Nonconventional Electrochemical Reactions in Rechargeable Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Rechargeable lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are promising for high-energy storage. However, conventional redox reactions involving sulfur (S) and lithium (Li) can lead to unstable intermediates. Over the past decade, many strategies have emerged to address this challenge, enabling nonconventional electrochemical reactions in Li-S batteries. In our Perspective, we provide a brief review of these strategies and highlight their potential benefits. Specifically, our group has pioneered a top-down approach, investigating Li-S reactions at molecular and subatomic levels, as demonstrated in our recent work on stable S isotopes. These insights not only enhance understanding of charge transfer and storage properties but also offer exciting opportunities for advancements in battery materials research.

Strategies to increase the coverage of influenza and pneumonia vaccination in older adults: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: It is urgent to implement interventions to increase vaccination rates of influenza/pneumonia vaccines in older adults, yet the effectiveness of different intervention strategies has not been thoroughly evaluated. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the effectiveness of intervention strategies for increasing the coverage of influenza/pneumonia vaccination in older adults. METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, China Biology Medicine disc, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang were searched from 1 January 2000 to 1 October 2022. RCTs that assessed any intervention strategies for increasing influenza/pneumonia vaccination coverage or willingness in older adults were included. A series of random-effects network meta-analysis was conducted by using frequentist frameworks. RESULTS: Twenty-two RCTs involving 385,182 older participants were eligible for further analysis. Eight types of intervention strategies were evaluated. Compared with routine notification, health education (odds ratio [OR], 1.85 [95%CI, 1.19 to 2.88]), centralised reminder (OR, 1.63 [95%CI, 1.07 to 2.47]), health education + onsite vaccination (OR, 2.89 [95%CI, 1.30 to 6.39]), and health education + centralised reminder + onsite vaccination (OR, 20.76 [95%CI, 7.33 to 58.74]) could effectively improve the vaccination rate. The evidence grade was low or very low due to the substantial heterogeneity among studies. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that health education + centralised reminder + onsite vaccination may potentially be an effective strategy regardless of cost, but the evidence level was low. More rigorous trials are needed to identify the association between strategies and vaccination rates among older adults and to integrate such evidence into clinical care to improve vaccination rates.

IGFBPL1 inhibits macrophage lipid accumulation by enhancing the activation of IGR1R/LXRα/ABCG1 pathway.

Lipid accumulation in macrophages plays an important role in atherosclerosis and is the major cause of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Reducing lipid accumulation in macrophages is an effective therapeutic target for atherosclerosis. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) exerts the anti-atherosclerotic effects by inhibiting lipid accumulation in macrophages. Furthermore, almost all circulating IGF-1 combines with IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs) to activate or inhibit the IGF signaling. However, the mechanism of IGFBPs in macrophage lipid accumulation is still unknown. GEO database analysis showed that among IGFBPS family members, IGFBPL1 has the largest expression change in unstable plaque. We found that IGFBPL1 was decreased in lipid-laden THP-1 macrophages. Through oil red O staining, NBD-cholesterol efflux, liver X receptor α (LXRα) transcription factor and IGR-1 receptor blocking experiments, our results showed that IGFBPL1 inhibits lipid accumulation in THP-1 macrophages through promoting ABCG1-meditated cholesterol efflux, and IGFBPL1 regulates ABCG1 expression and macrophage lipid metabolism through IGF-1R/LXRα pathway. Our results provide a theoretical basis of IGFBPL1 in the alternative or adjunct treatment options for atherosclerosis by reducing lipid accumulation in macrophages.

A continuous age-specific standardized mortality ratio for estimating the unascertained rates in the early epidemic of COVID-19 in different regions.

The difference in age structure and aging population level was an important factor that caused the difference in COVID-19's case fatality rate (CFR) in various regions. To eliminate the age effect on estimating the CFR of COVID-19, our study applied nonlinear logistic model and maximum likelihood method to fit the age-fatality curves of COVID-19 in different countries and regions. We further computed the standardized mortality ratio from the age-fatality curves of COVID-19 in the above regions and found that the risk of COVID-19 death in Wuhan was of a moderate level, while the non-Hubei region was even lower, compared with other regions. Regarding the disparity of CFRs among different regions in the country, we believed that there might be an unascertained phenomenon in high-endemic regions. Based on age-fatality rate curves, we estimated unascertained rates in cities with severe epidemics such as Wuhan and New York, and it was found that the total unascertained rates in Wuhan and New York were 81.6% and 81.2%, respectively. Meanwhile, we also found that the unascertained rates varied greatly with age.

Potential Controllable Redox Couple for Mild and Efficient Lithium Recovery from Spent Batteries.

The prosperity of the lithium-ion battery market is dialectically accompanied by the depletion of corresponding resources and the accumulation of spent batteries. It is an urgent priority to develop green and efficient battery recycling strategies for helping ease resources and environmental pressures at the current stage. Here, we propose a mild and efficient lithium extracting strategy based on potential controllable redox couples. Active lithium in the spent battery without discharging is extracted using a series of tailored aprotic solutions comprised of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and ethers. This ensures a safe yet efficient recycling process with nearly ≈100 % lithium recovery. We further investigate the Li+ -electron concerted redox reactions and the effect of solvation structure on kinetics during the extraction, and broaden the applicability of the Li-PAHs solution. This work can stimulate new inspiration for designing novel solutions to meet efficient and sustainable demands in recycling batteries.

Nicotine induces macrophage pyroptosis via LINC01272/miR-515/KLF6 axis.

Nicotine contributes to the causation of atherosclerosis, which the prominent cellular components are macrophages. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in regulating cell functions such as cell proliferation, differentiation and programmed death. However, the function and mechanism of lncRNAs in nicotine-induced macrophage pyroptosis has not been reported. We screened the deferentially expressed lncRNAs of human carotid artery plaque (GSE97210) and verified them in nicotine-induced pyroptosis of macrophages. Results showed only LINC01272 was up-regulated in a dose-dependent manner in macrophages. The immunofluorescence staining result confirmed that interfering LINC01272 inhibited nicotine-induced macrophage pyroptosis. Through bioinformatics analysis, dual luciferase reporter gene assay and qPCR, we identified miR-515 was significantly negatively correlated with the expression of LINC01272, and KLF6 is the target gene of miR-515. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that LINC01272/miR-515/KLF6 axis meditated nicotine-induced macrophage pyroptosis. In addition, in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells of smoking populations, the expression of GSDMD-N, NLRP3, LINC01272 and KLF6 was significantly increased, while the level of miR-515 was reduced. This study confirmed that nicotine increases the expression of LINC01272 to competitively bind with miR-515 in macrophages, reducing the inhibitory effect of miR-515 on its target gene KLF6, which ultimately induces macrophage pyroptosis.

High-Performance Quasi-Solid-State Lithium-Sulfur Battery with a Controllably Solidified Cathode-Electrolyte Interface.

Lithium-sulfur batteries are considered a promising "beyond Li-ion" energy storage technology. Currently, the practical realization of Li-S batteries is plagued by rapid electrochemical failure of S cathodes due to aggravated polysulfide dissolution and shuttle in the conventional liquid ether-based electrolytes. A gel polymer electrolyte obtained by in situ polymerization of liquid electrolyte solvent at the cathode-electrolyte interface has been proven an effective strategy to prevent polysulfide shuttle. However, notably reduced polysulfide solubility in the gel electrolyte leads to enrichment of poorly conductive sulfide species, which hinders charge migration across the interface and therefore accounts for retarded polysulfide conversion and a low capacity/energy output of batteries. Here, we show that thioacetamide, as a cathode additive, inhibits interfacial polymerization of ether molecules while assisting dissolution of polysulfides and Li2S at the cathode/electrolyte interface. In this way, a layer of liquid, sulfide-soluble electrolyte is preserved between the highly gelled electrolyte and the S particle surface, avoiding interfacial sulfide accumulation and improving polysulfide conversion kinetics. A Li-S battery with the controllably solidified interface demonstrates, without adding other performance-boosting agents or catalysts, a high reversible capacity, a long cycle life, and a favorable rate performance, showing promises for the next-generation storage applications.

Propensity score analysis with missing data using a multi-task neural network.

BACKGROUND: Propensity score analysis is increasingly used to control for confounding factors in observational studies. Unfortunately, unavoidable missing values make estimating propensity scores extremely challenging. We propose a new method for estimating propensity scores in data with missing values. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Both simulated and real-world datasets are used in our experiments. The simulated datasets were constructed under 2 scenarios, the presence (T = 1) and the absence (T = 0) of the true effect. The real-world dataset comes from LaLonde's employment training program. We construct missing data with varying degrees of missing rates under three missing mechanisms: MAR, MCAR, and MNAR. Then we compare MTNN with 2 other traditional methods in different scenarios. The experiments in each scenario were repeated 20,000 times. Our code is publicly available at https://github.com/ljwa2323/MTNN . RESULTS: Under the three missing mechanisms of MAR, MCAR and MNAR, the RMSE between the effect and the true effect estimated by our proposed method is the smallest in simulations and in real-world data. Furthermore, the standard deviation of the effect estimated by our method is the smallest. In situations where the missing rate is low, the estimation of our method is more accurate. CONCLUSIONS: MTNN can perform propensity score estimation and missing value filling at the same time through shared hidden layers and joint learning, which solves the dilemma of traditional methods and is very suitable for estimating true effects in samples with missing values. The method is expected to be broadly generalized and applied to real-world observational studies.

Construction and validation of a method for automated time label segmentation of heart sounds.

Heart sound detection technology plays an important role in the prediction of cardiovascular disease, but the most significant heart sounds are fleeting and may be imperceptible. Hence, obtaining heart sound information in an efficient and accurate manner will be helpful for the prediction and diagnosis of heart disease. To obtain heart sound information, we designed an audio data analysis tool to segment the heart sounds from single heart cycle, and validated the heart rate using a finger oxygen meter. The results from our validated technique could be used to realize heart sound segmentation. Our robust algorithmic platform was able to segment the heart sounds, which could then be compared in terms of their difference from the background. A combination of an electronic stethoscope and artificial intelligence technology was used for the digital collection of heart sounds and the intelligent identification of the first (S1) and second (S2) heart sounds. Our approach can provide an objective basis for the auscultation of heart sounds and visual display of heart sounds and murmurs.

A systemic review and meta-analysis comparing the ability of diagnostic of the third heart sound and left ventricular ejection fraction in heart failure.

Objective: This study aimed to compare the sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis between the third heart sound (S3) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in heart failure (HF). Methods: Relevant studies were searched in PubMed, SinoMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and the Cochrane Trial Register until February 20, 2022. The sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio (LR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were pooled. The symmetric receiver operator characteristic curve (SROC) and Fagan's nomogram were drawn. The source of heterogeneity was explored by meta-regression and subgroup analysis. Results: A total of 19 studies, involving 5,614 participants, were included. The combined sensitivity of S3 was 0.23 [95% confidence interval (CI) (0.15-0.33), specificity was 0.94 [95% CI (0.82-0.98)], area under the SROC curve was 0.49, and the DOR was 4.55; while the sensitivity of LVEF was 0.70 [95% CI (0.53-0.83)], specificity was 0.79 [95% CI (0.75-0.82)], area under the SROC curve was 0.79, and the DOR was 8.64. No publication bias was detected in Deeks' funnel plot. The prospective design, partial verification bias, and blind contributed to the heterogeneity in specificity, while adequate description of study participants contributed to the heterogeneity in sensitivity. In Fagan's nomogram, the post-test probability was 48% when the pre-test probability was set as 20%, while in LVEF, the post-test probability was 45% when the pre-test probability was set as 20%. Conclusion: The use of S3 alone presented lower sensitivity in diagnosing HF compared with LVEF, whereas it was useful in early pathological assessment.

Guidelines for the prevention and management of children and adolescents with COVID-19.

Children are the future of the world, but their health and future are facing great uncertainty because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In order to improve the management of children with COVID-19, an international, multidisciplinary panel of experts developed a rapid advice guideline at the beginning of the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. After publishing the first version of the rapid advice guideline, the panel has updated the guideline by including additional stakeholders in the panel and a comprehensive search of the latest evidence. All recommendations were supported by systematic reviews and graded using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. Expert judgment was used to develop good practice statements supplementary to the graded evidence-based recommendations. The updated guideline comprises nine recommendations and one good practice statement. It focuses on the key recommendations pertinent to the following issues: identification of prognostic factors for death or pediatric intensive care unit admission; the use of remdesivir, systemic glucocorticoids and antipyretics, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, and high-flow oxygen by nasal cannula or non-invasive ventilation for acute hypoxemic respiratory failure; breastfeeding; vaccination; and the management of pediatric mental health. CONCLUSION: This updated evidence-based guideline intends to provide clinicians, pediatricians, patients and other stakeholders with evidence-based recommendations for the prevention and management of COVID-19 in children and adolescents. Larger studies with longer follow-up to determine the effectiveness and safety of systemic glucocorticoids, IVIG, noninvasive ventilation, and the vaccines for COVID-19 in children and adolescents are encouraged. WHAT IS KNOWN: • Several clinical practice guidelines for children with COVID-19 have been developed, but only few of them have been recently updated. • We developed an evidence-based guideline at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak and have now updated it based on the results of a comprehensive search of the latest evidence. WHAT IS NEW: • The updated guideline provides key recommendations pertinent to the following issues: identification of prognostic factors for death or pediatric intensive care unit admission; the use of remdesivir, systemic glucocorticoids and antipyretics, intravenous immunoglobulin for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, and high-flow oxygen by nasal cannula or non-invasive ventilation for acute hypoxemic respiratory failure; breastfeeding; vaccination; and the management of pediatric mental health.

Noncoordinating Flame-Retardant Functional Electrolyte Solvents for Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries.

In Li-ion batteries, functional cosolvents could significantly improve the specific performance of the electrolyte, for example, the flame retardancy. In case the cosolvent shows strong Li+-coordinating ability, it could adversely influence the electrochemical Li+-intercalation reaction of the electrode. In this work, a noncoordinating functional cosolvent was proposed to enrich the functionality of the electrolyte while avoiding interference with the Li storage process. Hexafluorocyclotriphosphazene, an efficient flame-retardant agent with proper physicochemical properties, was chosen as a cosolvent for preparing functional electrolytes. The nonpolar phosphazene molecules with low electron-donating ability do not coordinate with Li+ and thus are excluded from the primary solvation sheath. In graphite-anode-based Li-ion batteries, the phosphazene molecules do not cointercalate with Li+ into the graphite lattice during the charging process, which helps to maintain integral anode structure and interface and contributes to stable cycling. The noncoordinating cosolvent was also applied to other types of electrode materials and batteries, paving a new way for high-performance electrochemical energy storage systems with customizable functions.

Health risk assessment of PM2.5 heavy metals in county units of northern China based on Monte Carlo simulation and APCS-MLR.

The key areas of China's urbanization process have gradually shifted from urban areas to county-level units. Correspondingly, air pollution in county towns may be heavier than in urban areas, which has led to a lack of understanding of the pollution situation in such areas. In view of this, 236 PM2.5 filter samples were collected in Pingyao, north of the Fen-Wei Plain, one of the most polluted areas in China. Monte Carlo simulation was used to solve the serious uncertainties of traditional HRA, and the coupling technology of absolute principal component score-multiple linear regression (APCS-MLR) and health risk assessment (HRA) is used to quantitatively analyze the health risks of pollution sources. The results showed that PM2.5 concentration was highest in autumn, 3.73 times the 24 h guideline recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Children were more susceptible to heavy metals in the county-level unit, with high hazard quotient (HQ) values of Pb being the dominant factor leading to an increased non-carcinogenic risk. A significant carcinogenic risk was observed for all groups in autumn in Pingyao, with exposure to Ni in the outdoor environment being the main cause. Vehicle emissions and coal combustion were identified as two major sources of health threats. In short, China's county-level population, about one-tenth of the world's population, faces far more health risks than expected.

Time series study on the effects of daily average temperature on the mortality from respiratory diseases and circulatory diseases: a case study in Mianyang City.

BACKGROUND: Climate change caused by environmental pollution is the most important one of many environmental health hazards currently faced by human beings. In particular, the extreme temperature is an important risk factor for death from respiratory and circulatory diseases. This study aims to explore the meteorological-health effect and find out the vulnerable individuals of extreme temperature events in a less developed city in western China. METHOD: We collected the meteorological data and data of death caused by respiratory and circulatory diseases in Mianyang City from 2013 to 2019. The nonlinear distributed lag model and the generalized additive models were combined to study the influence of daily average temperature (DAT) on mortality from respiratory and circulatory diseases in different genders, ages. RESULTS: The exposure-response curves between DAT and mortality from respiratory and circulatory diseases presented a nonlinear characteristic of the "V" type. Cumulative Relative Risk of 30 days (CRR30) of deaths from respiratory diseases with 4.48 (2.98, 6.73) was higher than that from circulatory diseases with 2.77 (1.96, 3.92) at extremely low temperature, while there was no obvious difference at extremely high temperature. The health effects of low temperatures on the respiratory system of people of all ages and genders were persistent, while that of high temperatures were acute and short-term. The circulatory systems of people aged < 65 years were more susceptible to acute effects of cold temperatures, while the effects were delayed in females and people aged ≥65 years. CONCLUSION: Both low and high temperatures increased the risk of mortality from respiratory and circulatory diseases. Cold effects seemed to last longer than heat did.

Methodology and experiences of rapid advice guideline development for children with COVID-19: responding to the COVID-19 outbreak quickly and efficiently.

BACKGROUND: Rapid Advice Guidelines (RAG) provide decision makers with guidance to respond to public health emergencies by developing evidence-based recommendations in a short period of time with a scientific and standardized approach. However, the experience from the development process of a RAG has so far not been systematically summarized. Therefore, our working group will take the experience of the development of the RAG for children with COVID-19 as an example to systematically explore the methodology, advantages, and challenges in the development of the RAG. We shall propose suggestions and reflections for future research, in order to provide a more detailed reference for future development of RAGs. RESULT: The development of the RAG by a group of 67 researchers from 11 countries took 50 days from the official commencement of the work (January 28, 2020) to submission (March 17, 2020). A total of 21 meetings were held with a total duration of 48 h (average 2.3 h per meeting) and an average of 16.5 participants attending. Only two of the ten recommendations were fully supported by direct evidence for COVID-19, three recommendations were supported by indirect evidence only, and the proportion of COVID-19 studies among the body of evidence in the remaining five recommendations ranged between 10 and 83%. Six of the ten recommendations used COVID-19 preprints as evidence support, and up to 50% of the studies with direct evidence on COVID-19 were preprints. CONCLUSIONS: In order to respond to public health emergencies, the development of RAG also requires a clear and transparent formulation process, usually using a large amount of indirect and non-peer-reviewed evidence to support the formation of recommendations. Strict following of the WHO RAG handbook does not only enhance the transparency and clarity of the guideline, but also can speed up the guideline development process, thereby saving time and labor costs.

Did patients with COVID-19 receive timely treatment in the early epidemic?-a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) showed a significant difference in case fatality rate between different regions at the early stage of the epidemic. In addition to the well-known factors such as age structure, detection efficiency, and race, there was also a possibility that medical resource shortage caused the increase of the case fatality rate in some regions. METHODS: Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, CBM, CNKI, and Wanfang of identified articles were searched through 29 June 2020. Cohort studies and case series with duration information on COVID-19 patients were included. Two independent reviewers extracted the data using a standardized data collection form and assessed the risk of bias. Data were synthesized through description and analysis methods including a meta-analysis. RESULTS: A total of 109 articles were retrieved. The time interval from onset to the first medical visit of COVID-19 patients in China was 3.38±1.55 days (corresponding intervals in Hubei province, non-Hubei provinces, Wuhan, Hubei provinces without Wuhan were 4.22±1.13, 3.10±1.57, 4.20±0.97, and 4.34±1.72 days, respectively). The time interval from onset to the hospitalization of COVID-19 patients in China was 8.35±6.83 days (same corresponding intervals were 12.94±7.43, 4.17±1.45, 14.86±7.12, and 5.36±1.19 days, respectively), and when it was outside China, this interval was 5.27±1.19 days. DISCUSSION: In the early stage of the COVID-19 epidemic, patients with COVID-19 did not receive timely treatment, resulting in a higher case fatality rate in Hubei province, partly due to the relatively insufficient and unequal medical resources. This research suggested that additional deaths caused by the out-of-control epidemic can be avoided if prevention and control work is carried out at the early stage of the epidemic. TRIAL REGISTRATION: CRD42020195606.

Family exposure and the impact of containment measures to children with coronavirus disease 2019 outside Hubei, China: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: In response to the ongoing epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), China has carried out restrictive disease containment measures across the country. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we collected demographic and epidemiological data of 376 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 among children younger than 18 years of age. Using descriptive statistics and odds ratios, we described the odds of exposure outside the family after the implementation of control measures compared to before. RESULTS: Children diagnosed on or after February 4, 2020, had a lower odds of exposure to COVID-19 outside of the family compared to those diagnosed before February 3, 2020 (OR =0.594, 95% CI: 0.391 to 0.904). In the stratified analysis, children aged 0 to 5 years had the lowest odds of exposure outside of the family (OR =0.420, 95% CI: 0.196 to 0.904) compared to the other age groups assessed. CONCLUSIONS: Our study on the children infected with COVID-19 as well as their exposure within family provided evidence that the implementation of containment measures was effective in reducing the odds of exposure outside of the family, especially for preschool children. Continuation of these efforts, coupled with tailored prevention and health education messaging for younger aged children, may help to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 among children until other therapeutic interventions or vaccines are available.

Lee Silverman Voice Treatment to Improve Speech in Parkinson's Disease: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Speech changes occur in the early stages of Parkinson's disease (PD) and cause communication difficulties, leading to social isolation. Lee Silverman voice treatment (LSVT) is a speech therapy approach designed to improve patients' language and voice capabilities. OBJECTIVE: The effectiveness of the LSVT was compared with that of other speech interventions or no treatment to evaluate PD patients with dysarthria. DESIGN: Systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized trials. Data Sources: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, and SinoMed library were searched from inception to December 2021 related to PD and LSVT. METHOD: Abstracts were screened and reviewed against the eligibility criteria (intervention group participants were PD assessed based on LSVT (LSVT Loud) and randomized control). RESULT: Ten randomized controlled trials were identified on speech symptoms in patients with PD. Compared with the respiratory therapy (RET) exercise, or no training group, a significant improvement was detected in the sound press level (SPL) after immediate treatment during the reading of vowel and rainbow passages and an increase in semitone standard deviation (STSD). Furthermore, the LSVT training significantly increased the participants' scores on unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS-III) and speech intelligibility. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis demonstrated the efficacy of LSVT in increasing vocal loudness and functional communication among individuals with PD. However, most studies included participants with mild-moderate PD. Thus, additional randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with large sample sizes are needed to validate the efficacy of LSVT in patients with different progressions of PD, including severe PD.

Pollution effect assessment of industrial activities on potentially toxic metal distribution in windowsill dust and surface soil in central China.

Boundaries between industrial and urban areas in developing countries are not clearly defined, but pollution effect assessment of industrial activities on potentially toxic metal (PTM) distribution in these areas has rarely been investigated. Fifteen villages and eight communities surrounding the industrial areas from Anyang, China, were chosen as research objects in this study. A total of 78 windowsill dust and 78 surface soil samples were collected to determine the pollution levels, spatial distribution and risk indices of nine PTMs. PTM concentrations (expect Cr, Mn and Ni in surface soil) in the surveyed region were higher than the local soil background values. Amongst these PTMs, serious Cd and As pollution was discovered, and Cd and As in windowsill dust and surface soil exceeded the background value by 73.00 and 9.59, 9.74 and 10.92 times, respectively. Compared with the Igeo in surface soil, a large degree of variation in Igeo for the different PTMs was found in windowsill dust. The interpolated spatial distribution of dust Cr, Zn, Pb, Cd and soil Mn, Ni and Cu had a gradually decreasing pollution trend from the south to the north due to the prevailing wind directions in winter in the study area. Results of multivariate statistics reflected that industrial production and traffic emission affected the concentration of PTMs in windowsill dust and surface soil. The non-carcinogenic risks for children (soil: 12.4; dust: 19.2) were larger than those for adults (soil: 1.02; dust: 1.51). This finding suggested that industrial activities caused serious harm to the residents around industrial areas.

Erratum to rapid advice guidelines for management of children with COVID-19.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.21037/atm-20-3754.].