Impact of COVID-19 pandemic responses on tuberculosis incidence: insights from Shantou, China.

BACKGROUND: Various measures taken against the COVID-19 pandemic are not only effective in reducing the spread of the disease, but also lead to some unexpected results. This article regarded these measures as an intervention and explored their impact on the incidence of tuberculosis in Shantou, China. METHODS: The incidence rate and the surveillance data of tuberculosis from January 1st, 2018 to December 31st, 2021 were provided by the Shantou Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Institute. Data were divided into pre-pandemic period (January 1st, 2018 - December 31st, 2019) and pandemic periods (January 1st, 2020 - December 31st, 2021). The Interrupted Time Series (ITS) was used to analyze the trend of tuberculosis incidence prior to and during the COVID-19 epidemic. RESULTS: The results showed that the incidence of tuberculosis cases in Shantou decreased significantly (p < 0.05) during the pandemic as compared to that prior to the pandemic. Among them, the 45-64 age group and the 65 + age group have statistically significant declines. When patients were stratified by occupation, the unemployed and those working in agriculture reduced the most. CONCLUSIONS: In response to the pandemic, measures like lockdowns and quarantines seem to have reduced tuberculosis incidence. However, this does not imply a true decrease. Underlying causes for the reduced true incidence need further scrutiny. Findings offer a preliminary exploration of interventions designed for one disease but functioning as unexpected results for another.

Air pollution and upper respiratory diseases: an examination among medically insured populations in Wuhan, China.

Multiple evidence has supported that air pollution exposure has detrimental effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. However, most investigations focus on the general population, with limited research conducted on medically insured populations. To address this gap, the current research was designed to examine the acute effects of inhalable particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ground-level ozone (O3), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) on the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), utilizing medical insurance data in Wuhan, China. Data on URTI were collected from the China Medical Insurance Basic Database for Wuhan covering the period from 2014 to 2018, while air pollutant data was gathered from ten national monitoring stations situated in Wuhan city. Statistical analysis was performed using generalized additive models for quasi-Poisson distribution with a log link function. The analysis indicated that except for ozone, higher exposure to four other pollutants (NO2, SO2, PM2.5, and PM10) were significantly linked to an elevated risk of URTI, particularly during the previous 0-3 days and previous 0-4 days. Additionally, NO2 and SO2 were found to be positively linked with laryngitis. Furthermore, the effects of air pollutants on the risk of URTI were more pronounced during cold seasons than hot seasons. Notably, females and the employed population were more susceptible to infection than males and non-employed individuals. Our findings gave solid proof of the link between ambient air pollution exposure and the risk of URTI in medically insured populations.

High-performance BiVO4 photoanodes cocatalyzed with bilayer metal-organic frameworks for photoelectrochemical application.

In this work, we modified a BiVO4 photoanode with bilayer Fe-MOF and Ni-MOF as cocatalysts for the first time and obtained a highly efficient BiVO4 composite photoanode whose photocurrent density was increased by 2.7 times. The optimized BiVO4/Fe-MOF/Ni-MOF photoanode demonstrated a photocurrent density of 1.80 mA/cm2 at 1.23 V vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). The onset potential of the BiVO4/Fe-MOF/Ni-MOF photoanode markedly decreased from 0.9 V to 0.69 V in comparison with the pure BiVO4 photoanode. It is speculated that Fe-MOF and Ni-MOF led to more reactive oxygen evolution sites and that the bilayer cocatalysts synergistically promoted the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, which may be the influencing factor for the photoelectrochemical performance of the BiVO4/Fe-MOF/Ni-MOF photoanode being distinctively enhanced. Thus, this work sheds some interesting new light on the construction of a high-efficiency photoanode for photoelectrochemical applications.

Enhanced reactive oxygen species via in situ producing H2O2 and synchronous catalytic conversion at stable modified copper foam cathode for efficient high-concentration organic wastewater treatment and simultaneous electricity generation.

Efficient high-concentration organics degradation (including 2-CP, phenol, and tetracycline) and simultaneous electricity generation were achieved via in situ producing H2O2 and synchronous catalytic conversion to more reactive oxygen species at stable modified copper foam cathode. The cathode was synthesized using the one-pot electrodeposition method and was used to in-situ generate H2O2 through the two-electron reduction of oxygen. The produced H2O2 was then catalytically converted into ·OH and ·O2- simultaneously. The results showed that the system using the Au-Fe co-modified cathode achieved an optimal rhodamine b (50 mg L-1) removal ratio and the removal ratios of 2-CP, phenol and tetracycline were all higher than 90% in 120 min. Meanwhile, it exhibited a high conversion performance of organics into electricity, which is superior to most of the reported PFC (Photocatalytic Fuel Cell) systems. Electron spin resonance test was conducted to ascertain the role of ·O2- and ·OH in the organics degradation. Furthermore, the Au-Fe-modified cathode exhibited superior stability for long-term application in the pH range of 3-7, which can be attributed to the protection of photocurrent and the interaction between Cu and Fe.