[Evaluation on Heavy Metal Pollution and Its Risk in Soils from Vegetable Bases of Hangzhou].

With the purpose of investigation on heavy metal contamination in soils from vegetable bases of Hangzhou, adopting field investigation and indoor analysis methods, the contents of heavy metals as Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, As and Ni, together with their relevance to the physicochemical properties of the 203 soils from 30 vegetable bases in 10 districts of Hangzhou were studied. The results showed that the contents of heavy metals such as Zn,Cr,As,Ni generally didn't exceed the standard, while the contents of heavy metals such as Cu, Pb, Cd exceeded it. The results from synthetic pollution evaluation showed that the soils were slightly polluted in soils from vegetable bases of Hangzhou, which were mainly caused by Cd pollution. Furthermore, there was slight potential ecological hazard for Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, As and Ni but strong potential ecological hazard for Cd, and medium comprehensive ecological hazard as a whole for all the heavy metals in soils from vegetable bases of Hangzhou. The correlation analysis indicated that the contents of Cu, Zn, Pb, As, Cd were greatly influenced by the soil physicochemical property. Thus, measures must be taken for the prevention and controlling of heavy metal pollution in the soils from vegetable bases in Hangzhou, especially for that of Cd.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of neonatal hearing screening program in China: should universal screening be prioritized?

BACKGROUND: Neonatal hearing screening (NHS) has been routinely offered as a vital component of early childhood care in developed countries, whereas such a screening program is still at the pilot or preliminary stage as regards its nationwide implementation in developing countries. To provide significant evidence for health policy making in China, this study aims to determine the cost-effectiveness of NHS program implementation in case of eight provinces of China. METHODS: A cost-effectiveness model was conducted and all neonates annually born from 2007 to 2009 in eight provinces of China were simulated in this model. The model parameters were estimated from the established databases in the general hospitals or maternal and child health hospitals of these eight provinces, supplemented from the published literature. The model estimated changes in program implementation costs, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), average cost-effectiveness ratio (ACER), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for universal screening compared to targeted screening in eight provinces. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: A multivariate sensitivity analysis was performed to determine uncertainty in health effect estimates and cost-effectiveness ratios using a probabilistic modeling technique. Targeted strategy trended to be cost-effective in Guangxi, Jiangxi, Henan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hebei, Shandong, and Beijing from the level of 9%, 9%, 8%, 4%, 3%, 7%, 5%, and 2%, respectively; while universal strategy trended to be cost-effective in those provinces from the level of 70%, 70%, 48%, 10%, 8%, 28%, 15%, 4%, respectively. This study showed although there was a huge disparity in the implementation of the NHS program in the surveyed provinces, both universal strategy and targeted strategy showed cost-effectiveness in those relatively developed provinces, while neither of the screening strategy showed cost-effectiveness in those relatively developing provinces. This study also showed that both strategies especially universal strategy achieve a good economic effect in the long term costs. CONCLUSIONS: Universal screening might be considered as the prioritized implementation goal especially in those relatively developed provinces of China as it provides the best health and economic effects, while targeted screening might be temporarily more realistic than universal screening in those relatively developing provinces of China.