How does air pollution threaten mental health? Protocol for a machine-learning enhanced systematic map.

INTRODUCTION: Air pollution exposure has influenced a broad range of mental health conditions. It has attracted research from multiple disciplines such as biomedical sciences, epidemiology, neurological science, and social science due to its importance for public health, with implications for environmental policies. Establishing and identifying the causal and moderator effects is challenging and is particularly concerning considering the different mental health measurements, study designs and data collection strategies (eg, surveys, interviews) in different disciplines. This has created a fragmented research landscape which hinders efforts to integrate key insights from different niches, and makes it difficult to identify current research trends and gaps. METHOD AND ANALYSIS: This systematic map will follow the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence's guidelines and standards and Reporting Standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses guidelines. Different databases and relevant web-based search engines will be used to collect the relevant literature. The time period of search strategies is conducted from the inception of the database until November 2022. Citation tracing and backward references snowballing will be used to identify additional studies. Data will be extracted by combining of literature mining and manual correction. Data coding for each article will be completed by two independent reviewers and conflicts will be reconciled between them. Machine learning technology will be applied throughout the systematic mapping process. Literature mining will rapidly screen and code the numerous available articles, enabling the breadth and diversity of the expanding literature base to be considered. The systematic map output will be provided as a publicly available database. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Primary data will not be collected and ethical approval is not required in this study. The findings of this study will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed scientific journal and academic conference presentations.

Spontaneous deamination of cytosine to uracil is biased to the non-transcribed DNA strand in yeast.

Transcription in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is associated with elevated mutation and this partially reflects enhanced damage of the corresponding DNA. Spontaneous deamination of cytosine to uracil leads to CG>TA mutations that provide a strand-specific read-out of damage in strains that lack the ability to remove uracil from DNA. Using the CAN1 forward mutation reporter, we found that C>T and G>A mutations, which reflect deamination of the non-transcribed and transcribed DNA strands, respectively, occurred at similar rates under low-transcription conditions. By contrast, the rate of C>T mutations was 3-fold higher than G>A mutations under high-transcription conditions, demonstrating biased deamination of the non-transcribed strand (NTS). The NTS is transiently single-stranded within the ∼15 bp transcription bubble, or a more extensive region of the NTS can be exposed as part of an R-loop that can form behind RNA polymerase. Neither the deletion of genes whose products restrain R-loop formation nor the over-expression of RNase H1, which degrades R-loops, reduced the biased deamination of the NTS, and no transcription-associated R-loop formation at CAN1 was detected. These results suggest that the NTS within the transcription bubble is a target for spontaneous deamination and likely other types of DNA damage.

Social Stability Risk Assessment of Disaster-Preventive Migration in Ethnic Minority Areas of Southwest China.

Disaster-preventive migration (DPM) is an important method for disaster risk management, but migration itself entails a potential social stability risk. This study took County D in Yunnan Province, one of the counties most severely threatened by geological disasters in China, as an example to construct an indicator system of social stability risk factors for disaster-preventive migration based on a literature survey and in-depth interviews. The system consists of 5 first-level risk factors and 14 s-level risk factors. The social stability risk of DPM in County D was assessed using a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method based on experts' weights. The results showed that the overall social stability risk level of disaster-preventive migration in County D is 'high'. In terms of importance, the five first-level risk factors were ranked as follows: public opinion risk > compensation risk > livelihood recovery risk > cultural risk > geological disaster risk. Among the risk factors, the level of public opinion risk and compensation risk appeared to be high, whereas that of livelihood recovery risk, cultural risk and geological disaster risk resulted to be medium. To our knowledge, this paper is the first research to evaluate the social stability risk of DPM; it not only enriches the theories of social stability risk assessment, but also has important guiding significance for people relocation and resettlement in Chinese ethnic minority areas.

Does Fiscal Stress Improve the Environmental Efficiency? Perspective Based on the Urban Horizontal Fiscal Imbalance.

The resilience of the fiscal system has a driving effect on environmental governance, and it is always a challenge to solve the problem of matching fiscal power with administrative power. Based on the panel data of 193 cities in China from 2013 to 2018, the data envelopment analysis method was used to evaluate the comprehensive indicators of urban environmental efficiency. The impact of fiscal stress on environmental efficiency is examined from the perspective of urban horizontal imbalance. We find that the smaller the fiscal stress, the higher urban environmental efficiency. The endogeneity is mitigated by using instrumental variables and the generalized method of moments, and the results are still robust after considering the interference of sample selection bias and variable estimation bias. At the same time, the impact of fiscal stress on environmental efficiency varies with spatial location, ecological strategic planning, economic development, and other factors, especially in southern cities, cities in the Yangtze River Basin, and cities in urban agglomerations, where reducing fiscal stress promotes environmental efficiency. In addition, green production and public environmental services are important channels for its role, and the rational allocation of self-raised funds can effectively moderate the improvement of environmental efficiency.

Risk perceptions and risk-averse attitude influenced older patients' first-diagnosis-seeking behaviour at tertiary hospitals.

OBJECTIVE: This qualitative study aimed to investigate the associations of older patients' inappropriate healthcare-seeking behaviour at tertiary hospitals in China with their risk perceptions and attitude. METHODS: The study was based on nine focus group interviews (involving 41 older patients, with three to six per group) and involved the grounded theory method. The participants were recruited at tertiary hospitals. RESULTS: The results of this study showed that older patients' inappropriate first-diagnosis-seeking behaviour at tertiary hospitals was impacted by their risk perceptions and risk-averse attitude. Both external factors (family/friends and the Internet) and internal factors (preferences and habits) had played important roles in related processes. CONCLUSION: Thus, to guide older patients' healthcare-seeking behaviour, changing the thoughts and behaviour of the older patients themselves, their spouses, adult children, other relatives, and friends are all important. More attention should be paid on guiding appropriate risk perceptions and attitude regarding lower-level medical institutions, increasing their preferences and habit formation regarding lower-level medical institutions, enhancing older patients' social support and improving and standardising online health information. These are important for the future development of the hierarchical medical system in China.

Exploring telemental health practice before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: This study investigated how mental health providers' use of telemedicine has changed since the coronavirus disease (COVID) 2019 pandemic and their expectations for continuing to use it once the pandemic ends. METHODS: A 15-min online survey was completed by 175 practicing and licensed telemental health providers who use telemedicine. In addition to personal and professional demographic items, the survey included items about the frequency of telemedicine use, proportion of caseload served by telemedicine, comfort using telemedicine before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and expectations to use telemedicine after the pandemic ends. A series of χ2 analyses, an independent samples t-test, and analyses of variance were conducted. RESULTS: The pandemic resulted in a greater proportion of telemental health providers using telemedicine on a daily basis (17% before and 40% during the pandemic; p < 0.01) and serving more than half of their caseload remotely (9.1% before and 57.7% during the pandemic; p < 0.05). Also, there was a statistically significant increase in their comfort using telemedicine before and during the pandemic (p < 0.001). Providers reported expecting to use telemedicine more often after the pandemic ends (M = 3.35; SD = 0.99). Expectations to provide telemental health services after the pandemic were greater for mental health counselors, providers who practiced in rural regions, and providers who served patients through out-of-pocket payments. DISCUSSION: Telemental health providers use telemedicine daily as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with expectations of continuing to use telemedicine in practice after the pandemic. This expectation is more prominent in certain segments of providers and warrants further investigation.

Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on mental health providers in the southeastern United States.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for mental health care despite novel barriers to services. Little is known about how the pandemic has affected mental health providers and their practice. In July 2020, we conducted a web-based survey of 500 licensed mental health providers to assess their employment and caseloads, logistics of care, quality of care, and patient-provider relationships and communication during the pandemic. Over 90% of providers reported changes to their employment (e.g., furloughs), with 64% no longer practicing. Providers who reported no longer practicing were older in age, racial minorities, served rural communities, worked in small clinics/provider networks, were social workers and marriage and family therapists, and relied on private insurance or out-of-pocket payment. Most practicing providers reported similar-to-increased caseloads (62%), new patients seeking services (67%), and appointment frequency (70%). Approximately 97% of providers used telemedicine, with 54% providing services mostly-to-exclusively via telemedicine. Most providers reported losing contact with patients deemed unstable (76%) or a danger to themselves/others (71%). Most providers reported maintained-to-improved quality of care (83%), patient-provider relationships (80%), and communication (80%). Results highlight concerns relating to mental health services during the pandemic, however practicing providers have demonstrated resilience to coordinate and provide high quality care.

Association of Chinese drifting elderly's intergenerational support satisfaction with expectation: A mixed method study in Shanghai.

OBJECTIVE: In China's drifting elderly explosive growth context, in spite the importance of intergenerational support for drifting elderly is well recognised, but the association of related satisfaction with expectation is neglected. So current study was designed to explore this. METHODS: A mixed study with two-stage survey was undertaken involving 136 drifting elderly in Shanghai from June to September in 2019, among which 17 patriciates were involved in the in-depth interviews in stage 2. The intergenerational support in two directions, which were support drifting elderly provided and received, and in three dimensions, which were material, service and emotional, were analysed. RESULTS: The intergenerational support relationship of drifting elderly and their adult children were strengthened by the unsatisfied social support context. A stronger satisfaction with service support and material support was associated with weaker related expectation, and weaker satisfaction with emotional support was associated with a stronger related expectation. CONCLUSION: A stronger satisfaction of drifting elderly with intergenerational material and service support can result in a weaker related expectation. While a weaker satisfaction intergenerational emotional support can result in a stronger related expectation. Thus, strengthen drifting elderly's emotional support as they expected is necessary for satisfying their old-ageing pension in urban.

Reporting gaps between news media and scientific papers on outdoor air pollution-related health outcomes: A content analysis.

OBJECTIVES: In China, news media are useful for educating the public about the health threats of air pollution. To explore the potential gaps between scientific findings and the public's understanding of them, the characteristics of news media articles and their corresponding scientific papers were analysed. METHODS: We used 22 articles relating to the health outcomes of exposure to outdoor air pollution published on Baidu News over the past year. An assessment tool developed by Robinson et al was used to evaluate the quality scores of news articles. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to measure the relationship between news media reporting and the characteristics of scientific papers. Misleading reporting, interpretation, or extrapolation in headlines and text bodies of news articles were examined. RESULTS: The quality scores of the news articles ranged from -4 to 8, with an overall median score of 3. Correlation results showed that the scientific papers citation in Twitter (r = .88, P < .001) and Facebook (r = .64, P < .01) were significantly and positively associated with their citations in news stories. Media misunderstanding of scientific findings was common: 15 news headlines were identified with at least one spin (misrepresentation of scientific results), and 12 news articles had seven types of spin in the body texts. CONCLUSION: Little media attention has been paid to scientific findings by Chinese researchers. Therefore, researchers and science journalists in China should make a better effort to engage in accurate and informative public discourse on domestic research.

Exposure to outdoor air pollution and its human-related health outcomes: an evidence gap map.

OBJECTIVES: Outdoor air pollution is a serious environmental problem worldwide. Current systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) mostly focused on some specific health outcomes or some specific air pollution. DESIGN: This evidence gap map (EGM) is to identify existing gaps from SRs and MAs and report them in broad topic areas. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus and Web of Science were searched from their inception until June 2018. Citations and reference lists were traced. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: SRs and MAs that investigated the impact of outdoor air pollution on human health outcomes were collected. This study excluded original articles and qualitative review articles. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Characteristics of the included SRs and MAs were extracted and summarised. Extracted data included authors, publication year, location of the corresponding author(s), publication journal discipline, study design, study duration, sample size, study region, target population, types of air pollution and health outcomes. RESULTS: Asia and North America published 93% of SRs and MAs included in this EGM. 31% of the SRs and MAs (27/86) included primary studies conducted in 5-10 countries. Their publication trends have increased during the last 10 years. A total of 2864 primary studies was included. The median number of included primary studies was 20 (range, 7-167). Cohort studies, case cross-over studies and time-series studies were the top three most used study designs. The mostly researched population was the group of all ages (46/86, 53%). Cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases and health service records were mostly reported. A lack of definite diagnostic criteria, unclear reporting of air pollution exposure and time period of primary studies were the main research gaps. CONCLUSIONS: This EGM provided a visual overview of health outcomes affected by outdoor air pollution exposure. Future research should focus on chronic diseases, cancer and mental disorders.

Exposure to outdoor air pollution and its human health outcomes: A scoping review.

Despite considerable air pollution prevention and control measures that have been put into practice in recent years, outdoor air pollution remains one of the most important risk factors for health outcomes. To identify the potential research gaps, we conducted a scoping review focused on health outcomes affected by outdoor air pollution across the broad research area. Of the 5759 potentially relevant studies, 799 were included in the final analysis. The included studies showed an increasing publication trend from 1992 to 2008, and most of the studies were conducted in Asia, Europe, and North America. Among the eight categorized health outcomes, asthma (category: respiratory diseases) and mortality (category: health records) were the most common ones. Adverse health outcomes involving respiratory diseases among children accounted for the largest group. Out of the total included studies, 95.2% reported at least one statistically positive result, and only 0.4% showed ambiguous results. Based on our study, we suggest that the time frame of the included studies, their disease definitions, and the measurement of personal exposure to outdoor air pollution should be taken into consideration in any future research. The main limitation of this study is its potential language bias, since only English publications were included. In conclusion, this scoping review provides researchers and policy decision makers with evidence taken from multiple disciplines to show the increasing prevalence of outdoor air pollution and its adverse effects on health outcomes.

Social adaptation and adaptation pressure among the "drifting elderly" in China: A qualitative study in Shanghai.

OBJECTIVE: In China, a population of "drifting elderly" that is mainly composed of older parents who migrate for nonemployment reasons has emerged and developed rapidly. The need to understand their social adaptation after migration is well recognized but neglected, so we explored this in the current study. METHODS: A qualitative study using a grounded theory approach was undertaken involving 53 elderly interprovincial migrants in five districts of Shanghai from July 2016 to May 2018. This involved in-depth interviews with participants. Adaptation of the drifting elderly and their motivations for migrating were studied, and differences in daily life when compared with before migrating, difficulties encountered after migrating, and social-adaptation pressure were analyzed. RESULTS: The drifting elderly had poor adaptation regarding self-identity, daily activities, and social context. The adaptation process regarding daily life, social relationships, and obtaining social support was difficult. They experienced both proximate adaptation pressure (induced by providing and/or obtaining social support) and evolutionary adaptation pressure (induced by mismatch and/or constraints). CONCLUSION: The social adaptation of the drifting elderly was affected by differences in daily life when compared with before migrating, and adaptation pressure was caused by both proximate and evolutionary factors. The decision to migrate was the result of a rational principle of maintaining the intergenerational support structure, and it was influenced by the evolutionary advantage related to maintaining this structure. Strengthening social support for the drifting elderly is necessary to promote their adaptation.

Internal and external factors of plagiarism: Evidence from Chinese public sector universities.

AIMS: This study explores the effects of internal and external factors that encourage plagiarism from the perspective of students. METHODS: We collected student data from five public sector universities in Anhui Province, China, by randomly distributing survey questionnaires to 250 students, 176 of which were usable. We analyzed the collected quantitative data through multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Our research results demonstrate that external and internal factors have a great influence on plagiarism. The control behavior and teaching factors have a significant positive impact on plagiarism, while information technology does not have a considerable impact on plagiarism. Among the external factors, a significant positive correlation exists between external stress, pride, and plagiarism; however, no significant relationship exists between academic skills and plagiarism. CONCLUSION: The article concludes that grade level and enrollment status (full-time or part-time) are inversely correlated to plagiarism, which proves that the higher the academic level, the less the plagiarism behaviors occurs. This concept may be due to the fact that the higher the academic level, the stronger the plagiarism constraints might be, which in turn leads to a drastic decrease in plagiarism. Moreover, a negative relationship emerges between enrollment status (full-time or part-time) and plagiarism because part-time students who are committed to an employment are less likely to give their full attention to their studies.