Impact of globalization on the environment in major CO2-emitting countries: Evidence using bootstrap ARDL with a Fourier function.

Alongside sustainable development as a major global aim, the contribution made by globalization to environmental issues has become crucial in recent decades. Prior studies have focused on how trade in globalization influences the environment. However, multiple economic, social, and political factors are also important, the integration of which needs to be considered in sustainable development. Sharp and smooth breaks in time series models are the consequence of real-world structures. Using the bootstrap autoregressive-distributed lag test with a Fourier function, the present study reexamined the nexus between globalization and the environment in China, the United States, and India. The empirical results indicate that in the United States, the nexus between globalization and the environment is cointegrated in the long-term. In the short term, globalization is improving the environment in the United States and India. However, in China, globalization is resulting in environmental degradation. This research will assist policymakers in developing comprehensive strategies for sustainable development.

Transportation, Environmental Degradation, and Health Dynamics in the United States and China: Evidence From Bootstrap ARDL With a Fourier Function.

Transportation and environmental degradation, with indirect and direct effects, play a significant role in determining the health of a nation's citizens. This study uses bootstrap ARDL with a Fourier function to examine transportation, environmental degradation, and health dynamics in the United States and China. In the long run, the results support the cointegration relationship between transportation, environmental degradation, and health in both countries. The results show the contingency of the causality where a negative impact of transportation on environmental degradation exists in the United States while a positive impact exists in China. The effect of environmental degradation on health is negative in the United States while a positive effect exists in China. Regarding the causal direction between the variables of interest, the implications provide policymakers in developing strategy and policy for sustainable development.

Preparation of Needleless Electrospinning Polyvinyl Alcohol/Water-Soluble Chitosan Nanofibrous Membranes: Antibacterial Property and Filter Efficiency.

Electrospinning is an efficient method of producing nanofibers out of polymers that shows a great potential for the filtration territory. Featuring water-soluble chitosan (WS-CS), a low-pollution process and a self-made needleless machine, PVA/WS-CS nanofibrous membranes were prepared and evaluated for nanofiber diameter, bacteriostatic property, filtration efficiency, pressure drop, and quality factor. Test results indicate that the minimal fiber diameter was 216.58 ± 58.15 nm. Regardless of the WS-CS concentration, all of the PVA/WS-CS nanofibrous membranes attained a high porosity and a high water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), with a pore size of 12.06-22.48 nm. Moreover, the membranes also exhibit bacteriostatic efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus, an optimal quality factor of 0.0825 Pa-1, and a filtration efficiency as high as 97.0%, that is 72.5% higher than that of common masks.

Measuring the Impact of Health on Economic Growth Using Pooling Data in Regions of Asia: Evidence From a Quantile-On-Quantile Analysis.

Health improvement has become a significant social priority since a moderately good human capital condition improves the workforce's abilities, efficiency, and quality of life. A rapid increase in healthcare expenditure is a trend in major developing and developed countries; however, healthcare expenditure widely varies among most Asian countries. Asian countries contribute a significant amount of output to economic development worldwide. The statistical test power is more efficient for the pooling of national data than individual national data because of the economic value and trade integration of regional nations. This is the first study that applies the quantile-on-quantile approach to investigate the influence of the quantiles of healthcare on the quantiles of the economy's growth for pooling forty countries in the Asian region. As the quantile of healthcare expenditure increases in the countries, the impact of healthcare expenditure on the economy's growth does not guarantee an increase. The positive and negative effects of healthcare expenditure on developing the economic relationship will repeatedly occur when the quantiles of the economy's growth increase in the countries. One implication is that the governments should account for problems such as corruption, bureaucracy, underinvestment, and inefficiency in health-related resource utilization.

Association between body mass index and clinical outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors treated with targeted temperature management.

BACKGROUND: To determine the impact of body mass index (BMI) on clinical outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors treated with targeted temperature management (TTM). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 261 adult OHCA survivors who received complete TTM between January 2011 and December 2018 using data from the Research Patient Database Registry of Partners HealthCare system in Boston. Patients were categorized as underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2), normal weight (BMI = 18.5-24.9 kg/m2), overweight (BMI = 25-29.9 kg/m2), and obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2), according to the World Health Organization classification. RESULTS: The average BMI was 28.9 ± 7.1 kg/m2. Patients with a higher BMI had higher rates of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, and were more likely to be witnessed on collapse. Patients with lower BMI levels had higher sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores, blood urea nitrogen values, and mild thrombocytopenia rates (platelet count <150 K/µL) after the TTM treatment. The survival to discharge and favorable neurological outcome at discharge were reported in 117 (44.8%) and 76 (29.1%) patients, respectively. The survival at discharge, favorable neurologic outcomes at discharge, length of hospital admission, and the occurrence of acute kidney injury did not significantly differ between the BMI subgroups. In logistic regression model, BMI was not an independent predictor for survival at discharge (adjusted odds ratio 0.945, 95% CI 0.883-1.012, p = 0.108) nor for the favorable neurologic outcome at discharge (adjusted odds ratio 1.022, 95% CI 0.955-1.093, p = 0.528). CONCLUSION: In OHCA patients treated with TTM, there was no significant difference across BMI subgroups for survival or favorable neurologic outcome at discharge.

Emergency department response to coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak with a fever screening station and "graded approach" for isolation and testing.

BACKGROUND: Ever since coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, it has had a devastating effect on the world through exponential case growth and death tolls in at least 146 countries. Rapid response and timely modifications in the emergency department (ED) for infection control are paramount to maintaining basic medical services and preventing the spread of COVID-19. This study presents the unique measure of combining a fever screening station (FSS) and graded approach to isolation and testing in a Taiwanese medical center. METHODS: An FSS was immediately set up outside the ED on January 27, 2019. A graded approach was adopted to stratify patients into "high risk," "intermediate risk," and "undetermined risk" for both isolation and testing. RESULTS: A total of 3755 patients were screened at the FSS, with 80.3% visiting the ED from home, 70.9% having no travel history, 21.4% having traveled to Asia, and 10.0% of TVGH staff. Further, 54.9% had fever, 35.5% had respiratory symptoms, 3.2% had gastrointestinal symptoms, 0.6% experienced loss of smell, and 3.1% had no symptoms; 81.3% were discharged, 18.6% admitted, and 0.1% died. About 1.9% were admitted to the intensive care unit, 10.3% to the general ward, and 6.4% were isolated. Two patients tested positive for COVID-19 (0.1%) and 127 (3.4%) tested positive for atypical infection; 1471 patients were tested for COVID-19; 583 were stratified as high-risk, 781 as intermediate-risk, and 107 as undetermined-risk patients. CONCLUSION: Rapid response for infection control is a paramount in the ED to confront the COVID-19 outbreak. The FFS helped divide the flow of high- and intermediate-risk patients; it also decreased the ED workload during a surge of febrile patients. A graded approach to testing uses risk stratification to prevent nosocomial infection of asymptomatic patients. A graded approach to isolation enables efficient allocation of scarce medical resources according to risk stratification.

Patient safety in Work Environments: Perceptions of Pediatric Healthcare Providers in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: Extensive research on the link between the organizational characteristics of the work environment and patient safety in a healthcare organization has been conducted; yet, only a few studies have concentrated on care providers in a pediatric unit. OBJECTIVES: To determine the correlation between different work environment factors impacting patient safety in a pediatric care unit from the perspective of registered nurses working in these units. DESIGN: Cross-sectional design. DATA SOURCES AND METHODS: The study was conducted with 155 registered nurses from a pediatric unit in a medical center in Taiwan with the Chinese version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) 2014-2017. RESULTS: Teamwork climate, higher job satisfaction, and better working conditions are linked to positive perceptions of patient safety culture. Emotional exhaustion is negatively related to most dimensions of patient safety. CONCLUSION: Teamwork climate, job satisfaction, working conditions, and emotional exhaustion were identified as critical factors impacting the patient safety climate. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING OR HEALTH POLICY: Investments to improve teamwork climate, job satisfaction, and working conditions and reduce emotional exhaustion may have a positive effect on patient safety in pediatric care units.

A Dynamic Relationship between Environmental Degradation, Healthcare Expenditure and Economic Growth in Wavelet Analysis: Empirical Evidence from Taiwan.

This paper analyzes the co-movement and causal linkages between environmental pollution and healthcare expenditure, taking economic growth as a control variable by using wavelet analysis for Taiwan over the period 1995 Q1-2016 Q4. The results show that there exists co-movement and causality between environmental pollution and healthcare expenditure at different frequencies and times. The changes in the relationships of the two variables are observed in certain events such as the period of the expansion stage, the policy of environmental pollution, and the issue of the National Health Insurance Integrated Circuit card (NHI-IC) in Taiwan. In the short-term, positive causality runs from healthcare expenditure to environmental pollution before 2004, while negative causality runs from healthcare expenditure to environmental pollution before 2007 in the long-term. After adding economic growth as a control variable, positive causality runs from healthcare expenditure to environmental pollution in the period 2009-2011 in the short-term, while negative causality running from healthcare expenditure to environmental pollution is shown in 2008 in the long-term. The results indicate that "higher government health expenditure leading to higher demand for environment quality" exists in different sub-periods and the argument may concern the factor of economics in the long-term. The positive healthcare lead in the short-term may be based on economics in the expansion stage. Also, the issue of NHI-IC possibly affects the dynamic relationship between healthcare expenditure and environmental pollution without considering economics. Based on empirical analysis, certain policy and managerial implications are addressed for decision-makers at macroeconomic and microeconomic levels.

Interaction between crystal violet and anionic surfactants at silica/water interface using evanescent wave-cavity ring-down absorption spectroscopy.

Evanescent wave-cavity ring-down spectroscopy (EW-CRDS) is employed to characterize micellization of anionic surfactants and the related capability of removing cationic substance off the silica surface. Crystal violet (CV(+)) cationic dye is used as a molecular probe to effectively determine critical hemimicelle concentration (HMC) of surfactants on the surface. The HMC results are 1×10(-2), 4×10(-3), 8×10(-4), and 2.5×10(-4) mol/L for sodium sulfate salts with a carbon-chain length of C-10, C-12, C-14, and C-16, respectively. A stronger hydrophobic interaction results in a less concentration required to undergo micellization. The HMC values on the surface are about half of those in solution. When NaCl solution is added, the electrolyte helps reduce the electrostatic repulsion between the anionic sulfate heads to facilitate the surfactant aggregation, and thus, the subsequent HMC is reduced. Furthermore, the probable phase change for dye-surfactant interactions on the surface at the concentration below HMC is observed, and the desorption rates of CV(+) are measured as a function of concentration and carbon-chain length of surfactants above HMC. Given each surfactant concentration at its respective HMC, the corresponding desorption rates are along the order of C-12