'an was significantly higher than that in Shanghai in the previous period., Conclusions: The comparative analysis of the two epidemics with different consequences highlights the role of the higher detection rate of social cases since the beginning of the epidemic and the reduced transmission risk in control zones throughout the outbreak. Strengthening the detection of social infection and strictly implementing the isolation policy are of great significance to avoid a larger-scale epidemic., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Clarifying the impact of nature reserves on rural residents' income is of great significance to the organic integration of environmental protection and rural residents' income improvement. Based on the panel data of 600 counties from nine provinces in China, ranging from 2010 to 2019, this study employs the quasi-experimental method of Difference in Difference and Propensity Score Matching (PSM-DID) to examine how rural resident's income is influenced by the establishment of nature reserves. It is found that (1) Nature reserves, with a positive impact on rural resident's income, bring more earnings to the rural residents. (2) The impact varies with the heterogeneity of natural reserve types. That is, national and natural parks can increase rural residents' income, while the ones with wildlife or remote desert ecosystem play a limited role. (3) The increased income is mainly originated from the development of tourism, the improvement of facilities and the enhancement of ecosystem services. On this basis, multiple methods are proposed to promote rural residents' income and livelihood security of local communities. Policy recommendations are brought forth as well, including the focus on guaranteeing the livelihood security of rural residents nearby nature reserves where wildlife and remote desert ecosystem are protected., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Sediment bacteria play an irreplaceable role in promoting the function and biogeochemical cycle of the freshwater ecosystem; however, little is known about their biogeographical patterns and community assembly mechanisms in large river suffering from cascade development. Here, we investigated the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of bacterial communities employing next-generation sequencing analysis and multivariate statistical analyses from the Lancang River cascade reservoirs during summer and winter. We found that sediment bacterial composition has a significant seasonal turnover due to the modification of cascade reservoirs operation mode, and the spatial consistency of biogeographical models (including distance-decay relationship and covariation of community composition with geographical distance) also has subtle changes. The linear regression between the dissimilarity of bacterial communities in sediments, geographical and environmental distance showed that the synergistic effects of geographical and environmental factors explained the influence on bacterial communities. Furthermore, the environmental difference explained little variations (19.40%) in community structure, implying the homogeneity of environmental conditions across the cascade reservoirs of Lancang River. From the quantification of the ecological process, the homogeneous selection was recognized as the dominating factor of bacterial community assembly. The co-occurrence topological network analyses showed that the key genera were more important than the most connected genera. In general, the assembly of bacterial communities in sediment of cascade reservoirs was mediated by both deterministic and stochastic processes and is always dominated by homogeneous selection with the seasonal switching, but the effects of dispersal limitation and ecological drift cannot be ignored., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Fine-scale genetic structure of ethnolinguistically diverse Chinese populations can fill the gap in the missing diversity and evolutionary landscape of East Asians, particularly for anthropologically informed Chinese minorities. Hmong-Mien (HM) people were one of the most significant indigenous populations in South China and Southeast Asia, which were suggested to be the descendants of the ancient Yangtze rice farmers based on linguistic and archeological evidence. However, their deep population history and biological adaptative features remained to be fully characterized., Objectives: To explore the evolutionary and adaptive characteristics of the Miao people, we genotyped genome-wide SNP data in Guizhou HM-speaking populations and merged it with modern and ancient reference populations via a comprehensive population genetic analysis and evolutionary admixture modeling., Results: The overall genetic admixture landscape of Guizhou Miao showed genetic differentiation between them and other linguistically diverse Guizhou populations. Admixture models further confirmed that Miao people derived their primary ancestry from geographically close Guangxi Gaohuahua people. The estimated identity by descent and effective population size confirmed a plausible population bottleneck, contributing to their unique genetic diversity and population structure patterns. We finally identified several natural selection candidate genes associated with several biological pathways., Conclusions: Guizhou Miao possessed a specific genetic structure and harbored a close genetic relationship with geographically close southern Chinese indigenous populations and Guangxi historical people. Miao people derived their major ancestry from geographically close Guangxi Gaohuahua people and experienced a plausible population bottleneck which contributed to the unique pattern of their genetic diversity and structure. Future ancient DNA from Shijiahe and Qujialing will provide new insights into the origin of the Miao people., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: The integration of public health services into primary health care has been advocated and practiced worldwide for better management of preventable diseases. Health policy makers in China have started the reforms to better integrate public health services and clinical services, but public health services in China still remained neglected in primary health system. This study aimed to explore the input of Chinese primary health workers on delivering public health services and its association with their intrinsic working motivation in China., Methods: Data were collected from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2019. Participants in this survey included 803 primary health workers in 75 primary health institutions in China. Questions about the input on clinical and public health services delivery and intrinsic working motivation were asked. A multiple linear regression model was adopted to investigate the correlation between intrinsic working motivation and the time input on public health service. The robustness of this model was checked with a generalized linear model., Results: Intrinsic motivation was found to have negative association with health workers' input on public health (β: -1.01, p < 0.05), with the robustness checked with a generalized linear model. The significance of this association differed in the group of urban community health centers and rural township health center. Other factors that had significant relationship with the input on public health services include the being nurses instead of doctors (p < 0.01), being a member of family doctor team (p < 0.01), recognition on relative importance of clinical services (p < 0.01), and perception on better exterior support (p < 0.01)., Conclusion: With higher intrinsic working motivation, primary health workers tended to spend less time on public health services. It reflected that doctors and nurses in primary healthcare institutions still perceived clinical treatment services as their main work responsibility and source of career recognition. Organizational level supports and system level policies should guide the primary health workers to increase their awareness on the importance of public health services and to cultivate their internal interests on public health services, in order to ensure sustainable input and performance improvement on public health services in primary health system in China., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Determining the major human exposure pathways is a prerequisite for the development of effective management strategies for environmental pollutants such as chlorinated paraffins (CPs). As a first step, the internal and external exposure to CPs were quantified for a well-defined human cohort. CPs in participants' plasma and diet samples were analyzed in the present study, and previous results on paired air, dust, and hand wipe samples were used for the total exposure assessment. Both one compartment pharmacokinetic modeling and forensic fingerprinting indicate that dietary intake contributed the most to body burden of CPs in this cohort, contributing a median of 60-88% of the total daily intakes. The contribution from dust ingestion and dermal exposure was greater for the intake of long-chain CPs (LCCPs) than short-chain CPs (SCCPs), while the contribution from inhalation was greater for the intake of SCCPs than medium-chain CPs (MCCPs) and LCCPs. Significantly higher concentrations of SCCPs and MCCPs were observed in diets containing butter and eggs, respectively ( p < 0.05). Additionally, other exposure sources were correlated to plasma levels of CPs, including residence construction parameters such as the construction year ( p < 0.05). This human exposure to CPs is not a local case. From a global perspective, there are major knowledge gaps in biomonitoring and exposure data for CPs from regions other than China and European countries.

This study aimed to develop a consensus framework for economic evaluations of vaccines as a national guideline in China. Some unique and important aspects were particularly emphasized. Nineteen Chinese experts in the field of health economics and immunization decision-making were nominated to select and discuss relevant aspects of vaccine economic evaluations in China. A workshop attended by external experts was held to summarize unique and important aspects and formulate consensus recommendations. There were ten unique and/or important aspects identified for economic evaluations of vaccines in China, including study perspectives, comparator strategies, analysis types, model choices, costing approaches, utility measures, discounting, uncertainty, equity, and evaluation purposes. Background information and expert recommendations were provided for each aspect. Economic evaluations of vaccines should play an important role in China's immunization policy-making. This guideline can help improve the quality of economic evaluations as a good practice consensus.

The North China Medical College typically represented medical colleges for traditional Chinese medicine in the 1930s when many of them were set up. It was based on the principles of centring on traditional Chinese medicine, following western medicine and integrated medicine in teaching. This led to the emergence of a great number of people with a high level of traditional Chinese medicine and strong belief in it. In terms of the textbooks and handouts for western medicine, compared to similar textbooks in other medical colleges, such as the Medical College of Xie He, at that time, the textbooks in the North China Medical College covered a variety of perspectives and categories. It was found that 20 textbooks for western medicine in the North China Medical College were designed reasonably in content and were simple and applicable in teaching. More importantly, it contained some traditional Chinese medicine in different degrees, with its typical characteristics. The course design and textbook compilation provided references for the teaching in contemporary medical universities.

The first case of vertebral augmentation therapy in mainland China was reported in 2000. Since then, it has been widely used in China as a minimally invasive procedure to treat vertebral compression fractures. However, the characteristics of malpractice litigation involving vertebral augmentation therapy remains unclear. This study aims to analyze the characteristics of medical malpractice litigation involving vertebral augmentation therapy in mainland China for the past 10 years. Two online legal databases were queried for court verdicts involving vertebral augmentation therapy from Jan 2009 to Dec 2018 in mainland China. Each case file was then thoroughly reviewed and data pertaining to defendants, plaintiffs, case outcomes, allegations, and verdicts were abstracted, and descriptive analyses were performed. Level of evidence: LEVEL III. A total of 96 cases were enrolled for final analysis. The number of claims increased by five times during the past 10 years. More than two thirds (67.7%, n = 65) of the cases underwent percutaneous vertebroplasty, and 22.9% (n = 22) underwent percutaneous kyphoplasty, the rest (9.4%, n = 9) remained undefined. Paralysis was alleged in 35.4% of cases (n = 34), followed by significant physical injury (34.4%, n = 33). Cement leakage to spinal canal (44.8%, n = 43) is the most commonly cited reason for litigation, followed by incomplete informed consent (42.7%, n = 41), accidental dural puncture (20.8%, n = 20), unsatisfactory clinical outcome (18.8%, n = 18), and misdiagnosis (12.5%, n = 12). Acute pulmonary cement embolism (4.2%, n = 4), wrong-level vertebrae procedure (3.1%, n = 3) and postoperative infection (2.1%, n = 2) were less common causes for concern. Doctors successfully defended themselves only in 8 (8.3%) cases, which resulted in no indemnity payment. The rest 88 (91.7%) cases were closed with a mean verdict payout of 361,580 Yuan (51,654 US dollars). There is a quickly rising trend in the number of medical malpractice litigation involving vertebral augmentation therapy in China. Identifying the most common reasons for litigation and summarizing their characteristics may help decrease litigation rate and improve the patient experience., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Paddy plants provide staple food for 3 billion people worldwide. This study explores the environmental fate and behavior of a high-volume production emerging contaminants chlorinated paraffins (CPs) in the paddy ecosystem. Very-short-, short-, medium-, and long-chain CPs (vSCCPs, SCCPs, MCCPs, and LCCPs, respectively) were analyzed in specific tissue of paddy plants at four main growth stages and soils from the Yangtze River Delta, China throughout a full rice growing season. The total CP concentrations in the paddy roots, stalks, leaves, panicles, hulls, rice, and soils ranged from 181 to 1.74 × 10 3 , 21.7-383, 19.6-585, 108-332, 245-470, 59.6-130, and 99.6-400 ng/g dry weight, respectively. The distribution profile indicated the translocation of SCCPs and MCCPs from soils to paddy tissue, highlighting their elevated bioaccumulative potential. The evolution of CP level/mass/pattern during the whole growth cycle suggested atmospheric CPs deposition on leaves and hulls, as well as stalk-rice transfer. CSOIL plant uptake model well predicted the level, distribution pattern, and bioconcentration factors (BCFs) of SCCPs and MCCPs in paddy shoot and recognized the soil-air-shoot pathway as the major contributor. Moreover, risk evaluation indicated that MCCPs intake and subsequent risks dominated the total exposure to CPs via rice ingestion. This is the first report on the occurrence, fate and risk assessment of all CPs classes in paddy ecosystems, and the results underline the potential health effects caused by the in-use MCCPs via rice ingestion., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Atmospheric amines have attracted increasing attention due to their significant impact on new particle formation, particle hygroscopicity and particle optical properties. In this study, four low-molecule-weight amines were detected from PM 2.5 filter samples collected at an urban site of Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of China in 2018 autumn. During the campaign, the mass concentrations of ambient particulate methylamine (MA, CH 3 NH 2 ), dimethylamine (DMA, (CH 3 ) 2 NH), trimethylamine (TMA, (CH 3 ) 3 N), and diethylamine (DEA, (C 2 H 5 ) 2 NH) were quantified at daily or 12-h resolution using an optimized Ion Chromatograph (IC) method. The total measured amine concentration was 297 ± 209 ng/m 3 , which can account for 0.76 ± 0.33% of PM 2.5 mass concentrations. The particulate amines in PRD urban area were dominated by MA (243 ± 179 ng/m 3 ), accounting for over 80% of total amines, then followed by DMA (49 ± 30 ng/m 3 , 16.5%), TMA (4 ± 2 ng/m 3 ) and DEA (1 ± 1 ng/m 3 ). Based on the correlation analysis, MA and DMA mainly presented as nitrate and sulfate salts. We speculate the amines tend to react with gas-phase HNO 3 or particle-phase nitrate to form particulate amine salts via local process in Guangzhou. As the relative humidity (RH) increased, enhanced partitioning of amine towards the particle phase was observed. Using approach of multiple linear regression, 71% of the particulate amines in PRD urban site could be explained by acid-base process and the rest by primary emissions from combustion sources (29%)., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: This study investigates the influence paths that late career participation affects depression of older workers., Method: The data of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2018) are used. Those who have reached the statutory retirement age in China (>60 years for males/>55 years for females) are investigated., Results: Late career participation may positively affect job-related physical activity and social contact (2.110 and 0.028, P < 0.01) and negatively affect non-job-related physical activity (-0.343, P < 0.01). Besides, job-related physical activity may exacerbate depression symptoms among older workers (0.017, P < 0.01), whereas non-job-related physical activity and social contact may alleviate it (-0.015 and -0.038, P < 0.01)., Conclusions: Late career participation could be associated with depression through different pathways involving job-related (and non-job-related) physical activity and social contact. The overall impact of late career participation on depression would depend on which influence pathway is dominant., (Copyright © 2022 American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.)

Background: As the first step toward building a gatekeeping system in China, the governments have introduced a contracted family doctor service (CFDS) policy in primary healthcare (PHC) facilities. This study was to examine the association between apply of incentive to improve the implementation of CFDS and the performance on diabetes management care., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 72 PHC facilities in 6 cities that piloted the CFDS. Multivariate regression models were applied, based on a sample of 827 PHC providers and 420 diabetic patients., Results: PHC providers who reported the performance being linked with increased income were 168.1 and 78.0% more likely to have good continuity and coordination of diabetes patient management care, respectively. Additional one-point percentage of PHC providers whose performance on CFDS was assessed was associated with 7.192 times higher probability of patients with control of blood glucose., Discussion: Inclusion of incentives rewarding better performance on CFDS were associated with better delivery process and outcome performance on diabetes management care., Conclusion: Design and implementation of the incentive should be accompanied with the policy of CFDS, in order to increase the proportion of performance-related income of PHC providers, thereby improving the quality of diabetes management care., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Jin, Tian, Yu, Pan and Yuan.)

Mitigation of ambient ozone (O 3 ) pollution is a great challenge because it depends heavily on the background O 3 which has been poorly evaluated in many regions, including in China. By establishing the relationship between O 3 and air temperature near the surface, the mean background O 3 mixing ratios in the clean and polluted seasons were determined to be 35-40 and 50-55 ppbv in China during 2013-2019, respectively. Simulations using the chemical transport model (i.e., the Weather Research and Forecasting coupled with Chemistry model, WRF/Chem) suggested that biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions were the primary contributor to the increase in the background O 3 in the polluted season (BOP) compared to the background O 3 in the clean season (BOC), ranging from 8 ppbv to 16 ppbv. More importantly, the BOP continuously increased at a rate of 0.6-8.0 ppbv yr -1 during 2013-2019, while the non-BOP stopped increasing after 2017. Consequently, an additional 2%-16% reduction in anthropogenic VOC emissions is required to reverse the current O 3 back to that measured in the period from 2013 to 2017. The results of this study emphasize the importance of the relative contribution of the background O 3 to the observed total O 3 concentration in the design of anthropogenic precursor emission control strategies for the attainment of O 3 standards., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: A growing number of older workers engage in multiple jobs in the context of delayed retirement initiative and the fast-growing gig economy in China. However, it remains unclear whether multiple jobs holding is beneficial to late retirees., Methods: To preliminarily address this issue, this study applies the data of CHARLS-2015 to examine the effect of late retirement and multiple-job holding on mental health among older adults. Besides, instrumental variables (IVs) regression is conducted to clarify potential endogeneity problem., Results: It is shown that both late retirement (coef. = - 2.726, p < 0.01) and multiple-job holding (coef. = - 1.523, p < 0.01) alleviate depression among older adults. However, multiple-job holding would weaken the relationship between late retirement and depression (coef. = 2.019, p < 0.01)., Conclusion: The findings suggest that although the modest engagement in late careers and multiple-job holding could benefit mental health, respectively, the overlap of them could be overburdened for older adults. Policymakers should be aware of the occupational risk of multiple-job holding when incentivizing the delayed retirement to address the population aging., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Under the background of the new development concept, compared with the absolute impacts, the relative impacts of climate change on agricultural growth deserve more attention. Based on the data from China for years 1991 and 2018, this paper uses historical fluctuations in temperature within cities to identify the heterogeneous effects on aggregate agricultural outcomes during farming and fallow periods. The results show that: first, as temperature rises reduce the economic growth rate of each agricultural sector, and the areas that are relatively vulnerable (i.e., areas where disposable income of farm households is below the sample mean) are more significantly affected by the negative impact of temperature rise; second, the impact of temperature rise on agricultural economic growth is mainly concentrated in the farming period, while the marginal damage of temperature rise is on a decreasing trend; third, the heterogeneous impact of temperature rise on agricultural economic growth during the agricultural fallow period is also not negligible. At the same time, its impact on agricultural economy is still in the primary stage, that is, its marginal damage tends to increase with the increase in temperature fluctuation. These results inform identifying the climate's role in agricultural development and provide a theoretical and operational perspective for further optimizing the adaptive policy systems. With wide coverage of adaptive technology, we should pay more attention to the even distribution of technological dividends and continuously improve the coping ability of vulnerable groups., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation potential of ambient air in Guangzhou, China was investigated using a field-deployed oxidation flow reactor (OFR). The OFR was used to mimic hours to weeks of atmospheric exposure to hydroxyl (OH) radicals within the 2-3 min residence time. A comprehensive investigation on the variation of VOCs and OVOCs as a function of OH exposure is shown. Substantial formation of organic acids and nitrogen-containing OVOC species were observed. Maximum SOA formation in the OFR was observed following 1-4 equiv days' OH exposure. SOA produced from known/measured VOC/IVOC precursors such as single-ring aromatics and long-chain alkanes can account for 52-75% of measured SOA under low NO x and 26-60% under high NO x conditions based on laboratory SOA yield parametrizations. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the contribution (8-20%) of long-chain (C 8 -C 20 ) alkane oxidation to OFR SOA formation was quantified from direct measurement. By additionally estimating contribution from unmeasured semivolatile and intermediate volatility compounds (S/IVOCs) that are committed with C 8 -C 20 alkanes, 64-100% of the SOA formation observed in the OFR can be explained, signifying the important contribution of S/IVOCs such as large cyclic alkanes to ambient SOA.

Objective: The Slash (multiple-job holders) become increasingly prevalent in the labor force under the context of fast-developing gig economy and other emerging employment forms active on platforms. However, health outcomes of multiple-job holding have not received sufficient research treatment and is far from reaching consensus. This study provides an empirical investigation on the influence of multiple-job holding on individual health., Method: This study uses data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS-2015 survey) which covers 28 provinces/municipalities in China and tracks work and health status of the population aged over 45 years using stratified random sampling (N = 12,659-16,526 for examinations of different types of health status (i.e., chronic conditions/body aches/depression, in study 1), and from the Survey of Household Economics and Decision-making (SHED-2019) which is conducted by the Federal Reserve Board of the United States and documents economic behavior and related risks of the population aged over 18 years (N = 6603 for baseline model and N = 10,718 for supplementary test, in study 2). To address the potential endogeneity of multiple-job holding, the instrumental variable (IV) regressions are conducted to ensure the validity of results. The implementation of Study 1 and 2 in different national context could help test the generalization of research results., Results: Compared with non-multiple jobs holding, multiple-job holding with only one additional job is associated with better health status (i.e., less chronic conditions and body aches, a lower level of depression shown in study 1, and better self-assessed general health shown in study 2), however, multiple-job holding with at least two additional jobs turns to be associated with worse health status (shown in both study 1 and 2). These results show that the optimal level of multiple-job holding could be featured with one additional job besides the primary job., Conclusion: Multiple-job holding, with different structures, has both bright and dark side for health outcomes. To maintain an optimal level of multiple-job holding could benefit individual health., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)