Global Burden of Lung Cancer Attributable to Household Fine Particulate Matter Pollution in 204 Countries and Territories, 1990 to 2019.

INTRODUCTION: Household particulate matter (PM) air pollution is substantially associated with lung cancer. Nevertheless, the global burden of lung cancer attributable to household PM2.5 is still uncertain. METHODS: In this study, data from the Global Burden and Disease Study 2019 are used to thoroughly assess the burden of lung cancer associated with household PM2.5. RESULTS: The number of deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) attributable to household PM2.5 was found to be 0.08 million and 1.94 million, respectively in 2019. Nevertheless, the burden of lung cancer attributable to household PM2.5 decreased from 1990 to 2019. At the sociodemographic index (SDI) district level, the middle SDI region had the most number of lung cancer deaths and DALYs attributable to household PM2.5. Moreover, the burden of lung cancer was mainly distributed in low-SDI regions, such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Conversely, in high-SDI regions, the age-standardized mortality rate and age-standardized DALY rate of lung cancer attributable to household PM2.5 exhibit the most rapid declines. The burden of lung cancer attributable to household PM2.5 is heavier for men than for women. The sex difference is more obvious in the elderly. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of lung cancer attributable to household PM2.5 has exhibited a declining trend from 1990 to 2019 owing to a concurrent decline in household PM2.5 exposure.

[Heavy Metal Pollution and Health Risk Assessment in Karst Basin Around a Lead-Zinc Mine].

Water quality is one of the most important environmental issues in the sustainable development of karst areas. To investigate heavy metal pollution and assess health risk in karst water basins around mines, 18 groups of water samples were collected from the river and groundwater in the Sidi River karst basin, and the concentrations of nine types of heavy metals(Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Mn, Fe, As, Cr, and Sr) were determined. Sample data were analyzed using principal component analysis, correlation analysis, water quality index, the Nemerow comprehensive pollution index, hazard quotient, and hazard index. The results showed that the Sidi River was slightly alkaline. The farther the river water samples were from the tailings reservoir, the lower were the concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Mn, Fe, As, and Sr in the river water. Principal component and correlation analyses showed that heavy metals in the Sidi River karst basin mainly came from mine discharge(55.42%), carbonate weathering dissolution(21.41%), and human activities(14.72%). Eighty-two percent of the samples in the river and all the samples in the groundwater were excellent water. The Nemerow comprehensive pollution index in the river was 4.12 with strong pollution. All the hazard indices were below 1, and Pb, Zn, As, Cd, and Cr were potentially threatening metals in the Sidi River karst basin. The concentration of heavy metals changed significantly after entering the karst conduit, indicating that the unique properties of the karst aquifer affected the spatial variation of the heavy metal concentration. The results of this study can provide data reference for water resource prevention and human health protection in the Sidi River karst basin and similar karst basins.

Efficient production of xylobiose and xylotriose from corncob by mixed acids and xylanase hydrolysis.

Propionic acid (PA) hydrolysis offers a potential pathway for industrial xylooligosaccharide (XOS) production owing to efficiency and simplicity of the process. However, the cost of XOS production needs to be reduced as PA is expensive. This work proposed a strategy of mixed acids hydrolysis, replacing 20% of PA with formic acid (FA), and combined with xylanase hydrolysis to reduce production costs and increase the production of XOS from corncob. The hydrolysis of corncob using mixed FA and PA in a mass ratio of 2:8 produced 61.8% XOS. Xylanase hydrolysis of corncob residue improved XOS yield to 73.1%. Among them, the X2 + X3 yield was as high as 50.6%. Economic evaluation showed that the combined process reduced the XOS production cost by 10.8% compared to PA hydrolysis. The strategy of using FA instead of 20% PA for hydrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis, with high XOS and monosaccharide yields from corncob, has potential industrial promise.

Changes in PM2.5-related health burden in China's poverty and non-poverty areas during 2000-2020: A health inequality perspective.

China suffers from severe PM2.5 pollution that has resulted in a huge health burden. Such PM2.5-related health burden has long been suspected to differ between China's poverty-stricken areas (PAs) and non-poverty-stricken areas (NPAs). Yet, evidence-based examination of this long-held belief, which is critical as a barrier of environmental injustice to advancing China's sustainability, is still missing. Here our study shows that the PM2.5 pollution is more serious in China's NPAs than PAs-with their annual averages being respectively 54.83 µg/m3 and 43.63 µg/m3-causing higher premature mortality in the NPAs. Compared to economic inequality, China's total PM2.5-related premature mortality was relatively evenly distributed during 2000-2015 across regions of varying levels of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita but increased slightly in 2015-2020 owing to the dramatic change in age structure. The elderly population increased by 31 %. PM2.5-related premature deaths were more severe for populations of low socioeconomic status, and such environmental health inequalities could be amplified by population aging. Additionally, population migration from China's PAs to developed cities contributed to 638, 779, 303, 954, and 896 premature deaths in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020, respectively. Changes in the age structure (53 %) and PM2.5 concentration (28 %) had the greatest impact on premature deaths, followed by changes in population (12 %) and baseline mortality (8 %). The contribution rate of changes in the age structure and PM2.5 concentration was higher in PAs than in NPAs. Our findings provide insight into PM2.5-related premature death and environmental inequality, and may inform more equitable clean air policies to achieve China's sustainable development goals.

Dissolved Heavy Metal Pollution and Assessment of a Karst Basin around a Mine, Southwest China.

Karst water quality is one of the most important environmental issues in karst areas. The study's purpose was to investigate dissolved heavy metal pollution and health risk assessment in karst water basins around mines. River water and groundwater samples were analyzed by principal component analysis, correlation analysis, water quality index, hazard quotient, and hazard index. Median concentrations of dissolved heavy metals in the Sidi River were similar to the world average with a slightly alkaline characteristic. The concentrations of most dissolved heavy metals in river water were higher than those in groundwater. The concentrations of Zn, Pb, and Cd around the mine exceeded the limits of drinking water indicators. The poor water quality samples with high water quality index values were distributed around the mine. Lead (Pb), Zn, As, Cd, and Cr were potentially threatening metals in the study area. The pollution level of dissolved heavy metals in the Sidi River was at a medium level compared with other rivers worldwide. Principal component analysis and correlation analysis showed that Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Mn, Fe, As, and Sr mainly came from mine drainage; Ca2+, Mg2+, and Cr mainly came from the contribution of carbonate rocks; Na+ and K+ were related to local human agricultural activities. The concentrations of dissolved heavy metals in groundwater were affected by karst aquifers. The results of this study can provide a data reference for water resources prevention and human health protection in the Sidi River's karst basin and similar karst basins.

Development and Assessment of a High-Resolution Biogenic Emission Inventory from Urban Green Spaces in China.

Biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions have long been known to play vital roles in modulating the formation of ozone and secondary organic aerosols (SOAs). While early studies have evaluated their impact globally or regionally, the BVOC emissions emitted from urban green spaces (denoted as U-BVOC emissions) have been largely ignored primarily due to the failure of low-resolution land cover in resolving such processes, but also because their important contribution to urban BVOCs was previously unrecognized. In this study, by utilizing a recently released high-resolution land cover dataset, we develop the first set of emission inventories of U-BVOCs in China at spatial resolutions as high as 1 km. This new dataset resolved densely distributed U-BVOCs in urban core areas. The U-BVOC emissions in megacities could account for a large fraction of total BVOC emissions, and the good agreement of the interannual variations between the U-BVOC emissions and ozone concentrations over certain regions stresses their potentially crucial role in influencing ozone variations. The newly constructed U-BVOC emission inventory is expected to provide an improved dataset to enable the research community to re-examine the modulation of BVOCs on the formation of ozone, SOA, and atmospheric chemistry in urban environments.

[Ecological compensation standards and compensation methods of public welfare forest protected area.] / å ¬ç›Šæž—ä¿æŠ¤åŒºç”Ÿæ€è¡¥å¿æ ‡å‡†ä¸Žè¡¥å¿æ–¹å¼.

With a special focus on Jiangkou County in Guizhou Province, this paper explored the ecological compensation standards and compensation methods of local key public welfare forest protected area by using questionnaire and contingent valuation method. The results showed that the minimum compensation which the local foresters could accept was 314.14-365.15 yuan·hm-2 per year, and the opportunity cost was 9750 yuan multiplied by the protected forest area. The willingness to accept of foresters was affected by many factors, such as health status, education level, ethnicity and local township. The compensation methods local foresters expected were various, but mainly were cash and technology compensation. Finally, this paper put forward some policy suggestions on improving system, increasing compensation standards, strengthening propaganda, and enriching compensation methods.

Five-year epidemiological survey of valvular heart disease: changes in morbidity, etiological spectrum and management in a cardiovascular center of Southern China.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study is to analyze the epidemiological profile of patients with abnormal valvular structure and function and highlight the etiological spectrum and management of valvular heart disease (VHD) in a single cardiovascular center of Southern China in five years. METHODS: The retrospective study included 19,428 consecutive patients (9,441 men and 9,987 women with a mean age of 52.03±20.50 years) with abnormal valvular structure and function who were screened by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) or transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) at the in-patient department of Guangdong General Hospital from January 2009 to December 2013. Data on baseline characteristics, potential etiology, treatment strategies and discharge outcomes were collected from electronic medical records. RESULTS: There were 13,549 (69.7%) patients with relatively definite etiology for VHD. VHD was rheumatic in 7,197 (37.0%) patients, congenital in 2,697 (13.9%), degenerative in 2,241 (11.5%), ischemic in 2,460 (12.7%). The prevalence decreased significantly in rheumatic VHD from 2009 to 2013 (from 42.8% to 32.8%, P<0.001), but increased markedly in congenital VHD (from 9.0% to 12.3%, P<0.001), ischemic VHD (from 9.2% to 11.3%, P=0.003) and degenerative VHD (from 8.8% to 14.5%, P<0.001). Meantime, the prevalence of ischemic VHD increased after the age of 45, similar to that of degenerative VHD. From 2009 to 2013, the proportion of patients with VHD undergoing open cardiac valvular surgery decreased (from 49.5% to 44.3%, P<0.001) and that of patients treated with general medication increased (from 49.2% to 54.1%, P<0.001). However, there was markedly increment in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) from 2009 to 2013 (from 0.3% to 4.4%, P<0.001). Increasing tendencies were showed in aortic mechanical valve replacement (from 32.1% to 34.5%, P=0.001) and double mechanical valve replacement (from 20.9% to 22.3%, P=0.035), especially in mitral valvuloplasty (from 8.5% to 15.7%, P<0.001). However, the proportion of patients undergoing bioprosthetic valve replacement decreased from 2009 to 2013 (from 26.3% to 15.5%, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Despite a significant shift from rheumatic towards degenerative etiology from 2009 to 2013, rheumatic VHD remains the leading etiology in Southern China, with a significant increase in the prevalence of ischemic, congenital and degenerative VHD. General medication and cardiac valvular surgery remain the main treatment options. The proportion of VATS increased markedly from 2009 to 2013, and mechanical valve replacement and mitral valvuloplasty showed an increasing tendency.

Learning atomic human actions using variable-length Markov models.

Visual analysis of human behavior has generated considerable interest in the field of computer vision because of its wide spectrum of potential applications. Human behavior can be segmented into atomic actions, each of which indicates a basic and complete movement. Learning and recognizing atomic human actions are essential to human behavior analysis. In this paper, we propose a framework for handling this task using variable-length Markov models (VLMMs). The framework is comprised of the following two modules: a posture labeling module and a VLMM atomic action learning and recognition module. First, a posture template selection algorithm, based on a modified shape context matching technique, is developed. The selected posture templates form a codebook that is used to convert input posture sequences into discrete symbol sequences for subsequent processing. Then, the VLMM technique is applied to learn the training symbol sequences of atomic actions. Finally, the constructed VLMMs are transformed into hidden Markov models (HMMs) for recognizing input atomic actions. This approach combines the advantages of the excellent learning function of a VLMM and the fault-tolerant recognition ability of an HMM. Experiments on realistic data demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed system.